Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 320 The Elixir of Life

Chapter 320 The Elixir of Life
In the capital city, under the auspices of the Ministry of Works and with the assistance of Shuntian Prefecture, the Infrastructure Bureau has begun to build the outer city wall of the capital.

The outer city wall is still in the style of a two-story pavilion with a hip roof, double eaves and three-drop corridors, and the outside is still covered with bricks, so the wall still looks as beautiful and grand as the old one, but the interior is made of cement reinforced concrete, which is more solid.

The construction of the outer city wall of the capital was historically an event that took ten years and only the outer city wall on the south was built.

The Ming Dynasty of this era had naturally far surpassed the middle and late Jiajing period in history in terms of financial resources and engineering construction technology. Therefore, the construction of the outer city wall was no longer just the construction of the outer city wall in the south, but a circle of city walls was directly added to the entire outer city of the capital.

The construction speed was also very fast. The more scientific management model and salary system stimulated the enthusiasm of the migrant workers in charge of the construction, and the quality of the work was also very high. The rapid solidification speed of cement and the technology of forging fine steel wire enabled the craftsmen of the Infrastructure Bureau to cast a solid structure inside the city wall in a short period of time without having to spend time and effort to compact the mortar.

Before the construction of the outer city wall, the Infrastructure Bureau had already built a cement road around the outer city. Now that the outer city wall has been basically completed, the Infrastructure Bureau has still built an eight-lane cement road outside the outer city, and connected it with the cement road leading to other places outside the newly built Yongding Gate.

At this time, Yongdingmen became a landmark building for entering the capital city. Shuntian Prefecture built a bus stop here, using large horse-drawn carriages as buses to operate transportation routes from the ring road to Damingmen. In addition, there was also a long-distance horse-drawn carriage station responsible for operating transportation from the capital city to Tongzhou.

The Ming Dynasty today is a peaceful and prosperous dynasty, with industrialization and commodity economy developing rapidly. As the political center, scientific research base of the Ming Dynasty, and gathering place of large manufacturing companies and countless dignitaries, the capital city is naturally also an extremely prosperous market. Regardless of spring, summer, autumn or winter, countless people enter and leave the city.

The floating population that lives in the outer city and outside the outer city all year round has reached millions. Some have already gathered into villages or blocks, but most people still have no land or house. Although these people have good economic incomes and can make a lot of money even if they sell breakfast in the capital, it is still difficult for them to take root in the capital where every inch of land is valuable.

Because the land in the capital area was mainly owned by imperial estates and the wealthy, a large part of it was official land, that is, public land managed by Shuntian Prefecture. Moreover, Zhu Houzhao had predicted as early as the beginning of the Zhengde period that economic development would lead to a surge in the value of land in the capital. In order to prevent the wealth from being seized by the wealthy, he directly allowed the imperial estates and Shuntian Prefecture to purchase private land at high prices as official land.

Nowadays, the land in the capital is mainly divided into official fields, imperial farms, and farms owned by the powerful. It is naturally difficult for common people who come to Beijing to buy land to build houses and settle down. Most of them can only rent houses to live.

Zhu Houzhao asked the cabinet to preside over the court discussion on allowing people coming to Beijing to settle down. As a result, Shuntian Prefecture began to sell part of the official land in a planned manner and let merchants contract this part of the official land to build commercial housing. At the beginning, the price of commercial housing was not high, and most people who had been in Beijing for a long time and accumulated more property could afford it. They all successfully became Beijing residents and began to settle down in the capital, enjoying education and corresponding benefits.

But from ancient times to the present, people have always been equally smart. When commercial housing was in short supply, many powerful and wealthy people began to smell the business opportunities and started to speculate in housing. As a result, by the 30th year of Zhengde, the price of commercial housing had risen to more than five times the price of the same housing in other places.

Officials in Shuntian Prefecture also began to adapt to this social change and started to make a series of policy changes. They began to regulate the economy of the entire capital city, most importantly housing prices, and to keep the economy of the entire capital city under the most stable state that would most easily mobilize the people's enthusiasm for production.

Moreover, in this era, without the impact of free economics, the pressure on the government to intervene in the economy was not very great. Therefore, many administrative interventions of Shuntian Prefecture did not encounter much slander. However, there was still resistance. After all, many people in the capital were either rich or noble, and it was not easy to control them.

