Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 536

Tiananmen is the south gate of Beijing, and Di'anmen is the north gate of Beijing.

The common people like to call the north gate the back door, and the Di'anmen building itself is called the back door face, from the back door face to the north, to the outside of the Drum Tower, which is called the back door, which is also a place full of market atmosphere.

Shopkeepers are lined up on both sides for buying and selling, from needles and threads to firewood, rice, oil and salt, from daily necessities to all aspects of daily life.

From the back door to the south, there are basically no shops and businesses in the back door, only some small grocery stores appear in the alleys from time to time.

At the west entrance of Xilou Lane, on the west side of the road at the north entrance of Gongjian Hutong, there is such a small grocery store that sells camellia sauce, vinegar, needles, thread, and brain. Or simply called Xiaodian.

The shop is said to be small, but it is not small. Two of the three rooms are used as door faces, and a curtain on the south side is used as a living room. There is a tall bar cabinet in the shop, which separates the small shop from the inside and the outside. Shredded tobacco, tea, white wine, yellow rice wine, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and various seasonings. The outer room is filled with various vegetables and dried and fresh food. In winter, Chinese cabbage, radish, etc. are also placed on the steps outside the store for sale.

There is also a row of high stools beside the counter. Neighbors in the neighborhood or those who work on the street come here to get something for nothing when they are tired, or those who like to drink rice wine, come to have a bowl, and then order a plate of fried peanuts or Stir-fried soybeans with lard residue can also be enjoyed while chatting.

The shop is run by a family surnamed Song. The head of the shop is called Song Heng. It is said that they used to do business on the Tongzhou Wharf. Now that the canal is not running, it is difficult to do business at the Tongzhou Wharf. So the shopkeeper Song brought his family to the capital. After these three rooms were sold, it became a deal with a little rectification.

There are three rooms, two for business and one for living.

He has four sons, the eldest is Zhenlie, the second is Zhenxun, the third is Zhenxi, the fourth is Zhenzhao, and the old shopkeeper is around fifty.

The boss, Zhenlie, is in his 30s and is a tall man, but he is always taciturn.The second child is always amiable and has trouble in his eyes.The third child has a round face, a bit of a tendon, and often blushes with customers over things like three melons and two dates. Responsible for purchasing or delivering goods.

Mr. Zhao, who often comes to drink in the shop, is a scholar. He often said that looking at the names of the four brothers, he knew that the Song family must have been not an ordinary family.

And Lao Liu, who usually likes to come here for nothing, and then fried soybeans with oil residue, said that the four brothers did not look like brothers at all.

Of course, Lao Liu only dared to say this quietly, and everyone didn't feel at ease.

Whose brothers must look like they came out of the same mold?
this day.

Before dawn, Lao Song was still tidying up the shop. The four brothers had already brought in the goods from the morning market. When they got home, they were busy unloading, sorting and sorting the vegetables. , placed at the door by category, and even sprinkled with water, it looks tender and fresh.

Although this business is run by the five masters, and the women in the family only live in the backyard and do not come here, but the five masters have done a good job in this business.

First of all, it is necessary for life, and everyone can't do without it, and there is only one shop nearby, so everyone will not look far away, and this guy has a lot of brains in business.

If you buy a piece of cabbage, he may give you two cloves of garlic. If you buy two pieces of tofu, he will also give you two green onions. Sometimes if you forget to bring money or something, you can give it later.

Sometimes it is even inconvenient, and if I want to ask the shop to help me bring some medicine and other things outside, they are willing to do it for me.Even if some neighbors are in difficulty for a while and want to borrow some rice, noodles, money and food, the shopkeeper is also willing to borrow.

After going back and forth like this, the small shop has only been open for more than half a year, but it is already very popular. Everyone likes to come here to buy things. Even if there is nothing to buy sometimes, they are willing to come and chat.

There are almost enough dishes here, so some neighbors who got up early came over.

Erye Liu, who lives in Xilou Lane, came first.

"Second Master Liu is here to take care of our business again. Good morning."

"Morning, there are no fresh dishes." Liu Erye was wearing a melon skin hat and a braid behind his head. Just by looking at his shiny forehead, he knew that his conditions were good. She shaved her head, and there was always short, messy bristly hair growing on her forehead.

"I saw fresh fish and shrimps today, so I specially brought some back. They are all kept in that bucket. Go and see, they are still swimming happily. You can choose whatever you want, whether it is steamed or steamed. Braised in soy sauce, they are guaranteed to be fresh." The old shopkeeper Song Heng said with a smile.

This Erye Liu works in the Ministry of Household Affairs. Although he is not an official, nor can he be regarded as an official, he is just an ordinary clerk, and he is still outside the economic system, that is, there is no official establishment.

After the Tartars entered the customs, they basically inherited the Ming system, established hundreds of officials, and appointed officials. There were more than 1000 officials in each department of the capital. In fact, thousands of people are not enough, so there are a large number of non-staff officials.

