The Black Sails of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 93 Scorpion Poop
After the proceedings.

Lin Qian walked out of the officers' mess hall and glanced at the sky. It was already late, and a crescent moon hung obliquely in the sky, but Nan'ao City was still bustling with activity.

There was no curfew or taxes in Nan'ao City, and the islanders earned a lot of money through their work.

Moreover, due to insufficient productivity, prices on the island are much higher than on the mainland.

This caused Chaozhou merchants to flock to Nan'ao like seagulls attracted by fish and meat.

A while ago, the merchants would arrive after dawn and return by boat before dark.

Gradually, some merchants realized that while their competitors returned to shore at night, the islanders would still go out for a stroll. During this time, there was no competition, which was the perfect opportunity to make a fortune.

As a result, more and more merchants began to return to the shore every two days, or even every three or four days.

This overnight operation model has given Nan'ao City its initial shape as a night market.

Since arriving at Nan'ao Island, Lin Qian has been so busy that she hasn't had a chance to properly take a look around.

He needed to buy some materials and manpower to break through the water gate, so he might as well take this opportunity to go for a stroll.

Lin Qian led Bai Langzai off the boat and onto the street.

The shops on both sides of the main road were still somewhat empty, but the vendors who set up stalls along the street were crowded together.

In popular areas such as intersections, vendors are crowded together, and it is very common for them to occupy the road for business.

As early as when Nan'ao City was being designed, Lin Qian designed the roads to be very wide, and even reserved the locations for roadside trees and streetlights.

Since there are currently no vehicles on the island and everyone walks, these vendors occupying the road do not obstruct traffic.

Moreover, the island currently has only a militia guard of just over two hundred people, whose main responsibility is to monitor the pirate prisoners as they work.

There are no police or urban management agencies, so even if these vendors block the road, no one will care.

This coexistence of order and chaos is indeed somewhat reminiscent of the atmosphere of a pirate republic.

However, the chaos on Nan'ao Island is only temporary. Once Lin Qian has finished dealing with the Huangyan Lin family and has enough money, she will start to solve the problem of order on the island.

Lin Qian and her companion headed south along the main road. Along the way, they saw mostly fish stalls, as well as a wide variety of other staple and non-staple foods, drinks, desserts, fruits, dried fruits, fabrics, clothing, and household goods.

This gives a glimpse into the prosperity of the commodity economy in the Ming Dynasty.

What surprised Lin Qian the most was that there was actually a book stall on the island.

Selling books on this island where almost everyone is illiterate is truly unique to Scorpion Baba.

Lin Qian became interested and went over to browse through the books.

When the stall owner saw that a customer had arrived, he immediately took out a tinderbox, blew on it, and diligently lit the lantern, placing it beside him.

By the light of the lanterns, Lin Qian flipped through the books with great interest.

Most of them were romance novels, such as "Jin Ping Mei", "The Oil Vendor Wins the Courtesan", "Zhao Wuniang Sacrifices Herself to Save Her Husband", and "The Story of the Liu Family Carriage".

Flipping through the books at random, I saw that they were all woodblock printed, beautifully printed, and some even had illustrations, and quite a few of them.

Now Lin Qian understood why there were bookstalls on the island.

The stall owner gave a knowing smile that any man could understand: "If you're not satisfied, sir, I have some more pictures here."

Lin Qian put down the book: "Do you have any charcoal pencils?"

The stall owner was taken aback, then took out a cloth bag: "Yes, we have top-quality graphite."

The charcoal pencils used by Ming dynasty carpenters were mainly used for marking during their work.

The stall owner learned from others that there was a lot of construction going on on Nan'ao Island, and he figured there would be a high demand for charcoal pencils, so he brought more than 30 pencils to the island. Unexpectedly, he sold more books than pencils.

A charcoal pencil is a graphite stick wrapped in coarse cloth, and its shape is very similar to that of a pencil in later times.

Lin Qian took the pen, examined it closely under the lamplight, confirmed that it was made of pure graphite, and put it down, saying, "I'll take all the pens."

Bai Langzai took out his silver to pay, and the stall owner happily accepted it, thinking to himself that doing business at night was definitely the right thing to do; if he had gone home earlier, he would have lost a big order for nothing.

Lin Qian then asked the stall owner, "How many of these graphite pens do you have?"

The stall owner was taken aback: "How much do you want, sir?"

