Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

After affirming Chen Qiyu's achievements, Zhu Youjian asked:
"Where are the gates on the east and west sides planned to be located?"

Chen Qiyu pointed to the block map and said:

"Minister Zhang believes that in addition to the north-south axis, an east-west axis can be built to facilitate your majesty's travel."

"After the completion of this central axis, Your Majesty can turn left at Chengtian Gate, go east through Chang'an Left Gate, and follow East Chang'an Avenue to reach the outskirts of the city."

"This street can be called East Street. Together with West Street on the west side, North Street near the Bell and Drum Tower, and South Street outside Zhengyang Gate, they are collectively known as the Four Streets of the Capital."

"Its width will be up to 100 meters, in accordance with the current Chang'an Avenue standard."

This was a temporary increase in width by Chen Qiyu to please the emperor.

Originally, he had discussed with officials from the Ministry of Works and the Imperial Household Department about a width of 40 meters, the same as the previous street standards.

But after the emperor raised the standards of the main streets and side streets, he soon realized:

The emperor liked wide streets.

So he quickly changed the standard and set the width of East Street, which was an extension of Chang'an Avenue to the east, to 100 meters.

The same is true for other streets on the central axis. All those that can be expanded in width will be increased to 100 meters during this street renovation.

Zhu Youjian really liked wide streets because he knew that after this reconstruction, it would be difficult to rebuild again in the future.

This time, we can take advantage of the relocation of the capital's garrisons to develop outside the city, freeing up some land to exchange for houses in the city. If we want to exchange houses in the future, we won't be able to find so many places.

Especially after the invention of cement, earthenware brick and tile houses are gradually being transformed into cement concrete houses, and high-rise permanent houses will gradually increase.

At that time, the difficulty of demolition and reconstruction would be incomparable.

So he would rather it appear a little empty now, but leave enough street width.

To avoid this, it will be too late to expand the roads as the population of the capital increases.

The width of the central axis street is 100 meters, which is exactly what Zhu Youjian wants. He pointed at the ministers and said with a smile:

"It's not just me who will have convenient travel, it's also you guys."

"It will be much more convenient for officials living in the east to attend court in the future."

"You can even buy a manor outside the city and own a larger mansion."

The ministers burst into laughter, and no one raised any objection to opening the city gates on the east and west sides.

Because these two city gates are indeed convenient for them. In the future, they can directly leave the city along Chang'an Avenue, without having to go north and exit from Chaoyangmen or Fuchengmen.

Moreover, the emperor's words had some hidden meaning.

That is, after the implementation of the property tax policy, property tax will be levied on all houses with an area of ​​more than one acre in the city, except for granted houses.

Outside the city, the area is increased to five acres, and only houses with an area larger than five acres will be levied property tax.

Those officials who were not granted houses but liked big houses could buy houses outside the city after the east and west city gates were opened, without having to worry about taking a long detour and missing court sessions.

Therefore, the proposal to open city gates on the east and west sides did not encounter any opposition.

Xue Fengxiang, the Minister of War, even said:
"Your Majesty, the names of the three city gates, East, West, and North, have not yet been decided."

"Why not give it a name so that officials and citizens can rejoice!"

Zhu Youjian nodded slightly, not rejecting his kindness. Thinking about the names of later generations, he knew that these were the Gate of the People's Republic and the Gate of Fuxing, two gates opened when the Beijing city wall was still there.

Of course, he couldn't use this name now. He said as he considered:

"The gate on East Street should have the word 'East' in it."

“Because it is an extension of East Chang’an Avenue, Dong’anmen is the most suitable place.”

"But Dong'anmen, Xi'anmen and Bei'anmen are the names of the imperial city gates, so using this one would be redundant."

"I think we can use the word '闾'. What do you think?"

Xue Fengxiang immediately praised it and echoed the emperor, saying:

"Lu means gate. The east gate of Qi State in the Spring and Autumn Period was called Donglu."

"Your Majesty named it Donglu Gate, what a wonderful name!"

Even if there were some officials who did not appreciate the name, they did not come out to spoil the fun. The three newly opened city gates were named Donglu Gate, Xilu Gate, and Beilu Gate according to their locations.

