The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 194 Don’t Change Your Name

In mid-November of the 42nd year of Xianning, all residents of the old city of Shuntian Prefecture were evacuated.

The surrounding residents who were related to the former Qing court, mainly the managers and servants of the estates of the Eight Banners nobles, were also all sent to Liaodong to open up wasteland.

More than one million people were quickly cleared out from around Shuntian Prefecture.

The work of clearing land and exchanging deeds has been completed in all counties of Shuntian Prefecture, and should be completed before the end of the year in most areas of northern Zhili.

Because of the enclosure operations during the early days of the Qing Dynasty's invasion of the Central Plains, almost all the land around Shuntian Prefecture was banner land, and there were basically no ordinary Han people landlords.

In the following hundred years, even though many Han landlords actually obtained the right to operate the land, the ownership of the land still belonged to the banner.

There were also some Han officials who were granted some land, but these people were also included in the scope of Qing court personnel.

Therefore, the result of the land clearing in Shuntian Prefecture was that all the land became the property of the king.

The ordinary tenants and farmhands who originally worked on these lands were now all incorporated into the newly established military farms of the Wu State.

Outside of Shuntian Prefecture, many prefectures and counties in northern Zhili close to Shuntian Prefecture, although not all of their land was banner land, there was not much left in most places.

Therefore, the work of clearing land and exchanging deeds in Shuntian Prefecture and Northern Zhili was handled unusually quickly.

After the land clearance and contract exchange in these places were completed, Wu's control over these places was basically stabilized.

The treatment of the military farm guards was much better than that of ordinary tenants.

The military farms were set up to train only militiamen, with one person from each household receiving basic military training on a regular basis.

However, young and strong people who are willing to serve as regular troops will be selected from the militia, first formed into auxiliary divisions, and then further trained to become main divisions.

The State of Wu now has to control more than 100 million people in the north, and a total of more than 200,000 troops are far from enough.

Now the entire Central Plains region is engaged in farming and military training.

Zhu Jianxuan’s future goal is to organize one hundred main divisions and maintain a total of one million regular troops.

Wuguo Northern Agricultural Company, Wuguo Northern Industrial Company, and Wuguo Immigration Company have all been established and will begin operations by the beginning of next spring at the latest.

At that time, a group of craftsmen were dispatched from the Wu Kingdom to carry out research in Shuntian Prefecture and provide engineering support.

In the past month, news has been coming back from the Northwest, Northeast, and North America.

Most of the local Qing troops surrendered according to Qianlong's order, and the few who refused to surrender were also eliminated.

The Mongolian princes on the grassland also expressed their willingness to accept the Ming Dynasty's enthronement.

The war in the north could be over by the end of the year.

Zhu Jianxuan has arranged for the Secretariat and the Privy Council to cooperate in compiling statistics on the achievements and contributions of various personnel in this Northern Expedition and drawing up several recommended plans for rewards.

When the New Year comes, a grand reward ceremony will be held to bestow titles on all the generals who participated in the Northern Expedition.

Zhu Jianxuan has recently moved to live in the Old Summer Palace. This name is very suitable for the Ming Dynasty.

The Wu officials and craftsmen who came to Shuntian Prefecture with Zhu Jianxuan were also arranged to live in several gardens around the Old Summer Palace.

Zhu Jianxuan's student named Wang Lai took several craftsmen from the Du Shuisi to explore the surrounding terrain these days and reported to Zhu Jianxuan this morning.

"Teacher, the area where the Old Summer Palace is located is relatively lower than the north and south sides.

“From Yuquan Mountain to the Summer Palace, and then to Yuanmingyuan and Tsinghua Garden, the terrain of these gardens is getting lower and lower.

“That’s why the spring water originating from Yuquan Mountain can flow all the way here.

"The Huiqing River in the north of these gardens can drain the spring water in the gardens, but the width and depth of the Huiqing River are not enough.

“In years with heavy rainfall, the lake in the garden may overflow.

“So the students suggested that workers be dispatched next spring to dredge the lower reaches of Huiqing River to facilitate drainage of surrounding gardens.”

Zhu Jianxuan is quite satisfied with these students. Wang Lai just turned 20 this year, and he is very organized in his actions and words.

Zhu Jianxuan vaguely remembered that the terrain of the Old Summer Palace was indeed low, and it seemed that it had been flooded around 1800 in history.

The rain caused such a flood that it was impossible to live in, so Emperor Jiaqing ran back to the Forbidden City overnight.

It will cost money to repair the garden that has been damaged by flooding.

However, the Old Summer Palace is not in a pit, but in a high gentle ditch on the north and south sides.

The surrounding water will gather in the center and then flow eastward along the groove.

As long as the Huiqing River in the ditch is dredged slightly, there will be no accumulation of water in the Old Summer Palace.

Zhu Jianxuan casually encouraged and responded:
"Well done. Du Shuisi, please remember this and come back to me next spring."

The craftsmen of the Dushuisi bowed together and agreed:

"My minister obeys."

This matter should have ended like this.

However, as the leader of the accompanying civil servants, Duan Yucai hesitated for a few seconds and finally decided to say a few words:

"Your Majesty...should the name of Huiqing River be changed to Huiming River?"

Zhu Jianxuan smiled and said:
"Don't bother. Hongli doesn't care about living in the Old Summer Palace, so why should I care about a Huiqing River?

“There are too many place names in the north that contain the word ‘Qing’, and most of them were originally called this.

