Chapter 50: Western Han Market

As early as the time of Shennong, the Flame Emperor, so-called commodity trading appeared on the land of China, but at that time it was barter, and there was no concept of money.

With the development and progress of society, barter could no longer meet people's daily needs. By the Xia and Shang dynasties, people discovered that seashells had a certain ornamental value, and thus the first currency in our country appeared.

By the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty, the currency used for trade gradually evolved into coins made of bronze. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the currencies of various countries were different, with shell coins, copper coins, and so on.

After Qin Shi Huang unified the world, he not only unified the script, weights, and measures, but also unified the currency. All copper coins were round with square holes, and the weight was engraved on the copper coins. This kind of "Qin Banliang" copper coin influenced the next two thousand years.

After the fall of the Qin Dynasty, the currency development in the early Han Dynasty did not change much from the Qin Dynasty, but because it had just experienced war, the state did not manage the minting of coins, leading to uneven quality of copper coins among the people.

Although Sang Hongyang had previously proposed that the court unify the currency and establish a specialized minting institution, not allowing anyone to privately make money, this policy was currently being implemented slowly, and there were still people among the people using inferior coins for transactions.

The Sang family's carriage arrived at the Willow Market in Chang'an City. Before they even got close, Liu Li heard the shouting and selling coming from the Willow Market. She curiously lifted the curtain on the side to look, and from a distance, she could see the scene of people coming and going in the Willow Market.

"Wow, it's quite lively here."

Sang Qian "un-huh" and said: "This is the liveliest market in Chang'an City."

The carriage stopped in front of the gate (huan, meaning the big gate) of the Willow Market. The coachman Old Zhang got off the carriage to open the door for the young master on the carriage: "Master, the Willow Market has arrived."

Sang Qian looked at Liu Li: "Are you going down, Princess?"

Liu Li nodded, walked out of the carriage first, and when the coachman bent down to act as a step, she jumped down all at once.

Sang Qian, who came out behind Liu Li, caught a glimpse of her action and learned her action, jumping off the carriage.

Liu Li stood in front of the gate of the Willow Market and looked inside, like someone who had never seen the world. She marveled at the prosperity of the market economy in the Western Han. At this moment, an expression pack appeared in her mind: So many people. jpg (Zhou Xun's face)

At the end of the Qin and the beginning of the Han, the Han Dynasty, which had experienced war, had improved its agriculture and handicrafts well under the recovery and development of the Rule of Wen and Jing, and commerce was unprecedentedly prosperous.

There was a proverb in the "Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of Money-makers": "To seek wealth from poverty, farming is not as good as industry, industry is not as good as commerce, and embroidery is not as good as leaning on the market gate." This was talking about the commerce of the Western Han under the Rule of Wen and Jing.

"Are you still going in?" Sang Qian saw Liu Li standing in front of the gate and not moving, and asked: "Princess, don't tell me you're afraid because there are so many people?"

Liu Li glanced at him sideways: "I'm not that socially anxious."

"Socially anxious?" Sang Qian expressed confusion about this new term.

"Nothing." Liu Li said and stopped paying attention to him, instead stepping into the Willow Market.

According to historical records, there were six commercial centers in the Western Han, with Chang'an as the head, and places like Luoyang, Handan, Linzi, Wancheng, and Chengdu all had commercial centers.

It is said that there were nine markets in Chang'an City, and the Willow Market they came to this time was the largest and most prosperous one.

There were shops on the left and right sides of the Willow Market, and the space between the shops was called "sui," and there were some small vendors between the shops, which in modern terms meant setting up street stalls.

Anyone operating in the market had to pay taxes to the management agency in exchange for a business license, which in Western Han terms was "market rent."

Liu Li took a rough look. The street vendors were basically small merchants and peddlers, mostly ordinary people bringing agricultural products grown at home or handmade items to sell. And the shops on both sides should be opened by families with a certain amount of savings.

Not far ahead, there was a fruit stall. The stall owner was a middle-aged woman with a cloth wrapped around her head. Seeing Liu Li standing in front of her stall, she hurriedly greeted: "Little girl, do you want to eat tangerines? Home-grown tangerines, they ripen late but are very sweet."

The size of this tangerine looked quite

large. Liu Li subconsciously touched her bag, only to realize that she had brought a bag of things but had not brought any money.

She turned her head and looked at Sang Qian following behind her with eager eyes, and said: "Brother, I want to eat tangerines."

