It’s all in the longevity!
On the morning of January 27th, the seventh year of the Qingli period of the Song Dynasty.
At the end of the Mao hour and the beginning of the Chen hour in the morning, just as the sky was getting light, Xianfeng Gate, one of the northern gates of Bianliang, became bustling.
When the spring sun shines brightly, people outside the city carry all kinds of things into the city to sell, including rice, live fish, woven cloth, furs, livestock, etc.
All kinds of hawking sounds can be heard in the streets, big and small, and some people even drive fat pigs into the city to be slaughtered at the morning market.
The air was filled with all kinds of smells.
After eleven years of development, Kaifeng Prefecture in Bianliang had already taken on a new look.
Let’s talk about urban changes first.
One tube-shaped building after another rose from the ground, and every household had a small coal stove inside and outside the house. Honeycomb coal was piled up like a mountain, which dispelled a lot of the cold last winter.
As the population grew, factories opened one after another outside the city, including countless steel mills, textile mills, cement mills, and brick mills.
From the original long robes to the current spring and summer, there are trousers, short shirts, and even the emergence of the button industry, which greatly changed the clothing of the people in the Song Dynasty and made their lives colorful.
This is not only an extreme test for humans, but also for horses. Even though there are post stations on the road to change people and horses, many horses die of exhaustion from foaming at the mouth while running.
People screamed and dodged.
It was not until the 17th and 18th centuries, when a great famine struck Italy, that corn became the staple food, and polenta, or corn paste, was developed, a food made from corn.
Then there are the changes in food.
In addition, clothing also changed a lot. For example, military coats were very popular in winter, and the clothing of the Song people gradually became loose and comfortable.
Most of the newly arrived potatoes, corn, and sweet potatoes are actually used as livestock feed, except for the extremely poor people who choose to eat them.
Therefore, in the Song Dynasty, where staple food was not in short supply and grain reserves were relatively abundant, newly introduced crops rarely became the main food. They were either used as livestock feed or, like chili peppers, as condiments for cooking.
The 800-mile express run was a life-threatening one. Horses and people had to be changed every 24 hours, and the 800-mile distance had to be covered in just one day.
A citizen of Bianliang said.
"I guess so. Tell me, did Mr. Fan win or lose?"
But after leaving the city, there is no longer the willow bank with the morning breeze and the waning moon as described by Liu Yong, but instead there are tall buildings, busy traffic and crowds of people, which is a hundred times more lively than before.
And this is only 800 miles per day. If the destination is more than 800 miles away, it would take two days to run 1,600 miles.
But it's a good thing anyway.
In the early years, Western colonists brought corn from the Americas, but Europeans didn't like it very much, so they used it as livestock feed.
With the development of the textile industry, cotton, wool and other products have flowed in in large quantities, and clothing styles are constantly changing.
Nowadays, the dining tables of people in Bianliang have not changed much. Rice and wheat are still the main ingredients, and the main addition is meat.
It is expected that within five years, the streets of the Song Dynasty will no longer be dominated by wooden tire carts, horse-drawn carts, donkey carts, and ox carts as they are now, but will be dominated by rubber tire carts, horse-drawn carts, donkey carts, ox carts and bicycles.
Some pedestrians even knocked over nearby stalls in order to avoid the speeding horses, making the already noisy street market even more chaotic.
"Of course he won. Didn't the newspapers report it a few days ago? Lord Fan surrounded Xijin."
"Oh, I really hope we win, but it always feels like a dream. There was a time when the Liao people were so powerful, I dare not even dream of it."
Another person said, "Only in this way could there be an 800-mile express. Otherwise, what important news would warrant such a desperate run?"
"Yeah, what could cause such a big fuss?"
One customer was hit by a collision and splattered with hot tea, but he didn't even have time to cry out in pain. Instead, he scrambled to avoid it and immediately said in shock as he got up from the ground, "Oh my God, it's an 800-mile express train. I haven't seen that in years."
"Eight hundred miles, rush!"
Now there is an urgent need to send a message over 800 miles, which shows the seriousness of the situation.
"Will the Song Dynasty still be afraid of the Liao Kingdom? We have become strong!"
As for travel, there is no need to say more.
After all, although the new crops were not used as staple food, they did increase the development of animal husbandry. Moreover, Zhao Zhen had invented the method of castrating pigs, making the pork more delicious, thus enriching the dining table of the Song people.
Amidst the commotion, a rider came galloping from outside the Xianfeng Gate and rushed into the downtown area, causing chaos in the market for a short period of time.
Drinking tea has always been popular at the Bianliang morning market. The tea stalls were full of customers, and after the galloping knight ran past, the tea stalls were almost overturned.
This is the same as when corn was introduced to Italy.
However, faced with this situation, the city guards, Kaifeng government officials, and the Imperial City Guards, inspectors, and runners who were supposed to maintain order not only did not stop it, but instead shouted at the people and asked them to hide on their own.
There were even rumors that a certain type of black silk dyed with silk had been discovered in the palace. It was now circulating in a very small market, but even though a single strand of black silk was extremely expensive, it was in short supply.
His friend next to him helped him and pulled him aside. When they stood up again, the knight had already rushed into the bustling city in the distance and headed towards the imperial city.
Therefore, if an accident occurred on the road, the slightest mistake could result in people being thrown off their horses and people being killed, resulting in a very high casualty rate. This led to the court's regulations that such extreme measures would not be used unless absolutely necessary.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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