Julian calendar, October 1140.
In the vast eastern part of the Qinchak Prairie, it is a good time for autumn to be clear and crisp. Even the sky becomes exceptionally blue during this season. The golden field is dotted with small hamburgers. These burgers guard the most precious water source on the grassland. There are some white felt tents scattered around the burgers, and groups of cattle and sheep are flowing in the golden sea of grass nearby.
If travelers from far away can walk a little deeper, they will find that there are many farms and farmhouses built scattered along the river that flows beside these hamburgers. Surrounding these farmhouses are large areas of farmland that have just been plowed and are waiting to be sown with winter wheat. Under this blue sky, there is a prosperous scenery suitable for farming and grazing.
On the bank of the Chu River, on the trade road leading to West Chang'an Fucheng. At this time, a rather large team of carriages and horses were walking, one horse-drawn cart after another, and the goods on them were bundled to the brim. There is a small white triangular flag with the two Chinese characters for "tribute envoy" on it.
The front and rear and sides of the large convoy, as well as the escorting riders, all looked quite capable, guarding the convoy. Everyone was wearing chain mail, carrying carbines on their backs, carrying scimitars, and carrying bows and arrows. There were also flags hung on the carbines held by some of the escorting riders, with one large, four small and five red crosses tattooed on a white background.
In the middle of the large convoy, there were more than a dozen large four-wheel carriages carrying passengers, swaying on the bumpy road.
In front of one of the most ornately decorated carriages, there were three or four knights in black hats and long robes, accompanying several men in gorgeous Eastern Roman robes, marching together. One of them was wearing a purple robe that could only be worn by Eastern Roman emperors. It was the Roman co-emperor Alexios who left Constantinople in despair a year ago and fled to Trabizon.
He did not stay in Trabizon for long because John Vasilius I (the Crow's Mouth) did not allow him to rest comfortably in Trabizon. Shortly after being crowned Caesar, Crow Mouth personally led an army to attack Trabizon by land and sea.
Of course Alexios did not dare to resist, so he had to flee to the Kingdom of Georgia. And with the help of King Demitr I of Georgia, he embarked on the road eastward to find a way to save the country.
And Alexios's first stop on his eastward journey to find a way to save the country was Peach Blossom Stone - Chang'an Mansion, the capital of the Tang Empire!
Well, that fake Tang Dynasty is now a neighboring country of the Kingdom of Georgia! However, the land border between the two countries does not yet touch, but faces each other across the Western Sea. The Tang Dynasty is to the east of the West Sea, while Georgia is to the west of the West Sea...and this West Sea is, of course, the Caspian Sea.
So Alexios first crossed the Caspian Sea, then to the Aral Sea, then walked eastward along the Huzhang River for more than a thousand miles, then went north to the bank of the Chu River, and continued along the Chu River for more than a thousand miles, crossing the vast The grassland passed by hundreds of hamburgers. After fully appreciating the magnificent vastness of the "Datang", we finally entered the "center" of the Peach Blossom Stone Empire, the Xijing Chang'an Mansion of the Tang Empire!
After entering the territory of Xijing Chang'an Mansion (the name of this mansion is "Xijing Chang'an Mansion"), Alexios found that both sides of the business road had become much more prosperous. From time to time, you can see a Hamburg with three sides and six corners. In addition to herdsmen's tents and cattle and sheep, you can also see a large number of farmhouses and fertile fields around Hamburg. Outside some of these burgers, rammed earth walls surrounded bustling towns. Moreover, the number of caravans traveling on the road has also increased significantly. Teams of camels and teams of carriages and horses are traveling on all the roads in "Chang'an Mansion".
What surprised Alexios even more was that the security within the Peach Blossom Stone-Datang Empire was quite good. He walked all the way from the west coast for more than two months, but he didn't encounter a robber who blocked the road!
Moreover, they had not heard of any banditry activities from other caravans and travelers.
This is across the Kipchak grassland!
The Kipchak grassland is a place where nomads roam. The Tang Empire was able to open a safe trade route on the Kipchak grassland... This was really beyond Alexios' expectations.
"Chang'an! Chang'an has arrived!"
A "Tang Dynasty military attaché" with a rhinoplasty, deep eyes, and a curvy beard who accompanied Alexios suddenly shouted loudly in Chinese with a "Chang'an accent."
Although Alexios does not understand Chinese, he can understand the place name "Chang'an" - this city is the destination of his trip!
He quickly stretched his neck and looked forward. A huge castle, even bigger than Constantinople, appeared at the end of the horizon.
Is this Chang'an?
Alexios thought to himself: I wonder if the emperor of the Peach Blossom Stone Man can provide help to me, a fallen Roman ruler?
As he was thinking about it, an older Orthodox bishop from the Kingdom of Georgia, named Bagration (Royal Family of Georgia), said loudly in Greek: "Your Majesty, the largest city in the world is coming soon... ...In the six-sided core fortress of Chang'an Prefecture alone, there are at least 200,000 people living there! If you include the population around the city, there are almost 400,000 people in the entire Chang'an Prefecture!"
