The twenty-first year of Zhengtong (1062), early autumn, Shanghai.
The Songjiang water still flows eastward into the sea along the existing channels, day and night. Shanghai, which has been a city for nearly seventy years, has completely transformed into a prosperous "international metropolis" with the strongest commercial atmosphere in the Han Empire.
, the port city with the most freedom of economic and trade activities.
The word "city" has been around since ancient times, and its meaning is true, but as an independent administrative division, this is the first time it has been seen. "Shanghai City" has long been a new and magical thing in the empire.
If we include the period when Shizu established the "Shanghai Affairs", Shanghai has a history of nearly a hundred years of development in the Han Empire. One hundred years of development and expansion gave birth to such a unique "monster city", without any neon lights.
, still bizarre.
After the barbaric growth of the Kaibao, Yongxi, and Pingkang dynasties, and the normative constraints of the Jianlong period, Shanghai in the orthodox era was much more orderly than in the past. In addition to the increasing attention and attention paid by the imperial court,
Because all kinds of interest groups and various power factions have filled it and occupied it, forming a considerable balance.
For vested interest groups, after primitive accumulation is completed, what they want is consolidation, not expansion, a stable order that is conducive to their rule. They control the resources and operating rules of the upper class of society, and are natural conservatives and guardians.
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Of course, among the upper ruling class of the entire Han Empire, the "emerging" southeastern dignitaries represented by Shanghai belonged to the radicals and reformers.
At the same time, the upper-class dignitaries who control the operation of Shanghai pursue and achieve an order that only guarantees their status and does not affect their rent. Therefore, Shanghai has never been peaceful.
As a place where wealth gathers in the southeast, people in Shanghai have always been the most impetuous. Countless people are chasing fame and fortune, and disputes between various forces are taking place day and night. Every corpse deposited at the bottom of the Songjiang River is
Accompanied by a grudge and a conflict of interests.
Above the Songjiang River, there have always been many sails and masts in an endless stream. There are dozens of large and small piers spread out along both sides of the river, but they are never afraid of being vacant. There are always ships from home and abroad loaded with various commodities to fill them.
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The dock workers in Shanghai are an extremely large group. They carry the prosperity of this city on their shoulders with their hands.
Over the long years, they and other lower-level workers gradually formed the largest non-governmental (low-level) group in Shanghai - the Red Gang, which together with the Lianghuai Cao Gang and the Jianghu (Jiangnan and Lianghu) Boat Gang are known as the "Southern Three Gangs".
Even though they are regarded more as thugs of the powerful and big business gangs.
They are even famous at home and abroad. In the past half century, hundreds of thousands of Red Gang children have sailed to sea and pioneered in Southeast Asian countries. They are the most popular immigrant group in major feudal countries. Although they do not have many
Wealth and resources, but strong cohesion, can also fight, and is the best fighter against indigenous forces.
Expanding along the river bank to the north and south for more than ten miles, there are dense warehouses, warehouses, guesthouses and hotels. The roads are dense and extend in all directions, high and low. Various buildings are lined up in sequence, cars and horses are busy, and the people are densely populated. It is a "port"
"District" is the most striking feature.
Nightless all year round, the lights are bright.
According to a statistics from the Shanghai government in the 13th year of Zhengtong (1054), the number of hosts and guests in Shanghai reached 800,000. Now, nearly ten years have passed, and many people predict that Shanghai will
The general suddenly emerged and became the third city in the Han Empire with a population exceeding one million.
Over the past few decades, the overall population of the Han Empire has continued to grow, but for major cities, reaching a population of one million is still a difficulty and an insurmountable gap.
In the south, Jinling, Yangzhou, Hangzhou, and Guangzhou are the most promising places to break through, but they are still struggling. On the contrary, Shanghai is catching up step by step, starting from scratch, and absorbing the foreign population without stopping.
Shanghai is obviously a city driven by commerce. Since its establishment, commerce and trade have been the core of the city's operation. It seems to have a magical power, attracting all kinds of resources.
