Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1030 White Snake
Shaowu 20 years, early February.

With the coming of snow and spring, a spring rain that is as expensive as oil swept across the entire capital.

There is a lot of rain in the sky above the streets, and the rain is fine and moist. In some streets and alleys, under the eaves, or on the corners of the walls, the grass struggles to get out of the gaps between the stone bricks. When viewed from a distance, the grass color is faintly connected, but it appears sparse and scattered when viewed closely.

At this time, the city of Beijing is the most prosperous.

The grievances that had been suffering for a winter were released, and a lot of money was released.

But in fact, it was hundreds of rivers entering the sea, and the autumn tax from the south was impatiently imported into the capital while the snow was melting, so as not to delay the trip.

According to regulations, the tax payment date for the autumn tax is at the end of March. Once the date is missed, the future of the officials will be gone.

The autumn tax arrived at the Chongwenmen Wharf in the capital city from Tianjin, and then it was recorded by the Ministry of Household Affairs. Ordinary people naturally didn't notice it, but the prosperity of the capital city was obvious to all.

As the political center and economic center of the entire North China, the city of Beijing has continuously absorbed talents from all over the world, thus becoming more and more prosperous.

Nan Huairen got into the carriage and felt the bumps. Through the window, there were all kinds of hawking noises. There was order in the noise, which made people fascinated.

The largest city in the entire world has completely recovered its vitality, and it is getting better day by day.

Before the fall of Constantinople, the capital of the entire western world, I'm afraid it won't be like this!

Unfortunately, the only comparable city has fallen into the hands of a group of pagans.

"Yo, Mr. Nan, you are here."

As soon as the carriage was heard, Nan Huairen heard a burst of laughter. He lifted the curtain and stepped on the wooden bench to get out of the carriage.

I saw a bright scene in front of my eyes, lanterns of various colors, mostly red and yellow, shining brightly, almost driving out the entire night and reducing it to day.

And not far away, on a wooden pillar three or four stories high, there is a huge cover: Chang'an Theater.

There is also a lantern hanging next to it, with the same four characters written: invite guests from all directions

A man in his thirties, with a short beard on his lips, bright eyes, slightly thin lips, a mink coat on his upper body, and silver moccasin boots, looks quite wealthy.

This is the person who invited him, his name is Tao Liushan, a child born, but with a lot of money, he is a wealthy businessman, and also a Huizhou merchant.

Although I am not familiar with it, Huizhou merchants are well-known. After visiting once, I was invited to come here.

"The theater?" Nan Huairen frowned, "Tao Yuanwai is too polite."

"Where?" Tao Liushan came over quickly, and said with a smile: "I heard that there are Caesars in your country, Octavian and others are very famous, they are famous heroes, I wanted someone to write a few books and sing them out. .”

"But after thinking about it, you are a religious believer. Is there a name greater than the name of Jesus?"

"So this is a delay, but don't worry, a dozen people have been invited to write the songbook of Jesus, and it should be available in half a month."

Nan Huairen was sweating profusely when he heard it: "Forget it, besides Tao Yuan, there is no need to perform the deeds of the Holy Son, the singing book is too expensive..."

Although Tao Liushan's words were a bit wrong, this kind of heart was received.

You know, it takes two or three months to write and perform a play, and it will cost at least three to five hundred yuan.

"Hey, since you ordered me like this, why should I not obey?"

Tao Liushan hurriedly posted: "This one is about the Legend of the White Snake. I don't know which great sage changed it. Xiaoqing became a maid, and Fahai is really hateful, but the play is just cute."

"Look what's going on, since the middle of winter in the twelfth lunar month, this book hasn't stopped. The snow that's a foot thick is almost up to your knees, but the carriages outside the Chang'an Theater are all parked, and they are pressed down hard."

"I thought, aren't you a kind of Catholic? It's always the same. It's always necessary to cast down demons and eliminate demons. It's quite appropriate to see this stuff."

Nan Huairen smiled awkwardly: "I have a heart."

But these words piqued his interest.

Jesus will come to enlightenment, that is, to learn from Buddhism and Taoism, but not to subdue demons and eliminate demons, it seems that they have to learn from it.

The two of them took the servants and went straight up the stairs to the third floor. This is where the box is located. Looking up at the stage, they could see it clearly.

As soon as my butt sat down, the corresponding melons and fruits were delivered, including a piece of watermelon and a plate of cucumbers.

Nan Huairen carefully picked up a piece of watermelon and ate it, the mouth was cold and slightly sweet: "That's right, there are watermelons at this time, isn't it only in summer?"

