Chapter 245 New Year's Eve
Chang'an City is very lively now.
The governors and governors from all over the country came to Beijing to gather, and Hu Chen, the vassal envoys from all over the world, also drove camels, cattle and horses to Beijing. These people were invited by the Tang Dynasty to participate in the Zhengdan Grand Court Meeting. Of course, it was publicized that the envoys and Hu people from all directions came to the court on their own initiative, and brought many special tributes.
In fact, Qin Lang is very clear that the so-called tribute is actually trade.
This is a special kind of official trade. The official name should be tribute trade. It is actually trade in the name of tribute. Then give them more goods in return.
Compared with non-governmental trade, this kind of trade is relatively more profitable.
The imperial court seems to spend money to buy face, but it is not that simple. For the imperial court, it actually monopolizes the trade of some important international goods by means of administrative means. Although the imperial court seems to have bought the tributes of the Hu people at a price higher than the market price, in fact these are rare local products. After the imperial court exclusively buys them, they can be used for rewards or for sale.
The imperial court did not lose money in the end, and even made a lot of money, without having to bear the bad name of competing with the people for profit. On the other hand, the Hu people and fan merchants earned more than usual in this transaction, and they were also exempted from tariffs. They were naturally very happy, and they were naturally willing to come again in the future.
So, the imperial court actually earned the face.
In addition to the local officials who entered the capital, Hu Yi envoys and businessmen from all sides, many scholars also came to the capital this year.
Much more than in previous years. Although the imperial examinations are held every spring in the Tang Dynasty, the number of students and tributes to Beijing is not large. It is just a way of origin for scholars who have nothing to do with their family background, and it is not selected.
But this year the imperial examination will be reformed.
A few years ago, the provinces of Dao had already implemented a new examination system. Examinations were conducted at the local level first. Those who passed the examination were called Juren. This year, the number of Juren admitted was even larger. These Juren had the opportunity to enter Beijing to take the provincial examination. The imperial edict clearly stated that This year's imperial examination will admit more people.
Moreover, the Transshipment Department has even asked the emperor to select a hundred scholars from the new department admissions, or to stay in Beijing to serve in the Transshipment Department, or to be sent to various Changping Departments. In the examination, the top 100 people will be selected, and those who are admitted will be divided into top three to be awarded officials.
The grade is not high, but compared to previous years, the imperial examinations have actually improved a lot. After all, the imperial examinations used to admit only a few people or more than ten people for each subject. After admission, they have to take the official examination. , and sometimes they may stay for several years without being selected and released.
Now, just one transfer department has to select 100 people, and they can be taught in practice, at least from the official rank of the ninth rank, which is quite attractive.
Therefore, this year, candidates from all over the country rushed to Beijing, just to grab an official position.
Li Shimin is very face-saving.
He ordered Honglu Temple to be located where the original Daxingshan Temple was located, and the Sifang Guild Hall was built in a hurry, and embassies were built for all countries to accommodate the envoys of all parties.
In several temples in Pingkangfang, the new tribute courtyard for examinations and the Sifang Academy for scholars were rebuilt. Although the Sifang Academy can only accommodate 1,000 scholars at most, those who fail to catch up can only rent houses nearby. Or stay in an inn, but the emperor is still very sincere and benevolent.
Originally, Li Shimin planned to cover the food and drink expenses of these vassal envoys and Hu merchants in Beijing, but Wei Zheng asked him if he wanted to be Yang Guang's second?
Back then, Yang Guang opened up the Western Regions and reopened the Silk Road. In order for the Hu merchants to come to the Central Plains for trade, he ordered the inns and restaurants along the way not to accept money from the Hu merchants, and asked people to decorate the dead trees in the capital with silk in winter.
In fact, with Qin Lang's modern eyes, he can understand some of Yang Guang's thoughts. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Silk Road was blocked for many years. Yang Guang finally opened up the Western Regions and reopened the Silk Road. Road trade, this is indeed a very good national strategic plan.
Spending a little money to attract Hu merchants is actually equivalent to advertising. Compared with the huge trade profits brought about by the reopening of the Silk Road later, and the many benefits brought to the court and the people, this is actually not worth mentioning.
The only disadvantage is that the cost of entertaining the people along the way should actually be settled by the imperial court, and the people cannot be allowed to pay.
As for the people of the world to criticize Yang Guang for saying that there are still so many people in ragged clothes in the world, but the imperial court regards precious silk wrapped around trees as immoral, it can only be said that they do not understand economics.
This is the limitation of the times, and Qin Lang can understand it. It can only be said that Yang Guang's consciousness is too advanced. Many things people at the time couldn't understand, and his steps were too big. He didn't take good care of the people's livelihood, so he strongly In contrast, everyone scolded Yang Guang Hunjun.
Although there are still Hu merchants from the Western Regions who came to the Central Plains, it is far behind the time of the Sui Dynasty. Years of wars at the end of the Sui Dynasty caused the Silk Road to be blocked, and because the Western Turks took advantage of the chaos to strengthen their control over the Western Regions, the current Silk Road In fact, the road is already in the hands of the Western Turks.
The volume of trade on the Silk Road has shrunk extremely. Qin Lang believes that Li Shimin must also miss the prosperity of the Silk Road in the Sui Dynasty and the large number of Hu merchants in Chang'an City at that time. It is a pity that the number one foreign enemy of the Tang Dynasty is the Eastern Turks, and they are mainly wooing the Western Turks. Therefore, knowing that Western Turks, Gaochang and other countries control the Silk Road, they can only swallow their anger for the time being.