Sang Qian: "?" Who is your brother, am I worthy?!

Seeing this, the woman also said: "This young master, my tangerines are very sweet and refreshing, buy one for your little sister to taste."

Facing Liu Li's eager gaze, Sang Qian helplessly untied the money bag on his body and asked the woman: "How do you sell the tangerines?"

"Four Zhu coins each."

Sang Hongyang threw two copper coins to the woman and let Liu Li take two tangerines herself.

Liu Li lowered her head and picked two tangerines that looked quite good, holding one in each hand. When she looked up, she saw the woman carefully breaking the two copper coins she had just received. After confirming that they couldn't be broken, the woman happily accepted the copper coins and hurriedly showed favor to Liu Li and Sang Qian.

Liu Li bought the tangerines but didn't rush to eat them; instead, she gave them to the coachman Old Zhang, told him to put them in the carriage, and then continued to stroll.

Further ahead, it seemed she could see vendors selling more things. Liu Li stopped to look every time she passed by, and then continued to move forward.

The shops on the left and right seemed to sell more things, with cloth shops selling clothes and grain shops selling grain. Liu Li even saw potatoes in a vegetable shop, and there were quite a few people buying them.

Sang Qian also noticed and raised his eyebrows: "This shop belongs to the Sang family."

Hearing this, Liu Li noticed a "Sang" character marked on the door lintel of the shop. "Your family's business has reached Chang'an?"

"The Sang family's shops are all over the Han." Sang Qian said quite calmly, his tone carrying a bit of pride.

The Sang family was originally a famous merchant family in Luoyang City. When Sang Hongyang was young, he entered Chang'an as an official, but his family was still in business.

Next door was a shop selling jade. Liu Li took a fancy to a green and translucent jade hairpin at a glance. Seeing the quality of Liu Li's clothes, the boss knew that the little girl before him was either rich or noble, so he hurriedly stepped forward to entertain: "Young master, what does the little young lady want to buy?"

Liu Li pointed to the jade hairpin she had taken a fancy to and asked: "Can you take this hairpin for me to see?"

"Yes, yes." The boss carefully handed the jade hairpin to Liu Li: "Young lady has a good eye, this is high-quality Lantian jade."

Lantian was rich in beautiful jade, which Liu Li knew. She carefully touched the texture of the jade hairpin, which was cool and comfortable. The shape was also quite good, with hollow carvings and delicate patterns. Although it was not as good as modern carving technology, it was already quite good.

If she gave it to A Jiao, she should like it.

Thinking this way, Liu Li turned to look at Sang Qian again: "Brother..." Before she could finish, Sang Qian had already interrupted her: "Ancestor, stop calling, I'll pay."

Liu Li: "..."

Chuckle.

This jade hairpin needed one Hu of four Zhu coins. It was clear that Sang Qian didn't have that much money on him. He thought for a moment and handed a plate to the boss: "Take this to the Sang Mansion to get the money."

The boss carefully looked at the plate and happily put it away: "So it's the young master of the Sang family, this lowly one was disrespectful."

Out of the shop, Liu Li carefully put the jade hairpin into her bag. Sang Qian at the side made a small suggestion to Liu Li: "Princess, can I discuss something with you?"

Liu Li blinked: "What is it?"

"You can call me Brother Sang Qian, Brother Sang, Brother Qian, but please don't call me brother alone, okay?"

Liu Li listened to his words and showed a disgusted expression: "What's wrong with calling you brother alone?" And Brother Sang, Brother Qian, isn't that disgusting?

"You are the noble Eldest Princess. If I became your brother, wouldn't I become..." He didn't say the last two words, but used his mouth shape to express his meaning to Liu Li—the Crown Prince.

Liu Li's mouth twitched slightly, and she said angrily: "Then what's the difference if you add your name in front?"

"Of course." Sang Qian nodded seriously: "With the name added, I am your lover brother."

Liu Li: "???" This was something an eleven or twelve-year-old boy should

say?

Sang Qian coughed lightly and said seriously: "Just a joke, Princess, don't take it seriously. Continue strolling, Princess, just say if you take a fancy to anything, and I'll have the old man at home report it to the Emperor for reimbursement."

Liu Li scoffed and said: "I thought you would say that whatever I take a fancy to, you would buy it and give it to me."

"That won't do, after all, this little money of mine didn't come from the wind." Sang Qian patted his money bag: "I only have three hundred coins a month."

