Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 389
"Clang clang-"

Pukou Wharf suddenly remembered the sound of a bell.

A large number of people were driven away, at least two feet away from the river.

Immediately, the wooden fence was closed, and several government servants in soap suits, white belts on their arms, and knives on their waists kept yelling and scolding the people who were not walking in time.

Immediately afterwards, a thick-waisted government servant knocked on the gong at the top of his voice, and shouted: "The transport ship is coming, hurry up and line up, one by one!"

Jia Yan stood on tiptoe and kept looking around, his face full of eagerness.

"Hey, brother, why are these yamen servants here at the pier? Do you have to line up to pick up people?"

At this time, a man dressed as a businessman spoke a strong Wu dialect, although it was an official dialect, it was difficult to understand.

After listening for a long time, Jia Yan finally understood, and said involuntarily:

"It looks like you just came to Nanjing, and you don't understand anything."

"Did you see the white armbands of these yamen servants? They are called auxiliary servants, and they were also former white servants. Now they are regarded as people in the yamen. The monthly salary is only [-]% of the regular service. It can only be made up when the yamen servants retire due to old illness. "

Seeing that there was no shadow of the boat, Jia Yan couldn't help talking endlessly:

"As for the fence, line up, as long as the copper bell sounds, everyone has to wait in line."

"Why is that?" the businessman wondered.

"Hey, I'm on the tower, stand high, see far, know that it's a boat coming, let's wait!"

Jia Yan smiled, and patted him on the shoulder as if he had come here: "Brother, this is Nanjing City, so you need to see more."

As everyone knows, the matter of waiting for the pier is only two months.

In fact, in order to deal with the war, the imperial court was deeply aware that the regulation of transportation had a great effect on autumn grain and the turnover of money and grain.

Under the emperor's intervention, Nanjing's docks began to be standardized in an instant.

Nearly [-]% of the berths in all the piers are occupied by the government, and the remaining [-]% are used by civilians.

Therefore, in order to make more effective use of [-]% of the berths without affecting people's livelihood, the imperial court carried out a series of planning and management.

For example, at a distance of five miles from the wharf, all civilian cargo ships and merchant ships have to wait every two hours to arrive at the trestle at one time for unloading.

As for the yamen servants, due to the abolition of their lowly status, they were transferred to civilian registration, so the tolerance of yamen servants is also highly sought after. In order to deal with complicated matters, auxiliary servants came into being.

"This is Nanjing!"

At the pier, a large number of cargo ships lined up, slowly arriving at the pier, without scrambling or grabbing, in an orderly manner.

"Get off, get off—"

The ship owners kept urging the passengers to disembark, so they could use the remaining time to unload the cargo.

Holding the luggage, Gouzi hurried off the boat with his mother, Jia Wangshi, who was holding his younger sister, and met his long-awaited father.

As soon as Jia Yan saw his wife and son, he immediately became excited. His daughter, who was nearly one year old, was sleeping soundly while his wife was sleeping.

"Hey, my Lan'er slept really well."

Jia Yan looked at her daughter's flamboyant little face and said happily.

Immediately, he looked at the cheap son who was growing up, and couldn't help but patted him on the shoulder: "God, yes, you took good care of your mother."

"Father, why did we move to Nanjing again?"

Gouzi said displeased: "I just learned Mencius from my husband, and I'm not yet proficient!"

"Yes, master, our field is in Huguang, and then we traveled all the way to Nanjing, what should we do with the field?"

Jia Wangshi was also very tired, with a puzzled face.

"Say it on the road!"

Jia Yan left the pier with a bag in each hand and a few people.

On both sides of the pier, a large number of mule carts, donkey carts, and horse-drawn carts stopped, forming a line just like the crowd.

Jia Yan brought his family to a mule cart, put the luggage on it, and let the mother-in-law, daughter, and son sit on it. He walked aside:

"I knew you were tired, so I specially hired a mule cart."

After speaking, he said excitedly: "The reason why I called you here is because I have something good to tell you."

"What's the matter?" Jia Wang asked.

"Hey, His Majesty, in order to reward us servants of the dragon, specially allowed us to be naturalized in Nanjing, that is to say, we will be from the capital in the future."

Although it has been said that for hundreds of years, the imperial residence has been slack, and it has become empty talk every ten years, but the capital is different after all. Except for high-ranking officials and dignitaries, it is difficult for ordinary people to become naturalized.

There are too many advantages of Gyeonggi native place, such as the number of imperial examinations, corvee, taxation, etc., for ordinary people, the temptation is too great.

"I've already thought about the fields at home. Now we just collect the rent every year. We'll go back to take care of us when we get old..."

Gouzi lost interest when he heard this.

He kept looking around, seeing that there were dense shops along the road, merchants traveling from south to north, speaking various dialects, and there were even red-haired men of different kinds.

"Father, why is that man's hair red?"

Gouzi was shocked, his face pale.

"Oh, those, they are Franks, just like monks and priests."

It's not surprising that Jia Yan sees a lot these days.

"Unexpectedly, there is such a person in the world, just like that Rakshasa!" Jia Wangshi patted his chest and covered his daughter's eyes, for fear of scaring her.

It took nearly three hours for the mule cart to reach the outer city of Nanjing.

It took another half an hour to complete the task.

Jia Yan paid fifty big coins in distress, and enviously said: "If you have a livestock, you can earn more."

Arriving at a dilapidated house, Jia Yan said, "There are few people in the outer city, and this house is cheap, so I bought it."

"That's a lot of money, right?" Jia Wang said distressedly, but she was extremely satisfied with the upper and lower floors.

Although dilapidated, this is a house in Nanjing.

"Didn't King Yu ascend the throne? Everyone in the army was rewarded ten taels of silver, plus the previous two months' salary, and I borrowed some from my colleagues, and bought it for 50 taels of silver."

"Oh my god!" Gouzi opened his mouth wide open, "Father, this is your salary for two years!"

"Your father is the captain now, with a hundred people under his command, and his monthly salary is already two thousand yuan, less than two years' salary."

Jia said proudly.

Recently, the imperial court kept collecting silver and releasing silver and copper coins, which caused the price of silver to rise, and every tael was exchanged for six hundred cash for copper coins.

It has risen by more than two percent.

Aware of this situation, although Jia Yan didn't know about inflation, he knew that silver was valuable and immediately spent it.

"Dad, you are amazing."

The dog worshiped.

Since having this father, he has never been hungry, and in his small heart, he only thinks that father is the most powerful.

"Goofy, from now on you will live on the first floor, and your mother and I will live on the second floor."

"It's great, I can finally sleep peacefully at night." Gouzi shouted.

But Jia Wang's face turned red. Now that she has no worries about food and clothing, she feels ashamed.

"It has to be King Yu, otherwise how could there be such a good day?"

At night, he hugged his wife and muttered.

(End of this chapter)