As for the wealthiest place in Sha Province at present, that honor naturally belonged to Dunhuang.
When Zhuge Xu arrived in Dunhuang, he was genuinely startled.
He could still recognize places like Kucha, but the sheer scale of Dunhuang's transformation was astonishing.
Caravans of merchants were a common sight on the roads around Dunhuang, while inside the city, people packed together like mountains and seas... most of the great clans relocated from Ba-Shu had settled in Dunhuang.
Dunhuang's population had soared. In the years since Zhuge Xu's departure, Cao Mao had moved no small number of people here.
With the head tax abolished as well, Dunhuang was exceptionally bustling and boisterous.
Everywhere on the streets, children ran about barefoot.
It was as though children had filled the entire city.
The closer he drew to Luoyang, the greater the changes became.
The roads teemed with travelers, and long lines of merchants could block the city gates.
Inside the cities, people jostled against one another in a spectacle of prosperity. Towering shops of every kind lined both sides of the streets, offering everything imaginable, while vendors cried their wares all along the roads.
Zhuge Xu was dumbfounded.
To him, this was already the golden age he had imagined.
Surely even the Later Han had been no better than this??
How many years had it been?
The shocks Zhuge Xu experienced along this journey were simply greater than those he had experienced on his way to the Kushan Empire.
People who had lived here all this time might not notice these changes, but someone like Zhuge Xu, who had been away for years and suddenly returned, could see the tremendous transformation.
He could not even describe it, but Great Wei had certainly not looked like this before he left. And now, the time