Soldiers come to the world

Liu Jing was in a very good mood these days. Firstly, Li Yan lived up to his expectations and successfully occupied Zigui County. Secondly, Huang Zhong and Zhao Yun wiped out Cheng Pu's [-] army in Lujiang County.

These two victories are of great significance. The former enabled him to successfully stop Liu Bei's army from advancing to Bashu, while the latter's victory will lay a solid foundation for him to stabilize the East. It can be said that these are two victories at the strategic level.

Early in the morning, Liu Jing changed into an ordinary person's attire. He wore a study crown, a blue linen robe, and black leather boots. In fact, his attire was still the attire of the upper-middle class. In the Han Dynasty, from the length of the clothes You can see a person's social status. The Eguanbo robe is a symbol of the upper class, while the lower class people wear short brown, that is, short clothes and thick turbans.

Liu Jing led a few of his subordinates all the way to Wuchang East City. The Han Dynasty inherited the commercial characteristics of pre-Qin cities, and designated a special area as a commercial area, called the city, which was often the most convenient place for urban transportation.

The commercial market in Wuchang is located near the Caohe River in Shuimen, covering an area of ​​more than 2000 mu. The dense shops are distributed on both sides of the Caohe River. Goods from the north and south of the river gather here, whether it is copper oil lamps, incense burners, drop bottle furniture, or iron plows. , picks, shovels, hoes, sickles and other agricultural tools, or grains such as grain, millet, rice, wheat, beans, etc., poultry and livestock such as chickens, ducks, geese, cattle, pigs, and horses, and silk, rhinoceros horns, turtle shells, pearls, Luxuries such as ivory, and various commodities are available here.

Jingzhou’s trade mainly relies on water transport, and even goods from the north are transported by water after arriving in Fancheng or Anlu, and are transported from the Yangtze River to Wuchang. Since this year, Wuchang’s trade has been particularly prosperous, and warehouses have been filled with various commodities.

On the one hand, it is true that the Red Cliff War made Jiangxia famous and greatly improved the status of Jingzhou in the whole country, and merchants from all over the country flocked to it, but more importantly, Jiangxia made a large number of five baht coins last year, and the coins contained high copper content. , It is undoubtedly a bright spot at the end of the Han Dynasty when the bad money was flooded, and it is called "Chu money".

This has led to merchants from all over the country transporting supplies to Jiangxia in exchange for this high-quality Chu money. This is undoubtedly a kind of currency exploitation, using hard currency to exchange supplies from various places.

Of course, Wuchang’s commercial market is mainly wholesale. The customers who come here to buy goods are not ordinary people, but mainly small traders from counties and counties in Jingzhou. go back.

In this way, doing business in the East Market requires a large amount of capital, that is, commercial banks are the main ones. There are more than [-] commercial firms in total, each of which deals in its own specialty commodities, but among them there are four major commercial firms that deal in a variety of commodities. The largest is the Dow's firm that moved from Chaisang, followed by the Wu's firm in Jiangling, the Tian's firm in Xiangyang, and the local Su's firm in Wuchang.

The Dow Company is the largest merchant in the entire south, monopolizing Jingzhou's grain, salt and iron. It has been in business for decades and has made huge profits.

Liu Jing put on a little makeup, added a long beard, and thickened his eyebrows. Except for familiar people, most people could no longer recognize him as Jingzhou Mu. He walked casually and came to a jewelry store.

This shop covers an area of ​​three mu, with a shop in the front and a shop in the back. It occupies a rather large area. It is also the largest jewelry shop in Jingzhou. 'Buy jewelry at the top jewelry store.

Liu Jing walked in immediately. From the outside, there seemed to be no one there, but when he entered the store, he found that it was crowded. There were more than [-] tables full of customers, and a waiter was sweating profusely at each table. Introduce jewelry and bargain with customers.

Liu Jing just exited, but a young clerk warmly greeted him, "This distinguished guest, this small shop has all kinds of jewelry with high quality and low price. The villain Zhang Shun is willing to introduce you to this distinguished guest."

Liu Jing smiled, "There are too many people, I'll come back another day!"

Although this guy is young, he has been in the industry for many years and has a pair of poisonous eyes. He saw that although Liu Jing was dressed plainly, but an ancient jade pendant around his waist was worth a thousand gold, and several of his followers, their imposing manner and burly figure were all A person with extremely high martial arts skills is not something that ordinary people can afford.

The clerk immediately judged that Liu Jing was a nobleman, how could such a noble customer let him go easily.

The clerk immediately pointed to the inner room and said: "Please sit in the inner room, there is no one inside."

Liu Jing understood the sentiments of the people, so he didn't retreat, and followed the waiter into the back room. The back room was elegantly furnished, there were five or six tables, but only one table was occupied by guests, and the rest were empty.

Liu Jing couldn't help asking curiously: "It's so crowded outside, why don't you let them sit inside?"

The clerk scratched his head and said, "This is your guest room, they are ordinary people, they are not qualified to come in."

"There are so many ordinary people who come to buy jewelry?" Liu Jing asked puzzled.

At this time, the person at the next table smiled and said: "There are so many wealthy families in Jiangxia, this jewelry store is so prosperous every day."

Liu Jing stepped forward and said with a smile: "My surname is Yang, from Runan. I came to Jiangxia to do business. May I ask your surname?"

The waiter answered for the guest: "This is the proprietor Wang of Wang Shengji Tavern."

