Chapter 5 The dream is to live a good life
There are three villages below Sheyu Town, Shizi Village, Dachen Village, and Xiaowang Village.
Cross Village is the middle zone connecting Dachen Village and Xiaowang Village, and is also the only way to "Baojiao County".
Due to the special location and the fact that Cross Village had many figures in its early years, more than a hundred years ago, the imperial court issued an order to create a "Snake Fish Town" on the basis of the original "Cross Village".
Because of its status as a town, it also attracted wealthy households from the two nearby villages to settle in the town and build houses.
The layout of Sheyu Town is very simple, with one long street, seven to eight hundred meters long, and three short streets, the shortest of which is only two to three hundred meters, shaped like the word "Feng".
[Writing this, I hope readers will remember our domain name Taiwan Novel Networkβπππππ.πππ]
βItβs not much different from the township fairs I had when I was a kid.β
Chen Ku pulled a cart to buy firewood.
In fact, this is the first time I have come to the town. There are dirt roads on the ground. I see an endless stream of people wearing short shirts and coarse cloth on the street. They are all people who are busy with life.
There is an area where vegetables are sold, all of which are common vegetables in the countryside, such as cucumbers, cabbages, and potatoes. There are old people in the village who go to pick vegetables early in the morning, carrying burdens, and travel for dozens of miles. When they come to the town, they earn a few dollars. Divide a few cents of your hard-earned money.
There are also jelly stalls, tofu stalls, bun shops, etc. that sell food.
Stalls selling melon seeds, red dates, thin-skinned walnuts, peanuts, and various dried fruits.
At this time, I heard a group of people gathering next to me.
"Have you heard that Zhujiazhuang was looted by a group of refugee bandits?"
"In addition to several members of the Zhujia Town, people at home were also beaten to death."
"Those refugees died more!"
"It's so miserable."
"There is definitely a gang leader behind these hateful refugees..."
"Fortunately, Zhujia Town is still a hundred miles away from our Sheyu Town, so it shouldn't spread..."
"Oh, it's hard to say."
After hearing this, the three of them were silent.
Old Mr. Li was smoking a dry cigarette with worry in his eyes.
"This kind of people should not be considered refugees anymore, they are bandits. Refugees will only starve to death, but if they are organized, they are bandits." Chen Ku was worried in his heart: "The families of wealthy landlords can be captured. Breaking in and killing someone, there is really no sense of security in this troubled world.β
"Come on, let's eat some big buns first." Li Jiyang was simple-minded and didn't think too much. He came to the town just to eat something good. He first bought six big buns and stuffed them for Chen Ku and grandpa respectively. one.
"...Thank you Ji Yang." Chen Ku took it and saw clearly that it was a steamed stuffed bun with vegetarian filling, so he started to eat it with confidence. It was nothing else. The meat stuffing was expensive.
The three of them finished eating the buns, put on their backpacks, and pulled the cart along the longest street, two-thirds of the way there. There was an area with herbs in front, which was similar to a vegetable market.
It is the fork between the main street and the second street that separates an area called 'Yochai City'.
At the market entrance, there is an archway, and there are actually two government officials standing there.
Lao Li gave a warning to the two people behind him and said: "Ku boy, please take out the retail letter sent to Zhao Bocai's house by the village chief. You will be asked to verify your identity when entering Yaochai Street."
"Oh." Chen Ku immediately took out a piece of cloth from his arms. It had the monogram and handwriting of the head of Dachen Village on it, indicating that Chen Ku was a "retailer" affiliated with a certain household in the village.
This is who I am now.
Unregistered retail investors are equivalent to temporary ID cards.
Looking at Old Li Tou and Li Jiyang again, they took out two pieces of bamboo, also called lumbar support.
Above are their birthplace names, but they are stamped with the iron seal of a government office, indicating that they are legally registered citizens of Ji State.
Chen Ku watched the yamen officer check the "household registration certificates" entering Yaochai Street one by one, and he felt as if he had entered a scenic spot to check ID cards in his previous life.
But I know in my heart that the purpose of checking the identity of the yamen is to register and register, and then when you come out, you will collect taxes based on the income flowing into Yaochai Street.
"Retail investors?" When Chen Ku arrived, the tall and bearded government official gave him a cold look and said, "Are you a foreign refugee, or have you committed something?"
Chen Ku was silent for a moment.
But he couldn't help but look at the notice posted behind the two government officials. There were portraits with their names, origins, and crimes on them.
Seeing Chen Ku, he noticed the wanted notice behind him.
The tall yamen officer raised his eyebrows and said, "What, do you know him?"
Chen Ku immediately shook his head: "I don't know him, I just saw a very high reward."
"I don't know, why are you staring?" the tall yamen servant said impatiently.
The middle-aged government officer next to him coughed, and seemed to point to Chen Ku and the people behind him, pointing at the wanted poster:
"Everyone passing by should pay attention to the person in the portrait. This is a newly painted smuggler named Ni Kun. The amount of smuggling and smuggling is huge. Anyone who can provide traces will be rewarded with thirty taels of silver. Anyone who assists in the capture will be rewarded with silver. One hundred taels!β
"One hundred taels!"
People were frightened.
"This is a big murderer, probably a martial arts practitioner!"
Such a high reward also means terrible danger. How can ordinary people dare to be greedy?
