Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 166 Selling Matches

Seldan led Saimar and others through the large mounds where Qing soldiers were buried, and came to two small graves.

"This is what you are looking for. On the left is the tomb of Hai Lancha, and on the right is the tomb of a general. I don't know what it is called."

Saimar clasped his fists gratefully and saluted Serdan: "Brother, thank you so much! My name is Saimar, from Wuketun, Qihechen Township. What's my name?"

"My name is Seldan."

As soon as the words came out, the faces of Saimar and others changed suddenly. They didn't expect that the strong man in front of them was actually a criminal wanted by the imperial court!
"You are Seldan? I heard that your archery skills are very good. As expected, it is better to see it than to hear it."

Tak Tiyin asked excitedly: "Brother Seldan, I heard that your arrows were not in vain. You once killed two armored soldiers with one arrow. Tell us about it?"

Seldan thought of that snowy night when he fled, shook his head and said, "It's all in the past."

Seeing that he didn't want to say anything, Saimar asked his men to take tools from the horseback and go to pick up the bones of Hai Lancha and the general.Sitting down next to Seldan, he took out a dry pipe and asked him, "Two mouthfuls?"

Seldan shook his head, took out a pipe from his jacket pocket, and took out a bag containing shredded tobacco, and said to Saimar, "You should smoke mine."

Saimar's tobacco leaves are ordinary goods bought from Jilin Ula, and he can't afford the expensive ones.Seldan's shredded tobacco is the super-grade Jiaohe smoke given to him by Zhao Xin, which is the authentic Kanto tobacco of later generations.

Zhao Xin saw Serdan smoking before, and gave him some cigarettes from later generations.But Seldan thought the cigarettes were boring, so he took back the pouch.Later, Zhao Xin simply gave him a briar wood pipe and a few catties of premium Kanto shredded tobacco.Seldan fell in love with it immediately.

Saimar took the shredded tobacco from Seldan, opened the bag and smelled it, and couldn't help but praise: "Good smoke!" But then, he saw something even better.

Seldan took out a small box from his pocket, and took out a small stick wrapped in red; then lightly stroked the side of the small box, with a sound of "Crack!", the small stick unexpectedly Just got up.

"Fight!" Seldan lit a cigarette, blew out the match, took two puffs beautifully, and turned his head to see Saimar who was stunned.

"Brother Seldan, what kind of treasure are you?! How can you become popular with one stroke?"

Seldan said in a deep voice: "Oh. This is called a match. I heard that it is made of green armor. I don't know the specifics."

"Brother Seldan, how many 'matches' do you have? We want them all!"

"Do you want this? I can't make up my mind. I have to go back and ask my lord." After Serdan finished speaking, he got up and said a few words to a soldier. The soldier saluted, turned around and left.

In 1680, British chemist Boyle produced the first match in modern history.He coated the end of the stick with sulfur, and on a piece of rough paper he rubbed the stick against the rough paper, and the match ignited.But because the price of an ounce of phosphorus was extremely expensive at that time, the cost of Bo's matches was extremely high and the sales volume was extremely small. People still used flints to make fire every day.

This early Bo's match was brought to Guangzhou by British businessmen and presented to Kangxi and Qianlong as a tribute, but because the price was as high as one tael of silver, it was only regarded as a rare treasure.

In 1771, the Germans produced a match called "phosphorus candle".It was a long, thin, airtight glass tube, devoid of oxygen, but with a strip of waxed paper with a phosphorus head.Break the glass tube when making a fire, and phosphorus will burn when it meets air.The price of this match was worth 1 mark in gold coins at that time.

It was not until 1844 that phosphorus-free matches began to appear in the world, also known as Swedish matches.This match head is made of chemicals such as antimony trisulfide and potassium chlorate.Only by rubbing on the rubbing surface coated with red phosphorus can it burn, and rubbing on other surfaces will not ignite.Therefore, a rubbing surface was included in every pack of matches back then.This is the match commonly used in later generations.

The earliest record of matches entering China in modern times is the book "Strange Records" written by Sun Yuzhang in the ninth year of Tongzhi.At that time, one tael of silver could only buy 10 boxes of matches. "During the Daoguang period, the sundries tributed by the Yingyi were more obscene and playful. Among them, there was a self-contained fire, which was only an inch long. One end of the five-color foreign medicine was rubbed and the fire broke out. The scholar-bureaucrats were all surprised when they saw it. They sighed as ghosts. Today There are markets in all major commercial ports, but the price is extremely high, and non-rich merchants and officials have nothing to ask for."

The two continued to chat for a while, and Saimar felt that the time was almost right, so he tentatively asked, "Is that Yalha with you too?"

Seldan's originally smiling face suddenly pulled down, and said seriously: "What do you want to ask?"

