Chapter 12 two

Longgang is bordered by Nanping Mountain in the north, Jinlianchuan in the south, and vast grasslands stretching as far as the eye can see on the east and west sides. The terrain is flat and suitable for building a city. The construction of Kaiping Mansion took three years.In the first year, the palace was started, and in the second year, the palace city was restored.The hundreds of thousands of craftsmen used in the construction of Kaiping Mansion all came from the Central Plains and some places in Hanzhong, and most of the building materials such as wood, bricks, stones, etc. were processed on the spot, and those in the Huan and Fu areas were transported from the Central Plains and Yanshan. come over.

The construction of Kaiping Mansion used the ancient Han-style fortification method. This square city pool can be said to be the shape that has been used in flat ground since ancient times.Building an urn outside the city gate is also a traditional way of building a city in ancient China, which was widely used as early as the Han Dynasty.For example, the Jiluzhai and Chaolu Kulun Ancient City in the Western Han Dynasty were built using this method, mainly to strengthen the defense of important city gates.The style of the palace in the city also imitates the urban architecture of the Song Dynasty.For example, Da'an Pavilion followed the architectural style of Xichun Pavilion in Bianjing City, and built Hongxi and Ruisi Halls behind the pavilion.The streets in the city are well-regulated, and the gates in the east, west, north, and south face each other in pairs, but the main arterial roads are not straight through, and are blocked by Miyagi or Richeng, and the other end of the road often meets the side street to form a crossroad.

The construction of Kaiping City, which attracted worldwide attention, was a major event that was most talked about by the people in Monan Han area at that time. Kaiping City became a well-known topic of discussion through the transportation of building materials and supplies, and through the merchants traveling between the north and the south. , and thus derived a folk legend that Kublai Khan borrowed land from the dragon to build the city. According to legend, when Liu Taibao (Zicong) moved the capital, because there was a dragon pond on the ground, it could not be dried up, so it was said that the emperor should borrow the land from the dragon, and the emperor followed it.It was the third watch of the night when the thunder shook, and the dragon had already flown up.Tomorrow the foundation will be built with soil.

Later, Yang Yun, a poet, touched the scene and wrote a poem to remember it. Kaiping Mansion is located on the southern edge of the Mobei grassland in Mongolia, and is located at a strategic point.It is connected to Shuomo in the north, which is convenient for maintaining contact with the Mongolian Khan court in Harahelin; it is connected to the hinterland in the south, which is convenient for controlling North China and the Central Plains.Designating Kaiping Mansion as the place for festivals not only met the needs of Kublai Khan as a vassal king in charge of military and political affairs in Monan, but also had geographical convenience for "exhibiting relatives and meeting the court, and this is the way to get the right way".Especially in the process from the Great Mongol Kingdom to the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, the political, cultural, and military centers of the Mongolian rulers also gradually realized the transfer from Harahelin in Mobei to the capital (Beijing).The construction of Kaiping City was exactly the transitional step from the steppe nomadic empire to the Central Plains dynasty.

Kublai Khan has completed a historic leap, a brand-new grassland capital, overcame many difficulties, and miraculously appeared on the banks of the Lightning River under the hard work and efforts of thousands of designers, craftsmen, and slaves. The Lightning River runs from northwest to southeast, surrounded by earth and mountains for more than half of the bend, and turns to the east, like a colorful ribbon, passing away in the east. Kaiping City is located on the south bank of the Lightning River.The construction of Kaiping City is completely designed according to the "Five Elements and Bagua Orientation Map" of Beishui, Nanhuo, Xijin, Dongmu, Zhongtu and Qian, Kan and Gen on the top, Dui and Zhen in the middle, and Kun, Li and Xun on the bottom. The city is square and consists of the outer city (including Guanxiang), the imperial city and the palace city.The setting of the palace city is arranged according to the "Nine Palaces of Luoshu", which is divided into "three three see nine" combination of Li 1, Gen 2, Dui 3, Qian 4, Zhongtu 5, Xun 6, Zhen 7, Kun 8, and Kan 9 .

