Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 142 The Marketplace (Part [-])

"One tael of steel, top grade, nine coins."

"Each hole in the ax weighs three catties. It's a defective product, worth a hundred renminbi."

"Three-inch nails, top grade, two cents for one penny, 120 coins for a hundred pieces."

Wang Dali took out all kinds of items that the customer needed from the container, and skillfully quoted prices.

"It's a bit expensive." The visitor grumbled dissatisfiedly, but still took out a piece of silk from the package.

Wang Dali ordered his disciples to put away the silk, and then took out 1200 Wen coins from the cabinet, handed it to the guest, and said with a smile: "Fortunately, what I took was miscellaneous silk from the river. , you can buy two knives from here.”

"I've only seen the silk brocade in Sichuan." The visitor shook his head and said, "It's impossible for the commander to give rewards to the sergeants for such an expensive one. This piece of miscellaneous silk in the river is my home." A reward that Saburo received from the army."

There is still a big difference between silk and silk.The cheap Zizhou Xiaolian costs two hundred and seventy-eight yuan a horse, and the expensive Sichuan top grade one costs more than a thousand yuan.When giving out the same two bolts of silk, sometimes there is a difference of about two coins.However, when the Dingnan army issued rewards, they usually issued Suizhou silk worth [-] yuan a bolt or miscellaneous silk from Guanzhong, Hezhong and other places.

Of course, starting from this year, the names of the rewards have become chaotic.Four goats are priced at [-] qian, that is, two strings, which is worth one reward; two lambs are worth two horses of miscellaneous silk.Of course, there is no lack of money and silk, and if they are distributed in a mixed way, who will make Xia Sui poor? If there is not enough money and silk, they can only distribute sheep.There was even a sergeant who didn't want money and silk, and took a beef cattle home directly, and offered it for three renminbi.

In the two expeditions this year, the large number of livestock seized not only solved the problem of rewards for next year, but also solved a considerable part of the year after.Considering that these livestock will also reproduce, the commander-in-chief's two battles were too worthwhile.

"Your family needs to build a house, why buy these things?" Wang Dali ordered his disciples to go to work, while he sat down directly and chatted with customers.

"My family, Sanlang, has just been transferred to the Jinglue Army as the deputy of the team. The Jinglue Army is also a yamen army. If it is not a foreign town army, my family can only move to Xiazhou. The old house in Suizhou was sold to a man at a low price. Dangxiang Xiaoji. The new house is in the big elm area in the south of the city, with a six-acre garden. It is a ready-made house, but there is a leak, and I want to repair it." The guest said.

"Why did the party members buy your house?"

"The people of Zhemashan clan in Suizhou, I heard that the commander-in-chief wanted to register them as Qimin. He was unwilling to do so, but he was also afraid of death. The commander-in-chief also promised to give them money from selling horses, and also receive a salary for idle officials. After thinking about it, I finally agreed." The guest said with a smile: "The big chieftain lives in the city directly, and the little chieftain can only buy my house. But he didn't lose money when he bought the house. For three years, it can still be used for another seventeen or eighteen years, which is fine."

"This group of party members just can't think about it." Wang Dali said with a smile: "I receive two shares of money a year, and don't have to work. I don't know how comfortable these days are when I have nothing to do to hunt and drink."

"It doesn't matter if you can't think about it now, the commander will help them think about it." The guest left without rushing, put the ax and iron nails under his feet, and said: "I heard that the more than [-] tribes of the Zhemashan clan have been registered as a whole. After the Republic of China, officials in the state asked them what their surnames were. As a result, except for the big and small people who had surnames, the rest had names. They didn't even have names. In the end, the whole family was surnamed Zhe, and the governor thought it was inappropriate, fearing that he would be related to the Zhe family in Linzhou, so he ordered them to change their surnames to Shi, Shi, Shi, etc. However, I heard that there are still many people pretending to be surnamed Shao, haha!"

Wang Dali also laughed when he heard this.Fan people are very expensive. Although the King of Lingwu County is neither of the royal blood nor a noble family, he has a great prestige on the three-acre land of the Dingnan Army.It's not uncommon for the new householders to assume the surname Shao.

In fact, ordinary people in North Korea did not have a surname at the beginning.Later, they were asked to take the surnames, but they all took the surnames of Cui, Jin, Li, Zhao and other noble families.

The two chatted happily for a long time, and when they finally left, the guest asked, "Can it be cheaper?"

Wang Dali shook his head, and said: "The iron materials are all bought from Hedong. Li Ke used excessive levies and raised them several times, and now the price of iron materials has risen too much. Moreover, since this year, there have been frequent wars, and some ordnance It’s too late, and I don’t have that much time to do other things. The price is not expensive, you can go to other shops to see, it’s also the normal price.”

The guests cupped their hands when they heard the words, took their leave and left.

After a while, I saw a big man wearing a felt hat coming in with a few attendants. After looking at it casually, he asked, "How much is this knife worth?"

Wang Dali looked at it, and said: "This knife weighs fifteen catties, top grade, and worth seven hundred renminbi. If it is too expensive, here is a second-grade one and a low-grade one. A hundred coins. It is suitable for chopping and killing. The strong men are strong and brave, and they are very easy to use. The generals of the Ya Army have seen them, and they may have recruited strong men."

The big man laughed when he heard the words, and the entourage behind him also laughed and said: "This is the righteousness of the army envoy, the general of the military government, which general dares to recruit our envoy."

