Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 484
"mother!"

"Eh……"

At Youshi (17:[-]), when Changlefang Official School was over, Li Dingguo also went home with most of the students.

Walking to the school gate, a woman in blue cloth with a broom and dustpan in her hands was looking at the school gate. A young man beside Li Dingguo greeted him with a smile.

In this era that emphasizes loyalty and filial piety, no one would dare to avoid their mother. If someone did, they would only be cast aside.

"Hi Auntie, Zhang Ding'an, are you not leaving with us?"

"Don't go, my mother can't get off work until four o'clock."

The people around Li Dingguo yelled, and the young man responded with a smile, waving his hand to signal that he would see you tomorrow.

Then, without waiting for others to stay, he left with his mother.

Li Dingguo also went to the sentry box of Bingmasi at this time, and pushed out one of the dozen or so bicycles there.

When he returned to his classmates, the young man named Zhang Ding'an had gone away with his mother, and the others saw that Li Dingguo had finished, and continued on their way home.

Li Dingguo had to walk to the avenue in Dongcheng, and then go to Baiwangfang. If he didn't have classmates, he could ride a bicycle, but he wanted to know what his classmates did in summer vacation.

"I heard that Zhang Ding'an's father was a cavalry soldier during His Royal Highness King Qi's first Northern Expedition. He was disabled and retired, and now he is a corps leader in the Army and Horse Division."

"Then his mother still works as a sanitation worker?"

"The head of the corps seems to have a salary of 30 taels a year, but Zhang Dingan's family has six brothers and sisters. His mother is a sanitation worker, and the salary is close to [-] taels a year. Why not do it?"

"Yes, I heard that many people from outside the city have come to the capital to work as sanitation workers."

"It's good to have sanitation workers, look at how clean the streets in Beijing are now."

"Isn't that because of the fine law? I heard that recently there has been a rule that you will be fined ten cents for defecating casually."

"Is this something that children and lazy people can do?"

"Whatever, we won't do it anyway."

"Ha ha ha ha……"

The young men always have endless topics to talk about, and Li Dingguo just quietly walked beside him pushing his bicycle.

He looked at the streets, and they were indeed very clean. Compared with the roads in the south of the capital that were full of horse manure and dirt, the cement roads in the four cities of Beijing are much cleaner now.

There are drainage ditches on both sides of the road, and there are stone drains on the drainage ditches. The neat concrete road uses steps to distinguish the sidewalk from the road. However, there are very few carriages running on the road, and most of them are bicycles and tricycles.

Compared with horses that need to eat and drink, bicycles that can go for several months with a smear of chain oil are more popular with the people.

Li Dingguo and the others walked for a long time, and there were fewer and fewer people. In the end, only Li Dingguo and another young man were left.

But when they came to a side road marked "No. [-] lane of Changlefang", the young man also waved to Li Dingguo and said:

"I'm home, see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow..." Li Dingguo waved goodbye to the other party. After watching the other party leave, he got on his bicycle and rushed towards Baiwangfang.

He didn't ride fast, or a bicycle without a transmission in this era couldn't ride very fast at all.

He rode from the side road of Changlefang to the main road of Dongcheng. In this era without electricity, the intersections mainly rely on clever little mechanisms.

For example, at this moment, what stood in front of Li Dingguo were rows of small red wooden signs that suddenly stood up from the ground.

Along the end of the red wooden sign, Li Dingguo saw a man holding a gear handle.

The wooden sign is connected to a wooden stick buried in the intersection. The wooden sign usually falls into the groove of the road, and each intersection has two soldiers and horsemen who are responsible for lifting them.

They are responsible for sitting in the corner with a Mazha, and then look at the pocket watch in their hands. When the time is up, they blow the harsh wooden whistle, then lift the handle of the wooden stick, and then step on a seesaw, Don't let the wooden sign fall down.

After 1 minute of this, they can blow the whistle, and then release the seesaw, and the wooden card will fall down, but at the same time, the wooden card on the other side must be lifted.

This kind of wooden sign is not heavy. Although it is a bit difficult to lift it up, it is very easy to lift it up.

This seemingly boring job is a leisurely job for many soldiers of the Army and Horse Division.

There is a sentry box behind them, and according to the rules of Bingmasi, every half an hour, the Bingmasi team patrolling nearby will pass the intersection and then change shifts.

This kind of wooden sign does not pose any threat to horse-drawn carriages, but it is a bit dangerous to bicycles and tricycles.