Alexios took a breath and said to himself: Constantinople only has a maximum population of 150,000, which is less than half of the total population of Chang'an!
Bishop Bagration added: "Your Majesty, this Chang'an city is just Taohuashi - one of the four big cities owned by the Tang Empire. In addition to Chang'an, this empire also owns Luocheng, Xingqing and Xiping. There are three big cities including Fuzhou. Although the population of those cities is not as large as 400,000, they are all less than 200,000."
Alexios was frightened by the power of the Tang Dynasty again...the four metropolises alone had a population of 1 million!
How great!
"Bishop," he said to Archbishop Bagration of Georgia, "I can't wait to experience the city of Chang'an."
The bishop smiled and said: "Okay, let's walk faster so that we can enter the city before dark!"
...
The city of "Xijing Chang'an Mansion" in the Tang Dynasty was not as prosperous as Archbishop Bagration said... In fact, it was his first time to visit "Xijing Chang'an Mansion", so he didn't know about "Xijing Chang'an Mansion". "The city is actually divided into two parts: "West City" and "East City".
The real prosperity is not the "West City", but the "East City".
The so-called "Western City" is the Hamburg that Alexios and Bagration saw from a distance during the day.
This is a Hamburg with six sides and twelve corners (triangular fort). Two trenches were dug outside the city, and there was water in the trenches that led to the Chu River.
Within the West City, there are "fangs" one after another, which are small castles surrounded by four high walls. Each "square" has a small number of shops to meet the needs of residents in the square. But there is no large shopping mall in the entire West City.
There are not many residents living in these cities, only tens of thousands in total. In addition to the officials, scholars, and monks who served the Tang Dynasty, there were also the government soldiers who served last time and the Jinwu Guards who served in the Long March.
In addition, Chang'an Xicheng is under a curfew. The curfew drum will be beaten before dark. As soon as the drum stops, there will be almost no pedestrians on the streets outside each workshop (if you encounter special circumstances, you can still go out of the workshop to take to the streets), and only the heavily armed Jinwu Guards will come and go. patrol.
And every morning early in the morning, when people are sleeping soundly, drums are played in Xicheng. This is the morning drum. After the drumming is completed, the curfew is lifted and everyone can go out. Of course, I was also woken up from my lazy sleep... Those who should go to court went to court, those who should train went to train, those who should be on errands went on errands, and those who should go to school went to school.
In short, life in the west city of Chang'an is quite boring and strict...it is impossible to decay even if you want!
The daily life of Li Renxiao, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty (called King of the Western Tang Dynasty in the Song Dynasty) who ruled this city and the entire Western Tang Empire, was equally boring and serious.
Renxiao, who is 17 years old this year, no longer knows that he is a party member... He is the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, how could he be a party member? Of course he is a descendant of the Li family in Longxi, and his distant ancestor is Li Guang, a famous general in the Western Han Dynasty. His ancestors, Li Yuan and Li Shimin, founded the glorious and prosperous Tang Dynasty hundreds of years ago, which lasted for 289 years... and then were destroyed by rebellious officials and traitors. It was not until the establishment of the Song Dynasty that it gradually recovered. , established the Western Tang Dynasty and became a vassal of the Song Dynasty.
More than ten years ago, the Li family of the Western Tang Dynasty finally accumulated enough strength and began the journey to make the Tang Dynasty great again... Under the leadership of the emperor's uncle, the regent Li Renli, and the prime minister Cao Mian, Wanli Expedition, came to the hometown of the four towns of Anxi, and rebuilt the foundation of the Tang Dynasty!
In the Daming Palace in the city of West Chang'an, the 17-year-old Emperor Li Renli of the Tang Dynasty read the "History of the Li Tang Family" compiled by the officials of the Western Tang Dynasty in the imperial study, and then once again swore to his ancestors Li Yuan and Li Shimin in heaven that in the future After taking charge, we must work hard to revitalize the Tang Dynasty!
As soon as the oath was finished, the voice of a "foreign eunuch" standing outside was heard: "Sage, Prime Minister Cao has arrived."
Li Renli hurriedly said: "Please, grandpa, please come in quickly!"
Then Prime Minister Cao's laughter came from outside: "Hahaha, is the saint okay today?"
Then he saw the door of the study room being pushed open, and the elderly Cao Mian came in from the outside with a smile, and then sat down on a chair in a grand manner.
"Grandpa is so happy, but is there any happy event?" Li Renli asked.
Cao Mian smiled and said: "Last night a king from the Western Yi Kingdom came to pay tribute to us in the Tang Dynasty!"
"Western Yi?" Li Renli asked, "Is it the Alan country or the Gru country?"
The Western Tang Dynasty had contacts with the Kingdom of Alan and the Kingdom of Georgia, but there was no contact with the Western Yi people further west.
"No," said Prime Minister Cao, "it's Alexius, the king of the Western Roman Kingdom, who has arrived."
