Dongyi Kingdom, Zuo Changshi Mansion, Lin County Wharf.
A large passenger ship from the western continent was parked at the pier, and the passengers on the ship were disembarking one by one.
There are two long tables placed on the inside of each exit of the ship.
There were two people sitting behind each table, both wearing the same New Ming Dynasty formal attire, with a logo of the Zuo Changshi Mansion of Dongyi Kingdom hanging on their chests.
Next to each table is a hanging notice.
There were two Dongyi National Guardsmen standing on both sides of the doorway leaving the cabin. They obviously needed permission to get off the ship.
This restriction is actually very overbearing and strict, and it is also a bit of a waste of manpower.
For those who have problems without documents, most ports actually allow them to disembark, but they do not allow them to leave the port.
Handle all kinds of people uniformly inside the dock instead of arranging people to board the ship for inspection.
At the same time, passengers who are unable to enter the country are allowed to transfer to a boat at the terminal and leave.
However, the Lin County Pier faces Manhattan, New York, so there is no way to get off the boat here and get off the boat in Manhattan.
A passenger in his twenties came to the door carrying a suitcase and glanced at the notice next to the table near the inside.
"All luggage items must be inspected before they can be brought into the port."
The passenger placed his suitcase on the table marked with inspection and opened it to reveal that there were only some notes and clothes inside.
There were two people in their twenties behind the inspection table. One was instructing the passengers to display the items, and the other was in charge of registration.
After the check was completed, the register gave the passenger a form and motioned him to another table.
Passengers come next to the left and again first look at the notice next to the table.
Before I could read the content carefully, a female translator behind the desk said directly in Daming Yayan:
"Read it again."
The passenger was obviously stunned for a moment, but after looking at the first rule on the notice, he guessed the other party's purpose.
So the passenger spoke quite seriously and read in Daming Yayan with a slight German accent:
"First, before the first imperial examination of Dongyi Kingdom is completed, Dongyi Kingdom will only accept foreign Thais and Westerners who come to participate in the imperial examination. Others are asked to go ashore in New York with the ship.
“Second, all Thai and Westerners entering Dongyi Kingdom need to register when they disembark. After registration is completed, Dongyi Kingdom will only recognize the information provided by the immigrants when registering.
“Third, anyone in the Dongyi Kingdom must abide by the laws of the Ming Dynasty and the laws of the Dongyi Kingdom, and any illegal and criminal behavior will be dealt with in accordance with the laws of the Ming Dynasty and the laws of the Dongyi Kingdom.
"Fourth, any fixed assets and large transactions must be registered at Changshi Mansion in order to receive the protection of Ming law. Assets that have not passed the review, valuation and confirmation of ownership cannot be registered.
“Fifth, anyone who has not obtained the title and national identity of the Dongyi Kingdom should not purchase land, real estate, or any high-value items in the Dongyi Kingdom, otherwise they may not be protected and recognized by the Dongyi Kingdom of the Ming Dynasty.
"Sixth, all those who stay in the Dongyi Kingdom can only hold property worth ten thousand silver notes. When leaving the Dongyi Kingdom, they can only carry property worth one thousand silver notes, including cash, bonds, stocks, and land. and house ownership.”
After the passenger finished reading, the female translator behind the desk spoke again:
"You have passed the preliminary examination. Are you sure you want to enter the country to take the imperial examination?"
The bus driver nodded seriously and said:
"I'm sure I want to take the exam. I came here from Europa just for this exam."
The female translator picked up the pen in her hand and began to ask and fill out the form:
"The name must be a Ming Yayan name."
The passenger hesitated for three seconds, selected the last verse from his name, and then transliterated it:
"Gaos, noble Gao, this is a humble house, but I am so virtuous."
The female clerk wrote the word Gauss and then continued to ask:
"Native place, that is, place of birth or hometown."
Gauss immediately replied:
"European continent, German region, Brunswick."
The female translator wrote down these words and continued to ask:
"Education?"
"University, University of Göttingen."
The female translator was slightly surprised when she heard this.
There are many people who come to take the imperial examination, but not many have a more serious university diploma.
The female translator wrote down the registration information, and then handed the piece of paper in her hand to Gauss:
"During this examination, you must not lose your identity certificate in Dongyi Kingdom, and at least remember the number.
"Don't buy properties and properties that others recommend to you. What they are selling may not be legal."
Gauss quickly took over:
"Thank you for reminding."
Gauss carefully collected the note and walked to the exit with his suitcase.
An old man in his fifties followed, had his items inspected, and read the notice aloud as well.
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After being asked by the translator, he confirmed that he wanted to stay and take the exam, and then reported his name:
"Goethe, from Frankfurt."
Goethe finished registering the information and got off the boat with a salute, followed by three teenage boys.
"My name is Faraday..."
"My name is Babbage."
"My name is Byron..."
Gauss left the passenger ship, walked through the central area of the pier, showed the registration form to relevant personnel, and then was able to leave the pier.
As soon as I came out of the gate, I found a large group of people gathered outside.
Many people were holding signs with Ming characters written on them, and some also had English or French written on them.
Someone else shouted to this side at the top of their lungs:
"Sir, do you need to stay in a hotel? We still have a few beds in the hotel!"
"The Great Ming Dynasty Imperial Examination Children's Manual will ensure that you are one step ahead of others!"
“A high-end hotel with single rooms, hot water, and bathing facilities.”
"Family hotel, long-term rental available, starting from one month."
"The latest Ming-style formal attire and Ming-style traditional clothing will leave a good impression on the examiner!"
