Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 549
"put!"

"Bang bang bang-"

At the end of the winter month, with the sound of the Ming army's rifles in the Indochina Peninsula, the [-] rebels in Cochin Champa were defeated in just an instant when they faced the [-] Ming army.

They frantically fled to the dense forest behind them, but they were repelled wave after wave by the cochin soldiers Ma Si and the arch guard battalion soldiers who poured out of the dense forest with short soldiers.

When the sun went down, half of the [-] rebels were gone, and everyone squatted on the ground, raising their hands in fear to signal their surrender.

"Harvest the head and cremate the body."

On the back of the horse, Qi Yuangong, who was over [-] years old, spoke in a loud voice, and Qi Wulong immediately commanded the troops to accept the captives.

When the night was getting dark, Qi Wulong led his men back to the big tent.

"Father, more than 6000 people were killed and more than 3 were captured."

Qi Wulong returned to the big tent with the news, took off his armor, and the gray-haired Qi Yuangong stroked his forehead with his hand after hearing the words: "You can deal with it yourself, you should be on your own."

"Yes!" Seeing what Qi Yuangong said, Qi Wulong didn't show a very happy expression, but felt a little uncomfortable.

Qi Yuangong did not have only one child, Qi Wulong, but before Zhu Youjian popularized "Surgical Records" on a large scale, Daming's level of midwifery and childcare was not high, so he died of three children.

Qi Wulong is the fourth child. When Qi Yuangong gave birth to him, Qi Yuangong was already in his thirties, so he can be regarded as an old man.

After Qi Wulong, he had three sons and two daughters, but the talents of these children were obviously not good enough.

In addition, in the first year of Taichang, Qi Yuangong followed his father Qi Jin to Liaodong, and the education of his children also fell behind.

For example, Qi Wulong was not sent to Yanshan official school by Qi Yuangong until he was 12 years old.

Qi Wulong was considered to be the third student of Yanshan, but he followed his grandfather Qi Jin's teachings and did not form a group with the Yanshan faction. This is why Zhu Youjian chose him to escort Zhu Ciran.

"Father, this time, I don't think it's that simple."

Qi Wulong looked at the old Qi Yuangong, and said these words nervously.

He wanted to continue talking, but Qi Yuangong raised his hand to signal him to stop:

"We, the Qi family, don't participate in temples, we only know how to march and fight to defend our country..."

"..." Seeing what his father said, Qi Wulong was silent for a few seconds, and then slowly bowed: "Yes..."

Seeing his silent appearance, Qi Yuangong also noticed the change after he escorted Zhu Ciran back, so he frowned:
"I know that you have had a good time talking with the prince along the way, but the muddy water of the temple is not something I can wade through."

"You go down..." Qi Yuangong looked at Qi Wulong who couldn't listen, and sighed, beckoning him to go down and think about it.

"Retire, boy..." Qi Wulong bowed and retreated. After he left, Qi Yuangong also picked up a copy of Yanshan Art of War and began to read.

Perhaps for their father and son, this night was very difficult, and for Zhu Youjian, that position was also like sitting on pins and needles.

Just comparing them, with the passage of time, Zhu Ciran, who went all the way south, also arrived in Guangzhou City of this era on the last day of the winter moon.

Although it is not the first time I have come to Guangzhou, compared with Taiyuan, Liangzhou, Chengdu, Kunming, Guilin and other provinces, Guangzhou seems to be much more prosperous.

Such prosperity is not only reflected in the economy and trade, but also in the lives of ordinary people.

After 16 years of continuous immigration, Guangdong has a population of only 320 million. Among them, Guangzhou Prefecture alone has a population of more than [-]. Guangzhou City, the provincial capital and prefectural capital, was jointly built by Nanhai and Panyu counties. There are more than [-] permanent residents, accounting for one-sixteenth of Guangdong's population.

Guangzhou in this era is closer to the sea than later generations, and most of Shunde, Panyu, Zhongshan and other places have not been washed out by the Pearl River.

Since it is closer to the sea, the trade will naturally be more prosperous.

As the first of the four major ports in the southern part of the Ming Dynasty, Guangzhou Port receives hundreds of merchant ships every day.

In the distance, before Zhu Ciran and the others saw the city wall of Guangzhou City, they saw many market towns entrenched on the periphery.

There are many people living in the market town. They are engaged in agricultural production when the farming is busy, and they work in the port of Guangzhou City when the farming is off. It is not uncomfortable.

