He opened the door and took two steps out, but saw that Miss Meng's door opposite was still closed. Sun Xu was about to knock on the door and call someone, but he hesitated again.
After wandering around the door for a while, there was no knock on the door...
Instead, he turned and returned to the room, only this time he did not close his door, leaving it ajar.
After returning to the room, Sun Xu closed his eyes slightly and took several deep breaths before sitting down again.
Waiting until the time on the pocket watch had passed for another five minutes, Sun Xu went out again, stood in front of Miss Meng's door, knocked gently on the door, and at the same time shouted in a medium voice: "Miss Meng! "
At this time, I heard a voice coming from inside: "I'm almost ready!"
Sure enough, after waiting for another two minutes, the door opened, revealing a pretty figure.
At this time, Miss Meng was wearing a medium-sized woolen cape coat with light yellow embroidery of flowers and birds. Under the woolen coat was a milky white high stand-up collared straight pleated silk skirt. Although it was a silk skirt, it looked very elegant, but But it's very strict... Well, it's winter now.
The right hand wearing a short white rabbit fur glove holds a dark yellow small leather bag with vertical stripes.
On her feet, she wears small leather shoes with pointed toes and low heels that have become popular in recent years.
On his head was a light yellow round-top wide gauze hat, with a large amount of long black hair hanging down from his shoulders.
Miss Meng may have noticed Sun Xu's blank gaze, and immediately said proactively: "Just let Mr. Sun wait!"
Young Master, this title in the previous dynasty, may have been a title specifically for the sons of wealthy families. However, in the Chu Empire, with the continuous progress and liberalization of social atmosphere, a considerable number of young women in particular have gradually entered the workplace... There are also more and more contacts between ordinary men and women, and strangers often use higher names because of respect and other reasons.
As a result, today, thirty years later, in some social situations, especially among strangers, young men are basically considered to be young men... similar to the 'handsome guys' of later generations.
He is a slightly younger man. When I go to Guangdong, you are always a handsome guy!
Similarly, Sun Xu's title of 'Miss' to Miss Meng is similar. In the past, this title was reserved for young unmarried women from wealthy families. Later, it was gradually used in a wider range of social situations. By Chengshun's thirties, Today, on the last day of five years, the title "Miss" has developed into a title for a wide range of young women.
So, even though Sun Xu is a young lady, and Miss Meng is a young man... I just think they are young ladies from the upper class.
How can a young lady from a wealthy family rent a small apartment in the city center!
After hearing what Miss Meng said, Sun Xu came back to his senses and said immediately: "No, I just packed it up too!"
He immediately took a step forward and turned slightly sideways: "Let's go. It's getting late. We're going to be late. I'm afraid the shops on Ximen Street will be closed."
Today is New Year's Eve. Although the shops on Ximen Street will remain open today to sell New Year's goods, they will not be open too late.
No matter how busy you are, you still have to eat this New Year’s Eve dinner!
Miss Meng in the back nodded slightly: "Yes!"
After saying that, he also followed Sun Xu's pace!
In the Chu Empire, when it comes to small details when traveling between men and women, men usually go first, followed by women.
So you will often see that when men and women go out, the man usually goes in first or goes out first.
Although there is no clear explanation, it probably means that there is unknown or danger ahead, and the man goes first.
This is the traditional idea of men protecting their families and the country, and protecting the women and children at home. Coupled with the drastic changes in contemporary society, some social consensus has gradually formed after the social atmosphere gradually opened up.
This point is similar to the idea formed in modern European society of the original time and space that women go first and let women and children run first when encountering danger.
The core reasons are even the same. Industrial society continues to develop and the quality of life gradually improves. After people, especially a large number of middle-income groups, have eaten their fill, they will start to think about things like etiquette, benevolence, justice and morality, and eventually form the so-called gentleman. Such a thing as grace.
If you don’t have enough to eat, who will behave like a gentleman with you?
And when productivity improves, living conditions improve, and everyone has enough to eat, those young and strong men will put away their fangs and start pretending to be gentlemanly.
