The big man has a living father

Chapter 17 Ancient and Modern Xianyang
Looking at Princess Wei Chang's back as she left, Huo Hai finally realized, "I didn't ask her name!"

Only the royal family knew the princess's name. The public did not and could not discuss palace affairs, so naturally they did not know it.

After Princess Wei Chang left, Huo Hai asked Xiang Xu to prepare some food.

The servants in the Huo Mansion also understood that in the Huo Mansion, they had to listen to Xiang Xu!
Soon a portion of roast pork was delivered.

In the past few months, Huo Hai had been eating beef, mutton and dry food, and had not eaten chicken or pork for a long time. Now that he is back in Chang'an, the situation is reversed.

Eating beef was not allowed. Only the emperor could eat beef, and the princes were allowed to eat mutton. Doctors could only eat pork. The common people could not eat meat and could only eat meat if they were rewarded with meat by people from the higher classes.

Therefore, the only food that could be immediately obtained from the kitchen of the Huo Mansion was pork and mutton. Xiang Xu knew very well that Huo Hai had been eating beef and mutton for several months and now liked to eat other things.

So I ordered pork.

However, spices are expensive, and even if the pork is cut into small pieces and roasted, it is difficult to suppress the fishy smell.

Huo Hai was eating the skewers, but he didn't feel the good taste: "Xiang Xu, bring me some beef."

"It seems that a happy life has to be created by oneself."

Otherwise, even the pork will smell fishy.

Xiang Xu stepped forward and whispered, "Sir, we are in Lingyi now, not in Maoling, nor in the Beigui Army. If we are caught eating beef, we will lose our heads."

Huo Hai: "It's not that easy to lose your head. Behind closed doors, who would know? Even if they knew, what would happen?"

Xiang Xu had no choice but to go and get the beef.

Huo Hai just wanted to see whether Butler Chen would dare to file a complaint after being punished.

Although the Han Dynasty had these regulations, were they really implemented? Or are they still being implemented now?
So much time has passed since the founding of the country, and now almost no one abides by the class etiquette and laws formulated at the beginning of the country.

Not to mention the families of scholars, officials, nobles and princes, even ordinary people had dress in a way that violated the rules, and it was even common for them to transgress the rules.

In the social atmosphere of the early Han Dynasty, usurpation, extravagance and profit-seeking were prevalent, which was mainly reflected in the usurpation and extravagance of aristocratic bureaucrats and the profit-seeking behavior of wealthy businessmen.

Especially during the reign of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing, problems such as the expansion of local tyrants and the usurpation and extravagance of aristocratic bureaucrats became increasingly serious.

It can be said that if Emperor Wu had not built a super machine to squeeze the fat of the people, the seeds of capital would have naturally formed in the Han Dynasty.

But his plundering was so brutal that it directly pulled out the roots of the budding capital. The reappearance of the budding capital was delayed by 1,500 years.

However, Emperor Wu wanted to take control of these money bags, but it was only the second year of Yuanshou, and he had not yet started to act.

Moreover, even if action is taken, it is impossible to arrest and execute all the violators.

It is even more impossible to take Huo Hai as the first target.

But even if he was reported, Huo Hai was not afraid of it at all.

As long as you are shameless enough, it would be stupid to kill someone for food.

Even if someone reported him for eating beef, he would just have to say that the beef was brought back from the emperor's palace banquet last time.

Who is so stupid as to admit that this is a freshly slaughtered cow? If so, this intelligence deserves to be beheaded. If not killed today, then tomorrow.

……

Princess Wei Chang was quick in getting things done. She quickly arranged the site for the paper mill and sent someone to inform them overnight. She also said that someone would be sent to take Huo Hai to inspect it early the next morning.

We'll talk then.

Princess Wei Chang chose a location for the paper mill south of Xianyang and the Wei River. The Wei River has a tributary just north of Chang'an. There are fertile fields near this tributary, as well as many manors and workshops. Even Chang'an's official armor and weapons manufacturing workshop is here.

This place is connected by a highway, which makes transportation convenient, has water resources, and there are many people nearby, making it a good place to set up a factory.

Princess Wei Chang's people came to Huo Mansion early in the morning to pick up Huo Hai to go to the factory site for an on-site inspection.

If it weren't for the opportunity to meet the eldest princess, Huo Hai might not have been able to get out of bed at all.

After getting in the car and breathing the cool morning air, Huo Hai roasted oranges, yawned, and read bamboo slips.

These bamboo slips were brought out from the Prince's Palace, and they all record the old events of the Prince's Palace.

Huo Hai wanted to see what had happened in the Prince's Palace in the past few years and why whoever became a teacher ended up here.