However, the new version of the "Law of the Ming Dynasty" formulated by Zhu Youjian has long stated the responsibility. Whoever collides with the wooden signboard will be fully responsible, because Daming has arranged two whistle-blowing soldiers at every three-way road and intersection. If one didn't whistle, the other whistled too.

The whistle is very harsh at a small intersection, and there is no possibility of not hearing it. As long as the whistle sounds, everyone can no longer move forward, unless the vehicle has already half-passed the groove.

Of course, if two soldiers did not blow their wooden whistles, the whistleblower would receive a compensation of [-] Wen, and the soldiers would be deducted [-] Wen.

For the current transportation of Daming, this is already a relatively flexible rule, and it is also enough to deal with the current traffic that only has bicycles and horse-drawn carriages.

"Beep-"

The whistle sounded, and the wooden sign in front of Li Dingguo was brought down. He crossed the intersection on his bicycle and came to the busy main road.

There were not many vehicles driving on the wide main road, and the vendors along the street did not set up their stalls, because the ten-foot-wide sidewalk was enough for them to set up stalls and hawk.

Li Dingguo looked at both sides of the bustling road, perhaps because he had experienced the battlefield, he now felt that peace was the most relaxing state.

Five or six miles away, he spent a quarter of an hour riding back to Baiwangfang in a relaxed condition, and pushed the cart in through the side door.

He had just returned home, put away his bicycle and walked into the square of Chengyun Hall, and saw the three Chengde people walking down the steps of Chengyun Hall.

He saluted the three court officials from a long distance away, and then ran back to his yard.

"I heard that His Highness took this kid to the battlefield this time, and I'm afraid he will be another person who will turn out to be a good figure in the future..."

Zhou Yanru stroked his beard and praised Li Dingguo who had run away, but neither Cheng De nor Bi Ziyan answered his words, which made Zhou Yanru a little embarrassed.

But he could see it, shook his head and continued to walk outside the palace.

But after they walked out of the palace, Li Dingguo changed into ordinary clothes and walked towards Chengyun Hall.

After a while, he came to the side hall of Chengyun Hall, and also saw Zhu Youjian who was processing the memorial.

"came back……"

"Ok!"

Zhu Youjian asked the question without raising his head. He could hear Li Dingguo's small footsteps, and Li Dingguo responded, and then glanced at Wang Chengen who was sitting in the corner dealing with official documents.

Wang Chengen smiled and nodded towards him, indicating that His Highness is in a normal mood today and don't be restrained.

Seeing this, Li Dingguo immediately walked to Zhu Youjian's side, poured tea and water for Zhu Youjian, and watched him deal with the memorial.

"School starts today, is there any difference?"

Zhu Youjian processed a memorial and put it on the tray next to him. Li Dingguo also told what he saw and heard today when he heard the inquiry.

Listening to what he said, Zhu Youjian also just remembered about the sanitation workers, so he couldn't help asking Wang Chengen: "Cheng En, how many sanitation workers are there in Guochao now?"

"Returning to Your Highness, I can't remember the exact details, but in the documents sent by the Ministry of Industry last month, there were roughly 24 people."

Wang Chengen gave a general answer, and Zhu Youjian couldn't help but nod after listening.

Sanitation workers are currently serving county towns, and the county towns of Daming have only more than [-] counties so far, that is, there are only [-] or [-] sanitation workers in each county.

Of course, some small counties can't use so many people, and the big cities like Beijing, Nanjing, Yangzhou, Suzhou, and Hangzhou have more people.

For example, there are more than 120 sanitation workers in the 6000 six squares of Daxing and Wanping counties in Beijing, and there are more sanitation workers in Nanjing. Zhu Youjian remembers that there are more than 7000.

With the peace of the world, not only the population of Beijing City increased, but also the population of Nanjing City, which covers a large area, increased even faster.

In the first year of the Apocalypse, Beijing had a population of just over 120, while Nanjing had 130 million. By the tenth year of the Apocalypse, Beijing's population had exceeded 180 million, while Nanjing's had reached [-] million.

It is not surprising to Zhu Youjian that Nanjing City can accommodate such a large population. After all, Nanjing City in the Ming Dynasty was originally the largest city in the feudal dynasty.

With the foundation of Nanjing City left by Zhu Yuanzhang and the architectural style of the Ming Dynasty, even if it can accommodate 200 million people, it is very easy. If it is a high-rise building, I am afraid that 600 million people will not be a problem.