Together with the original nine gates of the inner city, they are collectively called the Twelve Gates of the Inner City.

Together with the seven gates of the outer city in the south, the four gates of the imperial city, and the four gates of the palace city, there are a total of twenty-seven gates.

This number sounds a bit unpleasant, and Zhu Youjian wanted to open more gates in the imperial city to facilitate future travel. So he pointed to the north of Donghua Gate and said:
"I intend to open an imperial city gate here, so that it is convenient to leave the palace from Xuanwu Gate and then directly leave the city from Chaoyang Gate."

"The name of this city gate is Dongyang Gate."

"The government office of Dongcheng District is located at the intersection of Dongyangmen Street, Chaoyangmen Street and Chongwenmenli Street. It is convenient for officials in Dongcheng District to govern the entire Dongcheng District."

After he said this, the ministers remembered that after the Wucheng Bingmasi was transferred to the Five Military Commandery, it was no longer appropriate to place the government offices of the three city districts in the Bingmasi.

In this case, it is natural to choose a location to build a new government office.

Looking throughout the entire Dongcheng District, of course the intersection of Chaoyangmen Street and Chongwenmen Street is the most central.

Therefore, the officials had no objection to the establishment of the Dongcheng District Office, and even proposed to establish the same office for the Xicheng District and the Nancheng District, also in the center of the district.

Finally, the Xicheng District government office was located at the intersection of Fuchengmen Street and Xuanwumenli Street, and the Nancheng District government office was located at the intersection of Zhengyangmen Street and Guangningmen Street, which is the Zhushikou area.

Zhu Youjian thought the name sounded bad, so he changed it to imitate the later Zhushikou. He also planned to let Baohe Commercial Bank open a pearl shop to make Zhushikou live up to its name.

In the future, Zhushikou in the south city will be listed as one of the five major commercial centers in the capital, along with the Lantern Market and Bell and Drum Tower Market in the east city, and the Horse Market and City God Temple Market in the west city.

After the location of the government office was decided, many officials began to have doubts about opening a new gate in the imperial city.

The biggest worry is that the feng shui will be ruined and will affect the country's destiny in the future.

Minister of Rites Cheng Jiming said with concern:

"The gates of the imperial city were determined when it was built."

"If we want to make changes now, do we need to consult the geomancy first?"

In this regard, Zhu Youjian said:
"I have ordered the officials of the Imperial Observatory to take a look. They said that the palace has more yin than yang, which is due to the lack of yang energy."

"I have decided to open the Dongyang Gate facing the Chaoyang Gate, and bring the Yang energy from the Dongyang Gate and Chaoyang Gate into Wansui Mountain, so that the Yang energy in the palace will be strong."

"The princes will be more likely to survive, and there will be fewer rebellious eunuchs like Wei Zhongxian."

This statement touched the hearts of the ministers.

When they heard that it would reduce the emergence of powerful eunuchs like Wei Zhongxian, they immediately expressed that they could open the Dongyang Gate.

It also infers that the emperor is the supreme ruler, so the imperial city was given five gates, and together with the palace city, there are nine gates, which is more in line with the number of nine.

Anyone who dares not to agree will have trouble with them!
It can be said that Wei Zhongxian really scared the officials in the court, and they tried every means to prevent the emergence of a new Wei Zhongxian.

However, Zhu Youjian's explanation was obviously just an excuse. What he really valued was that after opening this city gate, when he came out of Xuanwu Gate, he could go to Dongyang Gate in the east in addition to Bei'an Gate in the north and Xi'an Gate in the west.

In order to avoid being trapped in the Imperial City, the only way was to climb Coal Hill.

At the same time, next to Dongyang Gate is the Imperial Horse Administration. Turn left and walk north for a distance to the Zhongcheng Bingmasi Yamen.

The military government that governed the military affairs of the Beijing camp was also moved by Zhu Youjian from the Lantern Market to the Zhongfu Grassland area, not far from Donghuamen and closer to Dongyangmen.

After opening the Dongyang Gate, he could more easily dispatch troops from the Beijing Camp and the Zhongcheng Military Region through the Imperial Stables.