Wang Shengji Tavern is located in Dongshi, covering an area of ​​eight acres. It is a very famous tavern in Wuchang. Liu Jing cupped his hands and said with a smile: "So it is Wang Proprietor. I have also admired Wang Shengji Tavern in Runan for a long time."

This proprietor Wang was quite obese and very talkative. He narrowed his eyes with a smile, waved his hands and said, "I don't dare to be the boss, shopkeeper Yang, please sit down!"

Liu Jing sat down opposite him, and said with a casual smile, "Does the owner Wang think Jiang Xia people are very rich?"

"There are poor people and rich people everywhere, but Jingzhou is a rich land of fish and rice, and it has been stable for a hundred years. As long as you work hard, how can you go poor? The people from Xiangyang and Nanjun fled to Jiangxia, and there are only half of the victims in the camp! Those who are a little richer, who would like to queue up to get porridge?"

Liu Jing nodded. He also knew what this person said. For example, the Cai family bought a farm directly in Jiangxia. Many wealthy families lived in rented houses and would not live in disaster camps. This is the reason. The Jiangxia government is under much less pressure than imagined.

At this time, Proprietor Wang took out another handful of money from his pocket and slapped it on the table, "This money is Chu money that has appeared in large quantities this year. It is very well made, at least [-]% copper, but as soon as it comes out, people in Jingzhou are all over the place." Stamp your feet and scold your mother, do you know why?"

Liu Jing arched his hands and smiled, "I don't know, please ask the proprietor."

"Because once it comes out, the old money in the hands of people in Jingzhou will be worthless. It used to be that you can sell a big fish for five renminbi, but now it is still five renminbi, but you need to use new Chu money. If you buy it with old money, it will cost you ten renminbi. The price is the same, the new money is still [-] yuan per bucket, but the old money is [-] yuan per bucket, and the price of rice has doubled out of thin air.

Liu Jing picked up a new coin and looked at it carefully. The new coin was very round, full of flesh, yellow and copper in color, with the word "Made in Chu" written on the front and the word "Wu Zhu" in seal script on the back. It was indeed a coin. A fine coin.

The reason why a large amount of new money circulated was mainly because of the Red Cliff War, which rewarded the three armies generously. It flowed out from the hands of the army. Liu Jing really did not expect that the new money would be so popular. 'This should be a kind of currency plunder! 'Liu Jing couldn't help thinking secretly.

"It's fucking good money! All the money in my money cellar is gone. I've been working for nothing for at least ten years. What do you think so many people come to buy jewelry for?"

The more Wang Dongzhu talked, the more annoyed he became, and he said bitterly: "Such good money shouldn't stay in Jiangxia, Jingzhou. It's unfair to us. We should go to Jiangdong and Bashu to buy all their things. Damn it, really. I don’t know what the people above think, do they all have pig brains?”

........

At night, Liu Jing changed into a loose robe, and sat in the study reading a book leisurely, but his eyes glanced at his son who was climbing up and down on the wide couch from time to time, so naughty that he couldn't stay idle for a moment, when the child crawled to the edge of the couch, He would reach out to help him, for fear that he would fall off the couch.

In a blink of an eye, my son could already crawl, and he was full of energy. Apart from sleeping, he crawled around all day, as naughty as a monkey, babbling in his mouth without knowing what to say.

Liu Jing said he was reading a book, but he didn't read a single word. He was afraid that his son would roll off the bed if he was not careful. He fell down yesterday and cried for half an hour.

Although children are troublesome and worrying, but watching the children change day by day, the taste of being a father is also extremely wonderful.

At this time, Tao Zhan came in with a cup of hot water. Seeing her husband reaching out to help her son from time to time, she couldn't help but feel a sense of sweetness in her heart. After all, children are the lifeblood of mothers. Seeing how a father loves children, No mother would be unhappy.

Tao Zhan put down the tea bowl, pursed his lips and asked with a smile, "Yueying and her daughter are going back tomorrow, don't you want to say hello?"

Liu Jing put down the book and said with a smile: "With you on my side, I won't go. I have arranged the boats and guards to escort them back. You can go directly to Li Qing tomorrow morning."

As soon as he said this, Liu Jing caught a glimpse of his son crawling over and was about to fall off the couch, he was so frightened that he hurriedly supported him, touched his son's little head and said with a smile: "Little guy, don't fall down again. "

Liu Zhi babbled and stretched out his hand to his mother. Tao Zhan hugged his son lovingly, pinched his little face, and said with a smile, "Zhi'er and mother are going to see sister Aguo, don't disturb Daddy's reading. .”

Liu Jing laughed, "Go! Xu Changshi will come to me later, he may have a letter for Mrs. Huang to bring to Kong Ming."

Speaking of this, Liu Jing was a little hesitant. Tao Zhan saw that her husband had something to say, so he smiled and said, "If you have something to say, just say it."

Liu Jing pondered for a while and said: "I want to say that our mansion needs to be frugal, and all unnecessary expenses should be eliminated. In addition, food, clothing and daily life must be saved as much as possible, and extravagance must not be wasted."

Tao Zhan was a little surprised, "Husband, what happened?"

Liu Jing laughed, "Don't worry, nothing happened. I just want to set an example and call on Jingzhou officials and people to save and help the army."

Tao Zhan nodded silently, "I see, I will arrange things to be frugal."

At this moment, a servant girl reported outside the door: "Master, Xu Changshi is here."

"Take him to the outer study and wait, I'll be right there."

"Husband, go get busy! Let's go first." Tao Zhan smiled sweetly, and walked away quickly with his son in his arms.

Liu Jing drank two sips of tea, then got up and walked out to the study in a calm manner.