The same is true for a large number of middle-income groups in the Dachu Empire today. Even low-income groups with a little knowledge will generally accept these things unconsciously because of the overall social atmosphere.
So, when you are poor and have nothing to eat, don’t talk about benevolence, justice and morality...it’s pointless to deceive yourself and others.
Morality is based on sufficient materials.
Oh, environmental protection is similar. In later generations, developed countries like to use the excuse of environmental protection to restrict the development of industry in less developed countries.
It's nonsense, don't look at how many years they have polluted the environment for development... No one would think that a few decades ago, a hundred years ago, European and American countries protected the environment, and cities in all countries were beautiful and picturesque, right?
Don’t you think they didn’t know the dangers of environmental pollution a hundred years ago?
No one is stupid...the elites in European and American families a hundred years ago were not stupid either.
But people still do it, why? For development!
Horse manure and soot were the standard features of big cities in the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century... Those things are much more serious than smog.
Without these two things, sorry, you are just a backward agricultural country, and you can only be bullied in a cruel international environment!
Today's Songjiang City in the Chu Empire is a typical modern industrial city: there is no shortage of horse manure and soot!
Although these two things gave the local Yamen of Songjiang Prefecture a huge headache to manage, they became extremely proud when they mentioned the factories in Songjiang City that spewed thick smoke into the sky day and night.
Looking across the country and even the world, there is no other place with such a large and complete factory as Songjiang.
The development of Songjiang City, both good and bad, can actually be seen as a microcosm of an era: the microcosm of the first industrial revolution set off by the Chu Empire!
The economic development brought about by the development of industry and the increase in people's income have also brought about changes in social atmosphere, which ultimately affected young men and women living in this city like Sun Xu and Miss Meng.
Miss Meng held the hem of her long skirt in her hands and followed her downstairs step by step.
After going downstairs and opening the door, cold wind poured in from outside the door again, but Sun Xu didn't feel cold, and his heart was still warm.
After going out and waiting at the street entrance, Sun Xu looked at Miss Meng who was half a step behind, and decided to call a taxi. Although it was not far to go to Ximen Street, it only took twenty minutes to walk.
But Sun Xu still wanted to call a taxi.
After all, it's okay to walk by yourself, but it's not good to let a girl who you can tell is a cute girl follow you for twenty minutes in the cold wind.
It's just that today is a special day. Not one of the taxis that used to be everywhere was seen.
There are public carriages, but where they live, there are no public carriages that go directly to Ximen Street.
Finally, Sun Xu smiled awkwardly and said: "It seems that all the taxi drivers are celebrating the New Year!"
Miss Meng said: "It's New Year's Eve, and it's also the afternoon. Many coachmen should have collected their cars and gone home."
"Let's walk there!"
At this time, Sun Xu suddenly felt envious of his boss, Section Chief Wang. He had his own private carriage. Although the private carriage was not big, it was just a small two-wheeled carriage with a single horse. He had to drive it himself, but he could It is not easy to have your own private carriage in Songjiang City.
Sun Xu knew very well that with his current income, he couldn't count on it!
It’s not that I can’t afford carriages and horses, but I can’t afford them…
In fact, carriages these days are not expensive. A small private two-wheeled carriage with good workmanship can usually be purchased for twenty or thirty yuan. If you don't mind, there are even simpler ones, just two wheels and a spring frame. , build a small bucket on it.
This kind of small private carriage, which is said to be specially targeted at middle-class families, can be won with only twelve or thirty yuan.
If this all seems expensive, there are also those carriages that don’t even have springs and the wheels are made of wood. That thing is even cheaper and can be sold for just a few yuan... There are many carts like this on the street. There are even more in the countryside.
Horses are not expensive, and an ordinary draft horse can cost even ten Chu yuan... The number of horses in the Chu Empire is very large, and the price of ordinary draft horses is also quite cheap.
Especially after the large-scale opening of trains, a large number of horses can be transported to the south by train. Even the horses in the southern region have become more numerous and cheaper.