Tao Liushan said with a smile: "It grows in the greenhouse. It is rare to see green in Beijing in winter, but it was picked out by those sharp-eyed people. Don't just look at these two or three petals of watermelon."

"Its price is one piece, one petal, one whole big watermelon, and you can't get it without dozens of silver dollars."

Under Tao Liushan's flattery, the two chatted constantly, from fruit to grapes, and then to wine, discussing rice wine, white wine, and the pros and cons of wine.

In just a short while, the entire theater was full.

The boxes on the third floor, the square tables on the second floor, and the hard bench seats on the first floor all fell silent at this moment.

With a burst of gongs and drums, a puff of smoke appeared on the stage.

Immediately, a lifelike and thick boa constrictor appeared in front of everyone, and a few branches were manipulated and twisted for a while, which surprised everyone and shocked many people.

Some people even thought it was a real python, and their faces turned blue with fright.

The voiceover suddenly sounded, it was crackling thunder.

The smoke lingered, and the white snake suddenly disappeared.

Immediately, a young girl in white clothes appeared in front of everyone.

Everyone realized that it was transformed by the white snake.

As the smoke disappeared, the screen behind him was also replaced, and it became a Mount Emei and a statue of Guanyin.

I saw the woman in white knelt down and sang: "Bai Suzhen at the foot of Qingcheng Mountain, this body of Qianxiu in the cave~~"

"Diligent practice to gain the Tao, reborn into a human being"

"Focus on the Tao without distracting thoughts, take refuge in the Three Jewels and abandon the world of mortals."

I hope that the Bodhisattva will enlighten me and take me Suzhen out of the mortal world! "

But Guanyin Bodhisattva even said at this time that his mortal world is not exhausted, and he needs to repay his kindness before he can go away from the mortal world.

Only then did everyone understand that in order to become a fairy, the White Snake needs to repay the grace of saving his life.

Thus, a drama of nearly two hours unfolded:
They met by chance in West Lake, fell in love at first sight, got married, and stole money from Qiantang Treasury to open a medicine shop.

This play is fascinating and the singing is so beautiful that even Nan Huairen couldn't help being attracted and plunged into it.

Afterwards, Nan Huairen repeatedly shook his head and said, "Beasts and boa constrictors can also turn into humans, and they can also marry people, and ghosts and gods can also be driven to steal money from the library."

"Bizarre, unbelievable, too exaggerated."

"By the way, this white lady married Xu Xian, did she have any children in the future?"

As he said that, he couldn't help but patted himself on the head, and said with a smile, "How can a snake marry a human being and have a child?"

"And even if he is born, he is still a snake egg, right?"

Tao Liushan who was on the side couldn't laugh or cry when he heard the words: "You don't care whether he can have children, anyway, in the end, he gave birth to a son and became the number one scholar."

"If you are always interested, just come back tomorrow."

"It takes nine days to sing this play. If you are not satisfied, you can listen to it again in another theater. In the entire Beijing city, nine out of ten families are singing this book. You don't have to worry about not hearing it."

Nan Huairen suddenly drew ten in his hand: "Amen, it's a sin. I'm reading stories about other religions. This is disrespect to the Lord."

"Master Nan, don't worry, the monks here are villains."

After a message of reassurance, Nan Huairen got into the carriage and went home.

After watching several scenes in a row, the relationship between the two became more and more familiar.

On this day, Tao Liushan showed his cards directly and told his purpose.

"Making a self-ringing clock?" Nan Huairen was inexplicably surprised.

"That's right." Tao Liushan said with a smile, "Who didn't put a chime bell in the whole city of Beijing, from the palace to the palace?"

"It's become a fad."

"You know, apart from Beijing, there are many big cities in the world. Suzhou, Nanjing, and Songjiang in the south are also first-class big cities. There is a great demand for chiming bells."

As he said that, his face became serious: "It's a pity that this chime clock is too expensive. The ordinary ones cost one hundred and eighty yuan. The gold, silver, enamel, and gem-studded ones range from one thousand to eight hundred yuan, and the high ones can reach three to five thousand yuan." .”

"If we build a clock field, are we afraid that no one will buy it?"

As the saying goes, what is rare is the most precious, and the city of Beijing especially loves Xiyi bells, but thinks the local ones are earthy.

But Tao Liushan saw the way.

These people were all focused on Beijing, but they didn't expect that the vast south and other rural local tyrants also needed chime bells.

It seems that other people are automatically filtered out when they leave the city of Beijing.

At the same time, because of dislike, those self-ringing clocks that appeared on the market are basically imitations of Xiyi, except for changing 24 hours to twelve hours, the other differences are not big.