It can be said that he had wanted to open this imperial city gate for a long time and had made a lot of preparations before.

Now, together with the idea of ​​opening a new city gate, I have brought this up to the attention of my ministers.

In order to ensure that everything went smoothly, he made up a reason to increase Yang energy and successfully got the approval of his ministers.

From then on, the matter of the new city gate was basically settled. Zhu Youjian pointed to the road surrounding the imperial city and said:

"The north side of the imperial city is Huangqiang North Street, the west side is Huangqiang West Street, and the Huodaobanbian Street in the east will be renamed Huangqiang East Street in the future."

"To the southwest is the Taipusi Temple, and that road can be called Taipusi Street." "These four streets, together with Chang'an Avenue in the south, form a ring road around the imperial city."

"Taipu Temple needs to be well planned to prevent people from occupying the road."

Chen Qiuyu was really overjoyed when he heard the emperor name Huangcheng Road after Taipu Temple.

He agreed immediately and said that he would strictly follow the road standards to rectify the road.

After Zhu Youjian used the imperial city to determine a ring road, he sighed again:

"It's a pity that Shichahai cuts off the north, otherwise Chang'an Avenue, Chongwenmenli Street, Xuanwumenli Street, and Gulou Street could be connected together to form a ring road around the city."

"The bridge-building technology needs to be improved as soon as possible so that we can build a bridge that meets street standards."

"A route must also be reserved around Shichahai so that the connection can be completed once the bridge is built in the future."

This is the standard first ring road in his mind, which is more convenient for people in the city to travel. It's a pity that it can't be completed because of Shichahai.

As the Minister of the Imperial Household, Chen Qiuyu hastily assured the emperor that he would improve the bridge-building technology and build a wide and flat bridge across Shichahai in the future.

Zhu Youjian encouraged him a few words and began to determine the second ring road that would go around the existing city wall.

This road was also tentative, because Zhu Youjian wanted to build it outside the city. But that would be convenient for the enemy to attack the city, so he could only determine the second ring along Shuncheng Street inside the city wall:

"There are Shuncheng Streets next to the city walls, which are convenient for the movement of troops."

"These streets must also be kept open and even gradually widened."

"In the future, we will lay railroad tracks on the road surface to facilitate the transfer of artillery and other supplies on the city wall."

This was the successful experience of the Dalingh River Defense War. Rail transportation, which had just been adopted by the Ming Dynasty, showed great convenience in operating artillery on the city walls.

The city wall of the capital was very old, and some places were not convenient for building railways on it. Zhu Youjian chose to build it on Shuncheng Street next to the city wall. Normally, horse-drawn trams could pass through it, making it convenient for residents to travel.

The officials of the Privy Council all agreed with this. They thought that it would be better to build the horse-drawn tram in Shuncheng Street than in other places.

They never skimp on military spending.

Especially when I think about the fact that last year, in order to guard against the Jianlu, they actually assembled 400,000 troops in Shuntian Prefecture.

Li Banghua also suggested:
"When Emperor Shizong built the outer city, he originally planned to build the northeast, west and north walls after the south city was completed."

"Later, when the project was completed, only the South City was built."

"I think that instead of gathering a large number of troops to guard against the invasion of the Jianlu, it would be better to build a few more city walls to surround the capital."

"Place a guard post between the outer city and the inner city and let them guard the city."

This was a proposal from the Privy Council to complete the outer city wall that had not been fully built during the Jiajing period, and to allocate the land between the inner and outer cities to the garrisons for reclamation.

(Nie Bao's plan for the outer city on all four sides during the Jiajing period, with the direction of the city walls estimated and restored)

Zhu Youjian had never thought that it would be possible to let the soldiers farm in the city.

But after thinking about it, he felt that it was indeed feasible and could support more troops.

So after considering it, he said:

"Building an outer wall is good, but it costs too much."

"I think we should wait until we have the financial resources to do so. Now we should first explore the location and build a Shuncheng Street."

"The land inside can indeed be cultivated by the soldiers of the garrison and distributed to the garrisons guarding the gates."

"Each garrison will have one to two thousand hereditary soldiers and military households as standing troops."