For example, Songjiang, placed in the ancient environment, does not look like a place with a large number of horses. After all, there are no prairie areas suitable for raising horses... Even if there are horses, with the ancient food output and The level of grain transportation cannot support so many horses.
But look at the current number of horses in Songjiang City, which can easily reach hundreds of thousands. It won’t scare you to death!
Where did this horse come from?
The trains are transported one by one from the northwest, north, northeast and other places!
Therefore, the ordinary agricultural and transportation horses in the Dachu Empire were actually very cheap. The really expensive ones were military horses.
After all, military horses are selected from the best, and the price is naturally more expensive.
But horses are cheap, which does not mean that raising horses is also cheap... Well, in fact, it is very cheap to raise horses in pastures on the prairie, or simply in the countryside. Just let them go free and feed them a small amount...
But there is no place for you to graze in the city. More importantly, the horses in the horse farm cannot work. Although the horses in the countryside have to do farm work, they don't have to do it every day.
However, draft horses in the city need to work every day!
In order to maintain the horse's physical fitness, it is necessary to feed a large amount of concentrated feed... this will cost tens of yuan a year.
The final calculation is that even if you can get a small carriage for use, you can't afford it. After all, getting dozens of Chu yuan a year is much more valuable than keeping a car in later generations.
Finally, there is a big problem, and that is the stables. Ordinary apartments in the city, or even some better apartment buildings, will not provide you with stables... You usually go out to work, do ordinary consumption, and do errands.
It is also difficult to find stables to park your horses and carriages.
Even if there is, the price is extremely expensive.
To be honest, with this kind of money, you might as well take a rental carriage every day...it's more convenient and cheaper!
Therefore, even some seemingly decent high-income groups in Songjiang City actually do not own private carriages, and usually do not ride horses... The cost of raising horses privately in the city is about the same as maintaining a private carriage... expensive and troublesome!
I usually go out by taxi!
In Songjiang City these days, those who own private carriages are the real rich, and they only ride in private carriages every day when traveling.
In addition, there are high-income groups who live in single-family courtyards in the suburbs and have stables at home and in offices in the city. Some of them will buy a private two-wheeled and one-horse carriage and drive it on their own. get off work.
Section Chief Wang of the Mechanical Maintenance Department is this kind of person. His income is quite good. He earns dozens of dollars a month. He lives in a small single-family building in the suburbs. He has a horse shop at home, and there are also facilities in the factory dedicated to senior management and senior managers in the company. Mashi is open to core technical personnel.
Therefore, you can drive a carriage to and from get off work every day, but it is limited to daily commuting. If you want to go out for consumption or travel with your family, you have to take a taxi.
Why?
Most places don’t have room for you to park your horse!
In Songjiang City of the Great Chu Empire these days, the horse stall problem is much more serious than the parking space problem in later modern cities. Without some real hard power, there is no way to solve this problem.
It is precisely because raising horses is expensive and finding stables is difficult that there are not many private carriages in the city.
On the contrary, private carriages are more common in suburbs and rural areas, because horses are cheap, and if carriages are not too expensive, ordinary carriages are actually not expensive, and can be bought for as little as ten yuan.
Even worse, there are a lot of ordinary horse-drawn carriages used by farmers in the countryside to pull their own goods.
Therefore, the traffic situation in the Dachu Empire is that there are many public carriages and taxis in the city, and very few private carriages. In the suburbs and rural areas, there is almost no public transportation, but there are many private carriages.
Especially in the northern areas where the terrain is flat and horses are cheaper, and horses are used for plowing on a large scale, there are many ordinary horse-drawn carriages.
Whether in urban or rural areas, the number of horses is very large. This is not only a choice of the market, but also the result of the official promotion of the Dachu Empire.
Because this involves the issue of horse politics that both traditional dynasties and modern countries attach great importance to.
This does not have a large enough horse population from which to select a large number of excellent military horses.
As the weapons of the Chu army became more and more advanced, the logistics requirements became higher and higher, and the requirements for the quantity and quality of horses became higher and higher.
