Chapter 44: Handan Market

  The next day, Gao Yuan got up and had just finished dressing and washing when he started eating breakfast. Yu Yan and another maid were waiting on him at the side. Originally, they wanted to help Gao Yuan get dressed, but he refused, so now they stood behind him, watching him eat.

  Gao Yuan had only taken two bites when he heard footsteps and Li Yinghong rushed into the inner hall. Li Yinghong was wearing a new set of clothes today, with a fur-edged felt hat on her head, adorned with two feathers, an arrow-sleeved tunic, a short skirt below the knee, and a pair of leather boots on her feet. At her waist hung a pair of precious swords, looking neat and elegant, yet somewhat resembling the attire of the Hu people. It seemed that since Zhao Wuling Wang implemented Hu clothing and archery in the state of Zhao, the Hu people's dress had become very popular among the common people, so Li Yinghong's outfit was not unusual at all. Moreover, she was originally full of energy, and this set of clothes suited her perfectly.

  Geng Zhong and Yan Zhong followed her in, running behind her. Geng Zhong now knew Li Yinghong's identity and realized that this young lady was not someone to be trifled with.

  Yu Yan and another maid were at a loss when Geng Zhong hastily said to them, "This is the eldest sister of Wu An Jun, you still don't hurry up to pay your respects."

  The two maids also hurriedly bowed and said: "We've seen Miss Li."

  Li Yinghong didn't bother to reason with them, and went straight to Gao Yuan's face, saying: "Gao Yuan, are you just getting up? Hurry up and get dressed, I'll take you to the market for a stroll. It's been several months since I last strolled through Handan's market."

  Gao Yuan smiled wryly and said, "Ying Hong, have you had breakfast? If not, eat here with me, it'll be ready soon."

  Li Yinghong said, "What's the point of eating this meal? Let's go out and eat, I'll take you to try Handan's specialty." As he spoke, without giving High Yuan a choice, he grabbed his sleeve and headed outside. High Yuan had no option but to put down his bowl and follow Li Yinghong out, leaving Yan Zhong and the others behind, secretly laughing to themselves.

  Li Yinghong is now just a young girl who has just fallen in love, and she doesn't really understand the relationship between men and women. However, because she has been living in the military camp for many years, she has developed a straightforward and generous personality that doesn't bother with trivial matters. Additionally, Zhao Guo's open culture also makes her not pay much attention to the distinction between men and women. She just feels happy when she is with Gao Yuan, so she often comes to find him. Although Gao Yuan has more experience and knowledge than Li Yinghong, he is from modern times and doesn't have many taboos about girls. He can also sense that Li Mu is intentionally or unintentionally opening the door for the two of them, which dispels some of their worries.

  Actually, the people around Li Mu had already seen that the relationship between the two was not ordinary. However, Li Yinghong had indeed reached the age of marriage, and Gao Yuan's age was similar to Li Yinghong's. Although he hadn't been there for long, he had already gained Li Mu's trust and had made many contributions, now holding the position of Upper Master. He and Li Yinghong were indeed a good match. Therefore, everyone didn't say anything, just quietly observing the changes, waiting for the moment when the window paper would be pierced.

  In this era, the wealthy mostly lived in cities, so every big city had a "market" where people from all directions traded goods. Each country also set up market officials to collect taxes. In fact, during the Warring States period, China's commerce was very developed, and the income from market taxes was extremely high, with daily revenues of over 100,000 yuan in some countries, accounting for nearly half of the national treasury's revenue.

  Handan City is one of the largest cities in the world, so it's also very prosperous. Although Zhao Guo has experienced several wars and suffered a severe drought this year, Handan City was not greatly affected. Although its prosperity has decreased somewhat compared to the past, it remains very lively.

  The most prosperous area in Handan City is the Lushi area, which is surrounded by high walls on all sides and has four gates. Each gate is guarded by a market historian, who opens the gate at dawn and closes it at dusk. The goods in the market are extremely rich, and there are also many craftsmen opening shops and setting up stalls. Every day at dawn, people line up in long queues at the city gate, waiting to enter the market to buy goods.

  When Gao Yuan and Li Yinghong arrived at the market, it had already opened. However, they did not immediately enter the market but instead strolled around the streets surrounding Lu City. The main street of Lu City is divided into four sections: east, south, west, and north, with a width of nearly twenty meters, allowing six high-wheeled carts to pass through without obstruction. As the main street surrounds Lu City, many merchants and wealthy households live there for convenient access to the market for transactions. Therefore, the streets around Lu City are also lined with shops, mostly wine houses and brothels.

  In most cases, after the market closes every night, the rich people would secretly discuss business transactions in the courtyards of wine houses, then entertain each other with skills such as singing and dancing, playing the flute, drumming, or playing the zither, or they would find pleasure in cockfighting, dog racing, or gambling, or they would seek joy with beautiful women. They would stay up all night, sleeping through the dawn, often throwing away thousands of gold coins, spending tens of thousands of copper coins every day. Moreover, many rich people simply set up their homes in the courtyards of wine houses, singing and dancing every night, having a romantic evening every evening.

