Misty Rain of the Old Times

Chapter 324 Please

Forty or fifty miles from the capital, there were almost no mature trees. With a population of over ten million, how much firewood did the capital consume every day? Furthermore, the capital was a strategic location, and the surrounding area had to have a clear view. Therefore, aside from specialized plants like the main fruit trees, there was no chance for trees to grow nearby.

Looking around, there are more fertile fields, villages and manors. It is not easy to live in the capital, and setting up properties outside the city is also a good choice. However, the surrounding areas have long been divided up, and it is simply a pipe dream to set up large-scale properties without great ability and background.

Not to mention anything else, owning a shop in the city or a hundred acres of land outside the city is enough to make one live a much better life than the local rich people in small places.

As we got closer to the capital, the roads became bustling with people, and various horse-drawn and ox-drawn carts were carrying goods. Although there was no traffic, the speed slowed down.

Geng Hong, with his hands on his shoulders, sat on his horse and looked at the endless procession ahead, sighing, "How many people are there? When will it be our turn to enter the city?"

Chen Xuan sat leisurely in front of the carriage and chatted, "I heard that in addition to the four main gates in and out of the capital, there are more than ten small gates in many places to facilitate entry and exit. After all, it's too big, otherwise it wouldn't be able to operate at all. Add to that the waterway gates, and the daily flow of people in and out is probably at least 500,000, if not 800,000, not to mention the massive amount of supplies coming in and out. Otherwise, it wouldn't be able to meet the consumption here. This is still an underestimation. On special days, there are even more people coming and going. Rumor has it that at its peak, the capital's floating population once exceeded 20 million."

"Hiss, so many people, the Jingting County where our Yang County is located doesn't have that many people combined. The number of people in the capital alone is almost catching up with the population of our entire Shangyun Prefecture," Geng Hong said in surprise.

Chen Xuan thought to himself that this was nothing. Although this land was not remote, it was just that. According to the information that Lao Liu had instilled in him, some superpowers even had cities with a population of over 100 million!
This world is very big, so big that it is beyond the imagination of ordinary people. Unless you reach a certain level, you will never understand the vastness of the world. After all, this world has teleportation arrays spanning hundreds of thousands, millions, or even tens of millions of miles. People in the immortal realm even have the ability to chase stars and the moon.

It is equivalent to Jingguo, Rongguo, Yuhuaguo, and Shuangyueguo. These countries combined are only at the level of a novice village.

But this does not mean that looking at the world, the masters are not as good as dogs. Only when they have passed the tribulation and walked all over the ground can the immortals shake. No matter it is a superpower or a small country like Jingguo, the masters are always the backbone. They pass the tribulation and hide in the world. They are ethereal and have already left the mundane world.

The only difference is the number of grandmasters, but in the face of the huge population base and territory, the existence of grandmasters is still too few. This can be referenced by the fact that there are only five or six grandmasters among the 100 million people in Jingguo.

Anyway, if you want to reach the Grandmaster level, simply piling up resources will not be of much use. It depends on personal talent, opportunity and hard work.

In a word, Chen Xuan's current strength makes him a figure that cannot be ignored by anyone in the world. Even when facing the monarchs of those superpowers, he is qualified to stand up straight and look them in the eye. Of course, being qualified is one thing, and really not taking others seriously is another. Face is mutual.

Hearing Geng Hong's exclamation, Chen Xuan gestured for him to calm down and said with a smile, "Don't worry, don't worry. As far as I know, under normal circumstances, the four main gates of the capital will not be closed. In other words, people can enter and exit at any time of the day. After all, if the gates are closed at night, how will so many people in and out be accommodated? Goods will deteriorate over time, so those small gates are closed at night to prevent chaos."

"That's good. I was worried that we wouldn't be able to enter the city today because of such a long queue," Geng Hong breathed a sigh of relief.

Chen Xuan was speechless and said, "Uncle Geng, we don't need to queue up at the back of the team and slowly enter the city. Let's just walk forward from the side."

"Can we do this? Will it break the rules? Even if it doesn't break the rules, it would be unnecessary to cause trouble if others complain," Geng Hong hesitated.

Smiling, Chen Xuan said, "Uncle Geng, you have to change your mindset. We have left our small place and you have to adapt to many things. Young Master is a successful candidate and is treated with special treatment by the court. You can go directly to the city gate without queuing. Moreover, now that candidates are entering the capital for the autumn examination, special passages have been opened in all directions of the capital, so there is no problem. Just go ahead."

"Then I'll go ask the young master for instructions," Geng Hong was still worried and planned to ask Gao Jingming's opinion.

Chen Xuan let him go. In fact, he had never thought about special treatment before. This was not only close to the capital, but his powerful senses also allowed him to notice the situation at the city gate. Otherwise, he would have to queue up foolishly and waste time.

Gao Jingming had never been to the capital before, but he knew the situation of entering the capital, which was similar to what Chen Xuan said, so he told Geng Hong to just go forward.

By the time they passed the long line and arrived at the city gate, the sun was already setting.

Across the more than ten-zhang-wide moat suspension bridge, there are five gates in the south gate of the capital. The middle gate is three zhang high and is a heavy metal gate. It requires multiple people to use a winch to open and close it. It is in a closed state and will not be opened unless in special circumstances.

There are four doorways more than ten feet high on both sides of the middle gate. These are the normal entrances and exits, entering from the right and exiting from the left.

