Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 419

Summer is gradually passing. In the summer of 1629, Lingao County was very quiet.One is that the weather is so hot that people in the city don’t want to do activities. Farmers are busy harvesting and planting in summer under the scorching sun, and they don’t have time to go to the city.Secondly, the city has been gradually marginalized economically, and the few merchants in the city were gradually attracted to Dongmen City to open stores and do business. The common people and gentry gradually got used to this new market. , Whether it’s shopping or taking a leisurely stroll, the things you can buy in Dongmen City and the shopping environment are much better than those in the county.

Several handicraft craftsmen in the city have all closed their businesses, including the only blacksmith shop in the county.Their products are simply incomparable with those who travel through, and even fail completely in terms of price.Finally lost in the free competition.Now I am no longer in the county seat. It is said that I work as a craftsman with the Kun people, and the salary is good.According to people who saw it, the clinking cooper, who was originally poor, actually married a wife, brought four or five apprentices, and hooped barrels there every day.

The only place in the city that seemed a little lively was Runshitang.Since Runshitang's owner went to the sub-continent, Runshitang, which had been quiet and quiet, suddenly became lively, and many foreign medical workers were added to work.Baskets of medicinal materials were shipped in, and boxes of proprietary medicines were shipped out.Everyone said that Yang Shixiang, the owner of Runshitang, was out of luck.Once every ten days, several cartloads of goods will be transported to Bopu, pretending to be the latest Zhuge Xingjun powder and avoiding plague powder made by Runshitang-it is said that they are very popular in Guangzhou.These two medicines are also well received in Lingao, especially the cheap and high-quality Biwensan. Many people carry a bottle with them, and it has become a regular safety medicine in summer.Even if you really can’t afford it, you can still get it at the door of the church in Dongmen City—the price is to listen to a passage from a foreign monk inside.

The foreign monks are friendly, they tell beautiful stories, and they also show beautiful picture albums.Even if it's not for drugs, it's a good choice for recreation.

A well-informed person said that the reason why Runshitang was able to turn around was because shopkeeper Yang took the lead of a "miracle doctor" among the Kun people, and he came up with the prescriptions for the medicine.It is said that he also received financial support.

This Australian is really a good boy.People in the county with more active minds feel this way, let's just say that Lin Quan'an from Quanfu Commercial Bank was taken away. He was originally just a Hokkien who was responsible for selling goods, but now he has become the richest man in the county, and there are four people in and out. The sedan chair, the whole house is running around, and now there is Yang Shixiang again... Many people's minds have become active.Some people were asking how they could catch up with the people in the time-traveling group.

The county government office where Lingao's center is located was also listless throughout the summer, with the gate closed tightly, and the two gatekeepers also hid in the door opening to enjoy the shade.Now it’s time to collect summer grain, but every autumn, the secretary office, subordinate staff, and “grain messengers” who show off at the gate of the county government are nowhere to be seen—the local summer grain quota is only a mere 32 shi.Even if the floating sign is doubled, there is not much oil and water to speak of.Naturally they are not working hard.

All the officials in the county smelled something from the silent air in the city and felt uneasy, but no one could explain clearly what made them uneasy.

Now what are they dissatisfied with?The bandits have been basically wiped out; the large-scale pirate landings and robberies have completely disappeared. In the eyes of Wu Mingjin and others, these two alone are already great achievements. He wanted good governance that he had failed to achieve for several years.

Personally, everyone is doing well.Ordinary officials who went up to Wu Mingjin and went down to the yamen can receive a "circulation coupon" from the Kunren according to the grade table every month-although it is not free money, but it can be paid by taking it to Dongmen City. spend it.Wu Mingjin originally dismissed this kind of "counterfeit banknotes", but since he fell in love with cigarettes, which have a strong taste and are easy to inhale, this kind of "counterfeit banknotes" has shown great value. The shops that sell cigarettes in the market only charge this kind of money.

And the wife and children he brought back from Qiongshan are far more fond of Australian products than he is.Firstly, his wife loves glass mirrors, and secondly, since Xiong Buyou gave away a pair of Tianchu’s “secret monosodium glutamate” packaged in porcelain bottles, it is a must for cooking in the kitchen.Then they sent all kinds of pickles from Tianchu. For Mrs. Wu who lived in this barren place, it was like rain after a long drought——Wu Mingjin is from Southern Zhili, and he has a natural instinct for pickles and bad eggs. Goodwill, although these are common and cheap in Nanzhili, they are rare in Lingao.Wu Mingjin ate a few slices of "Yangzhou Cucumber with Butter Sauce", and felt that although the taste was not quite right, the flavor was roughly the same.Also improvised a few poems.All of a sudden, he was so excited that he sent someone to ask Mr. Wang to come and recite poems together, but he was told that Mr. Wang had gone out with Xinna's concubine.It made Wu Mingjin very disappointed.

