I am Da Song

Chapter 249 Shaotian New Area Above the Royal Garden

Shaotian New District is located in the south-southwest corner of Tokyo City, and you have to pass through West Street in Nancheng to go there.

Walking out of Suzaku Gate, Zhao Huan carefully surveyed the environment on West Street.

Although the city of Tokyo is prosperous, it is not civilized and tidy, and what is reflected in the eyes is similar to the muddy and messy city image on the screen in the late Qing Dynasty.

The road is a dirt road with potholes. The weather has been dry recently, and the autumn wind is blowing. There is still a "earth smell" in the city.

There are also a large number of camels, porters, donkey carts, and sedan chairs passing through the streets, and the crowds are crowded.

The roads are backward, and the buildings on both sides are not particularly bright. There are tall and luxurious hotels, and there are also low and dark rooms. The blue bricks and black tiles make the houses look a little old-fashioned. The most unbearable thing for Zhao Huan is that many houses are on the eaves Covered with a layer of thatch.

This kind of thatch probably began in ancient times and continued until the end of the Qing Dynasty. They did not cover the entire roof, but covered the bottom of the eaves, which have the effect of shading the sun and rain, and keeping warm and cold.

Some people used thatch to make umbrellas and put them in front of the shops. There were stalls under the umbrellas, displaying various commodities, and their functions were no different from those of the later generations of outdoor parasols built by merchants for activities.

Its actual function is undoubtedly very advanced and practical, but it is not very beautiful.

Dirt roads, dim low houses, sun-shading thatch, and a large number of messy livestock gave Zhao Huan the impression of being rustic and outdated.

Of course, all of this is relative. Compared with the spotless cleanliness of the coastal civilized and hygienic cities of later generations, this place is a bit rustic and backward.

But compared with the dark medieval cities in the West at the same time, this place is simply a paradise on earth. Walking on the street, you don't have to worry about a pot of feces and urine splashing on your head from the second floor, and you don't need to wear high heels to avoid stepping on feces.

This city is only built with this kind of crowding and hustle and bustle together to create the prosperity of this era.The tall and majestic masonry walls, together with the dusty low buildings, clearly show the upper and lower limits of the productivity level of the Song Dynasty.

But after walking about three miles, the scenery of the whole city suddenly disappeared, as if it had spanned an entire era.The appearance of the whole city has entered a clean and bright new era from the cramped and dark classical society in an instant.

From the west of Biyong, the muddy roads have all been turned into blue brick roads, and the roads have been cleaned very clean.

In addition to the roads, there are also clear canals connecting everywhere, and the boats on the canals are busy and orderly.

There are tall transplanted trees on the bank of the canal and on both sides of the road, and the red fallen leaves are slowly fluttering in the air, sprinkled one after another, which is too beautiful to behold.

There are also roses blooming brilliantly beside the trees. Various colors such as light yellow, cherry red, and moon white bloom most brilliantly in September, and the air is lingering with a faint fragrance of flowers.

Rose should be regarded as one of the most favorite flower species of the Central Plains emperors and scholar-bureaucrats.

From the "Tangdi's Blossom" in "The Book of Songs", to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sighing: "This flower is better than a beautiful woman's smile", and then to the prosperous Tang Dynasty, roses were widely planted, and there were countless types of roses in the Song Dynasty. Highly praised: "When it blooms in December, the flowers last four o'clock, and the moon is beautiful, and the cold and heat do not change, and it seems to be solid."

Just looking at the beautiful scenery, Zhu Lian sighed in surprise, and said: "The scenery in Shaotian New District is not weaker than that of the royal gardens. The whole area is full of birds and flowers. A piece of land to build a house."

Zhao Huan shook his head with a faint smile, and said, "Royal Garden? You underestimate the specifications of Shaotian New Area."

Zhu Lian asked: "Could it be that the construction of Shaotian New District is still on top of the royal garden?"

Zhao Huan said with a smile: "I will tell you an allusion and analogy for the queen. Let's try the most popular Three Kingdoms as an example. Sun Hao, the last emperor of the Eastern Wu Dynasty, was extravagant and lustful. Those who are old and young must enter the palace to meet the king. If they are selected by Sun Hao, they will stay in the palace and serve as a palace girl. Only those who are not selected can marry others. Those who dare to hide and not report will be punished as the crime of deceiving the emperor. .So the Soochow palace women quickly broke through to more than 15 people."

"In order to provide these concubines with a good living environment, Sun Hao ordered the construction of a large palace and the construction of Zhaoming Palace. All officials with a value of less than [-] shi will go into the mountains to supervise logging. Zhaoming Palace is surrounded by walls, and pavilions and stone trees are arranged. Coincidentally, it took six months and cost hundreds of millions."

"This palace is a well-known royal garden throughout the Three Kingdoms period. It is prosperous and magnificent, and extremely luxurious, but it only costs hundreds of millions. If you change it, it will only cost more than a million."

"However, our dynasty only has tens of millions of dollars for the construction of infrastructure in Shaotian New District. These are land sales funds, which will all be transferred to supporting facilities for Shaotian New District."

That is to say, the tens of millions of dollars are only used to build roads, dig ditches, and create an environment, without building any palace-like facilities.

With ten times the wealth of the Song Dynasty, and the construction in the past two years, one can imagine how prosperous and developed the infrastructure here should be, and how clean and fresh the scenery and environment should be.

With this beautiful environment, clean roads, and beautiful scenery of singing birds and flowers, it is naturally the most attractive area in Tokyo.

Scholars and bureaucrats built gardens in this beautiful environment, with rockery and flowing water, green bamboo clusters, bamboo pavilions and wooden paths, which in turn embellished the place and together constituted the beautiful scenery of Shaotian New District.

Therefore, this place deserves to be called a scenic spot in the world. Along the way, Zhao Huan never saw a low thatched hut, nor did he see mud and dust. Instead, he saw a large number of young girls with fluttering clothes.

These girls are either holding a small fan or a bouquet of food boxes, lingering carefree in the beautiful scenery, showing innocence, romance, and poetic charm.

There are also a large number of courtesans in splendid costumes and gorgeous makeup, singing and painting, playing and dancing by the river.

But all of these are embellishments of Shaotian New District, and the beautiful scenery is the icing on the cake. It is industry and commerce that really determine the background of a city.

Whether it's on the blue brick road or the clear water transport channels, there is a lot of traffic, and there are endless caravans.

Zhao Huan just stood on the side of the road and observed for a quarter of an hour, and found that there were hundreds of caravans passing by, and the exact number was hard to count.

You know, every caravan passing by is the clanging of a city's coffers.

This prosperous economy and prosperous trade, once taxed officially, will be able to bring unparalleled commercial taxation to Song Dynasty.

The city of Tokyo alone and the area of ​​Shaotian New District can provide industrial and commercial tax revenues exceeding millions of hectares of farmland.

Zhao Huan asked Wu Ge: "Does the Imperial City Secretary know what is the main business of this business?"

(End of this chapter)