Saimar said sincerely: "Brother Seldan, you are all subjects of the Qing emperor, why did you rebel against the court? Why did you get together with the red-haired barbarians?"

Seldan asked in confusion: "The red-haired barbarian? When did I get together with the red-haired barbarian?"

"Brother Seldan, don't lie to me. The court has already found out that the people living at the mouth of the Xila River are all red-haired Yi people. Oh, and that big white boat."

Seldan almost laughed out loud.He didn't answer, and looked at Saimar with a playful face, he wanted to hear what the other party would say.

"Before I came, Master Du Erjia asked me to tell you and Yalha that the Hunchun Metropolitan Government did not think well at the time, and that Yalha's family should not be taken away. I did not expect that it would lead to a tragedy. As for Brother, you, the imperial court also decided to let the past go."

"Oh?" Seldan grinned at the corner of his mouth and asked, "What do I count if I killed so many armored soldiers?"

"The current Jilin general, Mr. Duerjia, is different from Mr. Qing in the past. He is a yellow belt of the clan, and what he says represents the emperor. My lord hopes that you can take the blame and make meritorious deeds. As long as you can wipe out the Hongmaoyi people, what happened in the past A write-off! And the flag will be raised."

"Hehehe, it's interesting, I actually thought Mr. Zhao and the others were Hongmaoyi people." Seldan laughed and muttered a few words.

Saimar asked quickly: "Brother Seldan, what did you say?"

"It's nothing." Seldan knocked his finished pipe on the ground lightly, got up and patted his buttocks and continued: "Get out the bones, and go back quickly after you get the things."

Saimar was taken aback for a moment, and looked at the other party puzzled.

Seldan stopped after taking two steps, turned to Saimar and said, "Go back and tell those Manchu officials not to send spies again. We welcome you if you want to do business; if you want to spy on news, remember, No approach is allowed within a radius of five miles of Beihai Town, anyone who trespasses will be killed!"

After hearing this, Saimar's expression changed, and he asked in amazement, "Beihai Town?"

"Yes, the estuary of the Sila River is our territory for fifty miles!"

Saimar looked at Serdan in disbelief, thinking about the words that Du Erjia's staff taught him, stood up and persuaded him: "Brother Serdan, are you really determined to fight against the court? My Qing Dynasty population Billions of trillions, millions of soldiers."

Seldan raised his hand and interrupted: "Don't say that again. The imperial court, the imperial court knows to ask us for fur goods from the frontier people. When we were starving, where was the imperial court? When the Yalha family was frozen to death, Where is the imperial court?! Such an imperial court is not worth mentioning.”

Saimar thought it would not work this time, and maybe we can talk again next time when we find a chance, so he smiled and said to Seldan: "Brother Seldan, I am just helping the court to spread a message. Since you don't agree, then I will I won’t talk about it. But if I come to you for business in the future, how can I find you?”

"Come with me." Seldan led Saimar all the way back up the slope, pointed to the place where Saimar and the others camped and rested just now and said: "Next time you come, just wait there, someone will come Looking for you."

Tucker reminded them that they had been busy for a long time, and finally brought out the bones from the two graves.However, it has only been three months since Fukang'an was defeated last time. The body has rotted away, and the clothes on his body are still clearly identifiable.Everyone had no choice but to cut down trees in the surrounding area to make simple coffins.This tossing arrived in the afternoon.

On the other hand, in Beihai Town, Zhao Xin has been scolded by Lao You and other nine teachers for a whole morning.In order to keep these few teachers, he could only carry it while apologizing, wanting to wait for these people to vent their anger before talking.

Lao You and the others were very angry at the fact that Zhao Xin and the others put sedatives and sleeping pills in the food last night, and said that if something happened, it would be murder.

Zhao Xin just mentioned that there is an attending doctor named Hong Tao in Beihai Town.As a result, Lao You and the others became even more angry.

"It's great to have a doctor! Who is to blame if there is a medical accident?!"

"Yes, yes, you are right."

"No! This matter is endless, tell me how to solve it."

"Compensation, I will definitely compensate everyone. Whether it is financially or spiritually."

However, when Zhao Xin was being scolded, he noticed that the chemistry teacher surnamed Fang among the nine people seldom spoke. Excitedly, he walked to the window and looked out.

Chemistry teacher, physics teacher, math teacher, these people are gods to Zhao Xin!You have to offer it.My own explosive matter has not been resolved; Zhao Liang's subordinate named Zhang Fang is still working tirelessly every day to dry those large vats of urine.

At about 11 o'clock in the criticism meeting, Zhao Xin offered to take everyone to visit the school with a smile on his face.Lao You and the others were tired of scolding all morning, so they got up and let Zhao Xin lead the way.

