In the Ming Dynasty, Beijing was divided into the Forbidden City, the Imperial City, the Inner City and the Outer City from the inside out.
The Forbidden City, also known as the Imperial Palace, is located on the central axis of Beijing, where the emperor's family lived.
Outside the Forbidden City is the Imperial City, and the main gate is the Chengtian Gate, which is the Tian'anmen Gate of later generations. In addition to the Huanyi Bureau of the Eighth Bureau, the internal court service agencies of twenty-three of the twenty-four Yamen are all in the Imperial City, where most eunuchs and maids live.
There were over 10000 eunuchs and maids in the Ming Dynasty. Only a few of them were on duty in the imperial palace. The rest lived in the imperial city, and most of them lived in the area north of Wansui Mountain.
The inner city, the center of Beijing, was rebuilt from Dadu City of the Yuan Dynasty, covering an area of more than 50000 mu, inhabited by royal relatives, relatives and officials of the imperial court, as well as various commercial workshops. The inner city and the imperial city are in the shape of "Hui". The inner city is outside and the imperial city is inside.
Before Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, there were only inner cities, imperial cities and the Forbidden City in Beijing. In order to accommodate more people in the capital, Jiajing began to build outer cities.
However, due to lack of funds, only a part of the south has been built, covering an area of more than 36000 mu. The outer city and the inner city are 'Lv' shaped, with the inner city above and the outer city below.
The street pattern of the outer city of Beijing is basically horizontal and vertical, just like that of later generations. The main roads throughout the whole journey are the streets leading to each city gate. The streets are dense and square.
Several main streets are extremely wide, and five or six carriages can be arranged side by side. Zhu Cixuan took a carriage and looked at the surrounding environment in surprise. Unexpectedly, the outer city was more lively and prosperous than the inner city.
On both sides of the road where the carriage passed, there were numerous shops, restaurants, hawking voices, and the sound of silk and bamboo orchestral music.
On the street, there are many well-dressed rich nobles, with beautiful and gorgeous clothes, who go in and out of various shops and restaurants under the escort of domestic slaves. All the things they wear are luxurious and extravagant.
On the other side of the street, however, under the eaves of many shops on both sides of the street, many beggars mixed with beggars, holding broken empty bowls and asking for advice from the door.
The owner of the store held a stick and kept driving and pushing for fear of affecting his business. Occasionally, some shops will give away some leftovers, which immediately causes a scramble among these people.
On the second floor of some taverns, some officials' children sat in front of the window, threw down some bones, and then watched several refugees fighting with several dogs downstairs, which made them laugh.
At that time, although Beijing still had a somewhat lofty image on the surface, Zhu Cixuan had seen the decadent and weak image of the end of the world.
The security of the capital city is mainly in the charge of the five city soldiers and horses department and the city patrolling magistrate. Sometimes the Royal Guards also take charge.
The five city military headquarters, namely the military headquarters in the central, eastern, western, southern and northern cities, is the yamen responsible for the capital's patrolling and arresting thieves, clearing streets, ditches, prisoners, fire bans and other matters.
The news of the prince's leaving the palace to comfort the people has been issued through the decree, and all the government offices in the capital have received the news. Of course, the Five Cities Army and Horse Department is no exception, especially the South City Army and Horse Command Department, which has a great responsibility and everyone is nervous.
When Zhu Cixuan left the palace in a carriage in disguise, they had already sent people to follow him, clearing the way and protecting him in the dark. Even the Royal Guards and Shuntian Mansion could not sit still. They sent Yamen Runners far away for fear of accidents.
To say that it is to go out of the palace to help the people is actually to relieve the disaster. To arrange these refugees, Zhu Cixuan would not be so foolish as to put the prince's honor guard in the outer city and shout into the street: I am the prince of the dynasty, the prince of the Ming Dynasty. I come to see you on behalf of the emperor. There is food here, and you can eat it first!
In that case, even with the protection of the Eastern Palace Guard and the Five Cities Army, it is estimated that the refugees will be overwhelmed. Who cares who you are in front of food?
Therefore, Zhu Cixuan decided to take a look at the situation by wearing micro clothes first, and then decided what to do after knowing almost everything.
This time when he left the palace, he took three hundred East Palace guards in plain clothes around the carriage. What if there were bandits and Jiannu spies among the refugees? Knowing that he is the prince of the Ming Dynasty, don't you find a chance to kill yourself?
I have just started my career. How can I allow such a funny ending to happen? I must ensure my safety!
After wandering around for a long time, Zhu Cixuan found that there are too many refugees. What can we do? The emperor doesn't think that the crown prince should show his face and say something
Chongzhen didn't think so much. In fact, he expected Zhu Cigui to speak on behalf of the emperor and send some rice porridge for disaster relief. As for the follow-up, the cabinet should arrange it.
Can the cabinet manage it? Of course, the answer is no, Wen Tiren, the old fox, kicked the ball to Zhu Cixuan. Naturally, he would not help him wipe his bottom. He could not tell where to listen to music and watch the play with Zhu Chunchen.
Zhu Cixuan first sent someone to the Ministry of Household to allocate some money for disaster relief. The Ministry of Household said it was very difficult to deal with it, but in the face of the thousand year old man who gave the Ministry one million taels of silver, he finally squeezed out ten thousand taels of silver for disaster relief.
Ten thousand taels of silver may be enough for tens of thousands of refugees to drink porridge for a few days, but what about porridge? The most important thing is how to arrange the future.
The problem of refugees has existed in all dynasties, and it cannot be eradicated after thousands of years. Before Zhu Cixuan came out, he also checked many files to see how various dynasties dealt with refugees.
In the Han Dynasty, the imperial court took measures to restrict, suppress and repatriate, control and pacify the refugees, mainly arranging them to be naturalized in other stable places, or building cities and establishing prefectures and counties to settle the refugees.
However, this practice is aimed at large-scale refugees, most of whom are repatriated. As a result, a large number of refugees die on the way back to their hometown. Many of those who are arranged to naturalize in other places become slaves, and more often participate in the peasant uprising.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the rulers were more liberal and took some emergency measures, such as opening granaries to release grain, abolishing the law of excessive revenue, and reducing the rent to save the ruling crisis. Although these measures have achieved some results, on the whole, they have achieved little, and exile still occurs frequently.
In the Song Dynasty, a large number of refugees were recruited as officers and soldiers, resulting in the phenomenon of "redundant soldiers".
In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the refugees were treated with strict household registration management, evacuation and suppression, especially the Jingxiang refugee uprising, because the officials and soldiers killed too much, which led to the direct rebellion of the refugees.
In fact, the reasons for the emergence of refugees are nothing more than natural disasters and man-made disasters. If the two are combined, it will certainly lead to the scene of "thousands of miles of bare land, millions of refugees, and thieves swarming", shaking the foundation of the country's governance.
For example, during the Chongzhen period, the result of the superposition of the two was that the Ming Dynasty was doomed. Of course, these were not the only reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty.