"Oh my God! It's hard to believe that the note is the previous Huaxia! Arthur Pulitzer exclaimed in his heart as he held up his camera and took a picture in the street.

"I hope I'm not mistaken, this is indeed not Shanghai!" He looked at a road sign, the direction on it was obvious, it said Zhongdu, and the surrounding antique oriental buildings also told Arthur Pulitzer that he was not in Shanghai, where Western architectural styles were concentrated. But the many pedestrians on the streets, and the dazzling array of shops that seem to be stacked with goods from all over the world, look more prosperous than the Shanghai he saw five years ago.

"Could this be the commercial capital? The capital of business? He couldn't help but ask Luo Mangdao, the accompanying translator.

Luo Mang was amused in his heart, but he still patiently explained: "The origin of the word merchant is indeed related to the Shang Dynasty!" However, this is the core area of the Central Plains of China, which was not only the capital of the Shang Dynasty, but also the capital of several dynasties, and perhaps even the capital of the earlier Xia Dynasty. ”

"Xia Dynasty? Isn't that a legend? Arthur noticed Luo Mang's careful choice of words, and couldn't help but ask with a smile.

"Before the oracle bone inscription was discovered, the Shang Dynasty was also a legend, but now a huge empire has appeared in this land, as for the Xia Dynasty, although the exact text has not yet been studied, we cannot assert that it is a legend like a tribal alliance, and the Chinese civilization is not only the Shang Dynasty, a mature empire with a summer destiny. You know, some time ago, the ruins of an even older ancient city were discovered in Erlitou! Probably going back to a much older age, we have a better way to tell. Luo Mang couldn't help but say movingly.

As for the origin of China, after the wars, natural disasters and deliberate changes of the past dynasties, it is hidden in the fog of history, and future generations cannot see it clearly. But those things that cannot be judged may be inconclusive, but they cannot be just a myth and legend.

"I know, I'm here to see your old carbon method." Arthur didn't expect Luo Mang to react so much, and couldn't help but shrug his shoulders and said.

His visit to China this time was mainly aimed at the new dating method announced by Chinese scientists. Carbon was only discovered in 7 years, and it was still on the lips of scientists, and the Chinese people discovered its new use.

"Not only do we have carbon, we also have a detailed tree ring record, and we can extrapolate it to 10,000 years ago!" Luo Mang couldn't help but say proudly.

At the same time as the construction of various places, the archaeological team is also constantly expanding.

In order to prevent the destruction of all kinds of cultural relics and underground ruins in modern construction and become a sinner of history, Meng Xiang can be said to have taken great pains to directly use money to smash out a huge archaeological team. It even introduced various advanced technologies in the future, such as the old carbon measurement method that should have appeared in concave years.

At present, China's nuclear program is still in full swing, and although the final step has not yet been taken, some ancillary products have also been developed. In particular, experts from abroad may not be suitable for them to participate in the nuclear weapons program, but many people are still happy to use them for peaceful cutting-edge research, and even spies have tapped up many great talents from the US nuclear program team who are unwilling to engage in weapons research.

The old carbon dating method has a lot of credit for these foreign experts.

At the same time, after the American astronomer Douglas invented the method of measuring tree rings at the beginning of this century, countries had their own records. Meng Xiang was willing to invest, a lot of money to throw down, not only from the Americans borrowed from the pine of the annual ring chronology, the German oak chronology and the British French research also together with a comprehensive reference, on this basis formed a unique Chinese chronology system, relying on the Chinese ancient trees more, at this time has made an accurate record of 6,000 years. It has become a sharp weapon for Chinese archaeology.

The prosperity of the Department of Archaeology has also attracted a large number of masters who have studied both Chinese and Western studies, and even those who like to play with gold and stone are also full of interest. This action of tracing the history of the three dynasties of antiquity has also become a saint that Meng Xiang is praised for. Although many Westernized new cultural people also questioned the antiquity, more Chinese people still believed that the Chinese origin was more long-lasting.

"If it weren't for the central government, which strictly examined many sites, and did not allow easy excavation if they did not meet the requirements, we might have discovered the secrets of the Xia Dynasty a long time ago!" Luo Mang said with a little regret.

With the help of various scientific and technological means and tools, the self-confidence of the expanding archaeological team has been slightly inflated, and there are even requests to excavate the tomb of Qin Shi Huang. This reminded Meng Xiang of many problems in later generations, when the terracotta warriors and horses of Qin Shi Huang were unearthed, the sè color faded and the sè became a gray fluttering appearance. Archaeology is not the end of the excavation, cultural heritage does not only belong to one generation, how to protect it for more future generations is more important.