Fortunately, Zhu Houzhao, the most powerful official in the capital, supported it, so Shuntian Prefecture was able to be controlled.

However, it is inevitable that the government will over-control and over-intervene in the market economy, resulting in capital vitality still not as good as that in Jiangnan and Guangdong and Guangxi, and the development speed is still not as fast as that in Guangdong and Guangxi and Jiangnan, but more stable than Jiangnan and Guangdong and Guangxi.

The emergence of securities trading in Guangdong and Guangxi has led to several crises in the economies of Guangdong and Guangxi. Each time, the central government stepped in to rescue the two countries, preventing them from falling into unrest due to the overdevelopment of the free economy.

In any case, Shuntian Prefecture's Prefect Xu Jie was still very grateful to the Emperor Zhu Houzhao for asking him to invest in the purchase of a large amount of private land and land owned by corrupt dignitaries as official land, because now Shuntian Prefecture could earn a lot of fiscal revenue just by selling land, which was enough to raise the municipal level of the capital to a level capable of managing millions of people.

Because Shuntian Prefecture has sufficient financial income, almost every district in the capital city now has a civilian medical clinic, and the clinics are staffed by experienced doctors with superb medical skills, and there are even surgeons who graduated from Imperial University.

Even outside the Yongding Gate in the capital at this time, it appeared very tidy and clean due to the high level of municipal services in Shuntian Prefecture. Two rows of green trees made the wide concrete road look particularly bright, and all kinds of four-wheeled carriages of different sizes were spotless, and only in this way were they allowed to enter the city.

Police soldiers responsible for maintaining traffic order and public security patrolled almost every ten steps, and there was a security booth every mile. No matter who was entering or leaving the city, no one was allowed to rush around except officials with urgent reports.

On the cement road ten miles outside Yongdingmen, there is not only a ten-mile long pavilion, but also a toll station. This was invented by Xu Jie, and Zhu Houzhao did not stop it. Now he and the six ministries of the cabinet no longer care about the urban management of Shuntian Prefecture. The management of Shuntian Prefecture is basically handed over to Shuntian Prefecture itself, and the roads in Shuntian Prefecture are also maintained by Shuntian Prefecture itself.

Xu Jie, the new prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, set up a toll station for this purpose. Although the toll was not high, with so many people leaving and entering Beijing, a lot of money could be collected every year. This not only allowed Shuntian Prefecture to maintain its roads, but also brought in more public funds.

Of course, Shuntian Prefecture also solved the employment problems of many people through the maintenance, toll collection, and inspection of cement roads, especially for vulnerable groups such as the elderly and the frail, so that they would not become beggars and could support themselves.

Because Zhu Houzhao had issued an edict to invite the princes to the capital to attend the imperial clan meeting, many members of the imperial clan entered the capital one after another during this period. Zhu Chengchen, the general of Xiangyuan Palace, also came to the capital at this time, and he rode his horse at full speed. When he saw the Yongdingmen toll station, he shouted, "Get out of my way!"

Gu Shi, the toll collector at the Yongdingmen toll station, ignored him. There were countless dignitaries coming to Beijing every year, and he had seen many who did not follow the rules. Therefore, Gu Shi ignored Zhu Chengqi's order. At this time, Zhu Chengqi got off his horse and came to the toll station. He ordered the guards to lift Gu Shi out and press him to the ground, and then whipped him:

"Bitch! I am a royal general, a descendant of the royal family, so I told you to get out of the way! Why are you blocking me here? Are you looking for death?!"

Zhu Chengchen shouted, "Beat him to death!"

Gu Shilian didn't even have the chance to fight back or beg for mercy before he was severely beaten. Soon his skin was torn and he was screaming in pain on the ground. In the end, he was knocked unconscious.

Zhu Chengchen just smiled coldly. He suddenly felt the urge to defecate, so he simply ordered his men to pry open Gu Shi's mouth, and then he ejaculated inside.

After Gu Shi was awakened, Zhu Chengchen laughed loudly: "This is dragon urine, it can heal your wounds!"

After saying this, Zhu Chengchen ordered the guards to remove the roadblocks. At this time, Fenglin King Zhu Taihan also appeared. He happened to see this scene and asked, "What's going on? Why was this person beaten? Are you from the royal family?"

