"That's right!" Zhang Yue suddenly looked at Jun Budo and asked, "Man Qiangong, I have a doubt, I don't know if Man Qiangong can answer it for me."

"Waiter, please speak"

"Linzi City, with a population of nearly one million," Zhang Yue asked softly, "How does Qi County maintain the existence and daily use of Linzi?" ”

A megacity with a population of one million!

Before the Common Era, it was an unimaginable giant.

In the entire feudal history of mankind, it can be ranked in the top ten.

It can be compared in terms of population size with Tang Chang'an, Song Bianliang, Ming Nanjing, Ming and Qing Beijing City, medieval Rome and Baghdad in the Arab Empire.

Tang Changan and Song Bianliang, how they were maintained, Zhang Yue didn't know too well.

However, the city of Beijing in the Ming and Qing dynasties was maintained by relying on the Grand Canal.

Hundreds of thousands of canal boatmen worked day and night to transport rice, cloth and other materials from the fertile Jiangnan and Lianghu regions to Beijing.

And in this pre-AD era, it is necessary to maintain a megacity with a population of one million.

Zhang Yue knew that this required a large amount of production materials.

This means that Linzi City needs more than just someone to provide them with enough basic necessities for a million people.

They also need to be provided with the raw materials they need to sustain the commercial development of this huge city.

This is not a whirleye.

Not to mention, Chang'an City has a population of only about 200,000, which has already made Guanzhong heavy and out of breath.

In order to feed the more than 200,000 people in Chang'an City, the state needs to transfer 2 million stone of grain from Kanto every year.

Linzi City has a population of one million, so how much food can be fed to feed the people of Linzi?

Anyway, in this pre-AD era, I'm afraid that just completing such a job is a great miracle.

There are many solid experiences and truths contained in it.

Especially for Zhang Yue, Linzi's experience may become an important target for Xinfeng to learn from in the future.

Jun Budo listened, but he smiled a little bitterly.

He sighed and asked, "Why does the Duke of the Servant care about this?" ”

For most people, Linzi City, with a population of one million, seems like a matter of course.

Just like Chang'an City has a population of two or three hundred thousand.

Few people will explore why Linzi has a population of one million?

Instead of cities like Luoyang, Chang'an, or Gong, which had a higher political, cultural, and economic status in the Han dynasty, with a population of one million?

However, once one delves into it, everyone gasps and falls into a deep sense of trepidation and fear.

Straight crazy, there are all!

Jun Budo did not doubt that he was frightened by the facts he knew for half a year, almost crazy.

Zhang Yue smiled and said, "Man Qiangong, don't you think that a metropolis with a population of one million is worth studying by everyone?" ”

"Rite said: Enlightenment is in Gewu, Gewu and then know! How can our scholars, who have studied the books of the sages, not explore and study the affairs of the world? ”

"Dong Zi once said: If the piano is not in tune, it will even be solved and changed, that's all!"

Jun Budo listened, dragged slightly, and said with a wry smile: "The matter of Linzi is extraordinary!" ”

It is also considering that Zhang Yue is a close minister next to the Son of Heaven, and he is the country's adviser to the minister, and the three views are also relatively close to himself, so he said without doubt: "At the beginning, Xia Guan was recommended by Zhongcheng in the imperial history for the history of Qingzhou, and at the beginning of the order, I was also curious about why Linzi lived between Qilu with millions of people, and it was just self-satisfied, and there was no turmoil in a hundred years!" ”

"When it comes to visiting the geography and humanities of the mountains and rivers of Linzi and Qi County, the officials are trembling and trembling, and they dare not say more!"

"The servant asked Qi County why it maintained a million people in Linzi?" Jun Budo smiled bitterly and said: "The whole Qi County has never taken the initiative to maintain the millions of people in Linzi City!" ”

"Since Pingyang Yihou Zhiqi, the population of Linzi has naturally gathered, multiplied and gathered for a hundred years, forming today's population scale!"

"According to the visit of the lower officials, the firewood, rice, oil and salt, cloth, silk and shoes needed by Linzi are all imported from Qingzhou, and even Yangzhou, Xuzhou, Jizhou, and Jingzhou merchants."

"More than eighty percent of the fish caught by the official fleet of the sea of Dasi Nong were all exported to Linzi"

"Donglai, Jiaodong, Jiaoxi, more than 100,000 fishermen, the fish they catch every day are basically sold to Linzi!"

Zhang Yue listened, smiling, but thinking in his heart: "The so-called invisible hand? ”

The market does have a certain ability to self-regulate, because profit-seeking businessmen will take the initiative to do a lot of things for the sake of profits.

But the problem is, that's Linzi!

A megacity with a population of one million!

The largest city on the entire planet right now.

Moreover, the population size of Linzi has been maintained at the current level for at least 20 years.

Therefore, there is no need to study economics or make any formulas.

You only need to know one common sense - under some economies before the Common Era, logistics costs were unimaginably high.

Nowadays, there is no Sui-Tang Grand Canal, which allows Linzi to reduce transportation costs.

Therefore, it is clear that the basic consumer goods of Linzi City can only be obtained nearby.

