After walking for more than two hours, they only saw more than a hundred lanterns on two streets. After getting on the carriage, it took less than an hour for Ang Lee and Yan Ruyu to see all the lanterns on the streets near the Imperial Palace. These lanterns were taller and more beautiful than the lanterns they had seen before. Of course, there were also many similar lanterns. For example, on the streets of the East Market, they saw more than twenty tall advertising lanterns composed of tall restaurants. They also appeared on the streets near the Daming Palace. However, the restaurant lanterns here were taller and more delicate than the ones they had seen before.
This was enough to show that these merchants had spent a lot of money to promote their shops. They actually made more than one lantern. This investment was really not small. Only rich merchants could do this.
After browsing around, Ang Lee went directly to his residence in the capital. This was an old house that he had not lived in for a long time. After all, the living facilities outside the city were better. The place here seemed a little cramped. But today, he was tired, so he had to live here. Before he got home, the big family in the restaurant had already arrived. Except for a few maids and guards, the rest had already slept.
There were no tasks during the New Year. In addition to eating, drinking, and having fun, it was still eating, drinking, and having fun. Occasionally, there would be some small matters that did not take much time to deal with. Basically, they could quickly deal with the matters and then continue to eat, drink, and have fun.
During the day, they could see the scenery inside and outside the capital and taste the special snacks. At night, they could go to the Lantern Festival to see the lanterns. Or, during the day, they could personally prepare food at home. The whole family gathered together to make food together. This was a very comfortable experience. Although money could buy all kinds of food, the feeling of making food by oneself and buying food was definitely different. The food that was bought had no soul, but the food that was made by oneself had the most soul. It was more comfortable to eat because such food contained the taste of love and could give a warm feeling.
For the sake of safety, Li An would only bring his wife to see the lanterns every night. Naturally, they would take a different route each time so that they could see different sceneries. In the end, they would all stay in a house in the city.
Over the past few days, there were more and more lanterns. When they walked along the same road, they realized that the lanterns were denser than before. Some of the lanterns' positions didn't change, but the details were clearly slightly changed. They looked even better. This was mainly because there wasn't enough time to prepare. Many merchants had made the lanterns late, so they couldn't make it on the first day. Although they had taken it out, the details hadn't been done yet. Therefore, they had to do some detailed work to make the lanterns look even more beautiful.
On New Year's Eve, the atmosphere of the lanterns was at its strongest. The number of people on the streets who were admiring the lanterns had also reached its peak. There were so many people that there was almost no place to stand. There were still many pedestrians even in the middle of the night. The traffic control didn't stop, so Ang Lee had no choice but to walk to find a car. Fortunately, Ya 'er, who was following Ang Lee, had better stamina. Otherwise, he really wouldn't know what to do.
On the first day of the new year, there were also many people watching the lanterns, but there were slightly fewer than on New Year's Eve. On the second day, there were clearly fewer and fewer people. In the next few days, there would probably be fewer and fewer people. Then, there would be another peak on the fifteenth day of the new year. After that, these lanterns could be removed. After all, these big guys consumed a lot of electricity. It was also very troublesome to block the middle of the road. They could have fun during the new year and celebrate the entire country, but they couldn't celebrate the entire year! Therefore, after the fifteenth, these lantern facilities had to be removed. This was not negotiable.
The materials used on the surface of these lanterns were some paper, some cloth, and some expensive silk. In short, there were all kinds of materials. The paper would definitely be scrapped after half a month, and the cloth could only be torn off and sold at a low price. As for the high-quality silk lanterns, if they were carefully removed, they might still be able to continue to be sold. As for the framework of the lanterns, some of them were made of metal, but most of them were made of wood. This was also relatively cheap, and wood would decay. Basically, it would become rotten wood after a few years of use. After the lanterns were dismantled, these wood could only be thrown away as firewood. Even if they were to make lanterns again next year, they would use new wood. Besides, many of these wood were shaped, so it was difficult to use them. The style of the lanterns that merchants advertised in the next year would definitely change. If they did not change, then it would be too boring, and the effect of the advertisement would be greatly reduced. Once the lanterns made by oneself could not attract the eyes of the masses, the effect of the advertisement would be greatly reduced.
Just like in the future, although the population of the capital was increasing and the demand for various goods was very large, the number of people who came to the capital to do business was also increasing day by day. As a result, although there were many opportunities, they were all diluted by a large number of merchant groups. The business was still alright, but if one wanted to earn more money, it would still require a lot of effort. One needed to defeat many competitors. There were not many monopolies like Ang Lee, who could just lie down and make money. As long as there was no monopoly, the pressure of competition would definitely exist. Survival would be more difficult, and one would even have to sacrifice rest time to make up for the lack of income.
During today's Lantern Viewing Festival, most of the small vendors and merchants were open all night. Even if there were almost no people on the street after midnight, the large shops of the small vendors and merchants would not close. They would continue to waste time like this. Occasionally, they might be able to wait for one or two customers, but the income obtained from these few customers was not proportional to the labor they put in. It was also considered a loss. It was not even as big as the consumption of light and fuel, but many merchants were still willing to waste time like this.
This was also a kind of business strategy. The purpose was to increase the goodwill of their customers towards their shops. In this way, even if they suffered a temporary loss, it would not be a big deal.
