"This, this is Luoyang..." "It feels so oppressive, this is the capital of the country." "...It's so awesome!"
Looking at the tall and almost endless city wall of Luoyang, Liu Bei, Sun Jian and Li Zhuo were so shocked that they could hardly speak.
In fact, not to mention them, even Li Shushi, who has always claimed to have lived in the steel forest, felt shocked when facing the tall Luoyang City Wall. Just like everyone who sees the winding and majestic Great Wall with their own eyes will be amazed. Its walls made of huge masonry and its vast and complex trend shocked me. It is very difficult for humans to complete this project today, let alone in an era that lacks modern machinery and transportation conditions. Let alone humans. The construction method of the pyramids has not been studied yet.
The city gate in front of you is the Kaiyang Gate in the south of Luoyang. Its width is about 15 meters. It is a special passage for officials like Zhu Jun to enter and exit Luoyang. The city gate hole in the middle of the towering blue-gray city wall is like a blood basin. Like a big mouth, it is constantly devouring the people coming in and out of Luoyang City.
Of course, this is not the widest gate in the entire Luoyang City. The width of the Pingcheng Gate on the west side of Kaiyang Gate, which was specially used for the emperor's sacrificial trips, reached 20 meters. This distance is even in modern times. It can almost open a two-way six-lane highway. As for the width of Kaiyangmen that Li Shushi will pass through, it is also two-way with four lanes.
However, if you want to step into this "bloody mouth", you must first pass through a wide moat in front of the city gate. The width of the moat is about 50 meters visually, but if you want to cross this almost natural chasm, you can only go down in front of the city gate. The suspension bridge is one way.
During the war, as long as the suspension bridge in front of the city gate is closed, it will probably require more than a thousand square meters of earth and rock just to fill in a dirt road that can allow siege equipment and enough guard soldiers to pass through the moat. Not to mention the filling time. Soldiers are usually unable to make effective evasive actions and use protective equipment to effectively protect themselves. The moat is definitely an important part of defending the city.
And all this is just the tip of the iceberg of the entire Luoyang City defense system. Not to mention other defensive facilities such as turrets, gate towers, watchtowers, main towers, parapets, crenels, urns, etc., it can be said that there is everything you need. The Luoyang City Wall is a breathtaking masterpiece, which makes people marvel at the wisdom of the ancient working people.
But it turns out that the city wall of Luoyang City is not the same as the city walls of Changshe City, Chenliu City, etc. that Li Shushi saw. Not only is the height more than one and a half times the height of the walls of those already large cities, the construction process of the city wall itself is even more Quite complicated.
First, workers mixed loess, lime and glutinous rice juice and pounded it to form an extremely hard main body of the city wall. This mixture is actually the most primitive concrete. The glutinous rice juice effectively combines the lime and loess due to its viscosity. The gaps created when they are mixed are completely filled and effectively bond the two together, so even the hardness of the city wall that seems to be made of loess is sufficient. If ordinary siege equipment does not cost a lot, There is absolutely no strength that can shake this kind of city wall.
Having a solid core of the city wall was not enough. Craftsmen also built blue bricks on the inner and outer walls and top of the entire city wall. The thick bricks not only made the city wall thicker, but also prevented certain plants from eroding the rammed earth city wall. Importantly, because the city wall formed a three-layer structure of brick-earth-brick, it played a significant role in buffering the damage caused by siege equipment during siege.
Therefore, if Dong Zhuo had not voluntarily given up control of Luoyang in history, then the coalition forces would have had no other choice but to waste time on siege operations. Of course, the fortresses were all breached from the inside. With Dong Zhuo's ability, The Dianxiliang soldiers would never be able to suppress the all-pervasive rebellion of the gentry ministers, especially when the Allied forces were outside the city.
"Okay, those soldiers will be led by their commander back to the Northern Army camp in the northern suburbs. You can stay at my house for a few days first, but your personal soldiers will be given to me by the old man. I have been working as a helper for a few days, and I heard that although my right-hand cavalry general has a house, it is empty inside. So, the old man needs your help."
Zhu Jun looked at Li Shushi with satisfaction. Sun Jian and other bumpkins from the "countryside" marveled at Luoyang City. He thought they had come to their senses before giving such instructions. As for the soldiers from the Northern Army, they had already He will have gone to the Northern Army's camp. Anyway, as long as he goes back, Zhu Jun doesn't need to lower his status.
Speaking of which, Zhu Jun himself was actually a bumpkin from the countryside. When he was recommended by the county and recruited to the capital, he also stood at the gate of the city for a long time. Looking at Li Zhuo and "young people" like Li Shushi, I couldn't help but recall He was so high-spirited when he was young, and when he thought about the many years of struggling in various whirlpools in the court and the local government, he could finally be considered successful. For a moment, Zhu Jun couldn't help but feel a little crazy.
