"It is a good thing for the emperor to like simplicity, but it is not necessary to be too simplicity? Ah? Besides, the emperor represents the dignity of the court. If you always live in such a simple military camp, what do you think outside?" Chen Hong still disagreed with the prime minister's opinion, "However, it is not necessary to ask back to the palace. The emperor does not like to live in a secluded palace and isolate it from the outside world. This is a good thing."

"The palace is indeed not a good place to live in." The prime minister suddenly sighed.

When he was a scholar in Xuzhou, he secretly envied the emperor of the Ming Dynasty and imagined his life in the Forbidden City. However, his current office is in the palace, so his favor and longing for the palace have plummeted.

It is not a good place to live in people, but it is indeed not a good place to live in the winter. It is cold and the living in the main hall is quite uncomfortable. So although he also felt that the emperor was a little uncomfortable living in the military camp, he did not firmly ask the emperor to move to the palace.

"So we ministers should share the worries of the king and let the emperor have a good place to live." Just as he was still sighing, Chen Hong suddenly said as he said, "The Forbidden City is not easy to live in, so let's find another good place?"

"What?" the Prime Minister became even more serious, "You mean..."

"Yes, let's just ask for a request to build a different palace for the emperor." Chen Hong nodded, "We ministers jointly proposed together."

"Repair a different palace?" The Prime Minister frowned slightly. "It's hard to mention this matter as ministers."

"What's the point that we should mention? This matter is best for us to mention! The emperor himself ordered the construction of a palace. Although it is legitimate, there are always some people in the world who can say strange things. Let's join hands to ask for it..." Chen Hong smiled slightly, "The emperor can also follow the requests of officials from all over the world, right? This is much more convenient for the emperor."

The Prime Minister was silent.

"The emperor may not necessarily like this proposal." He whispered after a while.

"Do you have the heart to let the emperor stay in such a simple place and we always meet in this military camp? Once, you can't call all the civil and military officials in the court, otherwise someone will have to stand outside!"

Chen Hong's words were very convincing, so the Prime Minister was really moved slightly.

Although he was already in the prime minister, his respect for the emperor was still as sincere as when he was in Xuzhou. Therefore, he was very happy to see that while the emperor fulfilled his duties, he could receive treatment comparable to the throne. It was not good to be too simple.

"As soon as the new dynasty was established, we built a large-scale construction. This is not good, right?" After hesitating for a while, the Prime Minister finally spoke slowly, "Besides, the emperor can't pass the verge of passing the imperial examination. He doesn't like to waste the people and lose money."

"We have sent labor service in the past to waste people and money, but we are not!" Cai Xiang laughed, "We send people here, but we have to pay wages to take care of food and pay for it. How can we waste people and money?"

The corvee service in the Ming Dynasty was very harsh and often sent people to work in various places to work. Not only did they seriously delay production, but the people who served were not rewarded as they deserved. It can be said to be a bad policy. After learning from the lessons of the previous dynasty, after the establishment of the New dynasty, on the one hand, they paid attention to reducing the amount of labor service and restricting the yamen in various places to drive the people's strength indiscriminately. On the other hand, it also clearly stipulated that labor service would no longer be collected for free, and the government would be responsible for food and salary.

Although doing this would consume more resources and wealth from the court than before, the public grievances of the New Dynasty were reduced to the minimum level. This policy was combined with other measures, so that the New Dynasty was clearly newly established and the various places were in trouble, the people in various places felt that their lives were much more abundant than those in the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, this great moral policy was built on the court's financial capabilities that were far stronger than the previous dynasty. Because of the previous operation in Xuzhou, the court had already controlled a large number of workshops, mines and commercial banks before its establishment. These industries continuously concentrated wealth into the hands of the court, which also allowed the court to reduce its dependence on agricultural taxes accordingly, and naturally the burden on farmers has also been reduced a lot. Now, after several years of rest and recuperation, the Jianghuai and Jingji areas have recovered their old vitality from the war, and there is a vague emergence.

These achievements are naturally inseparable from the efforts of Chinese officials in the court. The cabinet composed of Prime Minister Cai Xiang and others and carefully selected officials from all over the country have risen in recent years. These two people are admired by people of the time as Xiao He and Chen Ping.

It is precisely because he was concerned about the court and his own reputation that although the Prime Minister did not object to letting the emperor live in a better place, he was still hesitant.

"Building a palace is not a small job, how can it not be a waste of people?" the prime minister asked.

