Chapter 49 In the first year of Jian'an, selling books began
Time flies, and the second year of Xingping (195) has passed in the blink of an eye.
With the addition of the crazy attribute of infrastructure construction in Xuchang City, the imperial city inside has finally taken shape.
Xuchang City has been expanded several times and is now mainly divided into two parts: the inner city and the outer city.
It is about 7.5 kilometers around the outer city. Its city walls are winding and undulating, shaped like hills. It is an expansion made on the original location of Xu County. It mainly accommodates the residences of common people and ordinary officials as well as markets. The expansion actually started with Cao Hong.
It started when we settled in Xu County, and it never stopped after Li Dian took over.
As for the inner city, which is now the imperial city, it is located in the southeast corner of the outer city. It is square in shape and covers an area of about two square kilometers. The inner city has a clear outline and is in the shape of a mound, about three meters above the ground.
The inner city planning mainly includes Xuchang Palace, Jingfu Palace, Chengguang Palace, Yongshi Terrace, Yuxiu Terrace, etc.
Xuchang Palace was the place where Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty attended court and where his concubines temporarily lived.
The Xuchang Imperial Palace actually has three layers of walls, namely the Guo City, the Inner City and the Palace City. This is the same system as that of ancient capitals such as Chang'an and Luoyang.
However, the palace is still under construction, so the emperor's concubines can only temporarily live in the county government office in the outer city.
Yuxiu Terrace is the place where the emperor worships. Although the palace has not yet been completed, this does not prevent the emperor from worshiping the late emperor.
At the beginning of the new year, the emperor changed the reign name from Xingping to Jian'an, and formally issued an edict to the world to move the capital to Yingchuan and Xuchang!
As soon as the edict came out, the world was shocked!
The princes all turned their attention to Xuchang, and thoughtful people from all over the Han Dynasty also turned their attention to Xuchang and the emperor.
In the general's mansion,
Since there were many things going on in the past two days, Lu Yan, as a hussar general, made a rare trip to Xuchang.
After learning from Xun Yu that Xun You was in Jingzhou, Lu Yan once again encouraged Cao Cao, asking him to write a letter in person and even conquer Xun You in the name of the emperor.
"Mr. Lu, I remember that when you first met the emperor, you also asked about Xun You's whereabouts." At this point, Cao Cao couldn't help but joked: "Then who is Xun You? He can make you worry about him for a long time!"
Who is Xun You? Lu Yan doesn't know how to describe it. He can't talk about his achievements in official history.
After thinking for a while, Lu Yan finally concluded: "Xun You acted carefully and low-key, and was full of strategies. His strategies were not inferior to his talent and filial piety."
Cao Cao perked up after hearing this, "There are so many talented people in the world! I will write a letter and send it to Xun You. I hope he can come to Xuchang for the sake of the emperor."
Lu Yan nodded, he thought this response should be no problem.
Although Xun You looked down on Cao Cao before, now that he has the emperor and the huge reputation brought by promoting the new paper, Xun You will definitely respond to the conquest.
Cao Cao took out the highest-grade paper, which was also the only one that needed to be purchased by the number of sheets, and wrote: "Now the world is in chaos, and wise men are working hard, and it will not take long for them to become Shu Han...
..”
Lu Yan only saw this sentence in a hurry. As for the other contents, he didn't care.
Cao Cao's group of advisers includes Xun Yu, Xi Zhicai, Guo Jia, and Cheng Yu. Now Xun You is about to join. Lu Yan couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "Boss Cao's group of advisers has taken shape, and now there is another brother who is full of clever tricks."
Xun You, with them in the future I won’t have to worry about Boss Cao all the time. Sigh... I’m so worried about Boss Cao!”
Lu Yan can finally fish happily again!
In fact, except when Lu Yan occasionally goes ashore when big events happen, he spends most of the time fishing...
Don’t mention this,
Let’s talk about a recent major event in Chenliu County.
After returning from Xuchang, Lu Yan and Guo Jia were busy promoting the new paper.
As a result, like mushrooms after a spring rain, many bookstores with official backgrounds suddenly appeared in Chenliu City.