As for the two doorways on the right, the one at the far end is for common people to enter. There is a long queue of twenty to thirty miles. Those with special connections can jump the queue, otherwise they need to wait patiently to enter the city. The inner doorway is for special groups of people to enter. They either have to have a reputation or an identity background. Otherwise, no matter how rich they are, they can only queue at the side.

Especially now that the autumn examination is approaching, candidates entering the capital through this gate will be given priority. After all, who knows if a candidate will rise to become a big figure after taking the imperial examination.

There are far fewer people entering the city here. Most of them are dressed as scholars, and some of them are obviously of extraordinary status. When Chen Xuan and his friends came, there were no arrogant people cutting in line. Everyone lined up and passed slowly.

In a place like the capital, street vendors might all have powerful connections. Unless necessary, those wealthy and powerful, whether second-generation or third-generation, would usually keep a low profile. Under the emperor's feet, any crime they committed could easily land on his desk. When it was Chen Xuan's turn, they presented their official credentials and other paperwork, allowing them smooth entry into the city without any harassment. The gatekeeper even kindly asked if they could recommend a good place to stay if they didn't have one.

This made Chen Xuan a little bored. After all these years, he had only encountered a few right and wrong things, which could be counted on one hand. But it was obvious that wonderful things were happening in many places every day.

All I can say is that people are in different circles. If you don’t actively seek trouble, trouble usually won’t come to you.

After entering the city, Chen Xuan and his friends got off the car and walked to their residence, taking a look around along the way.

There must be at least 300 meters of open space near the wall inside the city, without any buildings. This is reserved as operating space in case of war.

The city of Shengjing is too big, covering an area of ​​three counties. Two main roads intersect and divide the entire city into four major areas.

The two main roads are named after spring, summer, autumn and winter. They are hundreds of feet wide and you can't see the end at a glance. With such a width, I don't know how many football fields can be placed horizontally.

The main road is a hundred feet wide, and the middle ten feet is the imperial road, which is specially marked out and cannot be stepped on by ordinary people. If you step on it, it is a serious crime. However, there are places to cross the road every few distances, so that people don’t have to walk around for a whole day to get to the other side.

With the intersection of these two main roads as the boundary, four roads are named after spring, summer, autumn and winter. Among them, the Spring Road starts from the east gate of the capital and goes straight forward. The end of the Autumn Road is the core imperial palace in the core of Jing State. It probably also implies the prosperity of Spring and Autumn.

If you enter from the east gate, you can see the imperial palace, but Chen Xuan and his friends entered from the south gate.

But if you look up, you can still see the palace from this direction. It is so eye-catching, located on a flattened mountain. The height difference from the lowest point at the foot of the mountain to the highest point of the palace is at least one kilometer!

The imperial palace standing on the top of the mountain is magnificent and majestic, and can be seen from all over the capital. If it is foggy, the mountains below the palace are covered with mist, and it can be called a "fairy palace" for people from all over the world to worship.

At present, the imperial power is supreme, and the imperial palace is naturally the highest place in the Holy Capital City. Even those suspended mountains are lower than the imperial palace. Hanging in the air, it has an extremely strong sense of oppression for ordinary people, but if you get used to it, you won’t feel it’s a big deal.

Gao Jingming's residence was in the west of the city. They entered from the south gate and had to cross almost half of the capital to get there.

When they strolled to the intersection of the main roads in the city center, it was already evening and the sun was setting.

There is a huge statue here, which is twenty feet tall. It is wearing armor and holding a spear, riding a scaly warhorse. It looks majestic and domineering, with the spear pointing straight ahead, with an overwhelming momentum.

Everyone felt respect when seeing this statue. Gao Jingming and his companions saluted respectfully when passing by, because this statue was of the founding emperor of Jing State.

It was also here that Chen Xuan looked up and saw the imperial palace on the mountain top at the end of Qiu Road.

Even now, when he saw the imperial palace, he couldn't help but feel a sense of crisis in his heart. Not only were there powerful masters guarding the majestic palace, but the palace itself was also protected by formations, which ordinary people couldn't feel at all.

But that was all. Chen Xuan thought to himself that if he sneaked into the palace for a stroll, didn't cause any trouble, and was careful, there shouldn't be any problems.

"The capital city is indeed no small place. There are over thirty auras of innate masters alone, and that's not counting those who are keeping a low profile. If I hadn't already reached the Grandmaster realm, I would have to keep a low profile here."

As they walked along, stopping and looking around, Gao Jingming, who was standing next to them, jokingly said, "Ah Xuan, why are you always staring at the brothel? Are you tempted? Let me be clear, the prices in the capital are very high, and our money is not enough to spend. I heard that the four top courtesans charge at least ten thousand taels just for a single meeting!"

"This is faster than robbing money," Chen Xuan sighed, and then said: "Of course my heart is moved. The lights are just coming on, and you see those young ladies, plump and thin, smiling and radiant, who wouldn't be tempted? The whole building is full of red sleeves waving, but I am young and thin, so I can only let down the beautiful ladies' kindness."

His heart trembled for a moment, and Gao Jingming said dumbly: "Let's not talk about anything else, Ah Xuan, your literary talent is really amazing, and you are full of witty remarks."

"Don't give me that. I copied everything." Chen Xuan waved his hand and looked at Gao Jingming encouragingly, "Young Master, you have to stand up and get the top score in the exam. Then I can use your name to get whores for free. Please."

……

(End of this chapter)