Wild North America 1846

Tang Empire mainland

The planned new capital, Chaoge (Philadelphia)

After two and a half years of large-scale infrastructure construction, the entire city of Chaoge (Philadelphia) has reached a new level. The main streets of the city are wider and neater, and the high-rise buildings along the banks of the Schuylkill River are huge.

It raises the city skyline and presents the majestic side of the prosperous city.

Today's Chaoge City (Philadelphia) is still a large construction site. The edges of this metropolis with a population of one million are rapidly expanding, and the population is also increasing rapidly. The successive transfers of imperial government departments have added to its significant influence.

The total population of Chaoge City (Philadelphia) reached 1.476 million by the end of June 1898, making it one of the cities with the fastest growing population among the thirteen million cities in the empire.

nowadays

After a period of verbal disputes, the imperial newspapers gradually unified the old imperial capital Chang'an (San Francisco) as the "Western Capital", Washington as the "Eastern Capital", and the new imperial capital Chaoge (Philadelphia) as the "Western Capital".

"Zhongdu".

In the new imperial capital Chaoge City (Philadelphia), McKate Street and Brood Street in the core central square are the east-west and north-south main roads. Now these two main roads have all been renamed.

The tall Arc de Triomphe stands at the easternmost end of McKate Street, which is a huge landmark building in the new imperial capital of Chaoge City (Philadelphia). Therefore, McKate Street was renamed Triumph Avenue.

The north-south Bruder Street was renamed Glory Avenue. The most iconic thing is that there are 18 divisions of the Royal Guards, and all their retired military clubs are placed on both sides of Glory Avenue. Each club occupies a large area.

place.

These glorious regiments of the Royal Guards, which have followed His Majesty the Holy Emperor in his conquests in the north and south for more than 50 years, have added infinite glory to this avenue of the imperial capital.

It is worth stating that;

On both sides of the 29.6-kilometer-long Glory Avenue, there are also 5 institutions of higher learning, 23 churches, 7 temples, 3 Taoist temples and 11 large and medium-sized hospitals. It is also a place where the imperial nobles and wealthy businessmen gather.

At the southernmost end of the Avenue of Glory, the original Fairmont Park, covering an area of ​​more than 1,600 hectares, has now become the new core of the empire.

it's here

The unprecedentedly magnificent Imperial Parliament Building rose from the ground, as well as 21 large-scale government department buildings, including the official residence of the Prime Minister known as the "Yunxiao Palace".

Why should it become Yunxiao Palace?

Because the official residence of the Prime Minister of the Cabinet stands on a gentle hill with an altitude of 79 meters, coupled with the majestic three-story palace-style buildings of the Han and Tang Dynasties, the total height exceeds 100 meters.

Philadelphia) at a glance.

From a distance, it seems as if it reaches straight into the sky.

Originally, the official residence of the Prime Minister of the Imperial Cabinet did not want to be built in such a grand manner. It simply compared it with the New Imperial Palace, which was only a few kilometers away. It was very suspicious of overstepping.

However, after His Majesty the Holy Emperor read the design drawings, he personally designated the official residence of the Prime Minister to be based on the "Yunxiao Palace" as the core, the Imperial Parliament Building, the Imperial Supreme Court, the Imperial Supreme Prosecutor's Office, the Royal Army Headquarters, the Royal Navy Headquarters, and the Royal Guards Headquarters.

A series of central agencies such as the Imperial Treasury Department are lined up along both sides of Yunxiao Palace, forming a towering palace complex in the Han and Tang styles.

The Imperial New Palace is located in a forest several kilometers away, on the bank of a lake. Its building scale is much smaller and more low-key than the Daming Palace.

There are 7 small lakes in the new palace. The larger one covers an area of ​​tens of acres, and the smaller one covers an area of ​​several acres. Together, they are less than one-seventh of the Taiye Pool in the original Daming Palace.

But these small lakes are famous for their beautiful scenery, each scene is a scene at a time, and have the charm of Jiangnan gardens. Even the Taihu stones used in the gardens were transported thousands of miles from the Qing Dynasty, and tens of thousands of tons were used in total.

In the new palace, there is no Wanshou (note, homophonic animal) mountain that occupies an extremely large area. Instead, the three main palaces, the East Palace, the West Palace and the North Palace are separated by a small lake with seven stars. Today, large-scale infrastructure construction is still under way.

In terms of the number of palaces, the New Imperial Palace is not much less than the Daming Palace, about 75% of the former.

However, without the extremely large Taiye Pool and Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, the layout of the new palace is more compact and low-key. Most of the many palaces and pavilions are hidden among the lush forest trees, which looks very inconspicuous.

Ordinary people cannot approach the palace area, because one side of the palace is adjacent to the broad Schuylkill River and is hidden by lush forests. From the river, only a corner of the golden eaves and brackets of the palace can be seen occasionally, and it is impossible to peek.

Overall appearance.

On the other side of the street in front of the palace is a vast lake covering an area of ​​hundreds of acres. Along the lakeside are a series of noble mansions built by the Royal Household Office, totaling 49 large and small, which will be used to reward the emperor's grandchildren in the future.

The new palace is very low-key, which is in line with His Majesty's original intention of elevating the status of the cabinet and suppressing the royal family's voice, gradually moving closer to the British constitutional monarchy.

Not far from the Royal Palace, there is the very low-key Royal Household Building. This is a complex of buildings covering an extremely large area. It is almost a smaller government, but it is more focused on financial holding investments.