But the question is, do Qi County, or the counties around Qi County, such as Jiaodong, Jiaoxi, Zichuan, Langya, and Beihai, have the ability to supply Linzi's consumption?

In addition, can the people of Linzi afford to buy the grain that is transported from these places?

In this regard, Zhang Yue expressed deep doubts.

The average price of corn in Guanzhong is 100 yuan a stone, and the price of corn in Linzi will not be lower than this number.

Calculated in 100 dollars and one stone, the basic needs of a family of five are between six and seven stones per month.

That's the cost of 600 to 700 dollars.

And a hundred-stone official in the Han family, the monthly salary will be 600 yuan.

In other words, at least the income of a hundred stone officials is needed to survive in Linzi.

Is this possible?

Reason told Zhang Yue that this was impossible.

At least, small craftsmen and small businessmen cannot do this level of income.

Listening to Jun Budo, he took a deep breath, and then said: "And the residents of Linzi City, except for officials, soldiers, nobles, scholars and their family members and slaves, the rest are all craftsmen and weavers!" ”

"Xia Guan once lived in Linzi City for a month, and the people he saw, every household, and the sound of the loom, from morning to night, never stopped!"

"Women and children, old and weak, day and night, weaving silk, embroidery and satin!"

"Those who are good at weaving can weave a silk horse in five or six days"

Zhang Yue's eyes burned as he listened.

The daily situation of the urban economy and production and life in the Han Dynasty is no longer possible in later generations.

We can only get a glimpse of the situation at that time through the poems and policy books of the Han Dynasty and even the official documents.

In the Han Dynasty, there was a poem that passed through thousands of years and was passed down to future generations.

That is the peacock flying southeast, although this is the late Eastern Han Dynasty Yuefu poems, but because it is not far from the times, some economic and social changes are not big, so you can get a glimpse of the rural life of the Han Dynasty and the epitome of the people's life under the economy.

And in this Yuefu poem, there is a large space to describe the life of working women weaving and silk.

The so-called 'rooster crows into the weaving, night and night do not rest, three days to break five horses, adults are too late. ’

There is also a similar description in another Han Yuefu poem on the mountain to pick the turnip: the new artificial weaving, so the artificial weaving, weaving a horse, weaving more than five zhang, will be compared to the silk, the newcomer is not as good as before.

This shows that in the Han Dynasty, it was already common for women to enter the weaving workshop, participate in production, and even support the main economy of a family.

When Zhang Yue inspected Xinfeng, he also saw more than once that rural women used their hard work and wisdom to support the families of drinking pendants.

With their clever hands, they planted mulberry hemp, raised chickens and ducks, took children, and collected straw and hay.

There are even families that rely on women, not men, as many people think, to live a subsistence life.

After all, in some economies, the main labor force is male, and generally can only plough the land and take care of the crops.

The land yields a limited amount of land and is usually barely enough to eat.

Taxes and servitude, as well as other household expenses, are generally dependent on women and children.

It's just unexpected, in a metropolis like Linzi, the same is the case.

"What about the husbands of Linzi?" Zhang Yue asked softly: "Since women and children weave every day, what does the husband do every day?" ”

Jun Budo heard this, lowered his head, sighed, and said shamefully: "In my view, Linzi's husband, playing day and night, wandering in the market, carrying a bow and a sword, and being with the rangers!" ”

"And the older ones work with the merchants, or do all kinds of things for them, or go to the north and south of the river, or they are accomplices for them, and they kill the neighborhood!"

"In Linzi City, there is almost no one who does not owe money!"

"Whether the people carry bows and swords on their backs, walk in the lu, or negotiate with their wives, or their wives and parents, they toiled day and night, weaving cloth and silk, and it was impossible to pay off the money they owed to their sons!"

"Often, the debts have not been tasted, and the new debts have accumulated!"

"The only thing that can get rid of bad luck is to give birth to a daughter who is good at singing and dancing, and buy it for a rich merchant"

Jun Budo raised his head, looked at Zhang Yue, and sighed: "In short, among the millions of people in Linzi City, none of them are engaged in farming, everyone depends on the commodities of the north and the south to live, and everyone is controlled by the money merchants!" ”

Zhang Yue listened, and almost understood the current situation of Linzi City.

Class solidification!

At the bottom of Linzi, every family has been tied hand and foot by the interest of the money.

Unless a miracle happens, no one can break free.

And after Jun Budo said all this, the whole person felt a little prostrations and weakness.

The current situation of Linzi City is like a sharp blade, deeply stabbing the heart and lungs of everyone who wants to make a difference.

Especially a Legalist official like him, it is simply painful!

A city controlled by merchants and sub-money merchants, a megacity with a population of millions.

It is full of darkness and squalor, and countless human tragedies are happening all the time.

Every time I go to Linzi, I make Jun Budo more convinced of what he has learned!

Shang Jun is right!

Merchants are the root of all evil!

To return to the rule of three generations, to let the people live and work in peace and contentment, to make the world fair and just, the only way to kill all businessmen and prohibit all speculation and strange things!