Both the East Market and the West Market are commercial markets in Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, which is somewhat similar to the feeling of a commercial street plus a wholesale market. However, due to the different market locations, the types of goods handled are also slightly different.

Due to the proximity of the East Market to the three major areas, that is, the Taiji Palace in the West, the Daming Palace in the East, and the Xingqing Palace in the South, there are many royal nobles and dignitaries in the surrounding squares, so the East Market can be described as "the treasures of the four directions, all of which are accumulated". Most of the goods handled are high-class luxury goods to meet the needs of the royal family and nobles 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. In modern terms, the East Market is a high-end commercial center, while the West Market is a large supermarket that targets different customer groups and therefore sells different goods.

It is said that the East Market belongs to the commercial center of the commercial grade, and it is also close to the Taiji Palace in the west, the Daming Palace in the east, and the Xingqing Palace in the south.

Unfortunately, the opposite is true. Compared with the West Market, which is facing ordinary people, the business of the East Market has nothing to do with the boom.

In fact, it is not difficult to understand, not only in the Tang Dynasty, but also in the entire historical period, high-level rulers have always regarded businessmen as "cheap", and regarded industry and commerce as unprofitable, so they strictly forbade hundreds of officials to enter the market.

In history, in the first year of Zhenguan, that is, in October 627 AD, and in December of the following year, Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, issued a ban many times, saying "more than five products." It is not allowed to enter the market", "it is forbidden to pass the market with more than five products" and so on.

When inquiring about relevant historical information, Li Anran once found a very interesting historical story.

This story is that in the Wu Zhou period, there was an official named Zhang Heng, who was born in history, ranked to the fourth grade, and will enter the third grade. Once he retreated from the dynasty, he was impeached by the imperial history because he bought a new cooked steamed cake on the side of the road and ate it immediately. and failed to be promoted.

The most exaggerated is. For this reason, Wu Zetian also specially lowered the edict of "being born outside the country, not allowed to enter the three grades", and "falling into the first grade".

Under such a strict government decree and atmosphere, the East Market, which specializes in selling high-end goods. It's strange that it can be as lively and prosperous as the West Market.

Fortunately. Due to the appearance of Li Anran. And when chatting with the eldest grandson Wuji, Fang Xuanling and even Li Shimin, they all said that "no agriculture, no stability, no work, no wealth, no business, no life." ".

At the same time, I also discussed in depth about the importance of business to the development of a country, so. Although the statement that businessmen are cheap industries has not changed for the time being, Li Shimin is obviously not as resistant to commercial activities as before.

Moreover, although the decree is strict, it does not mean that those imperial relatives and dignitaries cannot consume.

Anyway, these big families don't have a few capable housekeepers and subordinates, if they really need anything, why do they need these royal relatives and dignitaries to buy in person, as long as they move their mouths, there will naturally be the following people to handle things properly.

As for the Kunlun slave, it is a luxury in the Tang Dynasty, don't look at the same as a servant, but this kind of tall and strong foreign slave with a dark complexion, not to mention ordinary people, even landlords and wealthy businessmen who are a little less wealthy can afford to consume it.

It's just that after Li Anran and Xiangyun appeared in Chang'an City together, they didn't go to Dongshi, but rented a luxury version of a four-wheeled carriage in the carriage and horse shop and rushed towards Xishi.

Some friends may ask, isn't it said that the East Market is a high-end commercial center, Kunlun Nu is a luxury product, why don't you go to the East Market but go to the West Market of the "large supermarket".

In fact, there is nothing wrong with doing this, because the West Market is not only a "large supermarket" for the general public, but also an international supermarket that includes a large number of international merchants from the Western Regions, Japan, South Korea and other countries.

Since Xishi is relatively close to the starting point of the Silk Road in Chang'an, the surrounding area is inhabited by many foreign merchants from all over the world, such as Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, as well as merchants from Goryeo, Baekje, Silla, Japan and other countries and regions.

