Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

The debate about rickshaws quickly spread from the people to the court.

Especially after the emperor allowed rickshaws to use yellow paint and yellow cloth as business signs, officials began to pay attention to this. Many officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Justice planned to submit a petition to persuade the emperor to revoke this order.

As one of the regulations on crowns and costumes, the imperial court clearly stipulated that officials and civilians were not allowed to use the colors and patterns of their costumes. Colors such as willow yellow, ginger yellow, and bright yellow were not allowed to be used at will.

Officials were worried that the emperor's permission would disrupt the etiquette of crowns and costumes and affect the reformulation of rituals and music.

They found Liu Zongzhou, Qian Qianyi and others and asked them to come forward to persuade and advise.

As the deputy director of the Etiquette and Law Research Center, which is now the Congressional Etiquette and Law Committee, Qian Qianyi was fully responsible for this matter.

On the Double Ninth Festival on September 9, he and a group of his good friends and disciples went to experience the rickshaws that were so popular in the capital.

As a person who usually traveled by horse-drawn carriage or even sedan chair, Qian Qianyi had never ridden in a rickshaw. His disciple Qu Shisi came forward to hail a rickshaw.

Qu Shisi greeted them and soon several rickshaws parked on the roadside came over. Liu Si, the leader, said:

"Gentlemen, do you want to take a ride?"

Qu Shisi frowned slightly, looking at the chubby and ferocious-looking Liu Si with displeasure.

But the other drivers are even worse than Liu Si and they don’t even know how to attract customers.

He could only hold back his disgust and said:
"Find a few clean cars. We'll each have one, and keep two as backup."

"You have to have money, and the car must be comfortable."

When Liu Si heard this, his two big round eyes almost popped out, and he grinned and said:

"Don't worry, sir!"

"We have all been trained by the Imperial Household Department and have driver certificates."

"You can write down the vehicle number and work number and file a complaint if there is any problem."

Pointing to the license plate number on the rickshaw and the work number on the driver's certificate on his chest, Liu Si signaled Qu Shisi that he could trust him.

When Qu Shisi heard that they were from the Imperial Household Department, he felt relieved.

He was a Jinshi in the 44th year of Wanli's reign, and his teacher Qian Qianyi was a favorite of the emperor. So after calculating the examination results, he was promoted to the position of Temple Secretary of Taifu Temple this year.

As one of the nine temples, the status of Taifu Temple is higher than that of Taipu Temple. He secretly memorized Liu Si's license plate number, thinking that if this person did not serve him well today, he would ask Taipu Temple to revoke his license plate.

Liu Si didn't know what Qu Shisi was thinking. If he really knew, he would probably say "Pooh" to Qu Shisi or even beat him up.

Even though he is just a coachman, he is not without followers.

He was born into a military family of Yongling Guard. His family was in charge of looking after the mausoleum of Emperor Shizong Jiajing, and some of his ancestors had served as officials.

However, he was impatient with the military rules, so he came out to fight on his own as a remnant soldier in a garrison.

When the capital was in chaos a few years ago, he was doing relatively well, and even gathered a group of people to do evil.

After the current emperor ascended the throne, he used the Imperial Uniform Guard to crack down on people. He was warned by his family and was taken back home and hidden.

Because of this, he avoided the cleansing of thieves in the city the year before last and the cleansing of bandits in the countryside last year. Only after he repeatedly promised his parents that he would take the right path did he come out to fight again with his former younger brother.

However, the gray industries in the capital have been strictly controlled under the supervision of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. He could not find any opportunity to go the right way through the unconventional ways.

It was not until the Taibusi Temple recruited rickshaw drivers that he got the opportunity to pull a rickshaw by virtue of his advantage of being from a garrison.

Moreover, under the identity of coachman, he has another secret identity, that is, an outer member of the Jinyiwei, a spy like Wang Dingxian.

If he could make meritorious contributions, he might be promoted to an official position in the Weiwei Temple like Wang Dingxian. No matter how high Qu Shisi's position was, he could not manage inner court officials like him.

When Liu Si thought of this, he couldn't help but praise the current emperor.

Although the current emperor was quite harsh after ascending the throne, he exiled several of his former brothers.

However, the care he gave to the garrisons was something that previous emperors had never received. Not only were his family assigned the rank of sergeant and given new land, but their military pay was also distributed through Shuntian Bank and Sihai Grain Store, without any arrears.

If the size of the Lingwei was not going to expand, and he did not want to go to other places to be a military household, he might really have given up and joined the army instead of hanging around on the streets.

Fortunately, it is not bad now. Being a rickshaw driver is more free and at ease. And as long as you make meritorious contributions, you may also become an official.

With this in mind, Liu Si, who knew that Qu Shisi and others might not be simple people, picked out a few reliable brothers and asked them to go together to lead this group of people.

He even set his sights on Qian Qianyi, who had the highest status, and went to pull him along personally.