"Zhu Chengqi, the auxiliary general of the Xiangyuan Palace!" Zhu Chengqi first reported his royal family title.

"Fenglin King Zhu Taihan," Zhu Taihan also replied.

Zhu Chengchen saw that Zhu Taihan was older than him in the clan, so he bowed and said, "Uncle, there is no need to ask more questions. This ignorant fellow did not give way to me when I came. I will just teach him a lesson!"

Zhu Taihan said angrily: "Since you are a descendant of the royal family, you should be magnanimous. Why do you bother with ordinary people and beat them so harshly? How can you ignore the law?"

"This world belongs to our Zhu family. He is just a commoner. What does it matter if he is beaten to death?"

After Zhu Chengchen finished speaking, a man came out and said, "Chengchen is right. We are the royal family. Killing one or two civilians is nothing!"

Zhu Taihan was just about to give Zhu Chengchen some advice, but when he saw this man coming with a large group of guards, he hurriedly asked about his origins.

"I am Zhu Houjue, the Prince of Hui." After saying this, Zhu Houjue said, "We are all blood relatives of the royal family. You two may as well get on the chariot and have a chat."

Zhu Taihan and Zhu Chengchi had never expected that the man in front of them was actually Hui Wang Zhu Houjue. Although he was not a close relative of the emperor, his relationship was closer to him than to themselves. Therefore, Zhu Taihan and Zhu Chengchi got on Zhu Houjue's chariot and drove away.

Only Gu Shi, covered with wounds, was left lying on the ground, still unable to move.

The princes and royal family members usually did not have the opportunity to get together. Now that they were ordered to come to the capital, they just had the chance to chat. After chatting for a few words, they became more familiar with each other. What they talked about was nothing more than the emperor summoning them to the capital and the recent tax policies in Jiangnan and the heavy taxes levied within the Great Wall.

In fact, the princes were quite dissatisfied with these policies of the imperial court. Although the ancestral precepts of the Ming Dynasty stipulated that princes and royal family members could not engage in business or farming, these princes and royal family members would naturally not really abide by the ancestral precepts honestly. Most of them had their own agents to do business for them.

However, with the failed examples of rebellions by Prince Anhua and Prince Ning before them, these princes did not dare to openly confront the court. The only thing they could do was to express their dissatisfaction with the court through some violent acts. After all, they were all descendants of the royal family, and it was difficult for the law to restrain them.

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Censor Du Min reported that outside the Yongding Gate of Shuntian Prefecture, a member of the imperial clan beat up the toll collector Gu Shi of the Shuntian Prefecture official road and insulted him with urine! According to the Shuntian Prefecture, three members of the imperial clan did enter the capital that day. Among them, one Zhu Chengchen refused to be inspected and killed a policeman outside the Yongding Gate!"

At this time, the Left Censor-in-Chief Jin Xianmin reported the matter to Zhu Houzhao, who couldn't help but hold his forehead after hearing it: "It seems that these princes and royal family members are so used to being unruly in their local areas that they have forgotten the rules. Do they think that the laws of the court can't control them?!"

Jin Xianmin could tell that Emperor Zhu Houzhao was obviously quite dissatisfied with the arrogant behavior of the royal family, but he could not let Hui Wang get involved at this time because he had benefited from it. "Your Majesty, there have always been many arrogant royal family members, but there are also virtuous ones. For example, Hui Wang has always been kind to the people. This time, he happened to come to Beijing with Zhu Chengchen and others, and he must have persuaded them, but he may have lost face and failed. I think that for the royal family members, the role of the clan house should be strengthened to control these princes and royal family members."

Zhu Houzhao glanced at Jin Xianmin, and from Jin Xianmin's expression, he confirmed two messages. One was that Prince Hui was wise, and the other was that the clan court should strengthen its management over the vassal kings.

If Zhu Houzhao didn't have the eye of the West Factory, he would really believe what Jin Xianmin said before, that Prince Hui was virtuous. Regardless of whether Prince Hui was virtuous or not, Zhu Houzhao was now sure that Jin Xianmin was at least not so clean on the surface. Therefore, Zhu Houzhao just smiled and said, "Go to the East Factory Inspectorate later, and I won't have to send anyone to the East Factory to issue an order."

Jin Xianmin was stunned for a moment, then he understood. For a moment he felt mixed emotions and didn't know how to explain it. He also knew that it was useless to explain, so he could only say yes.

