"I referenced the exterior designs of palaces throughout history, combined with His Highness the Crown Prince's personal ideas, and sketched a simple draft last night. As for the internal structure..."
Zheng Quchi gathered with them to discuss the matter. She was skilled in overall planning, architectural interior space and its underlying structure.
As for the superstructure, modern buildings generally use ceilings to cover the beams, but ancient palace-style buildings expose the beams, brackets, columns and other wooden components. For these buildings, it is necessary to consider the length of the beams and the number of purlins used in the roof truss.
She is far more familiar with modern architecture than with ancient architecture, so she lacks experience and entrusted the task to them, which saved time.
They peered over and saw Lord Zheng unroll a sheet of white deer-patterned paper. The square-cut paper was slightly wider than usual for writing. On it was a drawing of a single building facing the palace, with the roof, body, and foundation already taking shape. This plan immediately gave them a concrete direction for understanding the appearance of the Zichen Palace.
"Master Zheng's painting skills are so exquisite. Every stroke is so detailed that it brings the doors, windows, walls, paint colors, and even the tiles on the roof frame to life. It is amazing."
They praised it sincerely.
Zheng Quchi then asked, "Do you find this method more intuitive, or the one you're more used to?"
Is there even a need to ask?
“Naturally, it’s someone like Lord Zheng.”
"This is a hand-drawn sketch. I used my own homemade charcoal pencils, which are easier to control than brush strokes and have a stronger sense of line strength. However, they are not easy to preserve. If you want to learn, I can teach you in my spare time," she said generously.
Everyone immediately nodded excitedly: "We want to learn, we must learn."
The students of Hualin Garden were eager to learn, but they had always kept their precious knowledge to themselves, fearing that others would learn it and starve their master. They were naturally very grateful and happy to have met someone who was generous and did not keep secrets.
"It doesn't matter if it's not easy to preserve. We can use it ourselves first. If there's a need to collect it, we can use a color-fixing pigment to deepen the color, paint it again, and let it dry. I've heard that many famous calligraphers' works are preserved in this way."
Upon hearing this, Zheng Quchi realized there was such a method; indeed, with many people, there are many solutions.
"This is just a front floor plan; I haven't even started working on the design yet. If the Zichen Palace is built to the highest standards, what would it look like?" she asked.
"According to the original format?"
The Ye Kingdom implemented a patriarchal feudal system, which had clear and strict hierarchical regulations for all construction projects. The size of the city, the height of the city walls, the width of the roads, and all kinds of important buildings had to be constructed according to their respective levels. The Ye King's sleeping quarters were naturally built according to the highest level, but this also meant... a lot of money.
“I think if we don’t want to be extravagant, we don’t need to expand the outer perimeter. After all, the budget is limited. If we find that we don’t have enough money halfway through the construction, we can’t just pay out of our own pockets, can we?” someone said.
This statement may be crude, but it makes sense; that's the principle.
Zheng Quchi nodded and said, "In the early stages, we need to make sure that all necessary funds, materials, number of workers, site measurements, and a list of construction managers are in place. Before construction begins, you also need to have the structural drawings ready. By the way, who do you think should be in charge of supervising the construction?"
The supervisor, or overseeing official, was usually appointed by the chief craftsman, but since she was new to the job and unfamiliar with the people, she could only seek their advice.
Seeing that Zheng Da had only been in office for a day or two, yet had already adapted to the role of the Grand Master of Crafts so quickly, and that she hadn't pretended to know what she didn't, asking questions without hesitation or speaking unclearly, but instead leading them through the reconstruction of the palace in an orderly manner, gave them all confidence.
"The supervisor has not yet been appointed, but I would like to recommend someone named Gu Changtian. He is an honest and upright man who is currently serving as the head of all craftsmen."
It was a good thing that someone had made a suggestion, so Zheng Quchi asked the others for their opinions: "What about you? Do you have any suitable candidates?"
"Gu Changtian, I know him. He's definitely capable. When Yanghu dried up, it caused difficulties for farming downstream. He took the lead in digging ditches to divert water for irrigation and drainage, relieving the urgent problem for the area," another person praised him.
It seems that this Gu Changtian has left a deep impression on people in his conduct and is an outstanding individual.
"Since none of you have any objections, then let's temporarily appoint Gu Changtian as the supervisor. I will soon write an official document with the seal affixed to appoint Gu Changtian as the supervisor, and you can then distribute the work among yourselves."
"Yes, Lord Zheng."
Next, they discussed personnel arrangements for nearly an hour. As lunchtime approached, Zheng Quchi, in order to get closer to his subordinates, suggested that they have lunch together at the "employee canteen".
In fact, with her current official position, she has a private chef who delivers meals to her every day. Even if she doesn't, Yuan Xingzhou will arrange it and won't skimp on her food. However, she feels that she still needs to get along with her own people occasionally.
Unexpectedly, upon hearing her suggestion, they first looked pale, but then quickly composed themselves and led the way to the small canteen with great enthusiasm.
Just then, she ran into the people from Nanlin Garden at the entrance. Upon seeing them, Zheng Quchi suddenly remembered that she seemed to have forgotten to tell Yuan Xingzhou about it last night.
She didn't know if the people at Nanlin Garden were professionally competent, but they were definitely perfunctory in their work. She absolutely couldn't let their Cangling Dam design pass unless they conducted a thorough on-site investigation and made corrections, otherwise it would harm both themselves and others.
As the saying goes, enemies are especially hostile when they meet. Although Hualin Garden and Nanlin Garden are not exactly enemies, they are definitely rivals.
In the past, people from Nanlin Garden would always ridicule those from Hualin Garden upon seeing them, but seeing that this well-connected Lord Zheng was also there, they could only swallow the phlegm that was stuck in their throats.
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