In August of the second year of Hongwu, the whole country was unified, and Zhu Yuanzhang called all the old ministers to discuss the land to build the capital. Ming Taizu in Chang 'an, Luoyang, the capital of song dynasty, Peiping, etc. After listening to the opinions of ministers about the capital, he thought that "words are endless, but there are different times", and then put forward "I want to think that I am in China, so I can swim according to the risks. What? " Courtiers are mostly from Huaixi, and they are willing to wear clothes and go back to their hometown. "All applaud." In September of the second year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang made a letter to Lin Hao as its capital, saying that "the imperial palace was ordered to be built like an imperial city". Later, taking the meaning of "establishing the world, setting the people of the four seas", the Lin Hao government was changed to a neutral government. Because the Forbidden City was built in the sun of Phoenix Mountain, it was changed to Fengyang.
The construction of Zhongdu in Ming Dynasty can be described as stimulating the masses and consuming a lot. The wood used in the building is not only "famous in the world", but also sent to the joining countries that have not been listed in the catalogue to "seek big wood". The building wall is based on Sumitomo Bai Yushi or strip stone, and then big city bricks are laid on it. When laying, lime, tung oil and glutinous rice juice are used as slurry, and key parts are even "cast iron". All the wooden buildings are "extravagant", the paintings and embroideries are bright and dazzling, all the stone buildings are "gorgeous and ingenious", and the carved patterns are exquisite and incomparable. Due to the short construction and use time, the Ming and Chinese dynasties failed to form a political center. However, some layouts in urban planning, especially the layout of palaces, drew blueprints and made model models for the later reconstruction of Nanjing Capital Palace and the construction of Beijing Capital.
Zhongdu Imperial City is the innermost city, with a perimeter of 3.68 kilometers and a nearly square plane, which is 10,000 square meters larger than the Forbidden City in Beijing. The city wall is "three feet nine feet five inches high, the female wall is five feet nine inches five minutes high, and * * * is four feet five feet four inches five minutes high". There is a gate on each side of the city wall, with the meridian gate in the south, Xuanwu gate in the north, Donghua gate in the east and Xihua gate in the west. Second Road City is forbidden outside the Imperial City, with a circumference of 7.85 kilometers and a rectangular plane. "Masonry building, two feet high." There is a door on each side of the city wall, which connects the sky in the south, Bei 'an in the north, Dong 'an in the east and Xi 'an in the west. The East Gate, Xihua Gate and East Gate, and Xi 'anmen Gate of the two cities are all located in the south of the East-West City Wall, which makes the Quegong more closely guarded.
The layout of the capital of Ming dynasty strictly follows the traditional symmetry principle, with the emphasis on the architectural layout of Quegong on the central axis. It runs through the central axis of the city, starting from Fengyang Bridge in the south, crossing Jianshui into Hongwumen, the capital city of China, stepping on Hongwu Street, crossing Ji Yun Street, crossing Daming Gate, crossing Kuantu Square, entering Chengtianmen of the Forbidden City, crossing Duanmen, crossing Waijinshui Bridge, entering Wumen of the Imperial City, crossing Neijinshui Bridge, entering Fengtianmen, crossing three main halls, entering the harem and leaving. On both sides of this nearly 7-kilometer-long axis, many buildings are arranged regularly and symmetrically. The main hall in the imperial city is divided into two palaces, the East Palace and the West Palace. The two wings are the second floor of Wenwu and the second hall of Wenwu respectively. The order of the six hospitals on both sides of the harem. To the south of the Wumen Gate of the Imperial City, there are Zhongshu Province and Taimiao on the left, and Dadufu, Yushitai and Shejitan on the right. This layout embodies the tradition of the supremacy of imperial power in feudal society for thousands of years, so it is more strict than the layout of palaces in previous dynasties. Moreover, on the east and west sides of Daming Gate Square, there are the City God Temple and Zhongdu Guo Zi School on the left, and Gongren Temple and Emperor Temple on the right. In front of the square, on both sides of Hongwu Street perpendicular to Daming Gate, there are left and right thousand-step corridors. At the east and west ends of Ji Yun Street parallel to Daming Gate, there are Drum Tower and Bell Tower in the distance. This not only further strengthens the architectural level and depth from the outer city to the forbidden wall, but also makes the palace more magnificent.
In the 600 years after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, both China and Capital went on strike, and great changes have taken place. In the sixth year of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty, Fengyang County moved to the old imperial city. In the twenty-five years of Qianlong, the forbidden wall and bell tower were demolished and bricks were taken to build Fengyang Fucheng. In the third year of Xianfeng, Taiping Army burned longxing temple and Drum Tower. In the Ming Dynasty, Zhongdu was the most luxurious capital in Chinese history, and most of the palaces and palaces were completely destroyed, leaving only the Wumen Gate, Xihua Gate and the wall about 1 100 meters long.
Because Zhongdu City was built on a high original soil layer, there has been no large-scale reconstruction so far, so the stratum is not chaotic, the ruins are still there, and the ruins are clearly identifiable. Inside and outside the capital, the temple base is like a mountain, and the door base is high and the mountain is high; The old roads such as Baiyushi Street, Jinshui River and Jinshui Bridge are still there; Several large wells, such as the Forbidden City, can still be used; The moat is more than 70 meters wide; There is a 400-meter-long earth wall on the north wall and the east wall of Zhongdu, which is nearly 10 meters higher than the ground. The wall around the forbidden wall has become a road or avenue; The western section of the western wall and the southern wall of the imperial city basically retain the majestic momentum of the past; Wumen Gate and Xihuamen can still see the grandeur of that year. In particular, the relief of Sumi Mountain on the base of Wumen Gate and the stone carving in the city are rare stone carving art treasures in China. At present, Fengyang County has started the requisition and relocation of residential buildings inside and outside the Imperial City, and started to build Ming Zhongdu into a national archaeological site park.