The West Market is located directly west of Linxiang City. The oxcart enters the Dongguo Gate and walks along the road ditch, crossing most of Linxiang City. You can see a gate in the distance, with the three characters "Dongshi Gate" inscribed in official script on it.
There are walls on both sides.
On the left and right sides of the city gate, there is a city guard standing on each side. Both of them are wearing black ox-heart hats, right-sided short clothes, and holding leather wooden shields and ring-headed iron knives. They look quite intimidating.
At this moment, the flow of people in the city is at its peak. There are people in front, behind, and left of the bullock cart, and it is moving very slowly.
At this moment, there was a commotion from behind. Liu Jing got out of the carriage and looked to the rear. He saw a group of men in black holding halberds guarding a gorgeous carriage. They cut through the crowd and forcibly cleared a path.
, some pedestrians were unable to dodge, and were knocked upside down and covered in mud. Some children were frightened and cried loudly, which made the man holding the halberd laugh.
Some people were dissatisfied and asked angrily: "Who is so bold as to dare to cause trouble in Linxiang? Does he still have the law in his eyes?"
Someone nearby who knew the visitor reminded him in a low voice: "It's Uncle Ou Yuan..."
When the questioner heard the name "Ou Yuanbo", he immediately shut up and did not dare to say anything more.
Ou Yuanbo is a famous hero in Changsha, who can be compared with Liu Bosi. He is small in stature, dark-skinned, and extremely brave. It is said that the Ou family was originally descended from the Ouyang family, and his ancestors have Yue ancestry.
It is said that they are the descendants of Jingman.
All in all, the Changsha Ou family does not have a prominent ancestor, and if a family wants to rise, it can only be civilized and military. The Changsha Ou family started with military exploits.
The Jingnan area is already remote enough in the eyes of the Central Plains people, and Jiaozhou in the south is regarded as a barren land filled with miasma and barbarians. People would rather live in seclusion in the mountains and forests than work there as officials.
The Ou family went against the grain and took Jiaozhou as its foundation. He served as a military attache and took control of the military. After a hundred years of hard work, the family finally rose to prominence in Changsha.
Nowadays, the Changsha District clan has gradually developed into a behemoth, with tens of thousands of acres of fertile land and 2,000 maids and guests. Even Zhang Xian, the governor of Changsha, dare not take it lightly.
However, although the Ou family was powerful, it had never been valued by the Changsha gentry because of its lack of culture and rough behavior. Especially eight years ago, Ou Xing broke out into chaos, gathering more than 10,000 people to attack the city and plunder the countryside, causing serious consequences to all parts of Changsha.
The people of Changsha deeply hated the Ou family and gnashed their teeth every time they thought about it.
It's a pity that Ou's tree has deep roots and is difficult to shake. Since then, it has continued to go its own way without restraint. Looking at what Ou Xiong did today, we can know one or two things.
Liu Jing shook his head secretly, not to mention anything else, Hanfa said: "Privately make an armor, a horned crossbow with a power of more than seven stones, and more than ten halberds, all of which are abandoned in the market." The district hero's guard already held more than ten halberds, swaggering through the market, and infringing.
People, why do the county and government turn a blind eye?
Liu Jing felt something in his heart, and glanced at the city gatekeeper not far away. He was around 20 years old, quite tall, about the same height as Liu Jing, with thick hair and messy eyebrows, and sharp eyes. At this moment, he was staring at Ou Xiongyi with raised eyebrows.
pedestrian.
Several halberd-wielders who were in the vanguard of the district hero also noticed something unusual about the city soldier. One of them passed by and deliberately hit the opponent's shield with his halberd. He opened his mouth and cursed: "Dead soldiers, you dare to stare at Nai Gong, you are blind."
Got your dog eyes!"
The city gatekeeper was unprepared for a moment and was knocked back two steps. When he heard the other party's arrogant words, his expression suddenly changed and he pressed the knife and tried to fight for his life.
Standing at the other end, the older city guard rushed over, hugged his companion tightly, and apologized to him: "He is not from the local area, so he doesn't know you. I apologize to you on his behalf.
I hope you will bear with me."
Although the other party was an insignificant pawn, he was wearing an official status and could not really do anything to him. The elder city gatekeeper asked for mercy, and the offender took the opportunity to go down the steps and stopped pestering him. He said: "Dynasty, today
For your sake, let’s forget it.”
"Thank you." The city gatekeeper Wang Chao nodded gratefully.
Before leaving, the man cast a sidelong glance at the young city guard and snorted coldly: "Dead soldier, be careful in the future."
