Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 323 Chang'an People

Since Wang Wenzuo's purpose was only to prevent the transformation of the Wa Kingdom into a law-based country, he actually had no conflict of interest with most of the wealthy families of the Wa Kingdom. In a sense, the eldest brother and the prince were their common enemy.From the perspective of later generations, the so-called "Dahua Reform" and "the formation of the emperor's legal system state" are based on the Tang Dynasty as a template, abolishing the old hereditary clan aristocratic system, and establishing a centralized bureaucratic political state with the emperor as the core.

To put it simply, before this, each of the big clan nobles in the Yamato country was a small emperor. They had their own territory, their own people, their own army, their own beliefs (mainly ancestor gods), the emperor ( In fact, it should be called Dawang at that time) is just the most powerful of them.After the Taika Reform, the emperor became the only source of power, and the clan nobles were deprived of their belief in the territorial tribesmen and troops. They had to be granted official positions by the emperor to ensure their own interests.Obviously, in the process of transforming into a law-based country, the original clan nobles are the losers. As long as Wang Wenzuo can declare the truth, it will be very easy to defeat the eldest brother and prince.

Under the circumstances at that time, most of the people who were able to join the mission to the Tang Dynasty must be from the clan nobles of the Wa Kingdom. As the saying goes, there are individuals who betray the class, but there is no class who betrays the class. But objectively most of them are at least not opposed to the interests of their own class.After they returned to Japan, as long as they could play the role of a sounding board and spread Wang Wenzuo's attitude of opposing the eldest brother and prince, not opposing Yamato, opposing the law-based country, and ensuring the interests of hereditary clan nobles, that would be enough.

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Chang'an West City.

On the morning of the [-]th day of the first lunar month in the first year of Linde, the violent north wind roared on Zhuque Street in Chang'an City, and the gray clouds blown together by the wind made the sky look bleak.Fine snowflakes fell slowly on the wet and filthy stone-paved streets.

The people waiting for the opening of the market gathered in one pile in the east and in the west, chatting idlely.Because of the snow, most people stood under the arcades of various large buildings, especially the front porch of the Zoroastrian Temple. This temple is a magnificent building with a wide front half. From the main arcade there are two flanking arcades.Not far behind the Zoroastrian Temple is a huge granary. There is also a granary like this in Dongshi. According to the rules, the granaries in the east and west cities are reserved for emergencies.Here, employers and craftsmen, money changers, merchants and officials are all mixed together; they stand here and there in small groups and discuss their respective affairs.The crowd came and went incessantly, making a noise like a gigantic beehive.

Deep in that main arcade, facing the entrance gate, but away from the gate, a long row of high balustrades isolates one part of the arcade from the rest, making it a separate place.That is the place to store belongings, because the noise from the outside is not easy to reach inside, and the location inside is much higher than the outside, so it is difficult to see what is going on inside, and those who deposit their belongings can communicate with the temple. The person in charge here goes through the formalities without interruption.

Liu Qizheng was standing in the corridor, wearing a brown round-neck gown, wrapped in a white burqa, looking coldly at the crowd of people going back and forth below, resting his elbows on the stone railing, and resting his head on both hands , looking indifferently and absently at all these busy and eager crowds.

Not far from him, several men were talking loudly, two of them had already appeared earlier in this book, it was the grave guard Chen Qi and the veteran with scars on his face, and the third was Wen Jiu , is one of the countless unemployed vagrants in Chang'an City who rely on the alms of the nobles to live.These vagrants often proclaim themselves to be the "recipients" of a nobleman, but in reality they are nothing more than an unpatched coat than the ragged beggars.They are good at crime and can be bought as loyal lackeys by any faction.They lived on charity, on flattery, slander, and intrigue.

The three of them were standing not far from Liu Qi, loudly discussing various rumors in Chang'an City, completely ignoring Liu Qi who was obliquely above them.

"Have you heard?" Wen Jiu said in that secretive tone: "Tuyuhun Khan Hebo and Princess Honghua led thousands of tents and fled to Liangzhou!"

"Isn't this old news from a few months ago?" Chen Qi, the keeper of the grave, replied contemptuously: "Don't you always say that you are very important in Liu Shilang's mansion? That's all you know?"

"What are you in a hurry for? Listen to me!" Wen Jiu said with a smile: "The Tuyuhun people ran to Liangzhou, and there was no barrier between the Tang Dynasty and the Tubo people. Sooner or later, the two sides will fight!"

"Hey, I have some important news, so this is it!" Chen Qi sneered and said, "It's nothing more than a group of barbarians riding horses and archery. Can they still withstand the Heavenly Soldiers of the Tang Dynasty? It is estimated that it will be available in Chang'an market in two years." It's time for Tubo slaves!"

"Chen Qi, Tibetans are different!" the scar-faced veteran said, "Those guys are very difficult!"

"Look, Uncle Zhang said the same thing, he fought in Longshang!" Wen Jiu smiled triumphantly.

"Even if the Tubo people are different, what does it have to do with us? Anyway, we live our lives in Chang'an City, can the Tubo people fight over?"

"Hey, poor idiot!" Wen Jiu laughed sharply: "Chen Qi, you guard the dead every day, and your brain has become full of maggots like those dead people!" He didn't wait for Chen Qi to get angry, and said: "Food prices, The food price must have something to do with you, right?"

If there is anything that can scare the locals in Chang'an who are not afraid these days and the earth, it is the change in food prices.Since the Western Wei Dynasty established Guanzhong as its capital, the population of Chang'an has been increasing. When the Sui and Tang dynasties ruled the country, the population of Guanzhong area continued to grow, and soon exceeded the local support capacity.Although Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty built the Grand Canal to transport grain and cloth from the southeast to Guanzhong by water, the Yellow River at the junction of Shaanxi and Henan was turbulent and had a large number of reefs, making water transportation extremely difficult, and the annual grain transport to Guanzhong was greatly restricted.Therefore, whenever the annual harvest in the Guanzhong area is slightly bad, the price of food in Chang'an City will skyrocket, and even the emperor will go to the eastern capital to eat to reduce food consumption.

(End of this chapter)