"By the way!" Zhang Yue suddenly looked at Jun Bumi and asked, "Mr. Man Qian, I have a doubt. I don't know if Man Qian Qian can answer it for me..."

"Please say..."

"Linzi City, population is nearly one million..." Zhang Yue asked softly: "How did Qi County maintain the existence and daily use of Linzi?"

A super city with a population of millions!

It was an unimaginable giant in BC.

In the entire feudal history of mankind, it can be ranked among the top ten.

The only people who can compare with their population are Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty, Bianliang in the Song Dynasty, Nanjing in the Ming Dynasty, Beijing in the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty, Rome in the Middle Ages and Baghdad in the Arab Empire.

Zhang Yue was not very clear about how the Tang Chang'an and Song Bianliang were maintained.

But the city of Beijing in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was maintained by the Grand Canal.

Hundreds of thousands of canal boatmen transported rice, cloth and other materials from the rich Jiangnan and the two lakes to Beijing day and night.

And in this BC era, a super metropolis with a population of one million must be maintained.

Zhang Yue knew that this required a large amount of production materials.

This means that Linzi City does not only need someone to provide them with basic living supplies that are sufficient to meet the needs of one million people.

Someone also needs to provide them with the raw materials needed to maintain the commercial development of this huge city.

This is not a small number.

Not to mention the other side, Chang'an City has only a population of about 200,000, which has already made Guanzhong heavy and panting.

In order to support the more than 200,000 full-scale population in Chang'an City, the country needs to transport 2 million stones of grain from Guandong to the pass every year.

Linzi City has a population of one million, so how much food can it take to feed the people of Linzi?

Anyway, in this BC era, it is probably a great miracle to just accomplish such a job.

It contains many reliable experiences and truths.

Especially for Zhang Yue, Linzi's experience may become an important goal for Xinfeng to learn from in the future.

Jun Buyi listened, but smiled bitterly.

He sighed and asked, "Why is Shizhong Gong concerned about this?"

For most people, Linzi City has a population of one million, which is natural.

Just like Chang'an City has a population of 200,000 to 300,000.

Few people will explore why Linzi has a population of one million?

Instead of cities like Luoyang, Chang'an or Suiyang with higher political, cultural and economic status in the Han Dynasty, which have a population of one million?

However, once you explore carefully, everyone will take a breath and fall into deep fear and fear.

All of them are crazy!

Jun Buyi was scared by the facts he knew for half a year and was almost crazy.

Zhang Yue smiled and said, "Mr. Man Qian, don't you think that a city with a population of one million is worth studying by everyone?"

"The ritual says: To be aware of things, we can only know what we can achieve! Since we scholars and officials have learned the books of our ancestors, how can we not explore and study the affairs of the world?"

"Dong Zi once said: If the zither is not adjusted, the zither must be solved and the zither will be changed. This is just like this!"

Jun Buyi listened, shook his head slightly, and smiled bitterly, "The things in Linzi are extraordinary!"

It was also considered that Zhang Yue was a close minister around the emperor, a consultant and minister of the country, and his three views were similar to himself, Jun Buyi said: "At the beginning, the lower official was recommended by the Censor General of the Censor and was the governor of Qingzhou. When he was appointed, he was also curious about why Linzi had stationed a million people and lived between Qi and Lu. He was so content and there was no turmoil for a century!"

"When I visited the mountains, rivers, geography and humanities of Linzi and Qi County, the officials were trembling and did not dare to say much!"

"The Shizhong asked Qi County why it maintained the millions of Linzi?" Jun Buyi smiled bitterly and said, "The people of Qi County have never taken the initiative to maintain the millions of people gathered in Linzi City!"

"Since the population of Linzi was ruled by Yi of Pingyang, the population of Linzi has naturally gathered together, and has reproduced and continued to gather for a hundred years, forming the population size today!"

"According to the investigation by the Xiaguan, the firewood, rice, oil, salt, cloth, shoes and other items needed in Linzi were all transferred from Qingzhou, Yangzhou, Xuzhou, Jizhou and Jingzhou merchants..."

"The Grand Secretary's Sea Official Fleet, more than 80% of the fish caught, were also all sent to Linzi..."

"Donglai, Jiaodong, Jiaoxi, more than 100,000 fishermen, the fish they catch every day are basically sold to Linzi!"

Zhang Yue listened with a smile on his face, but he thought to himself: "Is the so-called invisible hand?"

