My name is Wei Qing, and I want to fight the Xiongnu.

In the afternoon, Wei Qing changed into civilian clothes, took the two knives with him, and followed Liu Yangxin away from Yangxin's residence in a phoenix-shaped carriage.

Heaven and earth were dark and yellow, the universe was vast and boundless.

Among them, Heaven and Earth were the areas where kings, nobles, generals, and ministers lived, while Black and Yellow were the areas where aristocratic families and wealthy gentry lived.

The term "shijia" refers to families of high social standing and those who have served as officials for generations.

In the early Han Dynasty, officials were often monopolized by large, established families that had ruled for generations.

If an ordinary person wants to enter officialdom, they have to rely on the help of these large and powerful families. Otherwise, no matter how capable or talented you are, if you cannot reach the ears of the emperor, you will ultimately remain mediocre.

In the early Han Dynasty, there was no imperial examination system; the only system available was the recommendation system.

Since it's a recommendation system, someone has to recommend you for it to be considered a recommendation.

Some volunteered, but they were ultimately a minority.

However, it is precisely because of the recommendation system that a large number of talented people from the lower classes are monopolized by the middle class, and even absorbed into their own system.

As a result, under this system, the middle-class aristocratic class grew increasingly powerful, gradually forming powerful clans and powerful families.

However, the Han Dynasty has not yet reached that point, for a simple reason: the imperial family and the kings and generals control eight or nine tenths of the country's resources.

Without resources, no matter how many talented people you have, you'll often be left with nothing but empty eyes.

Moreover, talent is often mobile; the middle class can buy talent, but the upper class doesn't understand this.

That makes no sense.

As for the wealthy and powerful, they were often branches of the aristocratic class. The eldest son of the legitimate wife would inherit the family, and as the direct lineage spread and branches out, it would gradually descend into lower ranks, eventually becoming the wealthy and powerful who oppressed the common people.

The four regions of the universe are as follows: the "Yu" region is the residential area for ordinary people, mainly the outer area of ​​Chang'an Royal City. It covers a large area and has a vast area for growing food crops.

The Yu district is an industrial zone, where both the Gongshu and Mo families have their bases. The Hong district next to the Zhou district is a commercial zone. Because of its proximity to the industrial zone, it is very convenient for goods from the Yu district to be sold there.

The Wilderness Zone was the living area of ​​foreign tribes, including various tribes from different regions. The Xiongnu and other barbarian tribes settled there. Relatively speaking, it was the smallest in area and had the fewest people.

Each time foreign tribes visited the Han Dynasty, they brought a large amount of goods with them, and each time they left the Han Dynasty to return home, they brought back a large amount of goods with them.

Therefore, the appearance of these foreign tribes greatly promoted the economic development of the Han Dynasty.

Furthermore, because the Han Dynasty held an absolute advantage in both craftsmanship and resources, trade often brought the Han Dynasty a huge trade surplus, and through this means, Han Dynasty culture was spread to other ethnic groups.

In the afternoon, Liu Yangxin took Wei Qing shopping, naturally heading towards the Hongzi District.

Riding in the phoenix palanquin, it took about half an hour to travel from the Di district to the Hong district.

Even when running on the ground, the Phoenix Chariot was extremely fast, but it still took almost half an hour to run. This shows that it would be really inconvenient to travel in Chang'an Royal City without a mythical beast.

Upon arriving in Hongzi District, Wei Qing dismounted from his phoenix carriage and was greeted by a bustling street scene.

The four areas of Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow are relatively quiet because they are inhabited by noble families and wealthy gentry. However, the Hong area is indeed the commercial district of Chang'an Royal City.

The crowds flowed back and forth, and amidst the hustle and bustle, a dazzling array of shops offered their diverse offerings.

In comparison, what I saw when I first entered Chang'an City is now just the tip of the iceberg.

Every morning before dawn, residents from the third region of the desolate universe begin supplying goods to the Hong region or finding a suitable location to sell them.

Soon after, the maids and servants of the large family would come to purchase daily necessities while the sun was shining.

Next came the sons of noble families, who came with their friends to lavishly spend money.

As evening fell, the brothels and entertainment venues of Zhangtai began to welcome and send off guests, with the sounds of singing and laughter filling the air.

In addition to this, Hongzi District has another unique feature: you can see many different ethnic groups here.

Some of these aliens were completely covered by cloaks and hoods, while others were bare-chested, seemingly unconcerned about the strange looks they received from those around them.

Some of the foreign tribes were arrogant and domineering, while others were so cautious that they were almost sneaky and couldn't help but attract attention.

Wei Qing snorted and said, "It's really lively here."

Liu Yangxin laughed and said, "It is very lively. Hongzi District is very mixed and chaotic because all sorts of people come here, so security here has always been a problem. Later, in order to solve this problem, a knife ban was introduced, and ordinary people and people of other races are not allowed to bring knives into Hongzi District."

"Those Xiongnu barbarians..."

Before Wei Qing could finish speaking, he received the answer: in the royal city of Chang'an, the Xiongnu were not barbarians, but a sacred race.

...........

...........

Just a quick note: this book is a fantasy novel set in an alternate history.

Drastic changes based on history will inevitably result in many discrepancies with historical facts.

