Chapter 416 Arrival in Jiangdu

Chapter 416 Arrival in Jiangdu

Chapter 416 Arrival in Jiangdu
The boat docked in Jianwei County. Xiao Xia helped his wife get off the boat for a walk, while the other four went to the county town for shopping.

"Chu Chen just told me that she moved to the lower floor to live with Sister Li, and she said you agreed."

Xiao Xia nodded, "She actually thought it was too crowded and inconvenient for you, so she moved out. I will live with Xiaoqing, and your maid can live in the outer room."

"Oh! So that's how it is. Actually, it's not too crowded with two maids."

"Just let her be! She wanted to go to the cargo ship again, but I stopped her. That's it. She has a good relationship with Sister Li."

Cui Yu no longer insisted and nodded, saying, "We can just change to a bigger ship when we get to Jiangling."

Perhaps because their relationship was becoming more and more harmonious, Zhang Qiao gradually became more cheerful, talking and laughing with everyone, and sometimes telling everyone stories about Qingcheng Mountain.

The fleet finally left the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River. That afternoon, the fleet arrived in Jiangling. There were already ten large ships with a capacity of 10,000 shi anchored in Jiangling. The largest of them had a capacity of 20,000 shi. It was the dragon boat of the royal family of Xiliang and had been renovated by the Jiangling government.

The dragon boat has four floors, which is actually a four-story attic built in the middle of the boat. The area is very large, and each attic has dozens of rooms. The dragon boats in the emperor's southern tour fleet later originated from this.

With enough rooms, the maids and servants also moved to the big ship to live, including Cui Yu's midwife.

The fleet continued to set off, heading east with 30,000 troops.
As the crown prince was assassinated, the emperor had to interrupt his inspection and rush back to Chang'an. Crown Prince Yang Zhao was also sent back to Chang'an for treatment.

In mid-July, Emperor Yang Guang announced a series of reform measures, among which the world was divided into ten circuits and two prefectures, namely Longyou Circuit, Hexi Circuit, Guanzhong Circuit, Jiannan Circuit, Hedong Circuit, Hebei Circuit, Henan Circuit, Jiangnan Circuit, Lianghu Circuit, and Lingnan Circuit, in addition to Jingzhao Prefecture and Dongdu Prefecture.

Each circuit had three offices, namely, the Capital Observation Office, the Capital Transport Office and the Capital Training Office. The imperial court sent three envoys to be in charge of supervision, transportation and training of the soldiers respectively.

In early August, the emperor announced the beginning of the relocation of the capital to Luoyang. Moving the capital to Luoyang was a huge project, which included the relocation of the imperial palace and officials, the transportation of supplies and food, and the transportation of documents and archives. It would take at least until the end of the year to complete the initial move.

Emperor Yang Guang also appointed Xiao Xia as the Southern Canal Construction Envoy, responsible for improving the Hang Canal and dredging the Jiangnan Canal.

The Jiangnan Road of the Sui Dynasty was a combination of the Jiangnan West Road, Jiangnan East Road and Huainan Road of the Tang Dynasty. It started from the Huai River in the north, ended at Jian'an County in the south, ended at Jiujiang County in the west, and reached the sea in the east. Jian'an County is today's Fujian. It had not been developed much in the Sui Dynasty and only had four counties: Minxian, Jian'an, Nangan and Longxi.

Jiangnan Road was a large area, including today's Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Upper Fujian, Anhui, Jiangxi and Shanghai, but the core area of ​​Jiangnan Road in the Sui Dynasty was still the prosperous area of ​​the former Southern Dynasties.

The seat of the Jiangnan Dao General Administration Office is still in Jiangdu County, which has always been the political center and material transfer center for the Sui Dynasty's rule over the Jiangnan region.

For Xiao Xia, it was a glorious return home.

In early August, Xiao Xia's army and fleet trudged thousands of miles and finally arrived in Jiangdu County. The army stationed in the Jiangdu camp and rested for ten days.

The second step was to determine the official office. The original Yangzhou Grand Marshal's Mansion had been demolished, and later the Jiangdu Palace was built on the original site of the Grand Marshal's Mansion.

Two months ago, the emperor's edict arrived in Jiangdu, agreeing to transform the Jiangdu Palace into the Jiangnan Road General Administration Office and the Prince of Jin's Palace.

The Jiangdu Palace is located on the shore of the Slender West Lake outside the north city. It consists of two parts: the government offices and the harem, covering a total area of ​​250 acres. It is surrounded by high palace walls. There is a straight special passage leading directly to the city. There are walls on both sides of the passage, and peach and plum trees are planted on both sides of the road.

The renovation mainly involved building a very high wall to divide the General Manager's Mansion and the Prince of Jin's Mansion into two, and also built a gate for each of them.