Liu Li: "..." Who said Sang Qian only knew how to spend money? Wasn't this shrewd?

Inside the Weiyang Palace, Liu Ling, who had already returned to the Pixiang Hall, approached her sister Liu Yue with trepidation: "Sister, we left Liu Li alone at the Imperial Academy. If Father Emperor blames us, what should we do?"

Liu Yue was practicing calligraphy at the desk. Hearing her sister's worry, she put down the brush in her hand, reached out and touched her sister's head: "Don't worry, this matter has nothing to do with us."

Liu Ling's little head couldn't turn: "Ah?"

Liu Yue said softly: "Didn't we leave with Cousin Cao?"

Liu Ling nodded: "Yes."

"It was Cousin Cao who invited us to leave together. We didn't see her when we left, so we thought she had left first, and didn't know she was still at the Imperial Academy."

Liu Ling listened to her sister's words, reacted immediately, and nodded repeatedly: "Yes, that's how it is."

It wasn't until evening, when the evening banquet was being prepared in the Pixiang Hall, that the Yellow Gate Official Su Wen suddenly brought people over: "Are Princess Yue and Princess Ling here? The Emperor requests their presence."

Hearing this, Wei Zifu hurriedly asked the maid Xia Ling to find her two daughters and asked: "Master Su, why is the Emperor looking for the two Princesses?"

Su Wen glanced at Wei Zifu, with a smile on his face: "The three Princesses went to the Imperial Academy for the first time today. The Emperor is concerned about the learning situation of the three Princesses, so he specifically seeks the two Princesses to ask questions."

This was naturally not the truth.

It was time for dinner, but Liu Li hadn't returned yet. A Jiao sent someone to inquire, only to hear that there were no classes at the Imperial Academy today, and school had long been dismissed, and the children of the marquises had basically gone home.

Even Liu Yue and Liu Ling had returned by the carriage of the Pingyang Marquis Mansion, but Liu Li was nowhere to be seen.

She sent someone to find the coachman and guards who escorted the Princesses to the Imperial Academy this morning, only to hear the coachman and guards say: "The Princess of Jianling left with the carriage of the Tangyi Marquis Mansion, so we returned."

A Li left with the carriage of the Tangyi Marquis Mansion? Did the Tangyi Marquis Mansion also arrange for people to go to the Imperial Academy?

A Jiao sent someone to the Tangyi Marquis Mansion. She only needed to confirm whether the Princess was at the Marquis Mansion. After all, the Tangyi Marquis Mansion had Dou Taizhu, so A Jiao wouldn't be afraid of her daughter being bullied.

The person sent explained the purpose to Dou Taizhu Liu Piao. Liu Piao was puzzled: "A Li didn't come to the mansion." Finally, she was also afraid that Liu Li might have come but she didn't know, so she had Chen Yu called over.

Chen Yu shook her head and denied it, saying she hadn't brought Liu Li back together.

Seeing this, the attendant felt a bad premonition in his heart. Could it be that the Princess of Jianling was in trouble?! He bid farewell to Dou Taizhu and returned to the Weiyang Palace without stopping to report this matter to A Jiao.

Liu Piao also realized that Liu Li might be missing. She asked Chen Yu with a dark face: "A Yu, did anything happen at the Imperial Academy today?"

Facing her grandmother's questioning, Chen Yu felt guilty and hurriedly shook her head, saying nothing happened. If her grandmother knew that she had made the Princess of Jianling lose face in the Imperial Academy today, her grandmother would definitely be angry.

However, how could Chen Yu's guilty expression be hidden from Liu Piao? She narrowed her eyes, first called the guards in the mansion, arranged for them to go to the Imperial Academy to search carefully, and then looked at Chen Yu.

"Is it really nothing?" Liu Piao's voice was very light, as if it were just a conversation between a grandmother and a granddaughter.

Chen Yu felt her scalp tingle as she listened. Her heart trembled, and she knelt down with a thud: "Grandmother, it is A Yu's fault."

Liu Piao narrowed her eyes, a sharp light in her eyes: "What did you do?"

Chen Yu didn't dare to hide it, and tremblingly told what happened in the Imperial Academy in the morning, then sobbed: "A Yu has already apologized to Cousin A Li, and cousin has already forgiven A Yu. Grandmother, please don't be angry."

【50-93】 Liu Piao was furious when she heard this, raised her hand, and threw the cup beside her at Chen Yu: "You idiot!"