Among them, especially Central Asia and Persia, that is, Iran in later generations, and Dashi, that is, the Arab merchants in later generations, led by Hu merchants, were the most, and these foreign merchants basically lived in the West Market or some workshops near the West Market.

These merchants from all over the world were mainly engaged in jewelry, spices, medicinal herbs, silk, and money and money, but some were also engaged in the business of liquor stores and inns. As a result, many foreign merchants in the West Market have set up shops, such as Persian mansions, jewelry stores, warehouses, liquor stores, and so on.

And these merchants from all over the world, after Datang has earned enough profits, will generally purchase tea, spices, silk fabrics, porcelain and other goods in Datang, and sell them in Canada to make huge profits.

It is indeed a huge profit, even in modern time and space, many businesses in international trade are still profiteering, not to mention the extremely inconvenient transportation of Datang. Many foreign merchants, even if they can only run one round trip a year, have already made a lot of money.

When searching for historical materials, Li Anran also found a lot of records about Hu merchants, such as a Hu merchant in Xishi who bought a clear mud bead jewelry given by Wu Zetian from a monk in Ximing Temple for 100,000 yuan.

There are also Hu merchants who want to spend 10 million yuan to buy treasure bones from the monks of Bodhi Temple in Pingkangfang, etc., which shows that the Hu merchants who lived in Chang'an at that time made a lot of profits in the business and trade operations of the West Market, which also shows the maturity of the business area of the West Market at that time.

According to historical records, during the Tang Dynasty, the West Market in Chang'an, Kyoto, covered an area of about 1,600 acres, with a construction area of about 1 million square meters, covering more than 200 industries. There were more than 40,000 permanent shops alone, but it was the largest commercial center in the world at that time.

Although it is only the second year of Zhenguan, and it has not yet reached the stage of the prosperous era of the Tang Dynasty, as the carriage drove into the West Market, the noise still showed the prosperity here.

Considering that he didn't want people to discover his thoughts when he came out this time, Li Anran did not run directly towards the place where Kunlun Nu was monopolized, but let the carriage he was riding, and the carriage of the carriage with his own shares in it, begin to walk slowly.

I don't know if I don't know the road, but when I walked around, I found that I found a lot of shops and goods that did not belong to the Tang Dynasty along the way. For example, it is obvious that I learned from the restaurant that eats food on the side of the commercial street, and I even saw a shop that also makes pastries, but the variety in it is obviously much worse than that on the commercial street.

What made Li Anran speechless the most was that there was actually a jewelry store that sold artificial gems that he got from modern time and space. The reason why it can be distinguished is because the cutting process of these gemstones is not something that can be mastered in the Tang Dynasty.

Since you go out shopping, it is naturally impossible not to buy anything at all. Considering that his appearance must be eye-catching, Li Anran did not fulfill the duty of a man to accompany a woman shopping, but let Xiangyun run a few times and buy some special food and interesting small objects.

After the two of them had been walking around the West Market for a while, seeing that the time was not early, the coachman parked the car in front of the shop that specialized in selling foreign slaves.

In fact, there were not many traders who sold foreign slaves, but on the contrary, there were many of them. Along the way, I saw a lot of scattered Hu merchants who directly put slaves on the street to sell. It's just that for Li Anran, this amount is not enough at all, so it is better to go to the big seller to see the situation first.

"Lang Jun, this shop is the largest and most reputable slave shop in the entire West City." Parking the car in front of a large shop, the driver sitting outside the car said politely.

There is no way not to be attentive, although the car money earned from this business is for the shop, but along the way to help explain the situation in the West Market, there are some rumors in the market, and even occasionally help to do some chores, but it is a reward of a penny.

Although this silver is rarely in circulation, and there is usually a handling fee to be paid, it can still be exchanged for seventy or eighty copper coins in gold and silver shops or money houses. For the era of Datang, it can be regarded as a considerable tip. What's more, if you don't want to pay this fee, the silver can also be used to make jewelry. (To be continued......)