In the eyes of historians, the Ming Dynasty in the late Ming Dynasty was in an era of political repression, but in terms of culture and academics, it had lost the undisturbed style of the Tang and Song dynasties.

The prevalence of Jiangnan Mindology reflects the shrinking mentality of scholars towards reality.

However, compared with the densely populated and culturally old Jiangnan, the vigorous vitality of the Lingnan people is like the east wind blowing willows, adding a dazzling bright color to the heavy history, making it colorful and full of vitality.

This kind of vitality has been continuously spawned during Zhu Youjian's 12 years in power.

After a large number of people were relocated, the people in Guangdong Province gradually became richer, especially after the three-year drought in the early years of Tianqi, the lives of the people in Guangdong Province have also improved to a higher level.

The wealth of the common people, together with the recovery of Nanyang and the liberalization of maritime trade, these environments and policies greatly stimulated the prosperity of folk arts and crafts.

Porcelain, lacquerware, furniture, embroidery, cloisonné, Xuande furnace, etc., are all in various styles, all of which flourished at one time...

Among them, Macao and Hong Kong are developing most rapidly.

Backed by the ship trade between Guangzhou and the provinces of Ming Dynasty, these two places have transformed from a desolate fishing village into a prosperous commercial port attracting worldwide attention.

Ships of embroidery, silk, gold and silver, musk, pearls, fine ivory products, small crafts, lacquerware, and porcelain set sail from the three ports in the Pearl River Delta, passing through the routes of Nanyang and Xiaoyang, between Daming and Under the transaction of European merchants, they were transported back to Europe one after another.

In the eyes of Europeans, works of art such as gold, embroidery, and ivory belong to luxury goods and are especially respected, because their materials are quite precious, and they are often used to decorate altars, relics of saints, or the covers of valuable books.

Even in the [-]th century, this mentality still existed. Compared with the two emerging cities of Hong Kong and Old Port, Guangzhou was the biggest market for Europeans looking for these luxury goods.

The prosperity of Guangzhou is also inseparable from the support of Zhu Youjian. Starting from the sixth year of Tianqi, he ordered the six departments to carry out local rectification.

The first is to prohibit Europeans from trading in Guangzhou City, and to relocate a large number of farmers outside Guangzhou to the Old Port.

After the relocation, the urban area of ​​Guangzhou began to be transformed, and cement was used in buildings, roads and other buildings.

Ten years after the apocalypse, the city of Guangzhou has taken on a new look, the whole city is tidy, and the spirits of the local people seem to be refreshed.

Every day when the hour passes, the shops along the street open for business one after another, and the city that has been silent overnight becomes noisy like a canal opening to release water.

As soon as the gates of the city are opened, the first batch of people who come in are always those flower farmers who bring flowers into the city and sell them.

Right now, Zhu Ciran and his four-wheeled vehicles seemed out of place among the queues queuing to enter the city.

They are surrounded by carts of fresh flowers, which are like a sea of ​​flowers and fragrant.

The flower farmers "squeaked" carrying loads of frangipani flowers, and brought the fragrant fragrance into the city, so that Zhu Ciran and the others could also be in the sea of ​​flowers.

"Hey... If these flowers are sent to the capital, how much money will they have to sell..."

Looking at the sea of ​​flowers all around, a Jin Yiwei couldn't help but speak, and Zhu Ciran was also chatting with the flower farmers who had entered the city next to him.

After chatting, they learned that some of the land washed out in the south of Guangzhou is called Henan Land, and the tens of thousands of acres of land were planted with flowers.

Every day before the rooster crows, the flower farmers get up and start cutting flowers, and then wait for the city gate to open, and the flower farmers immediately push the flowers to the flower market in the city.

According to the planning of Yanshan officials from the Ministry of Industry, flower markets have basically been set up near the big and small gates of Guangzhou City, such as the Great South Gate, Guide Gate, Xiaonan Gate, Zhengdong Gate, Zhengxi Gate, Dabei Gate, and Xiaobei Gate. .

These flower markets are so big that the frangipani alone sells no less than hundreds of dans every day, and other kinds of flowers add up to no less than a thousand dans.

"The flowers are not bad. If you wait at the gate of the city, in less than half an hour, when we all go in, you can see a group of poultry and livestock being transported into the city."

The flower farmer talking with Zhu Ciran spoke loudly, which aroused Zhu Ciran's interest.

So after squeezing into the city, they did not leave, but pushed the cart to the back of the Bingmasi sentry box, sat in the cart and watched the flower farmers pouring in from the city gate.

Even in winter, even if it is only a city gate, there is still an endless stream of flowers brought into the city, which makes people dazzled.

