I want to be emperor

Chapter 847 Songjiang’s Winter Is Not Cold

He opened the door and took two steps, but saw that the door of Ms. Meng's room opposite was still closed. Sun Xu was about to go up and knock on the door to call for someone, but hesitated again.

After wandering around the door for a while, I still didn't knock on the door...

Instead, he turned and went back into the room, only this time he didn't close his own door, leaving it ajar.

Back in the room, Sun Xu closed his eyes slightly, took several deep breaths, and then sat down again.

After waiting for another 5 minutes from the time on the pocket watch, Sun Xu went out again, stood in front of Miss Meng's room door and knocked lightly on the door, and at the same time shouted in a moderate voice: "Miss Meng! "

At this moment, I heard a voice from inside: "I'm almost ready!"

Sure enough, after waiting for another 2 minutes, the door opened, revealing a pretty figure.

At this time, Ms. Meng was wearing a light yellow woolen cloak coat with embroidery of flowers and birds. Under the woolen coat was a milky white silk dress with high collar and straight pleats. Although it was a silk dress, it looked very elegant, but But it's very strict... Well, it's going to be a big winter.

In his right hand, which is wearing short white rabbit fur gloves, he holds a small dark yellow leather bag with vertical stripes.

She wears small leather shoes with pointed toes and low heels that have only appeared and become popular in recent years.

On his head was a light yellow round wide-top gauze hat, and a large piece of long black hair fell down his shoulders under the hat.

Ms. Meng may have noticed Sun Xu's staring gaze, and immediately said: "Let Mr. Sun wait!"

Son, this title was placed in the previous dynasty, and it may be specifically for the sons of wealthy families. However, in the Great Chu Empire, with the continuous improvement and liberalization of the social atmosphere, a considerable number of young women have gradually entered the workplace... There are more and more contacts between ordinary men and women, and because of respect and other reasons, strangers often look up to the title.

So, today, 30 years later, in some social situations, especially among strangers, basically a young man is a son... similar to the "handsome guy" of later generations.

He is a slightly younger man. When you go to Guangdong, you are all handsome!
Similarly, Sun Xu's title of "Miss" to Ms. Meng is similar. This title used to be a special title for young unmarried women from some wealthy families. Later, it was gradually used in a wider range of social occasions. Today, the last day, the title of young lady has developed into a common title for young women.

So, don't look at Sun Xu talking about a young lady, and Miss Meng talking about a young lady... Just think that they are young ladies from the upper class.

How can there be a young lady from a rich family renting a small apartment in the city center!
After Sun Xu heard Miss Meng's words, he regained his senses a little, and immediately said: "No, I just packed it too!"

Immediately took a step ahead, then turned slightly sideways and said: "Let's go, it's getting late, I'm afraid the shops on Ximen Street will be closed."

Today is the New Year's Eve, and although the shops in Ximen Street will continue to open today to sell New Year's goods, they won't be open until too late.

No matter how busy you are, this New Year's Eve dinner must be eaten!

Ms. Meng who was behind nodded slightly: "Yeah!"

After all, he followed Sun Xu's pace!

In the Great Chu Empire, when it comes to the small details of travel between men and women, men generally go first and women follow.

So you will often see that when men and women go out, it is often the men who go out first or go out first.

Although there is no clear statement, it probably means that the front is unknown or dangerous, and it means that the man comes first.

This is the traditional idea of ​​men defending the country and protecting the women and children in the family. Coupled with the drastic changes in contemporary society and the gradual opening up of the social atmosphere, some social consensus has gradually formed.

This point is similar to the idea that women go first in the modern European society in the original time and space, and when they encounter danger, the idea of ​​letting women and children run first is similar.

The core reason is even the same. With the continuous development of industrial society and the gradual improvement of the quality of life, people, especially a large number of middle-income groups, will start to ponder some etiquette, benevolence and morality after eating enough, and finally form the so-called gentleman. Demeanor is such a thing.

If you don't have enough to eat, who will play gentlemanly with you!
And when productivity increases, living conditions improve, and everyone has enough to eat, those young and strong men will put away their fangs and start pretending to be gentlemen.

