Zhao She once said that the specifications of the city in the times are three-mile city and seven-mile city, which are usually big-mile small cities. However, due to the terrain, the structure of Handan is somewhat different. Zhao Wangcheng is in the southwest corner. Guocheng is the "Dabei City" in front of him. It is located in the northeast of the palace city. It is much larger than Zhao Wangcheng, with a circumference of sixteen miles, and is an irregular rectangle.

Mingyue and his party entered Guo District from the north gate of Handan. Outside the city was protected by thick rammed earth walls. The wall was eight zhang high and the city gate was open. There was a towering city tower with soldiers above. Because the Qin State recently attacked Zhao, in order to prevent the ubiquitous Qin spies, the access control was a bit strict, and there were long queues outside the city.

But as long as they showed the flags of the royal family of Zhao, the city gate officials would nod and bow to greet them. After entering the city easily, they turned around and the city gate officials were still interrogating and inspecting the swordsmen, merchants with soap clothes, farmers and wives with thick hands and feet, and even goose men holding a cart of bamboo rolls.

"The privileged class is really good..." Mingyue sighed a lot. How could he receive this treatment in his previous life?

After the four-horse cart drove past the north gate of Handan, the bright moon entered this Warring States Metropolis like a quaint painting.

Although Chang'an Jun had been to Handan in the past, his memory was already very blurred. After traveling through time, in the past month, Mingyue had looked here more than once on the pavilion of the Zhao Palace. Yesterday, she stood on the top of Zishan Mountain and even looked down at the whole picture of Handan. However, she has not seen it now.

"However, Handan is also Zhang, and there is a metropolis between the rivers. Yan is connected to Zhuo, Zheng is connected to the south, and Zheng is connected to Wei..."

Thinking silently about the later generations' evaluation of Handan City, Mingyue stood up from the car and looked at the interior of the Wanzhi City in front of her.

...

The reason why Zhao State used Handan as its capital was not only to avoid the powerful edge of Wei State in the early Warring States Period, but also because Handan's geographical location was very important. It was located on the "Wu Road" of the north-south Avenue on the eastern foot of the Taihang Mountains, and it was also east of Wukou Xing, one of the "Eight Passes of Taihang". It has developed industry and commerce and a large population. It has developed to this day, with no less than 30,000 households and more than 100,000 people.

This also caused some noise and crowding in Handan City. Before the bright moon could recover from the dimness under the city gate, countless lively sounds were already noisy.

Looking around, countless simple thatched houses were crowded together on both sides of the streets and alleys, among which were tile houses and courtyards of well-off homes. As for the wealthy rooms that could afford two floors, they were all concentrated on the south bank of Zhuhe River. Because it was almost noon, some families had already wafted smoke from cooking fires. Looking from a distance, the white smoke actually covered one-third of the sky in Handan. Most of the firewood they burned was transported from Zishan and other places outside Handan City, and the daily consumption was huge...

In addition to residential areas, as the commercial handicraft center north of the Yellow River, there are nine markets distributed in Handan City for trade for merchants from all over the world. Bamboo, sausage, jade from Shanxi; fish, salt, lacquer, mulberry and hemp from Shandong; Nanzi, ginger, cinnamon, copper tin, orange, cinnamon, cinnamon, tortoiseshell, pearls, teeth, and leather from the far-reaching Chu land of Jiangnan; horses, cattle, sheep, fur, and horns from Jieshi in the northern era; there are also jujubes from Anyi and chestnuts from Yan State here to merge and trade.

Outside the market, handicraft workshops such as copper smelting, iron smelting, bone making, and pottery are arranged in a very dense manner. All workers such as gold, leather, wood, lacquer, and cart work here. The sound of dinging and pondering sounds throughout the village, and there is a pungent smell coming from time to time.

The smoke, sweat, smelting waste gas, the feces discharged from carts and oxen horses everywhere, and the stench emitted from the open-air pits of various lifangs mixed together. The smell of ancient cities was really not very pleasant. When passing by the workshop area, Mingyue couldn't help but frown and covered her nose with her sleeves.

This is a bit far from the classical cities imagined by modern people, but as he expected, in the Middle Ages, cities such as Paris and London in Europe were so dirty and smelly.

Fortunately, the Zhao government also paid attention to the city appearance. At least on the Central Suo Street passing through Handan, all the vendors' stalls were driven away and garbage was not allowed to be thrown away.

"Because of the law of Zhao State, those who abandon ashes on the main street will be punished!" Shu Qi, who was the Chang'an Jun, had been living in the palace for a long time, made a special trip to explain to him.

According to Shu Qi, this was a decree issued by King Wuling of Zhao after he came back from the capital of Qin Xianyang. Indeed, compared with the large population, which focuses on industry and commerce, and has a bit chaotic management. It is firmly restricted by the law, and Xianyang City, which is mainly agricultural population, can be much more neat and clean.

This is also a different place in Handan and even Zhao State and Qin State. Zhao State has developed industry and commerce, which makes the city look more prosperous and can also gain a lot of wealth in the short term. However, too much emphasis on industry and commerce has led to low enthusiasm for agriculture. A large number of agricultural populations enter cities to make a living and cannot be firmly bound to the land, which indirectly causes a shortage of troops and food in Zhao State. In the consequence theory, compared with Qin State's simple and unpretentious "farming" national policy, Zhao State is still much worse. It seems to be hot and cooking oil, but it is actually extremely fragile.