Although the status of non-staff officials is low, they are inseparable from them everywhere.

There is a saying that the King of Hell is easy to meet, and the little devil is difficult to deal with.

A small official, if he stays in a key department, can actually live a very comfortable life, even more comfortable than county officials in some remote places.

Liu Erye was an errand in the household department, which was naturally good, so don't look at him as a non-staff official, but he was an old man in the household department in the Ming Dynasty, and his qualifications were rich enough.

Shopkeeper Song is very polite to this neighbor, because he is a big customer, and he usually spends a lot of food and food, and even comes here often to have a drink or two.

Of course, there is more to the surface than that.

Lao Song invited Erye Liu in to watch the fish.

The fish is indeed very fresh, swimming happily one by one.

"smokes!"

Lao Song took out a box of Daqianmen and passed cigarettes to Lao Liu.Liu Erye also took it bluntly, and after lighting the fire, he smoked it skillfully.

"Have you never smoked or heard of this Daqianmen cigarette before?"

"New cigarettes, a new brand, the taste is quite good."

"It's pretty good, full-bodied but not overpowering."

While smoking, neither of them was in a hurry to pick fish.

"I went to buy vegetables today, and the price of food has risen again." Lao Song said.

"Well, if you can stock up recently, hurry up and stock up. No matter how expensive it is, you can earn money if you buy it." Lao Liu works in the Ministry of Households, and he knows that the skyrocketing price of food in the capital is just the beginning, because the situation is getting worse and worse.

First Jiangnan was lost, then Huguang was corrupted, now Huainan was abandoned, Denglaiqingxin was lost, and even Liaonan lost several prefectures, not to mention, dozens of prefectures and counties were affected by the Yellow River breach.

Even if the autumn harvest comes, the famine in the capital will become more and more serious.

"I heard that the imperial court is going to send troops to Datong?" Old Song asked.

Lao Liu didn't rush to answer.

"Still the old rules," Lao Song handed a small yellow croaker to Lao Liu, and Lao Liu had a smile on his face. This was not the first time Lao Song gave him a gold bar, nor was it the first time he accepted it.

Since Lao Song came here to open a shop, he quickly approached him, and met him like a little yellow croaker, just to inquire about some news, saying that it is convenient for business.

Gold in troubled times, who can resist this kind of temptation?

There are many weights of gold bars, ranging from five cents to ten taels, of which there are two common ones, one tael and ten taels, which are commonly called small yellow croaker and large yellow croaker.

From the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, the price ratio of gold and silver was not high, usually one to five or six, also known as five-for-six.In the early Ming Dynasty, the imperial court stipulated that one tael of gold should be exchanged for four taels of silver, but it soon rose to six taels and seven taels. At the beginning of Chongzhen, it was already more than ten taels.

In the last years of Chongzhen, the world was in turmoil, and gold became more valuable. Overseas gold was valuable, and a large amount of silver was used to cover gold. Now the Ming Dynasty in the south is secretly going to the north to cover gold with silver.

As a result, Beijing officially exchanges one tael of gold for ten taels of silver, but in fact, privately, it is already almost one tael of gold for 15 taels of silver, and it is even rising.

Lao Liu is from the Ministry of Household Affairs. Last month, one tael of gold was exchanged for 14 taels of silver in the black market in Beijing. This month, one tael has been exchanged for 15 taels.

This small yellow croaker weighs one or two taels, very delicate, but worth 15 taels of silver.

Old Liu said, "Now a stone of millet can be sold for eight taels of silver."

This little yellow croaker is almost worth buying two stones of millet.

Lao Song nodded, "Yes, the price of food is getting more and more expensive, and the price of everything is increasing. The price is one day. Why do you think it's going up so crazy?"

"Because there was chaos everywhere, Jiang Yu rebelled in Shanxi, and Taiyuan and its surrounding areas were left in Shandong. The Wang Yongqiang brothers in northern Shaanxi rebelled, and only the Guanzhong Plain remained intact. The flood in Shandong, the rebellion in Henan, and even the national treasures of Tu We have reached the vicinity of Baoding Mansion, Tianjin Port has been blocked by warships of the Ming Dynasty, the canals have been completely broken, and there is no grain to enter Beijing, even though food is urgently collected from various places, it is still difficult to provide relief!"

Food supply is seriously insufficient.

However, those Eight Banners princes and bannermen who entered the customs in the capital are quite rich, and they all have a lot of money in their hands. After all, they have been robbed all these years, especially after entering the customs.

But the problem is that if there is no food, people will starve to death, but no matter how much money there is, sometimes they can't satisfy their hunger.

"It will continue to rise. Back then, outside the customs, after the death of Emperor Taizu of the Qing Dynasty, there was a great famine in Liaodong, and the price of a bucket of grain was eight taels of silver. All things are expensive, especially food is extremely expensive."

