Great Song Dynasty Writer

Chapter 34 Hibiscus City

Nothing happened that night. The yellow-faced man who was being escorted was wearing heavy shackles but did not cause any trouble.

When it was time to part, the two groups went north and south respectively.

After continuing to move northwest in the Sichuan Basin for a few days, Lu Beigu finally saw a blue-gray outline emerging on the distant horizon.

It had just rained a little, and outside the carriage, a moist wind blew in, carrying the fragrance of soil and grass.

"Ninety years ago, Meng Chang of the Later Shu Dynasty was particularly fond of hibiscus flowers and ordered his people to plant hibiscus trees on the city walls. When the flowers bloomed, Chengdu was covered in a splendid display for forty miles, earning it the nickname Hibiscus City, much like the story of Jinguan City. However, this magnificent spectacle is no longer visible today."

Li Pan lifted the car curtain and said with some emotion: "But it may not be a bad thing that we can't see it now."

"Indeed," Lu Beigu agreed. "When the city was filled with splendor, Madam Huarui left her final poem: 'One hundred and four hundred thousand men laid down their armor, and not one was a man.' The prosperity was truly depressing."

As the carriage approached, the outline gradually turned into a towering city wall.

The city wall is extremely high and is covered with blue bricks. The battlements are as majestic as teeth and stretch endlessly. The most amazing thing is the ivy vines climbing all over the city wall. The new leaves are shining with a glossy green after the rain, adding a bit of vitality to this thousand-year-old city.

The carriage entered the city from the south gate.

Even the vehicles of local government had to be dismounted for inspection, so the group walked into the city.

Passing through the long city gate, Li Pan suddenly patted the city wall beside him and asked, "Did you see anything?"

Lu Beigu took a careful look at it, then tapped it with his knuckles to listen for the sound.

Just like those people who pretend to be good at picking melons.

In fact, for a wall this thick, the sound would be the same even if you hit it with your fists, let alone using your knuckles to crack it.

However, although he couldn't hear the difference, as the distance he walked increased, Lu Beigu still noticed something.

"The two zhang bricks inside are older, and the one zhang bricks outside are newer."

"Yeah, I looked pretty carefully."

Li Pan said, "Chengdu City was built over a thousand years ago. The original site has not been moved, but the city walls have been rebuilt several times. The current two-zhang thick inner wall is a rammed earth wall built in the Tang Dynasty, filled with clay, sandstone, and red willow branches. The new ten-zhang thick outer wall was built by our dynasty. The inner wall is also rammed earth, and was later covered with blue bricks."

In fact, this is highly related to the development history of siege weapons.

During the Tang Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty, city walls were all made of rammed earth, and at most they were covered with bricks on the outside to make them look better.

However, during the Southern Song, Jin and Yuan dynasties, with the rapid development of artillery carts, or catapults, this type of rammed earth and brick-wrapped city wall soon evolved into a brick wall sandwiched between the rammed earth wall to enhance its impact resistance. Even in the Ming Dynasty, it evolved into a full brick and stone structure city wall.

Moreover, after careful observation, Lu Beigu also saw words such as "Xinfan", "Guangdu" and "Lingquan" on the bricks, which probably meant that the bricks were subcontracted to different counties around Chengdu.

As the group passed through the city gate, the noise came over them like a tide.

The street, several meters wide, stretched straight ahead. The bricks were washed shiny by the recent rain, and clear water gurgled in the ditches on both sides.

If you look closely, you will find that the street bricks here are very different from those in Hejiang County.

The street bricks on the ground are all specially made long and thin bricks, either in the shape of a "herringbone" or a "U" shape. In this way, when it rains, the rainwater can quickly flow along the surface of the bricks to the drainage ditches on both sides.

Today, Chengdu City has 16 large and small waterways, four of which are main drainage ditches running through the city walls to divert wastewater from the city to the outside. It can be said that the city planning and design has become quite mature.