The city gatekeeper Wang Chao was strong and hugged his companion tightly to prevent him from causing trouble. He didn't let go of him until Ou Xiong drove into the city. He couldn't help but sigh and said: "Ah Zhou, I wasn't Qian Dingzhu earlier.
Wan told me that there are two people in Changsha who must not be offended. One is Liu Bosi and the other is District Yuanbo. Why didn’t you listen at all? Do you know that if you make the slightest mistake today, blood will be splashed five steps away?
The fate of."
The city gate pawn Ma Zhou frowned, with a look of dissatisfaction, and said: "It's not that I don't listen to the elder brother. You saw it just now, the other party is deliberately causing trouble and causing trouble for me. If it weren't for the fear of implicating the elder brother, I would have agreed with him a long time ago."
They are fighting to the death, and in the worst case, they will flee again."
"Shut up!" Wang Chao, the city gatekeeper, shouted hurriedly.
"The other party seems to be a fugitive..." Liu Jing felt his heart move after hearing this.
It seems unreasonable to transform from a fugitive to a city soldier, but in fact it is not. City soldiers are low-level officials who are used by others, with basically no room for advancement, and their monthly salary is only two shi meters, which is only enough to feed one person, including his wife and children.
No, no man with any ambition would hold such a position, so it is not surprising that a foreigner should be used.
In order to avoid Wang Mang, Mei Fu of the former Han Dynasty abandoned his wife, changed his name, and hid in Wu County, Jiangdong, where he became a city servant.
Ma Zhou shook his head with a disappointed face and said: "I often heard about Liu Bosi and Ou Yuanbo when I was in my hometown, how they valued wealth over justice, made close friends, and won the respect of people in Jiang and Hunan. Today I met Ou Yuanbo.
Uncle is really not worthy of his name. Liu Bosi has not yet met him. It would be very disappointing if he is like Uncle Yuan of Ou. Compared with him, Chu Ziping of Lingxian County can be called a real hero."
Liu Jing couldn't help but laugh. He wanted to hear it again, but he couldn't help himself. The ox cart was carried into the city by the crowd.
As soon as he entered, Liu Jing felt a wave of air hit his face. There were people everywhere in front of him. Thousands of people were moving around, filling the streets and alleys. No one could care about them, and no cars could turn around.
The reason for such an exaggerated scene is that in addition to buying and selling goods, the market is also an extremely important, or even the only place for social activities for the residents of the city.
The Han government was strict in governing the people, and the people in Guo Zhong usually lived in their own areas. There were walls and fences between each area to block traffic, which was called a "closed door." Unless there was something wrong, they would not easily cross the border. Therefore, after the people in the city were working,
If you want to have some leisure activities, you can only go to the market.
The market also has walls, but access is basically unrestricted. There are a wide variety of products in the city and people come and go. Even if you don't buy anything, strolling around the city is a good way to relax.
Moreover, there are not only commodities in the market, but also entertainment activities such as gambling, music and dance, acrobatics, and gambling.
"Book of Rites" says: "To punish people in the market, abandon them with the crowd." Abandoning the market, that is, executing prisoners, is also regarded as a kind of entertainment.
Chinese people seem to have always had a special liking for beheading. Even in the late Qing Dynasty more than a thousand years later, every execution at Caishikou would definitely attract many people to watch. The scene was as lively as a temple fair.
"To establish a market, you must have four directions. If you build a well, it is called a market well."
The shape of the market is similar to that of ancient times. An extremely wide cross-shaped thoroughfare divides the market into four trading areas. There are three or four columns of corridor-style buildings in each trading area, which are neatly arranged and orderly.
It's called "廛".
The market house is the warehouse where merchants store their goods. In front of the house is a row of stalls, which are stalls that are concentrated according to the types of goods.
Along the way, Liu Jing saw so many types of goods that it was hard to count, including wine, grain, cooked food, bamboo and wood, lacquerware, cloth, dyes, leather, medicinal materials, ghost utensils, copper and iron utensils, cattle, horses, pigs and sheep, almost everything was sold.
, as long as you can afford the price.
Moreover, Changsha is an important waterway from Jiaozhou to the Central Plains, and there is no shortage of South China Sea treasures such as rhino horns, ivory, strays, jade, turtle shells, and pearls.
As we approach the city center, a three-story city building stands in the middle of the street. This is the office of the city officials, making it easy to climb up and look far away, and to monitor hundreds of businesses.
On the roof of the building is carved a fluttering red bird, and a large drum hangs upstairs. The city officials announce the opening and closing of the market by beating the drum. At the door of the market building, two men in black clothes and long waistbands stand.
The keeper of the sword.
The carriage passed the market buildings, continued forward for a while, and finally arrived at its destination, the bookstore.