It was a time of full bloom.

The capital of the Southern Song Dynasty was Kaifeng City, and in the Northern Song Dynasty, it was also called Bianjing.

The Bianhe River is an important transportation hub of the Song Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, a commercial traffic artery, densely populated, and a large number of merchant ships. Boats come and go in the river, end to end, or slender men pulling, or boatmen rocking, some full of goods, swimming upstream, some berthing, nervously unloading. Across the Bianhe River is a large-scale wooden arch bridge, it has a delicate structure, beautiful form, just like a flying rainbow, so it is called Feihong Bridge. A big ship is about to cross the bridge, the boatmen are supported by bamboo poles, hooked the bridge with long poles, and hold the boat with hemp ropes, and a few people are busy lowering the mast so that the ship can pass, and the people on the adjacent boat are also pointing and shouting as if they are shouting something, and the people on the bridge are busy crossing the bridge for this boat, and the people on the bridge are sweating for the tense scene of crossing the boat. This is the famous Hongqiao Wharf area, where the bridge is full of knife and scissor stalls, food stalls and various grocery stalls, and two stall owners are vying to greet a passer-by to see their goods. Hongqiao wharf area can be said to be a meeting point of water and land transportation in Kaifeng City.

Far away from Feihongqiao, with the tall city tower as the center, the houses on both sides are lined up, there are tea shops, wine shops, foot shops, butcher shops, temples, public houses and so on. Some people rest in the teahouse, some are watching the fortune telling, and some are eating in the rice shop. The most eye-catching thing in the center of the street is the "Wangjia Paper Horse Shop", which sells tomb sweeping offerings, but people are not taboo about these, and there are all kinds of shops in the center of the street. The Wang family, which is also one of the hidden families in the Central Plains, makes a living from business, and is a rare local tyrant family in the hidden family, and this kind of paper work business is just one of the many livelihoods of the Wang family. Other shops in the Wang family have high-end consumer goods such as silk and satin, jewelry and spices, in addition to medical clinics, cart repair, fortune telling, face trimming and plastic surgery, all walks of life, everything. Large shops also have "rainbow gates" at the front of their doors, and various flags are hung to solicit business. There are businessmen, gentry watching the street scene, officials on horseback, hawkers, family members in sedan chairs, monks with backpacks, tourists from other places asking for directions, children in the streets and alleys who listen to and hear stories, children of wealthy families who drink in restaurants, disabled elderly people begging on the edge of the city, men and women, old and young, farmers, businessmen and businessmen, three religions and nine streams, everything. At that time, the means of transportation were also strange, there were sedan chairs, camels, ox carts, rickshaws, there were peaceful cars, flat cars, all kinds of things, all kinds of things, unlike now, the gap between the rich and the poor is very large, the rich people only take the sedan chair when they travel, and the people who have no money can only push the wheelbarrow.

There is a small stream on the outskirts of the city, named Huanxi, there is a camel team on the official road next to it, far away from the southwest direction of Kaifeng City, the camels are burdened, the camel driver in front of the leader of the livestock drives the leading livestock to the bridge at the bend, the packman behind drives the pack team forward with a horse whip, the destination is about to arrive, from the look of the pack worker skillfully driving the pack team to know that they are the old camel gang that has been walking for many years.

And beside the small bridge of the creek, a small sampan is tied to the tree, several small farm yards are scattered and orderly among the trees, there are four crow's nests on the branches of several tall trees, and there are several stone mills in the threshing field, which are used for threshing during the autumn harvest, and are still idle there at this time. There were a few sheep in the sheepfold, and next to the sheepfold was a chicken and duck pen, and there was a large flock of chickens and ducks in the pen. The owner of the largest "family business" is a sturdy man, about forty years old, and he is still normal, but it is strange that there is no hostess in the huge courtyard.

Behind the camel caravan, is a team of kisses and wives of the team, slowly from the southeast turned over, the groom behind the official rode a jujube red horse, behind the horse is a porter who carries the bride's dowry, a person in front of the horse holds the bride's dressing box, in front of a sedan chair should be the bride sitting, because the sedan chair is decorated with a variety of plants and flowers, this can be described as a "sedan chair". Behind the sedan chair, a husband carries a load of fish and meat, indicating that the woman's mother-in-law wishes her husband more than rich.

On the north side of Huanxi, there is a teahouse, and a farmhouse on the side raises two cows, ruminating leisurely, and the seedlings in the field in the distance are thriving, and the hired farmers are watering and fertilizing the seedlings.