Zhu Houzhao summoned Ma Yongcheng and asked, "At that time in Jiangnan, the East Factory found out that Ji Xuan had contact with Prince Hui and confessed that he was Prince Hui's man. The Xuanwu Lake assassination case was also related to Prince Hui. I asked you to investigate Prince Hui. What did you find out?" "Reporting to your majesty, Prince Hui has been staying in his palace since he knew that Ji Xuan was arrested. He has not done anything abnormal. It was only when your majesty summoned the princes to Beijing this time that Prince Hui left the palace and went to Beijing, and he did not show any panic. The eunuchs just learned that Prince Hui, Prince Fenglin Zhu Taihan, and General Zhu Chengchen stayed in the chariot for a long time. As for what they said, they were in the car, so they could not be monitored."

Ma Yongcheng replied.

Zhu Houzhao nodded and said, "After Jin Xianmin confesses, submit the confession record immediately."

"According to the order!"

Ma Yongcheng withdrew, and at night he asked to see Zhu Houzhao again and reported: "Your Majesty, according to Jin Xianmin's confession, he knew Prince Hui through Tao Zhongwen, the ambassador of Liaodong Treasury;
Tao Zhongwen is good at curing demons and diseases. Last year, Jin Xianmin's grandson got chickenpox and sought medical treatment everywhere but could not get a cure. After being introduced by someone, Tao Zhongwen prayed for him and his grandson recovered. Therefore, Jin Xianmin deeply respected Tao Zhongwen. Tao Zhongwen introduced King Hui to Jin Xianmin, saying that King Hui was a Taoist and was especially good at making longevity medicine. There was an 87-year-old man in Huang County who had died of the disease, but was saved by his magic water and medicine. He is now 111 years old! After Jin Xianmin got it, he asked King Hui for the medicine through King Hui's chief secretary. After taking it, he was full of energy and could not live without it every day. "

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but laugh after hearing what Ma Yongcheng said. He thought that chickenpox is a self-healing disease, and the self-healing rate of chickenpox in young children is high. Tao Zhongwen could actually successfully pretend to be cool and gain the trust of the Left Censor-in-Chief Jin Xianmin. The key was that he also dragged Prince Hui into it, and it turned out that Prince Hui was good at the art of immortality.

If I were not a time traveler, I might have believed this lie out of my attachment to life, and really thought that Prince Hui knew the secret of immortality, and would have chosen to forgive Prince Hui.

However, Zhu Houzhao is now very curious about what kind of elixir of immortality the Prince Hui gave to the 87-year-old man and Jin Xianmin, which can also invigorate people's spirits.

Zhu Houzhao smiled slightly and said, "Let Prince Hui Zhu Houluo come to see me tomorrow."

Ma Yongcheng thought that His Majesty the Emperor Zhu Houzhao was also interested in the so-called elixir of life, so he withdrew. He only sighed in his heart that even a wise emperor like His Majesty could easily be moved by such things as immortality. After all, who doesn't want to live longer?

……

Ji Xuan was captured by the people from the East Factory. It was impossible for Prince Hui not to be afraid or worried, but he had no other choice. In front of the Emperor Zhu Houzhao who possessed absolute power, it was useless even if his plans surpassed those of Zhuge Liang and Liu Bowen.

Because of this, when he received the imperial edict to go to the capital for discussion, he still chose to go there, and took the opportunity to continue spreading his secret of immortality.

Prince Hui can now only hope to use the elixir of immortality to fool most of the powerful and wealthy, and then fool the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

He didn't believe that Emperor Zhu Houzhao didn't want to live longer.

When Ma Yongcheng came to find Prince Hui, Prince Hui guessed that Emperor Zhu Houzhao must be interested in his elixir of immortality.

then.

The stone in Prince Hui's heart finally fell to the ground. He wished that the emperor would take his elixir of immortality. In this way, he could achieve his goal even without changing the emperor.

……

After Zhu Houzhao's order was issued, the Auxiliary General Zhu Chengchen had been escorted out of the Ten Princes' Palace by the Ministry of Justice. Moreover, Zhu Chengchen was still shouting, "Let me go! I am a member of the royal family. Why did you arrest me? I just beat up a lowly person and killed a soldier. What's the big deal? Do you want me to pay with my life?"

