Zhao Yingong said: "You are a local taxi in Hangzhou, so you can lead the way and walk around as you please. [Read the full text]"
Cai Shixin joined the mansion and knew that all the servants around the master were brought from Guangdong. He came to serve as an "outsider". If he wanted to get ahead in the mansion, he had to figure out his superiors' intentions. So everything is very careful.
This will require him to lead the way, which is a common habit of his local aborigines, so he immediately cheered up. I guess since the master comes from a wealthy family in Guangdong, he shouldn't care about ordinary fun and enjoyment. After arriving in Hangzhou, he lived in a moderate manner and was not in a hurry to go out for fun. It should not be as simple as coming to Hangzhou to enjoy the prosperity of Jiangnan, but having other motives. Then I think about how recently I sent him to the street to buy "Jin Shen", and asked him to go to the Yamen every day to buy the morning newspaper and inquire about the prices of various commodities on the market. peddler. It's a bit uncertain.
After thinking about it again and again, I felt that taking this gentleman to the busy city, both for sightseeing and for him to understand the business situation, would definitely satisfy his wishes. Well, at this point, I made up my mind to lead him to the main market in the city.
After turning a few alleys, the houses gradually become smaller and smaller, but no matter how small the houses are, they are all made of bricks and tiles. The streets are either paved with bricks or gravel, which is still quite decent. Trash can be seen everywhere on the streets while walking, and the wind blows and the dust flies. In some places, there are no underground drainage channels, and sewage flows across the open ditches, mixed with a lot of garbage.
The number of pedestrians and merchants on the road gradually increased, and there were many hawkers and foot soldiers. Zhao Yingong noticed that in the local area, although there were not as many women making a living as in Guangdong, they were not uncommon. A considerable number of working women do not have their feet bound, and their looks are quite impressive, but they are generally short in stature - and of course the men are not tall either.
Looking at the clothing of the people, they are much better than the people in many places along the way, and their expressions are also more happy and stable. There is a large proportion of middle-class pedestrians wearing cheap silks and satins or high-quality cotton and linen. Jiangnan in the late Ming Dynasty was indeed a paradise on the land of China!
Of course, there are also a lot of beggars and homeless people. Some are begging along the streets, and some are huddled under the eaves of small temples in the streets and alleys. They are all in rags and have disheveled faces. However, this is a very common thing in this time and space, and it is no longer surprising to Zhao Yingong.
Hangzhou in the Ming Dynasty was far less prosperous than the Southern Song Dynasty, and even compared to the Méng Yuan Dynasty, it was not as prosperous. But after all, this is a city in a province, and Zhejiang is a land of plenty, where the wealth and essence of the entire province gather here. "The main point of Shuilu, a shopping mall for Chinese and foreign countries, and a place where department stores are located" has regained considerable prosperity. "The inner and outer streets and alleys of Hangzhou stretch for dozens of miles, with prosperous people and abundant products" on the streets. People rub shoulders."
Zhao Yingong followed Cai Shi along the street, looking at the prosperous scenery of Hangzhou in the 20th century, and the scenery in front of him, who was an out-and-out Song fan, made him sigh. This dim and prosperous scene was already ten times better than what he had originally imagined. Who knows what the original prosperity looked like?
Cai Shi saw the old man walking all the way without saying a word, but his face had a complex expression, which was quite sad. He thought to himself, could this old man Zhao have been to Hangzhou before? Have you ever had an adventure here?
It's strange to think that this man is already in his thirties and has an accent. He must have been a wandering figure.
"Sir, this is Shouanfang City." Cai Shi said. Zhao Yingong knew that this was the "Hua Market" in the Southern Song Dynasty. It was a comprehensive market in the Ming Dynasty, selling various handicraft products, fruits and vegetables, candies, rice, noodles, food, etc., as well as a night market. It is a large market in Hangzhou. However, this market had declined in the late Ming Dynasty, and its scale was less than one-tenth of its peak.
Zhao Yingong walked casually. There were many people here and there were many burdens. Cai Shi quickly stepped forward and shouted to clear the way. Zhao Yingong and his party walked slowly along the street among the crowd.
The streets in ancient cities were narrow. According to the standards of the old time and space, the widest "street" along the way was just a wider "alley". The width is only five or six meters. Barely enough to run two cars. However, the ground is fairly neat with stone paving. In addition to the shops, there are many vendors along the street taking up most of the inside. The shops on both sides have their shop signs extending into the street, which looks very dense and crowded. It took a lot of effort for Cai Shi and the two escorts to squeeze through the crowd.
Zhao Yingong seems to be walking around casually, but he actually pays great attention to the products sold in shops and even vendors. From time to time, I walk into the store to choose products and often ask for prices. In order to show off his merits, Cai Shi would often push forward to negotiate the price in Hangzhou dialect, but Zhao Yingong would smile and wave his hands away. After a few times, Cai Shi knew that the master was actually watching the market, and he became more and more confident in his original judgment.
