The imperial palace was protected by palace walls, and the Liao imperial palace had few buildings and a large area. In total, there were only a few palaces such as the Jianing Hall and the Yuanhe Hall, as well as an artificial lake, so it was basically not affected too much.

After entering the palace, you will see a very spacious square. On the left is still a lake, named Yaochi.

Opposite the south gate, about 200 meters away from the palace gate, there is a large palace, the Yuanhe Hall.

At this moment, Yang Cha, Yang Gao, Wang Si and Tang Jie have gone to investigate and deal with Cui Yi's corruption case.

Apart from Wang Anshi, Chen Xiliang, Su Huan, Li Xiaoji and Zhao Pin, Zhao Jun was accompanied by only a few senior officials such as Yang Ting and Zhou Hang.

They took Zhao Jun into the palace and explained the situation to him.

Zhao Jun entered the Yuanhe Hall and came out from the back door. Because the hall had high steps, he could stand on the high steps and scan the entire palace.

You can see that about four or five hundred meters behind the Yuanhe Hall is the Jianing Hall. There are only two or three small palaces next to it, which looks quite shabby.

Then he looked down at the overall situation of the imperial palace, went out from the north gate again, climbed up the Yanjiao Tower in the northeast corner of the imperial city, and looked down at the current appearance of the city of Beiping.

Yanjiao Tower is the place where the Liao emperor climbed up to look into the distance and observe Xijin. Later, when the Jin Dynasty destroyed the Liao Dynasty, Jin Xizong stayed in Yanjing here.

Zhao Jun used a telescope to overlook the entire city of Beiping. The streets in the city were not prosperous and were far from Bianliang. Many buildings were burned down in a fire three years ago, and there were few new buildings. It looked quite depressed.

Looking at the current appearance of Peking City, compared with the seemingly vast and boundless Beijing City in later generations, it is like one has eighteen floors underground and the other has thirty-six floors in the sky.

At 3 p.m., Zhao Jun, who had seen the current situation of Beiping City from the Imperial Palace, wiped the sweat off his face and returned to Yuanhe Hall to hold a meeting with everyone.

Yuanhe Hall is not just a palace, but a small palace complex. In addition to the main hall, there are side halls on both sides, a rear pavilion in the northeast corner, and a side hall in the northwest corner.

The hall is divided into outer hall, inner hall, back room and side pavilion. The overall structure is quite spacious, which can meet the needs of Liao emperor and court officials for meetings and rest.

Zhao Jun stepped into the inner hall with his hands behind his back. After taking a look around, he said, "I think this place can be used as the official residence of Beiping Prefecture. We can build two more palace walls in the back to divide it into the South Palace and the North Palace. Like in Bianliang, the South Palace will be used to house the Political Affairs Bureau, various ministries, and the Privy Council, while the North Palace will be your residence. Your Majesty has never been to Beiping anyway, and even if he does, it will only be for a few days occasionally. Leaving such a large area empty is a serious waste."

"this"

As the prefect of Beiping Prefecture, Yang Ting was the person directly responsible. Upon hearing Zhao Jun's words, he hesitated and said, "But if we renovate the palace, wouldn't that go against the emperor's advice that the royal family should be simple and not extravagant?"

"I was the one who asked the emperor not to do this before, but now I am doing it in Beiping Prefecture, and I naturally have my reasons!"

Zhao Jun said.

"Please enlighten me, Master."

Yang Ting bowed.

Everyone looked at him curiously.

Zhao Jun glanced around and saw the dragon throne. Naturally, he didn't sit on it. Instead, he sat on the first seat below the dragon throne and said, "Sit down and talk."

Wang Anshi and others sat on Zhao Jun's side according to their official ranks, while Yang Ting and the other two sat on the opposite side.

But they naturally didn't dare to sit face to face with Zhao Jun, so they left the first seat opposite vacant and sat in the row below.

After everyone was seated, Zhao Jun spoke up, "I've noticed that Beiping Prefecture is too desolate. Much of the city is in ruins. This shouldn't be the case here."

He looked around at everyone and said, "Back in the Liao Dynasty, this was the most prosperous capital of the Liao Kingdom, with a large population and thriving trade. But now it's in a very different place than it was back then."

Yang Ting explained, "After the Battle of Peking, much of the southern city's streets were burned down, and the northern part of the city was also affected. Many residents either migrated or died in the fighting, causing a significant decrease in population. It may take years for the city to recover to its former glory."

"No."

Zhao Jun shook his head and said, "You still haven't seen the essence of the matter."

He said: "The prosperity of a city lies not only in its special significance, but also in its location."

"Beiping is backed by the Yanshan Mountains to the north, and is surrounded by rivers and plains, making it suitable for farming. Therefore, from the very beginning, the foundation was laid for a large number of people to settle here."

"But having fields to gather people is not enough. Hebei has so many plains but no such city, which is due to its special geographical location."

"This place connects to the outside of the Great Wall in the north and the Central Plains in the south. When it was Han territory, it had close exchanges with the barbarians outside the Great Wall. When it was Liao territory, it also exchanged what it had with the Song Dynasty, which is how such a large city was built."

"If we only rely on local farmers to increase the population of the city, it is unrealistic because farmers will not give up their fields and move to the city."

"Only by making Peking's commerce flourish can we quickly restore the city's construction and change the current depressed situation."

Whether an ancient city could prosper was related to local agriculture, but this was only a basic relationship. The real decisive factor was commerce.

The most typical examples are Chengdu, Quanzhou and Guangzhou.

Quanzhou and Guangzhou, in particular, should have been remote and wild places in ancient times, but in the Song Dynasty they became one of the top ten cities with a large population and great prosperity, all thanks to maritime trade.

So agriculture is the basis for maintaining the local population, but commerce determines whether this place can become a large city.

Zhao Jun looked at the crowd and said, "The current problem with Beiping Prefecture is that its commerce has not developed. Many caravans no longer stop in or travel to Beiping, but instead go south to Bianliang or north to Liaoyang. This has made Beiping Prefecture meaningless."

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!