Leaving Honglu Temple, Li Hong came to a secluded place to change his clothes, and went out of the Vermilion Bird Gate with Yan Zhuang and his personal Chen Gong and his party.

The places he is going to visit today are the eastern and western cities of Chang'an City.

The East Market and the West Market are both Chang'an City Industrial and Commercial Markets, but due to the different locations of the two cities, the types of goods they operate are also slightly different.

Due to the proximity of the East Market to the three major areas (Taiji Palace in the West, Daming Palace in the East, Xingqing Palace in the South), there are many royal nobles and dignitaries in the surrounding squares, so the city is "rare from all directions, all accumulated", and the goods operated in the market are more high-quality luxury goods to meet the needs of the royal family and dignitaries.

The West Market is far away from Sannai, and there are many ordinary people's houses around, and the goods operated in the market are mostly clothes, candles, cakes, medicines and other daily necessities.

Li Hong and his entourage rode on horseback, and it didn't take long to arrive at the West Market.

The West Market and the Tang Chang'an City in the Fang are the same are closed buildings, the city is surrounded by the city wall, each side opens two gates, a total of 8 city gates, the city gates are all managed by the door officials, just like the palace gate, the city gate, the square gate in the Chang'an City, morning and evening have to be opened and closed regularly with the sound of street drums.

Moreover, in addition to the gatekeepers at the gate of the city, there are also officials such as the West City Order and the West City Cheng in the city to manage the West Market, and there are patrols and cavalry patrols from time to time on the left and right Jinwuwei.

Therefore, the West Market is in good order, and there is an indescribable image of prosperity!

Li Hong got off the horse at the main gate of the West Market, walked to the West Market, and saw the magnificent scene of the shops and vendors gathering in the West Market, he was full of emotion, Chang'an City is worthy of being the world's trade center at this time, and it can be seen from the prosperity of the West Market alone!

In addition to the shops that sit in the village, there are also many small vendors who sell or set up stalls everywhere in the city.

Especially after the Tang Dynasty opened the Silk Road, Hu merchants from the Western Regions suddenly poured into Chang'an City, and they brought spices, medicines and curiosities from their respective countries to sell here, and bought jewelry, silk fabrics and porcelain from Chang'an and shipped them to China to make money. In addition, merchants from Goryeo, Silla, Baekje, and Dongying Fusang in the northeast.

There are many shops opened by foreign merchants in the West Market, such as the Persian Mansion, the Western Regions Jewelry Store, the Korean Warehouse, and the Wine Shop. In order to attract the attention of pedestrians, many liquor shops in the Western Regions let orchids sing and dance at the door to serve wine, and the business method is quite novel.

While strolling around with high interest, Li Hong asked Yan Zhuang, "Where do most of these Hu merchants live in Chang'an City?" ”

"Your Highness, a small number of them live in the West Market, and most of them live in some workshops near the West Market." Yan Zhuang replied without thinking.

Li Hong was surprised and asked, "So there are a lot of Hu businessmen living in Chang'an City today?" ”

Yan Zhuang never thought that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would ask this question, he was stunned for a moment, and then pondered for a while before replying, "Yonghui has done a survey for three years, and the number of people is nearly 30,000, and now that ten years have passed, it is probably more than that. ”

Li Hong was very surprised when he heard this number, because the population of the people in Chang'an City was nearly more than one million, of which Hu merchants accounted for 30,000 or 40,000, the proportion was as high as 3 percent, this phenomenon was rare in all dynasties!

They were strolling around, chatting at the same time, and unconsciously happened to pass by a jewelry store opened by Hu Shang, Hu Shang in the jewelry store saw that Li Hong and his party were very popular, so he immediately walked to the door, and shouted to them in a very standard Chang'an official dialect, "Lang Jun, there are a few new pieces of jewelry in our store today, the condition is very good, you can come in and have a look, our Langdong jewelry store is definitely good quality and cheap." ”

Li Hong didn't have a concubine yet, so he didn't need these things, so he smiled at him and continued to walk forward. But at this moment, he suddenly saw a red-billed jay flying from a distance, flew to the door of Langdong jewelry store, and stopped in front of Hu Shang.

"It's your 'Wei Cheng Bird' again, it's so hateful!" Hu Shang of Langdong Jewelry Store said indignantly after seeing this elegant bird. It's just that he said this, but he still didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly reached out and took out a penny from his arms, put it in his hand and handed it to the Ya Finch.

This Ya Que is not afraid of Hu Shang, just like a veteran who has been on the battlefield for a long time, calmly holding this money, spreading his wings and flying high, he flew into the distance and disappeared in a moment!

Hu Shang of Langdong Jewelry Store waited until Yaque left, and then withdrew his angry gaze. At this time, he no longer had any leisure to shout at Li Hong and his party, so he walked into the store stupidly.

It was the first time for Li Hong to see a bird so spiritual that he dared to blackmail the Hu merchants in the West City, and he was shocked by the scene he had just seen. He felt that such an ordinary bird dared to oppress the merchants in the West Market, its origin must not be simple, there must be a big problem here, and he signaled to Yan Zhuang after Yaque left.