The same is true for a large number of middle-income groups in the Great Chu Empire today. Even low-income groups with a little knowledge will generally accept these things unconsciously because of the overall atmosphere of society.

That's why I said, when you are poor and can't get enough to eat, don't talk about benevolence, righteousness and morality... It's no fun to deceive yourself and others.

Morality is something that is built on a sufficient material foundation.

Oh, and the same goes for environmental protection. Developed countries in later generations like to use the excuse of environmental protection to restrict the development of industries in backward countries.

It's just nonsense, and I don't look at how many years they have polluted the environment for development... No one would think that decades ago, 100 years ago, European and American countries protected the environment, and the cities of all countries were beautiful and picturesque, right?
Don't you think they didn't know the dangers of environmental pollution 100 years ago?

Everyone is not stupid... 100 years ago, the elite groups in European and American countries were not stupid either.

But people still do this, why?For development!

Horse manure and coal smoke were the standard equipment of big cities in the second half of the [-]th century and the beginning of the [-]th century...these things are much more serious than smog.

Without these two, sorry, you are a backward agricultural country, and you can only be bullied in the cruel international environment!

The current Songjiang City of the Great Chu Empire is a typical modern industrial city: there is no shortage of horse manure and soot!

Although these two things caused the local yamen of Songjiang Prefecture a great headache in managing them, but when they mentioned the factories in Songjiang City that sprayed billowing smoke into the sky day and night, they became extremely proud.

Looking at the whole country and even the world, there is no other place that can have such a large and complete factory like Songjiang.

The development of Songjiang City, both good and bad, can actually be regarded as the epitome of an era: the epitome of the first industrial revolution launched by the Great Chu Empire!

The economic development brought about by the development of industry and the increase in people's income brought about changes in the social atmosphere, which eventually affected young men and women like Sun Xu and Ms. Meng living in this city.

Miss Meng carried the long skirt with her hands and followed her downstairs step by step.

After going downstairs and opening the door, the cold wind poured in from outside the door again, but Sun Xu didn't feel cold, and his heart was still hot.

After going out, Sun Xu looked at Ms. Meng, who was half a step behind, and decided to call a taxi. Although the road to Ximen Street is not far, it only takes 10 minutes to walk.

But Sun Xu still wanted to call a taxi.

After all, it's fine to walk by yourself, but it's not good for a girl who can tell she's Jiao Didi to follow you for 10 minutes in the cold wind.

It's just that today is a special day, and none of the rental carriages that can be seen everywhere in the past have been seen.

There are public carriages, but where they live, there are no public carriages that go directly to Ximen Street.

In the end, Sun Xu smiled awkwardly and said, "It seems that the drivers who rent out the carriages have all passed the Chinese New Year!"

Ms. Meng said: "It's New Year's Eve, and it's already afternoon. Many coachmen should have collected their cars and gone home."

"Let's walk there!"

At this time, Sun Xu suddenly felt a little envious of his boss, Section Chief Wang. He had his own private carriage. Although the private carriage was not big, it was just a small two-wheeled carriage with a single horse. He had to drive it by himself, but he could It is not easy to have one's own private carriage in Songjiang City.

Sun Xu knew very well that with his current income, don't count on it!

It's not that I can't afford carriages and horses, but I can't afford to...

Carriages these days are actually not expensive. Small private two-wheeled carriages with good workmanship can usually be bought for twenty or thirty Chu Yuan. If you don’t mind, there are even simpler ones with two wheels and a spring frame. , put a small bucket on it.

This kind of small private carriage, which claims to be specially designed for middle-class families, can be won for only twelve or thirty Chu Yuan.

If you think this is expensive, there are also those carriages that don’t even have springs, and the wheels are still made of wood. That stuff is cheaper, and you can sell it for a few Chu Yuan... There are many carts on the street that are like this, There are many more in the countryside.

Horses are not too expensive, ordinary draft horses can be won even more than ten Chu Yuan... The number of horses in the Great Chu Empire is very large, and the price of ordinary draft horses is quite cheap.