For example, the draft horses required for heavy artillery require strong bodies. The only ones that can meet this demand are the Fengzhou horses, the top draft horses in the Chu Empire. If there are no excellent Toyoshu horses, the only way to make up for the quality gap is to increase the number of draft horses.
The more horses used to pull the cannon, the better. After all, the road conditions in the field environment are limited. The more horses used to pull the cannon, the more troublesome the management will be.
The horses used by heavy cavalry are basically all Liaoxi horses. This kind of war horse is the best riding war horse currently bred in the Chu Empire. The average shoulder height reaches more than 1.5 meters, and the outstanding ones can reach more than 1.55 meters... ...And the Liaoxi horses used by the heavy cavalry are also the top war horses in Liaoxi Mali. The average shoulder height can even reach more than 1.55 meters, making them among the top quality war horses in Liaoxi Mali.
The reason why the heavy cavalry can use the top quality goods from Mali in western Liaoning is because there are currently not many heavy cavalry in the true sense of the Chu Empire Army.
So far, there are only five heavy cavalry regiments, with a total of just over 4,000 cavalry, four of which are cuirassier regiments that use sabers and wear breastplates.
As for the traditional heavy cavalry regiment that wears full-body heavy armor and holds a three-meter-long cavalry lance, the only one is the First Cavalry Regiment of the Guards... But this is only on the surface.
The First Cavalry Regiment of the Guards has not worn a suit of heavy armor for N years, and has gone to the battlefield with a three-meter lance. This set of things is only played on ceremonial occasions in Jinling City.
If the First Guards Cavalry Regiment is sent to fight in the war today, they will wear breastplates, hold sabers, carry Type 18 cavalry rifles, and pull cavalry cannons to fight!
Who in this age is still playing full-armor cavalry charge with you... I use a 75mm cavalry cannon that can hit a few thousand meters, and then a single-shot breech-loading rifle that can hit a few hundred meters, one by one. Don't you feel comfortable calling your name?
Some of the heavy cavalry units of the Chu Army that have finished changing their uniforms these days are even struggling with whether they should just throw away their breastplates... It's really useless!
But how can we fight without fighting? The heavy cavalry in the Chu Empire all use Liaoxi horses, and they are excellent breeds from Liaoxi horses. The shoulder height is more than 1.55 meters... How can such Liaoxi horses be expensive?
The Liaoxi horses used in the light cavalry are somewhat normal, but they are all over 1.5 meters tall at the shoulder!
In short, whether it is heavy cavalry or light cavalry, the Liaoxi horses they use are excellent horses that are above the average level of Liaoxi horses...
The average shoulder height of Liaoxi horses is 1.5 meters, which means that a considerable number of Liaoxi horses have a shoulder height of less than 1.5 meters... These slightly inferior Liaoxi horses will eventually flow into the private market, in order to dilute the military. The cost of using horses.
In order to obtain a large number of excellent war horses, the military engaged in various horse policies, which eventually fed back into the civilian horse market, resulting in a large number of excellent and cheap horses among the civilian population.
Therefore, in the private market of the Great Chu Empire, ordinary civilian horses are actually not expensive. To be honest, even Sun Xu can afford them...
It's a pity that he can't afford it!
Therefore, Sun Xu could only think about private carriages or riding horses on his own.
In reality, when there was no rental carriage, he and Miss Meng could only brave the wind and head to Ximen Street step by step.
Miss Meng didn't pay attention. Instead, she offered to walk there. It would be warmer to take two steps on a cold day.
Sun Xu thought so. After all, the distance was not too far. It would take about twenty minutes to walk there normally, and it would keep you warm after walking.
Sure enough, although the sky in winter was gloomy and a gentle cold wind blew through my bones occasionally, I still chatted with Miss Meng for a few words while walking.
Listening to Miss Meng's soft voice, Sun Xu even felt that he wore too many clothes when he went out, so that he felt a little hot.
The winter in Songjiang doesn’t seem to be very cold either!
(End of chapter)
