Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1857 Busy Mayor Liu
Going to Qiongzhou in Guangzhou is not difficult. Before the Australians entered Guangzhou, Dabo Shipping had established a shop at Tianzi Wharf. There was a liner between Lingao and Guangzhou every few days, which was very convenient.Today, Wuyangyi on the banks of the Pearl River has been occupied by Dabo as the Guangzhou sales office, and the liner has been changed to run daily, not only to Lingao, but also to Qiongshan.

If Zhang Dai wants to buy a boat ticket directly, he can set off.However, it was not easy for people to travel far away at that time, and living as a guest was even more inconvenient.For the sake of a smooth journey, people with a little wealth and status should write letters to ask acquaintances at the destination to take care of them before going out.If there are no relatives or friends in the local area, try to find one by beating around the bush, and bring a post from the introducer to visit and ask for the other party's support.For the big gentry, this kind of mutual care is even more common.

Zhang Dai naturally planned to go to Lingao as well.The Liang family has connections with the Australians, and he originally planned to ask Liang Cunhou to try to arrange it.

Now that Guangzhou has fallen, the Liang family is also "benefited by the emperor", so it is naturally inconvenient to have any further contact with Australians--in fact, all the gentry in Guangzhou now have this attitude, and no one wants to be left behind as a "thrower". To tell the truth, to cause unnecessary troubles for one's relatives and old friends, especially many people's fathers, brothers and nephews are still studying in Daming, and they dare not have any more contacts with Australians.

The Liang family was unable to come forward, and Zhang Dai had another move: Zhao Xiucai from Sanshui in Hangzhou.

In Hangzhou, Zhao Yingong had frequent contacts with him, and they could be regarded as "friends"-this was not because Zhang Dai was impressed by Zhao Yingong's special temperament or personality charm, but because of the care of Zhang Pu, the leader of Fushe.

The "Australian background" of this Sanshui Zhao Xiucai is no secret among the gentry in Hangzhou.But Zhang Pu's view went a step further: Zhao Yingong was actually the agent of the Kun thief, and it is very likely that he himself was a Kun thief.

Zhang Pu was not ignorant of what the Kun bandits had done in Guangdong.However, compared with Donglu, the Kun bandits have both advantages and disadvantages in Daming. They are not purely capable of barbaric looting like Donglu. If they can be guided and used, it will be a good medicine for Daming to prolong life.

Therefore, he hinted that Zhang Dai might as well make friends with Mr. Zhao and maintain a certain friendly relationship. At critical times, it would be a reliable communication channel, and he could more or less grasp the internal situation of the gangsters.Zhang Pu knew that the imperial court's understanding of the enemies from all walks of life was astonishingly ignorant.

Zhang Dai is not as complicated and far-sighted as Zhang Pu thought, but he has always liked novelty and exquisite things. The various "Australian goods" brought by Mr. Zhao in Sanshui just met his needs, so he was willing to obey.

This time he went south, he paid a special visit to Zhao Yingong and asked him to write an "eight lines".

Hearing that he intends to visit Lingao, Zhao Yingong looked very attentive, and immediately patted his chest to express that it was all on him, and immediately wrote a letter of "eight lines" to "Master Runshitang".

Zhang Dai didn't know who the owner of Runshitang was, but since it was written for him, it would be easy to find Runshitang when he arrived in Lingao.

Unexpectedly, when I arrived in Guangzhou, I heard that there is also a branch of Runshitang in Guangzhou.In this way, things are even simpler.Zhang Dai made up his mind, and sent a servant to post his famous post to Runshitang, saying that he would visit some day.

"...Through the security clean-up, industrial and commercial registration and household investigation of the customs industry in the whole city, the clean-up and rectification team has a preliminary grasp of the situation of the brothels and customs industry practitioners in the entire urban area of ​​Guangzhou (including the Simen Guanxiang area)

“市区共有登记挂牌的妓院194家，登记从业人员1548人，辅助从业人员3445人。妓女年龄最小者10岁，最大者55岁（注：不含琵琶仔）。16～25岁青年妇女，占妓女总人数的50%弱。具体年龄分布见下表……

"In terms of the source of prostitutes, 62% of the total number of prostitutes came from Lehu, 27% from Danhu, and 11% from good families. However, we learned from the survey that many procuresses from Lehu led their families to buy women from poor families. , falsely claiming to be her own daughter in order to avoid the legal prohibition against prostitution, so this statistic cannot truly reflect the source of prostitutes...

