Li You's Tang Dynasty

Chapter 14 Chang'an West City
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"Wow my god!"

Although it is said that Li You is a modern person who has traveled to the Tang Dynasty, but at this time Li You stood on Zhuque Street in Chang'an, and couldn't help but let out a sound of admiration.

And this is only the main road of Chang'an. If you want to walk on the road and see the situation in the workshop, you can't see it. This is the restraint of Chang'an City, but this Zhuque Street is ten miles long. , running from north to south, with a width of 150 meters, which is equivalent to thirty or forty lanes according to the current conversion.

It was so spectacular that Li You couldn't help but let out a sound of admiration.

If you want to see the prosperity of Chang'an, then you must enter the square.

There are a total of 108 Lifangs in the Tang Dynasty, each of which is like a residential area today. It is neatly arranged, well-regulated, and very orderly.These communities are all rectangular, but because the width of each street is different, the size of each community is not exactly the same.

The perimeter of the Lifang is surrounded by tall walls, and the foundation of the walls is made of rammed earth boards, with a thickness ranging from 2.3 meters to 3 meters.

In each square, there are generally open east, west, north and south cross streets, with one door on each side.Only the 36th square in the south of the imperial city only opened the East-West Street and the East-West Gate, but not the North-South Street and the North-South Gate. It is said in history that "I don't want to open the North Street to be discouraged, so as to break through the city".

The Lifang system in the early Tang Dynasty stipulated that the gates of the squares were opened at sunrise and closed at sunset, and there was a curfew in the city. When night came, people could not hang out on the main street outside the square. Hanging lanterns.

But here is an interesting thing, although it is not allowed to visit workshops, it is not that the people of Chang’an have no entertainment at night, because the inside workshops are surrounded by high walls, so at night, those who do not want to go home are completely You can stay in the workshop, continue to toast and drink, and talk about wine.

People can stay up all night as long as they don't disturb the people.

For example, Pingkangfang needs to know that there is no night in Pingkangfang, and at night, it is full of people's voices.

Li You walked out of Zhuque Street, and then went to the West Market. The reason why he went to the West Market was because Li You had heard that the East Market and the West Market were not only the economic activity centers of Tang Chang'an City, but also the national industrial and commercial trade center at that time. It is also an important place for economic exchanges between China and foreign countries.Merchants gather here, there are many mansions and shops, there are a variety of goods, and the trade is extremely prosperous.

Li You wanted to go and see how prosperous it was.

To Li You's surprise, at first Li You thought he was going to go to West Market on foot, but before Li You took two steps, a donkey cart driver walked up to Li You with a smile and asked Li You if he wanted to take a car.

Li You asked how much it would cost to go to the West Market, and the donkey cart driver told Li You that he only needed two big coins.

Li You laughed, there was actually a taxi service, so he gave the donkey cart driver two big coins without hesitation, followed him into the donkey cart, and was taken by the driver to West Market, but the donkey cart was too wobbly, and The donkey cart driven by the driver was a little too fast, and he almost vomited out Li You's overnight meal.

Suddenly Li You remembered his carriage. Although his carriage was broken, it was stable. This donkey cart was really not stable at all. What was even more annoying was that this donkey cart had an unpleasant smell.

Li You seriously suspected that this cart was actually for transporting goods. The driver of the donkey cart in front was the one who pulled back the cart and cheated him of two copper coins. Changan people really have a business mind.

"My lord, the West Market is here!"

In less than a quarter of an hour, the West Market arrived. With the help of the donkey cart driver, Li You jumped off the donkey cart. As soon as he jumped off, he almost bumped into someone, only to hear the person curse: "Be careful!" !” Then he brushed off his clothes, and walked away angrily.

"There are too many people here, right?"

After Li You stood up, he was really shocked when he saw the scene of people in front of the West Market. The scene here was very similar to a big shopping mall holding a promotion, attracting a lot of people at once, crowded and relying on people.

"Young Master, West Market, be careful with your money. If you need anything, remember to ask Marquis Wu!"

For the donkey cart driver's reminder, Li You clasped his fists and said thank you, and followed the donkey cart driver to drive the carriage away again.

Li You walked into the West Market, why did Li You come to the West Market? Because compared with the East Market, the West Market is a common people's market. Qing Palace) is a gathering place for dignitaries, so most of the products sold in the market are luxury goods.

Li You only has less than [-] yuan, what do you think he is going to Dongshi for?
The west market is far away from the three major inner cities, and the surrounding area is mostly civilian residences. The commodities are mainly for the daily needs of the residents. Due to the large population in the Tang Dynasty, the west market became the main industrial and commercial area and commodity trading market in Chang'an City, and it was called the "golden market". city".

At the same time, Xishi is relatively close to Kaiyuanmen, the starting point of the Tang Silk Road, and it is a gathering place for many foreign businessmen.There are merchants from Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asian countries, Korea, Silla, Japan and other places, especially "Hu merchants" from Central Asia, Persia, South Vietnam, and frontier ethnic minorities.There are also shops opened by Hu merchants in the West Market, and young people often patronize the Hu Ji wine shop.

"Hehe...!" Not long after Li You entered the West Market, he saw a wine shop in front of it. In front of the wine shop, two orchids with high noses and blue eyes stood outside, showing their slender waists like snakes, wriggling non-stop.

The commoner youths who walked along the way, who had never seen such a formation before, all looked sideways, wanted to look but did not dare to look, followed by a careless boy, the one in front fell down, and the boys behind all fell down one by one in order.

The two orchids covered their mouths and laughed lightly. The fallen teenagers got up quickly, blushing, and fled frantically.

"Okay!" Just when Li You was also chuckling, loud applause came from a place where people gathered in front.

Li You also hurried to have a look.

When he squeezed into the applauding crowd, Li You realized that he was juggling, and the people who just applauded were a group of Persian businessmen. Because of the open policy of the Tang Dynasty, a large number of barbarians from the Western Regions were attracted to live and play in Chang'an. There is no lack of people from India or Persia, and these foreign friends who come from afar naturally need a place to stay. Therefore, a large number of inns or Huju, as well as buildings with special functions, were built in West Market, such as the famous The "Persian Mansion".

Li You walked forward and saw pen shops, wine shops, iron shops, butcher shops, engraving and printing shops, etc., as well as donkey renters, huqin buyers, miscellaneous operas, pipa masters, and brocade dealers.

Of course, most of them are daily necessities such as clothes, candles, cakes, and medicines that civilians can come into contact with.

In addition, there are many people, especially the Hu merchants from all over the world who lead camels and slaves. However, what is different from now is that in the Tang Dynasty at this time, these Hu merchants walked in the In Chang'an of the Tang Dynasty, when meeting the people of Chang'an, they were very polite and did not dare to make mistakes at all.

The people of Chang'an saw that these Hu merchants also had a natural sense of superiority, and they considered themselves to be the kingdom of heaven, and no Hu merchant dared to do anything wrong.This is somewhat different from now, where foreigners have a sense of superiority.

When it was almost noon in the West Market, Li You wanted to find a small restaurant to sit down and eat. Anyone who has watched "Chang'an Twelve Hours" knows that this water basin mutton is a must in Chang'an.

Li You was going to eat it at noon, when Li You found a store selling mutton, a girl came out to welcome guests from that store, and this welcome girl frowned when she came out, with a reluctant expression on her face. This made Li You shout out in surprise, "Chongtianyan!"

(End of this chapter)