The owner of the farmhouse, a family of two, hired two cattle and a packer, and a porter carried the goods they needed to travel slowly north.

There is a hotel directly opposite the street in front of the teahouse, called "Welcome Guests", because it does not operate early, so it is delayed to hold up the banner to attract customers, the hotel is usually very prosperous, but it is not yet time to eat and drink, so not many people have come. In the middle of the street between the hotel and the teahouse, a child is calling a fortune teller to calculate something for his family, whether it is marriage, family or business. When the fortune teller heard that the business was coming, his joy could be seen in his brisk steps. Looking into the street, the people of a bakery and a burden-carrying trader were talking about things, as if they could hear them talking, what to order tomorrow such things as oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, and when to settle the bill, and then there were several shops, and another avenue stretched into the distance and pedestrians, mules and horses walking.

In the past, a few shops are the main road, the main road is full of traffic on both sides of the shop, close to the Bianhe River, and here is the cargo wharf and the freight stack, the freight warehouse is very advantageous, the surrounding streets extend in all directions, the south side is close to the deep-water harbor, there are several ships moored in the harbor to load and unload goods in turn, a ship by the dock is unloading, several dock workers are carrying sacks like containing grain off the ship, someone in the cabin is turning over the warehouse and loading the goods, It seemed that the sound of labor trumpets could be heard coming from the ship's hold to put sacks of goods on their shoulders. Close to the dock of the warehouse moored to unload and load the ship, waiting for the ship boss to get on the ship after eating and sailing, the ship boss in front of the warehouse just finished the account is about to get on the ship, halfway happened to meet an acquaintance, the heart of the worry of the boat to hurry, but can not wait for the acquaintance or friend, in the eagerness with the shabby homely, and finally hug the fist salute goodbye. At this time, his footsteps had already turned, and he seemed to be really hungry when he hurried to the boat.

A cargo ship is swimming upriver in the main channel of the dock, and the sailors on the right chord of the ship are watching closely to avoid colliding with the moored ships. It is very important to walk safely in the river, the bow of the ship is moored in front of the dock, and a sailor has come out of the left chord of the ship, always paying attention to the movement of the boat, ready to eliminate the collision between the ships, the moving ship seems to be about to anchor, the head of the ship has turned back to beckon the partners to collect the fiber.

Further upstream of the river, it is the Feihongqiao Passenger Terminal, there are eight oarmen on a boat, it can be seen that the speed of the water is very fast, and a helmsman closely watches the water and ship conditions in the direction of progress. A passenger ship in front is busy docking, there are more than 20 people on the passenger ship working nervously, several boatmen on the top of the ship are retracting the sails and releasing the mast, some boatmen are receiving the cable thrown from the Feihong Bridge, ready to tow the passenger ship to the dock, and then tie it to the bolt pillar stone on the shore to increase the stability of the passenger ship, the sailor on the left chord uses the boat artemisia to support the ship to the pier to increase the power to approach the pier, there are two sailors in the bow of the ship to the right while turning their heads to pay attention to the dock, so that the passenger ship is aligned with the dock to adjust the support strength, Another boatman waved his right hand forward with a prop and directed the boatman at the dock to answer, he was supposed to be the boatswain of the passenger ship. The passenger ship is wide and stable, the shipwright is quite skilled in performing his duties, the action is very coordinated, it is a group of very high-quality shipwrights, the warehouse body and the warehouse surface are closed and blocked, and there is a warehouse door to facilitate the entry and exit of guests, the warehouse door is not opened before the ship is not stable, the safety measures are quite rigorous, it can be concluded that it is a long-distance passenger ship with good safety performance.

There are also many people on the pier to greet the passenger boat, they are to greet their family or relatives and friends, some also go on the Feihongqiao, take the height of the Feihongqiao to greet, so as to see their relatives as soon as possible, and there are also people waving and shouting on a smaller passenger boat next to them, which is soliciting business and calling for guests who need to go to the dock of the waterway.

Feihong Bridge is imposing, tall so that the largest ships in the Bianhe River Basin can cross smoothly, wide and strong enough to run several animal carts full of goods side by side, from the structure of the bridge is also a great creation, the whole bridge is all made of wood, may be when the Bianhe River is very fast, the riverbed is not conducive to the construction of bridge piers, the engineers who built the bridge have exerted their ingenuity, the whole whole big timber side by side riveted tenon, in order to support the span of the bridge, the bridge deck is fixed with rows of timber chains, It forms a large and sturdy whole, and disperses the load to evenly stress the wood across the river. There is a strong barrier on the side of the bridge to ensure the safety of vehicles, horses and pedestrians.

