The gray and heavy sky, dilapidated and old houses, and factories with busy machinery form the background here. On this basis, every citizen in the city seems to be less than a living person, just like ants and bugs, just as a part of this place. The parts of the town exist, like ink splashes when walking, always appearing in groups and blurring into pieces.
They are screws, gravel, and wildly growing weeds, filling every rumbling and smoking Chinese and foreign factory!
Looking further into the distance, we can see the reused old Hanshui County. It is almost indistinguishable from Hanyang, but there are fewer factories and more residential buildings. There are also some commercial buildings, but they look sparse and thin. Far inferior to modern Hankou.
At this time, everyone already felt that they were in the outside world. If they looked back towards Hankou, they could clearly feel the difference between the two. The Hanshui River is neither long nor wide, but Hankou and Hanyang on both sides are two completely different towns. The world view seems to have a natural barrier that completely separates the two.
"Ahem!"
Hua Yuxiu's fish scales have faded away today, probably because she just bathed in human blood. Her perfume today is much stronger, presumably to cover up the smell of blood.
After crossing the bridge and driving into Hanyang, she seemed to be unable to bear the stale chimney fumes. Jiao Didi said, "Roll up the windows. The air in Hanyang is like sour soup. It smells sour."
Tan Yanqiu nodded and comforted: "This is an industrial town in Jianghan. The smell is really bad, but Boss Hua, you have to endure it first. Where are you going? There are some decent houses here. Wait. If you go to the river market, it not only smells bad, it also doesn’t look good.”
As they spoke, the car passed by the main roads and alleys. When they approached the Old Han Arch Bridge, they could already see the river market in the middle of Hanshui County.
The Old Han River had its course changed as early as the Zhu Ming Dynasty. Over the past hundreds of years, the main river has been cut off and the river bed has been exposed. Some areas have been completely filled in due to soil erosion and erosion, or no trace of the river bed can be seen at all.
Only a few small ditches have been artificially widened, and they can barely function as boats for drinking water. Most of the riverbed has been eroded by wind and sand, so that it loses its curvature. It looks like there are shallow ditches and wide pits with gentle undulations in front of it.
Two bridges spanned both banks and passed over the river market. They stopped at the north of the bridge and got out of the car and walked to the river bed. Iron railings had already been built along both banks.
Looking down from the railing, we can see that the entire old river is only about 70 to 80 meters wide and only nearly 500 meters long. Both sides of the river bed are rugged and uneven. There are sloping dirt roads extending along the river bed to the bottom of the river. The wavy soil slopes are full of wild grass. Trees, shrubs, and a large number of stilts and thatched houses are piled up on both sides of the dirt roads on both sides of the bank, forming a scene of stilts with different heights.
After arriving at the bottom of the river, you can see the three- and four-story buildings built with bricks, stones and wooden beams. These alleys completely cover the bottom of the river. According to the water diversion canals, they are lined up on both sides, and there are shacks on the slopes. The miscellaneous houses are connected and the boundaries are no longer distinguishable.
In any case, the foundations of the houses at the bottom of the river can finally be laid, and many commercial buildings can be built. Most of them are still the same as in the previous dynasty, with shops facing the street outside and a quadrangle courtyard inside. Only a few commercial buildings were influenced by Western influences. Affected by the influence, there are also some Western patterns and exterior decorations that are neither earthy nor foreign. The materials are not good and they look very cheap, and there is a sense of absurdity like a pheasant painted with colored paint.
In any case, the business here is very prosperous. There are shop signs and light boxes all over the valley. The ditches divert water to various blocks. It can be seen that there are mostly stilted buildings along the river. In the distance, it becomes a courtyard and a courtyard. Alley.
At the end of the stone piers at the two bridges, you can see the old-fashioned elevator with a height difference of tens of meters. It runs rumblingly from top to bottom. The mechanical style looks like the iron cage of the upper and lower miners. Most of them are old models that have been eliminated. People who come to the river market have to go downhill. Walk or just take the mine ladder.
Looking at the overall situation, the river market is like a vegetable pot full of strange flowers and plants. In the big pit, there seems to be a ghost market boundary that does not belong to Jianghan. It is like a colorful patch on clothes, abrupt and obvious but just right.
"It's hard to imagine that there is such a place in Jianghan."
Song Siyuan always thought that Hankou was the whole of Jianghan. It was not until she entered Hanyang that she realized that the urban fabric created by commerce and the urban fabric created by industry were completely different. As for the Heshi at the bottom of the city, it could only exist because of the common people and the powerful government. Fighting and compromising with each other.
She picked up the telescope and looked around. Telephone and telegraph lines ran along the old elevator of the mining machine, introducing telegraph and electricity into the river market. At both ends, there were tall and spacious drainage arches that communicated water between Mo Lake and the Yangtze River. The pulse draws up the excess water in the canal and drains it out, allowing the canals in the river city to flow with live water.
You can even see security guards in black hats and hats in the river market. There are huge searchlight heads on the iron railings near them. These are mostly used for night lighting!
A modern city, rich people value land, and ordinary people live in the market... Even though Jianghan has strictly planned its own zoning, it still failed to completely wipe out the river city. Instead, it was forced to admit the existence of the river city. If you say it is a big government It would be too naive to have a kind heart.
At that time, the government's intention was to completely relocate the river market, fill it up and build a new city.
The people of Huxiang have been martial and cunning since ancient times. They are known as the nine-headed bird in the sky. In order to make a living, the nine people in the market dare to stand up to the government. I am afraid there are many conflicts here. It is the three religions and nine people in He City who work hard to get it. The government compromised and allowed the river market to survive to this day.
In other words, no one knows what flood and drought docks are and what market culture is better than the people in Heshi.
“It’s so wonderful here, with all the bustling markets and rivers, this is Jianghan’s flood and drought dock!”
Tan Yanqiu murmured Song Siyuan's words and couldn't help but praise: "Everything in the city is integrated into the river...Miss Song really has a pair of discerning eyes."
He continued: "The people of Jianghan are indeed martial and smart. Even when facing foreigners, they are neither humble nor arrogant. Back then, after Jianghan opened as a port, the Westerners originally wanted Jianghan to build more bars, dance halls, cafes, and movie theaters. To meet the needs of foreigners coming to China, guess what the result will be?"
Tan Yanqiu continued: "Jianghan City has not paid attention to foreigners so far. Those foreign bars and dance halls are only limited to the foreign port boundaries. Outside the port boundaries, there are basically no shops serving foreigners. Their scope of activities is limited to the borders of the foreign port."
"Going further to Huajie, there are all stages built for the entertainment of local people in Jianghan. Jianghan City even built theaters and amusement parks adjacent to the port boundary. Even though the outside is modern, there are still opera and entertainment inside. We also don’t plan to let foreigners come. The Chinatown shops outside Jianghan have formed a pattern of foreign-Han opposition to the foreign-town shops. This is how we see on Jianghan Road, the foreign-Han competition, which is brilliant."
