Pawn Crossing the River

A flying boat broke through the sea of ​​clouds and descended slowly. The boat was covered with wisps of water vapor, and water droplets kept rolling down. A hazy light rain fell on the lake below the flying boat.

After a while, the airship successfully landed on the lake, slowly docked, and then lowered a ramp to connect to the dock.

Qi Xuansu, dressed in formal attire with a crane cloak, a pure Yang scarf symbolizing the status of a Taoist priest who offered sacrifices to the fourth grade of wine, and a "Chu Zhen Sutra" hung around his waist, followed the team down the gangway.

Walking in front of him was Shi Bingyun, the second deputy head of the Imperial Palace, and half of his boss in the future.

This is a special flying boat. There are no other people waiting around. The passengers are all Taoist priests who went from Yujing to the Imperial Capital to take up their posts. Most of them are transferred, and only a few of them are seconded.

There are two situations of secondment, one is for gold plating, and the other is to do "dirty work". The former will undoubtedly have to go back. The latter most likely want to stay, but in many cases, if those who want to stay cannot stay, it is equivalent to wasting their time.

To put it bluntly, secondment is to help. Some organizations are busy with official duties and have insufficient manpower. However, due to various reasons, they cannot add staff at will, so they transfer manpower to other organizations. The treatment of the seconded person is still the same.

For example, if the director of a ancestral temple is seconded to Ziweitang, the money will still be settled by the ancestral temple. Since Ziweitang has the power, the prospects are undoubtedly better, so most of the people who are seconded to Ziweitang want to borrow money. This opportunity stayed in Ziweitang, so I worked extra hard and showed all kinds of efforts.

It's just that most of the Ziweitang people don't regard these seconded people as their own, so that they can call them without any burden, and they can do all the dirty work, and then draw a big pie and call it a good name: exercise hard and strive to stay. Finally, he kicked him away, so it was all in vain.

However, there are exceptions. First, a very small number of people have outstanding performance, and the deputy hall master and even the real person in charge of the hall see it. They have a love for talents and decide to keep them, which can be regarded as a positive result. The second is that the seconded person has a certain background relationship, so he can use this opportunity to make some operations and stay with the situation. It's just that those who are really capable are treated as treasures by all the halls and will not be loaned out easily. Those with strong backgrounds and connections can be transferred directly, and they will not make such twists and turns, so these special situations are rare.

Naturally, Qi Xuansu is not here to do all the "dirty work", but he is not here to "gold-plating" either. In a sense, he is both, and has a special mission. If he can complete it smoothly, he will naturally When I go back to Gaosheng, I can't say that I have to let the deputy master of the palace go out, or the deputy hall master of Gaosheng, or at the worst he can be an assistant manager. Even if it is not completed, it is still time to return to Ziweitang and continue to do the main work. For such a young fourth-grade wine-making Taoist priest, even if the Imperial Palace wants to keep him, Master Donghua is still reluctant to let him go.

All in all, Qi Xuansu will not take root in the Imperial Palace. It may take a few months or a few years. Sooner or later, he will return to Yujing.

Qi Xuansu walked down the gangway and officially set foot in the Imperial Capital.

This place is called Penglai Pond. The water is vast and even better than Hoshino Lake. It is located in the inner city of the Imperial Capital, adjacent to the Imperial City, and connected to the Taiqing Pond in the Imperial City. The famous Yanbo Palace is located beside the Taiqing Pond.

If we count the time when Jinzhang briefly took over the Central Plains, Imperial Capital has been the ancient capital of three dynasties.

In the early years, the imperial city had a square outline and only nine gates. The city's central axis starts from Zhengyang Gate in the south, runs through the Imperial Palace, and reaches the Bell Tower in the north.

In the early years of the Wei Dynasty, when the country was strong, Emperor Taizong of the Wei Dynasty took the offensive against the Golden Horde tribe and led his army to the north five times, but the problem was not yet obvious. Later, the power of the Wei Dynasty declined, and the Golden Horde army attacked the city many times. During the Ming and Yong years, some officials suggested building an outer city with a circumference of about 80 miles around the imperial capital for security.

The construction of the outer city began in the 32nd year of the Ming Dynasty. Since the southern suburbs were relatively prosperous at that time and there were royal altars such as the Tiandi Altar and the Sheji Altar, the outer city was built on the southern line first. However, not long after construction started, it became unsustainable due to insufficient funds.

As a last resort, the imperial court had no choice but to change its plan and build only the southern wall, leaving the other three walls to be built in the future when money was available. The length of the southern city wall was also reduced from the originally planned 20 miles to 13 miles. Its east and west ends bent northward to meet the southeast and southwest turrets of the inner city. But no one expected that the so-called "discussing it later" has not been mentioned until today when Liaodong entered the customs.

In the 43rd year of Emperor Yong's reign in the Ming Dynasty, the outer city of the imperial capital was built, with a total length of 28 miles and seven city gates. Since the motivation for building the outer city was to enhance the security of the imperial capital, the city gates were often named with the meaning of "stability" and "tranquility", such as "Zuo'anmen", "You'anmen" and "Guangningmen". , the main gate of the outer city, "Yongding Gate", means "eternal stability".

After the outer city was built, the central axis of the Imperial City extended from Zhengyang Gate to Yongding Gate, with a distance of sixteen miles to the north from the Bell Tower.

Since only the southern part of the outer city was built, the outline of the imperial city thereafter formed a "convex" shape. Moreover, the name "Outer City" is not worthy of its name. It is not outside the inner city, but to the south of the inner city. Therefore, the outer city of Imperial Capital is also called "South City".