Gauss's brain felt a little swollen after hearing it, but he quickly understood the information contained in it.
After hesitating for a few seconds, Gauss walked towards a person who was shouting for the hotel:
"How much does it cost per month to stay in a single room in your family hotel?"
The man said absently:
"Twenty Ming silver notes a month."
Gauston was immediately surprised:
"So expensive!"
The man seemed a little impatient and said:
"Expensive? You think it's too expensive for me, but I think it's too expensive. How can there be any houses for rent in Lin County at this time? These are our own houses, so we just rent out a few."
Gauss thought for a while and looked at the surrounding situation. He estimated that there were a lot of people coming to Dongyi Country to take the exam recently. Otherwise, this person would not be able to rent a house so expensively:
"Is twenty silver notes all I have to pay? You don't need to pay the water and electricity bills, right? Do you take care of the food?"
The man immediately said:
"The water and electricity bills are not included. If you must take care of the food, then give me extra money. You can't live here."
Twenty-yuan banknotes are already a bit more than I can afford, let alone paying extra for water, electricity and food.
Gauss hesitated for a while:
"I'll go ask elsewhere first..."
The man immediately said:
"Go and ask boldly. Specialized hotels can only be more expensive than ours. But if you come back to me again, the room here will not be reserved for you. People will come out later..."
Gauss turned back subconsciously, and the British men Byron and Faraday had already come out.
But I still don’t want to accept my fate and go to other places to ask for prices.
It soon turned out that the guy just lied, but he didn't lie completely.
The prices for single rooms in other hotels are not cheap either.
But they can accommodate four to eight people in one room.
If four people live in a room, it will cost seven yuan per person.
For eight people, each person only needs four dollar bills.
Of course, the fees for bathing and meals are all calculated separately.
Gauss hesitated for a long time and decided to go to a four-person hotel first.
The waiter at the hotel was unwilling to take Gauss there alone.
Instead, he continued to wait for a while, gathered a total of eight people who were interested in staying in the hotel, and asked his companions to take them to see the hotel.
A group of people were walking on the streets of Lin County, and they soon saw some hotel signs.
The man leading a group of people forward did not stop.
So one passenger couldn't help but slow down and whispered to other passengers around him:
"Should we go to the hotel on the street first instead of following this guy to their store..."
Everyone's discussion was immediately heard by the waiter. The waiter directly folded his arms and said calmly:
"You might as well ask, I'll be waiting here..."
Several passengers hesitated for a few seconds, but three people left the group and went to the hotel on the roadside to inquire about the price.
After thinking about it for a few seconds, I finally didn't follow him in, but waited on the side of the road.
The three people came back soon, with complicated expressions.
"The monthly rent for a single room is thirty silver coins, including water, electricity, bathing, laundry and food expenses."
“There are single rooms with one bed and rooms with two beds, the price is the same.”
“The rooms are nice, but the price is very expensive.”
The group of people could only helplessly follow the guy and continue walking.
After passing through almost an entire street, we found a simple hotel in a low-rise residential area.
In the front hall of the hotel, there were already several tourists who were obviously from outside and were checking in at the front desk.
The guy leading Gauss and his group, I don’t know if it was intentional or not, shouted at the top of his voice when he entered the door:
"Looking at the house - looking at the house!"
Another clerk immediately ran out from the front desk, took all the passengers directly from this clerk, and led Gauss and his party in to see the room. The original clerk stayed in the front hall.
Gauss vaguely felt that something was not right about this situation, and other people seemed to have discovered the situation.
One of them couldn't help but whispered to the person next to him:
"The guy who brought us here might be a bitch..."
Others reacted immediately:
"He called people at the pier and brought them over to stay in the store, and he took the commission from the store..."
Gauss shook his head helplessly:
“It’s good that he didn’t ask us for a commission too.
"We come here by ourselves, most of us have no friends here, right?
“I’m not familiar with the place and don’t have much money, so I can only come to a place like this.”
The group of people looked at the remaining rooms with quite complicated emotions.
The situation in each room is similar, with four single beds or four bunk beds.
The bathroom and washing area are in the corridor outside. If you want to take a shower, you have to go to the yard downstairs.
The conditions were very bad, but the place was not particularly dirty.
After hesitating for a long time, Gauss and others decided to live here first.
Everyone came out of the room and went back to the front hall to go through the registration procedures. When they were about to return to the room again, they were stopped by someone:
"Do you want to buy a house? A two-bedroom house in a townhouse only costs 360 silver notes, and a three-bedroom house only requires cash."
This price is really outrageous.
Although Gauss and others are in a dilemma now, the Dongyi Kingdom's imperial examination has caused inflation in the rental market in Lin County.
But they are all middle-class people who are literate and understand Ming Dynasty elegant dialect.
When Taixi had a formal job, a monthly income of more than ten yuan was normal.
Three hundred and sixty silver notes is their income for two years, and the monthly rent for a house now costs twenty or thirty silver notes.
Some of them carry savings balances exceeding this amount.
Some people were immediately moved, but Gauss remembered the regulations he saw on the dock and the reminder from the translator.
Don't buy houses and land because you are not qualified to buy them due to your current status.
The key is that the other party is probably not qualified to sell normally.
So Gauss subconsciously asked:
"Can you go to the Changshi Mansion Yamen to register your house?"
The other party's expression was obviously a little embarrassed, but he immediately covered it up and said with a smile:
"It depends on the situation. You have to go to the Yamen and ask..."
Gauss knew that this meant that there was a high probability that it would not be possible, and this was obviously a trap for people from out of town.
Gauss packed up his things and went upstairs without paying any attention to this person.