The existing archaeological materials are not perfect, and the archaeological army is not mature with money. As long as it is not necessary to excavate, Meng Xiang would rather continue to wait.

However, Arthur Pulitzer still did not agree with Luo Mang's statement, among the three major signs of civilization defined by modern archaeology, only the sign of the city is useless, and writing and bronze are needed. But judging from Luo Mang's reaction just now, he suddenly sensed that there was something different about this city.

"Confidence! The people in this city are more confident, and they are more confident than the Chinese people in Shanghai that I saw five years ago. It's like the "day" book in the past. Arthur suddenly realized.

"The successive victories against Japan and Soviet Russia have made the people of this country regain their self-confidence, and they are no longer submissive when facing Westerners." Arthur couldn't help but look around and said, "It's not just the confidence from the war, although I arrived in the city directly by plane and didn't look at other places, but from the perspective of the development of this city, Huaxia's economy has also begun to become stronger." They were not caught by the war in the north

As a result, their economies, which had been crushed by the war, became even more prosperous.

This is much stronger than the current economic cramped "Japan" itself. No wonder they're so confident! ”

"No wonder your city is called the Central Capital!" He couldn't help but sigh.

Luo Mang misunderstood Arthur's thoughts, and couldn't help but explain: "Although many people planned to use Zhongdu as the capital before, our new capital has been decided, and Chang'an is also a beautiful place, if you have time to take a look, you will know." ”

He also has regrets in his heart, logically speaking, the Central Plains region is the most prosperous core area of ancient China in the era of peace, and it doesn't matter if the capital is the capital, but the war has always accompanied the rise and fall of China, like the Central Plains, a place of four wars, and there is no natural danger to rely on, in the bronze age of wooden sticks in ancient times, it may be okay to pile up soil for the city, but in modern wars, and even earlier cavalry years, there is no advantage in the ground, and the capital is easily threatened. The new capital is tentatively designated as Chang'an, which is much safer.

He didn't know that when Meng Xiang was making a choice, he was also embarrassed for a long time. The revival of Chinese civilization will inevitably not leave out the Central Plains, and if we dare to establish a capital in the Central Plains, we must have absolute self-confidence.

In Meng Xiang's eyes, in the era of missiles and modern aircraft in later generations, and even after the battle in the sky, the difference between Chang'an and Zhongdu is not very big, and Meng Xiang holds the base in his hands, and he also has absolute confidence to protect the Central Plains. It is also more suitable in terms of transportation and the civilizational and economic transition between the coast and the interior.

But Meng Xiang never dared to put all the bets on the base, and whoever obtained the base inexplicably would at least consider that there was someone above his head who had jurisdiction over him, and it was likely that he would lose it again inexplicably.

Zhongdu as the capital may be considered after China dominates the world in the future, but now the terrain of Chang'an can at least ensure the safety of this era when the land is king, especially when part of the pressure from the north has been eliminated at this time, and it may have to compete with another behemoth for global benefits.

"Such a big city, if not the capital, would be a great city!" At this time, Arthur Pulitzer did not hesitate to praise more. Of course, this is not limited to praise, the surname Pulitzer gives him a false pride, after all, he can't help but be shocked when he hears about the size of the new city of Zhongdu.

After explanation, he realized that this world's largest city is not limited to the traditional noon city. Not only the small county town of Zhengzhou, which arose with the junction of the Pinghan Railway and the Longhai Railway in the center, has even expanded the surrounding cities within 150 kilometers through convenient rail transit, forming a huge urban circle.

It includes the ancient cities of Luoyang, Xuchang, Kaifeng, Xuchang, etc., and it is not an exaggeration to say that China is the core area of the Central Plains.

Arthur was also amazed by the fact that there were more than 20 million people in this urban area directly under the central government, and at the same time he was amazed by the extensive rail network that was not inferior to that of the United States. It is through the increasing number of railway lines with an average speed of more than 60 kilometers and the laying of an ever-longer network of motorways using German technology that this huge urban circle of tens of thousands of square kilometers has become a reality.

"At the same time, the pursuit of greater self-confidence is also a process of pursuing greater self-confidence, although there are many blind shortcomings, but their development speed is amazing, one day, they will create more miracles. Self-confidence gives them the motivation to move forward! Arthur Pulitzer wrote in his notebook.

Before closing the notebook, he thought about it and added again: "We need to think carefully about our relationship with them!" ”！。