With Nanjing's background, as long as the Ming Dynasty survives, it is impossible for any city to surpass Nanjing.

Without him, it is all because Zhu Yuanzhang's tomb is there, and coupled with the two-Beijing system, it can be said that Beijing is unlikely to surpass Nanjing in terms of politics, etiquette, and economy.

As for the magic capital of later generations, the Songjiang Mansion of this life probably has Nanjing by its side, so it can only be used as an outpost port city of Nanjing.

Of course, if Qi rises and becomes Daming's largest trading partner, then Songjiang Mansion's status will still rise.

However, this kind of promotion of status is very likely to cause Yingtian and Songjiang Mansion to become an economic circle.

In other words, no matter what, the economic circle of the Yangtze River Delta is destined to be formed. It is nothing more than a transformation from one superpower to two superpowers.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian was very curious about what the Ming economy would look like in the future.

It's just that curiosity is curiosity, but there are many things that need him to solve right now.

"Let the Huangdian make a list of the capital city, and give me the price list of each province within half a month."

Zhu Youjian confessed to Wang Chengen, and his actions made Wang Chengen's heart tighten.

He knew that His Royal Highness was about to release the tens of millions of taels of gold and silver from the Financial Secretary.

"The servants take orders..."

Wang Chengen agreed, and then he was going to discuss this matter with Cao Huachun.

Just when he turned around to discuss, three figures appeared at the gate of the bank in Chang'an County, Xi'an Prefecture...

"This should be the bank, and the silver reward scroll should be exchanged here."

When Zhu Fuju's voice sounded, he immediately turned his head to look at the two figures behind him.

That was the family to which he sent the ashes last, and the widow who was the same robe at the time, that is, Mrs. Zhang Li, was standing behind Zhu Fuju with her 12-year-old eldest son.

They don't know what a bank is, so they don't know how to exchange their husband's and father's pension silver and reward silver.

Of course, Zhu Fuju didn't understand either, but he happened to be going to exchange reward silver, and then went to Ningxia after a few days of rest, so when Zhang Li's mother and son came to the door, he was also happy to drive the two of them to the No. [-] place in the Northwest. City of Xi'an.

Like the capital city and most of the heavy cities, Xi'an City is also composed of two counties, one is Chang'an County and the other is Wannian County.

However, starting from the Tang Dynasty, Wannian County was renamed Xianning County, and the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties all inherited the place name and did not change it back.

Zhu Fuju had read books about Xi'an Mansion in the army, so at the moment he looked at the words "Daming Chang'an Sub-branch" on the bank's signboard, he couldn't help feeling a little bit embarrassed.

"Let's go."

After looking at the bank with different shapes, Zhu Fuju explained to Zhang Li's mother and son, and then led them into the bank.

There is no one in the bank, because it is not yet open to the common people, so the people who can appear here are basically employed in the imperial court.

Therefore, when Zhu Fuju appeared, a ninth-rank official sitting at the door immediately stepped forward and said:

"Dare to ask..."

"Zhu Fuju, quartermaster of the Ningxia Battalion, is here to exchange reward silver."

Zhu Fuju didn't show any politeness, but took out the promotion document from the Five Armies Commander's Mansion from his bosom.

"General, please..."

Seeing that the person who came was a quartermaster of the eighth grade, the official did not dare to neglect, and hurriedly took Zhu Fuju and others to a glass window sill.

To be honest, this is the first time that Zhu Fuju and others have seen such a large piece of clear transparent glass.

"Exchanging reward silver."

They were looking at the "expensive" glass, and the official explained to a second-rank official behind the counter.

After the explanation was over, the official turned around and asked with a smile: "Dare to ask the general, is there an iron badge for enlistment and a silver reward scroll?"

"Yes, but we need to exchange for two people. This is my colleague's widow. She also wants to exchange reward silver and pension silver." Zhu Fuju explained, and at the same time, Zhang Li also gave his deceased husband's enlistment iron plate and silver reward iron The volume and the death certificate issued by the government were taken out.

Zhu Fuju took it, and handed over his own things along with it, and the official also checked the things.

The enlistment iron plate is easy to imitate, but the death certificate with simple color-changing ink, and the silver reward scroll pressed out by a hydraulic press, these are things that cannot be imitated in this era anyway.