A group of people came to the gate of the school, and the old refugee who was guarding the gate immediately bowed to salute when he saw that it was the Lord Master.

Lao You's evil fire hadn't finished yet, seeing the scene, he stepped forward and helped the old gatekeeper up, and said loudly: "It should be him who salutes you! Stand up straight!"

After Zhao Xin led them into the school with a wry smile, Lao You and the others saw many children in the classroom studying by themselves, practicing calligraphy one by one on the table, so they asked Zhao Xin what was going on.

What can happen? It's not because there are not enough teachers, just a few people take turns teaching the children.Zhao Xin snapped his fingers and talked about the existing teacher resources, including himself, there are only four of them.

"Why don't you teach on TV?" A teacher surnamed Li suddenly asked, this person teaches physics.

Zhao Xin explained with a wry smile: "Mr. Li, our electricity supply is currently limited to the workshops on the other side of the river. I would like to build a power station, but the quality of these farmers is really not good. A skilled worker can only use it in three years. It's only been half a year since I was fully trained!

The thermal power station must have coal, but the coal is now in the mountains of Ezo!Hydropower will definitely not work. If it freezes here in winter, the water turbines will be damaged by freezing.There must be workers to build a power station, but my literacy rate is not enough.It has been more than half a year, and the communication in Mandarin has just become normal.

Next year, we will transport refugees from the Qing Dynasty, not to mention these people, almost all of them are bankrupt farmers.

Teachers, I know I have fooled you.But please come and teach your children that it is true.If it wasn't really impossible, I wouldn't make such a bad move! "

Lao You and the others looked at each other, their strong sense of responsibility made them quickly ignore their anger towards Zhao Xin.So accompanied by Chen Qingsong and Zhang Bo, they started chatting with the children.

Seeing that Lao You and the others were not paying attention to him, Zhao Xin quickly winked at Zhang Bo and Shen Xuan who came out to greet him, turned around and quietly left the school.As a result, as soon as he returned to his office, Liu Sheng came with a soldier.

"Want to change matches?!" Zhao Xin couldn't help being taken aback after hearing the report from the soldier Seldan sent back. "I'm going, how did I forget this thing!"

Liu Sheng looked at him puzzled, and asked, "What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

Zhao Xin became a little excited: "No problem. Change! It must be changed, this is an opportunity for us." He thought for a while, and said to Liu Sheng: "Give them fifty boxes first."

"How is this thing priced?" Liu Sheng asked.

"A tael of silver for a box."

"I'll go! You're so dark!"

"You don't know, matches are a scarce commodity in this era. You can't find a box in all of China. You forgot, when we were in Yangzhou, they used fire sticks or flints to light the lamps at night."

In Zhao Xin's memory, the old people of the family's grandparents used to call matches "matches".Since it is "foreign", it must be an imported product. Zhao Xin estimated that matches entered China after the Opium War.But when was the match invented?Need to check this out soon.

Liu Sheng asked again at this time: "What about the corpses of Hai Lancha and the general? Give them."

"Here. Let's save it for a fart. Take it now."

Zhao Xin took fifty boxes of matches from the cabinet and handed them to Serdan's subordinates, and said: "Remember, one box of taels of silver. These are 50 taels of silver." After speaking, Zhao Xin confessed to the soldier A few words, let him go back and must tell Seldan.

After the soldier repeated it, he turned and left.

Two hours later, Serdan handed over the fifty boxes of matches brought by his men to Saimar and said, "A box of one tael of silver."

Saimar said in embarrassment: "Brother Seldan, we don't have enough silver. Look, I'll exchange it with you for leather goods."

Seldan nodded indifferently.

Saimar was overjoyed. He picked out ten horses laden with furs and ginseng from the forty horses he had brought, and explained to Serdan: "Before coming, Master Duerjia was worried that you would not take Hailan Cha Your Excellency’s body was given to us, so we have brought you furs and horses. These six horses were given to you by Lord Dulga, and these four are my own.”

Seldan nodded and asked the soldiers to bring over the pack horses.

At this time, the temporary coffins had been prepared, and Tak Tiyin and others put the corpses into the coffins, and then put them on the backs of two pack horses.

Saimar carefully put the matches into the bag on his horse's back, and said to Seldan: "Brother Seldan, after finishing the business of Jilin Ula, I will bring the goods to do business with you."

Seldan asked his subordinates to return Saimar's bow and arrow and dagger to each other, and imitated Zhao Xin's words according to his subordinates: "Come on, we have everything here. Salt, iron pot, grain, cloth, winter clothes .We don’t want money either, you can exchange it with leather goods!”

After Saimar and his party led the horses away, Seldan asked a few of his men to follow him, and only withdrew after the other party walked five miles away.

(End of this chapter)