1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 88 Servant Market
According to Zhang Guang, there must be no way to go to the brothel, at least under the guise of "business", which made He Xi very depressed for a few minutes.He didn't really want to go there to solve his physical problems, but he really wanted to see how different the oriental nightclubs in the seventeenth century were from 400 years later.Even if he wants to go, He Xi can only wait for the salary system to be determined in the future, and go out of his own pocket to play, otherwise, once the news of "public money whoring" is reported back to the base camp, it will definitely be criticized by many depressed single men.

"Idle is also idle, go, go to the talent market." After He Xi made a decision, he pulled Zhang Guang to reverse the direction and headed towards the south gate.

Zhang Guangqi said: "There is still a talent market in Yazhou?"

"Well...it should be more accurate to say that the labor market is more accurate." He Xi immediately corrected his statement: "I heard that Kong Limu mentioned that there is a place outside the South Gate for unemployed people waiting to be hired... …”

The term "unemployed" may not be quite accurate. Every year, many prisoners are sent to Yazhou by officials, and these people often have to bring their families with them, so that Yazhou has always maintained a considerable number of homeless people.If the whole family sits together, it will be easier to handle, and they will be dragged directly into the hard labor camp. However, those family relatives, subordinate servants, etc. who are innocent but come to Yazhou with a large number will become a security risk.How to make these unfamiliar outsiders find a stable livelihood in Yazhou is also a headache for local officials.

In the end, in line with the principle of "relieving a headache", Mr. Zhizhou set aside such a place outside the South Gate for outsiders. One is to minimize the number of unemployed vagabonds in the city, and use a softer method to drive them all out of the city. ; Second, it also makes these people have an idea in their minds, at least there is a way to survive that they can try, so as not to be forced to do some robbery by the pressure of survival.Over time, such a market for hiring labor has been established outside the South Gate. Some local gentry businessmen who need to hire people will also come here to choose.

The two of them left the south gate and walked along the main road for about half a mile before seeing the so-called "labor market".Of course, there is no seat setting for recruiting units here, and there are no yamen servants here to maintain order. I only saw about two to three hundred people sitting in groups of three or four in the open space by the roadside.These people include men, women and children, most of them have numb faces and dull eyes. When someone approaches, they will stand up and bow their heads, hoping to win the favor of customers.

"When I first came to the city to work, I went to some labor markets, and it was almost the same." Zhang Guang said with emotion when he saw the situation in front of him.

"That's still different." He Xi shook his head and said, "In the labor market of later generations, there are many migrant workers who want to go to the city to earn money, but now we see these people just looking for something to do to make a living. Yes. For them, there is basically no way out when they come here, and the pressure to survive is much greater than that of migrant workers.”

"Do we really want to hire someone here?" Zhang Guang asked with some doubts.

"If there are suitable ones, we can hire a few." He Xi has already made plans for this: "We are also overseas rich businessmen now, even if we can't take a car or a sedan when we go out, one or two servants are always running errands. Is it necessary?"

"I don't think it's necessary. We can do anything by ourselves. Why pay servants?" Zhang Guang paused for a while, and then added: "Of course, if you plan to buy a few maids, then I think you can still have them. of."

"You maid!" He Xi scolded with a smile: "Don't think about it, kid, this is for us to maintain our image in the future and make things convenient. Think about it, many of the people we will deal with in the future are wealthy businessmen, celebrities and gentry in Yazhou. Senior official, if you don’t have anyone around you, do you think others will recognize your social status? Going alone when talking about business is definitely not the same as going with the driver and secretary Ma Zai, right?”

Zhang Guang had to admit that He Xi had a point. On the issue of whether to use servants or not, the issue of Chuanzhong's image in Yazhou should be considered more than the cost.As the designated distribution site of the imperial court, Yazhou City receives a certain amount of population import every year. In fact, there is a surplus of local labor force, which also causes the labor price of Yazhou to remain at a relatively low level all year round.As far as Zhang Guang knows, the price of servants here in Yazhou is about five taels a year. This is still a healthy young and middle-aged servant. The price of children, the elderly and women is lower than this.This cost is completely affordable for the office in the cliff. Even if it is covered with food and housing, the cost of hiring a servant for a year will not exceed [-] taels of silver.

Before the two of them entered the market, a man in Tsing Yi came up to greet them. He clasped his fists and said, "May I ask you two gentlemen, are you going to hire workers or buy servants? Maybe I can help you two."

