After leaving the translation office, the three of Alice and the hired translator went to find the address given by Jonathan.
The translator's name was Jason, a Portuguese, which surprised Alice and others.
Because she is Caucasian and does not speak Chinese, Alice was originally worried about whether the translator was competent.
However, the staff at the translation office told her that although Jason was Portuguese, his ancestors had lived in Macau since the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, whether he has knowledge of the local customs or language communication, there is no problem at all, and he is naturally fully qualified for Alice's job.
Jason's performance was very good along the way. Whether it was talking to the locals or knowing the local customs very well, this also dispelled the doubts of the three of them.
"The staff member was right. It seems Jason is fully qualified for our job. He also saved us a lot of money." Sitting in the rented four-wheel carriage, Jerry couldn't help but whisper to Kennedy. .
"Indeed, it is rare to find such an honest businessman." Kennedy agreed.
Unlike the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which did not like foreigners coming ashore, Yichao showed a more open attitude. As long as people traveling overseas passed the inspection, they were allowed to go ashore.
As a result, many foreigners who were interested in China chose to go ashore to visit this rumored to be extremely wealthy country.
But getting ashore means communication, and language barriers are not enough.
But most foreigners didn't understand Chinese, so translation offices quietly sprang up on the shore.
However, although there are translation offices, there are not many people who can work as translators today. After all, people who can be translators in this era have certain language talents, so the price of hiring a translator is naturally not low.
Similarly, different translations also have levels, and the prices will be different for different levels.
For example, Jason, the price of hiring him for a day is three taels of silver.
Three taels of silver is indeed not much for many maritime merchants, but it is the monthly salary of an ordinary public servant in Yi Dynasty. If it was in the territory north of the Qing Dynasty, it could even be equivalent to one year's wages of an ordinary day laborer①.
"Jason, how did you become a translator?" Alice asked Jason out of curiosity.
"This matter has to start with the establishment of the imperial palace in Guangzhou by the Yi Dynasty." Jason sighed after recalling it, and then said slowly.
"Because the imperial court wanted to establish a temporary administrative center here, the maritime defense here needed to be strengthened. So the imperial court took back the Macau defense military to strengthen the security of Guangzhou."
"Naturally, the Portuguese people who originally lived in Macau can no longer continue as before."
"That's a pity. Didn't you protest?" Alice said.
"..." Jason glanced at Alice speechlessly.
"I heard that some officials in the imperial court are planning to expel us directly. If anyone dares to resist, we will be killed without mercy."
"Later, His Majesty the Emperor still disagreed, saying that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, we Franji people also sent troops to help the Ming Dynasty resist the Tatars in the north, so His Majesty the Emperor issued an order to give us some compensation, and at the same time to those who were unwilling to leave. It also grants us permission to stay and live in the designated place.”
"Then His Majesty the Emperor is not bad." Maybe it was Aiwujiwu, Alice's first impression of Zhang Rui was very good, and Jonathan also worked under him.
"Yes." Jason nodded in approval.
"But what does this have to do with you being a translator?" Alice asked.
"This is related to another policy of the imperial court." Jason continued.
"In order to stabilize public security, the imperial court requires that one of the Portuguese families living in China must have a stable job, otherwise there will still be a risk of deportation in a few months."
"In order not to be driven away, we all went out to look for jobs. That day I happened to find the Royal Translation Office recruiting foreign language translators, and then I was hired by the translation office."
"Working in a translation agency, the salary should be very high!" Jerry on the side couldn't help but ask, thinking about the price of three taels of silver a day.
"Compared to ordinary people, this is indeed good! In addition to giving us a fixed basic salary, the Royal Translation Office will also give us different commissions for each transaction." Jason answered truthfully.
"Is this Royal Translation Office the property of the emperor?" Kennedy asked.
"It is His Majesty the Emperor's property," Jason said.
"Does the emperor have many properties?" Kennedy asked again.
"Many, almost every industry you can think of is available. For example, the carriage we rent now is also a royal property. There is a saying here that His Majesty the Emperor will still have a business empire even if he does not conquer this country." Jie Sen said and couldn't help but admire him.
"So, the royal family of Yi Dynasty is very rich!" Jerry said.
"Of course. I heard that the business tax paid by the royal family's shops to the court last year reached five million taels of silver. It is said that there will be more this year..." Jason replied.
"How much?" Hearing this, Jerry interrupted Jason without knowing it.
"Five million taels of silver..."
"Oh, my God! That's 500 million pounds! ②" After Jerry performed a simple material conversion, he couldn't help but exclaimed.
If Alice and Kennedy had no specific idea of the five million taels of silver that Jason had just mentioned, then Jerry's words at this time made them clearly aware of how much money it was.
"Oh! God, this is so rich."
…
"We are selling thousand-layer cakes. Delicious thousand-layer cakes..."
“Royal Cloth Store’s new and beautiful fabrics, novel styles, cheap and affordable prices, don’t miss it if you pass by...”
Following their sighs, the carriage soon took them to the Huangpu East Street neighborhood of Guangzhou.
This is a prosperous street with all kinds of business and shouts.
Since the streets in the old city are not very big, it seems a bit crowded with people coming and going. Fortunately, people here walk on the right side in an orderly manner, so they can pass without any obstruction.
Crowded places are often prone to various problems. In order to prevent accidents, the government often sees police patrolling the streets from time to time.
Note ①: "General History of China" records that in the 21st year of Qianlong (1756), Lu Kuiyuan from Tanghe County, Henan Province worked as a long-term laborer for the local Zheng Tianlu family. The salary was 2,500 Wen a year, and he earned an average of 200 Wen a month.
During the Qianlong period, 1 tael of silver was equivalent to 1,000 copper coins, which meant that an ordinary peasant day laborer (i.e. temporary worker) earned about 10 taels of silver per day, and could only earn less than 3 taels of silver a year.
Of course, if the income of ordinary people who can do long-term work for landlords is relatively high, they can earn about 4 taels of silver.
Note ②: The grain after 1750 is used as a conversion chip for conversion. One tael of silver in the Qing Dynasty was about 100 pounds. Please search online for specific data.