The fragrant flowers are brought into the city by loads of loads and carts, and in the distance is the bustling flower market.

The flower market as a whole is built with cement concrete and some wooden dry frames, and the overall shape is "mouth", which circles the flower market inside.

The houses that are used as walls outside are only allowed to have a height of two stories and three feet. In this era, Zhu Youjian did not give birth to a large number of high-rise buildings because of the increase in cement production.

In his opinion, high-rise buildings are unnecessary for Daming.

The strength of a country or a place is not judged by the height of its buildings. Moreover, Daming is vast and sparsely populated, and it is not necessary to build "pigeon cages" to trap the people.

Of course, the most important thing is the aging problem of high-rise buildings.

If you build a high-rise building and wait until the building starts to age, the cost of demolition will be very high.

Therefore, across the country, the high-rise buildings approved by Zhu Youjian are basically temples in various places and commercial streets in Fangshi.

The height of the attic of a temple cannot exceed twenty feet, and the height of a commercial street in Fangshi cannot exceed five feet.

Under such a request, the common people do not feel oppressed, and it does not affect commodity transactions and trade.

"Hmph..."

Just as Zhu Ciran was looking at the flower market, with the sound of "humming", a bunch of pigs locked in the wooden fence were pulled into the city by a horse-drawn cart.

"Here we come!" Seeing the earth pig being pulled into the city, Zhu Ciran looked curiously.

For a city with a large population, the population of Guangzhou can be inferred from the sales volume of pork.

A missionary who lived in Guangzhou in the 35th year of Jiajing wrote in "The Record of Portuguese People's Experience in China":

"The ruling officials in the city of Guangzhou ordered to investigate the daily food consumption, and the conclusion is that there are five or six thousand heads of pork alone."

"If there were not many people eating yellow beef, buffalo meat, chicken and a lot of fish, the consumption of pigs would be ten thousand or more."

"It's hard for me to imagine that with such consumption, how many people actually live in the city is probably several times more than the population of Libens."

This is still the case in the 35th year of Jiajing, let alone the 16th year of Tianqi.

Zhu Ciran counted the number of poultry and livestock transported into the city, and as a result, thousands of carts loaded with poultry, live pigs, and live cattle poured into the city just at the gate of the city.

This is just a city gate. If you look at all the city gates in Guangzhou, there may be no less than [-] livestock pouring in every day.

This scene is the result of Zhu Youjian's migration of the Guangzhou population many times.

Therefore, it is difficult for Zhu Ciran to imagine how many people there were in Guangzhou during the Wanli period.

"Go, go in and have a look!"

After seeing the scene at the gate of Guangzhou City, Zhu Ciran became even more curious about the situation inside the city.

They rode four-wheeled bicycles slowly on the seven-foot-wide main road in Guangzhou, and then, under the guidance of the locals, they went to Gaodi Street in Nancheng.

To the west of Gaodi Street is Haopan Street, which is connected by jade belt Hao.

Driving here on a four-wheeled vehicle, what you can see is the confluence of people and the accumulation of goods and goods. Along the banks of the river, there are thousands of houses and people gathering together.

All kinds of shops are set up along the river, and you can't see the side at a glance.

In the river, awning boats rowed along the river with fresh fish and shrimp, and stopped selling them when someone shouted.

"Young master, I'm hungry..."

Zhu Ciran was still immersed in the humanistic scenery of Guangzhou, but Liu Shun rubbed his stomach and said some unpleasant words.

Zhu Ciran originally wanted to tease him, but after feeling his stomach, he and Liu Shun parked the car next to a beef noodle stall.

"Shopkeeper, here are four bowls of beef noodles!"

"Eh!"

Words that once said would require people to look at them, but now it seems extremely normal to say them.

Zhu Ciran looked at this noodle restaurant, there were tables, chairs and stools in the restaurant, and certificates stamped by the government were posted on the wall.

The lettering on the certificate was too small, and Zhu Ciran was sitting too far away, so he couldn't read it clearly, but it should be a certificate of approval to sell beef.

Since the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties, although beef has been banned, it is not forbidden to sell it.

Except for the Song Dynasty when dead cattle were more expensive than live cattle, the Yuan and Ming dynasties were not serious about whether people could eat beef.

Even in the Hongwu and Yongle years in the early Ming Dynasty, as long as the government determined that the cattle died normally, they could basically flow into the market normally.

In the Chenghua and Hongzhi years, the government basically ignored it, and in the Wanli period, let alone eating beef, even if you went out wearing a contraband "iron helmet", no one cared about you.