After Daxuan replaced Dawei, the country became stronger and began to expand the imperial capital, or in other words, in the other three directions, the East City, West City, and North City that the Wei court failed to build due to lack of funds were added to the "convex" character. All became the word "Hui".

As a result, the earliest ancient imperial capital was completely wrapped up, and the area of ​​the entire new imperial capital more than doubled, surpassing Xijing Mansion and Jinling Mansion in area, making it truly the largest city in the world. Although Yujing is often mentioned side by side with Imperial Capital, due to the terrain of Yuxu Peak, Yujing is far from comparable to Imperial Capital in scale.

Generally speaking, the capital has only a three-layered structure, namely the outer city, the inner city, and the imperial city. The imperial city and the palace city are just two different names, but they are actually the same thing. After the Daxuan court transformed the imperial capital into a four-layer structure, the original outer city became the inner city, the original inner city became the imperial city, and the original imperial city became the palace city. The imperial city and the palace city were clearly separated from then on. The city is located within the imperial city.

The new outer city is divided into four parts: east, south, west, and north. They are also called East City, West City, South City, and North City according to the old names of Nancheng. The inner city is the middle city, and the so-called Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division finally lives up to its name.

Generally speaking, the royal family resides in the palace city, the royal palace and various ministries are located in the imperial city, the residences of nobles, officials, wealthy merchants, Taoist temples, guild halls, various shops, some government offices, Taiping Banks, Taiping Inns, and trading houses The warehouse is located in the inner city, and ordinary people live in the outer city.

Because the inner city is the ancient imperial capital, it occupies a huge area and is not comparable to the inner city in the ordinary sense. Therefore, the inner city is divided into eight large squares according to the directions with the imperial city as the center, namely: Yubao Dongfang, Taimiao Xifang, Xuanzhen Nanfang, Xuanshang Northfang, Duxian Northeastfang, Haosheng Southeastfang, Tailing Southwestfang, Wuliang Northwestfang.

Generally speaking, the mansions of nobles are located in Yubao East Square, the mansions of officials are located in Duxian Northeast Square, wealthy businessmen live in Wuliang Northwest Square, various shops, merchants and warehouses are located in Taimiao West Square, and Taiping Inn and Xingyuan are located in Taimiao West Square. Tailing Nanfang, Taiping Bank and some yamen are located in Xuanzhen Nanfang, while Emperor Jing Daofu exclusively occupies Xuanshang Beifang.

As for Haosheng Southeast Square, most of its area is occupied by Penglai Pond. The surrounding buildings include the mansions of powerful people and the branches of Taiping Inn.

For those who are new to the Imperial Capital, it is easy to get lost in the huge Imperial Capital without someone else to guide them.

Strictly speaking, only the Taoist palace of the Imperial Palace is located in the inner city. There are also many Taoist temples located in the five outer cities and in the counties directly under the central government. Even the Taiping Temple located in Miyagi City is under the name of the Imperial Palace, but its status is too special, and the Imperial Palace will not take the initiative to intervene in the various affairs of the Taiping Temple.

The Taoist palace of the Imperial Palace is called the Jade Palace, and it belongs to the state palace level. However, compared with the Taiping Palace of Luzhou Taoist Prefecture, the Summer Palace of Zhongzhou Taoist Prefecture, and the Daxueshan Palace of Xiyu Taoist Prefecture, it is located in the inner city. , the area is limited, and the momentum is slightly inferior. It also lacks the atmosphere of an immortal family and has more of the wealth and grandeur of an emperor's family.

At this time, Qi Xuansu was located in Haosheng Southeast Fang. If you were to go to Xuanshang North Fang by land, you would have to pass through Yubao East Fang and Duxian Northeast Fang. If you take the waterway along Penglai Pond, you can go directly to Xuanshang Beifang.

The Imperial Palace has already prepared a painting boat, which is docked not far from the pier. However, before taking the boat to Xuanshang Beifang, the Imperial Palace also arranged a reception banquet at the Taiping Inn near the lake. The banquet hall Following the example of Western-style architecture, there are floor-to-ceiling glass windows, and outside the window is the vast lake. It is night, not only can the lake reflect the stars in the sky, but also the thousands of lights of the imperial city can be seen in the distance, almost integrated with the stars in the sky.

It can be seen that the Imperial Palace has also put some thought into it.

Qi Xuansu couldn't help but sigh, it was really an eye-opener to see the world.

Shi Bingyun has been in the Imperial Capital for many years and has long been accustomed to this. He introduced to Qi Xuansu: "This Taiping Inn by the Penglai Pool generally does not accept foreign guests. It is exclusively used by our Taoist sect. After a high-quality Taoist priest comes to the Imperial Capital, if he does not want to live in Yu The royal palace can stay here temporarily.”

Before Qi Xuansu left Yujing, he was introduced by Zhang Yuelu and met the master Shi Bingyunshi. Before that, Zhang Yuelu also introduced various glorious deeds of this uncle to Qi Xuansu.

Qi Xuansu didn't have any prejudice, especially when Shi Bingyun went to the Western Regions to personally collect the corpses, which made Qi Xuansu think that she was a sweetheart.

After getting along for a short time, Qi Xuansu and Shi Bingyun had a harmonious relationship, at least there was no apparent conflict.

Shi Bingyun's impression of Qi Xuansu is quite good. Zhang Yuelu's relationship is only part of the reason. The more reason is that his various merits will not lie. He can be among the high-quality Taoist priests at such an age. To be eye-catching, you must have real meritorious service or a level of cultivation that starts from a heavenly being. Otherwise, it will be easy to give others a thumb. Qi Xuansu now has both merit and level of cultivation, and he can be regarded as a veritable young handsome man.