The government officials also know what everyone is thinking.
He glanced at Chen Ku and said coldly:
"If someone knows something and fails to report it, and covers up and conceals it, not only will he be punished with the same crime and sentenced to death, but his family will also be implicated!"
Upon seeing this, Lao Li Tou quickly came over and said, "Two officials, this is a child from Lao'er's village. He has a clean identity and has never done anything bad. He became a retail investor after being implicated by his elder brother."
Two government officials heard this.
The tall yamen runner said to the people around him in a deep voice: "See, if you know something but don't report it, your family will be punished. This is the end. You will become a retail investor. All the income you earn in this Yaochai Street will be taxed half. Do you understand?"
After speaking, he looked at Chen Ku and waited for a reply.
Chen Ku sighed in his heart and said, "I understand."
The two yamen runners saw that his attitude was not bad, and because there were people behind him waiting in line, they slowly let him go.
After entering the street entrance.
Old Li took a puff of his dry tobacco and sighed: "You think of your brother, right? It's hard for you."
Chen Ku shook his head and smiled: "It's okay, let's go sell medicine."
The elder brother of this body, Chen Xin, was implicated because of smuggling and taking risks. He ended up like this.
After traveling for so long, Chen Ku can more or less understand why there are so many people smuggling and selling medicine in Baojiao County.
First of all, Baojiao County is located in the southwest border. The Liangjie Mountain not far away is the border line, and outside the border is the Yuan Kingdom.
Given the geographical situation, it is normal for smugglers to breed.
But there is actually a bigger reason.
That is, the world today is closed to the outside world, and trade between countries is cut off.
The richness of products in each country varies. Take the neighboring Yuan Dynasty as an example. Due to its special geographical location behind the mountain, some medicinal herbs are very common in the deep mountains and old forests within the territory of the Yuan Kingdom. Not to mention, they are also medicinal, so they are not worth much in the territory of the Yuan Kingdom.
But you only need to risk your head, cross the Liangjie Mountain, and bring these herbs to the Ji Kingdom, which is not rich in production and in short supply, through smuggling channels, and you can make a profit of more than ten times or even a hundred times.
In today's world, there are many people who are forced to live by various heavy taxes and life pressures, so they choose to take risks...
Soon, Old Li took Chen Ku to sell all the herbs of the three people in this Yaochai Street.
As soon as the old mountain ginseng weighing seven taels was taken out by Lao Li, it caused a sensation in several stalls.
"Seven taels is a ginseng, eight taels is a treasure, and only one tael is needed to become a treasure herb."
"What a pity!!"
"But even so, it is still expensive."
"I offer seven taels of silver, one tael of silver for one tael of ginseng, the price is fair."
Finally, after bargaining, Lao Li sold the seven-tael old mountain ginseng for 'seven taels and six cents' of silver.
Someone next to him regretfully said: "What a pity, what a pity, if there is one more tael, the price of this ginseng will at least increase five times, at least worth forty taels of silver."
"That's what I said, but everyone knows that if the old mountain ginseng weighs more than seven taels, it will take a year to grow one more cent. Adding it up, a ginseng will take at least thirty years to grow into a treasure herb. How can ordinary people have such a great blessing."
Lao Li sighed and realized that he was unlucky and could only meet it when it was seven taels.
Later, he sold Chen Ku's snake bone grass.
Chen Ku got a total of 450 yuan. He told Li Ye that he was going to buy firewood, and then temporarily separated from Li Ye and his grandson, and turned to the back street of Yaochai Market.
There are not only people selling firewood here, but also people selling fish.
Sheyu Town is surrounded by mountains and rivers.
There are snakes in the mountains, fish in the water, medicine in the grass, and firewood everywhere.
So Yaochai Market not only sells medicine and firewood, but also snakes and fish.
He bought 100 wen of firewood. Firewood is one-tenth of the price of rice, one wen per catty, a total of 100 catties of firewood.
Chen Ku can carry 100 catties with his current body, but fortunately there is a cart, which saves half the effort.
After loading the firewood and going back to find Li Ye and his grandson, he heard the same calls from time to time in Yaochai Market as what Li Ye had encountered before.
"There are precious fish, there are precious fish!"
"It's the kid from the old Bai family, and he caught a precious fish this time!!"
"Precious fish, like precious grass, is a great tonic for blood and flesh, and is a spiritual creature."
"Oh my God, there's more than one!"
"I was born in poverty, but I caught a precious fish, and now I'm turning over. With these precious fish, I can join a martial arts school, pass the exam to become a martial arts student, and change my status to a county household. My life will be smooth sailing in the future."
"I'm so envious, Brother Bai is going to live a good life."
"I heard that just now, an old man dug up seven taels of old mountain ginseng!"
"My God, how come I can't get such a good thing once?!"
After Chen Ku drove the cart away, he heard from afar that the precious fish were sold at a price of thirteen or fourteen taels each.
First, it was Old Master Li, and then this buddy, who lived by the mountains and rivers, and all became rich.
Then he thought about the half tax he had to pay later, and then he would only have a few coins left in his hand.
I was stimulated,
I touched my nose, and I had silently memorized many smells in this Yaochai market, and I could find their traces ten miles away.
"I will go into the mountains tomorrow, this time, it's my turn to have a good time!"
