In the blink of an eye, half of the twentieth year of Kangxi's reign had passed.
July is approaching, and the capital city is starting to get hot. The Forbidden City is beautiful, but the entire complex had very little greenery, probably for safety reasons. In the summer, the weather becomes unbearably hot.
Yinzhen was also a typical person who suffered from the summer heat, and in previous years he would go to the estate to escape the heat.
At the end of June, Yinzhen began to order people to prepare for the departure, and in early July he officially set off to a summer palace not far from the capital to escape the summer heat.
Since the imperial palace is different from the imperial palace, the number of people that can be brought is limited. Apart from Empress Yunrong and Empress Dowager, no one else from the harem was brought. After all, I couldn't show favoritism.
Although he didn't bring them along, Yinzhen was unusually "generous" and allowed them to use double the amount of ice, which could be considered a small compensation!
The women in the harem had already resigned themselves to the Emperor's favoritism. They couldn't openly fight the Empress, who protected them, and dared not make a move against them in secret. The fate of Consort Rong was a stark reminder of this. No one wanted to follow in her footsteps.
When Yinzhen arrived at the imperial palace, he felt that the reconstruction of the Yuanmingyuan should be put on the agenda.
In his previous life, he began to live a "Buddhist" life when his brothers were fighting fiercely. Apart from his regular duties, he would either stay at home chanting scriptures or go to the estate to farm. It was during that time that the Yuanmingyuan was bestowed upon him.
After he ascended the throne in his previous life, he didn't like living in the palace much, nor did he like to travel around like his father, the Emperor. The Yuanmingyuan had become an unconventional palace during the Yongzheng era.
He had gotten used to living there and thought it was time to rebuild the Old Summer Palace.
As for the money to build the Yuanmingyuan, Yinzhen already had an idea, which he got from Yunrong.
Because Yinzhen only knew about some things from the Republic of China era and wasn't particularly familiar with modern things, he would talk to Yunrong whenever he had time to learn about the world he didn't know.
On the one hand, he wanted to know what Yunrong's living environment was like; on the other hand, he also wanted to obtain some useful information for governing the country from this unknown information.
Yinzhen was quite moved when Yunrong talked about the state of the modern real estate industry.
It is well known that housing prices are related to the region; a good surrounding environment naturally leads to higher housing prices.
A good environment can be divided into natural environment and human environment.
The natural environment is relatively easy to understand. It refers to the location and transportation of the house, whether there are large shopping malls nearby, its distance from the economic center, and its convenience for daily life.
The human environment refers to the type of people living in a place. For example, in similar locations and with similar community conditions, if the residents are mainly high-ranking officials, government officials, or business tycoons, then the value of the place is higher if it is inhabited by ordinary workers.
Xiaotangshan, near Beijing, had hot springs discovered during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, and an imperial palace was later built there.
In this lifetime, Yinzhen still planned to build a temporary palace there. He intended to buy 80-90% of the land in Xiaotangshan in advance. Once the news of the construction of the temporary palace was released, people would naturally bring large sums of money to live closer to the emperor.
Then, one or two-tenths of it was sold, and the money from the land sale was enough to build the Xiaotangshan Imperial Palace.
During the construction of Xiaotangshan, three or four tenths of the land will be gradually released for sale, which will be enough to build the Yuanmingyuan. A palace and a villa can be built without spending a single tael of silver, and there may even be a surplus in the end. It's a business with no cost.
Since Yinzhen had proposed the plan, it was naturally to be carried out. Because the funds would not go through the national treasury, Yinzhen arranged for someone to handle the land purchase privately.
In August, the land in Xiaotangshan was gradually acquired, and the result was even better than Yinzhen had expected. Ninety percent of the land was acquired because the hot springs in Xiaotangshan had not yet been discovered, and mountainous land is not like fertile farmland. If a good price was offered, it would be easy to acquire the land.
In September, Yinzhen spread the news that there were hot springs in Xiaotangshan, and then had someone spread rumors that he would build a summer palace in Xiaotangshan.
The news came suddenly, and some people didn't believe it. Several princes of seniority in the imperial clan inquired with Yinzhen privately.
Yinzhen didn't say it directly, but instead gave away half a acre of land as a reward. Now there was no need to say anything more, and those who needed to know already knew that it was true that the emperor wanted to build a temporary palace in Xiaotangshan.
Then the price of land in Xiaotangshan skyrocketed like a rocket. Yinzhen released 20% of the land, and this 20% earned him a full five million taels of silver, which was beyond Yinzhen's expectations.
Seeing this, Yinzhen released another 15% of the land. This time, the land released was in better geographical condition than the previous one. In total, Yinzhen earned nearly ten million taels of silver from the two land releases.
These are more than enough to build a temporary palace.
With the money in place, Yinzhen ordered the Ministry of Works to begin construction.
With the imperial edict issued, the low prices at Xiaotangshan continued to rise, and the low prices of the remaining 35% also increased.
There are still 50% of the land in Xiaotangshan that have not been released. Of the land that Yinzhen has reserved, 10% is relatively close to the imperial palace. He plans to build several estates on this land and keep them for future rewards. He will give an estate to whoever performs their duties well, so that he can find people to serve in the future.
Yinzhen planned to release the remaining 40% of the land gradually during the construction of the imperial palace.
After purchasing the land, Yinzhen ordered the construction of the imperial palace to begin. The site plan for the palace was revised several times and was finally finalized at the end of September. Construction officially began on the first day of October.
By mid-September, Yinzhen had already led a large army back to the Forbidden City.
Yunrong had soaked in hot springs before, but never in her life. Thinking of the hot spring palace in Xiaotangshan, she became interested. Yunrong also participated in the planning of the feng shui map. Yunrong wanted to make her stay more convenient, so she naturally had to pay attention to the internal structure.
Indoor toilets and underground sewage systems are basic requirements. Then there's the underfloor heating system. In the dead of winter, relying solely on a small coal fire is unsafe and not necessarily warm, so underfloor heating is essential.
Then there's the kitchen, with various modern-style stoves, and ovens that take up an entire wall...
The officials in the Ministry of Works weren't just sitting around doing nothing; there were some discerning people among them who were very interested in the altered geomantic map.
In particular, if the structure of that earth dragon could be widely adopted, coal use would be reduced in winter.
The Minister of Works was very interested in the person who altered the geomantic map, so he asked Yinzhen, "Your Majesty, this servant has seen this geomantic map and is truly amazed by its genius. I wonder who this person is who altered it? The Ministry of Works is in dire need of such talent."
Yinzhen was secretly delighted that his wife had been praised, but he managed to maintain his composure on the surface: "That person is not suitable to be an official, but if there are any problems in this regard in the future, report them to me and I will convey them to you."
The Minister of Works was somewhat bewildered upon hearing this. Who exactly was this person who altered the geomantic map? The Emperor had said that this person was unsuitable for officialdom, yet the Emperor himself conveyed this message. This was quite extraordinary.
The Minister of Works was very curious, but he dared not show his gossipy side in front of the Emperor: "This servant thanks Your Majesty for your grace."
The Minister of Works left, filled with curiosity.
Yinzhen didn't care whether he was curious or not; he had already given the order, and all he needed to do was complete it well and efficiently.
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