However, compared to small details like street tiles, the most eye-catching things are the shops on both sides of the street. They are all two- or three-story wooden pavilions, with various signboards hanging between the vermilion railings, such as Xue Tao Paper Shop, Zhang Jichuan Fans, Jinjiang Tea House, etc.

There are so many shops that it is hard to see the end of them. The prosperity here is unparalleled in Sichuan.

In a streetside teahouse, several men who looked like scholars were sipping tea and chatting. "The Buddha Bathing Festival is coming up soon. All the major temples in and around the city are now decorated with lights and colorful lanterns. It's time to go and have some fun."

"Yes, I heard that Zhaojue Temple and Daci Temple are both holding Buddha Bathing Ceremony. We can't miss it."

Lu Beigu glanced at the exquisite porcelain cups on their table, and next to it was a small dish filled with pickled plums cut into petal shapes.

This type of teahouse is considered mid-to-high-end, and there are also a large number of open-air teahouses facing the street on both sides.

It seemed that due to the growth of the urban middle class, although it was time to work in the morning, Lu Beigu saw that the teahouses along the street were almost full of people drinking tea and chatting to pass the time.

Obviously, this is a manifestation of the developed commerce of the Song Dynasty, but it is difficult to judge whether it is good or bad, and we cannot even use simple "good or bad" to evaluate this phenomenon.

And this is just the most prosperous city in Sichuan.

Lu Beigu actually couldn't imagine how prosperous Kaifeng would be in this era.

The carriage turned into another alley, and the road suddenly became half as narrow, but even more lively.

On both sides, vendors held oilcloth umbrellas and shouted hawkers one after another.

There was an old woman selling "spicy feet", which were chicken feet pickled with dogwood and Sichuan peppercorns, piled bright red on lotus leaves.

A vendor next to him was pushing a wheelbarrow with white tofu pudding floating in a wooden barrel on the cart, which he scooped out and sold on the spot.

"Sir, would you like to try some? Authentic 'River Water Tofu Pudding'!" the vendor greeted warmly.

The officers who had already eaten Jiangshui Douhua in Luzhou declined because they had already had diarrhea once and didn't want to do it again.

When the carriage turned a few more corners, an open area finally appeared in front.

A magnificent building with flying eaves and brackets appears at the end of the street.

Twelve halberds were lined up in front of the vermilion-painted gate, with a plaque inscribed with "Chengdu Prefecture Office①" hanging under the eaves. Outside the gate was a very tall drum-corner tower.

"We're here." Li Pan straightened his clothes. "Remember, Mr. Zhang hates exaggerated words. When answering questions, you must speak with substance."

Lu Beigu nodded.

Li Pan handed Zhang Fangping's reply letter to the guard. After verifying their identities, all the accompanying personnel were stopped outside. Only Lu Beigu was allowed to follow Li Pan into the ceremonial gate.

Inside the ceremonial gate is the office area of ​​the Chengdu government office.

On both sides are the Tongpan, staff officials, military offices and official residences, including the Qianting, military supplies warehouse, judicial department, tea and wine department, etc.

The most eye-catching thing is a warning stone in front of the main hall.

Inscribed on it were the sixteen words: "Your salary and your benefits are the blood and sweat of the people. It is easy to abuse the people, but it is difficult to deceive God."

This original text actually comes from the 24-sentence "Promulgation Precepts" written by Meng Chang of the Later Shu Dynasty in the fourth year of Guangzheng. In the eighth year of Taiping Xingguo, Emperor Taizong of Song changed it into the current version and promulgated it to the world.

As for how much actual effect it has, it is hard to say.

Because it was a private visit, the provincial governor Zhang Fangping did not meet them in the main hall where government affairs were handled, but in the hall at the back.

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① In the literature of the Song Dynasty, the government office of a prefecture was mostly referred to as "fushu" or "fuzhi". The term "fuya" was not used until the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

(End of this chapter)