East and West Market are both commercial markets in Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, which is a bit similar to the commercial street and wholesale market. However, due to the different market locations, the types of products they operate are also slightly different.

Since the East City is close to the three major areas, namely the Tai Chi Palace in the West, the Daming Palace in the East, and the Xingqing Palace in the South, the surrounding yards are mostly homes of royal nobles and dignitaries, so the East City can be said to be "the rare and rare in all directions, and all accumulated". The goods they operate are mostly high-quality luxury goods to meet the needs of royal nobles and dignitaries.

The West Market is far away from within three places, and there are many residential houses for ordinary people around. The market-operated goods are mostly daily necessities such as clothing, candles, cakes, medicines, etc. If this is to be described in modern terms, the East Market is a high-end commercial center, while the West Market is a large supermarket, which targets different customer groups, so the goods sold are also different.

In theory, the East City is a commercial center of that kind of business level, and it relies on the Tai Chi Palace in the west, the Daming Palace in the east, and the Xingqing Palace in the south. The surrounding yards are mostly royal nobles and dignitaries. This business should be very prosperous no matter how you say it is.

Unfortunately, the facts are just the opposite. As for the ordinary people in Xishi, the business in East City is really nothing to do with prosperity.

In fact, it is not difficult to understand. Not only during the Tang Dynasty, it can be said that during the entire historical period, senior rulers have always regarded merchants as "low-minded" and regard industry and commerce as unfavorable, so all officials are strictly prohibited from entering the market.

In history, in the first year of Zhenguan, October 627 AD, and in December of the following year, Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin, issued several bans saying "Above the fifth rank, no entry into the market", "No entry into the market with the fifth rank," and so on.

When searching for relevant historical information, Li Anran once found a very interesting historical story.

This story says that during the Wuzhou period, an official named Zhang Heng, who was born in the fourth rank and was about to enter the third rank. Once he retired from the court, he bought a new steamed cake on the side of the road and ate it immediately, but was impeached by the censor and failed to be promoted.

The most exaggerated thing is that Wu Zetian specially issued an edict to "become a foreigner and not be allowed to enter the third rank" for this purpose, and "then shed her armor."

Under such strict government orders and customs, it would be strange that the East Market, which specializes in selling high-end goods, could be as lively and prosperous as the West Market.

Fortunately, due to the appearance of Li Anran, and when chatting with Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling and even Li Shimin, they all mentioned the topic of "No farming is not stable, no work is not rich, no business is not alive."

At the same time, he also deeply explored the importance of commerce to a country's development, so although the statement that merchants are cheap business has not changed yet, Li Shimin is obviously not as resistant as before in terms of commercial activities.

Moreover, although the government orders are strict, they do not mean that those royal relatives and dignitaries cannot consume it.

Anyway, no one in these wealthy families has a few capable housekeepers and servants. If there are any needs, why do these royal relatives and dignitaries personally go to buy them? As long as you speak, there will naturally be people below who can do things properly.

As for Kunlun slaves, they were luxury goods in the Tang Dynasty. Although they also belonged to servants, such tall, strong, dark-skinned foreign slaves, let alone ordinary people, even landlords with a slightly inferior wealth, wealthy businessmen could not afford them.

However, after Li Anran and Xiangyun appeared in Chang'an City together, they did not go to the east city, but rented a luxury four-wheeled carriage in the carriage and rushed towards the west city.

Some friends may ask, isn’t it said that Dongshi is a high-end commercial center? Kunlun slaves are also a luxury product, so why don’t you go to Dongshi and go to the West Market, which is a “large supermarket”?

In fact, there is nothing wrong with doing this, because Xishi is not only a "large supermarket" targeting the public, but also includes a large number of international super markets including international merchants such as the Western Regions, Japan, and South Korea.

Since Xicheng is close to Kaiyuanmen, the starting point of the Silk Road in Chang'an, Datang, there are many foreign businessmen living in the surrounding yards, such as Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Goryeo, Baekje, Silla, Japan, and other countries and regions.

Among them, Central Asia and Persia, which are later Iran, as well as Dashi, that is, later Arabs, the most are Hu merchants. These foreign merchants basically live in some foreign markets or nearby towns in Xishi.

These merchants from various countries are mainly engaged in jewelry, spices, medicinal materials, silk, and loan businesses. At the same time, some people are also engaged in the business of operating wine shops and hotels. Therefore, many foreign merchants in the western city have opened shops, such as Persian residences, jewelry shops, goods warehouses, wine shops, etc.

After making enough profits from the Tang Dynasty, these merchants from all over the country generally purchase tea, spices, silk fabrics, porcelain and other goods from the Tang Dynasty, and sell them to the country to make huge profits.

It is indeed huge profits. Even in modern time and space, many businesses in international trade are still huge profits, not to mention the extremely inconvenient transportation in the Tang Dynasty. Many foreign merchants, even if they can only travel back and forth in a year, have made a lot of money.

When searching for historical information, Li Anran also discovered many records about Hu merchants. For example, a Hu merchant in Xicheng bought Qingniang beads and jewelry given by Wu Zetian from a monk in Ximing Temple for 100,000 guan.

There were also Hu merchants who wanted to spend 10 million yuan to buy treasure bones from monks in Bodhi Temple in Pingkangfang, etc. It can be seen that Hu merchants who lived in Chang'an at that time made a lot of profits from the business operations in Xishi, which also shows the maturity of the commercial area in Xishi at that time.

According to historical records, the western city of Chang'an, Kyoto during the Tang Dynasty, covered an area of ​​about 1,600 acres, with a construction area of ​​about 1 million square meters, covering almost 200 industries. There were more than 40,000 fixed shops alone, but it was considered the largest commercial center in the world at that time.

Although it is only the second year of Zhenguan and has not yet reached the prosperous Tang Dynasty, as the carriage enters the western market, the noise coming from the face still highlights the prosperity here.

Considering that he didn't want people to find out what he thought this time, Li Anran did not run directly towards the Kunlun slave's exclusive place, but asked the carriage he was riding in, which was also his own shares in the inner carriage store, to start slowly walking around.

I didn't know if I didn't want to go shopping. After visiting Li Anran, I found that I had found many shops and goods that were not originally from the Tang Dynasty. For example, I should have learned from the restaurants that were delicious food on the commercial street, and I even saw a shop that also made pastry. However, the varieties inside were obviously much worse than those on the commercial street.

What made Li Anran speechless was that there was actually a jewelry store that sold artificial gems that he had made from modern time and space in a jewellery store. The reason why we can tell is that the cutting process of these gems was not mastered in the Tang Dynasty.

Since I went shopping, it was naturally impossible not to buy anything. Considering that my appearance was definitely eye-catching, Li Anran did not perform the duties of a man when he was shopping with a woman. Instead, she asked Xiangyun to travel a few times and bought some special food and interesting small items.

After the two of them drove on the western market for a while, they saw that it was getting late, so the coachman parked the car in front of the store selling foreign slaves.

In fact, there are not many merchants selling foreign slaves, but on the contrary, there are still many. Along the way, I saw many Hu merchants who scattered slaves on the street. However, for Li Anran, the number is not enough, so it is better to go to the big seller to see the situation first.

"Langjun, this shop is the largest and most well-known slave shop in the entire West City." The coachman who parked the car in front of a large shop and sat outside the car said diligently.

There is no way to be attentive. Although the car money earned from this business is for the shop, I helped explain the situation in the West Market along the way, and there were some rumors in the market. I even occasionally helped to do some chores, but I got a reward of one silver.
Chapter completed!