But the thieves are very ghostly. Although they often give things away, they don't want to repeat the same.The monosodium glutamate, pickles, and bad eggs were gone. Baba hoped that Xiong Buyou would send them again, but they disappeared.If you want to buy it, go to Dongmen City.Wu Mingjin had no choice but to compress part of his cigarette money to his wife for expenses.

As Xiong Buyou gave gifts more and more times, Wu Mingjin found that he was becoming more and more nervous about the money to buy cigarettes.His solution was to let his servants take the salary issued to him by the imperial court—brown rice—to Dongmen Market and exchange it for currency notes. This approach really made him feel unbelievable.However, circulation coupons are indeed a good thing.

But the price of this "Australian product" is too high!What he was smoking turned out to be "Sacred Ship" brand cigarettes, ten white cigarettes, each with a cigarette holder made of a small bamboo tube, with a picture of a ship on the box - Wu Mingjin knew that this was Bopu that huge ship.The price of Shengchuan brand is 6 yuan per pack.According to the list price of Delong Grain Bank, it is almost four to five catties of brown rice!

A small cigarette is half a catty of rice!Wu Mingjin felt that he was too extravagant, so he asked his servants to buy cheaper ones.The servant then bought a "Bairentan" brand cigarette.The taste of the smoke is similar, but the cigarette holder without the bamboo tube.Cigarette packaging has also become much simpler.The price is only 3 yuan.After smoking for a few days, he found that the book offices in the county government also smoked the same kind of cigarettes.After careful observation, it turns out that the cigarettes have different font sizes.The most expensive one is "Sacred Ship", followed by "Bairentan", then there is a 1 yuan one called "Gaoshanling", and the last is "Big Production", which only costs 50 cents.Peddlers smoke like this

As the highest official of the county, Wu Mingjin smoked cigarettes of the same grade as the yamen secretariat, which was really out of style.So he had no choice but to continue to smoke the "Holy Ship".

Recently, Dongmen City is selling ice cubes again—this has caused a great commotion, and everyone in Lingao wants to know where the Kun thief got the ice cubes.There is no ice in Lingao in winter, and there are no deep mountains where snow can hide ice.It seems that the Kun thief not only has ice, but also seems to be very easy to come by. If you don't use it yourself, you can sell it.Circulation coupons can buy a large piece back for 10 cents.

Putting a large piece of ice in the hall immediately feels much cooler, and it is even better to use ice cubes to freeze fruits.Xiong Buyou sent someone to send a few small jars of sour plum soup—it would be a good thing to drink a bowl of iced sour plum soup—but Wu Mingjin's circulation coupon expenses were further expanded.

Magistrate Wu was quite clever enough to realize that the Time Travel Group was using all kinds of "ingenious and obscene skills" to lure him and his family into taking the bait.Don't send real money, but what you send is something to enjoy, and these things are only available to thieves.

Wu Mingjin sneered secretly: You think I don't know your tricks!

Knowing is knowing, but demand is unstoppable.The so-called transition from thrift to extravagance is easy, and from extravagance to frugality is difficult.Once a person gets used to the enjoyment of life, it becomes very difficult to change.For example, his attempt to smoke Han tobacco again failed. It was spicy, bitter, and full of smoke. After a few puffs, he became angry and threw the pipe directly.The footman was so frightened that he knelt on the ground and dared not speak.In the end, I bought him cigarettes from Dongmen City.

As for ice cubes, even if he could bear it, his wife and children couldn't understand his difficulties and insisted on it.The son actually proposed: Send someone to ask the Australians to send some ice cubes every day-they will not fail to send them if they think about it.Wu Mingjin was so angry that he just wanted to slap him a few times.

Of course you can buy ice by yourself, but the cigarette money is decreasing day by day... Wu Mingjin also encountered the problem of insufficient cigarette money that modern men often encounter.

Money, of course he has it.Although Lingao is a small county, the county magistrate always gets a share of the two Fuli every summer and autumn.But the money accumulated in the past has been sent back to his hometown one after another.The Xia Fu has no tricks, and the Autumn Fu has not yet arrived. Apart from a pitiful monthly salary, there will be no place to make money for a while——Wu Mingjin thinks he is still a "conscientious" county magistrate, making black-hearted money, He generally wouldn't do things that were corrupt and broke the law.

Of course, as long as he expresses a little bit and sighs with Wu Ya, it is estimated that the thieves will take the initiative to increase the "subsidy" in all likelihood.However, in addition to being "conscience", Magistrate Wu also has a little "backbone"-he will never do such a thing close to "begging".

Unexpectedly, a few days later, Xiong Buyou was very considerate and sent a stack of ice tickets, and he went to Dongmen City to pick up ice with the tickets, one piece per ticket.30 yuan a month.Wu Mingjin's emotions were very complicated: he didn't have the courage to refuse the Australian's bribe, but he accepted it—he felt that he was getting deeper and deeper.Not only him, but also the whole county's subordinates.

(End of this chapter)