prosperous age

Chapter 27 Chapter 27
In the last class in the 29th year of Jiajing, after finishing their daily homework, the children stood up respectfully and said New Year's greetings to Master Sun when school was over.

The private school didn't start until the fifteenth day, and Mr. Sun assigned ten essays for these students, and an average of one essay was completed every two days. To be honest, it didn't seem too difficult for Wei Guangde.

Wei Guangde ushered in his first holiday in the Ming Dynasty and also his first New Year.

For poor people, the Chinese New Year is like a sea of ​​swords and swords. Those who owe rent and debts before the Chinese New Year must pay off their debts at this time, so there is a saying of New Year's Pass.

Of course, such days have nothing to do with Wei Guangde.

A few days ago, the eldest brother Wei Wencai made two or three trips back and forth between the county and the town to prepare for the New Year.

They always put on a cart and go out in the morning, and often they can only go home after dark.

This is not to say that their family will make a big deal of this year’s bumper harvest, not only their own family needs to prepare new year’s goods, but the entire hundred households’ military households also have a lot of items that need to be purchased. A bit cheaper.

This year, the military households of the Bengshan Hundred Households Office have received more money than usual, so they will naturally have a good year.

On the 28th, the Hundred Households killed a few New Year pigs, and they really entered the atmosphere of the New Year.

A few pigs were picked up. Of course, the good thing is that the officers will divide them first, and the military households will be able to divide them more or less, otherwise the children in the military castle would be so excited.

Wei Guangde also went to look, and a large group of children surrounded there, watching the washed fat white pig being pressed on the bench, some children couldn't help but began to salivate.

There are quite a few children in the Baihu Institute, but most of them cannot go to private schools like Wei Guangde and the others.

You can see fish from Baihusuo from time to time, but other meats are not common, that is, those officers and those hunters have such a good taste.

From New Year's Eve, children can hear the explosion of firecrackers from time to time in the military castle, adding a touch of joy to the festive atmosphere.

However, Wei Guangde's residence is Bengshan Hundred Households, and there are no celebrations here, which is far worse than in the city.

On New Year's Eve, along with his parents and eldest brother, he kowtowed to the ancestral tablet. This was the first time in Wei Guangde's life that he knelt down. In Wei Guangde's later generations, although there were some who knelt down, most of them just bowed. There were also those who knelt when they were young. Time, but I really haven't worshiped.

Afterwards, Father Wei briefly talked with the two brothers about the process of passing on the family to this generation. It happened in previous years, but Wei Guangde didn't listen much at that time, and now Wei Guangde only has a vague idea. , I just know that the ancestor of the Wei family should be from Fengyang.

This time, he listened carefully to what Old Wei said, and he was really from Fengyang Mansion.

As for the past half a year, I haven't heard of any relatives, and I have a general understanding at this time.

It has been a long time since our ancestors came to Jiujiang, and there must have been branches and leaves.

But in ancient times, transportation and communication were inconvenient, and as a military household, it was difficult to change the household registration, and there was no way to choose too many. Most of the scattered branches went to the border town to enrich the guard.

After a long time of separation, the contact became less, and in Wei Meng's generation, he was just a single seedling, after all, he encountered the military disaster.

Wei Guangde understood the actual situation of the Wei family, but he just kept in his mind the approximate whereabouts of the branches that his father said he had divided.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Wei Guangde got up in the morning and followed his elder brother to kowtow to his parents to pay New Year's greetings. After finishing the ceremony properly, Wei Guangde got the lucky money.

In previous years, according to Wei Guangde's memory, his parents would give him a string of fifty coins each, so every Chinese New Year, Wei Guangde would get one hundred copper coins.

Of course, this copper coin will not be like the parents of later generations. The children have to try their best to take away the new year's money when they receive it, which is called "saving".

But this year seems to be a bit different, maybe because the family received more money this year, Wei Guangde received two silver coins from his parents, about one tael each.

The prices during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty were sincerely not too high.

On weekdays, Wei Guangde brought a few copper coins, and he could eat snacks in the town.

This time, I got two taels of silver at one time. According to the current exchange rate, I can exchange for two thousand good money. If it is those private money of poor quality, I may also get three thousand.

Now, after passing through for so long, Wei Guangde also probably knows that in the Ming Dynasty, the currency was still a bit confusing.

Let’s talk about casting money. The government has castings. The copper content is high-quality and high-quality, which is good money. This money is 1 copper coins for one tael of silver.

And folks also have private coins, which are the same as counterfeit banknotes in the future market, with less copper, so it takes more than 1 to exchange them.

The industry of printing counterfeit banknotes, in Wei Guangde's view, is also an industry with a long history if it is carefully researched.

According to Wei Guangde's knowledge, in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, gold and silver were strictly prohibited from being circulated. Time has passed, and such decrees have long been thrown into nowhere.

"Thank you, Mom and Dad, they are the best for me."

Wei Guangde happily took the silver box, and shouted sweetly.

"study hard."

Father Wei is stroking his beard and looking at Wei Guangde, speaking earnestly, while Mother Wei is stroking his head kindly.

Eldest brother Wei Wencai also got the New Year's money, the same as Wei Guangde, very happy too.

Two taels of silver, this is a huge sum of money, and the helpers in the city have to work for two or three months to earn it.

This is also an important reason why military households fled in the Ming Dynasty. Military households could not go out to work to make a living. Even if they worked part-time, they could only call their bosses, usually for free.

Wei Meng and Wei Baihu are also greedy for money, but at least he only accepts money, and the rations of the military households below can barely be supplied.

In the Ming Dynasty, consumption was also monotonous. In fact, after the food problem was solved, there were not many places to spend money, and those military households could be paid for about one tael of silver.

Whether it's Wei Guangde or Wei Wencai, the usual expenses for food and clothing are at home, so naturally the money is spent by oneself outside, which is really not a small amount.

After a while, Zhang Dayong and other general banners and small banners in the military castle also came to the mansion to pay New Year's greetings to Wei Baihu, and stayed for a banquet.

In this hundred households, there is not so much attention.

In the early morning of the third year of junior high school, the elder brother Wei Wencai was looking for a car, and the family was going to Wu's house in Qianhusuo, which was agreed a long time ago.

When leaving the gate of the fort, Wei Lao smiled to Li Dayong, the general banner who saw him off: "I will leave all of the Banyue Fort to you. I have been out for a little longer this time, so you should pay more attention to it."

Wei Guangde and Wei Wencai stood quietly behind their father, Wei Meng. Wei's mother was already sitting in the car at this moment. This was going back to her mother's house, and she wanted to tell her elder son about their marriage. From time to time, she opened the curtains to look under the car. situation.

"Don't worry, my lord, I'm in the castle."

Li Dayong clasped his fists and said to Father Wei, a dull man, he only does things but doesn't talk, so he doesn't talk much.

Father Wei nodded with a smile, turned to Wei Wencai and said, "Then let's go."

After speaking, he got into the carriage with Wei Guangde, while Wei Wencai got on the horse next to him, and took a few servants to the distance.

(End of this chapter)