Liang Qi and others traveled with Lin Juetong for half a day, and did not encounter any trouble when passing through the Ye County officers and soldiers checkpoint. After all, several months had passed since the last incident, and the interrogation outside the mountain had been relaxed a lot.
.The officers and soldiers of Ye County were a little more wary of the bandits in Funiu Mountain after the last attack, so they canceled more checkpoints and only set up military station checkpoints on the main roads close to the county seat, where everyone was mixed in with the people.
It's not dangerous at all.
After entering the county town of Ye County, you can still see the portraits of hunting bandits hanging in the city. Among them is a portrait of Lin Jue. But Lin Jue is not afraid, because he has already taken off and worn a few
Yue's mask has changed from an ugly middle-aged man with a sallow complexion back to that handsome young man with fair complexion.
At noon, Lin Jue and Liang Qi parted ways after having a meal in a restaurant. Liang Qi and the others went out to purchase rice seeds for spring plowing and production in Luoyan Valley this spring. There was no need to go to Ruzhou City this time.
The matter can be resolved in the county seat of Ye County. Lin Jue and others will continue to travel northwest, towards the capital.
After lunch, Lin Jue hired a large car in the county seat, and the three masters and servants took the car and left Ye County to go north. That night, they stayed in Ruzhou County. Early the next morning, they hired a car from Ruzhou and headed northwest.
After crossing Yingshui, we arrived in Xinzheng that night. I asked about the itinerary in Xinzheng, but it turned out that it was only over a hundred miles away from the capital.
After that, the journey went smoothly. After another two days of travel, we could see that the desolate scene on the road gradually became prosperous, and even the official roads became much wider and more generous. The style and clothing of the people in the houses, especially the mental state of the people, had already become the same as those passing by.
The people in the prefectures and counties are very different. Lin Jue knew that Bianliang City was right in front of him.
In the afternoon of the first day of March in the fifth year of Qingfeng's reign in the Great Zhou Dynasty, in the warm and bright spring light, Lin Jue and his servants arrived at the Xishan Post Road in the west of Bianliang City. After climbing over the Xishan hills with an altitude of less than 100 meters, there was a flat plain far ahead.
, where the smoke is thick and shadowy, a large city with thousands of gates, tiled buildings, and a myriad of atmospheres stands on the distant horizon like a mirage.
That is Bianliang, the capital of the Zhou Dynasty.
The reason why the Zhou Dynasty established its capital in the city of Bianliang has long been criticized. It is true that Bianliang is located on a flat plain. Except for the Yellow River in the north, there is almost no danger to defend. It can be said that it is easy to attack but difficult to defend. As a city
The capital of the country is extremely unsuitable geographically. But in fact, there are many deep-seated reasons for setting the capital here.
First of all, before the founding of the Zhou Dynasty, the threats to Bianliang City were nothing more than the Xixia and Liao Kingdoms. Among them, the Xixia Kingdom was the greatest threat. However, the Xixia Kingdom was destroyed shortly after the founding of the Zhou Dynasty, eliminating this major worry.
Therefore, the threat from foreign enemies in Bianliang is not as great as imagined. The focus of the Liao Kingdom's power lies in the Liaodong area, and the main place of military confrontation with the Great Zhou Dynasty is in the Youyun Sixteen Prefectures in the northeast of the Great Zhou Dynasty, so Bianzhou is located
There is not much of a threat there.
Secondly, the deeper reason is not that the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty learned the lessons of the demise of the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty was destroyed by the separatist rule of vassal towns. It was destroyed by the external emphasis on external affairs and the internal neglect of internal affairs. It was destroyed by the excessive power of local vassal towns and their inflated ambitions.
The big tail cannot be lost. Therefore, many systems of the Great Zhou Dynasty have learned lessons. For example, they emphasize civilized governance and despise force. The status of literati is unprecedentedly high, while the status of military men is low. The political hall, the Privy Council and the three divisions were created. This kind of two government and three divisions
The decentralization system separates military, political and financial powers, effectively preventing officials from having too much power and leading to dictatorship.
The Great Zhou Dynasty completely changed the Tang Dynasty's situation of emphasizing foreign affairs and neglecting domestic affairs, and implemented the policy of strong officials and weak branches. The quantity and quality of the central imperial army far exceeded that of local soldiers and horses. The emperor tightly held military power and monopolized power. This policy was
To implement this, it is undoubtedly necessary to station a large number of Forbidden Army soldiers and horses near the capital. At the beginning of the founding of the country, the number of Forbidden Army troops reached a huge number of 150,000. So, with so many soldiers and horses stationed near the capital, the supplies and food provided for them were an extremely huge amount.
And no place has as convenient transportation as Bianliang, because there are water transportation connecting the Bianhe River and Wuzhang River to the canal, which can quickly transport grain and grass materials from the southeast to supply the massive consumption of soldiers and horses.
It can be said that the main reason why Bianliang became the capital was that its geographical location was in line with the founding strategy of the Zhou Dynasty. It was inevitable by accident. Of course, there are many subtle reasons.
Function, but the most important reason is this. Because of this, Bianliang City has gradually developed from a small city with a population of less than 100,000 to such a scale in a few days.
It is no exaggeration to say that Bianliang City is the largest capital city in the world in this era. The city outline is more than 30 miles in radius. The outer city has twelve land gates and four water gates. The population is nearly 1.6 million.