The market does have a certain ability to self-regulate, because profit-seeking businessmen will take the initiative to do a lot of things for profit.

But the problem is, that's Linzi!

A super city with a population of one million!

The largest city on the entire earth now.

Moreover, Linzi's population size has remained at its current level for at least twenty years.

Therefore, there is no need to learn any economics or make any formulas.

You only need to know a common sense that under the small peasant economy before the BC, the logistics cost was beyond imagination.

Nowadays, there is no Grand Canal in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, which allows Linzi to reduce transportation costs.

Therefore, it is obvious that the basic living and consumer goods in Linzi City can only be obtained nearby.

But the question is, does Qi County or Jiaodong, Jiaoxi, Zichuan, Langya, Beihai and other counties around Qi County have this ability to provide Linzi consumption?

In addition, can the people of Linzi afford the food transported from these places?

Zhang Yue expressed deep questions about this.

The average price of corn in Guanzhong is 100 qian per stone, and the price of corn in Linzi should not be lower than this number.

Calculated by a hundred coins per stone, the basic demand for a family of five is between six and seven stones per month.

This is the expense of 600 to 700 yuan.

A 100-stone official in the Han Dynasty would have a monthly salary of 600 coins.

In other words, at least one needs to have the income of a hundred stone officials to survive in Linzi.

Is this possible?

Reason told Zhang Yue that this was impossible.

At least, little craftsmen and small businessmen cannot achieve this income level.

He heard Jun Buyi take a deep breath and continued, "The residents of Linzi City, except for officials, soldiers, nobles, scholars and servants, are all craftsmen and weavers!"

"Xiaguan once lived in Linzi City for a month. He saw every household and the sound of looms, from morning to night, never stops!"

"Women, children, elderly and weak, weaving cloth and silk, embroidering and satin weaving day and night!"

"A good weaver can weave a piece of silk in five or six days..."

Zhang Yue's eyes were burning as he listened.

The daily situation of urban economy and production and life in the Han Dynasty was no longer verified in later generations.

We can only see the situation at that time through the poems, essays, scripts and even official documents of people in the Han Dynasty.

In the Han Dynasty, there was a poem that traveled through thousands of years and passed down to later generations and has been passed down for a long time.

That is "The Peacock Flying Southeast". Although this is a Yuefu poem from the late Eastern Han Dynasty, because it is not far from the times and the economy and society of small peasants have not changed much, we can see the microcosm of rural life in the Han Dynasty and people's life under the small peasant economy.

In this Yuefu poem, there is a large number of descriptions of the life scenes of working women weaving cloth and pulling silk.

The so-called "The rooster crows into the weaving machine, and it is impossible to stop every night. Five horses are cut off in three days, so it is too late for adults."

Another Han Yuefu poem "Going up the mountain to pick mugwort" also has a similar description: new artificial weaving of silk, so artificial weaving of silk, one piece of weaving of silk per day, and more than five feet of weaving of silk, so the silk is worse than the newcomer.

This shows that in the Han Dynasty, it was already very common for women to enter weaving workshops, participate in production, and even support a family's main economy.

During his inspection in Xinfeng, Zhang Yue saw more than once that rural women used their hard work and wisdom to support their crumbling families.

They used their hands to plant mulberry and hemp, raise chickens and ducks, and collected straw and hay with their children.

There are even families who live a life of food and clothing based on women rather than men that many people think.

After all, in the small peasant economy, men who are the main labor force generally can only cultivate land and take care of crops.

However, land output is limited, usually only enough to eat.

Taxes and corvee labor are more expensive, as well as the money needed for daily expenses of other families, generally they can only rely on women and children.

I just didn't expect that this is the case in a metropolis like Linzi.

"What about Linzi's husbands?" Zhang Yue asked softly: "Since women and children weave them every day, what do the husband do every day?"

Juan Buyi heard this, lowered his head, sighed, and said shamefully: "As far as I see, Linzi husband, plays day and night, wanders around the city, carries a bow and a sword, and joins the golfer!"

"And older people work as merchants, or do all kinds of things for them, or run around the country, or get accomplices of their minions and teeth, and harm neighbors and neighbors!"

"Almost everyone in Linzi City owe money to their children!"

"Whether the people carry bows and swords, walk in the neighborhood, or work with merchants, or their wives and parents, work hard day and night, weaving cloth and drawing silk, they will never be able to pay off the money they owed!"

"The old debts often haven't happened, and new debts accumulate again!"
To be continued...