The walls of the outer city are 1,320 steps long on each side, and the walls are all made of loess slabs. They are one foot five feet high, three feet wide at the bottom, and six feet wide at the top.The outer city is divided into two parts. Starting from the north gate of the imperial city and the west wall of the urn city, there is an east-west earth wall, which reaches the outer city earth wall. It is about six feet wide and separates the outer city, so that the north and the south cannot communicate.The north is an east-west hill with flat terrain and no streets.There is a stone courtyard in the south of the middle of the hill.There are east-west avenues in the south, a north-south avenue, and shops and houses near the streets.

The northern part of the outer city is the royal garden, also known as "Beiyuan".Beiyuan "ancient trees shade the garden wall, geese pass early and green clouds grow long", with charming scenery, tall elms and dwarf willows, nasturtium and purple chrysanthemum, the scenery is infinite, and the original natural features are maintained.The inner garden is full of peonies, the pavilions are several feet straight up, and the flowers are as big as a bucket. It is a place for the royal family to enjoy and relax.The outer garden raises animals, cultivates flowers and trees, and is a place for hunting and galloping horses.

There are customs chambers in the east, south and west of Kaiping Prefecture.What is Guanxiang?In layman's terms, it is the street outside the city gate and the surrounding areas.There are 480 steps to the east gate, 600 steps to the west gate, and 360 steps to the south gate. Only the north of the city does not have a gate connected to the city gate. That is because this is the royal garden and a restricted area for the common people.There are many counting houses in the east gate, and the horse market in the west gate is bustling.Dongguan is close to the imperial city, and the princes and nobles who came to see them often arrange the tribes they brought to live here, and the gifts are handed over to the accounting room for approval.Nanguan is outside the Mingde Gate, and it is the main street entering Kaiping Mansion. The businesses on both sides face each other, and the road is wide. The prosperity of its industry and commerce is self-evident.

The south gate of the outer city is called Mingde Gate, and there are also east gate, small east gate, west gate, small west gate and north gate.The imperial city is located in the southeast direction within the outer city wall and is square.Each side is eight hundred and forty paces long.The east and south walls of the imperial city are part of the east and south walls of the outer city.Although the outer wall of the imperial city is built with loess slabs, the surface is paved with granite stones.The wall is two feet high, four feet wide at the bottom, and seven feet five inches wide at the top.There are tall turret foundations at the four corners of the imperial city.

There is one gate in the north and south of the imperial city, and two gates in the east and west.The east wall gate of the outer wall is the gate of the imperial city, and the south wall has another gate besides the gate of the imperial city, one gate in the southwest and two gates in the north.All the gates of the imperial city and the outer city are built with urns, some of which are shaped like horseshoes, and some of which are shaped like rectangles. The south gate of Miyagi is called Yutian Gate, the east gate is Donghua Gate, and the west gate is Xihua Gate.Entering the city, the first thing that catches the eye is the palace covered with glazed tiles in various colors of yellow, blue and green and the floor paved with marble.The walls of the house are painted with gold, and various birds, animals, flowers and trees are painted.The Hongxi Hall, Crystal Hall, Xiangdian, Xuanwen Hall, Ruisi Pavilion, Renchun Pavilion and other palace buildings in the palace city are magnificent, with winding paths leading to secluded places and winding peaks.Muqing Pavilion, a "Que-style" building on the north city wall, climbs up and overlooks, and you can have a panoramic view of the scenery and buildings of the palace city, imperial city and outer city.The hunting ground to the north of the outer city is composed of grassland and woods, and all kinds of animals, especially deer, are domesticated for Kublai Khan's hunting needs in the hunting ground.There are also tens of thousands of white mares in the garden, and the milk produced is usually used to make horseshoes, and is also enjoyed by the royal family.