  The female threshold was the name of the brothel in the pre-Qin period. It is said that during the Spring and Autumn Period, Guan Zhong, a famous prime minister of Qi State, set it up to operate with the widows of Qi State's fallen soldiers, in order to attract merchants to do business in Qi State and collect taxes, increasing the state's revenue. Later, Guan Zhong assisted Duke Huan of Qi to become the first of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period, and the female threshold also provided a large amount of financial support for Qi State.

  Later, other countries saw the benefits of brothels and also set up their own, despite being criticized by some Confucian scholars for corrupting public morals. However, this could not stop the spread of brothels, and later on, many Confucian scholars were also frequent visitors to these places, indulging in pleasures and forgetting about their homes. Of course, those who opposed them became fewer and fewer.

  Although it is daytime now, the fragrance of wine and the sound of silk and bamboo music, female singing and male laughter can still be heard along the street. At the same time, cars come and go, in and out, it's really very lively.

  Gao Yuan and Li Yinghong neither rode horses, but walked on foot. Li Yinghong was obviously familiar with the streets of Lucheng, so he led Gao Yuan to turn left and right, weaving in and out among the crowd, and after circling around the main street, they entered Lucheng from the East Gate.

  Inside the Luoyang city, the streets are crisscrossed horizontally and vertically, very neat. The houses are connected to each other, and the shops are lined up one after another. There are many kinds of goods, everything is available. At the same time, according to the different categories of various goods, they were classified. Grain market only sells grain; cloth market only sells silk, satin, and brocade. The horse market not only sells horses but also cattle, sheep, wild chickens, wild rabbits, wild goats, and other game. Others include ironwork, copper smelting, leather, pottery, lacquerware, etc., which are too numerous to mention. Moreover, the clear distinction between them has also provided a lot of convenience for the wealthy households who come to shop.

  However, the plateau also noticed that other cities and districts were open for business, with many merchants coming and going. Only a few shops in the rice market were open, with 70-80% of them closed, looking very deserted. It was clearly greatly affected by the drought.

  In addition, there are specialized places for exchanging money within the city. At this time, currency has not been unified, and only gold can be circulated among the various states, while the currencies used by the various states are different. In Zhao, Wei, and Han, cloth currency is used; in Qi and Yan, knife currency is used; in Qin, round currency is used; in Chu, shell currency is used, etc. Additionally, shells, grains, and cloth can also be used as currency, so transactions are very inconvenient. Therefore, each country has set up places for exchanging money within the city gate, where other currencies can be exchanged for the local currency or gold to facilitate trade.

  The two of them strolled around and took a look, Li Yinghong couldn't help but buy some silk, jewelry, and other things. Of course, Gao Yuan paid the bill. As a result, in just a short while, both of Gao Yuan's hands were already full.

  As they turned, the two arrived at Wu City, a place where various weapons were sold, of course with swords being the majority. In other places, there are many varieties, long ones can exceed one meter, short ones are less than twenty centimeters, and all are exquisitely crafted, but most of them are bronze swords, and a small portion are iron swords.

  Although iron farming tools had become widespread in this era, weapons were still mainly made of bronze because the current iron smelting technology was not yet advanced and the craftsmanship required to cast high-quality iron swords was relatively difficult. However, there were also a small number of highly skilled craftsmen who could cast high-quality iron swords.

  Gao Yuan knew that iron weapons replacing bronze weapons was the trend of the times, so he also wanted to find a few skilled craftsmen. He not only wanted to buy a high-quality iron sword but also hoped to create several new-style weapons to enhance the combat effectiveness of the Zhao army.

  But in front of a large storefront selling iron swords, Gao Yuan looked at over ten iron swords, but the quality was all average, not as good as finely crafted bronze swords. The owner of the sword-buying shop saw this and also knew that Gao Yuan wasn't an ordinary customer, so he said: "What kind of iron sword is this customer looking for?"

  Gao Yuan Dao: "The higher the quality, the better. At least it should be stronger than this bronze sword of mine." He said, handing his bronze sword to the shopkeeper.

  The shopkeeper drew his sword and took a look, and was also shocked. He said: "This sword of the guest is a rare fine work, worth at least dozens of taels of gold. The iron sword that surpasses the quality of this sword is probably not many, and its value will not be less than 50 taels of gold. Not to mention my shop, it's hard to find a better iron sword than this bronze sword in the whole city."

  Gaoyuan Dao: "Gold is not the problem, I just want a good sword. As long as it's worth something, even if it costs 100 taels of gold, I won't hesitate. If I can't buy it in town, where else can I get it?"

  The shopkeeper took a bamboo slip from inside the store and handed it to Gao Yuan, saying: "Guest, you go find him according to this address. This is our Zhao country's best foundry workshop. Half of my family's bronze swords and iron swords are procured from there. Maybe they can find the iron sword you want, but the price will have to be negotiated with them in person."

  Gao Yuan took the bamboo slip, glanced at it, and put it in his bosom. He then took out a package of copper coins, about thirty or forty of them, and threw them to the shopkeeper, saying: "Consider this as my thanks to you."