A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 43 Blooming Flowers
The sound of drums came from afar.

Li Yi looked up at the sky. It was noon.

The donkey-leasing man, leading the donkey, said familiarly, "This is the sound of the East Market's opening drum. The market opens at noon every day, and the drum is beaten 300 times when it opens. This is called the opening drum. Seven quarters before sunset, the gong is beaten 300 times, which is called the closing gong.

Hey, this place is quite close to the East Market, would you like to go shopping?"

The East and West Markets have their own characteristics. The East Market is surrounded by dignitaries, and the Imperial College and candidates from all over the country who come to Beijing for the imperial examinations often hang out nearby. It is a gathering place for literati and poets, and these people have strong purchasing power. Therefore, it is a high-end commercial area and a gathering place for luxury goods shops.

Li Yi looked at Ji and said, "Let's go to the East Market and buy you some clothes and things to wear."

Ji said no.

"I haven't been to the East Market yet. Let's go."

The donkey renters turned around happily. After all, they were charged by mileage. If they could bring passengers to the East Market and make a deal, the store owner might even give them some commission.

The donkey renter was a lean man, wearing a short shirt and drawstring trousers, with a simple turban on his head. He was quite eloquent.

"Our Chang'an City has 108 districts, including the Outer City, the Imperial City, the Palace City, and the East and West Markets.

Chang'an had twelve main streets: seven east-west transverse streets and five north-south vertical streets. The first transverse street was Chengtian Gate Outer Street in front of the Taiji Palace, also known as Chengtian Street. The street we were walking on was the second transverse street, running from Chunming Gate to Jinguang Gate, passing the imperial city's main gate, Zhuque Gate.

The vertical street between the Suzaku Gate in the imperial city and the Mingde Gate in the south is the Ten-Li Heavenly Street of Chang'an."

"I think Chang'an should have more than seven horizontal and fifty-two vertical streets, right?" Li Yi asked.

"To be more specific, there are definitely more than that. Generally, there are twelve streets, but there are actually eleven north-south streets in the outer city. If you include the inner city, there are twelve, and fourteen east-west streets."

"Our outer city has three gates on the east, west and south sides, a total of nine gates, eleven straight streets and fourteen horizontal streets. The Suzaku Gate of the imperial city is called Suzaku Street, also known as Tianmen Street. The total length from north to south is nine miles and one hundred and seventy-five steps..." Beijing drivers of every era are good at talking.

There are many Chang'an streets.

But if we really want to talk about the main transportation arteries in the city, it is still the six streets running three vertically and three horizontally between the nine gates of the outer city, commonly known as the Six Streets.

Li Yi and his group are now walking on the street between the Sixth Street and the Third Cross Street.

"The south side of the street is now Wubenfang, and to the east is Pingkangfang in Dongcheng."

Wubenfang and Pingkangfang are separated by Dongzhi Street, one of the six streets.
"Pingkangfang is a great place. Have you been there, Alang?" the man asked with a smile.

Li Yi shook his head.
"Then you should go and take a look when you have time. Although Pingkangfang is where nobles and high-ranking officials live, if you enter the north gate and go east three turns, you will find where the prostitutes live. Kyoto's chivalrous young men gather here."

According to the man's introduction, there are also large and small cross streets in Pingkangfang, dividing the entire block into sixteen areas. The red-light district is actually only in the area east of the north gate, occupying three areas, also known as Sanqu.

"Ah Lang, do you know the difference between the three songs in Pingkangfang?"

Li Yi still shook his head, and the man got even more excited. "The Nanqu and Zhongqu in the alleys are all prostitutes. They are frequented by officials, scholars, princes and nobles. The girls are all well-known and talented. But the Beiqu is different. They are frequented by common people, poor candidates, poor candidates, and even clerks, peddlers and porters. The girls are mostly untalented, or old and plain-looking."

Most of the prostitutes in Pingkangfang's Southern Opera were official prostitutes under the name of the Jiaofang, or private prostitutes registered with the Jiaofang. They relied on singing and dancing skills, and even socializing to win the favor of customers, but the Northern Opera was purely a business.

Sanqu of Pingkangfang is where Fengliuzeshu is located.