There are hundreds of streets, numerous shops, and countless official residences. In this city, the most elite soldiers and horses of the Zhou Dynasty Forbidden Army guarding the city alone number as many as 200,000. In addition, in the military compartments in the city, various government offices have manpower, each
There are more than 50,000 armed forces. Each of these data makes this city undoubtedly the largest city in the world today.
Lin Jue's master and servant walked down the official road of Xishan Mountain and walked all the way to Bianliang City. Lin Jue was very excited to finally have a glimpse of this prosperous and dreamlike Kyoto. He had been here before in his previous life, but that time and
The mood of coming this time was very different. That time he came to the capital to take the exam, he was more thinking about the Spring Examination, and had no time to worry about anything else. The appearance of the capital in his memory was also very vague, but he remembered a lot of people, a lot of people
It was just a carriage and horse. It was just a passing passerby. But this time, Lin Jue came with a sense of appreciation and awe. Naturally, it was a different feeling.
Following the bustling crowd, Lin Jue and his servants slowly walked towards the majestic city along the official road on the bank of the Bianshui River. On the south side of the official road, a large river meandered straight into the city. On the river bank, sprouts of flowers sprouted.
The tender willows were as light as smoke, which was the sign of the New Year. On the river, ships loaded with goods were shuttled back and forth non-stop, and it was extremely busy. Lin Jue couldn't help but marvel, it was already such a busy scene before entering the city. When he arrived in the city
, I still don’t know what the situation is.
Ten miles away from the city, there is a long pavilion leading to the city gate. Every few miles, people in high-guan and brocade clothes can be seen in the long pavilion singing and drinking, and the music of silk and bamboo is melodious and graceful. Lin Jue thought to himself, that is the farewell text in the long pavilion.
Talented people, let's bid farewell to our friends and leave Beijing again.
Soon after, everyone arrived at Xishui Gate in the southwest of Bianliang City. The big river crossed the city gate and entered the city. Half of the city gate was built on the water and half spanned the Bianhe River. It was somewhat similar to the scene at Beiguan Gate in Hangzhou. When Lin Juezhu
The moment I entered the gate through the gate of the outer city, I felt a warm sound and smell coming to my nostrils. After walking for only a short while, I suddenly felt that my eyes were not enough, my ears were not enough to hear, and my nose was not enough to smell. Everything was coming from all directions.
People, cars, boats and horses, noisy people, red robes and green coats, all kinds of sounds and scenes rushed towards him, making the three masters and servants stand stunned on the street on the bank of the Bian River inside the city gate.
However, he saw that there was a large flow of people on both sides of the Bian River. The level of prosperity exceeded Lin Jue's imagination. There were rows of shops along the river, and there were countless boats of all sizes on the Bian River. There was a stone arch bridge just a few miles across the river, allowing people to travel on both sides.
Unimpeded traffic.
As far as the eye can see, there are punters, horsemen, cart drivers, people walking and strolling, people carrying burdens, people carrying bags, people carrying heavy loads, people buying and selling things, officials with arms stretched out, beggars shrinking under the wall, beating horses.
Passing by the soldiers who scolded them all the way, the hawkers who yelled and shouted, the entertainers who played tricks on monkeys, the tea drinkers in the teahouse... the whole picture of a market.
Wherever you hear it, you can hear the sounds of hawkers and shouts, the sound of silk and bamboo, the sound of singing, the crowing of cocks and the barking of dogs, the sizzling of boiling water in the teahouse, the gurgling of old soup in the noodle shop, shouting, cursing, laughing, and crying.
... all kinds of sounds rushed towards everyone like a torrent, like a noisy symphony.
The smell that smells in the nose is that of the delicious snacks on the street, and the smell is of the wooden carts passing by carrying excrement. In addition, there are sour, fishy, spiced, and spicy smells.
,...it's like knocking over the Five Flavors Restaurant, knocking over the jars of oil, salt, sauce and vinegar.
Looking overhead, the curtains erected by the shops along the street are fluttering, colorful flags are fluttering, red lanterns, green flags, white curtains, black plaques, and yellow railings are all so colorful that it is difficult to see them with the eyes.
Lin Jue has seen "Along the River During the Qingming Festival". When he was on Earth, he once saw an animation reproduced with modern technology in a museum that could make all the vehicles, horses and boats on the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" move.
Lin Jue found the picture incredible at the time. He also confidently believed that it was artistically processed and exaggerated, not written. But now when he compared the scene in front of him with the picture, Lin Jue understood that the picture
The scene in Bianliang, the capital of the Song Dynasty, is far inferior to the scene in Bianliang, the capital of the Zhou Dynasty. The scene in that painting is still the scene of the Qingming Festival, but now it is neither a solar term nor a festival.
, it was just an ordinary day, and the bustling market in front of me had already surpassed that painting. If this happened during a festival, what kind of prosperous scene would it be.
It took the three masters and servants a long time to recover. It stands to reason that the three of them are from Hangzhou City, which is also a big place. The population of Hangzhou City is also more than one million, and it seems that they will not be overwhelmed by it.
There was so much surprise here. But they were still as surprised as country people entering the city.
The capital is the capital, and the city under the emperor's feet is different after all. The temperament of the crowd has a panic-inducing sense of oppression. To use an inappropriate analogy, the prosperity of Hangzhou is as quiet and calm as the deep mansions of scholarly families.
, and the prosperity of the capital is as opulent and domineering as the wealthy families. In comparison, the latter gives people a more direct sense of oppression.