Zhao Yingong was indeed investigating the market conditions. Shouanfang City is a market mainly focused on retail. From here we can see the spending power of local people. Product preferences and general price fluctuations. Compared with Guangzhou, the price level here is not low at all, and it seems that there is also a large amount of silver flowing here. There are also many types of products. Although this is not a textile market, the shops sell a wide variety of silks, satins, cottons and linens in different colors. Even woolen fabrics produced in Europe and cotton fabrics produced in India and Southeast Asia are also sold. Obviously, the consumption power of the local citizen class is considerable.
"Let's go to another market." After the group finished walking around the market, Zhao Yingong told Cai Shi, "Go to another market" and "go to a place where things are sold cheaply." Goods are generally affordable to poor people. "
Cai Shi was puzzled, but he couldn't dismiss it as the master's order, so he led a group of people to Ma Po Bridge. There is also a market on the upper and lower streets of Mapo Bridge extending to Shengxian Bridge and Wangxian Bridge.
Before we even reached the intersection, we could smell the stench of livestock manure in the distance.
It's almost noon, there are not many pedestrians on the street, and most of the vendors have closed their business. Only a few vendors are packing up their belongings and preparing to leave. The streets were littered with garbage and livestock excrement. Zhao Yingong took a look and found that this place was different from Shouanfang City. First of all, there were far fewer shops and the scale was not uniform. There were many merchants and hawkers carrying various burdens. The goods sold are also very miscellaneous, ranging from cloth, clothing, and livestock. There is not a single utensil left. Many of them are obviously second-hand goods, and they have a bit of a junk market feel.
, "This place does have the meaning of the ghost market in the capital." When Zhao Shenggong was reading, he knew that the "ghost market" in Beijing set up stalls at dawn, selling all kinds of secondhand goods and fake and shoddy products.
"Sir, this place is called "Donghuayuan City", also known as "Poor Han City". Most of the items sold in Donghuayuan City are cheap and shabby things. A market is set up at the city gate and disperses at noon." Cai Shi said, Donghuayuan City Many of the vendors come from four townships. There are also thieves selling worthless items here.
The group of people walked forward until they reached a stone bridge with the words "Wangxian Bridge" on it. Cai Shi said that the bridge is Wangxianqiao Street, where the local cloth market is located. Both foreign and local fabrics are traded in large quantities here, and many cloth shops are concentrated here.
Zhao Yingong became interested: "Let's go and have a look." He waved the fan in his hand.
Wangxian Bridge is a small stone bridge that looks very similar to the bridge beams he often saw during his travels to the water town in the old days. Small and elegant. He stepped onto the bridge and took a few steps quickly, but he stopped as if someone had pulled him violently.
Lying on the bridge was a human figure with a yellow and swollen face. The reason why it is said to be in human form is because the whole body is dirty, covered with dirt and even garbage. Judging from her body size, she is just an eight-year-old child.
Deaths from starvation on the streets and corpses dumped on the road are not uncommon in Guangzhou or in the prefectures and counties along the way. Zhao Yingong felt a little unbearable when he saw it in the past, but now it is commonplace. Cai Shi immediately caught up with him and led him to the other side of the bridge. He even cursed: "There is no good place to die, but on this bridge!"
Before he finished speaking, the "corpse" moved and let out a slight shēn groan. It turns out that the person is not dead yet.
Cai Shi didn't take it seriously and asked Zhao Yingong to come over.
Zhao Yingong felt compassion at this moment and walked closer to take a look. If you look closely, you will see that it is a girl, naked. His hair was unkempt, and some parts of his body were suppurating and flowing with yellow water. It looks really dirty and disgusting. I don’t know who threw it away.
He signaled, and the escort next to him immediately used his hand to explore the girl's breath, and then touched the blood vessels around her neck. He turned back and nodded to him: "Master, he is a living person!"
Cai Shi, who was next to him, said: "Sir, there are people like this every time the bridge man comes here.
They are all children whose families cannot support them. Some of them escaped from famine and were left here in the hope that someone would take them in. Don't worry, sir. "
Zhao Yingong knew that Cai Shi was telling the truth. He saw many people dying on the roadside on the way to Hangzhou. But I was on my way and couldn't take him in. Although it is the Senate's consistent policy to take in orphans as much as possible, this child may not be able to be saved if he takes it in. Leaving her here to fend for herself for a term seems to be the best option. Anyway, in this troubled world, I don’t know how many people are going to die.
After hesitating for a moment, Zhao Yingong finally said, "Take it away."
Cai Yan felt it was necessary to remind the new owner: "Master! This child is so comatose that he won't be able to survive if he is taken back. Even if he can survive, he will need to be treated and nursed back to health. He will not be of any use for at least a year and a half..."
"Take this child with you." Zhao Yiggong said, "Although life or death depends on it. But I really can't bear to sit back and do nothing like this. "
Cai Shi hurriedly said: "The master is kind!" He said that he helped the child up regardless of her dirty body. He still muttered to himself: "You are lucky and out of trouble! There is this master who is willing to save you."