In the bookstore, all books are printed on new paper of ordinary quality.
The Four Books and Five Classics are the most basic needs of readers.
There are also some very interesting story books in the bookstore, such as: "Journey to the West", "Dream of Red Mansions", "Jin Ping Mei"... Um, cross out the last one.
At first, people were still wary. After all, the books sold in bookstores were all printed on paper!
In people's minds, books made from bamboo slips are extremely expensive, and books made from paper are more expensive than bamboo slips... So wouldn't buying one make you bankrupt?
But when a poor scholar wearing a torn cotton-padded jacket brought three books from the bookstore with tears in his eyes, all the people in Chenliu County finally became angry!
Guo Jia and Lu Yan were watching the bookstore from a distance.
After seeing the scholar come out with the book, someone finally had the courage to go in and ask about the price. Guo Jia couldn't help but give Lu Yan a thumbs up: "You are really good at this."
Lu Yan smiled slightly and did not answer, but said to himself: "Why don't you... those are all tricks that were used badly by later generations... they can't be put on the stage."
They have saved a lot of savings over the years, and the price of a book ranges from a hundred yuan to a few hundred yuan. For them, that is simply too cheap!
“So cheap!”
“I bought five books and I only had enough money!”
"Buy! Buy! Buy! My son can finally read!"
The five newly opened bookstores in Chenliu County were sold out in just one day.
Not only that, the people lining up at the door of the bookstore have even lined up from the door of the bookstore to the gate of Chenliucheng...
Since the sales of books far exceeded expectations, Lu Yan, who originally planned to open his bookstore to Yingchuan and other counties, could only temporarily postpone it. Of course, his books would be given priority to Chenliu's local area.
Cao Hong is now the top leader of the United Chamber of Commerce.
He was accompanied by Vice President Zheng Jing and other chamber of commerce stewards.
We arrived at General Hussar's Mansion early this morning to wait.
Without it, they want books, and they want many, many books to be shipped to other states and counties to sell. Now, no matter what kind of business the sales volume is, it is far less than selling books!
...
When Xuchang was building palaces and expanding the city in full swing, and Chenliu County was selling books in full swing,
Gongsun Zan from the north also began to build large-scale construction projects in Yijing.
Gongsun Zan, who was once a powerful figure in the north, suffered consecutive defeats due to the joint confrontation between Liu Yu and Yuan Shao.
Seeing that his soldiers were constantly losing weight and his strength was deteriorating day by day, Gongsun Zan finally chose to lead his troops back to Yi County, switched from offense to defense, and began to imitate Cao Cao and set up farming.
Yanzhou's farming strategy brought a lot of benefits to Cao Cao. This is visible to everyone, and there is no secret.
Liu Bei of Xuzhou, Yuan Shao of Jizhou, and Lu Bu of Qingzhou had already begun to imitate Cao Cao and started farming. Gongsun Zan was already late.
As for Liu Biao and other princes in the south, they have no shortage of food...
Gongsun Zan chose to build a military fortress on the bank of Yishui River, named Yijing Tower.
But unlike the Jiwu Fortress built by Dong Zhuo, Yijing Tower abandoned all magnificent and flashy buildings and only took the defense measures to the extreme.
Yijing Tower had nearly three million grains stored in it, and the door was made of iron. Only Gongsun Zan and his wives and concubines lived inside, and no men over the age of seven were allowed to enter.
He planned to rely on the solid defense of Yijing Tower to fight a protracted war with Yuan Shao, hoping to consume Yuan Shao alive.
Unfortunately, Gongsun Zan just built a tomb for himself.
In the south, Wang Lang, the governor of Kuaiji, was attacked by Sun Ce in Guling.
Sun Ce fought across the water several times, but failed. In the end, he adopted Sun Jing's strategy and went around to the rear to steal Wang Lang's butt, thus defeating Wang Lang.
Wang Lang was defeated, but refused to surrender to Sun Ce. Remembering that the emperor was in Xuchang, Wang Lang fled to Xuchang overnight.