Chapter 417: Qinghua Garden, the Great Ming's Sacred Ground of Culture and Education

This was also to prevent the situation with the Northern Branch from occurring, and there was no room for negotiation.

After hearing the imperial edict, Kong Shangqian's expression turned wooden and stiff, and he stood frozen in place for a long while without snapping back to his senses.

Kong Shangqian was not without such fantasies—indeed, his entire family had fantasized about taking back the Duke Yansheng title from the Northern Branch. But until today, that fantasy had never once come true.

Ever since they had been forced to yield the Duke Yansheng title back in those days, Kong Shangqian's family had never been truly reconciled to it.

They were the Southern Branch of the Kong family—though they were the senior line, they had followed the Southern Song. And in the end, hadn't the Southern Song been defeated? Naturally, the Duke Yansheng title could never have gone to them.

Back then, if they hadn't yielded the title, whether Kong Shangqian's entire family could have survived was anyone's guess. Now they had survived, and their days were passable—during the Zhengde reign they had been granted a hereditary Five Classics Erudite post, which could be counted as some consolation.

Still, he had never imagined there would come a day when the title would be returned. Kong Shangqian could not help but be delighted. There was just one thing—the Emperor wanted his entire family to move to the capital, and that was somewhat troublesome.

One had to understand that although Kong Shangqian's family did not have much property in Quzhou, they had still managed and accumulated it over so many years. With the Kong family's reputation behind them, they had at least some family assets—enough to live a comfortable life without any problem.

Now, for the sake of a title, they would have to abandon their current livelihood and move the whole family to the capital. The days ahead would likely not be easy. Although he was being enfeoffed with the Duke Yansheng title, the stipend was not much. As for relying on the Kong family name to acquire farmland and shops in the capital—that was something he shouldn't even dream of.

What kind of place was the capital?

A place where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold, long since carved up by others. An outsider wanting to stick a foot in there—wouldn't that be a pipe dream?

Even the Kong family couldn't manage it.

But this was an imperial edict—there was simply no room for bargaining, and it wasn't up to Kong Shangqian whether he wanted to go or not. He was deeply helpless; this could be called news that was half joy and half worry.

"Your servant accepts the edict."

With no choice at this moment, Kong Shangqian hastily bowed to receive the edict.

The eunuch naturally had no idea what Kong Shangqian was thinking. He personally handed the imperial edict into Kong Shangqian's hands, smiling as he helped him up, and said directly: "Duke Yansheng, the investiture ceremony will be held in the capital, so everything here will be kept simple for now."

"Duke Yansheng, please pack up as quickly as possible and dispose of your household affairs, so that you may accompany me up to the capital."

Upon hearing this, Kong Shangqian nodded and said: "Thank you for your trouble, honored eunuch. Please, come inside and have some tea."

As he spoke, he made a gesture of invitation and ushered the edict-bearing eunuch inside.

Once they were through the door, Kong Shangqian's expression turned grave.

Selling off the family's properties would certainly not be a problem, and there was no worry about being lowballed. The family was not in decline—it was rising. At a time like this, there were plenty of people eager to flatter and curry favor. Hearing that the Kong family was disposing of its properties, they would only offer high prices, not low ones.

The Kong family would be able to pocket a large sum of money—that was certain. But there was one thing: what could that money accomplish once they reached the capital?

This made Kong Shangqian somewhat worried. If anything went wrong, he probably wouldn't even be able to go on living.

But there was no room for discussion. Kong Shangqian had people entertain the imperial envoy properly on one side, while he began disposing of the family's property on the other.

The capital, deep within the imperial palace.

Zhu Youxiao stood before a map, holding a pointer in his hand and occasionally indicating a location.

Chen Hong stood behind him holding a ledger, continuously coordinating with Zhu Youxiao to locate places.

The two of them were playing their game very well.

At this moment, Empress Zhang walked in from outside. Seeing this scene, she looked somewhat exasperated.

Everything about her imperial husband was fine, except that he was always doing inexplicable things. She heard that this time he was going to build a new city again—she had no idea what was going through his head.

Building a new city right next to the capital—what was that all about?

But Empress Zhang had not come over for that matter.

Seeing Empress Zhang arrive, Zhu Youxiao hurriedly came forward to greet her, asking with a smile: "Baozhu, why have you come? Where is my imperial son?"

"He has gone to sleep." Empress Zhang said with a smile: "I came today to ask Your Majesty—the Mid-Autumn Festival is almost upon us. Should the palace hold a celebration? We have some money now, and everyone has been living frugally for so long. This would be a good time to loosen things up a bit."

Zhu Youxiao looked at Empress Zhang and slowly shook his head, saying: "That won't do. The palace's money is not yet at the point where it can be spent. I have other uses for the funds in the inner treasury—they cannot be spent casually."

As he spoke, Zhu Youxiao pulled Empress Zhang over. The two of them came together to stand before the map.

Reaching out to pick up the pointer, Zhu Youxiao indicated a direction and said: "Baozhu, look here."

Following the direction Zhu Youxiao was pointing, Empress Zhang was startled for a moment, then said: "Isn't this Qinghua Garden?"

Zhu Youxiao nodded and said: "This is indeed Qinghua Garden."

Qinghua Garden—the number one garden in the capital.