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Of course, the southward shift of the empire's economic center, the rich products of the southeastern states, the booming overseas trade, the unique geographical location, political attempts and support, and a little historical accident all together hatched the birth of Shanghai.
Such a city.
In the entire Han Empire, this is the only one with no semicolon.
In the minds of many people, Shanghai is a city full of gold. What flows in the Songjiang River is not river water, but wealth. This has also attracted countless adventurers at home and abroad to come to hunt for gold. Even many people do not understand until their death.
Coming with full expectations, working hard and producing, in the end, it is just the nourishment for the development of this city, and it is just contributing to the prosperity of many powerful and wealthy families.
Shanghai's "internationalization" process has developed at the fastest speed in the empire. By the 21st year of Zhengtong, there were hundreds of thousands of foreign business travelers living in Shanghai all year round. In addition to the "traditional allies" Korea and Japan,
In addition, there are also Indians and Persians.
Since the Guangzhou Incident (the purge and massacre of the Guangzhou MSL) in Shizu's later years, the Han Empire has always maintained a strict rejection of foreign merchants, especially those religious elements.
However, the temptation of economic interests and political suppression cannot extinguish the enthusiasm of these people to embrace the Chinese dynasty. Especially for the "Middle East" business travelers who have traveled to the East in recent decades, most of them call themselves Persians, or simply say that they are "
Anxi people".
This also has its origins. During the reign of Anxi King Liu Wenze, the Anxi Kingdom brought the entire Persian Plateau under the rule of the Anxi Dynasty. Although it mainly implemented Jisi rule, it also sent out troops and established a basic administrative and taxation system.
Therefore, there is no problem for those Persians who claim to be Anxi people according to the legal principles of the Anxi Dynasty. The Anxi Dynasty is connected by blood with the Han Empire, and the main ruling class in Anxi is Han, so these "Anxi people"
≈Han people.
Even those MSLs from the Arab world changed their names and surnames when they arrived in the Han Dynasty, and added a set of Persian or Anxi vests to facilitate business activities. In the Persian area, some Anxi officials and generals specialized in selling identity documents.
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Although in the Middle East, there is deep hatred and constant wars between the Han civilization and the YSL civilization, they are the mainstream of political and economic exchanges between the East and the West in this era.
If there are some unexpected elements, it is a small number of Slavs from Kievan Rus. More than thirty years ago, under the promotion of Grand Duke Yaroslav of Kiev, the establishment of trade links between Rus and Anxi began, and the relationship between Slavs and Han people
The exchange also started from this.
Although this exchange was intermittent and was affected by wars and turmoil from time to time, under the blessing of a long time, it still left many profound historical marks. Of course, the exchanges between the Rus' Kingdom and the Han Empire were not close, and more of them were based on the Chinese
The three countries in Asia are just a transit point to briefly embark on a section of the Silk Road.
The Han Empire was not interested in the small barbarian countries thousands of miles away. At most, it was surprised by the blond and blue-eyed barbarians. The Slavs who appeared in Shanghai can only be described as "drops in the ocean."
Even rarer than the Slavs are the Hungarians. Their arrival is much more difficult than that of the Russians. The biggest problem is the obstruction of the Slavs. Even in Shanghai, there is a struggle between Catholics and Orthodox Christians.
But there are always some lucky people who came under the rule of Anxi Kingdom by land and sea, and then took the sea route through Anxi Kingdom and wandered eastward.
Judging from the development over the past few decades, compared with its illustrious martial arts in Central Asia, the Anxi Dynasty has made a greater contribution to the economic and cultural exchanges between the East and the West. However, in recent years, as the situation in the Anxi Kingdom has become unstable, the fragile
Exchanges between the East and the West are about to fall into frustration and stagnation again.
For Western visitors, they prefer to stay in cities like Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai, especially Shanghai because it is "free" and "open."