Liu Piao was furious upon hearing this; she raised her hand and threw the cup at her side at Chen Yu: "You idiot!"

The tea in the cup splashed on Chen Yu's clothes, and she shrank her neck slightly: "Grandmother, A Yu knows she was wrong."

"I let you come to Chang'an from Tangyi, wanting you to be a companion to A Li, but I didn't want you to be so stupid and useless."

Chen Yu lowered her head and bit her lip tightly, feeling both aggrieved and sad. It clearly wasn't like this at the beginning.

Chen Yu's mother was once Liu Piao's maid. After Chen Xu came to Chang'an from Tangyi, he had a relationship with this maid and became pregnant not long after.

Liu Piao, considering the child in the maid's belly might be a boy, kept the maid in the Marquis Mansion in Chang'an to raise her until Chen Yu was born later.

When Chen Yu was born, A Jiao was still the Wengzhu of Tangyi Marquis waiting to be married. Seeing a new little niece added to the family, she was very curious.

She was also an aunt now, so she was especially good to little Chen Yu. Seeing that her daughter liked Chen Yu, Liu Piao didn't rush to send her back to the Tangyi Kingdom.

Later, A Jiao married, and when she and Liu Che were newlyweds, she often let Liu Piao bring her little niece to the Weiyang Palace to play.

Until the third year of Jianyuan, A Jiao was reborn. She didn't live a comfortable life, so she rarely mentioned Chen Yu again. Coupled with the fact that A Jiao became pregnant later, she naturally forgot about her niece Chen Yu.

When Chen Yu was five years old, she went to the Tangyi Kingdom with her mother. Although she returned to her father's side, she didn't like it here at all.

As the saying goes, it is easy to go from luxury to frugality, but hard to go from frugality to luxury. Chen Yu was used to living in the Tangyi Marquis Mansion in Chang'an City. How could she get used to returning to this small place of Tangyi?

Moreover, there was a younger legitimate sister in the Tangyi Kingdom who was younger than her but wanted to suppress her in everything.

She often thought, if the Empress aunt hadn't become pregnant, could she have stayed in Chang'an forever? Maybe the aunt would even adopt her as a foster daughter, and could she become half a Princess and move into that beautiful and luxurious Weiyang Palace?

Later, she heard in Tangyi that the Empress aunt's daughter might be a fool, and hope was rekindled in her heart. She had been waiting for her aunt to say she missed her and pick her up back to Chang'an.

As for this younger sister in the Tangyi Kingdom, the aunt hadn't even met her.

Finally, Chen Yu waited for her grandmother's order to pack up and go to Chang'an to enter the Imperial Academy to be a companion to Princess Li.

At first, Liu Piao wanted to let her own granddaughter Chen Ran come to Chang'an to accompany Liu Li, just three years younger than Liu Li. But on second thought, Chen Ran had never been to Chang'an and was afraid she wouldn't understand the rules. Chen Yu was older and had stayed in Chang'an, so she was more sensible.

So she chose Chen Yu. Who would have thought that this idiot would make A Li lose face in public.

"Forget it, you pack up and return to Tangyi tomorrow, and change to your younger sister to come over." Liu Piao looked at the crying Chen Yu and said coldly.

Chen Yu raised her head suddenly: "Grandmother!"

"Get out."

Chen Yu was unwilling, and hurriedly said again: "Grandmother, A Yu already knows she was wrong, and cousin has already forgiven A Yu. In the future, A Yu will definitely be a good companion to cousin and protect cousin well."

Liu Piao: "Chen Yu, you probably haven't recognized your identity yet. I originally wanted to punish you severely for today's matter, but considering your attitude of admitting your mistake is not bad, I am just letting you return to Tangyi. If you say one more word, don't even think about stepping into Chang'an again from now on."

Chen Yu fell silent instantly. She couldn't understand, even if she was an illegitimate daughter, she was still her grandmother's own granddaughter. Why was that granddaughter the most important in her grandmother's heart?

Seeming to see her unwillingness, Liu Piao scoffed: "You are just an illegitimate daughter, but A Li is a Princess. A Yu, have you forgotten your grandmother's former status?"

Chen Yu looked at her grandmother with a stern expression in a daze, and only then did she remember that her grandmother was also once the legitimate eldest Princess of the Han.

Inside the Weiyang Palace, A Jiao heard the attendant return and report that Liu Li had never been to the Tangyi Marquis Mansion, and her heart panicked instantly.