For example, some people suddenly needed some goods in the middle of the night. It was the kind that was urgently needed, but when they went out, they found that a large number of shops were closed. They would be very disappointed. At this time, if a shop was not closed, it would solve the urgent need of this person in the middle of the night and gain the goodwill of this customer. In the long run, even if it was not in urgent need in the middle of the night, they would still take care of this person's business. This was a kind of emotional card. As more and more merchants awakened their awareness, more and more of these shops were not closed in the middle of the night. This was the so-called 24-hour business.
This kind of shop that was not closed would definitely have a much higher staff expenditure. This was because they needed to recruit employees who specialized in the night shift. However, the number would definitely be less than during the day because there were very few customers at night. One or two employees would be enough to guard the door.
After there were more shops that were not closed at night, the environment of the entire capital had changed. In the past, no matter where one went, it was deserted, even if there were street lamps. After all, street lamps were dead things, they were uniform, and people were alive. The decorations of the shops were also different. A large number of shops along the street had their doors open, and people were walking around inside. This gave people a very warm feeling. Walking on the street at night, one would not feel lonely and afraid. In case of danger, one could even hide in the shop. The bailiffs and soldiers patrolling back and forth were also very good security forces. They were fully capable of maintaining the security of the capital.
In the past, the patrolling soldiers in the capital were in a large group of about ten people. When patrolling like this, the sense of security was enough. However, if there were too many patrolling soldiers, it would also be a waste. In the case of manpower being fixed, a group of more than ten people, then the areas that could be patrolled would be much less. Therefore, in order to be able to better patrol every area, these patrolling soldiers had also undergone a reform. A group of only three or four people, at most no more than five people. This way, the efficiency of patrolling would be greatly increased.
After staying in the city for four consecutive days, Ang Lee and his family left the city and returned to their residence outside the city. Living in the villa outside the city for the past few days was really a bit suffocating. The villa outside the city was still better. The environment was good, and the place was big enough. It was not an ordinary comfortable place to live, much more comfortable than the house in the city.
After the second day of the new year, the year was considered over. Some people had officially begun to work, and the relevant parts of the imperial court had also begun to operate normally. However, this was only a part of the yamen. More yamens would only start to operate normally at least until the eighth day of the new year.
In view of the great role played by the underground parking garage of Ping Kang Fang, many high-ranking officials of the imperial court personally went to experience it and felt that this method was really good. Therefore, they began to plan to continue to build underground parking garages in the bustling areas of the Eastern and Western Markets to alleviate the parking and traffic congestion problems in these bustling areas.
However, some people also put forward new ideas. Some ministers thought that since parking garages were built under the roads, why not simply build these garages longer and communicate with each other to form an underground passage? In this way, low-grade cargo vehicles could drive on the underground road, and some relatively dirty swill trucks could also go underground. Not only could it relieve the traffic pressure on the ground, but it could also beautify the city's environment. It was really killing two birds with one stone.
After this idea was introduced, it immediately caused an uproar among the high-ranking officials of the Tang dynasty. Many powerful ministers joined in, and even some low-ranking officials with no power began to care about this topic.
Such a great and epoch-making idea naturally had to be bragged about in the newspapers of the Tang dynasty. Otherwise, how could they live up to the results that they had spent a lot of brain cells to come up with? After this topic was published in the newspapers, it immediately became a hot topic among the people of the capital. Many people showed great interest in this idea.
The people living in the capital, regardless of whether they were rich or poor, were very dissatisfied with the traffic congestion in the capital. Therefore, as long as the imperial court issued measures to alleviate the traffic congestion, all the people would raise both hands in support. However, these measures must be workable to a certain extent. If they were not workable, the people would feel that it was unrealistic.
For example, if a large-scale underground road was built, would it cause the normal road to collapse? Would the construction cost be too high? How high would the construction cost be? Could the imperial court afford it? What if there was a dangerous situation? Once the underground road collapsed, the people walking inside would be buried alive. No one would want to be buried alive!
In short, after this topic was put forward, it was a hot topic on the streets. Almost everyone would express their opinions and let others listen to their opinions.
"Have you heard? The imperial court is going to build underground roads inside the capital. In the future, poor people like us can only walk underground. The roads above are for the rich. "
"Why? Why should the rich walk on the roads above while we have to go underground? It's so dark down there. It's so scary."
"How can it be dark down there? There are street lights. There will be street lights underground. There are also places where ventilation and light can pass through. It won't be very dark. "
"Even so, the roads above ground are better. I'll walk on the roads above ground. Let's see who can do anything to me."
"Don't talk nonsense. When did the Tang dynasty say that the poor can only walk underground? It's just that some undignified trucks, swill trucks, and dung trucks can walk underground. Others can walk on the roads above ground."
"But there aren't many of these kinds of vehicles! How can they relieve the pressure of the environment and roads? "
"The underground road is as wide as the road above. The middle is for cars to walk on, and the sides can be parked. Naturally, it can relieve the pressure of the road. If some of the cars are parked below, there will be fewer cars on the road above, and the road will be wider."
"That's true! It's better to have an extra road than no road at all. However, it's not easy to dig a road underground. If it accidentally collapses, the loss will be great. "
"How can it collapse? Since the imperial court has built it, they won't let the roads above collapse. The roads around Ping Kang Fang are almost done. It's been several months, but the roads above haven't collapsed! "
"That's true! However, building a road underground is a big start. It will cost a lot of money! "
"The imperial court has money. What are you worried about?"
A group of people chatted on the streets.
From the content of the conversations, it could be seen that the ordinary people were still very concerned about the construction of the underground road. After all, it was related to whether it would be convenient for them to travel in the future.
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