Feihong Bridge is the throat of the two banks of the Bianhe River, the bridge deck is bustling with traffic, due to the popularity of pedestrians in the past, the traders lose no time in occupying the road to operate, some set up stalls, some sell food, there is a stall that sells knives and scissors, oxtail locks and other small hardware, in order to make the goods more eye-catching, the stalls are designed to be inclined planes, such a scene, has been extended to the bridgehead of the formation of a characteristic business area.

A boat under the bridge is going upstream, as if to moored the boat, the boatman at the bow is testing the depth of the river, because some large stones are generally placed in the riverbed at the bridgehead, so as not to wash the slope bank of the bridgehead to prevent collapse, so the ship should be moved at this position with special care, so as not to run aground and damage the ship.

Open the city gate, only look at all kinds of shop names shouting five and six, all kinds of cars and mules and horses are busy, two mechanics in a carpentry workshop are nervously rushing to make a mule and horse-drawn cart, a cargo owner rents a donkey on the corner of the street, the packer is carrying the goods on the ground, and several women are ready to rent a sedan chair to travel. On the side is a small labor square, so business activities are frequent, a fortune teller lost no chance to build a house here, and there are many people who come to him to calculate life and fortune, and the business is very prosperous. Next to the stall of the fortune teller, there is a foot shop, there are many laborers in front of the door, some are sitting and resting, some are dozing, and some are simply lying down to rest, and there are mules and horses in the foot row are also tied there, it seems that they are recuperating, so that they can work energetically after coming to the business, although they have nothing to do but will not rob other people's business, they are very obedient to the rules of the foot line. The business of the laborers in the square is very good, one sedan chair has been put on the sedan chair, the other sedan chair is also waiting to be rented, a vendor on the small bridge has sold his goods and returned home, there are some households and farmhouses on the other side, there are a few donkeys at the head of the bridge, there is a woman holding a child next to the house, and there are several fat pigs lying not far away.

The moat bridge is just around the corner of the Labor Square, and the businessmen have wasted no time in setting up their vendors here. A vendor swings a rattan and bamboo basket, this kind of item is light and durable, and a lantern maker is a thriving business, this kind of item is bright and windproof after lighting the candle, it is a good partner for night lighting, someone buys one and turns around and is about to leave, and the hawker is beckoning another buyer. The bridge was full of pedestrians, and there were many people on both sides of the bridge to watch the river to see if anyone had caught any big fish in the river. There is a stall in front of the city gate that is even more interesting, he is getting up and half-pedaling to greet a man on horseback, it seems that he does not let go of every pedestrian peddling his ghost gadgets, and a few people behind him are also paying attention to his business movements, which is really a bit like a childcare for business.

The gate of Kaifeng is tall and magnificent, a camel team slowly walks outside the city, there is no camel this animal, it is a special product of the Gobi Desert, it is used as a means of transportation by people, it should be the merchants of Western Liao or Tubo to do business in Kaifeng.

On the other side of the carpentry workshop in the city, a business seems to be engaged in the trading of freight transport, and next door is a sesame oil processing workshop, the sales situation of sesame oil is very good, and there are cars and horses to transport, and the supply is sufficient. An inn with several floors, bustling with guests in front of the door, there are also many guests inside, which are lived by wealthy merchants, and there is a shop that is repaired, and people pay special attention to their appearance in the city. There are all kinds of shops on this side, there are all kinds of food, clothing and housing, a silk village store is very wide, it is full of various colors of silk and silk, the business of delivering water is also very good, and the groundwater is sweet and refreshing. There are two clinics in this small area, Dr. Yang is good at scabies surgery, and Li Taicheng is more skilled in medical skills, men, women, and pediatrics are very proficient, and all kinds of pills are complete.

At this time, a team of people came from the direction of the inner city, there was a guard of honor in front of the road, very majestic, as the saying goes, the civil official sat in a sedan chair, and the military attache rode a horse, it was indeed a military attaché, and there was someone behind him holding a stainless steel sword for him. The other two men were chewing with both hands at the bridge, which was the most effective way to be afraid of startling the horse or losing its hooves. Imagine how such a military attache can fight? The pampering has reached this point, and the civil and military officials and dignitaries in the inner city still don't know what it is.

……

Kaifeng seems to be prosperous, but is that really the case?