The man who built Qinghua Garden was none other than the maternal grandfather of the Wanli Emperor, the father-in-law of the Longqing Emperor, and the father of Empress Dowager Li—Marquis Wuqing, Li Wei.

But after Wanli's reign, the Li family had completely declined.

For meritorious nobles and imperial relatives to flourish for a time—that was basically the rule. After a few decades and two changes of emperor, noble families naturally lost their power and influence. The Li family was no different.

This time, Zhu Youxiao had set his sights on this place.

"Your Majesty wants this garden?" Empress Zhang looked at Zhu Youxiao and asked.

This was hardly a good thing. Forcibly seizing a subject's property was hardly a glorious matter for the imperial house. Moreover, this was the property of a meritorious noble family—it could easily create a situation where everyone felt endangered. This absolutely could not be done.

Zhu Youxiao shook his head and said: "How could I do such a thing?"

This Qinghua Garden would receive even more attention in the Qing dynasty. But the reason Zhu Youxiao had his eye on Qinghua Garden was that Qinghua Garden was the site of the future Tsinghua University. And across from Qinghua Garden was Peking University.

Zhu Youxiao wanted to build a new city here, and the gardens in the surrounding area would need to be properly cleared and organized.

For Zhu Youxiao, these people had occupied this stretch of land and built so many gardens. Besides Qinghua Garden, there were many other gardens, and no small number of temples and Daoist abbeys had been built as well.

This was not what Zhu Youxiao wanted—empty land was good land. As for how this place would be built, Zhu Youxiao already had ideas in his mind.

Clearing it out was certainly necessary, but he couldn't tell Empress Zhang that.

Zhu Youxiao pulled Empress Zhang along and said: "You don't need to worry about this matter. I have my own plans in mind."

Upon hearing this, Empress Zhang understood and could only look at Zhu Youxiao with helplessness.

Having been married for so long, how could Empress Zhang not understand her own Emperor?

Her not being allowed to manage this matter did not mean the Emperor wouldn't do it. Clearly, her imperial husband had set his sights on this land, and these people would certainly need to yield it.

Feeling somewhat awkward under Empress Zhang's gaze, Zhu Youxiao reached out and took her hand, leading her before the map, and said: "Look here—the terrain is just right, neither too far from nor too close to the capital. Letting them build gardens here is simply a waste."

"I want to build academies here, moving all the academies in the capital out and concentrating them all in this place. When the time comes, academy students will study here. I will also build a Confucian temple here, and the new Duke Yansheng mansion will be here as well. This place will become the sacred ground of culture and education for the Great Ming."

"Letting them occupy this spot to build gardens is simply wasting a good location!" Zhu Youxiao explained with righteous indignation.

But only Zhu Youxiao himself knew that in doing this, besides concentrating the academies, he was mostly just speculating in real estate.

Living in the capital has never been easy, and that has been true for a long time now. Housing prices in the capital truly remain stubbornly high.

And within the capital, the court has already acquired no small amount of land for new academies, of which the Shoushan Academy occupies a very large area. If all this land were vacated and every academy moved outside the city walls, the land within the capital would be freed up.

Whether this land is used to build shops or residential housing, it would turn a handsome profit either way. Trading land outside the city for land inside the city—there's no way to lose on that deal.

In fact, in Zhu Youxiao's mind, he was already planning to build residences here. Part would be sold, part would be granted to officials as rewards, and part would serve as official dormitories—one could say it was a move that killed many birds with one stone. It won people's hearts while also turning a profit.

As for the land outside the city, Zhu Youxiao naturally would not let that go to waste either. Wherever there are people, there is money, and the real estate business can take off.

Zhu Youxiao planned to concentrate all the academies at Qinghua Garden, with the teachers and the Confucian temple all located there—this would become the sacred ground of culture and education. When scholars came to this place, they would naturally want to take a stroll around.

By cultivating a distinctive scholarly culture at Qinghua Garden and building a characteristic commercial street, there was no way property values there would not rise.

Concentrating all the schools together—just the spending power of the students alone would be enough to drive prosperity in the surrounding area. In later generations, this was the most routine practice; Zhu Youxiao had seen it far too many times.

Gather all the schools into one district and build a new zone. As students enroll, industries naturally spring up around it.

After all, with more students comes higher spending power, and on top of that, you free up the old land for real estate development—when has that ever failed to fill one's coffers to the brim?

Though he couldn't exactly pull off the "school district housing" scheme, doing it this way was more than sufficient.

As for those gardens, they absolutely had to be cleared out. How could they be allowed to occupy those spaces? It was simply absurd.

When the time came, they could build some gardens beside Qinghua Garden, and they could also relocate the princely mansions from within the capital to the outskirts. Later, a princely mansion could be built beside Qinghua Garden, so that all the princes who entered the capital would go live there.

As for the princely mansions vacated within the city—with such vast grounds, what couldn't they be used for?

Of course, all of this was merely what Zhu Youxiao was thinking to himself, and there was no way he would tell Empress Zhang about it.

It would be far too embarrassing.

Empress Zhang also knew that Zhu Youxiao's words were not entirely sincere, but as the Empress, she naturally could not leave the Emperor without a way to save face.

She did not press the matter further, and said with some hesitation: "But the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, and the palace must bestow gifts as always. The meritorious nobles and the relatives of the imperial clan all need to be rewarded as well."