"Give me twenty catties first, and I'll order more if that's not enough," Lin Qian said casually.

This time, the stall owner was completely taken aback. To prevent him from not believing her, Lin Qian even had Bai Langzai pay half of the deposit first.

The stall owner patted his chest and guaranteed that tomorrow, even if all the girls in Chaozhou were out of eyebrow pencils, he would find the graphite pen that Lin Qian had requested.

Seeing that this man was somewhat clever, Lin Qian took the opportunity to inquire, "Aren't you afraid the county will find out that you've come to the island to do business?"

The stall owner was a little puzzled: "The county has always known about this. They keep giving bribes to the county yamen runners, but no one has investigated it."

"Doesn't the county magistrate care?"

The stall owner looked confused: "Which county magistrate are you talking about? The three coastal counties of Chaozhou Prefecture haven't had a magistrate for over ten years."

Lin Qian was quite surprised and quickly asked him.

The stall owner shook his head and said, "I don't know what happened in the other two counties, but the previous magistrate of Chenghai County stepped down in the 35th year of the Wanli reign..."

Perhaps it was the 36th year of the Wanli reign? I can't remember.

Anyway, no county magistrate has come since then.

It's not just Chaozhou Prefecture that's like this; I've heard that neighboring Zhangzhou Prefecture and Huizhou Prefecture are the same.

Fortunately, the seas have been peaceful these past few years, so the absence of a county magistrate hasn't been a big deal; everyone's lives have continued as usual.

Lin Qian chatted with the stall owner for a few more minutes and gradually understood what was going on.

It was Emperor Wanli's negligence in governing that led to the retention of all memorials, resulting in vacancies in local government without being filled.

Fortunately, there was no power vacuum. Local officials and powerful clans gradually divided up the county magistrate's power, and the county was able to survive thanks to the inertia of the system.

In this semi-anarchic state, local people could do business on the island without any constraints.

Just as she was about to leave, Lin Qian noticed a piece of paper next to the stall owner, covered with densely printed words.

Lin Qian took a closer look and saw the words "Official Gazette" written in the upper left corner of the paper.

Lin Qian became interested and picked it up to examine it. She saw that the gazette was published about half a month ago and contained the imperial edict of the new emperor's ascension to the throne.

Before she could read it carefully, the stall owner, seeing that Lin Qian was interested, said, "There's only one copy of this gazette. If you'd like to read it, I'll give it to you."

Lin Qian asked curiously, "Where did this gazette come from?"

The stall owner said, "Of course I buy from big stores."

After the stall owner explained, Lin Qian finally understood that the Ming Dynasty's official gazette was printed by the Grand Secretariat and distributed to various provinces. Generally, it was printed within the province and distributed to officials.

However, the people of the southeast were enthusiastic about current affairs and had a high literacy rate. The provincial government would also distribute the woodblock prints of the official gazette to bookstores, which would then print and sell them to the public.

It was really no different from newspapers in later generations, which shows the flourishing culture of Jiangnan in the late Ming Dynasty.

Lin Qian asked Bai Langzai to give him another tael of silver.

The stall owner waved his hand and refused: "The official gazette is a gift for you, how can I accept this?"

Lin Qian said, "From now on, every issue of the official gazette will be sent to the island. This is the money you earn for delivering the gazette."

Upon hearing this, the stall owner accepted the money and repeatedly assured him.

After Lin Qian left, she carefully folded the official gazette and put it in her bosom.

Then they headed towards Qingmeifang. They bought a pound of lead oxide, which was also called "red lead" in the Ming Dynasty and was a common medicine for treating sores and ulcers.

On the way, I passed a cloth stall and bought a bolt of cotton cloth.

Lin Qian told Bai Langzai to take it and walked towards the prisoner-of-war camp.

The further south you go in the entire Nan'ao city, the more desolate it becomes. After walking several miles outside the city, you can see a desolate scene with lush forests and rugged land.

More than a dozen makeshift shacks were erected on the edge of the woods, with thatched roofs haphazardly laid inside.

The pirate prisoners were held in groups of ten, their feet bound by chains, and lay in their shacks.

These people had just finished a long day of hard work and were preparing to rest.

Around the thatched hut, there was a separate shed where dozens of militiamen, armed with rifles, sat guarding it.

Lin Qian found the militia captain, took out the prepared items, and said, "Get the prisoners up, they're ready to work."

(End of this chapter)