Capital Datang

It was just dawn, and the cicadas outside the window were already screaming non-stop. When Liu Cheng woke up in the room, he felt sweat all over his body, and his clothes were sticky to his body. He was indescribably uncomfortable.

"This terrible weather in Taiwan!" Liu Cheng twisted his body uncomfortably, and got up with a mutter. Last night, because the weather was too hot, he didn't fall asleep until very late. He thought it would be cooler in the morning, but he didn't expect it now. The sun hadn't risen yet, but it was already so sweltering, it made him sleepless, so he simply stopped sleeping.

Although the weather was hot, Liu Cheng was used to sleeping in small clothes. This was a habit he had developed since he was a child, and he couldn't change it at all. However, the weather here in Keelung was too hot, so when he woke up, his clothes were all wet.

Liu Cheng put on his shoes and went to the yard, fetched a bucket of water from the well to wash his face, then carried him to a small shed in the corner, took off all his clothes, scooped up a few ladles of water and washed his face, and finally even Even the clothes were thrown into the bucket and washed, and then they were twisted casually before being put on again. Anyway, the weather is hot, and the clothes on the body will be dried in a short while.

This yard was rented by Liu Cheng before. Although the yard is not big and there is only one main room, the price is not cheap. If he hadn't just earned a sum of money at that time, maybe he would not have rented this yard.But counting the days, the rent paid at the beginning is about to expire, and it seems that I will have to find another cheaper yard by then.Thinking of this, Liu Cheng couldn't help but sighed, but his young face carried an incongruous heaviness.Capital Datang 475

Go to the east side of the room facing the window, and there is a small table here.There are two steamed buns in the basket on the table, which I bought when I got home last night.Four for a penny, he ate two last night, and the remaining two are his breakfast today.

Picking up the two hardened steamed buns, Liu Cheng opened the wooden stopper of a glass bottle on the table, picked up the chopsticks and carefully squeezed out a chopstick of bean paste from inside, and then carefully spread it on the steamed buns.When he came out, his wife made it for him, mainly because he was afraid that he might not be used to Taiwanese food.Liu Cheng was reluctant to eat it at first, but now it has become the only dish he can eat.

After eating the two hard steamed buns, Liu Cheng took the small table and a small chair by the door, and also carried a cloth bag with paper, ink, brush and inkstone in it. It's writing letters for people on the pier, and the business is pretty good.He can earn more than 100 yuan a day, and he can still have more than two yuan in January after eating and drinking. However, next month he will find a new place to live, and he will also need to add rent. It is estimated that he can save money in January. up.

Liu Cheng is just 31 years old this year, originally from Tingzhou.The family also had a small amount of property, and his father wanted to give the family a family background, so he kept letting Liu Cheng study, intending to let him get a good name in the exam, so as to honor his ancestors.

Speaking of which, Liu Cheng is really material for reading.He was known as a child prodigy when he was very young, and he was among the best in every exam in the county school.He became a tribute student when he was less than 20 years old, and went to Chang'an to take the scientific examination. However, it is a pity that Liu Cheng failed to pass the examination from his teens to 30 years old, and his family's savings were almost spent in order to pass the examination. .

Faced with this situation, Liu Cheng was also a little disheartened.In addition, with the development of industry and commerce, the lives of relatives and friends around, especially those who were not as good as their family before, are slowly improving now, even better than their family.In addition, he has already married and has a wife and children, but now he has to endure hardships with him, and even because he has failed in many trials, there are many rumors about him behind his back.

Liu Cheng is a very family-oriented person. He can be ridiculed by the villagers around him, but he doesn't want his wife and children to be wronged by him. In addition, he has also lost confidence in the imperial examination, so he finally gritted his teeth and put down his figure to get along with his wife. After discussing, he gathered all the money in the family, and then he came to Taiwan with the money, planning to find a way to make a fortune.

Speaking of which, Liu Cheng is a scholar after all, and he also likes to read newspapers, so he is very clear about the situation in Datang and its surrounding areas. He knows that Taiwan is now occupied by the King of Qi, and that business is encouraged there, and businessmen are given preferential treatment. There are many ports and the industry and commerce are very developed, so there are many opportunities to make a fortune, and Tingzhou is not very far from Taiwan, so Liu Cheng brought most of his family's money to Keelung, Taiwan.

Liu Cheng is a smart person, otherwise he would not have been known as a child prodigy since he was a child.After he came to Keelung, he quickly discovered that as long as he had money in his hand, he could easily find a way to make money with money.Even as long as you are willing to work hard, you can spend money to buy a large piece of land, then buy some slaves, and open a plantation to earn a lot of money, but the initial investment is relatively large, and the speed of money coming in is relatively slow .

Liu Cheng didn't have much money in his hands, and he didn't want to rely on the land to make a fortune. After a period of understanding, he finally decided to invest the money in the high-risk and high-yield industry of sea trade.