There are disadvantages and advantages, which also led to the prosperity of the culture in Zhao and the ideological world of almost ten thousand horses in Qin State... Except for the two outsiders, Shang Yang and Lu Buwei, and the Mo family who specialized in craftsmanship after entering Qin State, during the Warring States Period, Qin had almost never contributed to the hundred schools of thought, and there was no scholar in the Qin people. Because of the ban on wandering scholars, burning poetry and books, and only focusing on farming and fighting, the people of the Qin people rarely took the initiative to think. They only knew to obey the government, obey the law, and take officials as their teachers, like a group of silent oxen, who bowed their heads to serve. When scholars from the six countries in Shandong were arguing and making wonderful thoughts, the Qin people chose to pick up the hoe in the ground and the sword at hand...

Judging from the modern people's judgment standards, we cannot say who is good, nor can we say who is bad. In short, Qin is like Sparta, powerful but has no ideological connotation. Shandong's six countries are like Athens, with brilliant culture but defeated in war. They are like the positive and negative sides of a piece of paper. Only when the world is unified, can the two combinations be a complete Warring States Period and the source of Chinese civilization.

Although Qin was unified, it was a pity that it did not do this. It could be combined but could not condense it. It was a pity that the Han Dynasty truly fulfilled this historical mission.

So we are Han people, not Qin people.

Back to the topic, the Qin system is still remarkable. After the reorganization imitated by Qin, Handan Avenue was much cleaner, looking straight and wide, with no stone slabs on the streets, just solid hard soil, roadside ditches were used for drainage, and bustling passers-by were walking on both sides.

Mingyue looked around and saw that most men were wearing narrow-sleeved deep clothes, some were wearing Hu and swordsmen's clothes, and there were also poor people in brown clothes. The little girls wore hairpins, short clothes, and long checkered skirts, dressed beautifully, holding hands with their lovers, without any hesitation, and walking in a very elegant manner, regardless of men and women.

"That's why there is a story about the Shouling people from Yanguo who came to Handan to learn to walk. This is the charm of this city. The food, clothing, housing and transportation here represent the popular frontiers of this era."

Mingyue was observing the pedestrians, and the pedestrians were also looking at him. When the women saw the handsome Chang'an Jun and the heroic Shu Qi on the chariot, they stopped one after another, shook the lover's hand, threw the charming eyes at them, and even waved the silk scarf in their hands and threw it over.

Shu Qi was young and couldn't bear it. He was overwhelmed by the raindrop-like incense towel and could only rely on his skills to avoid left and right. Mingyue felt very interesting. He took one and took a look. It had a hunting pattern embroidered by the woman.

He said, "Are these women in Handan like this on weekdays?"

Li Tan, who was in front, continued, "Don't you know? The women in Handan are famous all over the princes. They like to play the piano, dance long sleeves, step on tiptoe, tease with their eyes, seduce with their hearts, wander in wealthy families, and flatter nobles, and flatter nobles. They only hope that they can be included in the harem by the princes or princes of the princes and enjoy glory. Young masters like Chang'an Jun who plays a sword and ride a carriage can be either rich or noble at first glance, and are naturally very popular with the women of Handan."

Mingyue listened with relish, but he was pretending to be a big deal. In addition, he was young and had no interest in men and women for the time being. He could not withstand the attitude of the female drivers in Handan City as if they were to eat people. He smiled and shook his head: "It's okay."

But he turned around and teased Shu Qi: "Shu Qi often walks in Handan, I believe there are many people who flatter you, right?"

"I... I always wear brown clothes and hats when I go out."

Shu Qi felt a little embarrassed. His tutoring was very strict. Lao Chulong would never allow him to interact with these extremely open common people in Handan City. Two years ago, he went to the street to learn swordsmanship and was surrounded by a group of women. He was sweating profusely and was really unforgettable to Shu Qi. The scene of him, the wishful husband in the eyes of Zhao, was touched all over his body, and in the end he tried his best to escape from their chests.

While speaking, the women in Handan who were eyeing Mingyue and his party chased after a while, and under the obstruction of the black-clad guards, they had to give up the pursuit and watched the two gentlemen in the car leave in disappointment.

Mingyue looked back at their annoyed appearance and couldn't help but think: "This Warring States style is indeed very different from the era when ethics were firmly bound by ethics in later generations. However, in Handan, if it were in Xianyang, Qin, there must be many honest people, and they wouldn't be so unrestrained, right?"

What’s embarrassing is that in more than ten years, the girl from Handan, Zhao Ji, will wear many cuckolds on the honest man Zichu.

Although walking through Handan today is a quick look, Mingyue’s curiosity about the Warring States society has been greatly satisfied and she has begun to truly experience the living conditions of this era.

As the carriage gradually drove to the southern urban area of ​​Handan, the journey was about to come to an end.

But at this moment, a violent noise suddenly came from the front. Mingyue saw people in front of her, as if there was a conflict. Countless little girls in Handan ran away in disgrace. What followed was a man's angrily shout and the sound of the sword blade pulling out of the scabbard.
Chapter completed!