As he looked, Huo Hai raised his head, looked out the window and frowned.

Because he had been through Maoling before, Huo Hai knew very well what the road from Chang'an to the west looked like, and he immediately became alert: "Isn't this the road to the west?"

The driver replied: "West? Go to the north!" Huo Hai jumped out of the carriage and grabbed the driver who looked in good shape, and the horse stopped in panic.

Huangfu Hua and his men rushed out with their swords drawn: "Master, what's wrong?!"

Huo Hai: "You are not the princess's man, are you? Tell me, who arranged for you to come here? What do you mean by taking me to the north?"

The driver was confused: "Master Huo... I am indeed the driver of the Princess's Mansion! Look, this is the business card given by the princess, this is the sign of the Princess's Mansion, and this is..."

Huo Hai: "You are still not being honest, are you? Xianyang is west of Chang'an. The princess said that the factory site she found for me is south of Xianyang, so we should go to the southwest. Now the carriage is heading north. What does that mean?"

The driver was confused.

Huangfu Hua and his companions were also confused: "This... Sir, Xianyang is north of Chang'an!"

Huo Hai: “???”

Only after Huangfu Hua, Xiang Xu and four other retainers unanimously agreed that Xianyang was to the north of Chang'an did Huo Hai believe it.

After all the trouble, a big mistake was made.

Huo Hai only remembered that when he went there to play before, he knew that Xianyang was directly west of Xi'an.

But few people know that ancient Xianyang is directly north of ancient Chang'an.

Huo Hai quickly let go of his hand: "Oh, sorry, it was a mistake. Someone in the army told me that Xianyang was west of Chang'an. Maybe it was wrong. I thought you were an assassin..."

In fact, Huo Hai had no idea that his own Huo Mansion was the city center of Xianyang in later generations.

Because the nobles' manors and towns, these mausoleums, were all between the tombs and Chang'an.

The reason is simple. In addition to Chang'an, there is also a large army in the newly built mausoleum. The nobles' manors were built between the mausoleum and Chang'an, which was safer.

Maoling is in the west, so the major tombs today are right on the road to Chang'an in the west.

Huo Hai put down the book and thought carefully about the issues of ancient Xianyang and ancient Chang'an, only then he was sure that he could not take the affairs of later generations for granted as the affairs of this era. Sometimes it was not the case.

However, the formation of this pattern of mausoleum town is very interesting.

Huo Hai still remembers that ancient Chang'an had to be relocated many times because the brine produced by residents' dumping of garbage caused the land to become salinized, making the water obtained from the wells undrinkable, so relocation was necessary.

On the contrary, the mausoleum was moved between each generation of emperors, so it would not pollute the same place for a long time, nor would it cause salinization of the land.

It's also interesting.

Only after arriving at the place chosen by Princess Wei Chang did Huo Hai begin to observe his surroundings.

This location is close to the river and is surrounded by fertile fields.

This place is connected to Chang'an by a highway from the Wei River.

And because it is near Chang'an, the road is extremely wide, even a bit scary, with a width of fifty steps!

In the Han Dynasty, one step meant one step each for the left and right foot, which was about 1.4 meters.

The entire track is seventy meters wide.

Green trees were planted on both sides of the road, and further out were various fields and manors.

Huo Hai looked further north. At the end of the highway was a wharf. Across the river from the wharf was the north of the Wei River. There was also a highway on the north side of the Wei River, which went directly north and extended to the Qinzhi Road, leading directly to the Great Wall.

However, Huo Hai did not think that far. He only considered that there was a huge coal mining area a hundred miles to the north.

Huo Hai actually had many choices, but since the price of buying land was the same anyway, Huo Hai set his sights on the largest mine.

If there is a road, then this matter will be easy.

Huo Hai pointed to the east of the straight road and said, "The west side is the princess's land. What about the east side? Whose land is it? How much is it?"

A pleasant female voice came from the side: "This land cannot be bought. Go east along the highway for a hundred miles. It is all Shanglin Garden's territory. It's just that the outer part still has good farmland. Go east from here a little further and you will reach the Shanglin Garden hunting area."

Huo Hai's eyes lit up: "Your Majesty?"

Good news! It saves you the trouble of buying land and saves you money!
It would be a shame if this highway was built without allowing the two sides of the road to become new cities, new towns and new industrial clusters!
Huo Hai vaguely remembered that it seemed that the north of Chang'an in the future was also an industrial zone. He didn't need to study whether the layout was scientific or not, he could just use it! He would move to this area when the time came. Who said that people couldn't live a good life in ancient times?

Turning around, Huo Hai realized that the person who spoke was Princess Wei Chang.

(End of this chapter)