"From the long bridge to the main street, they are lined up one after another, and the spring scenery is all fragrant." [Autumn Garden Miscellaneous Pei Lan]
In the third year of Ping Dynasty in the early Han Dynasty, it was the fifteenth day of the fifth month.
Chang'an, Beihuanli.
Beihuanli is located near Xiyin Street in the north of the city. Not far to the southwest is the famous Nine Cities of Chang'an. Walking along Xiyin Street can lead you directly out of Yongcheng Gate, where you can directly see the scenery of Shanglin Garden and Xiwei Bridge.
ship.
This place has always been a place where civilians live together. The walls are not high and the houses are dilapidated. One house is right next to the other, like old people who can barely stand by supporting each other.
Since Chang'an became the imperial capital again, all the court officials and their families, as well as hundreds of thousands of people from Luoyang and Henan, have moved here. This has brought morbid prosperity to Chang'an, but also made it more crowded, with a large number of refugees gathering outside the city.
, due to lack of relief, hundreds of people die of hunger almost every day.
There are noisy people in the alleys, domestic garbage is discarded everywhere in the narrow alleys, and the excrement of people and animals is silted in the ditches and no one has cleaned it. Groups of carefree children are chasing and playing in the gaps.
Noisy, I have long been accustomed to the mess and smell here.
The gate in Beihuanli is too small, and the road inside is encroached very narrowly by the expanded houses and shacks. As a result, the carriage cannot enter when it reaches here. The driver has no choice but to park the car outside the inner gate and leave behind
Several people were taking care of the carriage on the spot, and several people got out of the carriage, followed by guards with short soldiers behind them, and entered the house one by one.
According to the Han Dynasty's regulations of "one mile, one hundred families", there are more than 100 households in Beihuanli, about 400 people. Because it is far from the gathering area of Beique Jiadi and other nobles, there was some chaos caused by Dong Zhuo's death.
It didn't have much impact here.
At this time, it was the time for the people to have their meals, between the hours of chen and si, that is, around 9 to 11 o'clock in the future. At this time, smoke curled up from the kitchen, a fragrance wafted from the door of the house, and the sounds of dishes, chopsticks, tables, and chairs mixed together.
Occasionally, there are also a few sounds of women shouting at the playful children to go home and eat.
Ordinary people do not pay attention to the rules when eating. They either sit on a dustpan or cross-legged. Some even squat on the threshold with pottery bowls in their hands. While eating, they look at these new faces curiously.
Among this group of new faces that I have never seen before, there are old people with gentle faces and smiling faces, as well as middle-aged people with serious faces and disdain. Among this group of people, there is a young man who stands out the most. He is wearing long sleeves.
He was wearing dark clothes, fair complexion, and a pair of bright black eyes, rotating around, observing the surroundings with curiosity.
The young man was vaguely protected in the middle, and there were more than a dozen short-handed guards surrounding him outside. Compared with the relaxed look of the young man in the middle, these guards all looked like they were facing a powerful enemy, and they were wary of everyone inside.
turmoil.
Different from the bluestone-paved avenues in the city, the roads inside are made of rammed loess. It just rained last night, and many low-lying places have accumulated water. The road surface is uneven, and the muddy water is mixed with filth, exuding the smell of
There was a stench.
Not long after walking on this muddy road, everyone's cloth shoes were separated from the muddy water by only a layer of soles, and occasionally muddy water splashed onto the hems of their clothes. Seeing this, the stern-faced middle-aged man felt a wave of nausea.
"Master." He couldn't help but said to the young man: "The ground here is full of filth, and the Guizhou head does not know etiquette. It is really not a place worth coming to. If you want to see the scenery of Chang'an, you can go to Xuanpingli or Beique.
Jia Di, why do you need to come here?"
"You don't understand." The young man said, "What's so nice about the houses of noble families? Their families have it, but my family doesn't have it? What I want to see is the life of these poor people. What do they do in daily life?"
How to work, how to make a living. Is it difficult to farm, can the surplus grain be used? Carnivores are despicable, those people can't see and don't bother to see these things, just talk about the common people with a sharp mouth, if I don't see it with my own eyes
Look, how do you know whether what they say is true or false?"
The middle-aged man was Zhao Wen, and the young man was the emperor who was out of the palace. He really couldn't stand the dry days in the palace, so he took advantage of the cool weather after the rain stopped to coax Zhao Wen and others together under the pretext of understanding the public sentiment.
Got it out.
The emperor originally thought that the city of Chang'an would be starved to death, and the people of the three auxiliaries would have no hope of living. Unexpectedly, along the way, the emperor saw that although the people in Chang'an were living a hard life, they could at least maintain a minimum standard of living. As long as they were managed well, they would be able to survive in a short time.
It can revitalize Guanzhong and restore Chang'an's former glory as the imperial capital.
Yang Qi, who was accompanying him, echoed: "Young Master is right, as the saying goes, 'What you hear with your ears is worse than what you see; and what you see with your eyes is worse than practicing it.' Only by getting close to the people can we truly understand the sufferings of the people. At that time, Xiaoxuan
The emperor was raised in Yeting, and often traveled out of the palace to visit the three auxiliaries, so that he could understand the difficulties of the people. Later, when he ascended the throne, he relied on the past experiences of the people to identify evil and investigate the administration of officials, and finally achieved Zhongxing's career. Now the young master imitates the story of Emperor Xuan, and he is a benevolent master.
The appearance.”
The emperor smiled and said: "How come I never noticed that such an upright person like you would actually say such a thing?"
The people around him were far away and couldn't hear clearly what he said. Even if they heard it, they wouldn't understand what it meant. Therefore, Yang Qi had no scruples about what he said.
Several people were wandering around in this mansion, and the emperor would turn around from time to time to chat with Yang Qi, Zhao Wen and others.
Although Beihuanli is a Luli where people live together, in addition to the houses, there are also some shops selling daily sundries. In the middle of the Luli, there are several bakeries and restaurants selling cakes, although everyone is used to eating at home.
, but there are also some well-to-do families or singles who occasionally use some spare money to enjoy themselves.
The emperor was also hungry at this time. He followed the aroma in the air and found a bakery with a relatively clean store. After saying a few words to his entourage, he raised his legs and prepared to go in.
"How dare you, may I ask these distinguished guests whether it is a business matter or a private matter for you to come to the shop?" Seeing such a group of people, the bakery owner came forward uneasily. These luxuriously dressed people looked like they came from wealthy government families. If
It's fine if it's an ordinary petty official's exploits, but if it's a dandy who is deliberately looking for trouble, he can only admit that he is unlucky.
"It's not business. My young master is hungry and wants to eat something at your shop." Mu Shun, who had just been released from prison by the emperor, was feeling aggrieved. Seeing that he was blocked by his boss, he was extremely impatient:
"What are you still doing? You don't want to do business anymore?"
"Ah, do it, do it." The boss smiled awkwardly, rubbing his hands unconsciously on a yellow mop: "Please come in, please..."
Seeing that the leading young man didn't look like a surly person, I just hoped that these people really just wanted to eat, the boss was heartbroken and turned sideways to welcome everyone in.