The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

Chapter 4: Hundreds of households are warm and hospitable, and the Mao family gathers to buy people and hire workers

An hour later, as the sun was setting in the west, Ma Jinliang, a member of a hundred households in Dashui Pingzhai, "sent" Liu Sheng out of the village with two big shoulders.

The dozen or so servants raised by Ma Baihu and dozens of guardsmen followed closely behind, reluctant to leave.

Liu Sheng looked back and said with a smile: "Ma Baihu, your subordinates seem reluctant to let me go. How about I stay at your house for the night?"

Although Ma Jinliang looks tall and fat compared with others around him, he is actually just over 1.7 meters tall and is covered in fat.

Those two big shoulders were heavy and heavy. After only walking the distance from his home to the village gate, he was so tired that he was panting and sweating profusely.

After listening to Liu Sheng's words, he began to sweat even more on his forehead. He quickly turned around and shouted: "What are you doing with me? Do you want to kill me? Everyone goes back to his home!"

The dozen servants holding weapons looked at each other and had to retreat to the walled city.

As for the dozens of soldiers, most of them held farm tools in their hands, and they were simply summoned to build up their momentum.As soon as Ma Jinliang's servants retreated, they dispersed.

Ma Baihu "sent" Liu Sheng nearly three miles away. Seeing that the sun was setting and it was getting dark, he sat down on the ground and almost spilled the money in his bag.

He gasped: "Good man, I really can't walk anymore, let me take a rest."

Liu Sheng looked at him and shook his head, "Ma Baihu, your body needs to be exercised, otherwise in the future if the intruders come or the slaves come, what will you do? Should you wait to die, or surrender to the thieves and become slaves?"

Ma Baihu was too tired to speak, but he felt that Liu Sheng's words were strange.

'This man calls Li Zicheng a trespasser. Is he a subordinate of another thief chieftain, or does he have a grudge against Li Zicheng? '

As for the arrival of Jiannu, he had never thought about it - he felt that even if Jiannu joined the invaders again, he might come to Henan, but he would never come to Runing Mansion in the south.

Seeing that it was getting dark, Liu Sheng was not prepared to let Ma Baihu waste any more time.

He said: "Put down the robe and go back."

Ma Baihu was stunned for a moment, then immediately put down his robe, kowtowed and said, "Thank you, good man!"

After he kowtowed, he seemed to have regained his strength and stood up to leave.

Liu Sheng said loudly from behind: "Ma Baihu must remember that letter of commitment so that he can take care of himself."

Ma Baihu trembled and froze after hearing this, and then quickened his pace and left after a few seconds.

Liu Sheng smiled, picked up a bag in one hand, and left quickly.

The bags in his hands each weighed dozens of kilograms. It was difficult for Ma Baihu to carry them, but he carried them easily.

Inside were the 500 taels of silver and dozens of copper coins that Ma Baihu used to buy his glass bottle.

In order to show that he would not regret this transaction, Ma Baihu wrote a letter of commitment, saying, "If this happens again, the Chongzhen child will be deprived of any descendants and will not have a good death."

He stamped his seal of hundreds of households on it and pressed his fingerprints.

Liu Sheng saw that Ma Baihu was sincere, so he sold him the precious glass bottle.

Ma Baihu cried with joy after getting the glass bottle. Seeing that Liu Sheng's clothes were tattered and unfit, he insisted on giving him some good clothes, as well as matching socks, shoes, and hats.

Ma Baihu's "enthusiasm" even made Liu Sheng feel ashamed of his original idea - initially he wanted to kill Ma Baihu to avenge the poor people of Dashuipingzhai who were oppressed by him.

Later, he thought that the death of a hundred households would most likely alarm the local government, causing tension in Tianmu Mountain and disharmony between the government and the people, which would not be conducive to what he wanted to do in the future, so he gave up.

···
The third day of wearing the room.

That is, the eighth day of April in the 13th year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty.

This date was also obtained by Liu Sheng from Ma Baihu yesterday. It is consistent with the modern date, except that the lunar calendar is used here. To be precise, it is the "Datong Calendar" of the Ming Dynasty.

Although Chongzhen ordered people to combine Chinese and Western astronomical knowledge to compile a more advanced and accurate "Chongzhen Almanac", which was the mother version of the lunar calendar for later generations, it was not used until the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

Tianmu Mountain, a small place, naturally uses the outdated "Tatong Calendar".