Especially after the large-scale opening of trains, a large number of horses can be transported to the south by train, even the number of horses in the southern region has increased, and it has become cheaper.

For example, Songjiang, placed in the ancient environment, does not look like a place with a large number of horses. After all, there is no prairie suitable for raising horses in the surrounding area... Even if there are horses, with the ancient grain production and The level of food transportation cannot support so many horses.

But look at the current number of horses in Songjiang City, there are hundreds of thousands of horses at every turn, it won't scare you to death!

Where did this horse come from?
The trains are transported from the northwest, north, northeast and other places one by one!
Therefore, ordinary agricultural and transportation horses in the Great Chu Empire are actually very cheap, and the real expensive ones are military horses.

After all, military horses are selected from the best, so the price is naturally more expensive.

But horses are cheap, so it doesn’t mean that raising horses is also cheap... Well, in fact, it’s very cheap to raise horses in pastures on the prairie, or simply in rural areas, just stock them and feed them in small amounts...

But there is no place for you to graze in the city. More importantly, the horses in the racecourse cannot work. Although the horses in the countryside have to do farm work, they don’t have to do it every day.

However, draft horses in the city need to work every day!
In order to maintain the physical fitness of the horses, it is necessary to feed a large amount of concentrated feed... It will cost tens of Chu Yuan for a year.

In the end, even if you can afford a small carriage, you can’t afford it. After all, it’s worth tens of dollars a year, which is much more valuable than raising a car in later generations.

Finally, there is another big problem, that is, the horse shop. Ordinary apartments in the city, and even some better apartment buildings will not provide you with a horse shop... This is usually for going to work, ordinary consumption, and doing business.

You'll also have a hard time finding stables to park your horses and carriages.

Even if there is, the price is extremely expensive.

Seriously, with this money, you might as well take a cab every day... It's more convenient and cheaper!
Therefore, even if there are some seemingly decent high-income groups in Songjiang City, most of them do not own private carriages, and usually do not ride horses... The cost of raising private horses in the city is similar to maintaining private carriages...expensive and troublesome!
Usually go out in a rented carriage!

In Songjiang City these days, those who own private carriages are the real rich people, and they only travel in private carriages every day when they travel.

In addition, some high-income groups who live in single-family courtyards in the suburbs, have stables at home, and also have stables in their offices in the city. Some of them will own a private two-wheeled single-horse carriage, and drive on get off work.

Section Chief Wang of the Mechanical Repair Department is this kind of person. His income is quite good, tens of Chu Yuan a month. He lives in a small single-family building in the suburbs. A horse shop open to core technicians.

So you can drive your own carriage to and from get off work every day, but it’s limited to your daily commute. If you want to go out for consumption, or travel with your family, you have to take a rented carriage.

Why?

There is no place for you to park your horse in most places!
In the Songjiang City of the Great Chu Empire these days, the problem of horse stalls is much more serious than the problem of parking spaces in modern cities in later generations. Without any real hard power, there is no way to solve this problem.

It is precisely because raising horses is expensive and it is difficult to find horse stalls that there are not many private carriages in the city.

On the contrary, private carriages are more common in the suburbs and rural areas, because horses are cheap, and if carriages are not too expensive, ordinary carriages are actually not expensive, and you can buy them as cheap as ten Chu Yuan.

No matter how bad it is, there are still a lot of ordinary horse-drawn carts used by farmers in the countryside to pull their own goods.

Therefore, the traffic situation in the Great Chu Empire is that there are many public carriages and rented carriages in the cities, and very few private carriages. In the suburbs and rural areas, there is almost no public transportation, but there are many private carriages.

Especially in some northern areas where the terrain is flat, horses are cheaper, and horse farming is used on a large scale, there are many ordinary carriages.

Regardless of whether it is a city or a rural area, the number of horses is very large. This is not only the choice of the market, but also the result of the official efforts of the Great Chu Empire.

Because this involves the issue of horse administration that both traditional dynasties and modern countries attach great importance to.

This does not have a large enough stock of horses, but it is impossible to select a large number of excellent military horses from them.

