In October of the first year of Daqing in the Tang Dynasty (the name of Li Renxiao, the first year of Daqing was 1140), King Alexius of Rome and Archmage Bagration of Georgia, who came from afar, were captured by the Tang Dynasty. Prime Minister Cao arranged to live in Dongshi, West Chang'an Prefecture.
This East City is not within the "Hamburg" style city of West Chang'an Prefecture, but is located to the east of the city. Therefore, the capital city in West Chang'an was called Xichen, and the commercial city was called Dongshi.
The so-called East Market is actually the "Old City" of West Chang'an City. Of course, its age does not mean that it is old. In fact, it is an "old city" that has only been built for 10 years. However, due to the emergence of "Hamburg", a new type of castle belonging to the firearms age, the "old city" of West Chang'an seems very outdated.
So the Western Tang Dynasty decided to build a new-style hamburger with 6 sides and 12 corners on the open plain to the west of the old city as the new residence of the Tang Dynasty. When the new city was completed, the Western Tang Dynasty did not abandon the old city, which had only been used for less than 10 years, but built it into a shopping mall.
According to the orders of the Tang Dynasty, only minimal commercial activities can be maintained in Xicheng Hamburg to prevent the courtiers, their children, and the soldiers who came to serve in Chang'an Mansion in Xijing from being corrupted by the depraved life provided by profiteers.
The main commercial activities and handicraft production of Chang'an Prefecture in Xijing were concentrated in the old city called Dongshi.
After the Jinxi Route Army conquered the Eighteen Rakshasa princes and entered the Crimean Peninsula, the overland Silk Road from Chang'an Prefecture of the Song Dynasty to the Crimean Peninsula was almost unimpeded! The East Market in West Chang'an Prefecture is right in the middle of this land trade route. At the same time, the East Market in West Chang'an is also the starting point of the southern branch of the Silk Road leading to Baghdad.
For a city like this that is located at the confluence of two important trade routes, it is probably impossible not to develop.
Moreover, the East Market of Chang'an Prefecture in Xijing also gathered skilled craftsmen from all over the Tang Dynasty, who could produce various kinds of goods including gunpowder, frying pots, hot pots, tubes, various iron armor and tools, porcelain, paper, and woolen fabrics. Various handicraft products. Although the output is ridiculously low according to the standards of the Song Dynasty, it is already second to none in the Western Regions.
Moreover, many of the products are unique to the Western Regions, so there is no need to worry about sales!
So when the King of Rome and the Archmage Bagration entered the city of Andong in West Changchun, this commercial city had become very noisy and noisy, with merchants of various nationalities coming and going. Teams of camels and teams of carriages and horses kept coming and going. There were prairie merchants wearing bulging leather robes and scimitars at their waists, food merchants wearing black robes, and Central Plains merchants wearing beautiful silk robes, walking around in the market.
In addition to businessmen from all over the world, the East Market of Chang'an Prefecture in Xijing also gathered monks and scholars from various sects.
There are monks with shaved heads, priests from God-worshiping churches (including Nestorianism) wearing black robes and holding Bibles, as well as figures from Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, and Taoism. Of course, there are also Confucians who spread Confucian principles of heaven - these people are the most arrogant among the monks and scholars of various sects in Dongshi City, because they have the right to "carry swords (swords) in the city"!
Monks and scholars from other families can only hold weapons outside the city, and there are various restrictions. They are not allowed to hold more lethal weapons, nor are they allowed to own armor. But Confucian scholars have the privilege of not only holding weapons and armor, but also bringing knives (swords) into the city... not only into the East City, but also into the Hamburg of Chang'an Prefecture in the Xijing!
In addition, monks and scholars from other sects are not allowed to establish temples and schools in Xicheng. Only Confucian scholars can run schools and teach in Xicheng Hamburg.
All the courtiers and aristocratic children of the Western Tang Dynasty also followed these Confucian scholars to study literature and martial arts. Naturally, they regarded themselves as Confucian scholars and dressed like Confucian scholars in daily life.
So here in West Chang'an Prefecture, these Confucian scholars in cloth clothes and scarves with long swords hanging from their waists are walking sideways. No one dares to mess with them... Who knew that such Confucian scholars were "true Confucians"? Or some courtier and dignitary?
In the Western Tang Dynasty, it was not uncommon for "non-Tang people" to be killed by Tang people's nobles with one sword... Even if the person killed was innocent, it was just a small loss of money.
Of course, there is no need to worry about being killed by King Acresius and Archmage Bagration while they are staying in Andong City, Xichang City. Because there were Jinwu guards inside and outside the "God Worship Temple" in Dongshi where they lived. If they want to go out, they will be accompanied by officials from Honglu Temple.
It was in the "Temple of God Worship" where he lived that he came up with the idea of writing a "Journey to the East".
What prompted him to come up with the idea of "coding words" was the butt-wiping paper he handed over in the toilet of the "Worship God Temple"...