At four or five in the morning, Liu Sheng got up and washed up, and had bread and milk for breakfast.

After eating, he changed into the clothes given by Ma Baihu yesterday.

Wearing an indigo Tang scarf (cap), a set of Chu-colored wide robes, and brown-gray high-top hiking boots on his feet.Inside, he was wearing modern underwear and a body armor (also stab-proof).

This outfit may seem odd at first glance, but there's nothing wrong with it.

Taoist robes were popular clothes among literati in the late Ming Dynasty. It was normal for others to follow suit and wear Taoist robes.

As for the Tang scarf, it was a very common hat in the Ming Dynasty, with many styles.

The shoes and short hair are indeed incompatible with people at this time, but in this time period of the late Ming Dynasty, Liu Sheng was not afraid even if he was noticed.

What's more, he wasn't going to a big city to meet an official this time, he was just going to Maojiaji in the southwest of Tianmu Mountain.

Originally, Liu Sheng wanted to go to the surrounding counties, but even the closest county to Tianmu Mountain was forty or fifty miles away.The next best thing he could do was visit the nearby market town.

This Maojiaji was called Maojia Town in later generations. In the early Ming Dynasty, because it was located on the official road from Tongbai County in Nanyang to Xinyang Prefecture, someone built a hotel. Then more and more people settled here and made a living by doing business.

Because most people have the surname Mao, it is also called Maojia Pu or Maojia Dian.

In the late Ming Dynasty, many towns appeared in the Huaihe River Basin like in the south of the Yangtze River. Maojiapu also developed into a market town due to the increase in business travel, so it was often called Maojiaji, or Maoji or Maodian for short.

Liu Sheng's "home" was about twenty miles away from Maojiaji. He left at about five o'clock in the morning and arrived at Maojiaji at about eight o'clock.

He found that there were unexpectedly many people going to the market. Upon closer inspection, it seemed that many of them were refugees.

This reminded him of some scenes he had seen on the road before - many streams and ponds were dry, and many rivers and lakes were shallow.This is in the Tianmu Mountain area where water is relatively abundant in southern Henan. The situation in other places can be imagined.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, droughts, locust plagues, military disasters, and plagues occurred in Jiangbei almost every year, and the areas involved became wider as we went later.

Henan has a large population, the highest concentration of vassal kings, and serious land annexation. It suffered a major disaster and the Ming court was unable to provide relief. I don’t know how many people would be desperate.No wonder Li Zicheng was able to sweep Henan this year and gain an army of millions of rogues, achieving great success. '

After sighing in his heart, Liu Sheng walked into Maojiaji, which was composed of a large number of houses and several streets.

Some of the refugees on the road brought their belongings to support the elderly and the young, while others could no longer walk and were sitting on the roadside, inserting a few thatch sticks into their bodies and selling themselves.As for people who say their faces are tasty and look haggard, they are all there.

There are also some people whose thin bodies hold out their bellies as if they have been pregnant for several months. Their eyes are either green or dull, which is even more eye-catching.

Most of those who sold themselves kept their heads down and remained silent.Only a few people occasionally raised their heads and shouted a few words in a pleading tone, but the volume was not loud because they lacked the strength.

As for the people in movies and TV shows who sell their bodies to bury their loved ones, Liu Sheng didn’t see any of them.

He suddenly realized that here and now, the dead may not wait until they are buried, or they may not wait until they are buried...

"I heard that the drought in the west and north is much more serious than here, and some big rivers have bottomed out."

"I heard from the old people that there will be a locust plague after the spring drought. Now there are wars and disasters everywhere, and there are waves of plagues. How are you going to live like this?"

"Okay, we're pretty good here. At least we have to work a little harder and we can barely survive."

"There are more and more refugees, and we don't see any relief from the government... Can we survive? I think it's difficult."

"···"

Listening to the comments of some passers-by, Liu Sheng secretly sighed again, feeling more and more that God had allowed him to live until the end of the Ming Dynasty to make something happen.

After wandering around Maojiaji, Liu Sheng finally returned to Beijiekou.

Because he found that there were the most prostitutes here, which made it easier for him to choose people.

"Let go! I won't go with you!"

"You agreed on the price and then went back on your word. Do you think I, Mr. Mao, am easy to bully?"