After decades of development, the eight major funds of the Royal Household Office have become a deep-rooted behind-the-scenes holding consortium. The shadow of the Royal Fund can be seen behind almost every major corporate consortium in the empire.

However, in recent years, in accordance with the instructions of His Majesty the Holy Emperor, the company has become increasingly low-key. From the lists of shareholders of many listed companies, the names of the Eight Royal Funds cannot be seen.

This is because the Royal Eight Fund has registered many companies and then uses these companies to hold shares. Therefore, the existence of the Royal Eight Fund cannot be seen in the financial statements, but the huge annual dividends and control have not been reduced at all.

In all fields of politics and economy, the comprehensive weakening of the royal presence was the personal deployment of Emperor Richard, and it was naturally implemented to the letter.

but no matter

The royal family of the Tang Dynasty would not be reduced to ceremonial mascots like the British royal family. The most critical factor was the existence of the powerful Royal Guards.

This is a powerful armed force comparable to the Royal Army. It has unquestionable control over the areas surrounding the old and new imperial capitals, and its military power is much stronger than that of the Royal Army (note, this only refers to the above-mentioned areas).

As long as they are willing, this powerful military force controlled by the royal family of the Tang Empire can subvert the government and the upper echelons of the army and navy at any time, and make them die without a burial place.

from another perspective

The high-level nobles of the empire are basically under the control of the Royal Guards. Why are their children and families not hostages?

Through this veil, the royal family of the Tang Empire could firmly control the political situation and make it evolve according to their own will instead of being led by the imperial government.

The Royal Guards are different from the Royal Army in that most of its officers come from traditional military aristocratic families, inheriting the mindless and fanatical worship of the royal family, and the atmosphere of loyalty to the royal family is extremely strong.

It can be said that most of the most fanatical royal loyalists are in the Royal Guards.

For example, retired veterans in Chicago and Detroit, who have crazy admiration for the royal family, prefer the Royal Guards for their children to serve in the military to pass down the glory from generation to generation.

Up to now, the third generation of young people has served in the Royal Guards, forming a tradition passed down from father to son, and from son to grandson.

The royal family treats these fanatical die-hards with great benefits, and most of the retired soldiers can receive better placement and be given priority care.

Either join the government department as a low-level employee, or join the police department or a large company, factory, royal-supported charity hospital and school, where you can get a stable and high salary and a decent job.

In this aspect, they are much better than ordinary retired Royal Army soldiers.

If things go on like this

This resulted in the social phenomenon that the Royal Guards soldiers were superior to others. The annual recruitment of new soldiers was very enthusiastic, and often only one outstanding person could be selected among five or six people or even more.

When recruiting new recruits for the Royal Guards, priority will be given to children of military families who have inherited the military for generations. This is also a reward for their loyalty from generation to generation, and this has become a convention.

Today's Fairmont Park is still a large construction site, where tens of thousands of workers work day and night, and tall buildings are rising from the ground.

The main buildings of various government departments have roughly taken shape and will basically be delivered by the end of this year or the middle of next year to welcome the imperial government departments to move in.

Some personnel from various departments of the imperial government have arrived in the new imperial capital Chaoge City (Philadelphia) first, and more functional departments will gradually settle in this year and next.

According to the construction period

The new office buildings of various departments of the imperial government will be delivered by the end of next year and officially opened at the beginning of the new century.

Since the new palace has more construction projects and is more complicated, it will be a long-term construction project that will last for more than ten years or even longer, but it can also be opened first at the beginning of the new century.

Because the three main halls and the East Palace that have been prioritized for construction are under intensive construction, with another three years of construction time, most of them can basically be completed and the Holy Emperor can be welcomed into the palace.

The subsequent French palaces, Baroque palaces, constant-temperature basements, treasure pavilions and other building complexes located in the West Palace area will continue to be constructed in the future.

At the end of June at the beginning of summer

Emperor Richard Shengjia arrived at Chaoge City (Philadelphia), the new imperial capital, and inspected the Yunxiao Palace and a number of government buildings under construction. He also inspected the new imperial palace under construction and generally expressed satisfaction with the current construction progress.

However, he also made new demands.

The new imperial capital Chaoge City (Philadelphia) cannot only have a few landmark buildings such as the Arc de Triomphe and Yunxiao Palace, but also needs more landmark buildings.

For example, the Bell and Drum Tower of unprecedented height, the octagonal 21-story Yunxiao Pagoda on the bank of the Schuylkill River, the unprecedented scale of the Royal Temple, the large iron bridge across the Schuylkill River, the second and third ring elevated highways and the upstream reservoir

Etc., they should all be included in the construction plan of the new imperial capital.

Thus

The new imperial capital Chaoge City (Philadelphia) is about to set off a new round of construction boom. This will greatly change the original appearance of Chaoge City (Philadelphia) and at the same time comprehensively enhance the city's level. It will soon be on par with the first-class metropolises Chang'an, Los Angeles and New York.

, becoming one of the top metropolises in the empire.

The Tang Empire was not short of money, and neither was the imperial royal family. Unprecedented scale royal temples, Taoist temples, and a 21-story octagonal exquisite pagoda could be built with funds from the Royal Household Office, adding new landmarks to the imperial capital.

The new Royal Museum, Royal Charity Hospital, and Royal Chaoge University can all be put on the planning agenda and construction work will be advanced according to the plan.

Anyway, if you have money, you can spend it freely and promote a large number of city image projects.

(End of chapter)