Qian Qianyi was just about to find out what was going on, and when he saw Liu Si was the leader of a group of drivers, he got on his rickshaw.

The creaking sound made him frown. He felt that the rickshaw was too noisy and far less comfortable than a sedan chair.

However, after sitting on it, he felt his body suddenly sink, and he felt somewhat comfortable.

This startled him so much that he almost jumped up and asked:

"What's under the car?"

"Why is it so soft?"

Liu Si was not in a hurry to pull the cart, and also chatted with him:

"Is it comfortable to sit in the car?"

"This car has a suspension underneath!"

“You know about hanging, right?”

"It was invented by the current emperor for shock absorption."

"See that iron plate under the car? That's the leaf spring suspension!"

Walking over and patting the oval iron plate under the seat of a rickshaw, connected to the axle, Liu Si said proudly:
"Your Majesty is truly a genius. He came up with this shock-absorbing method."

"Look at this leaf spring suspension. Doesn't it look like two iron bows connected together?"

"With two iron tire bows supporting it from below, the seat is certainly comfortable!"

Qian Qianyi and others took a quick look and found that the leaf spring suspension was indeed as Liu Si said, as if it were two iron bows put together.

They thought about the elasticity of the bow and the elasticity they felt after sitting on the car, and immediately praised it:

"Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!"

"Why didn't I think of the iron bow being able to be used this way?"

"Your Majesty is truly a man of genius!"

Iron-framed bows were something that everyone in their life knew about from listening to operas and reading novels. Some people even believed it to be true, thinking that a bow could really be made of steel.

Now seeing that the leaf spring suspension was like two iron bows put together, they immediately believed Liu Si's explanation and felt that they understood the principle of the leaf spring suspension.

Some people even thought about making a few hanging chairs to make sitting at home more comfortable.

This kind of chair has a springy feel, which is quite novel when you sit on it for the first time.

After listening to their praises, Liu Si repeated what he had heard during the training and asked:
"Where do you want to go, gentlemen?"

“Is it charged by time or by mileage?”

Qian Qianyi said with great interest:
"How about time?"

"How is the charge calculated by mileage?"

Liu Si took out a wooden sign and said:

"The public transport association has regulations that all prices must be clearly marked and outsiders cannot be cheated."

"If you want to pay by hours, the first hour is two cents per hour. After that, every additional half hour, the charge will increase by one cent."

"If you pay with copper coins, one cent is worth twelve copper coins."

This conversion was very reasonable, and Qian Qianyi nodded.

As a co-founder of Datong Newspaper with the Beijing Newspaper Group, he knew the silver-copper exchange rate published in the Financial Newspaper, which was currently 1160 coins for one silver dollar. Even his Datong Newspaper reprinted these contents.

It is reasonable for people to simply convert one cent into twelve copper coins.

However, the coins have not been issued yet, and the smallest denomination of silver coins is 10 cents. Qian Qianyi asked Liu Sidao:
"If I don't have enough money to pay for a dime and I don't have any coins on me, how should I pay?"

Liu Si laughed and said:

"Then you can give me the ten cents and I'll give you the change in coppers."

"A dime is worth 116 coppers. We are honest and fair."

"If the customer is not satisfied, I can take you to the bank to exchange it."

Qian Qianyi pointed at him and said "cunning" a few times. Although Liu Si followed the rules, he could still earn a few copper coins in the exchange of silver and money.

If the customer feels that he is being cheated and wants to go to the bank to exchange the money, he can still earn some extra money for pulling the cart.

However, Qian Qianyi did not care about these and asked:

"How about mileage?"

"How much is one mile?"

Liu Si grinned and replied:
"The starting price for pulling a cart is one cent, and there is no additional charge within three miles."

"Then it's one cent every three miles, or four coppers a mile."

"If the guests are going far away, it is better to follow the time."

Qian Qianyi's family was very wealthy and he didn't care about the small amount of money for the bus fare.

He had a pleasant conversation with Liu Si and said generously:

"You don't have to pull anyone else today."

"How much do you have to pay to haul us around like this all day long?"

Liu Si looked at the sun and said:

"It's still Si hour now, less than 10 o'clock in the morning. We can still pull for eight or nine hours, which should be counted as a day."

"The emperor has stipulated that the working hours per day are eight hours, and the hourly wage is calculated as one-eighth of the daily wage. If the hourly wage is two cents, the daily wage is 16 cents."

"But there's a discount for the day rental. You only have to pay 15 cents."

"If you provide two meals at noon and at night, you will get two extra hours of driving time. No overtime pay is required, and I will work for you until 8 p.m."

This time can be said to be quite long, and the curfew is at 1:30, which is 20:10. When the day's rent ends, it is close to curfew.

This made Qian Qianyi nod his head, and then asked Liu Sidao:
“Can you still pull the cart after curfew?”

"How can I get home?"

