Begging in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 66
For Song Qingshu, this fiery July can be regarded as the most prosperous month of the Ming Dynasty in more than a year.

These days, no business is really as good as being an official. It took less than half a month to dispose of all kinds of messy things collected in the area under Zhang Xianzhong's jurisdiction. There are 5000 taels of filial money for the magistrate Xu, even so, the three Song Qingshu brothers still left 300 taels behind.

The peasants who were forced to hand in everything. Shaanxi is still the land of the dragons in China. The mausoleums of princes and nobles are intertwined. And I don’t know which family’s ancestors were the big family clans in the Han and Tang Dynasties. There are quite a few of them. Good things, I was forced to rush, and I had to pay them all as tax arrears.

From the pile of junk, I actually found a few good things, such as a copper vase from the Han Dynasty, a golden ball from the incense burner from the Tang Dynasty, and Song Qingshu did not have much research on antiques, so he entrusted these to Xie Liuyan, a Confucian businessman from Huizhou. , entrusted him to sell them, and then everyone shared the dividends. After looking around, Xie Liuyan, a well-informed Juren businessman, was also jealous. According to him, if these were sold in Nanzhili, they might be sold for two dollars. 3000 taels of silver.

The deformity of social materials in the Ming Dynasty is also vividly manifested. The rich princes and officials have lands and fields in their homes, and there are groups of servants. They can spend tens of thousands of taels to collect antiques, while the poor are really destitute, and they can’t even eat tomorrow. nothing.

Another thing that Song Qingshu didn't expect was that the box lunch business he used to accommodate the redundant Xing family's class brothers really got quite a considerable bonus.

There are tens of thousands of eunuchs and servants in Qinwangfu and Lintongwangfu. There are also Xi'an Mansion, Shaanxi Governor, Shaanxi Inspector, Shaanxi Chief Envoy, and Inspectorate. They don't even have a family, and petty officials live here as guests. At least half of the people have no place to cook. This consumer demand is really overwhelming!

Especially in the Shaanxi government yamen, the whole of northern Shaanxi has been caught in the crazy wave of peasant uprising recently. The battle reports from all over the country, the documents for allocating supplies, orders, and pleas for help are piled up in the yamen like snowflake films. Official air, those junior officials of the sixth and seventh ranks are still not in the top class, but they are so busy that they don't even have time to eat all day long.

On the first day, Feng Shuangli, the eighth member of the criminal family who went to the side door of the government office to deliver boxed lunches, was dragged into the yard by a man and a car before he could shout. After splitting the lunch box, he shook his cheeks and ate it. He was busy writing and copying while eating.

Feng Shuangli is from Zhongzhou, and when he cries, he still has a strong smell of Henan. He didn't know which minister's head was really annoyed, and a piece of silver was thrown at him, and he was directly thrown out of the door. This yamen The steward in charge also told him that if there is dinner tomorrow night, it will be delivered directly, and it will be rounded up.

The naive Feng Shuangli tremblingly carried the money back to the store, thinking that the sale was short, but Song Qingshu's eyes almost didn't pop out when he saw it, good guy, ten taels of silver!
Of course, he didn't dare to take advantage of the government's cheap, and then Feng Shuangli rode a donkey backwards and gave free boxed meals for more than a month, but from this incident, we can see how promising the fast food industry in Xi'an is.

The scarred face that Song Qingshu was most worried about this month finally got a reply. He took a group of beggars and tenants around, and finally chose a place in Zhashui County next to Shangluo Mountain in Shangnan County under Shangzhou. village.

Not to mention, because of a large number of fleeing from famine, the land price in the whole Zhashui County is pitifully cheap. For more than 400 taels of silver, I bought all the land of about ten miles in two villages, but the land is all wasteland, and there are no people left in the village. The house is crumbling down, dilapidated and dilapidated, and after becoming a landlord, he has to pay back last year's tax arrears. For this reason, Scarface is full of anger and asks Song Qingshu to find a solution quickly.

Good guy, this letter made Song Qingshu a passing God of Wealth again. He just distributed more than 500 taels of silver to Scarface, and even transported more than 2000 catties of sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn sticks with the criminal old man. Fortunately, Song Qingshu and Qu Botao was also considered a partner, and he used Qu's horse-drawn carriage to deliver the materials, and they gave him a [-]% discount, so at least the developed materials were transported there.

Although it cost a lot of money, Song Qingshu has become a big landlord anyway, and his business is booming. After reconciling with the Xingjiaban, he is accompanied by a wife and a concubine, and there is also a thief maid. Song Qingshu should be very happy. However, there are always things that make him uncomfortable.

In order to make boxed lunches, Song Qingshu expanded the store and bought the dried fruit shop next to his small shop, and it was noon one day, and he was busy with work, listening to a boss with a loud voice.

"Er Lengzi, quickly drag our silly donkey out, and hurry up to deliver the food!"

He also changed into a clean light yellow cotton vest, and Song Qingshu ordered the words "Shunfeng Free Shipping" to be embroidered on the back for some reason. Anyway, it looked neat and tidy, and Xiao Luobo yelled and went out the door.