Therefore, after a brief look, the official pushed the things into the counter, and the second-ninth-rank official in the counter checked again, and then the second-ninth-rank official got up and walked towards the iron gate behind.

Zhu Fuju looked at the other party, and the official from the ninth rank explained with a smile:
"There is no problem, he has already gone to count."

"Hmm..." Zhu Fuju felt that this model different from the bank was very novel, but he didn't know if it could be promoted.

But before he could think clearly, he saw the scribe of the ninth rank and another person, and the two carried a large wooden box out of the iron gate, and placed the wooden box under the chair at the counter.

Then, the official began to take out tongs and money scales, and then looked up and asked:
"May I ask the general, do you want one tael of loose silver, or ten taels, or 100 taels?"

"I want 100 taels, and they will give you one tael."

Zhu Fuju considered for a while that he was going to the military camp, and the buying and selling were relatively transparent, so there was nothing wrong with taking 100 taels.

But compared to others, a woman like Zhang Lishi who has no pillars in her family is a bit too ostentatious when she goes out with ten taels and 100 taels of silver.

"Okay, please wait a moment, my lord."

When the second-ninth-rank official heard this, he and another second-ninth-rank official started cutting money.

Zhu Fuju got his silver reward very quickly, three silver ingots of 100 taels, five silver ingots of ten taels, and finally seven pieces of silver of one tael, and his reward of 350 seven taels of beheading silver was obtained.

In the Ming Dynasty, a catty was 16 taels, so the 350 seven taels of silver were actually more than 22 catties.

"Your Excellency, you can weigh a scale." The official from the ninth rank brought a money scale from his position, and Zhu Fuju also weighed it himself when he saw this.

There is no problem with the weight, Zhu Fuju nodded and prepared to put it in a cloth bag and take it away, but to his surprise, the bank had already prepared something for him to hold silver.

A simple wooden box with silver in it, the heavy feeling gave Zhu Fuju the illusion that there were always people around to grab his silver.

But without waiting for news of his feelings, Zhang Li's money also began to be cut out little by little.

Since Zhang Li's deceased husband was a small banner official, the reward silver was naturally more than that of Zhu Fuju, who was an ordinary soldier during the bloody battle in Beishan. With the addition of the 100 taels of compensation silver, the broken silver was piled up quickly. a hill.

The two people at the counter were busy for a long time, and their mouths were sore, and finally they cut all the silver in about two quarters of an hour.

"A total of 460 taels of reward silver, plus 100 taels of compensation silver, a total of 560 taels."

"560 taels?!" Hearing that her deceased husband had left so much money for him, Zhang Li was a little stunned.

560 taels does not sound like much, but it is definitely a huge sum of money for the common people of this era.

If all this money is taken to the capital, it is absolutely possible to buy a yard covering an area of ​​one mu in the imperial city, or buy a dozen shops in Xi'an city.

Just for rent collection, Li Zhang can collect nearly 20 taels of rent per year, and it only takes about [-] years to recover the cost. Not to mention, the subsequent rent alone can make their mother and son live a very nourishing life.

For Zhang Li, who once worked as a tenant for a landlord for a year with her husband and only earned three or four taels of silver at most, this sum of money was a huge sum of money that she and her deceased husband could only earn in two lifetimes.

In the past, Mrs. Zhang Li did not receive rewards from her deceased husband, but on weekdays, at most, she sent six or seven taels a year. Only a few dozen taels were sent during the second and third Northern Expeditions. .

She has never received such a sum of more than 500 taels of silver in her life.

Looking at this sum of money, Zhang Li's eyes were reddened.

"There's nothing wrong with it." Zhu Fuju helped to weigh it, and after confirming that there was nothing wrong with it, he put the 35 catties of silver into a wooden box.

For Zhu Fuju, who carried fifty or sixty catties of armor all the year round, two boxes of silver added up to 57 catties were nothing. After thanking the bank officials verbally, he walked out of the bank with Zhang Li with red eyes.

The carriage at the entrance was guarded by soldiers and horsemen at the entrance of the bank. After Zhu Fuju came out, he pulled the cover of the carriage and put two boxes of silver in the carriage. Then, holding the cover with one hand, he asked:

"Is there anything else to buy?"

"No need, you can buy it in the imperial store in the town, thank you General Zhu." Mrs. Zhang Li felt sorry to bother Zhu Fuju any more.