Liu Si pointed to the driver's certificate on his body and replied:

"Of course it depends on this!"

"We are all registered, so we can hang lanterns and pull carts after curfew."

"But after 22:00, you can't do that anymore. If you continue to pull a car, you will lose points or even have your certificate revoked."

This made Qian Qianyi think deeply. He knew that if this regulation was in place, many people who needed to travel after the curfew would choose to take a rickshaw.

No wonder this type of car became popular so quickly and appeared on the streets of Beijing.

This made him ask again:

"My daily rental only lasts until 8 pm. What should I do if I want to go home after 8 pm?"

“Do I need to pay extra?”

Liu Si clapped his hands and said:

"That's what the guest said!"

"After curfew, we charge by the hour, three cents an hour, and it's fair to everyone."

"The emperor set a rule for the workers a few days ago, saying that a day's work time is calculated as eight hours. Overtime pay is required for more than eight hours, and overtime pay will be increased for more than ten hours."

"We're only raising the price by half, but that's very conscientious!"

This left Qian Qianyi speechless, and he calculated how much money a driver like Liu Si could earn in a day.

Based on today's daily rent of 15 cents, plus the two-hour curfew of 6 cents, that's 21 cents.

The current price of rice is seventy cents per stone, and twenty cents and one cent can buy three dou of rice.

This number shocked Qian Qianyi, because according to the 360 ​​days in a year, this driver could earn 108 shi -

It is between the salary of the sixth rank and the salary of the sixth rank.

If we consider that the current salary of officials is only half of that, then:

Even if the driver takes half a year off, he can still catch up with the salary of a sixth-rank official.

This made him look at Liu Si, who was wearing straw sandals and tattered clothes, speechlessly, and he felt that he should look at this person in a new light.

Qu Shisi, who was working next to him at the Taifu Temple, was more sensitive to silver and money figures and calculated this before Qian Qianyi.

Moreover, he was even more vulnerable because his salary as a fifth-rank official was only 192 shi, of which 75 shi and 6 dou were his original salary.

After the emperor reformed the salary system, for those who actually received more than 60 shi of salary, the original salary amount was directly changed into silver dollars.

That means his current salary is 75.6 yuan.

Divided by 360 is exactly 0.21, which is the same amount of money Liu Si earned today.

This made him slap the armrest and shout:
"absurd!"

“How can you earn so much in a day?”

Liu Si was puzzled and looked at Qu Shisi and said:

“How do we earn more?”

“I can’t even afford a car.”

"If there is another way out, who would be willing to pull the cart?"

Qu Shisi wanted to scold him for being ungrateful, but Qian Qianyi stopped him and said:
"How much is this car? How come you can't afford it?"

"It's impossible that the price of this car is more expensive than that of a horse-drawn carriage?"

Liu Si nodded and said:

“It’s not that expensive!”

"Think about how much four iron bows should be worth?"

"The most expensive part of this car is the two leaf spring suspensions at the back."

"They are all made of good steel. Ordinary iron can't make them."

"Don't underestimate this car because it's priced at thirty yuan!"

"The rental fee for our car is seven cents a day."

"If we can't pull it for three and a half hours, we will lose money!"

"It's not like there are always customers when I'm pulling a cart. I only pull the cart for five or six hours a day."

"It's just a five-cent job, barely enough to make a living!"

This income made Qu Shisi feel better. He thought that even if Liu Si was hiding something, he would only make 7 or 8 cents a day. At most, he could buy a bushel of rice to feed his family.

However, after calculating the income from renting a car, Qian Qianyi was immediately tempted, because if he collected 428 cents a day in rent, it would only take days to recover the yuan he spent on the car.

The payback rate was so fast that Qian Qianyi, who wanted to run other businesses after dividing the land, felt that he had seen the direction.

He hurriedly asked Liu Sidao:
“Does this car break down normally?”

“How much will it cost to repair?”

Liu Si didn't understand, but he still answered him:
"It doesn't break down very often, and the car dealership can fix it themselves."

"Add to that changing the cloth, oiling, changing wheels, and so on, and it costs about two cents a day on the car."

"But the owner of the car dealership said that we still have to pay taxes and fees. They spent three or four cents of the seven cents they collected."

"We buy our own cars and register them with car dealers, but we have to pay four cents a day in management fees, so we can only save three cents."

This means that each car can earn at least three cents a day, which is less than half of the previous seven cents. But as long as the car can be used for more than 1000 days, it will definitely make money.

A thousand days is less than three years, and the investment can be recovered. Compared with the fields that take more than ten years to recover the investment, it is really too fast.

Qian Qianyi became more and more interested and wanted to buy some cars and rent them out through car dealerships, or even set up his own car dealership and enter this industry.

This gave him the urge to learn more about it, so he asked Liu Si to drive a rickshaw around the capital. He wanted to experience the rickshaw. (End of this chapter)