Hu Tian It is snowing in August. While we are celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival in Beijing, the distant Suiyuan Province is beginning to prepare for the winter.
Jiuyuan City was being rebuilt one after another. At this time, half of the walls were built, but it still withstood the cold wind, which made the herdsmen happy.
After the establishment of Suiyuan Province, four prefectures were established, namely Guihua, Jiuyuan, Hetao, and Dongsheng.
Among them, the desolate Jiuyuan (Baotou) became the capital due to its location advantage, and began to build cities on a large scale.
After two years, due to the lack of materials and manpower, most of Jiuyuan City was built.
Outside the thick city gate, a man was pacing in front of the door with his neck curled up, as if this would keep him warm a little. He, along with other herdsmen and people, looked curiously at the battle outside the city.
The grass gradually withered and turned yellow, the cold wind swept across, and the dust filled the air, but it still could not stop the Ming army from going out.
Similarly, the herdsmen who were frightened by this group of Ming troops could only linger outside the city, waiting for this group of people to enter first.
After this large group entered the city, other herdsmen slowly entered the city.
"Where is the brand?" There were two gatekeepers, asking in Mongolian and Chinese respectively.
"Here -" Shaobu was startled and hurriedly took out a wooden sign from his arms:
Front, Jiuyuan Mansion. West. Ninth Thousand Households. Shaobu.
On the back, his birth date is written.
This is an identity card, which is the greatest achievement of household registration in Suiyuan Province. You must check the identity card when entering the city.
"Go in!" Seeing that the description was correct, the guard waved his hand.
"Shaub, why did you come here?"
"Meet the old wolf."
Schaub proudly pointed to the corpse on the horse and said with a smile: "This can be exchanged for a lot of money!"
"I guess it's worth some money." Narisong glanced at it and stamped his feet: "Let's go quickly, they will be closed when it gets dark."
"ah?"
Being pulled along, the two came to a bustling street.
The rows of houses, the shouts one after another, and the flags fluttering in the wind made it impossible for Shaobu to take his eyes away.
The entire street was covered with pavements, and there were countless Mongolians and Han people coming and going, rubbing shoulders and toes. The two of them were actually sweating a little while walking in it.
Risong turned a blind eye to this, but Shaobu was very surprised. He looked left and right again and again, but he couldn't get enough.
This is the largest commercial street in Jiuyuan Prefecture. In addition to the shops run by caravans, a large number of small traders and ordinary herdsmen set up stalls on the street to gain popularity.
"Ceramic pots, salt, tea leaves, iron pots, cloth, and even used clothes and blankets, so cheap..."
“There’s everything, there’s quite a lot of stuff.”
Schaub's mouth opened wide, and for the first time he felt what it meant to have abundant supplies.
As long as you have money, you can buy anything.
"By the way, your son Su He is still sick, right?" Narisong looked at his fussing and suddenly thought of something and asked suddenly.
"It's okay, I've already asked the lama in the temple to pray..." Shaobu waved his hand indifferently.
According to Suiyuan's policy, every tribe of 100 households, 1000 households, and 1000 households must build temples and schools.
You may not even have a school, but you must have a temple.
"If you do this, Su He will have no choice but to see the Buddha." Narisong scolded: "There is a medicine shop in the city. You can ask a Han doctor to take a look. He will be fine soon."
"Later, let's go sell the things first."
Shaobu led the horse and pointed to the full baskets on both sides of the horse's back.
The two of them hurriedly went to the largest store to sell.
The merchants in Jiuyuan Prefecture have a tacit understanding and will not easily exceed the minimum price, but the price is not too low, fearing that the imperial tax will be too low to settle accounts.
Therefore, the mink skins that Shaobu had worked so hard to obtain were only sold for five silver coins each, while the wild wolf skins were relatively complete, and the meat was added, which was counted as an extra head and sold for five cents.
After more than half a year of extra income, Schaub only received twenty-five cents.
It seems very high, but in fact the prices in Jiuyuan Mansion are also high.
An iron pot weighing ten kilograms costs only five cents in Taiyuan, but it sells for five silver yuan in Jiuyuan Prefecture, which is ten times the price.
But in the eyes of Mongolian men, it is worth exchanging a mink skin for a pot.
After all, it’s good if someone sells it, and they are picky.
"Salt costs one millimeter to a catty, grain costs five to one stone, cloth costs three to one piece, tea bricks (four catties) cost four silver dollars each..."
Shaobu felt that he was too poor for a moment as he listened to the prices quoted by Songsong.
"Is this expensive?" Narisong said with a smile: "A piece of fine silk costs more than thirty or fifty yuan, and the most common iron knife costs five yuan. There are so many things to do in Jiuyuan City, and your money is not enough. look."
"We need tea bricks and salt. Saihan is a grown-up girl now. We need to get silk cloth to make clothes, otherwise we won't be able to get married. We need to buy some food for the winter..."
After counting carefully, he found that all the money he had just spent was gone in a blink of an eye, but Shaobu's eyebrows were filled with joy.
It was getting dark, so Risong took him home and entertained him with good wine and food.
"Hey, this is a Han people's house? We are not used to it, so a yurt is better."
Shaobu was shocked when he saw the spacious and bright brick house. His eyes were full of envy, but his words were not true.
"The yurt is as good as the yurt, but this Hanfang is also as good as the Hanfang."
That day, Risong raised his chin slightly and said proudly: "No matter how strong the wind or rain is, it can't hit me."
"Narisong, will you stay in the city from now on? No more cattle and sheep?"
Schaub wondered.
"I eat the food of the Great Khan (referring to Emperor Shaowu), and I can get two stones of grain and two silver coins every month. Even if stones fall from the sky, the water in the river dries up, and the sheep die, I still can't I can get it.”
That day Risong said proudly: "This big tile-roofed house was sold to me at a low price. It only costs twenty silver yuan. You can buy it for more than a hundred yuan."
"You can still get money by serving as a soldier for the Great Khan?" Schaub was completely confused. Isn't it an obligation to serve as a soldier and fight?
"Of course." That Risong chuckled and said: "The horses, swords, armors, and arrows are all issued by the imperial court. I just need someone to do it..."
The arrogance in his words could not be concealed.
Shaobu looked at his family wearing beautiful clothes.
Looking at the table, there were two plates of meat, ten steamed buns, and a jar of wine.
"Our meat is cheap here, and food is not expensive. You can eat slowly——"
Looking at Shaobu devouring his food, Risong was filled with luck.
Ordinary herdsmen cannot eat meat more than once a year and usually eat dairy products. Of course he is very lucky to join the army.
Although the wages were low and prices were high, the imperial court distributed grain and could make a profit by reselling it.
There is really no choice but to use money to buy meat. The price of meat is only 30% of the price of food. It is really not a joke to be so poor that you can only eat meat.
There is no way, there is too little cultivated land in Jiuyuan, not enough to support it, so it can only be transported from Guihua City, five yuan and one stone is already very good.
The more than ten thousand cavalry recruited became the first residents of Jiuyuan City.
And here, the dusty Suiyuan Governor Zhang Guowei returned to his mansion, his face full of excitement: "Jiuyuan Mansion actually has copper mines and iron mines, God helps me!"
"The court has to send money again."