"Guanren Li, what is this?"
Just after going to the latrine, Wang Yiziping, who was about to have a meal, took toilet paper and entered the dining hall of the "Worship God Temple" and asked the official of Honglu Temple who could speak Latin.
Although this official has a foreign face, he is an authentic Han from Khotan. He has the same surname as Li Renxiao. He is a descendant of King Li Shengtian of Khotan. His name is Li Chongwen... He brought Ake After Lessius and Bagration were sent to the God Worship Temple in Dongshi, they had their dinner here. But he was shocked when he saw Yi Zi Xiang Wang coming out with a piece of paper for wiping his butt.
It was the Nestorian master Marihasiya who presided over this God-worshipping temple (the same Marihasiya who sent Natalia to Linhuang Mansion) who responded quickly and hurriedly said to Acresius in Latin: "Barcelus, this is paper..."
"I know, I've seen paper, and I know it's not papyrus! But why are they in the toilet?"
The King of Yi Zi Jian Jie has seen the world, knows that there is paper... and can also distinguish between papyrus and real paper.
Papyrus is not really paper, but something similar to bamboo slips, but it is much more complicated to make. It requires a lot of tedious processes such as peeling, slicing, soaking in water, hammering, pressing, polishing, and gluing of papyrus stems to make it. It was expensive to make, not in large supply, and only had one side that could be written on. In the Roman Empire, unless you were a rich man, you couldn't afford such expensive papyrus.
As for real paper...it was even more expensive. It couldn't be produced in the Eastern Roman Empire and had to be imported from the Saracen pagans!
Therefore, the Eastern Roman Empire and the Holy See still used papyrus and equally expensive parchment and vellum in large quantities until the 12th century.
But today, Yi Zi Jing Jian Wang unexpectedly saw a thick stack of paper in a smelly toilet!
They are all blank sheets of paper with no writing on them!
"Basileus, this is the paper used to wipe your butt..." Li Daguan stammered in explanation, "After you are finished, use this to wipe your butt..."
"What?" King Yizi said in shock, "It's so extravagant? There's no writing on these pieces of paper!"
Is this a luxury?
Li Daguan said humanely: "Basileus, wiping paper is very cheap... the paper used for writing is much better than this!"
"Really?" King Yizi Jingjian couldn't believe his ears, "Is writing paper expensive?"
"It's not expensive either..." Li Daguan said, "Paper is the cheapest thing here in Taohuashi. You can get as much as you want."
"real?"
"Of course it's true..." Li Daguan said humanely, "If you want it, I will send you a thousand pieces of shredded leaf paper tomorrow."
Shredded leaf paper is not "shredded paper", but paper produced in Dongshi, Chang'an Prefecture, Xijing. The original name of Chang'an Prefecture in Xijing was Broken Leaf, and Broken Leaf Paper got its name from this.
"Okay!" King Yizi Jingjian nodded and said with a smile, "I need these papers...because I want to write a travel diary so that people in the West know about the Peach Blossom Stone!"
"That's great," Nestorian Archmage Mali Hashi said with a smile, "I think you will need a lot of paper, because there are so many things to write on! In the East, you will see many people. Jaw-dropping huge cities, countless strange handicrafts, and mountains of wealth... Of course, there will also be countless peach blossom stone people!"
The king became interested and asked quickly: "Bishop...can I see a city in the east that is bigger and more prosperous than Chang'an City?"
"Of course, there are too many cities like that!" Maliha said. "In the far east, cities like West Chang'an City are nothing... there are at least 100 cities that are better than it." Bigger, more prosperous and more gorgeous!
It is said that Yingtianfu, Nanjing, the largest city in the Eastern Song Dynasty, had a population of more than 1.5 million! Even the city of Rome in its heyday cannot compare with it! "
"1.5 million?" Wang Yizi took a breath, "God, so many people live in one city?"
"Yes! Living in an extremely prosperous and prosperous city!" Marihasiya said, "Unfortunately, I was in a hurry to return to the West and did not have the opportunity to see its elegance. Fortunately, I will accompany you to the East this time. I think I will have the opportunity to go to Nanjing Yingtian Mansion!"
"There are 1.5 million people in one city...Oh my God!" Wang Yizi said with his mouth wide open, "How many people are there in the entire Eastern Land?"
"Ten million..." King Yizhiyi said with surprise on his face, "At least twice as much as the population of the entire Europe! Isn't the Eastern Song Dynasty too powerful?"
Mariha nodded, "Of course...otherwise how could the Kingdom of Gold be destroyed by the Song Dynasty? I witnessed the destruction of the Kingdom of Gold with my own eyes. In that war, the Eastern The Turkish Song Dynasty invested at least 1 million troops! And they also invested many extremely powerful gunpowder weapons! If such an army appears in Europe, I am afraid it will destroy all Christian countries!"
Destroy all Christian nations? The King of One Word's Side by Side's face turned green, this sounded too scary!