Prince Hui happened to see this scene. Seeing Zhu Chengchi's miserable appearance in shackles, he was very glad that he had not been punished because he knew some special Taoist skills. But he also began to look forward to letting the emperor truly enjoy his elixir of immortality, so that he would not have to wear shackles like Zhu Chengchi.

……

Zhu Houzhao met Zhu Chengchen first. He had heard about the arrogance of the royal family members before, but he did not expect that some of them were so arrogant that they dared to act wildly under the emperor's feet.

Therefore, this time, Zhu Houzhao planned to use Zhu Chengchen as an example to punish him. He wanted to let the people of the world know that anyone who violates the law will be punished by law, and even members of the royal family will not go unpunished.

So looking at Zhu Chengqi, Zhu Houzhao said: "According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, since you have killed someone, you must pay with your life! Zhu Chengqi, who gave you the courage to act wildly in the capital? Do you know who the policemen you killed are? They were warriors who once opened up new territories for the Ming Dynasty. Even the toll collector Gu Shi, whom you humiliated, was a scholar who graduated from a junior school, unlike you, an uneducated waste! Not only are you a waste, you are also lawless!"

Zhu Houzhao said, "Minister of Punishment Wang Jun, sentence him directly, no need to show any leniency!"

"The minister obeys the order!"

After Wang Jun said this, he immediately issued a decree from the Ministry of Justice: "Behead!"

Zhu Chengchen was shocked when he heard this and knelt down in front of Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty, I am a descendant of the royal family. How can you let me pay for my life for a few common people? I don't accept it, I don't accept it!"

Zhu Houzhao ignored Zhu Chengqi and left.

For the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Chengchen's death was indeed of practical significance. It not only made the royal family more disciplined, but also made the common people and officers and soldiers more fond of Zhu Houzhao. They knew that His Majesty was a good emperor who was willing to make decisions for lowly people like himself.

Even some low-level eunuchs in the inner court thought so and discussed it in a low voice. Hui Wang Zhu Houjue also heard a few comments and laughed coldly, muttering in his heart: "The good emperor still hopes to live forever and be the master forever!"

When Zhu Houzhao saw Prince Hui coming in, he asked directly, "Are you Prince Hui Zhu Houjue?"

Prince Hui bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I am Zhu Houluo."

Zhu Houzhao nodded and continued, "I heard that you are good at making elixirs for immortality. Can you bring some medicine today?"

"Your Majesty, I have brought it. I happened to get the best medicine before, but I didn't dare give it to others, so I brought it to the capital now. I thought that this best medicine must be enjoyed by the most noble people. However, this medicine needs to be smoked with a pipe, so I specially brought a golden pipe," said Prince Hui, and he came out with a bag of ointment in one hand and a pipe in the other.

Zhu Houzhao had almost guessed what the Prince of Hui was talking about, so he just nodded and asked, "What is the effect of this medicine?"

"Your Majesty, in the short term, it can invigorate the spirit, make one feel like a god, and make the whole body comfortable. If taken for a long time, it can prolong life," said Prince Hui, trying to sound respectful.

"Have you taken it yourself?" Zhu Houzhao asked.

Prince Hui was stunned for a moment, then explained: "This medicine is suitable for people with yang body. I have always been yin body, so I can't eat it, so I have never taken it."

"I think your constitution is yang, so you can take it. Come, give Prince Hui a bed and place it opposite the Moon Viewing Pond, so that Prince Hui can drink the elixir with the breeze and dew."

Zhu Houzhao ordered.

Prince Hui was shocked when he saw this. He panicked and said hurriedly, "Your Majesty, there is only one kind of this medicine, and it is very difficult to make. It can increase your lifespan by 500 years! If I use it, I will never have it again, Your Majesty!"

"It doesn't matter. If you can really live for 500 years, I will give you the kingdom!"

Zhu Houzhao said with a smile.

Prince Hui's eyes kept rolling, sweat was oozing out of his forehead, and he didn't know what to say for a moment.

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but look cold at this time: "Why, Prince Hui, do you want to disobey the order?"

"Your Majesty, I dare not!"

As Prince Hui was speaking, the eunuch Gu Dayong came in and said, "Your Majesty, the couch has been placed opposite the Moon Viewing Pond." Then, Gu Dayong turned around and bowed to Prince Hui, "Please move over, Prince Hui."

(End of this chapter)

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like