Chapter 34: City of Hibiscus

The night passed without incident; the yellow-faced man under escort, weighed down by heavy shackles, caused no trouble.

At the parting, the two groups split up, one heading north, the other south.

After traveling northwest for a few more days across the Sichuan Basin, Lu Beigu finally saw a gray-green silhouette emerge on the distant horizon.

A light rain had just fallen; outside the carriage, a moist wind carrying the fresh scent of earth and vegetation swept toward them.

"Ninety years ago, Meng Chang of Later Shu favored hibiscus flowers and ordered the people to plant hibiscus trees on the city walls. When the flowers bloomed, Chengdu's forty li were covered in brocade, earning it the nickname 'City of Hibiscus,' much like the story of the Brocade Official City, though such a grand scene can no longer be seen today."

Li Pan lifted the carriage curtain, seeming somewhat emotional: "However, not seeing it now may not be such a bad thing."

"Indeed," Lu Beigu agreed. "When the entire city was covered in brocade, Lady Hua Rui left a poem: 'Fourteen thousand men all sheathed their swords; not one remained a man.' Such prosperity truly erodes the spirit."

As the carriage drew nearer, that silhouette gradually transformed into towering city walls.

The walls were extremely high, entirely clad in blue bricks, with crenellations like teeth stretching endlessly. Most remarkable was the creeping vine of the bignonia covering the walls; the new tender leaves glistened with oily green after the rain, adding a touch of vitality to this thousand-year-old city.

The carriage entered the city through the South Gate.

Even vehicles belonging to local government officials were required to disembark for inspection, so the entire group entered the city on foot.

Passing through the long gate tunnel, Li Pan suddenly patted the nearby wall and asked, "Do you see anything?"

Lu Beigu glanced carefully, then tapped the wall with his knuckles to listen to the sound.

Just like those who pretend to be experts at picking melons.

In truth, with walls this thick, whether one taps with knuckles or punches them with fists "thump-thump," the sound makes no difference.

However, although no difference could be heard, as they walked further, Lu Beigu still discerned something.

"The inner two zhang of bricks are older; the outer one zhang is newer."

"Hmm, you've observed quite carefully."

Li Pan explained: "Chengdu has been built for over a thousand years on the same site, but the walls have been rebuilt several times. The inner two zhang-thick wall is a rammed-earth structure from the Former Tang, filled with clay, sand, and interwoven tamarisk branches. The newly added outer one zhang was built by our dynasty; it is also a rammed-earth wall, entirely clad in blue bricks."

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

During the Tang and Northern Song periods, city walls were rammed-earth structures, at most with a layer of bricks on the outside for appearance.

But by the Southern Song, Jin, and Yuan periods, with the rapid development of trebuchets (stone-throwing machines), such rammed-earth walls clad in bricks quickly evolved into rammed-earth walls with brick walls sandwiched on the outside to enhance impact resistance. Even by the Ming Dynasty, fully brick-and-stone wall structures would emerge.

Moreover, through careful observation, Lu Beigu also saw inscriptions on the bricks such as "Xinfan," "Guandu," and "Lingquan," indicating that the bricks were likely subcontracted to be fired by different counties surrounding Chengdu.

The group passed through the gate tunnel, and the clamor surged toward them like a tide.

A street several zhang wide stretched straight ahead; the street bricks, washed by the recent rain, gleamed brightly, while clear water flowed gently in the ditches on both sides.

Upon closer inspection, the street bricks here were vastly different from those in Hejiang County.

The street bricks on the ground were specially made long, narrow bricks, arranged either in a "human character" pattern or a "return character" pattern, so that when it rained, water could quickly flow along the brick surfaces into the drainage ditches on both sides.

The current Chengdu city already has sixteen waterways of various sizes, with four main drainage ditches penetrating the city walls to channel wastewater from inside the city to the outside, indicating that urban planning and design were already quite mature.