Zhang Erlengzi withdrew from the banquet with Liu Dazhuzi that day. He belonged to the unsteady elements. Once the emperor and a courtier, Song Qingshu became the boss of the punishment class, so he became a coolie, wearing a green vest with EMS embroidered on the back, breathing Panting, he turned over and rode upside down, and rode out from the side door of the shop.

But before the little radish could look up for a while, a cough came from behind. Seeing Song Qingshu come out bitterly and bitterly, the fellow immediately shrank his neck, patted the handrail of the donkey riding upside down, and jumped onto the car. On the one hand, he smiled sadly and said: "It's a mistake, it's a silly carrot!"

Seeing this guy just like the little one riding a big zombie in Plants vs. Zombies, he yelled out the door, Song Qingshu snorted coldly, turned around and wanted to go back to the store, but before he could go back, there were several more calls from the door hearty laughter

.

"You park Song Silly Donkey by the wall, I'll go in and get something first!"

Looking back at the familiar Tuoer Wang Haocai, who was wearing a white crane robe, walking towards him refreshedly, and a few wealthy scholars who were laughing and parked two-wheeled bicycles by the wall, Song Qingshu's twitching face danced for a long time , finally recovered a smiling face, trembling and yelling.

"Sirs, please come inside!"

Song Qingshu took out two or three thousand catties of grain, and also put down the iron materials that had been handed over to the government. Naturally, it was impossible to build a few bicycles for his own family and ride a donkey backwards. Now it is him to produce bicycles, Qu Botao's family The carriage house also has another business jointly run by Zhang Xianzhong.

For fear that Yulin Town would come looking for it, Huolu Village moved to a remote place near the Qinling Mountains, and found a small coal mine to live in. The whole village has been reduced to a bicycle factory. In fact, bicycles are quite simple. Cast iron can be used to form the poles of the bicycle, and the handlebars are replaced by the gun barrels they are used to. The wheels are simpler. Qu's carriage shop has ready-made ones. The only rare thing is a small chain.

These days, there is no standard parts factory, each small chain is carefully cast by a blacksmith, and then the whole village, men, women, old and young are carefully polished and assembled with sand and stones.But even with such hard work, the whole village, men, women, and children work together, and the output is still considerable. If it is done well, this month, 100 three-wheeled donkeys will be produced in a month, and more than [-] two-wheeled bicycles will be produced in the future. Vehicles, as soon as these things were put on the market, they immediately set off a wave of enthusiasm in Xi'an City.

A bicycle is very valuable. It costs ten taels of silver, which is more expensive than a cow. However, this thing is very attractive to ride, and it is sold with a hammer. It does not need to be raised like livestock, and it is almost immediately sold out by scholars who think they are superior. Yes, riding a bicycle has become a status symbol these days.

As for the donkeys who pulled the goods, they were also looted by taverns and restaurants. This stuff pulls a lot, and it doesn’t eat food, so it’s worth a lot!What makes Song Qingshu especially happy is that the father and son Zhao Yuanwai who hired them in the Xingjia class, and the boss Shi Tianfushi who sang the opposite stage along with him also went to his horse carriage shop to buy a donkey. He didn't have a good impression of these two people. The shopkeeper killed them both severely.

But the only fly in the ointment is that I don’t know which one of the Xingjiaban or who named the bicycle a silly donkey, and I don’t know how to do it. Others know that my surname is Song, and literati and inkmen should follow the source, so it is like the famous dish Song in the Southern Song Dynasty. Like sister-in-law fish soup, the bicycles in the entire Xi'an city, regardless of whether they have two or three wheels, have all been renamed Song Shalu!

On this end, the corners of Song Qingshu's mouth twitched, serving food to a group of scholars who were talking about how light and elegant this silly Song donkey was, and how elegant it didn't take up space. It's the owner of Songji fast food restaurant.

"Hey, Boss Wang, the lunch box you ordered is 130 boxes in total, and the discount is [-] cash!"

The command guy took the fast food, and the old man boss of the leather shop, who was bald on half of his forehead, nodded and bowed to please: "Master Carrot, that stupid donkey from the shopkeeper, when will the next one be delivered? When will it be the old man's turn?" ? I’m still waiting to use it!”

"This little one doesn't know either, but don't worry, I'll ask you when I go back to the little one!"

"In that case, I will trouble Master Carrot!"

Secretly tucked the extra ten cents into his sleeves, looked left and right, little radish jumped into the car wretchedly again, slapped Erlenzi on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Junior brother, next family!"

Unknowingly, a car riding on a donkey wobbled into Dice Street, and the little radish sitting in front of the car didn't notice at all. At the door of a gambling shop that just passed by, a man seemed to have just lost money in a bet. The rascal just came out cursing, just glanced at him, and went back like burning his ass!
"Brother Ma! Brother Ma! There is a big situation!"

The bastard's loud yelling resounded through half of the casino. On the edge of the dice table, an ugly face full of pockmarks and missing two front teeth was lifted up impatiently, yelling angrily in his voice.

"Didn't you watch me roll the dice? What the fuck?"

(End of this chapter)