"Although building palaces is a big craftsman, it requires more craftsmen. How many people can use that people who don't know big words and don't know how to build? At most, they use a thousand people. Although there are shortages of people in various places, they are not as good as this. Instead, they can place refugees without land so that they can have a job to do so that they will not be forced by hunger and cold." The Prime Minister immediately answered the Prime Minister's rebellion, "Prime Minister, anyway, they have to give these refugees food. It is more cost-effective to make them leave the palace for the emperor than to give them in vain?"

"That's true." The Prime Minister quickly accepted this statement.

Although the world has become rough and stable, the refugees who fled from all over the country have not dispersed all, and many of them are concentrated in the capital area. Many of the food transported by the imperial court from Jiangnan every year are distributed to these refugees. Because the attack and defense of various places have a great demand for labor, the Xin Dynasty is not keen on distributing unowned land, so most of the stranded refugees suddenly fall into the dilemma of nothing to do. From this perspective, it is better to give them work to do and build a palace for the imperial court to support them than to give them free food.

"Have you told me about this matter?" His attitude softened immediately. "It's not easy to deal with without a doctor's words."

The Minister of Workers refers to Xu Housheng, Duke of Wei who is now the minister in the cabinet. He is responsible for the country's industrial, mining and construction. If he wants to build a palace, the location and construction are inseparable from his leadership. Only he can organize enough craftsmen and people to get things done.

What's more, he is the emperor's brother-in-law, and his relationship with the emperor is even more extraordinary. If he also participates in the ranks of ministers who have confessed, the emperor will be more likely to be convinced.

"The Minister of Workers is now in the suburbs and supervises the building of a bastion. Of course, I haven't had time to tell him about this idea." Chen Hong smiled, "But I think he shouldn't object to this idea, right?"

The former Ming Dynasty had run the capital for many years. Originally, the capital could be said to be high in the city and deep in the pond. The defense of infantry and cavalry with swords, guns, bows and arrows was as solid as a living thing. However, the times have changed now. The power of guns and cannons has become increasingly powerful, and the defense measures around the capital were increasingly useless. In the last few years of the former Ming Dynasty, the Zhao family army marched north several times, and the defense of the capital could be said to be vulnerable. The city walls seemed particularly weak in front of the Zhao family army's cannons.

Since the capital was designated as the capital of the Xin Dynasty, the defense of the capital was particularly important. The consensus among the court was that the existing defense facilities in the capital were completely unusable and must be overthrown and rebuilt. Therefore, from a few years ago, the Xin Dynasty began to build the outer defense facilities of the capital.

Unlike previous dynasties, this time the construction was led by the Minister of Workers Xu Housheng, and there were also some architects from the West as consultants around him.

At this time, Western countries had been fighting with guns and cannons for a hundred years, and not long ago, they had fought a melee between countries that lasted for 30 years. Therefore, they were most experienced in building fortresses to defend guns and cannons. Therefore, the new dynasty paid attention to learning from their experience from the beginning, and through missionaries, they hired many architects from the West to assist Xu Housheng in building a defensive bastion outside the capital.

These prisms are very thick and are in a hexagonal star shape. They are equipped with guns and cannons, which can shoot at the attacking enemies from all angles. In the design of craftsmen, more than a dozen such prisms are built, scattered around the capital, which can truly make the defense of the capital become solid.

Duke Wei State Xu Housheng was always cautious and serious, and the fortifications in the capital were the top priority, so since he received this task, he has been personally supervising the front line of the project, often inspecting the castle back and forth between various bastions, for fear of being slack under him, which affected him, but he had not returned home to rest after the year approaching, which is really admirable.

"He shouldn't object." The Prime Minister immediately agreed to Chen Hong's opinion, "As long as he is here, it will be much easier! Hasn't he been running around the outskirts of the capital recently? Then can we handle the matter of choosing a site for the palace together?"

"By the way, after the bastion is completed, the craftsmen and workers can move to other palaces on the spot, which is convenient. This is even more troublesome, right?" Chen Hong's idea was similar to the prime minister. Then, as if he had thought of something, he laughed again, "Those Western craftsmen are not only good at building bunkers, right? I think we can ask them how to build Western palaces, and then use their essences to the Ligong. Isn't this integrating the strengths of the East and the West and revealing the atmosphere of the highest level?"

"Build Western buildings in other palaces together? Interesting, interesting, just do it like this!" The Prime Minister also thought this idea was very good and laughed out loud.

However, with a smile, he slowly remembered a very important question. "Hey, it's not right. You said something about the people, but it hurts money? Isn't it a big deal to build another palace? Money is a troublesome?"

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Chapter completed!