Of course, after all, Zhu Jun has gone through many years of ups and downs, and these memories of the past are just fleeting, and he recovered soon. In fact, although Zhu Jun always said that he was an old man, and his appearance also looked extremely mature, but said It seems that he is not yet forty years old now. It is just because he has been struggling in the political whirlpool for a long time that he seems to be aging prematurely.
So he still has ambitions, he still has great ambitions, and he still hopes that he will have the opportunity to achieve the position of Sangong. This is also the common goal of most officials serving in Luoyang City, and it symbolizes the highest achievement and power of the imperial bureaucracy - the position. - Sangong. "Then please ask Duke Zhu to take care of you." Li Shushi, Sun Jian, Liu Bei and Li Zhuo bowed to Zhu Jun at the same time.
In fact, although that is said, it would be good if Sun Jian, Liu Bei and Li Zhuo could stay at Zhu Jun's residence for one night. Because the war in the northwest is tense, Lieutenant Zhang Wen's troops may leave at any time, so they naturally have to go early. Go there to report so that you can familiarize yourself with Zhang Wen's combat needs and Pao Ze who will be fighting together, and at the same time show your abilities so that you can get a good position in the battle.
As for Li Shushi, he couldn't always stay on someone else's territory. If he hadn't still remembered the agreement with Su Xiaoluoli, Li Shushi would have planned to go north directly with the large army. After all, although Luoyang has gathered the special products of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the northwest, but the corresponding Yes, the prices at the foot of the Imperial City are beyond the reach of ordinary people, especially foreigners with dark eyes.
Even now, Li Shushi's main target is not in Luoyang City, but in the suburbs of Luoyang City.
There are three large-scale trading areas in Luoyang, namely Nanshi, Mashi and Jinshi. There is also a millet market for trading grain, but due to the huge difference between civilian food and military food unique to this world, it has not formed a large-scale trading area. However, Luoyang is also very prosperous because it is located on the main land transportation route from south to north and the hub of Yellow River transportation.
In Li Shushi's original impression, ancient Chinese cities were laid out without roads, and trading places such as markets were all within the city. Except for the large markets in rural areas that only took place every few days, and even large markets in rural areas were They are usually held in towns or cities. For example, Zhuo County, where Li Shushi's body was born, has a large market held every five days.
But this is not the case in Luoyang City, the capital of a country. I don’t know whether it is because there are too many royal palaces and official offices in Luoyang City or because the scale of the market is too large. As a result, two of the three major trade areas in Luoyang area have It is not located in Luoyang City. Among them, Nanshi, as the name suggests, is in the southern suburbs of Luoyang City, while the horse market is in the eastern suburbs of Luoyang City. Only the gold market designated by the government is within the city of Luoyang. According to Zhu Jun, it is located in Nangong, Luoyang. It is located near the west gate on the central axis between the North Palace and the North Palace.
There was originally a trading area called Xiyuan on the outskirts of the west of the city. I believe many people will remember this place if they paid attention to the previous article. They did not sell other goods here, but only sold one thing, that is, black gauze hats. However, it was banned for illegal operation. Emperor Liu Hong of the Han Dynasty brought everything to an end, but it is said that when it was prosperous, it was quite busy.
The gold market in the three major trade areas is the trading area in the city designated by the Han Dynasty government. The gold market is not a market for selling gold, but its super ability to attract gold every day is enough to deserve the name of this market. Here you can It is called the Silk Road in the true sense. Many merchants who followed foreign envoys to Han Dynasty peddled their products again. At the same time, they also obtained Han Dynasty products here and sold them to all parts of Eurasia. Various precious jewelry, You can see handicrafts and curios here.
As the name suggests, the horse market is a place where horses and livestock are sold. Some merchants who followed the envoys from foreign tribes to pay tribute were not qualified to trade in the gold market in the city because they exceeded the number of merchants allowed by the Han Dynasty in the envoys. They would also deal with their business here. The goods carried. Of course, because they are not sold in wealthy areas, the price will drop to a certain extent.
As for Nanshi, it is completely dominated by domestic merchants. Merchants from the southeast and northwest bring special products from various places to sell here, which makes Nanshi a distribution center for Han products. Its scale is huge, its varieties are numerous, and the number of merchants of all kinds It's so huge that it can't be compared with the other two markets. It's just that the public security environment here is not as good as the gold market in the city, so every businessman who can take root here is a person who can see all directions and hear all directions. generation.
However, with a figure like Dian Wei and Xu Chu, there are probably very few people who would dare to stroke Li Shushi's tiger beard. Not to mention that the IQ of a certain little loli is definitely much higher than that of a mortal like Li Shushi. So you can think of this as an alternative pastime when you go shopping.
"Okay, boys, work hard. One day you will find your own place in this city."
This is Zhu Jun's hope for young people. At the same time, he also hopes that these young people with ordinary but energetic background can bring a glimmer of vitality to the stagnant water of the Han bureaucracy.
