Pawn Crossing the River

After Qi Xuansu left Ye Xiu's mansion, he was not in a hurry to leave this city within a city.

Except for Yujing, every prosperous town has such a settlement of poor people, which will not change due to changes in the world.

The reason why Yujing is an exception is that Yujing is a city of pure Taoists. There are only three kinds of people in it: Taoist priests, spiritual officials, and Taoist people. Needless to say, Taoist priests and spiritual officials, Taoist people are also people with special skills, and each has his or her own skills. In terms of errands and livelihood, I dare not say that I am rich and powerful. At least I have enough food and clothing to maintain a minimum of dignity.

What's more important is the unified planning of Yujing. In name, all the houses and palaces in Yujing are owned by Daomen. There are no private houses. Tianjitang among the nine halls is responsible for maintenance and repair. Including Da Zhenren, they only have the power to use, not ownership. Power, so everyone is leasing, but the lease period is very long, the longest can be as long as a hundred years.

Furthermore, Yujing stands on the top of Kunlun. Even if someone envies the prosperity of Yujing, they cannot climb up. Daomen can easily control the population of Yujing.

However, other towns are not as blessed as Yujing. They are all located in plains and thoroughfares, where the population naturally gathers. It is easy for cities within cities or shantytowns outside Bohai Prefecture to appear.

At this point, even the Imperial Capital is not immune.

In the early years, the imperial city had a square outline and only nine gates. The city's central axis starts from Zhengyang Gate in the south, runs through the Imperial Palace, and reaches the Bell Tower in the north.

In the early years of the Wei Dynasty, when the country was strong and powerful, Emperor Taizong took the offensive against the Golden Horde tribe and led his army to the north five times, but the problem was not yet obvious. Later, the power of the Wei Dynasty declined, and the Golden Horde army attacked the city many times. During the Ming and Yong years, some officials suggested building an outer city with a circumference of about 80 miles around the imperial capital for security.

The construction of the outer city began in the 32nd year of the Ming Dynasty. Since the southern suburbs were relatively prosperous at that time and there were royal altars such as the Tiandi Altar and the Sheji Altar, the outer city was built on the southern line first. However, not long after construction started, it became unsustainable due to insufficient funds.

As a last resort, the imperial court had no choice but to change its plan and build only the southern wall, leaving the other three walls to be built in the future when money was available. The length of the southern city wall was also reduced from the originally planned 20 miles to 13 miles. Its east and west ends bent northward to meet the southeast and southwest turrets of the inner city.

Since only the southern part of the outer city was built, the outline of the Imperial City later became a "convex" shape from the original "kou" character. The lower part of the word "convex" is the outer city, and the name "outer city" is not worthy of its name. It is not outside the inner city, but to the south of the inner city, so the outer city of Imperial Capital is also called "South City".

By the end of the Wei Dynasty, although no cities had been built on the other three sides, there were still a large number of people living there.

When Daxuan took control of the imperial capital, he finally completed the remaining East City, West City, and Beicheng, changing the "convex" shape into a "hui" shape, and it also became the situation where today the outer city is dominated by ordinary people and the inner city is dominated by ordinary people. The layout is dominated by the residences of noble officials and major government offices.

Compared with today's Imperial Capital, Yujing still maintains the "convex" shape of the old Imperial Capital due to its terrain. The upper part of the character "convex" is "Xuandu", which has the highest terrain. The lower part of the character "convex" is "Yujing", which has lower terrain.

As for Jinling Mansion, due to the terrain, it is very irregular. Not only can it not be described with a specific word, it is not closely related to the word "Fangzheng", and it does not even have a clear central axis.

It is said that this was built according to the astrology of Sanyuan and Erbasu, combined with the geographical pattern of Jinling Prefecture with tigers and dragons on the disk, and mountains and rivers. It changed the old square or rectangular system of the capital wall in the past and became a combination of Kanyu's astronomical phenomena and natural geography. A model that is unique.

Generally speaking, the old city of Jinlingfu is located in the southeast corner, where people are densely populated, commerce is prosperous, and a large number of workshops are also located here. The residences, top restaurants and mansions of the powerful and wealthy businessmen are scattered in the southwest area of ​​the old city.

The old city is also called the inner city, and outside it is the outer city, which is equivalent to the outer city of the imperial capital. The northwest part is where the black-clad military camp is located. It contains a large number of barracks, granaries, warehouses and military craftsmen's workshops. It is not accessible for ordinary people. This city within the city is located between the military camp and the inner city, just like the entire Jinling Mansion. , showing an extremely irregular shape.

what does that mean?