"The name of Huiqing River comes from the clear water flowing out of Yuquan Mountain, not from the name of the Qing Dynasty court, right?
"So there's no need to bother with the name of Qing, which is no longer in existence."

Duan Yucai immediately complimented him:
"Your Majesty is wise. Shuntian City has been cleaned up and is guarded by our soldiers from the Ming Wu Kingdom. It is safe enough. Would you like to enter the city to take a look?"

The Wu civil servants headed by Duan Yucai, as well as most of the Wu generals, are now in a somewhat conflicted state of mind.

They had seen the policies implemented by Zhu Jianxuan in the Central Plains, especially the land exchange contract and the establishment of military farms, northern agricultural companies, and northern expedition development companies. They were all aimed at incorporating the entire northern region into the rule of Wu State, and there was no intention to give up these places.

However, Zhu Jianxuan never entered Shuntian Prefecture.

Even if you feel that living directly in the Forbidden City is not appropriate, you can still live in the best palace in the city.

So many people are worried about what His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu is thinking.

Don't be stupid and hand over Shuntian Prefecture.

Zhu Jianxuan decided to formally explain his arrangements for Shuntian City to his subordinates:
“Observe for a while and make sure the city is completely cleared and there are really no remaining people. I will go in and take a look before the New Year.

“The awarding ceremony for everyone will also be held in the Forbidden City.

“But I am only going to the city to take a look and hold these ceremonies. I will not live directly in the city, nor will I allow anyone to live there.

“I plan to treat the entire Shuntian City as a huge treasure house.

“Preserving the current complete form will show future generations decades or even hundreds of years from now what life was like before our time.

“Now that we have moved in, we will definitely have to change the layout of the buildings in the city to make living and working more convenient.

“Concrete roads had to be laid, telegraph lines had to be laid, and so on.

“This will change the form of the old city and will continue to change towards a new era.

“Then it is naturally impossible to preserve the original state.

“So I’m not going to move in.”

Duan Yucai finally understood Zhu Jianxuan's plan, but was obviously shocked by it:
"Your Majesty...are you saying that the entire Shuntian City is a treasure house?"

Zhu Jianxuan said very confidently:
"Yes, it should be called Changbao City, or a museum."

Duan Yucai breathed a sigh of relief for unknown reasons. It was not that his king did not want Shuntian City, nor was he planning to leave it for others to occupy. Instead, he had other arrangements.

But this arrangement is really outrageous.

Although there were no museums open to the public in ancient China, it was common to see buildings and pavilions housing private collections of various treasures, books, and cultural relics.

This kind of pavilion is usually for the owner to enjoy and play with it himself, or to invite relatives and friends to enjoy and play with it.

Basically, it is not open to strangers from the public.

Literati like Duan Yucai were actually very interested in this kind of library, so it was not surprising that his own king would build such facilities.

But he was shocked by the scale of the anomaly:
"Your Majesty...if you want to build a large treasure house, then all the buildings in the city should be completely renovated, right?

“There’s no point in keeping those simple houses where ordinary people originally lived, right?

"And then we have to collect all kinds of treasures from all over the place and put them in..."

Zhu Jianxuan smiled and waved his hand and said:
“No, no, no, the houses of ordinary people in the city will also be a kind of exhibition project in the future, and can even be regarded as the main project.

"Let our descendants know how the people in the past lived.

“So all houses and facilities, even if their value is completely insignificant, cannot be demolished at will.

“However, we can select some of the highly similar houses and transform them into maintenance facilities for the treasure city.

“For example, storage warehouses, exhibition halls, reception and rest areas, living and office spaces for museum maintenance staff, etc.

“Post-industrial facilities such as electricity can be brought into this area.

“However, the original palaces, royal palaces, temples, markets, shops, restaurants and other facilities should be kept as completely as possible.

"It should be said that it is to remove the traces left by the Qing Dynasty and restore the state of the Ming Dynasty.

“At the same time, necessary anti-theft and protection measures must be taken.

“For example, for all kinds of fragile and easily damaged furnishings, appropriate protective measures must be made according to their physical properties.

"It is indeed necessary to add things that have been used in society but may not be available in Shuntianfu City in a relatively reasonable way."

In the industrial age, when nationalism was in vogue, facilities like museums were very useful.

Enhance national pride, shape national spirit, and increase national cohesion.

However, in the short term, most of these facilities are pure money-losing facilities, and the larger the scale, the more expensive it will be.

He built an entire Shuntian City, with a total area of ​​more than 60 square kilometers, which is dozens of times the size of various large museums.

It is estimated that we have to wait until industrialization is fully completed, ordinary people have cultural and life needs, and the film and television entertainment industry develops.

Only then will it be possible to reduce the amount of losses through various commercial operations.

In this day and age, the place where ordinary people in society live is not much different from this city, so why should they go there specifically to see it?

Unless he opens places like the Forbidden City and the royal palaces to ordinary people, but that is not something he can do now.

In the eyes of the royal family and the court, that was something that was a bit outrageous.

It may take decades, or even a whole generation, for the current situation to change.

During this period, if I want to maintain these buildings, I will obviously be losing money and will basically not get any actual benefits.

If these buildings are left without maintenance, they will surely continue to decay and even collapse.

Fortunately, he was an autocratic king with a very rich private income, so he could maintain the entire city for decades based on his own preferences.

But in a few decades, people in the new era will be very grateful to themselves.

(End of this chapter)