This was the case in the late Ming Dynasty, not to mention the current Apocalypse Dynasty.

With the development of large grasslands in the north and south states, Daming was particularly open about whether cattle were slaughtered or not.

As long as the farmers report that they want to slaughter their cattle, they can basically be slaughtered, and the government will not stop them.

Some people may think that cattle cannot be killed because of productivity, but Ming Dynasty did not prohibit it, because the more prohibited this kind of thing, the more people would rebel against slaughter. For example, the prohibition in the Song Dynasty was too high, resulting in dead cattle being more expensive than live cattle, and people scrambling to let live cattle die naturally ".

The reason why the Ming Dynasty was open is also very simple, that is, to understand the rebellious psychology of the people.

Especially Zhu Youjian, he only asked the government to count the number of cattle, and then control the number.

When beef enters the market and establishes a firm foothold, a supporting breeding system will also be established, and cattle traders will not kill chickens to extract eggs.

"Here comes the beef noodles. I'll charge you sixteen cents."

When the shopkeeper in silk and satin brought bowls of beef noodles to the table, Zhu Ciran looked at the six or seven thick slices of beef in the bowl, and he couldn't help saying to Liu Shun after the shopkeeper left: "This shopkeeper in Guangzhou is really good. It's quite honest."

Although Guangzhou has been a commercial capital for thousands of years, its folk customs are still simple.

"That's it!" The shopkeeper heard Zhu Ciran's words before he went far, and said to them:

"If you customers from other places buy goods in a store in Guangzhou, and you find that there are defects a few days later, and you replace them, the store owner will basically allow it and will not make things difficult."

"Then it won't be troublesome?" Liu Shun asked curiously, but the owner rubbed his face and said:
"In business, the most important thing is to be honest, make small profits but sell quickly, as long as you make money, don't care about how much you earn."

"If you have a bowl of beef noodles like yours, I'll earn you a cent. If it's delicious, come back next time and be my repeat customer."

The owner's Cantonese Mandarin is very interesting, Zhu Ciran listened to it very interesting, and asked: "How should I go shopping in Guangzhou City?"

"Of course I'll go to Gaudi Street first..." The shopkeeper replied without thinking, and looked at the clothes of the four of them and joked:
"With your clothes, it looks like you are from the west."

"Why do you say that?" Zhu Ciran asked while eating noodles, the shop owner was not afraid of offending anyone, but smiled happily, explaining like a Maitreya Buddha:
"People in Jiangnan, Huguang, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Guangdong, even vegetable farmers and flower farmers outside the city, have to wear silk and satin clothes from the bottom of the box at home when they enter the city. Those who want to save face will wear silk and Suzhou embroidery."

"Hey... look at you, the rough linen clothes, short clothes and blue trousers, it seems that you are from the west so you don't pay attention to your image, and it's not that you don't have money."

The shopkeeper's words were a bit harsh just by listening to the words, but matched with his smile and voice, it was not offensive.

"What if we really don't have any money?" Zhu Ciran became curious, but the shopkeeper said with contempt: "Nowadays everyone has six or seven acres of land, even if they don't have land, they can still work."

"No money? You can buy a suit of silk and satin by working as a laborer at the dock for more than ten days."

"Eh..." Hearing this, Zhu Ciran never expected that his low-key behavior would turn out to be an anomaly after arriving in Guangzhou.

"Go to Gaudy Street. We all like to buy fabrics and sew clothes there. It's cheap and the material is good."

"You are a farmer in the countryside, but you are a city dweller in the city."

"I go back to raise pigs when the farming is busy, and when I come to the city, look, am I wearing silk and satin to knead dough?"

"Go to Gaodi Street to buy clothes first, and then go to Haopan Street."

"Why are you going to Haopan Street? Is there anything interesting?" Zhu Ciran asked back, but the shopkeeper's expression was intriguing: "You will know when you go."

"Okay!" The shopkeeper's words were very interesting, and Zhu Ciran and the others expressed their understanding after hearing this, so after eating the noodles, they rode their bicycles along the roadside signs and headed towards Gaodi Street.

Less than a quarter of an hour later, the four of them put on the round-neck gowns made of silk and satin, washed up a bit, and apart from being a little black and thin, they were no different from ordinary people in the city.

According to the owner of the noodle shop, they changed their outfits and came to Haopan Street, but they were dumbfounded when they came here.

On the streets of Haopan, girls and women wearing various silk and gauze clothes shuttle back and forth, fragrant and misty, and the city full of spring.