Wang Dali was also surprised when he heard this.The status of Yi Congjun envoy is nothing, just a general of the Fan soldiers, but who doesn't know about the Nanshan wild raccoon?The Yeli family has a daughter who serves the king in the county palace. This kind of thing is not clear, and she might become a noble one day.

"It's actually a nobleman who came here, and he can choose the knives and guns in the shop at random, and the price is fair." Wang Dali bowed and saluted, and said.

"I bought all three of these knives, so I won't have no knives to use when going into battle." Ye Liyu asked his men to take out three rolls of silk with a little air.Two horses of Shaanzhou 絁 and one Henan 絁, according to their appearance, are worth more than [-] yuan, which is more than enough to buy these three knives.

"These three bolts of silk are worth [-] yuan..." Wang Dali said.

"You don't need to look for it." Ye Li Yulue waved his hand, not caring.

"Is your nobleman really an envoy of Ye Li?" Wang Dali looked at the big man and asked.

"Is this still fake?" Ye Li Yulue took off his felt hat, revealing his newly grown hair, and said, "It's a rule in the army that you have to grow your hair. The Yi Congjun has been assigned to the right side of the yamen army, and he should follow it. It's not surprising that you are puzzled, the [-] sergeants of the Congregation Army are starting to grow their hair now, the command of the commander-in-chief."

The reorganization of various departments of the Dingnan Army has been successfully completed.The Ya army is divided into left and right wings. The left wing has the Tielin Army and the Jinglue Army, with a total of 15500 people; the right wing has the Wuwei Army, Iron Cavalry Army, and Yi Cong Army, with a total of 10300 people.Except for Yi Congjun, each branch and each army does not have a chief general, and all coaches make Zhu Shuzong responsible for the training of each department, but he does not lead troops to march, and does not hold military power.

In the past, all the military envoys, Duyuhou and so on were dismissed in a unified way and served as Yamen generals in Xiazhou.Usually, I go to Duyu Hou Sishangzhi to discuss battle cases, ponder tactics, share experience, and improve the "New Book of Shude".When there is something to go on an expedition, the commander-in-chief personally appoints military envoys, deputy envoys, Du Yuhou, and You Yi envoys. Theoretically speaking, it belongs to the state of expedition.

The regularization of Xiazhou's army has finally been completed so far.

The Volunteer Army will gradually be included in this set of controls in the future.But since this army is mainly composed of Tibetan soldiers, and there are only about 800 people, Shao Shude doesn't want to go to war for the time being, lest the Yeli family and the Wuzang family think wildly.In the future, when I have a bigger territory and stronger power, all changes will come naturally.

"There are a lot of blacksmith shops in the middle of the state. I saw three or four on one street." After buying the knife, Ye Li Yulue was in a good mood and asked casually.

"Now I've gone to set up a blacksmith shop outside the city. It's cheap and the place is big." Wang Dali said, "This shop will move out sooner or later. It's also convenient to buy charcoal."

"But the area in the north of the city? Thick smoke billows and clanks all day long." Ye Li Yulue asked.

"It's there, there are still dozens of companies that make farm tools and ordnance. Now many people go there to order, and the business is good."

"How is it compared to Suizhou?"

"It's not as good. In Longquan and Dabin counties, there are sixty or seventy blacksmith shops. They are all craftsmen hired from Guanzhong in the past. Later, they brought apprentices and nephews to learn iron smelting, and gradually separated, and there were more. stand up."

"Is there still a lot of ordnance forging now?"

"There are quite a few this year, but next year there should be fewer, mainly horizontal knives, sabers, and axes."

"Why not armor?"

"That is the work of the official workshop, bows, arrows, armor, cards, etc. However, this shop also often makes some arrow clusters, gun heads, and lance blades. The official shop is too busy. There are too few people to compare. Hedong. The Xizuo Institute in Jinyang County where a certain person used to work has nearly a thousand people and makes four hundred pairs of vests a year. This is just a workshop. Xiazhou is absolutely incomparable." Wang Dali said.

"Then how did you come to Xiazhou?"

"It's not peaceful, and the income is very little." Wang Dali shook his head and said, "Dozens of people fled from Xizuoyuan a year, and I don't know what it looks like now. Some of the escaped people went to Hebei, and some came to Xiasui. , so these places are peaceful. If King Renyi of Lingwu County and the craftsmen in Hedong can't be squeezed, the first thing they do is to cross the river with their families to Suiyin Prefecture. I don't think he seems to care about Li Keyong. They don’t seem to be interested in governing, and the thousands of artisans in Jinyang’s various academies will flee sooner or later.”

Ye Liyu compared secretly with the blacksmith shop in his tribe above Hengshan, and was immediately discouraged.After all, it is the northern capital of the Tang Dynasty, supplying military supplies to the towns of Hedong, Hezhong, Zhaoyi, Datong, Zhenwu and other towns. The scale of this craftsman is indeed large.If Xia Zhou wanted to catch up with them, he would have to work hard for many years.

"In Xiazhou, at least meat can be eaten, and no one loots it." Wang Dali carefully put away the three bolts of silk, and said, "The only thing is that there is a lack of iron. This is not as good as Hedong."

Iron material?This one really doesn't.

However, the commander-in-chief seems to think that there is iron in Lingzhou, and he insists on looking for it there.Ye Li Yulue didn't quite believe this, the commander probably wanted to capture Ling and Yan prefectures, and killed the traitor Tuoba Sigong by the way.I just don't know how to find an excuse to do this.

(End of this chapter)