Chapter 1651: Times Change

Since the Taihang Alliance, in the five years that followed, the three kingdoms successfully delineated their respective borders and, in accordance with their original agreement, engaged in mutual trade and intermarriage; not a single war occurred, and even Ayuduo returned to the Jiuli Kingdom once.

However, her heart was already in Huaxia, so upon returning to her homeland, she only brought back some fine goods and did not take anything of importance with her.

Times have changed, and fifteen years have passed. A few white hairs have appeared on Baifeng's head; although his body remains strong, it can no longer be said that he is in his prime, as his bodily functions are already deteriorating, his belly has grown, and he has become somewhat stout.

In the past, it would have been impossible for anyone to live this long; it would have been a fantasy. But in the Huaxia of today, it is almost no problem for an ordinary person to live to fifty, and people of sixty or seventy are not rare. Baifeng feels that if he is lucky, he might live another twenty-some years; if unlucky, only ten-some. In any case, he has already left his whole life here, and he can no longer clearly remember the various things of the past; he is almost forgetting what the high-rises and cars of that era were like.

But that is fine, for in the Huaxia of today, three-story high-rises are not rare. The tallest building currently constructed in Huaxia already has five stories, though it is considered a vanity project; after all, to ensure it is sturdy and reliable, a large amount of steel rebar was added inside—which, of course, is far inferior to deformed steel bars, but it is strong enough.

To build that building, an excessive amount of iron and steel was spent; this is something that could only be done after Huaxia's steel production skyrocketed. Furthermore, for many years to come, there will likely be only this one reinforced concrete high-rise, as it is simply too costly. Once built, it serves as the government office building for the Huaxia capital.

The capital of Huaxia has been relocated by this time, though it is not too far from Huaxia City. As for its geographical location, Baifeng estimates it to be in the area of later-day Xixian, because the Wei River flows through here. Since successive generations chose this place as their capital, there is no problem with Baifeng choosing it as well.

Huaxia City has thoroughly become an industrial city, and agriculture has begun to give way to industry. However, dozens of towns and thousands of villages have been established around Huaxia City, and the population is quite dense.

Lema City, by virtue of its proximity to Huaxia City, has taken advantage of Huaxia City's industrial edge to vigorously develop agriculture. It has also become a vital passage for Huaxia to head west, and its development momentum is even more fierce; in terms of prosperity, it has already surpassed Huaxia City, though Huaxia City's status is difficult to shake because it holds the industrial core.

The current Huaxia administers eleven Provinces, three of which do not yet have any towns because they are too remote in the west, while the other Provinces already have at least one decent city, with each city having a permanent population of at least over thirty thousand.

The current major cities are Huaxia City, Lema City, Dingxi City (formerly the Western Development Group), Suiren City, Weicheng, and Jing City.

These cities developed relatively quickly because they were developed earlier, and their average permanent population has already exceeded one hundred thousand. Of course, this includes the towns and villages under their jurisdiction; a single city alone could not support such a large population.

The pillar industry of Huaxia City is currently industry, while the pillar industry of Dingxi City is a mix of agriculture and animal husbandry, combined with military support and its status as a transportation hub, making it the fourth-largest city at present. It is also the current site for Huaxia's grand military training; over these years, they have continuously harassed the Wulenge Tribe for training, and the people of the Wulenge Tribe have been forced to move north. Every year when they go out for training, they are not even guaranteed to find anyone.

As for the Shenhu Tribe, it is currently being preserved, because as long as it remains, there will always be a steady stream of Wulenge Tribe savages for Huaxia to train against. At present, it is difficult for Huaxia to control even further places; west of Dingxi City, there is one more city named Xining City, though the situation is the same as it was for the Western Development Group back then—only a few thousand people are there reclaiming wasteland.

Huaxia's Cavalry has also expanded significantly over these dozen years. Aside from natural reproduction, they have captured wild horses and even wild donkeys. In the process, they inadvertently bred dozens of mules; this was just a result of mixed grazing. Although mules have no reproductive ability, it is fortunate that they are good workers, so it is not too much of a loss.

The number of horses in Huaxia has exceeded one thousand, but the number of cavalrymen can only be kept at four hundred; any more and they cannot be supported. They are distributed among the various cities, and the remaining horses are used for riding. A courier system for delivering messages has been set up, and post offices have appeared simultaneously; besides delivering official documents, they also undertake the transport of private letters and small parcels for the public.

The profits from these private transactions alone are enough to support the couriers at these stations, and their compensation is quite good. For short distances, they are equipped with ox carts, and then they only need to transfer to the next post station; for long distances, they are equipped with horses, one person with two horses, and there are post stations in between for rest. Huaxia's message delivery is already quite stable and reliable. It is also because of these post stations that some villages have developed around them.

Horses have also become a trade commodity for Huaxia. The price is expensive, but Huaxia will only trade stallions and female donkeys, not allowing the other two kingdoms the opportunity to breed horses. The fact that those two kingdoms possess horses is only so that they can deliver messages more quickly.

Carrier pigeons are no longer valued because the volume of messages they can deliver is small, they are not stable enough, and their application is limited; instead, they have become a tool for people within the same city to communicate with each other.

Because Suiren City has a population advantage, it rose to prominence in a short time and has become the third-largest city in Huaxia, and it is quite prosperous. Baoxi, the City Lord, stepped down after three years of service and went to Huaxia City to enjoy life, handing over power to others. His children were unable to take over his position; although Chengqie was successfully cultivated, he was transferred to Lema City and later arranged to go to Weicheng—he simply did not serve in Suiren City. Therefore, the threat of the Baoxi clan to Huaxia's power no longer exists at all.

The other cities are unremarkable. There are two more cities that developed due to the mutual markets with the Jiuli Kingdom and the Central Kingdom (I dare not write the abbreviation), which can be considered to have gained the benefits of trade, so they developed quite rapidly and were also able to obtain fine goods from the other two kingdoms at the first opportunity, giving them a significant development advantage.

Looking at it overall, all the cities in Huaxia currently have their own roots for survival. In the future, other cities will only be able to appear through natural aggregation, though it should become faster and more frequent, because Huaxia's population is currently growing explosively. When people can eat their fill and there is no threat of war, they naturally begin to have children frantically.