Bianliang does not look bleak in late winter.
Because there are too many people.
From the moment you enter the city through Nanxun Gate, you're greeted by all sorts of smells.
There is the smell of fresh fish caught from the Bian River or the Yellow River in winter, as well as various spices shipped from the warehouse in the south city.
But the most important thing is the delicious food shops and the aroma of food in people's homes.
In the early morning, no matter whether people live in the city or outside the city, everyone starts their day with breakfast.
People got up from bed before dawn, opened the bottom cover of the coal stove that had not been extinguished the night before, and then added a piece of new coal with tongs.
Wait for the fire to be lit, boil some water, quickly wash your face and brush your teeth, then prepare today's breakfast.
Bianliang is located in the Central Plains and gathers delicacies from all over the world, including southern rice noodles and northern noodles. A bowl of fragrant boiled noodles in the morning can provide carbohydrates for the whole morning.
If time is tight but money is sufficient, people will choose to eat out.
The Imperial Street was built from Xuande Gate, the south gate of the imperial palace, all the way south to Zhuque Gate, the south gate of the inner city, then crossed the left and right night markets and continued south for several miles to Nanxun Gate.
After entering from Nanxun Gate, there are many shops on both sides of the Imperial Street, and there is a variety of restaurants and hotels every few shops.
Breakfast shops will be open, and there are also small stalls on the street that specialize in selling breakfast.
At this time, the yamen runners on duty on every street in Kaifeng Prefecture would act as urban management officers, forcing these vendors to set up stalls on fixed streets and near the city gates to maintain order.
As a result, the most common smell at the city gates in the early morning is the aroma of breakfast.
Various delicacies from all over the country converge here, including porridge, wontons, steamed buns, dumplings, sesame cakes, fried dough sticks, etc. Porridge is also divided into millet porridge, rice porridge, red bean porridge and other flavors.
In the past, wontons, steamed buns and fried dough sticks were foods for rich people. Because wontons and steamed buns were stuffed, and fried dough sticks required a lot of oil to fry, ordinary people could not afford them and could only eat steamed buns or sesame cakes to fill their stomachs.
But now the production of vegetable oil has exploded, dozens of times that of the Jingyou years, and meat has also increased with the development of animal husbandry. Oil and meat have also entered thousands of households from being luxuries in the past, enriching the dining tables of the people of the Song Dynasty.
So when you first enter Nanxunmen, the first thing you smell is the fragrant oil.
When the carriage convoy carrying so many foreign envoys slowly entered Nanxun Gate, the fragrance near the city gate quickly spread towards them.
"What smells so good?"
"This is where the people of Song set up stalls on the street to sell food, and there are also restaurants."
“It smells so good, I really want to try it.”
"Don't worry, envoy. His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Song has prepared a banquet for you. You can go shopping after the banquet."
"Hmmmm."
Many messengers in the carriage lifted the curtains and looked out, curiously observing every detail of the Song Dynasty.
In fact, they were already shocked when they arrived in Guangzhou.
The six- or seven-story buildings and the huge cannon standing near the dock and port, which was taller than a two-story building, all opened their eyes.
This situation continued until we arrived in Xiangyang and got on the train, when the shock reached its peak.
Even many messengers made jokes. When they saw the "whooshing" train coming, they thought it was a horrible monster eating people everywhere. They looked terrified and wanted to run away.
However, it was not until they arrived in Bianliang that they realized what a truly powerful country was.
The current urban area of Bianliang has expanded several times. Before Zhao Jun left the capital for patrol in the ninth year of the Qingli period, the city area reached 382 square kilometers.
Now, four years later, the area has reached more than 500 square kilometers.
Although it is not even a fraction of the 16,400 square kilometers of Beijing in later generations, the main old city area still remains at around 50 square kilometers.
But this in itself means that under the construction of industrial civilization, the city of Bianliang developed extremely rapidly. In a few decades, it might reach the same overall area as Beijing in later generations.
Today, the areas of those Western countries, including the so-called capital of the Roman Empire, are probably not even one-tenth the size of Bianliang today.
So when these foreigners saw these things, they were filled with an indescribable sense of shock.
Great Song Dynasty.
So powerful.
For a moment, many envoys sat in their cars anxiously.
I was thinking about how to gain benefits for my country in the Song Dynasty.
The carriage continued to move north.
The old city of Kaifeng in the Northern Song Dynasty was about 7 kilometers from north to south, extending from the later Tokyo Avenue all the way south to the Kaifeng Airport area.
The new urban area continued to extend five to seven kilometers to the east, south, west and north, which greatly expanded the area of Bianliang, but in fact there were also many lands in the wilderness, which were not considered urban areas.
Outside the city are often industrial areas, school areas, warehouses, docks, stations, etc., which are similar to the new districts in later generations. There are those tall buildings, but they are not closely connected.
But it is different in the urban area. The closer to the imperial city, the more compact the houses are.
The outer city is relatively good, with a large amount of vacant land and abandoned houses - these abandoned houses were either the former garrisons of the imperial guards, or government offices that had moved to other locations. Because they were not allowed to be bought and sold, they were waiting for the court to develop them.
The inner city is much smaller, with a length and width of only 23 kilometers and a total area of about 56 square kilometers. There are so many people living there that the houses are extremely compact and crowded.
When the convoy entered the inner city, everyone was shocked by the prosperous scene of the inner city.
Although it is winter, all kinds of exquisite pavilions and towers stand tall, many of which are hung with colorful ribbons. Dragon flags on the city walls flutter in the wind, beautiful lanterns are hung high, and the crisp sounds of wind chimes and bamboo horses can be heard.
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