Seeing this, Zhu Fuju also nodded, and then confessed: "This is too much money, and your family now has more than [-] acres of land."

"You are a woman with three children, you can't survive after all, and you will inevitably be bullied in the town."

"Why don't we just buy some shops in Xi'an, rent out the shops, and rely on the rent to support ourselves?"

Zhu Fuju's words will be impeached by many people in future generations, but they are extremely normal in this era.

In ancient times, the folk customs were not simple and simple. It was a trivial matter to eat the absolute household, and some people even ate the living household.

It is not uncommon for some lazy people to climb the widow's wall in the middle of the night, and it is not uncommon for them to be together forcibly after insulting the widow.

Under normal circumstances, widows can only stay with lazy people because they are afraid of being said to be disobedient, and the lazy people get the widow's family property in this way.

If Zhang Li's three children are all fifteen or sixteen years old, then Zhu Fuju would persuade him to live in the town, but her oldest child is only twelve or thirteen years old, so she might not be a match for some lazy people.

For their safety, Zhu Fuju still felt that it would be better to rent out the land to other people for farming, and buy a yard or a few shops in Xi'an City with reward money.

Zhang Lishi, a widow whose husband had just died, suddenly had a huge sum of more than 500 taels, and really didn't know what to do for a while.

Zhu Fuju was the only official she knew, and he was also an officer of the eighth rank. He thought he had seen more than common people like her, so after hearing what he said, Mrs. Zhang and Li nodded.

"I'm sorry to trouble General Zhu, my mother and son don't know how to repay you..."

Mrs. Zhang Li expressed his thanks, but Zhu Fuju waved his hand to signal that you don't need to be polite.

Looking at the Zhang Li family who had agreed, Zhu Fuju led them to the Huangdian in Chang'an County, Xi'an Prefecture.

Huangdian is not only a department store supermarket, but actually also undertakes the shop and business of the former Yumajian's dental shop, gold and silver shop and so on.

Knowing that Zhu Fuju was a military quartermaster of the eighth rank, the officials of Huangdian in Chang'an County hurriedly looked for a shop and a house for him.

Zhu Fuju was so familiar with Xi'an City that he couldn't be more familiar with it. After all, he and his father would come to Xi'an every year to deliver food to the palace.

It's just that he was a tenant in the past, but now he has become an official, and he was a little emotional for a while.

However, due to the relocation of the vassals and the expansion of Xi'an, there are many more houses and mansions in Xi'an.

In the old city of Xi'an, there was a Qin Palace and eight county palaces. With their removal, the palace was used as the office of the government, and some of the original courtyards of the government were put up for sale.

Mrs. Zhang Li took a fancy to an eight-room house with three entrances and three exits. The price of Huangdian Yaxing was 85 taels. After bargaining by Zhu Fuju, the price was finally settled at 80 taels.

In order to facilitate rent collection, Zhu Fuju bought a row of ten shops for Mrs. Zhang and Li in Xishi, Chang'an County. Each shop cost 30 taels of silver, totaling 300 taels.

At present, there are not many people renting and selling these shops, mainly because the imperial court has relocated the population of Shaanxi, and the surrounding area of ​​Xi'an is visited by hungry people who have just divided the land.

Zhu Fuju estimated that as the hungry people settle down in the future, someone will eventually rent the shops. At that time, these ten shops will bring 20 taels of rental income to Zhang Li's every year.

Busy here, Zhu Fuju took Mrs. Zhang and Li to buy the furniture for the house, and hired an old lady to help cook the fire for five hundred cash per month.

After finishing these, he stopped shopping and collected the remaining 180 taels of silver.

"I'll take you home first, and then rent some carriages to help you move in a few days, and then finalize the matter of renting the land to others."

"Sister-in-law, don't worry, with me here, the slackers in town won't dare to harass you."

Zhu Fuju helped people to the end, and planned to finish Zhang Li's affairs before leaving, and Zhang Li had nothing to repay.

He wanted his three children to recognize Zhu Fuju as their adoptive father, but the age gap between the two was not that big, and Zhu Fuju was not married yet, so he had no choice but to give up.

With the sound of the Drum Tower in Xi'an, Zhu Fuju took the time to take them out of Xi'an City, a prosperous place in the northwest, in a carriage.

Before leaving, Mrs. Zhang Li took a look at the spacious city of Xi'an. Maybe she will live in this city for the rest of her life...

　Afternoon update around 05:30
　　
　
(End of this chapter)