Ruins of the past

Hearing Chu Qiguang's inquiry, the clerk said: "Isn't that right? I heard that the demons from the northwest are coming again. All roadside towns will block official roads and water transportation. The price of food and medicine will also follow. It’s starting to rise.”

During this period, Chu Qiguang followed Qiao Zhi to learn about the situation in the world, and also knew that in the past two hundred years, monsters had been raging on the grasslands northwest of the Han Dynasty.

The monster clan is a race bred from the monsters who have entered the Taoist level. The monsters in the clan are born with spiritual intelligence and the ability to practice.

Today, the most powerful demon tribe on the northwest grasslands is the wolf demon tribe. This wolf demon tribe is divided into more than a dozen tribes. One of them calls itself the Yongri tribe and believes that it is a tribe of gods who descended from the sun to the world.

After the Yongri tribe unified the wolf demon tribe, they swept across the entire northwest grassland. They changed their name to Tiancheng and their country to Daqian, and became one of the seven major demon tribes in the world.

In the past twenty years, this wolf demon tribe often led its troops south to plunder the territory of the Han Dynasty. Lingzhou, where Qingyang County is located, is one of the major states in the north of the Han Dynasty and has always been the target of the wolf monsters.

"Is the wolf tribe going south again?" Chu Qiguang thought to himself, "Let's go back and ask Qiao Zhi to see what he knows."

"But it's rare to come here once. Let's go to the county to have a look and collect information."

The Taoist temples in Qingyang County are not located in the county seat, but in the suburbs. So after Chu Qiguang left the Taoist Medicine Shop, he went to the gate of the county seat.

Most of the soldiers I saw when entering the city were thin and wore shabby military uniforms. The original bright colors had faded away, and instead they were covered with greasy stains. They stood or squatted, but none of them stood guard properly.

Chu Qiguang shook his head secretly. Even if there were martial arts and Taoism in this world, and the role of masters was highly valued in battles, the mental outlook of these soldiers was too poor, which illustrated the problems of the Han Dynasty at the moment.

After crossing the city gate, what he saw was South Street. The bluestone-paved street was filled with garbage, feces and other things on both sides. As soon as Chu Qiguang came in, he squinted his eyes due to the smell.

However, he had no expectations for this sanitary condition in the feudal era, so he covered his nose and rushed over at a faster speed.

…

Just as Chu Qiguang passed through the city gate, two pairs of eyes stared at him in an alley next to the street. They were two brown-yellow dogs. One of them sniffed in the direction of Chu Qiguang. He sniffed his nose and said with a look of disgust, "It smells so strong of cat."

The other native dog also sniffed his nose and wondered, "Why didn't I smell it?"

"You're not moral enough. Huh, this guy loves being with cats so much. He's not a serious person at first glance. He's bound to end badly."

"Look, it's the Taoist priests from Qingyang Temple who have entered the city."

"Why are you still looking at me, waiting to be made into a dog meat pot? You slipped away."

The two native dogs disappeared deep into the alley with their tails between their legs.

…

Chu Qiguang walked all the way to the busiest West Street in the county. Along the way, there were various vegetable farmers, delivery men, fortune tellers, fortune tellers, and snack sellers. On both sides of the street were some one- and two-story brick houses with grain stores inside. Shops, banks, pharmacies, clothing and shoe stores, restaurants, teahouses, dental shops and other types of shops.

The streets here are much cleaner and more comfortable without feces and garbage on both sides.

Of course, Chu Qiguang knew that this was not because the people here were hard-working and clean, but because this street was relatively close to the county government office, so the people in the city would come several times a day to clean the streets and collect feces.

Collecting excrement sounds like a menial job, but it is actually very profitable, because collecting excrement can earn a sum of money, and collecting excrement and selling it as compost can earn another sum of money.