However, compared to such small details as the street bricks, the most striking feature was the shops lining both sides of the street: uniformly two or three-story wooden buildings, with colorful sign banners hanging between vermilion-painted railings—Xue Tao Paper Shop, Zhang's Sichuan Fans, Jinjiang Tea House, and so on.

The various shops stretched endlessly into the distance; the prosperity here could be said to surpass all other cities in Sichuan.

In a roadside tea house, several men resembling scholars were sipping tea and chatting leisurely.

"The Buddha Bathing Festival is approaching in a while; temples inside and outside the city are now decorated with lanterns and banners. We should really go have some fun."

"Indeed, I heard that both Zhaojue Temple and Daci Temple are holding Buddha Bathing ceremonies; we must not miss them."

Lu Beigu glanced at the exquisite porcelain cups on their table, and beside them, a small dish containing pickled plums cut into petal shapes.

Such tea houses were already mid-to-high-end, while there were also numerous open-air tea houses along the street on both sides.

Perhaps due to the growth of the citizen class, although it was morning and time for work, as Lu Beigu walked along, he saw that the roadside tea houses were almost completely full, with people drinking tea, chatting, and killing time.

Clearly, this was some manifestation of the Song Dynasty's developed commerce, but it was difficult to judge whether it was good or bad; indeed, such a phenomenon could not be evaluated simply as "good" or "bad."

And this was merely the most prosperous city in Sichuan.

Lu Beigu actually found it hard to imagine how prosperous Kaifeng of this era must be.

The carriage turned into another alley; the road immediately narrowed by half, yet became even more lively.

Vendors on both sides set up oilcloth umbrellas, their cries of selling rising and falling in waves.

An old woman was selling "Spicy Chicken Feet," which were chicken feet pickled with cornel and Sichuan peppercorns, piled vividly red on lotus leaves.

Beside her, a vendor pushed a wheelbarrow; white, tender Jiangshui Douhua floated in the wooden bucket on the cart, being scooped and sold fresh.

"Honored guest, would you like to try? Authentic 'River Water Douhua'!" the vendor called out enthusiastically.

The officials, having already eaten River Water Douhua in Luzhou and suffered from diarrhea once, politely declined, not wishing to suffer again.

After the carriage turned several more street corners, an open area finally appeared ahead.

A magnificent building with flying eaves and bracketed arches stood at the end of the street.

Twelve ceremonial halberds stood before the vermilion-painted main gate, a plaque reading "Chengdu Prefecture Office" hung beneath the eaves, and outside the gate stood an extremely tall drum and horn tower.

"We have arrived," Li Pan adjusted his clothes. "Remember, Prime Minister Zhang detests empty exaggeration; when answering questions, you must speak with substance."

Lu Beigu nodded.

Li Pan handed Zhang Fangping's reply letter to the guards. After verifying their identities, the accompanying personnel were all barred from entering, allowing only Lu Beigu to enter the Ceremonial Gate with Li Pan.

Inside the Ceremonial Gate lay the office area of the Chengdu Prefecture.

On both sides stood the offices of the Assistant Prefect, staff officials, military officials, and government housing, including the Secretariat Hall, Military Supplies Depot, Judicial Office, Tea and Wine Office, and so on.

Most conspicuous was a warning stone in front of the main hall.

Clearly inscribed upon it were the sixteen characters: "Your salary and your stipend are the fat and grease of the people; the common people are easy to oppress, but Heaven is hard to deceive."

The original text actually came from the twenty-four-sentence "Edict of Admonition" personally written by Meng Chang of Later Shu in the fourth year of Guangzheng. Songtai Sect modified it into the current version in the eighth year of Taiping Xingguo and promulgated it throughout the land.

As for how effective it actually was, that was hard to say.

Since this was a private visit, Zhang Fangping, this high-ranking regional official, did not receive them in the main hall where official business was conducted, but in the residential hall behind.

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① In Song Dynasty documents, a prefectural office was mostly referred to as "Prefecture Office" or "Prefecture Seat"; the term "Prefecture Yamen" came into use only during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

(End of this chapter.)