The donkey renter strongly recommended Li Yi to go for a walk.

"It's not appropriate to visit a prostitute in broad daylight." Li Yi laughed.
When it comes to Sanqu, the donkey renter becomes excited and talks about all kinds of stories and anecdotes about Sanqu prostitutes in a very coherent way, as if he were the protagonist.

I have to say, it's really fun to talk about these things when these men get together.

After passing the north gate of Pingkangfang, Li Yi did not go in to explore the mystery, but just smiled and passed by.

After Pingkangfang, you will reach the East Market.

The donkey renter felt a little regretful that he couldn't take Li Yi to visit Pingkangfang.

Li Yi had a good understanding of the Three Songs of Pingkangfang. This Nanqu was a high-end club with spacious buildings, many flowers, and bonsai decorations. The environment was quiet and comfortable.
Their main function was to entertain officials and nobles at banquets. The courtesans hosted banquets and performed songs and dances to entertain the guests. They were all socialites.

The cost is naturally very high. The cheapest banquet costs 3,600 coins per table. Each round of drinks costs another 3,600 coins. The girl's fee is also calculated separately. Dancing, playing music, and singing are also calculated separately. Each additional song costs extra.

In short, it is a den of money.

Moreover, the more famous the prostitute is, the higher her value, and the prices of banquets, tea, singing and dancing are also expensive.

Those who came to support and spend money were all the powerful and noble children of Kyoto.

Only Beiqu is a place where people go to sleep.

Li Yi felt that even if he was willing to pay for a high-end place like Nanqu, they probably wouldn't receive him, and he would definitely need an admission permit.

As for Beiqu, he didn't dare go there.

Ji sat quietly on the donkey. After entering the East Market Gate, they arrived at the drop-off area. Li Yi paid for the donkey and gave him some extra tips. The man thanked him repeatedly.

Li Yi took Ji to visit the East Market.
Just now the man said that the East Market was most prosperous at the beginning of the Daye period. At that time, there were 220 markets and tens of thousands of shops here. During the Sui Daye period, the East Market caught fire in the middle of the night, burning down 24 markets west of Caomen in the East Market and more than 4,400 shops. All official and private property, gold, silver, silk and medicine were burned.

The East Market has not recovered from that fire until now, and even the burned shops are still in ruins.

Now that the Tang Dynasty has been established, Guanzhong is stable, and the East and West Markets are gradually recovering, but they are far from what they were in the past.

Li Yi held Ji's hand.
Ji was startled and struggled subconsciously.
"There are a lot of people in the East Market. I'll hold your hand, so don't get lost."

Ji hummed and let Li Yi lead her, her face flushed. "Well, the imperial law doesn't completely forbid officials from visiting prostitutes. It just says that officials of the fifth rank and above are not allowed to enter the market," Ji whispered.

Li Yi laughed and squeezed her hand a little harder. Her fingers were very slender, but a little rough. It might be because she had been a slave in the Yunting Palace for five years and had done a lot of rough work.

Senior officials were not allowed to enter the market town, but they could summon female prostitutes to go there. Even noble officials had prostitutes at home.

The main purpose of prohibiting high-ranking officials from entering and passing through the market is to prevent officials from disrupting the market and harming vendors. Firstly, high-ranking officials have a large number of people with them, and there are ceremonial guards when they go in and out. There are also many merchants in the East and West Markets, so how can they give way to you and retreat?

The two cities are closed centralized markets, so high-ranking officials are simply banned from entering and passing through the markets.

There are many people in the East Market.

It was very lively, in stark contrast to the deserted streets. It seemed as if half of the people in Chang'an City had come to the market.

The market also has cross streets of different sizes, with shops facing the streets, merchants gathered, and shops were adjacent to each other. A major feature is that the same category of goods are concentrated in one area, forming a series of shops or markets, such as silk shops, iron shops, meat shops, medicine shops, gold shops, and pen shops.
It greatly facilitates trading.
The center of Dongshi City is Dongshi Office, which is the administrative agency.