There was a quarrel in front, which attracted some people to watch, and Liu Sheng also walked over.

I saw a girl who looked about [-] or [-] years old, pulling with a middle-aged man.

Behind the girl lay a woman with a sallow complexion, chapped lips, and messy hair. Her exact appearance was unclear.On the other hand, although the girl also had an earth-colored face, she could vaguely see the beautiful features on Guazi's face.

"I only sell myself as a maid, not a brothel!" The girl had some strength and grabbed a tree stump. She lay half on the ground and refused to leave.

Seeing more and more people gathering around him, Mr. Mao let go and sneered, "Don't go to the brothel? Do you think it's so easy to be a maid from a rich family? You have to sell yourself for a tael of silver to buy medicine to save your mother. I'm the only one willing to go to the Mao family. Pay this price!”

After hearing this, the girl glanced at the woman behind her with a struggling look on her face.

At this time, Liu Sheng noticed that the girl had left handwriting drawn by tree branches. More than half of it could not be seen clearly, and only the word "Save Mother" could be read.

His heart moved, he pushed aside the people in front of him, and asked aloud: "Is the girl literate?"

The girl glanced at Liu Sheng after hearing the sound. She probably felt that Liu Sheng's clothes were unusual and his equipment was extraordinary. She hurriedly replied: "Sir, I am literate, can do some arithmetic, and can do laundry, cooking, and cleaning. I am very useful." of!"

The third master Mao next to him looked at Liu Sheng, frowned and said: "You foreign young man, are you trying to steal my third master Mao's goods? I suggest you ask around first to find out how many of the Mao family members dare to offend me. "

Liu Sheng turned around and smiled at Mr. Mao, saying, "Master Mao misunderstood, I'm here to give you money."

"Send money?"

Liu Sheng said: "I just listened for a while. Mr. Mao bought this girl to sell it to a brothel?"

"So what?"

"I wonder how much Mr. Mao can sell her for?"

Mr. Mao rolled his eyes and said, "How much I sell is my business, why should I tell you?"

At this time, someone in the crowd said: "The number of people bought in a brothel is only three or five taels at most."

Master Mao became angry when he heard this. He looked around the crowd and shouted angrily: "Who? Who dares to ruin my good deeds?!"

Liu Sheng glanced at a figure exiting the crowd, smiled, and said: "Master Mao, I will give you four taels, which means I bought this girl from you. I will save you from arguing with her here. , it will be troublesome to change hands later. How about it?"

"This girl is very beautiful. She is only four ounces younger." Mr. Mao did not conceal the greed in his eyes.

Liu Sheng shook his head, "I still have to pay for her, and it actually costs five taels of silver.

Look at Beijiekou, there are people selling their bodies everywhere.People are worthless these days, five taels of silver is already too much.If Mr. Mao doesn't want to, I won't care about this business. "

After saying that, Liu Sheng prepared to leave.

The girl who sold her body was very nervous when she saw this.

Mr. Mao hesitated for a moment, then finally grabbed Liu Sheng and said, "Forget it, just four taels, give me the money!"

Liu Sheng took out four taels of broken silver and said, "As witnessed by the villagers around me, Mr. Mao is the leading figure in the Mao Family Collection. I believe he means what he says."

"That's right." Mr. Mao was equivalent to picking up four taels of silver for nothing. After hearing Liu Sheng's words of praise, he was in a good mood, "Young man, let me remind you, this little girl is not honest. I bought her and signed a contract first."

After that, he took his two followers and went to the market town humming slang songs.

Liu Sheng looked at the prostituted girl and asked, "What's your name?"

The girl stood up and saluted Liu Sheng, then said: "Return to my benefactor, little girl Li Xiangyun."

Liu Sheng reached out and picked off the thatch stuck on Li Xiangyun's head. This action scared Li Xiangyun and took a step back. Then he realized that he had misunderstood Liu Sheng and couldn't help but blush.

But her face was covered with dirt, and only she knew she was red.

"You stay here first. I'll come over after I take a stroll around. My name is Liu Sheng. If you need anything, just shout my name." After saying that, Liu Sheng pushed aside the crowd and walked out.

He wants to find someone to come over and sign a contract, and he also wants to "buy" a few more useful people.

[Readers please turn the page and read more. 】

(End of this chapter)