Speaking of which, Liu Cheng also has some talent for doing business. He first went to Fuzhou to contact a batch of silk, then shipped it to Jimai, and sold it to a Persian sea merchant. As a result, he immediately made dozens of guan, if he had the courage If it is big enough, if the silk is shipped to Luzon or Borneo to sell, it will definitely earn several times the money.

With the first successful experience, Liu Cheng was very excited, and made several trips between Fuzhou and Keelung, earning more than 300 guan.And it was also at that time that he rented such a small yard in Keelung and paid the rent for a few months. He even planned to buy a yard in Keelung after earning some more money and use it as a living space for his family. His wife and children are here to live.

However, there are unpredictable circumstances, and maritime trade is a very risky industry.After traveling between Fuzhou and Keelung several times, Liu Cheng found that the short-distance transportation was too slow to make money, and it was troublesome to find someone to ship the goods. In the end, he decided to make a big deal and chartered an entire cargo ship himself. , and then imported a boatload of sucrose from Keelung, intending to transport it to Sibi City in South Korea State, which is located in the north, and South Korea State is full of rich Han people, so there is a great demand for sucrose. It can be said that as long as it is transported to There, there is no need to worry about no market.

Originally, Liu Cheng's boat went out to sea in September. It is said that the sea is usually relatively calm in this season, and there are few big storms, but there are unpredictable things in the sky. However, there was a big storm, and sea water rushed into the cargo hold. As a result, all the sucrose in the sack was soaked by sea water.

If it is replaced by other goods, such as porcelain, there is no need to worry about the problem of seawater immersion. Even if it is replaced by silk, as long as it is drained in time, and then find a place to clean it, even if it loses money, it will not be too much. many.But sucrose is the most afraid of sea water. After all, it is something to eat. If it is soaked in bitter sea water, even a fool will not eat it again, let alone sell it.

The entire shipment of sucrose was destroyed, which made Liu Cheng, who had been going smoothly, bewildered. Although he was very careful in his business and the payment for the flock was settled, the freight for the chartered ship had not yet been paid. He planned to wait for the cane sugar to be sold before closing the ship. Now it's good, not only is the cane sugar gone, but he also owes a large amount of freight.

When Liu Cheng returned to Keelung and paid back the freight owed to others, he had less than a penny left in his body. No matter how frugal the money was, it would probably only be enough for him to eat and drink for a month, and even more so. Don't talk about making a comeback.In the end, I had no choice but to help people write letters on the pier.

Originally, it was not difficult for a scholar like Liu Cheng to find a decent job in a place like Keelung where job opportunities abound. Even keeping accounts for others is better than writing letters for others.However, after a few months of business, Liu Cheng is no longer willing to fight with others, and with his scholarly temper, he can't stand being controlled by others.

As for work in factories and the like, he couldn't lose face, and the wages were not high, so in the end he simply set up a letter writing booth on the pier.There are a large number of foreigners in Keelung who come to do business and work, and most of them can't write, so Liu Cheng's business is not bad, at least higher than the average worker, and he is very free.Capital Datang 475

Of course, it's not that Liu Cheng didn't think about going home, but when he left home, he just wanted to pretend to let his wife and children enjoy the blessings with him, but now, he didn't earn any money, and he was reduced to acting for others. Writing letters for a living made him ashamed to go back, and he didn't even plan to go back even if he couldn't eat or sleep well in Keelung.

Liu Cheng carried the table and chairs to the place where he set up his stall. It was on the wharf of Keelung Outer Harbor, not far from where he lived, and there were sycamore trees planted by the roadside, and his stall was in one of the sycamore trees. Under the shade of this tree, although it is still very hot, it is better than basking in the sun.

There is no telephone these days, and the only way to communicate with family members is by correspondence, so as soon as Liu Cheng's stall was opened, a lot of business came to the door immediately. Liu Cheng spent the whole morning writing letters. He wrote too many people, and sometimes three or four people lined up together.

Until noon, the sun in the sky became more and more poisonous, and the ground was covered with smoke. Although the pier was still very busy, most of them were slaves working. As for the Han boatmen, they had already started eating .

Liu Cheng also felt a little hungry at this time, after all, he had been eating steamed buns since yesterday and hadn't eaten well at all.Business is good today, Liu Cheng thinks he should eat something good, there is a good soup cake shop behind him, the soup cakes made in it are very strong, each bowl only costs [-] Wen, and when the weather is hot, there is a free bowl of iced ones The mung bean soup can be described as high quality and low price.

Thinking of that icy and sweet mung bean soup, Liu Cheng also felt his tongue swell, and immediately prepared to pack up his things and eat a bowl, but at this moment, a business that had a huge impact on him came to his door. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to the starting point to vote for recommendations, monthly tickets,

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