In this way, if he built a batch of local chime bells, such as the dragon and phoenix Chengxiang bell that can be used as a dowry, the Avalokitesvara sends a son bell, and the medicine master Tathagata bell?
He couldn't believe that no one would like this kind of chime bell with special meaning.

Therefore, Tao Liushan wanted to build a large clock field, and specially built self-ringing clocks. Wouldn't it be developed?
And if you want to be successful, you must have a good master.

At this time, Nan Huairen, who worked for Qin Tianjian, was naturally the best candidate.

Nan Huairen hesitated.

He is a missionary, serving the emperor is fine, after all, it is for the great cause of missionary work, but now it is a bit outrageous to do things for personal reasons.

What's more, wouldn't it be a blow to the Italian businessmen if there was an extra bell field?

Tao Liushan calmly said, "I would like to give you 1000 yuan of silver dollars every year as a reward."

Nan Huairen's heart was shocked, this was higher than his annual salary.

"can."

Nan Huairen replied: "But I have to stay in the Qin Tianjian on weekdays, and I can only give advice when I have free time."

"Of course."

Tao Liushan was overjoyed.

Who doesn't know the leisure of Qin Tianjian?

He doesn't have to go to court, he's fine on weekdays, and he's going crazy every day.

In this way, within half a month, the bell field will have results.

After Matteo Ricci introduced clock technology to Beijing, craftsmen have mastered it one after another today. The big clock is easy, but the difficulty lies in the small clock.

With the help of Nan Huairen, a three-inch high chime clock appeared on the market.

Its price is only ten silver dollars.

Such a low price has been sought after by many scholars.

Anyone who has a small fortune will buy one and put it on the desk or in the living room.

The folks have a great pursuit of accurate timing.

At the same time, the small chime bells spread from Beijing and gradually spread to various places.

Due to the popularity of the self-ringing bell, it even caused a certain degree of panic among the people.

Watchmen are afraid of losing their jobs.

But obviously they were overthinking. They were indispensable in terms of fire prevention, and at the same time, a large number of low-level people also needed them to tell the time.

"A chime?"

Zhu Li glanced at the most conspicuous chime clock in the shop. It was five feet high, gilded on the outside, and carved with auspicious beasts such as unicorns and phoenixes, which looked very eye-catching.

He dismissed it.

In his house there was another even bigger one.

Immediately, he brought his servants to the largest bookshop in the capital.

According to legend, there are thousands of books in the bookstore, all-inclusive, and they are first-class ones.

As soon as Zhu Li arrived, he really felt extraordinary.

It is actually three stories high, all of which are collections of books.

You can go casually on the first floor, you need one penny on the second floor, and two cents on the third floor. You don't care about time, it seems that people come here to look up information.

Zhu Li was very interested in this.

He directly paid a penny and went up to the second floor.

As soon as I climbed the stairs, I saw a huge map of the world: the map of the world.

Almost half of the scholars gathered around the map, looking at it with their faces close to each other, full of curiosity.

"If the earth is like a sphere, how can the sea water in the surrounding and lower country depressions be kept from falling?"

"My Daming is actually just a corner of the world?"

"My God, there are millions of people in Shandong, hundreds of counties, but there are only so few?"

"As for my house, why is there no shadow in Shanyin?"

Scholars have discussed this map with mixed reviews.

"Sure enough, the trip was worthwhile, and the money was worth it."

Zhu Li nodded, feeling emotional.

If you don't see this map, how can you know the vastness of the world?
Still like a frog in a well, complacent.

Looking around the second floor, it really is extraordinary.

In addition to the treasured classics and historical books, there are many unheard of books:

"Principles of Geometry", "Ru Pythagorean", "On Geometry", etc.

Arithmetic is involved.

This is the township examination, which is often tested in the general examination. Reading these is very helpful for arithmetic.

Thinking of this, he directly picked up the books one by one, ready to take them down.

However, he wanted to go to the third floor.

After thinking about it, he directly took out the money and went up to the third floor.

Printed in the eyes, this is also a map:
Map of Daming.

Its length unexpectedly reached one foot, and its width was five feet, which can be described as extremely large.

The mansions of the three generals in the two capitals and 25 provinces are clear at a glance.

Even, if you look carefully, you can find the prefectures and counties, and some mountains and rivers are clearly visible.

Zhu Li knew for the first time that the source of the Yangtze River was actually on the plateau.

"This map is worth ten thousand gold."

Zhu Li was startled, he never imagined that such a strategic map could be seen with only two pennies, what an exaggeration this is.

(End of this chapter)