What I mean is that everyone can discuss history in the book. Actually... although it's a light novel, I hope to contribute to promoting Chinese history and culture if possible.

However, in many places, in order to create a sense of drama and conflict, it is impossible to completely conform to history, otherwise it would become historical fiction.

This book is somewhat similar to FGO, using history as a background and then adding its own interpretations.

Of course, this book is not an FGO fanfiction; it is entirely original.

I've written two historical novels on Hedgehog Cat. If you've read them, you'll know that I'm not the kind of person who likes to sensationalize history.

We will never, in order to grab attention, go to any lengths to whitewash certain characters who should be nailed to the pillar of shame, or seize upon any flaws to relentlessly smear them!

I can't bring myself to do something like mindlessly overturning a verdict.

You might see some of the characters I've written that contain out-of-character (OOC) elements, such as historical figures.

However! I have my bottom line, and I have the conscience of a descendant of the Chinese nation!

Story setting + background arrangement + perspective on the early Han Dynasty

I promised to update three times a day, so there should be one more chapter, but I've been busy with other things in real life, and I haven't been feeling well lately, so I'll have to postpone it.

I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about the setting of this book, as well as my personal thoughts.

First of all, this type of book is probably not common on Hedgehog Cat, so reading it may lead to many misunderstandings or preconceived notions about the issues.

For example, the classic saying "If you beat the child, the elder will come."

Shouldn't it be the case that "if the younger one is beaten, the older one will come"?

I think it's absolutely right. If a younger member of the family is bullied, shouldn't the elders stand up for them?

That's only human nature!

Many readers dislike this kind of setting in online novels, largely because the "little one" who gets beaten up is the one who actively seeks trouble, or the protagonist adds some very idiotic settings to the "little one" in order to kill and steal treasure.

For example, classic auction scenes or tropes like teasing the protagonist's harem—after seeing too many of these, it feels like an insult to one's intelligence. So, I dislike these ways of creating conflict because of my aversion to them.

But in reality, in our lives, it's always a case of "after the young one gets beaten, the old one comes along."

On a smaller scale, if a child is bullied for no reason, shouldn't parents seek justice? On a larger scale, if ordinary people are harmed by thugs, shouldn't they call the police?

At the national level, when domestic enterprises are treated unfairly, and the country steps forward to help them, isn't that the light of justice?

The so-called "setting" in some novels: if the protagonist is bullied by his peers, the elders will tell him to go and get revenge himself.

This kind of thing also depends on the occasion: if it is healthy competition among peers, then you naturally have to rely on yourself. Just like when we were in school, if we were not as good as the top students in the class, it was because we were useless. At most, our families would hire tutors and enroll us in tutoring classes, but they would never go to the school and ask the top students to be expelled.

However, if it is vicious competition or even vicious persecution, the elders must be asked to step in.

There's nothing wrong with that, is there?

Each situation requires specific analysis.

In fact, the words spoken by the characters in the novel represent their stance, not the intended meaning.

The words spoken by the protagonist only represent the protagonist's position and do not necessarily mean that they are correct.

Similarly, Cao Shen's words only represent his position.

This statement only represents the position of a portion of Cao Can's views.

For example, Cao Shen disliked dealing with the various schools of thought, but that doesn't necessarily mean he denied their existence.

This cannot be generalized. It's like we know that some things aren't necessarily wrong, but we just can't stand them.

People with different principles cannot work together; that's all.

The most classic problem is the trolley problem!

Both sides hold their own opinions and disagree with each other's arguments, but can you say that the other side is definitely wrong?

There are many interesting questions like this in law and philosophy, which ultimately boil down to seeking common ground while reserving differences.

Furthermore, whether in reality or in stories, there are very few characters who are absolutely good or absolutely bad.

Even the same thing can yield different results when done by different people.

For example, if ordinary citizens choose to protect themselves when encountering criminals, no one has the right to criticize them. However, if relevant personnel are afraid of getting hurt and hesitate to move forward when arresting criminals, allowing the criminals to swagger away, this is dereliction of duty!

This book is indeed a "feel-good" novel, but it's not entirely devoid of logic or story.

The protagonist now is just a toad that jumped out of the well, with a very narrow understanding of the outside world.

Full of passion, he intended to use the machete in his hand to forge a path for humanity.

They haven't yet encountered many pros and cons, so their style of speaking and acting seems rather impulsive and reckless, what we call a hothead.

Everyone is free to disagree with the protagonist's opinion, because what the protagonist does is not necessarily right.

If the protagonist is set up as an incomparably wise and brave old fox from the beginning, there will be no room for him to grow.

The protagonist of this book is not a time traveler; he is actually only sixteen years old.

As the story unfolds, he will gradually grow from a passionate young man into a great and upright general.

.......

On a side note, regarding the Han Dynasty.

In people's minds, the Han Dynasty is more about the heroic sayings such as "One Han can fight against five barbarians" and "Those who offend our mighty Han will be punished no matter how far away they are".

But do you know that the Han Dynasty also experienced a period of humiliation?

The strength of the Han Dynasty was the result of the hard work and dedication of several generations.

It's not to say that they dominated the whole world from the very beginning.