As the weapons of the Chu army became more and more advanced, the logistics requirements became higher and higher, and the requirements for the quantity and quality of horses became higher and higher.

For example, the horses needed for heavy artillery needed to be strong and strong, and only the Fengzhou horse, the top-level service horse in the Great Chu Empire, could meet this demand.If there is no excellent Toyoshu horse, the only way to make up for the quality gap is to increase the number of draft horses.

The more horses used to pull the cannon, the more the better. After all, the road conditions in the field environment are limited, and the more horses used to pull the cannon, the more troublesome management will be.

The horses used by the heavy cavalry are basically all Liaoxi horses. This kind of war horse is currently the best riding war horse bred in the Great Chu Empire. The average shoulder height can reach more than 1.5 meters, and the outstanding ones can reach more than 1.5 meters five... And The Liaoxi horses used by the heavy cavalry are also the top horses in Liaoxi Mali, with an average shoulder height of more than 1.5 meters [-], which belong to the top war horses in Liaoxi Mali.

The reason why the heavy cavalry can use the top-level goods from Mali in the west of Liaoxi is because there are actually not many heavy cavalry in the real sense in the army of the Great Chu Empire.

So far, there are only five heavy cavalry regiments, with a total of just over 4000 cavalry. Four of them are cuirassier regiments that use sabers and wear breastplates.

As for the traditional heavy cavalry regiment wearing heavy armor and holding a three-meter-long cavalry spear, there is only the First Cavalry Regiment of the Guards...but this is only on the surface.

The First Cavalry Regiment of the Guards has not worn a heavy armor for N years, and has gone to the battlefield with a three-meter lance. This set of things is only played on ceremonial occasions in Jinling City.

If the First Guards Cavalry Regiment is sent abroad to fight now, they will also wear breastplates, hold sabers, carry Type [-] cavalry rifles, and pull cavalry cannons to fight!

It’s so old, who still plays full-armor cavalry charge with you... I will use a 75mm cavalry gun that can hit several kilometers away, and then use a single-shot rear-loading rifle that can hit hundreds of meters away, and I will give you one by one. Are you upset about roll call?

These days, some of the heavy cavalry units of the Chu Army who have completed the re-equipment are even struggling, or they should just throw away the breastplate...it's really useless!
But how to fight without hanging, the heavy cavalry in the Great Chu Empire all use Liaoxi horses, and they are also an excellent breed of Liaoxi Mali, with a shoulder height of more than 1.5 meters five... such Liaoxi horses are not expensive!

The Liaoxi horses used in the light cavalry are normal, but they are all more than 1.5 meters high at the shoulder!

In short, whether it is heavy cavalry or light cavalry, the Liaoxi horses they use are excellent horses above the average level in Liaoxi Mali...

The average shoulder height of Liaoxi horses is 1.5 meters, which means that there are quite a few Liaoxi horses with a shoulder height of less than 1.5 meters... These slightly inferior Liaoxi horses will eventually flow into the private market, and this is also to dilute military use. The cost of the horse.

In order to obtain a large number of excellent war horses, the military engaged in various horse policies, which eventually fed back to the private horse market, which eventually led to the emergence of a large number of excellent and cheap horses in the private sector.

Therefore, in the private market of the Great Chu Empire, ordinary civilian horses are actually not expensive. In fact, even Sun Xu can afford them...

Unfortunately, he can't afford it!
So Sun Xu can only think about private carriage or riding a horse by himself.

In reality, when he couldn't see the rental carriage, he could only go to Ximen Street step by step with Ms. Meng in the wind.

Ms. Meng didn't care too much, instead she offered to walk there, and it would be warmer to walk two steps in the cold weather.

Sun Xu thought so too, after all, the distance is not too far, and it takes about 10 minutes to walk normally, and the body will be warm after walking.

Sure enough, although the sky in winter was gloomy, and occasionally there would be a slight cold wind blowing past, I chatted with Ms. Meng while walking.

Listening to Miss Meng's soft voice, Sun Xu even felt that he was wearing too much clothes when he went out, so that he felt a little hot.

Songjiang's winter doesn't seem to be very cold!

(End of this chapter)