Liu Li was not at the Imperial Academy, not in the palace, and not at the Tangyi Marquis Mansion, so where could she go?

Seeing A Jiao panic, Liu Che comforted her: "She shouldn't be in trouble, don't scare yourself."

"How are these guards doing things?" A Jiao ignored Liu Che's persuasion and said angrily: "They dared to return by themselves without picking up the Princess? And Princess Yue and Princess Ling, they..."

A Jiao's words were interrupted by Liu Che: "Call the two of them over to ask."

A Jiao paused, narrowed her eyes slightly, and her eyes carried a bit of sharpness: "Indeed, they must be called over. We want to ask personally why they could return, but A Li could not."

Thus, Su Wen accepted the decree and went to the Pixiang Hall to call Liu Yue and Liu Ling to the Jiaofang Hall.

Seeing Su Wen bring the two sisters to the Jiaofang Hall, Liu Yue knew that Father Emperor was not asking them about the situation at the Imperial Academy.

The two sisters saluted the Emperor and Empress. A Jiao couldn't wait to speak: "Liu Yue, We ask you, why didn't A Li return with you?"

Hearing the Emperor's address to her, and the address to Liu Li, Liu Yue felt a slight choke in her heart, but her face remained as before, and she answered seriously: "Daughter doesn't know. When school was dismissed, Cousin Cao wanted to send me and my younger sister back, so we left with Cousin."

"Why didn't you call A Li when you left? Didn't the three of you go to the Imperial Academy together this morning?"

"My younger sister was not in the classroom at that time, and A Yue thought my younger sister had left first."

After listening, A Jiao slapped the table angrily: "Absurd!"

This sound startled the two sisters, and Liu Ling quietly hid behind her sister.

"First of all, We believe that even if A Li wanted to leave first, she would definitely tell you, and wouldn't leave first without a sound. Furthermore, it's one thing for you two to leave first, but why did you let the carriage parked outside the Imperial Academy leave first? Liu Yue, We didn't expect that you would have so many schemes at such a young age."

"Father Emperor." Liu Yue opened her large eyes and said aggrievedly: "Daughter didn't let the carriage leave first, daughter just told them that my younger sister might have left with the Tangyi Marquis Mansion's carriage."

Liu Che also frowned when he heard this: "You told the guards and coachman this, isn't that letting them leave first?"

Liu Yue bit her lip and lowered her head very aggrievedly: "In that case, it is indeed A Yue's fault, A Yue shouldn't have talked too much."

Seeing her like this, A Jiao felt as if someone had wronged her "good intentions."

"You are indeed wrong." A Jiao didn't indulge her and said coldly: "Now Our A Li is missing and hasn't returned yet. Since Princess Yue admits her mistake, then go and kneel outside the Jiaofang Hall. When the Princess of Jianling is found, you can get up."

Liu Yue gasped, staring at the "Father Emperor" before her, her eyes instantly overflowing with tears: "Father Emperor, you, you..."

Father Emperor had never been willing to punish her like this before. Why was Father Emperor treating her like this now?

Liu Ling shouted: "Father Emperor, you can't treat Eldest Sister like this, it's not our fault, we don't know where she went."

A Jiao looked at Liu Ling and said coldly: "Someone, take Princess Yue and Princess Ling away together and punish them by kneeling in front of the Jiaofang Hall. When the Princess of Jianling is found, they are allowed to get up. If anything happens to the Princess of Jianling, you will be buried with Our A Li!"

As soon as these words came out, even the palace attendants at the side gasped. The Emperor was so angry for the Princess of Jianling, and even wanted the other two Princesses to be buried with her, which showed how much the Emperor valued the Princess of Jianling.

Thinking about it, it was reasonable. After all, the Princess of Jianling was the legitimate eldest daughter and had the protection of a Goddess. Even ten Wei Princesses couldn't compare to one Princess of Jianling.

Liu Ling was young after all. Facing such a battle, she burst into tears instantly. She looked at A Jiao while crying: "Woo woo woo, Father Emperor, A Ling doesn't want to kneel, woo woo..."

A Jiao remained unmoved, and Liu Che at the side just frowned and didn't say anything, because after this, he also had some doubts about Liu Yue's performance. ===== CHAPTER 51 =====

A Jiao remained unmoved, and Liu Che, standing to the side, merely frowned without saying anything, for after what had just transpired, he had developed some doubts about Liu Yue's performance.