The Third Ring Road that he planned to build was built first under the name of Outer City Shuncheng Street.

The land along this road was included in the outer city area. Combined with the previous plan to build outer squares as defense facilities, 17 squares were built outside the 17 city gates.

He pointed to the map of the capital's streets and said:

"Five miles north of Deshengmen is Jiandemen of the Qianyuan period."

"The earthen city still remains as a defense facility in the north."

"Based on Beitucheng, Shuncheng Street will be built inside it as the third ring road."

“If we build an outer city in the future, we will build it along this road.”

"With roads, it will be easier to transport materials for building the city."

In the name of future construction of the outer city, it was proposed to build a third ring road.

The scope of this road is larger than the Third Ring Road of later generations. It is the core area of ​​the capital prepared by Zhu Youjian.

Its style is also designed into an octagon to save distance.

If a city is really built in the future, it can be built in the style of a bastion.

(The octagonal ring road and outer city are conceptualized, refer to the octagonal bastion in the lower right corner)
This method was praised by all the ministers.

Even though no one objected when Li Banghua proposed building a city, if he really wanted to build an outer city, the Ministry of Revenue would probably be the first to object.

During the Jiajing reign, when the Ming Dynasty was at its peak, they were only able to build the southern city wall. Now that the imperial court was running out of money, how could they afford to build an outer city?

In comparison, the emperor's proposal to conduct preliminary surveys and build a ring road around the city was much simpler.

If the financial situation does improve in the future, we can rebuild the city wall.

However, many people find the octagonal wall unpleasant to the eye.
"The city wall should be on four sides."

"If it is not surrounded by four sides, it is not a kingly system!"

"I think we should build four walls."

Zhu Youjian frowned but didn't say anything.

Xu Guangqi, the Grand Secretary who had been silent, said:

"The four walls are not suitable for building a star-shaped fortress."

"Moreover, the terrain to the west of the capital is low-lying and the soil is filled with sand, making it difficult to build a city wall."

"When the four walls were designed during the Jiajing period, they went around that place. If we build the four walls today, we still need to go around that place."

"I think it would be better to build five, six, nine, or ten sides to surround the Yuyuantan area."

As a supporter of bastions, he really wanted to build the capital into a star-shaped fortress.

However, not only did the ministers not accept this multi-faceted proposal, but Zhu Youjian also felt that it was too radical.

This kind of polygon can easily be trimmed into strange shapes, which looks unsightly.

So Zhu Youjian said:
"It is possible to surround Yuyuantan with eight walls. If it is suitable after exploration, we can build eight walls to take into account both aesthetics and defense."

"This will not only be consistent with gossip, but also show the influence of all directions in the capital. I and the ministers are listening to the voices from all over the place."

(The Ring Road in the book is roughly equivalent to the current Third Ring Road, but it is a little further north and uses the northern earth city left over from Yuan Dadu)
The meaning of the Eight Diagrams and the winds coming from all directions was good. The officials thought of the winding city walls designed during the Jiajing period and felt that although the eight-sided walls were somewhat inconsistent with the ancient system of four-sided walls, they could still accept them. If the terrain was not suitable for building a city after exploration, they would continue to make changes.

However, Zhu Youjian didn't think that the outer city could be built, and there was even no need to build it.

With the emergence of metal fixed ammunition, the threat from the grassland will be greatly reduced, and the northern barbarians will basically not be able to attack within the Great Wall. In the future, what is more important for Beijing is coastal defense and guarding the Tianjin area.

Another point is that the Ming Dynasty's firearms were developing rapidly. If explosives were developed, the existing city walls, no matter how thick they were, could be destroyed by explosives.

It would be better to build numerous fortifications and construct fortified areas.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian was still inclined to build an outer district and construct a series of fortifications outside the city wall.

However, there is no precedent for this approach. If he clearly states that the outer city wall will not be repaired, then few people in the city will be willing to leave.

This left him with no choice but to come up with a plan for the outer city wall and encourage his ministers to take the lead in guiding the people of the capital to buy property outside the city.

The existing properties outside the city walls are also treated as those outside the city walls. (End of this chapter)