"According to our comprehensive evaluation of brothel size, decoration, consumption level and traditional views in society, brothels in Guangzhou can be roughly divided into four grades. The first-class brothels are mostly 'Xingyuan' or 'Dazhai' (water brothel) It exists in form. In terms of business scale, there are at least 10 prostitutes, up to 20 or more, and there are also some "pipa boys". Lehu family. Most of them are proficient in literature and ink, proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. The consumption price of brothels is very high, and most of them mainly entertain customers with banquets, songs, wine, wine and tea, but there are very few such brothels in the custom industry. 9%, 5 employees, accounting for 134% of the employees. …

"It is worth noting that although the number of prostitutes employed in first-class brothels is less than 10%, the number of auxiliary employees in first-class brothels, including handymen, chefs, guest sisters, and artisans, accounts for more than two-thirds of the total auxiliary employees. Operating income and profits account for more than half of the entire custom industry. The scale effect is very obvious. …

"The second-class brothels are mainly smaller than the first-class brothels in terms of scale and quality, but in terms of specific grades, they are comparable to the first-class brothels. The locals often call them "semi-private". ' and other forms of operation, the mansion is small and exquisite, there are only 1 or 2 professional prostitutes, and there are several maidservants and pipa boys. In fact, maidservants are also practitioners. The business situation is the same as that of first-class brothels. There are also famous prostitutes. Most of the brothel operators are from "Lehu" and they often operate in a family style. The bustards and prostitutes are often mother-daughter relationships. There are 38 second-class brothels in the urban area, with 80 employees (including maids). …

"The third- and fourth-class brothels are purely physical transactions, with simple venues and no ostentation. The fourth-class brothels don't even have formal houses. They only build huts and shacks in the wasteland outside the city for prostitutes to prostitute. Most of the third- and fourth-class brothels belong to the middle and lower classes. The clients of the prostitutes are the business targets, and the employees are either older or less beautiful. Because the price of prostitution is very cheap, in order to extract the maximum profit, some prostitutes have to receive more than 20 clients a day and night. The abuse and oppression of prostitutes is also the most serious. This kind of brothel also It is a high-incidence area for sexually transmitted diseases. The investigation of sexually transmitted diseases among prostitutes in third- and fourth-class brothels is shown in the table below...

"In addition to the brothels that have registered for business licenses, there are still 6 brothels in the form of nunneries, and their operating conditions are roughly similar to first- and second-class brothels. There are also Danhu Flower Boat, 'Salty Water Girl' and Beggar Big Bone. Due to the large mobility of the site and personnel, it is estimated that the number of employees should be between 1000 and 2000, and most of them are floating population without household registration...

"In addition to brothels, there are still four or five Xianggong Tangzi in Guangzhou. The scale and form of operation are roughly similar to those of second-class brothels. There are about 50 employees, and they are currently included in the scope of rectification of the custom industry...

"To sum up, we can find that the scale of the customs industry in Guangzhou is not only large, but also the percentage of the relevant population in the urban population is quite high, which has a lot to do with it being a trading port city with a lot of places... ..."

"This "Preliminary Investigation Report on the Situation of Guangzhou Customs Industry" has been revised almost." Liu Xiang closed the manuscript with satisfaction, and nodded to Zhang Yunmi.Zhang Yunmi's expression at this time is like many years ago - that was before D-Day, when Liu Xiang was still a doctoral student before he was born to work for the boss - a sister who was supervised by Liu Xiang and urgently needed to finish a big thesis within a month expression.

"Let's give it to Lu Cheng for the second work. I've been acting like a dog's leg to you for half a month." Liu Xiang casually added Lu Cheng's name to the author on the cover.Zhang Yunmi agreed with "Mmmm", but her eyes narrowed meaningfully.

Liu Xiang pretended he didn't see it, and then dismissed Zhang Yunmi after casually discussing some work matters.

As soon as Zhang Yunmi came out of the office, she saw Lu Cheng coming with several documents in her hand. Zhang Yunmi smiled mysteriously, as if she had responded to Lu Cheng's greeting, and left.When they passed each other, Lu Cheng squinted at the cover of the article, and the two forcedly inserted names that violated the norm. He was a little excited, but within a few seconds he regained his composure, and soon They knocked rhythmically on the door of Liu Xiang's office.

"Mayor, today someone came to Runshitang Guangzhou Business Station with a famous card from Hangzhou Zhao Yuan, saying that he wanted to see the 'Master of Runshitang'." Lu Cheng handed over the briefcase in a brown paper box,

"Mr. Zhao... huh, news about him?" Liu Xiang was a little puzzled by Monk Zhang Er, so surprised that he almost said the words that should be "beep" in front of Guihuamin. "Could it be that this side has captured Guangzhou, and Lao Zhao's situation is very tense? Last time, didn't he say that he went to 'inspect the trade route with Japan'? It should be no problem!" Liu Xiang thought to himself.

"Who is the visitor? Did you send a name card?"

"Yes," Lu Cheng said, "It's called Zhang Dai. This is his name card."

"Zhang Dai, this name is quite familiar...it should be a famous person." Liu Xiang looked at the red card, and took out a "Reading Book for Veterans" from the drawer that had no cover and was only packaged in a black cardboard case, and flipped through it. After a while, I found Zhang Dai's name under the entry "Z-Zhang".

Zhang Dai, Fushe...Jiangnan Shilin...Liu Xiang folded the pages of the book a little too loudly, making a dull "bang" sound.

(End of this chapter)