Yan Zhuang understood what Li Hong meant, so he immediately stepped forward and called out to Hu Shangdao from the jewelry store, "This shopkeeper, may I ask what is going on with this bird?" ”

Hu Shang of the jewelry store turned his head blankly, glanced at Yan Zhuang vigilantly, and then moved his gaze to Li Hong, seeing that Li Hong's eyes were clear, and he was smiling at him, not like a bad person, he breathed a sigh of relief, and asked carefully, "How many of you are coming to Xishi for the first time, right?" ”

"That's right!" Yan Zhuang replied casually, "Our family Langjun just arrived in Chang'an City yesterday, and today is the first time to come to Xishi, and he found that you were giving money to a bird just now, he felt very strange, and he was curious for a while, so he asked me to come and ask you." ”

Hu Shang of the jewelry store moved his eyes to Li Hong, as if he wanted to ask, Li Hong bowed to him slightly, he hesitated for a moment and said, "Since this is the case, please invite a few people to the store to have a look, and let me tell you slowly!" ”

Li Hong nodded lightly.

Chen Gong was the first to walk into the jewelry store and look around to make sure that there was no danger, and then Li Hong walked into the store. Yan Zhuang followed closely, leaving four guards at the door of the store to guard.

Hu Shanghui of Langdong Jewelry Store was like a torch, and he saw Chen Gong's every move just now, so he was sure that Li Hong was not a child of an ordinary family, so he was extremely enthusiastic about him, invited Li Hong to sit down on the main seat, and asked the guys in the store to serve tea, and then said, "This Langjun, to tell you the truth, I am a Persian, and I have been in Chang'an City for eight years, and this shop has been open in Xishi for nearly six years, and business is still booming during this period." But since March last year, a Xishi Cheng named Wei Ling came to the West Market, and the hard times of our businessmen have come. This Wei Shicheng didn't know when he raised a red-billed sparrow, he asked this bird to the market every day to ask us businessmen for money, at first we didn't know what the bird was going to do and ignored it, but this bird was not only not afraid of us, but would take some money from us and leave, and then give it to Wei Shicheng after taking it back, because it was raised by Wei Shicheng, so we didn't dare to fight it. After a long time, we realized that this bird was specially raised by Wei Shicheng and asked us for money. Over time, we also got tired of the bird's money-grabbing behavior, and would take the initiative to give it money to let it go every time. Slowly, I developed my current habit. Therefore, our merchants in the West Market gave it a title, called 'Wei Cheng Bird'. ”

Speaking of this, Hu Shang of Langdong Jewelry Store sighed slightly, and said indignantly, "Although this bird only asks us for a penny every time, it can't stand it coming to us every day!" So now we are waiting every day to send money to it, and when it flies away with the money, we can buy and sell with peace of mind. ”

"If this kind of thing happens in the West City, will the West City Order just ignore it?" Li Hong asked puzzledly, "Have you reported the situation to him?" ”

"Xishi Ling said that it was the bird who asked for money, and it wasn't Wei Shicheng who asked us for money, so he couldn't control it." Hu Shang of Langdong Jewelry Store looked indignant and said in a low voice, "But we heard that it was because there were people above Wei Shicheng that Xishi Ling didn't dare to take care of him, so Wei Shicheng bullied us merchants." ”

Li Hong's face was a little gloomy, the glory of the Tang Dynasty continued, and the legacy of "Zhenguan's rule" continued, but the phenomenon of corruption and bending the law in the officialdom of the Tang Dynasty and protecting each other was still in the West City of Chang'an City, if it was in various states and counties, was it more serious than the situation in the West City? Thinking of this, Li Hong was irritable for a while, he didn't want to stay in the store anymore, and said to Yan Zhuang beside him, "You go and pick out a few jewelry with the shopkeeper, and buy a few good-looking ones to go back." ”

After saying that, he got up and strode out of the Langdong jewelry store.

Walking out of the jewelry store, Li Hong eased his emotions as he walked, and only then calmed down the anger in his heart.

At this time, Yan Zhuang had already finished buying things, and quickly caught up with Li Hong's pace, Li Hong didn't give Yan Zhuang a chance to breathe, so he asked in a cold tone, "Yan Zhuang, do you know who collects the commercial tax in the West Market?" Where did you hand it over after you received it? ”

"Back to His Royal Highness, the commercial tax of the West City has always been collected by the West City Order, and then handed over to the Chang'an County Ya, and sent by the Chang'an County Ya to the Household Department." Yan Zhuang still knew a lot about the taxation of Chang'an City, and when he said this, when he saw that Li Hong was silent, he asked in a low voice, "Your Highness, now are we going to meet Wei Ling and send him to Dali Temple for trial?" ”

Someone dares to get involved in the tax revenue of the West City, which means that this person has a lot of energy, and Wei Ling is just a small person, Li Hong also wants to find out the person who supports Wei Ling behind him through Wei Ling, so it is not appropriate to alarm Wei Ling now so as not to startle the snake, so he shook his head and said, "Wei Ling is just a small person, what we want to check is the person behind him, and it is not easy to move him now." ”

"Wechen understands!" Yan Zhuang suddenly realized.

Immediately, he whispered again, "Your Highness, it seems that the Hu merchant of Langdong Jewelry Store is unintentionally introducing to us the process of Wei Shicheng using 'Wei Chengniao' to bully the merchants and people of Xishi, but in fact, it is more like revealing to us about someone embezzling taxes in Xishi. This person is not simple! ”

Li Hong snorted coldly, "This little bit of his cleverness Gu has already discovered it, but no matter what his identity is, if he dares to show up and tell us so much today, you will send someone to keep an eye on him, and after a long time, Gu will not believe that he will not show his feet and let us know his identity." ”

"No!" Yan Zhuang received the order in a low voice.