At that time, the Tartars were outside the customs, fighting every year, constantly mobilizing for war, disasters continued outside the customs, and the harvest dropped sharply, so there was a great famine.

Although there was a lot of money snatched back, it could not be exchanged for food.

Now Beijing, also began to have this trend.

If it weren't for the rat plague in the capital during the 20th and [-]th years of Chongzhen, [-] people died. Later, when Li Zicheng entered Beijing and the Qing army entered Beijing, the population dropped sharply. With a population of [-], a famine must have erupted since the beginning of the year, how could it last until now.

The reason why Datong rebelled is partly because after the grain in the south of the Yangtze River was cut off, the Qing court urgently expropriated grain from Hebei, Shanxi, Liaodong and other places. In the past, grain was only transported to Beijing from six provinces including Jiangnan. Grain has been collected from all over the country, no money is needed, only real goods.

The food in the hands of the people is requisitioned again and again, and people will starve to death.

Food is the most important thing for the people. Once the food supply is not enough, it is the ordinary people who will be the first to suffer.

After all, if the price of food rises slightly, everyone will not be able to afford it.

"Second Master, I still have a big yellow croaker, I'll get it for you."

After receiving the exquisite large yellow croaker, which was worth more than 150 taels, Second Master Liu's face immediately filled with a smile.

"The times are difficult, if you have any news in the future, please let the second master disclose more, I will go get a big yellow croaker and send it over," he said, and handed over a small yellow croaker.

With two golden croakers, one big and one small, in his hands, Liu Er's smile became even brighter.

In fact, he already knew that Shopkeeper Song was not a serious businessman, and he even secretly sent someone to Tongzhou to inquire about Shopkeeper Song.

He also knew that Shopkeeper Song gave him silver and gold, and he was actually taking the risk of losing his head when buying news from him, but these days, who cares about these things.

Two big yellow croakers were worth any risk he took.

"Shopkeeper Song helped me get ten stones of grain quietly, regardless of whether it's old rice, millet, or white grain."

"No problem, wrap it with me, within three days, I promise to get the food for you, how about five stones of rice and five stones of millet?"

"Okay, okay." Lao Liu was very satisfied, and pulled Shopkeeper Song, "Let's go inside and have a good chat. I have a lot of latest news here."

"Haug has been killed in prison, and it is said that he died of illness."

"The three Dorgon brothers are all dead, and now the wives and concubines are all divided up by Daishan and other Eight Banner masters, Baylor. Now it is Yue Le who is leading the troops to attack Datong, the grandson of Taizu, Abatai's fourth son Yue Le , is Boluo's brother, he was originally the Duke of Zhen, and now he is said to be the King of Anjun by the emperor,

He also holds the Zhenglan Banner with Jierhalang's eldest son Fulton and his elder brother Boluo. Fulton has ten cattle records, Yuedong has eight cattle records, and Boluo has seven cattle records. Fulton is the banner owner.

This time, Yue Le was in command to conquer Datong. Daishan's fourth son, Qianjun Wang Wakda, was the deputy general. He transferred 40 soldiers from the Eight Banners in Beijing and [-] soldiers from Xuanda Shanxi in Zhili to conquer Datong. He also brought more than [-] famous soldiers. Clothes Cannon.

The two kings Fulton and Mandahai led [-] troops to station in Baoding and Tianjin.

Tune Wu Sangui to guard Xi'an..."

Shopkeeper Song kept it carefully in his heart, these are very valuable information, "Can you find out more detailed information, such as Yue Le's [-] troops stationed in Beijing, who are the main generals, how many are the Manchurians, Mongolians and Hans?" , how is the equipment, and the dispatch of grain and grass equipment, etc.?"

Liu Er was neither in a hurry nor in a hurry.

"Give me three days."

Shopkeeper Song nodded, "Okay, I'll get the food in three days and send it to your back door quietly."

"Well, I'll give you the news at that time."

After seeing off Second Master Liu, the four Song Chenglie brothers came over.

"Does this dog traitor have information?"

"Um,"

Shopkeeper Song’s true identity is a member of Jinyiwei. He was indeed in Tongzhou before, and he was also in business, but that was just his cover identity in Jinyiwei. Shopkeeper Song is an old Jinyiwei. A year ago, he returned to the imperial court in the south Got in touch, got re-appointment, and received the task.

Half a year ago, I brought four of my men to the city of Beijing, opened this small shop as a cover, and secretly collected information and passed on information.

"It seems that the Tartars want to win Datong first, so we must pass the news back immediately."

"Just a few yellow croakers for this news? Who doesn't know this in Beijing now?"

"What do you know, the important thing is not to fight Datong, but more details, and after Liu Er is fed by us, he will become a grasshopper on our line in the future, where else can he go?"

(End of this chapter)