Mengge Khan was very upset about the reforms that Kublai Khan implemented in Monan Han.According to his original intention, it was nothing more than to use Kublai Khan to guard the Central Plains, and Hulagu to guard the Western Regions and command troops to conquer the Arab countries—or to put it more bluntly, to send two younger brothers to control the two wings of the empire respectively, Its purpose is to ensure that the power of the empire will always belong to the Tuolei faction, and with the backing of military force and economic strength, it will consolidate the khan position it has seized from the Wokuotai faction after going through bloody storms.However, Kublai Khan is like a cheetah that is difficult to control, once out of the cage, he has no scruples.The information he obtained from various sources confirmed that during his stay in Mobei, Kublai Khan had already paid attention to and paid attention to the affairs of Han in Monan, and gathered a group of advisers in the mansion, with Han Confucian staff as the core, and both literary and military strategies. Brave general.Especially after he was appointed to be in charge of the military and political affairs of Monan, this younger brother, who was ambitious and talented when he was young, was even more at ease when he was praised by his grandfather Genghis Khan. He not only moved to Jinlianchuan immediately, built a city and a government, but also continued Invite celebrities from all over the world to ask for advice on how to govern the country.How can it not be suspicious of doing so? Could it be that Kublai Khan really had the ambition to dominate the Central Plains? At the same time, Zi Cong, Yao Shu, Dou Mo, the counselors of the vassal government, reported to Kublai Khan many times the serious situation of "death in the Han land" and many mistakes in the war against the Song Dynasty, such as "indiscriminate killing of generals in victory", The Song people took revenge and resisted desperately, but the southerners were unwilling to surrender. As a result, "there are no residents in the city, and the fields are wild" along the border, making the war against the Song Dynasty lack of a solid rear base.After a comprehensive analysis of these opinions, Kublai Khan sent envoys to submit a written report to Mengge Khan, requesting the establishment of the Xingzhou Appeasement Department, the Henan Economic Strategy Department, and the Shaanxi Xuanfu Department, and recommended talented people from the vassal government to serve as chief executives and deputy officials. Corrupt officials, agreeing to the legal system, rewarding farming and mulberry, and equalizing taxes... The content of the memorial is comprehensive and the opinions are pertinent. Henan is located at the forefront of the war against the Song Dynasty. For the sake of the overall situation, Kublai Khan once again requested: use Shi Tianze, Zhao Bi, etc. Zhuzhou, Deng, Ru, Cai, and Ying set up farmland to accumulate grain storage; sent troops to repair the castles in Xiangyang, Guanghua, Junzhou and other places, enriched the frontiers, and confronted the Song Xiangfan defense line.After repeatedly weighing the pros and cons, Mengge Khan resignedly replied: ready to play! With the consent of Mengge Khan, Kublai Khan began to let go of the "New Deal" in the three areas, which achieved remarkable results and won the support of the people in the Central Plains.However, this move inevitably violated the interests of some Mongolian nobles who were accustomed to reckless expropriation. They wrote letters one after another, maliciously slandering and provoking the relationship between Mengge Khan and Kublai Khan.Some aristocratic ministers also seized on the reason of Kublai Khan's construction of the Kaiping Mansion, and repeatedly slandered Kublai Khan, "the king's mansion won the hearts of the Chinese people, and his aspirations are not small", "the people of the king's mansion acted on their own power for profiteering (wealth was lost to the king's mansion) ), taking money and breaking the law, his plans are not close at hand." Hearing and witnessing the great progress made in all aspects of Monan Han, the conservative forces around Meng Ge Khan also began to criticize Kublai Khan's "rebellious" behavior of using Han people and applying Han law. , couldn't help arousing Meng Ge's suspicion even deeper.In this way, the long-standing contradiction between Meng Ge and Kublai Khan about how to govern the Han land, whether to follow the "Mongolian law" or the "Han law" inevitably broke out.