This means that this place can actually become a distribution area for bulk goods, and it is even uniquely endowed. This is not Qi Xuansu's random guess, but there is some truth to it.

Before Daxuan, sea trade was not prosperous, so the prosperous areas of Jinling Prefecture were mainly concentrated along the Qinhuai River, facing inland. The northwest part close to the river was slightly empty, and even the coastal line was not prosperous. Most of them were fishing villages.

Nowadays, sea trade has become the bulk of the trade, and it is more convenient to go directly along the river to the sea. If we go along the Qinhuai line, it will be a bit time-consuming and laborious, so Daomen set up many warehouses on the Dinghuaimen line. The original intention was to be adjacent to the military camp of the men in black. Safety, but from another perspective, these warehouses are not far from here.

Thinking of this, Qi Xuansu suddenly had the desire to explore this place.

That's what he thought, and that's what he did.

Qi Xuansu first pretended to leave the place, and then returned quietly.

When he came here before, Qi Xuansu heard many wailing and crying sounds here. After he returned here, he came to these shanties that served as prisons.

The inside is small, cramped, dark, and damp. There are countless small spaces separated by wooden fences on both sides of the corridor. It is pitch dark, and only subtle flickering lights can be vaguely seen in the darkness. Only when you get closer and take a closer look will you find that these dots of light are actually pairs of eyes, but there is no life in them, lifeless and insensitive.

Qi Xuansu stopped and took a closer look. Most of them were women. Their clothes were still intact, and they were not skinny. However, they still looked disheveled and unkempt. In addition to numbness, there was also a deep secret hidden in everyone's face and eyes. of panic. As early as when Zulong ruled the world, the system of slavery had been largely abolished. In the following thousands of years, although there was talk of selling one's body as a contract, strictly speaking it should be a slave. Later, in the Jin Dynasty, it was also abolished. The system of human sacrifice and burial.

When he arrived at Daxuan, he went a step further and completely abolished the system of humble status.

The status is divided into: military status, civilian status and humble status. In fact, Daxuan not only abolished the humble status, but also abolished the military status when he abolished the guard system.

But officially abolishing it is one thing, but actually implementing it is another. For example, the government only recognizes one head wife, and the rest are concubines, but among the people, the idea of ​​​​equal wives is prevalent. Therefore, even if the lowly status is abolished, there are still romantic women and slaves.

This is one of the reasons why Xuansheng wants to abolish "Tianle Taoyuan". It is not that Xuansheng does not see this kind of flesh and blood business, but that the existence of brothels and brothels will invisibly encourage behaviors such as forcing good girls into prostitution and seducing girls from good families. The latter It must be eliminated, and the best way is to solve it at the source.

That's what Qi Xuansu saw before his eyes. It's not without reason that there are a large number of low-class brothels near here.

Qi Xuansu stretched out his fingers and gently touched these wooden fences covered with insects. As long as he applied a little force, he could break them. However, he knew that he was a man of little words. In the undercurrent of Jinling Mansion, it was not easy to protect himself. There is really no ability to help others.

Just then, there was a noise outside.

Qi Xuansu immediately jumped onto the beam and hid himself.

A group of beggars came in and brought out some women, including a few men. Together they caught up with several carriages outside. Thick green curtains hung around the carriages, making it difficult to see what was going on inside. .

Qi Xuansu's heart moved and he followed behind these carriages.

The carriage soon left the city within the city and entered the bustling inner city. After walking for about two hours, it arrived at an alley in the southwest corner of the old city.

On both sides of the entire alley are two deep walls of green bricks, one hundred feet long and two feet high. At the end of the alley is a black painted door. Probably because few people come here on weekdays, it is very deserted. As soon as the sky darkens, not only no one leaves, but no birds fly here.

A man got off the carriage, stepped forward to grab the beast-faced door, and knocked three times. After a slight pause, he knocked four more times.

Not long after, a questioning voice came from inside: "Has Boss Ye's goods arrived?"

The person outside the door is obviously not here for the first time. He is already familiar with the people inside, and he does not have so many scruples when speaking: "You know what you are asking? Hurry up and open the door."

After a while, the door slowly opened and the carriage was put in.

Qi Xuansu looked at it from a distance and hesitated slightly. After all, this did not seem to be related to Lei Xiaohuan's mission, but he also felt that this matter might be related to the entire major case, so he decided to find out.