Chu Qiguang had already had the idea of ​​​​this business in his mind, but unfortunately, people in this world have already known the importance of fertilizer. The feces in the city have long been taken care of by various feces tyrants, and it is not Chu Qiguang's turn. Get involved.

"Newly baked pancakes! Two cents each!"

"Newly arrived Wuzhou silk! Red cloth in the clouds! Would you like to see it, sir?"

"Sir, this is the frost paper sent from Qi County. It is as clean as jade, thin and smooth..."

Chu Qiguang was walking on the street, listening to the sounds of hawking and business, and suddenly had the illusion of returning to modern times and visiting a famous ancient town.

However, many people walking on this bustling street were wearing silk clothes and cotton gowns. There were only a few short coats like Chu Qiguang's, and the clerks in the store almost ignored him.

‘This is also the CBD of Qingyang County. ’

‘I need to buy a set of clothes to prepare. ’

It is said that a man relies on his clothes and a horse relies on his saddle. Especially in this ancient feudal society, it is still very useful for a person to dress well, at least it will provide a lot of convenience in receiving people and things.

So Chu Qiguang first went to the silver shop and exchanged one tael of silver for a sling of 600 copper coins. This was because the copper coins in this store were of good quality and had a higher copper content. Copper coins with a lower copper content would cost 1,000 or even 600 copper coins. 2000 Wen can be exchanged for one tael of silver.

As for the reason for exchanging silver, it is naturally more convenient to use copper coins to buy food and drink on a daily basis.

Then he spent 4 copper coins to buy two pancakes from the vendor to pad his stomach, and then spent another 1 or 2 coins to buy a blue silk round-neck long-sleeved gown.

This kind of long gown was originally stipulated by the imperial court and could only be worn by scholars who had achieved fame.

After all, at the beginning of the Han Dynasty, there were detailed requirements for the clothing of people from different professions such as civil servants, generals, merchants, farmers, craftsmen, etc., including the color and style of clothes, and even the width and length of sleeves. to divide people into different levels.

However, nowadays, the descendants of all the great official families and wealthy businessmen and wealthy families can wear whatever they want. The government cannot control it, so they gradually don't care about it, and even the common people have become more and more free in their clothes.

"These ancient clothes are really expensive. If you buy a few more pieces, they will be comparable to Ergou's land."

A piece of clothing cost only one or two dollars, and Chu Qiguang couldn't help but shake his head.

He changed his clothes and wandered around, but when he went shopping, he was not very interested in restaurants, teahouses, or Goulan tile houses, and he didn't even look at them.

On the contrary, there are those who sell grain, medicine, coal, blacksmiths, and all kinds of groceries from the north and the south, such as coarse salt, fine salt, brown sugar, white sugar, dry goods, and dried fruits.

…

Chu Qiguang walked around from the morning until the afternoon before leaving the county town. His mind was filled with data such as the prices of various commodities, the flow of people on the street, the volume of freight at the city gate, and the origin of the goods.

At this time, the Han Dynasty became more vivid, vivid and three-dimensional in his mind than Ergou's memory and Qiao Zhi's narration.

'There are more handicraft products than I imagined, including grain, cotton, sugar, tobacco, coal, silk and satin, cotton cloth, paper, oil, wood, copperware, porcelain...not only local products in Lingzhou, but also products from Donghai Prefecture in the south. , Quanzhou, Yuezhou and other places in the south of the Yangtze River. ’

‘This shows that commercial capital is active and industrial and commercial towns have emerged, so the rural gentry from all over the country must be involved. ’

'However, the currency of transactions is still mainly silver, and the official currency is far from enough. This shows that the imperial court still does not really realize the importance of industry, commerce and finance, and may only regard it as a source of wealth. ’

Looking at the city gate where people were coming and going, Chu Qiguang took a deep breath, which seemed to be high-spirited.

‘The government’s supervision is unfavorable, land annexation is serious, and commercial capital is rising... There is a lot of potential in the future, but the only pity is that... the country may be destroyed. ’

——

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