"There is actually a shopping guide in this place!" Zhang Guang couldn't help but sigh, it seems that the ancients had a strong sense of business.

The man probably didn't understand what Zhang Guang meant by "shopping guide", so he took out a piece of paper from his arms and said, "Two Mingjian, this is a tooth sticker issued by Yazhou Prefecture, and the next one is a serious official. Ya, specializing in the sale of hired workers. Two people here hire workers or buy servants, and the signed documents must also be signed by such an official as a witness before it can take effect.”

Zhang Guang and He Xi looked at each other and said in unison, "Intermediary!"

The middlemen who introduced transactions for buyers and sellers in the market and charged commissions were called "tooth dealers" or "tooth merchants" in ancient times. Beginning in the Ming Dynasty.For example, the man in Tsing Yi who can take out the official issued tooth post is the official tooth, and the unlicensed business is the private tooth. This is similar to the regular intermediary companies and black intermediaries in later generations. In comparison, of course, they have business Licensed official teeth are more reliable.In order to prevent the existence of private teeth, this labor market directly stipulates that employee documents need to be witnessed by official teeth to be effective, so that there is no room for private teeth to operate.

After understanding the other party's intention, He Xi asked, "How about your commission?"

The man was not busy making quotations, but first introduced: "Although there are many people who come to this place looking for errands, their quality is uneven. Some people don't know anything. They just come here to find a way out of their livelihood. If outsiders don't check, they may not be able to hire suitable candidates. I can search for people and negotiate prices at the request of the two of you. It only costs two coins a day. , it's already afternoon, and seeing that the two of you are here for the first time, you only need one penny."

Zhang Guang calculated in his mind, this price doesn't sound high, but this guy has two silver coins even if he only receives one group of merchants a day, how can he get six or seven taels of silver in a month, and the annual salary is better than Luo Shengdong's total return. A lot higher, it seems that this intermediary is quite profitable.

Seeing that they didn't respond, the man thought that his offer was too high, and continued to persuade him: "You two, I said this price is the real price given by the state government, not just shouting randomly. If you receive a tael of silver, you have to hand over half of it to the prefectural government as a tax, otherwise you will not be able to operate here.”

He Xi's heart moved, and he asked him, "Show me the toothpaste again, I didn't see who signed it."

The man took out the toothpaste and handed it to him according to the words, and the handling column on the toothpaste was indeed filled with the name of Confucius.He Xi smiled and said: "I said why this guy is so enthusiastic, I immediately recommended this place when I heard that I was going to hire someone, I wish I could bring me here in person, it turns out that he also has oil and water... Okay, a penny, right? ? That's you."

The man was overjoyed, took the silver from He Xi's hand and put it in his arms, and led the two of them to the crowd: "Please, the two of you, what kind of person are you looking for?"

"Younger, honest and obedient, healthy, clean family, I want two or three men." After thinking about it, He Xi added: "If there is a girl who is suitable for a maid, you can also take a look. "

Zhang Guang bumped He Xi with his elbow and said, "Didn't you say you wouldn't buy maids earlier?"

"I didn't plan to buy it for myself." He Xi explained: "Zhao Xiaoruo is a girl who lives in the same courtyard with a group of us big men, it will be somewhat inconvenient. Buy her a maid, one is to let her She has a talking female companion, who can take care of her life by the way. Secondly, if there is anything, it is more convenient to have a woman in the courtyard. "

"Ah... I didn't think about it." Zhang Guang scratched his head embarrassedly, admitting that he was thinking crooked, but he obviously overestimated He Xi's integrity.

"...If you really see the right eye, it's actually a good idea to buy yourself a bed warmer in the house. This is far more serious than going to a brothel to solve the problem." He Xi added shamelessly.

With the leadership of the tooth merchant, the two of them saved the time of running around like flies. He Xi's conditions had been made very clear, and it would be faster to find suitable candidates.

Soon they settled on two juvenile servants, one fourteen and one fifteen, who came from the north following the assigned master's house.These two teenagers had been sold as slaves when they were young. The master was convicted by the court and sent to Yazhou. They had nowhere to go, so they had to follow thousands of miles to come here, but now the master has no financial resources to support these servants. , so simply let them fend for themselves.And this kind of situation is also the most common in this servant market. Almost [-]% of the people have a similar experience. When the three of them were negotiating with the two teenagers, there were also many self-recommendations beside them who kept begging them to hire them. For oneself, the scene was once chaotic.

(End of this chapter)