There are also stores for merchants to store and sell goods, as well as a large number of flag pavilions, wine shops, food stalls, and hotels in the city.
"Sesame cakes, crispy and fragrant, freshly baked Zou Luotuo sesame cakes, only twenty coins each."

Waves of fragrance came,

Li Yi pulled Ji to the stall. The stall owner was a hunchbacked old man, and his stall was actually just a small cart.

There is a Hu stove on top, and the prepared dough is baked on the spot, with sesame oil and sesame added before baking in the stove.

This thing is very similar to baked naan.

good smell.

"Sir, here are some freshly baked Hu pancakes. How many would you like? Vegetarian or meat?"

"What kind of meat filling?"

Vegetarian Hu Bing only has sesame seeds, while meat Hu Bing is much more luxurious.

Zou Luotuo showed Li Yi the ingredients on his stall. The chopped mutton was layered on top of the Hu pancake, with chopped green onions and fermented black beans in the middle. It was then moistened with ghee and baked in the oven. It was most delicious when eaten hot.

The mutton filling is not only rich, but also has a lot of meat.

The key is that the meat looks very fresh, without any messy scraps or anything, so you can feel at ease.

"How much is a meat pie?"

"Fifty coins each. I've put a couple of ounces of mutton stuffing in each pancake. I'm honest, and I guarantee you'll want another after eating one."

The price is really not cheap, twenty cents for a vegetarian dish and fifty cents for a meat dish, but considering that a pound of rice costs about fifty cents nowadays, it seems normal.

You have to make money by selling pancakes from a cart.

"Four, please."

Li Yi took out his purse and took out two small strings of coins, one string of 100 coins, both of which were Kaihuang Wuzhu meat.

As Zou Luotuo shoveled the pancake, he looked at the money Li Yi took out, his eyes shining and his face full of smiles. This kind of money was what merchants loved the most. If the customer's money was mixed with some thin coins or white money, he would inevitably have to spend a lot of time and effort to get more.

Li Yi took the cake and handed two to Ji.

"I just want a plain Hu pancake."

"Vegetarian food is not as delicious as meat. Eat it while it's hot. I heard your stomach growling several times on the way. You must be hungry."

Ji's face turned even redder, but she felt warm at the same time. This young man seemed to be a good person.

Dry lotus leaves wrapped with shiny and fragrant Hu pancakes,
The two of them just ate while walking around.
I have to say that Zou Luotuo’s cakes are good and the portions are large. Li Yi felt full after eating two. Ji Shi originally only wanted to eat one, but Li Yi forced it into her hands and asked her to finish both.

After shopping for a while, Li Yi bought two kilograms of Biluo in a Biluo shop.

This thing is a fried pie with rich fillings. I came across many Biluo shops along the way. The most popular ones are the ones with green onions and leeks.
The more luxurious ones have cane sugar, and some have various meats, such as lamb, chicken, and bird meat.

Of course, the most luxurious one is Crab Roe Biluo, which is made by taking the crab roe of red mother crab, adding five spices and covering it with fine flour, thus becoming Crab Roe Biluo which is both delicious and expensive.

Every spring there are cherry biro and other cakes. The crust is made translucent, filled with fresh cherries, added with sweet fillings, steamed and then fried. The color remains unchanged, and it is bright pink and very sweet.

There are so many delicious foods in East Market.
Like a food festival,
Li Yi stayed in Luojiabao for so long, eating millet porridge and millet rice all day long, and his mouth was almost dry.

Eat, eat,

Eat while walking, and pack up if you can’t finish the food.

He also bought some fabrics, silk and cloth, and finally went to a gold and silver shop and bought two hairpins, one for Luzhu and one for Ji.

Come down in a circle,
It cost several thousand dollars.

Returning to the parking lot, Li Yi sighed. The East Market was indeed quite lively and the goods were abundant, but the prices were really high nowadays. Another point was that the Tang Dynasty was a country that traded both money and silk. The copper coins used by the people for transactions were varied. The Sui Wuzhu was the main currency, but the Han Wuzhu was also in circulation.
There were also many privately minted coins, which made it very troublesome for the people to exchange them when doing business.

The Tang Dynasty had to mint its own copper coins, and the currency reform had to be done without delay.

(End of this chapter)