The imperial court forbade women to wear the big red dresses, some people wore them, and some people wore colorful clothes such as agarwood, original color, caramel color, and jade color.

The imperial court forbade the wearing of bracelets and bracelets, but some people still wore them, and some women even used gold chains to string ear picks, toothpicks, cameras, and knives on their chests as decorations.

Some people who love beauty will also wear gold ruyi-shaped peonies, phoenix bird hair crowns, and gourd-shaped earrings on their ears, with exquisite workmanship.

"Aren't these people afraid of being robbed?"

Looking at this group of people wearing gold and silver, Zhu Ciran and Liu Shun looked around like Grandma Liu who had entered the Grand View Garden.

"This is a jewelry street, no wonder there are so many women..."

Zhu Ciran saw all the shops along the street selling women's ready-to-wear and jewelry, and then he realized what the shopkeeper's expression meant.

The four people who didn't want to get angry with the rouge parked the car at the official posthouse, and walked back to Yudai Hao on foot.

Compared with Haopan Street full of women, this bustling and narrow Jade Belt Hao is more suitable for the four of them to hang out.

However, for things like shopping, there are often more women, but compared to Haopan Street, the women in Yudaihao look a little more normal.

Although she was also wearing satin, she didn't have many exaggerated headgear.

Most of them carry a slanted cloth bag, which contains some rouge and gouache.

Because Yudai Hao is along a river, all the way to the south, so on the way to the south, all kinds of sky-high signboards are eye-catching, presenting a lively scene.

In Yudaihao, Zhu Ciran sees flower shops the most. From the image of men and women on the street who like to wear flowers on their heads, we can understand why there are so many flower shops.

Excluding flower shops, bookstores are the next most popular, followed by rouge powder shops and various food stalls, as well as shops such as glasses and ready-to-wear.

In addition to these, there are also shops, restaurants, teahouses, pawnshops, banks, photo studios, painting apartments, theaters, bathhouses, temples, private houses and other buildings scattered among them.

However, Zhu Ciran was not very interested in these buildings, and as time went by, the streets of Yudaihao gradually became more and more crowded, and there was a lot of traffic.

There are more and more people, and the most eye-catching ones are the jugglers who walk on stilts on the street, play with fireworks and water, dance with dragons and lions, use sticks and weapons, and perform all kinds of tricks on the stage. Theatrical performance.

Zhu Ciran didn't care about these things, he was more interested in experiencing the cultural landscape of Guangzhou City, so his eyes were mostly on the pedestrians around and the people in the street shops.

In his eyes, tourists on both sides of Guangzhou either enjoy the scenery by the water, enjoy tea leisurely, or customize furniture in handicraft workshops such as wood shops, and there are also scholars who beat teapots and engrave inscriptions in Tongxi old shops.

It's just that there were too many people shopping, Liu Shun and the others were afraid that some people in the crowd would try to misbehave, so after a brief stroll around, they took Zhu Ciran back to the post house.

"It's more fun in the countryside. There's nothing to do in the city."

On the way back to the post house, Zhu Ciran also complained about his choice.

This is also normal, after all, he has lived in the capital since he was a child, and he has a deep understanding of the prosperity of the city.

Although the city of Guangzhou is prosperous, compared to the capital city, it cannot be flattered.

"Forget it, let's continue to leave tomorrow."

Zhu Ciran, who felt that it was meaningless, chose to continue to set off. Liu Shun and the others, who thought they could rest for a few days, felt as uncomfortable as if their own mother had died.

With the discomfort in his heart, Liu Shun managed to force a smile: "Humble job...take orders..."

　recommend a friend's book

　　----

　　"All Ming"

　　1628 AD, the first year of Ming Yizong Chongzhen.

　　This year, Emperor Chongzhen's platform recruited Yuan Chonghuan, and Yuan Chonghuan boldly proposed a five-year plan to restore Liao Dynasty.

　　This year, the big pirate Zheng Zhilong successfully landed and was awarded the title of General Guerrilla.

　　This year, Li Zicheng was still working as a postman, and Zhang Xianzhong was living in the countryside.

　　This year, Zhu Cunji, who came from future generations, asked to live, and he wanted to use the knife in his hand to cut a bloody path.

　　He doesn't want to have Ten Days in Yangzhou, he doesn't want to have Santu in Jiading, he doesn't want to have Xie Enli in Guangzhou.

　　He thinks this world belongs to the Han family, he thinks this world belongs to Daming, he thinks this world belongs to himself.

　　


(End of this chapter)