Datang is open.
Walking on the streets of Chang'an, you can find Hu Di barbarians from all over the world, wearing various clothes, various hairstyles, and speaking various languages.
Chang’an is an international metropolis, and it’s not fake at all. Just look at the number of interpreters. These interpreters can translate various languages, and some are both interpreters and intermediary dentists.
Of course, it is the east and west cities that best demonstrate Chang’an’s internationality, especially the west market. There is a dedicated Hu merchant street here. All the shops are opened by Hu merchants, and they are all foreign products, especially spices. .
Slaves have also become an important commodity for Hu merchants in the West Market. Kunlun slaves from the South China Sea, Persian girls from the Western Regions, Turkic slaves from the grasslands, etc., are sold openly like cattle and horses.
The emperor received several huge sums of money one after another, so he also pulled out a lot of money to Yongzhou Mansion, and asked them to clean up Chang'an City.
Qin Lang made some suggestions, transporting sand from the Chanhe River to fill all Chang'an Sixth Street, so as to avoid muddy streets in rainy weather.
The second is that many public toilets have been built on the street, and the mounts and draft horses entering the city are required to be equipped with dung pockets, and these animals are prohibited from defecating on the street.
Two simple things, but it did greatly improve the sanitation conditions in Chang'an City. In the past, during the winter and spring seasons, the streets of Chang'an became a muddy quagmire. Before Ma Zhou proposed to set up a sand embankment corridor on the main street, but the other streets still have not been improved.
This time, the six main streets were simply repaired, and the implementation of public toilets and excrement pockets made the streets no longer have feces and urine flowing across the street.
Many Hu merchants entered Chang'an City and were amazed when they saw the clean and tidy streets.
Whether they are from Goguryeo, Silla, Dongying, Linyi, Gaochang, Turkic, Persia, Rome and other countries, they have never seen such neat and clean streets.
Especially the merchants from Eastern Rome and Persian Sassanid, they originally thought that their capital was the center of the world, but now they compare it and think that their capital has no sewers, let alone public toilets. Residents just pour their feces and urine out of the toilet and pour them on the street. Even when many people are in the city, they urinate directly on the street. On the canal bridge in the city, it has become In public toilets, many people took off their pants and sat on the railing of the bridge to defecate in the river. The boats passing under the bridge were unlucky and won the lottery.
Originally, Rome had a good tradition in the past, with public bathrooms, public toilets, etc., but today’s Eastern Roman Empire is not as good as it used to be.
Hu merchants entered Chang'an, just like country people who had never seen the world entered the city, everything they saw was new.
In the east and west cities, there are hundreds of rows and tens of thousands of shops, and all kinds of goods are so dazzling that it is hard to see them.
And the delicious food in the capital of the Eastern Empire made them linger even more.
In front of the roast duck shop, they will gather around the roasted golden duck and discuss how it is so fragrant and beautiful. When the guy takes a sharp knife and slices the roast duck thinly, and the hot oil drips, they will I can't stop drooling.
Pancakes are served with shredded raw vegetables, then wrapped in thin duck slices, dipped in sauce, and one bite will make these people almost bite off their tongues.
After eating the roast duck and roast goose, after eating the roast goose and braised pig’s head, after eating the braised pig’s head and sauced sheep’s trotters...
And when they finally walked into a large restaurant, they realized that what they ate just now were just street snacks and cooked food, and the real Datang delicacies were the big seats in these taverns and restaurants.
The delicacies of mountains and seas, delicious food and wine, made them wonder what kind of pig food they ate before!
With a keen businessman, he immediately discovered a big business opportunity.
"The hot pot base you used just now, can you sell it, how can you sell it? I want to buy it!"
"I want this thirteen incense, I want to buy a lot!"
"Why is this salt so beautiful, I want to buy it."
"This is called consumption juice? I want to buy it!"
"Buy, buy, buy!"
·······
Qin Lang returned to Chang'an from Changlepo in the afternoon of New Year's Eve, and came to Longqingfang Transit Department Yamen.
When I came back today, there was only one thing to do, which was to give Si Li a year-end bonus.
Many other yamen have been sealed for holiday a few days ago, only the transshipment department has been busy, and everyone has worked hard.
"Everyone has worked hard. Each person will be given two chickens, two ducks, forty eggs, twenty catties of pork, ten catties of mutton, two bolts of silk, two bolts of cloth, and two catties of cotton. Ninth-rank officials will also distribute a goose, Eighth-rank officials will be given another ten catties of pork, seventh-rank officials will be given another ten catties of mutton, sixth-rank officials will spend another two thousand dollars, and fifth-rank officials will be given another sheep and ten fish..."
Although the Transshipment Department was established, it has made a lot of contributions, and the emperor also issued a decree to reward it.
In addition to those benefits in kind, Qin Lang also spent an extra three months' salary and Lumi for each person.
After announcing the benefits, Qin Lang discussed with Ma Zhou the new year's duty schedule, and then returned to Pingkangfang.
Today is New Year's Eve, so I have to go back early to pick up Yu Xiao and the sons and go to Qinrenfang Qi Guogong's mansion for a reunion dinner.
(end of this chapter)