The original government office had been renovated and renamed Jiangnan Dao General Administration Office. Unlike other Daos, Jiangnan Dao was ruled by the King of Jin and was in charge of military and political affairs. It had four offices under it, namely, the Shangshu Xingtai, the Supervisory Department, the Transportation Department, the Tuanlian Department, and the Criminal Review Department. Xiao Xia immediately appointed Liu Wenjing as the Tongpan of Shangshu Xingtai, Zhang Yunqiu as the Tongpan of the Supervisory Department, Pei Wen'an as the Tongpan of the Transportation Department, Zhang Liang and Wei Zheng as the Tongpan of the Tuanlian Department and the Criminal Review Department respectively.

Tongpan was an official position that only existed in the Northern Song Dynasty. Xiao Xia adopted it considering the Northern Song Dynasty's practices. The chief official was the chief and the Tongpan was the deputy. The chief official was in charge of documents, while the Tongpan was in charge of practical affairs. A government decree must have the seals of both the chief official and the Tongpan to take effect.

Xiao Xia also set up the Secretariat and the Jin Wang Weijun Office. The Secretariat had left and right directors, with Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui serving as the left and right directors.

Like the King of Qi's Guard, the Prince of Jin's Guard was also a military guard specially approved by the emperor to exist outside the capital, each with 30,000 troops. They were directly under the King of Jin and the King of Qi.

Therefore, the Chief Secretary of the Jin Prince's Guard was responsible for the daily management of the 30,000 troops directly under his command. This position was very important and only the most trusted among the trusted people could hold it. Xiao Xia could not find a suitable candidate for the time being, so he let Pei Wen'an continue to hold the position concurrently, as he had been in charge of military affairs before.

Xiao Xia immediately issued the Order of King Jin, requiring the provincial governors and chief secretaries of all counties in Jiangnan Road to report to the General Administration Office before the end of the year.

The Prince of Jin Mansion where Xiao Xia lives was converted from the harem part of the Jiangdu Palace. The Jiangdu Palace was built when Emperor Wen of Sui visited Jiangdu. It had not been completed at that time. In addition, Concubine Chen wanted to see her homeland again, so the previous emperor Yang Jian did not live in the palace, but lived on a big ship.

The harem covers an area of ​​120 acres, and there are not many overall renovations. After all, the temporary palace is not the imperial palace, and it is much smaller in itself. Basically, there is no renovation involving usurpation of power. In fact, it mainly involves the construction of a new gate and three long walls, changing the layout of the imperial palace into that of a mansion, divided into the front yard, the central courtyard, the back house, and the left and right courtyards.

What’s interesting is that there is an artificial hill in the backyard, about ten feet high. Hundreds of big trees are planted on the hill and below, providing dense shade. There is a stone path leading to the top of the hill, and there are pavilions on the top of the hill.

At the foot of the mountain is a small lake covering an area of ​​30 acres, called Heart Lake. The backyard houses are built around the Heart Lake, with pavilions and towers scattered around, which is very elegant.

The rear house was only for the emperor and several concubines to live in. It was elegant and had not many houses, only a few small courtyards and five or six pavilions. Therefore, a large number of buildings were built in the left and right courtyards for the palace maids and eunuchs to live in.

There is a small courtyard covering an area of ​​two acres at the foot of the mountain, called Nanshan Xiaozhu. It is nestled in the mountain and beside the water, with a bamboo forest. There are several thatched huts in the bamboo forest and an open space in front for planting flowers or vegetables. This was the place for seclusion built at the request of the late Emperor Yang Jian.

When Yang Jian felt tired, he also thought about living a secluded life picking chrysanthemums in the southeast and leisurely admiring the Nanshan Mountains.

Zhang Qiao fell in love with Nanshan Cottage at first sight. She liked it very much. She liked the bamboo forest and the quietness here. She could continue to refine medicine here and grow medicinal herbs.

Zhang Qiao has already returned to secular life. It is impossible to build a Taoist temple for her as Xiao Xia said and let her continue to live the life of a female Taoist priest. That would be tantamount to becoming a nun again. Xiao Xia would not tie herself up in knots.

Therefore, building a Taoist temple was just talk, and at most she would be allowed to be a Taoist female layperson.

In addition, there is a hot spring in the palace, which is basically a standard feature of the palace. The palaces of the Sui and Tang emperors in various places must have hot springs, and the Jiangdu Palace is of course no exception.

It is this hot spring that makes women fall in love with this place at once. The water temperature of the hot spring is 60 degrees. It is a geyser that springs out once in the afternoon and once in the evening every day, with abundant water.

Before in Hexi, Xiao Xia wanted to find a hot spring. He did find one, but it was eighty miles away from Guzang County. Running eighty miles to soak in a hot spring was a bit tiring, so Xiao Xia considered building a winter manor on the hot spring.

But his term ended before the idea could be implemented.

Moving to a new home is also the busiest time. Cui Yu is in poor health, so Achu is in charge of the moving process. She is very capable and is busy running around inside and outside the house. She is very thoughtful and arranges everything for the whole family. Even Cui Yu sighs that it is a waste of her talent to be a housekeeper.

Everyone was busy for nearly half a month before they finally settled down.

(End of this chapter)