There are also a lot of people doing business, and the things sold in the crowded downtown are basically the cheapest items. The most common ones are not the wide variety of pastries, but basic rice and flour.
A large pancake cost four or five coins, significantly cheaper than in the inner city. The salt wasn't a vibrant white, but a brownish-yellow hue, almost black. Even the tea and broth weren't like those in the inner city; they were stale tea and vegetable soup, barely a drop of oil or water.
There are actually a lot of people coming and going. When you just leave the inner city, the ground is still paved with bluestone slabs, but when you get to the outer city, it is basically a rammed earth road. The pedestrians are no longer as leisurely as the people in the inner city, but are in a hurry and walk much faster.
When Zhao Jun left Yiqiufang and entered Shuimen Street, he saw something completely different.
At this moment, he was standing on the bridge between Shuimen Street and Yiqiufang in Xicheng Bianliang. The arch bridge connected the two banks. On the right bank, there was a small bridge with flowing water, willows swaying in the wind, white walls and gray tiles, which seemed to be a wealthy family. The ground was paved with bluestone slabs and was relatively clean. Only a few houses looked slightly dilapidated.
"Hey, what's wrong with you!"
"I'm selling pancakes. They're delicious and cheap. Come and buy some."
"Thief, stealing things."
The flow of people on each street here is much greater than that in the inner city and the outer city close to the inner city. Zhao Jun saw many coolies carrying sacks, porters at the riverside docks, groups of beggars wandering the streets, and countless ragged poor people.
"Make way, make way."
"Tanghulu, big and sweet Tanghulu."
The originally chaotic streets quickly returned to calm with the arrival of the police.
What is completely different between here and the inner city is that there are no yamen runners patrolling every street. There are only a few officials from Kaifeng Prefecture on duty at the beginning and end of the street.
After all, the entire Bianliang Kaifeng Prefecture has a population of more than 1.5 million, and the inner city is large enough, covering an area of at least ten square kilometers. The outer city is several times the size of the inner city, with a total area of more than 50 square kilometers, and the population density is about 30,000 people per square kilometer.
"Caught him, daring to steal our things? Beat him to death."
"Stop fighting, stop fighting, the police are coming."
"Brothers, let's go!"
He did not take any action. At this time, he was more like a spectator, understanding the situation in Bianliang and going deep into the people to understand their sufferings.
Sure enough, if you stay in the inner city for a long time, you will feel that the world is full of peace and prosperity.
But just by leaving the inner city and reaching the outskirts of the outer city, one can quickly feel the huge gap between the rich and the poor.
In later generations, the capital Beijing, with a total population of more than 20 million, had a population density of only 10,000 people per square kilometer. This shows how crowded the outer city of Bianliang was.
Not to mention Kaifeng Prefecture alone, even if the Imperial City Administration was added, it would be difficult to manage.
Zhao Jun watched the scene with a frown.
He can see many poor people, but he can't help any of them now because there are too many poor people in the world, and only by making changes can he save the majority.
So he continued walking on the street, not disgusted by the sewage on the ground, but quietly watching everything in the world.
At the end of the morning, he saw six cases of fights and thefts.
Across the river, on the other side, there is peace and prosperity, while on this side, there is the hustle and bustle of the world.
However, Zhao Jun did not say much. Every country has a gap between the rich and the poor. All he can do is to watch, look at everything in this world, figure out all the situations, and then make his own summary.
This is research work.
A dozen barefoot, ragged children sat in a group by the roadside. Seeing Zhao Jun and his group dressed neatly, while Di Qing and his group wore swords at their waists, they looked wary. After they left, they suddenly rushed over to beg for alms from two well-dressed scholars who had just entered the city. In the chaos, the two scholars' purses disappeared.
A skinny woman with a numb expression, dirty clothes, and disheveled hair was walking down the street. Suddenly, she went berserk, banging her head against the wall and wailing. She was caught by a neighbor and sent back.
I heard from others that the child disappeared some time ago, and the husband had to go out to work to earn money to support the family. The woman cried every day, and finally developed hysteria and often ran away madly.
At three quarters past four in the morning, he saw with his own eyes a team of donkey carts coming in from the outer city. When passing through the street, they were stopped and checked by the servants on duty. The donkey cart owner skillfully took out half a string of copper coins from his bosom and stuffed it into the servant's hand.
At the beginning of noon, while eating in a small restaurant, several burly men walked into the store. The boss approached them with a smile and handed over this month's tribute.
On a street corner beneath the Kaiyuan Gate wall, a crippled beggar sat cross-legged, his clothes tattered, begging passersby. Nearby, those carrying loads, walking, or standing still, would at most glance at him with sympathy. Only wealthy newcomers to the city, or wealthy scholars, would give him a few copper coins.
After a while, Wang Zeng seemed to notice Zhao Jun's absent-mindedness and asked casually, "What's wrong?"
"I went to the outer city."
Zhao Jun said.
Zhao Jun still looked like a passerby, but sometimes he would frown, sometimes he would sigh, and sometimes he would stand on the Bianliang Bridge in a daze, leaving Di Qing and others puzzled.
In the afternoon, Zhao Jun returned on time.
Today Wang Zeng came to give lectures again. He taught him the knowledge about the imperial examination as seriously as usual, and seemed to be imparting everything he knew without reservation.
He emphasized the words "Mr. Wang" with a hint of sarcasm.
Wang Zeng shook his head: "Are you blaming me?"
"The Grand Chancellor lives in a mansion covering dozens of acres of land, while the common people outside the city don't even have a place to stand."
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