Emperor Ming Dynasty

As soon as the winter solstice passes, the entire city of Beijing is once again surrounded by white snow, and the severe cold of winter is irresistible.

At this time, the coal needed by the capital is increasing day by day.

After all, no matter how hard it is, you still need to warm up during the Chinese New Year, right?

How else would you entertain your friends and family?

Ma Danian struggled out of bed. The warmth and comfort were enough to make people miss him endlessly. When he raised his eyes, he saw that his wife had already gotten up and started cooking.

Half-wet firewood was stuffed into the stove, igniting thick smoke, and then carried to the room along the ventilation duct.

The first step is naturally through the children’s room, which ultimately belongs to the couple.

"Ahem, why are you using wet firewood?" Ma Danian came out holding his nose, wearing an old coat, and looked at his busy wife.

“Wet firewood is cheap!”

The wife was minding her own business cooking: "One load only costs [-] cents. I bought two loads, which is enough to last until the Chinese New Year!"

"The price of firewood is much lower than in previous years!"

Ma Danian took a sip of warm water and couldn't help but said.

"Nowadays, everyone likes to use briquettes, or crushed coal, which is cheap, so less firewood is used."

Without raising her head, the wife took out two fist-sized coarse-grain steamed buns from the steamer, yellow and black in texture, steaming hot.

"Take it and eat it on the way!"

Ma Danian responded, stuffed one into his mouth, and stuffed the first one into his arms to warm his body.

After saying this, he came to the inner room and saw that his children were sleeping peacefully. Then he left home with satisfaction, braving the cold weather, leading the donkey and pulling the cart.

Naturally, the wife had already fed the donkey.

When he looked up, the bright moon hung high in the sky, and the cold wind howled in the empty streets, making him unable to help but wrap his hat tightly.

Although it was still dark, the time was approaching, so he stood under the eaves and waited. There were many busy people like him who got up early and stayed late.

The fifth watch has not yet started, and all the people are suffering.

"Boom-"

The fifth watch bell rang, and the gloomy guards came slowly. It seemed that the city gate was more difficult to open because of the wind and snow.

The big guys didn't show up and rushed to help.

After a while, the gate opened and everyone left in droves. However, a large number of vegetable farmers had been waiting for a long time and rushed into the city eagerly with their noses red from the cold.

Ma Danian pulled the cart and walked slowly for half an hour before arriving at a smelly pig farm.

This is a pig farm that supplies Beijing, raising about [-] pigs and thousands of sheep.

Large-scale breeding farms like this raise not only pigs and sheep, but also cattle, chickens, ducks, etc.

There are hundreds of them surrounding the entire capital, and only in this way can meat be supplied to Shangjingying and Beijing.

In the beginning, such farms were mainly used to supply the Beijing camp, with one meat every three days and one egg every day, which put great pressure on logistics.

Therefore, the establishment of a breeding farm was put on the agenda, and the needs of Beijing were taken care of.

Some of these breeding farms are controlled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but most of them are intervened by noble ministers.

Because this is a sure-profit business, and it’s still available in large quantities.

On the other side, a large amount of pig manure is accumulated, then bought and sold by special persons, and sent to farms or villages near the capital.

Manure is also a good deal.

Especially near the capital, the price of land is high, the supply of vegetables grown exceeds demand, and no one grows food.

"If my family had half an acre of vegetable land, how could I do this hard work?"

He muttered and stopped looking at the mountains of dung.

In the queue, Ma Danian pulled the cart and moved slowly. It was not until his feet felt uncomfortable with cold that it was his turn.

"Four live pigs, what can you do?"

"Don't worry, it's fine!"

The people from the farm helped lift the pig cage onto the cart, and Ma Danian quickly left this smelly place.

It took him a mile to recover.

If it were summer, people would have to be smoked out.

Pulling four pigs, he walked slowly and arrived at the city gate after more than half an hour.

One penny for a person, ten pence for a car, so he had to spend a lot of money.

At this time, the capital city has come to life. Even though the cold wind is howling, there are many miserable people running around in life.

When the pigs were transported to the butcher shop, there were already people buying meat.

"What time is it?" When he came to the backyard, Ma Danian unloaded the goods and couldn't help but ask while looking at the steaming boiling water.

"It's almost ten o'clock!" the clerk said casually as he glanced at the clock in the shop.

The pigs were unloaded, wailed and neatly weighed and slaughtered by the waiters, almost in the blink of an eye.

The total weight of the four pigs is only 420 kilograms. The retail price is ten cents per catty, but the purchase price was only five cents per catty, which is [-] cents.

Two silver coins and one silver cent are so light that they can be held in the palm of your hand.

Ma Danian, on the other hand, bought it at the breeding farm for four and a half cents. When weighed, it weighed 450 kilograms, and he lost thirty kilograms of Lazarus along the way.

The cost is two thousand and twenty-five cents, plus ten cents for travel expenses, this trip will make a net profit of 25 cents.

But it was not easy to earn money. Next, he had to help kill pigs, shave them, cut their meat, etc. The busy work did not stop until noon.

After taking care of the meal, he took the donkey home and fed it, and it ate even better than him.

Since it was the twelfth lunar month, the meat market was booming and he had to make a trip in the afternoon.

After transporting four more pigs back and earning seventy cents, Ma Danian ran twenty or thirty miles a day before resting.

In the evening, I fed the donkey two eggs, and also added some purchased alfalfa and straw.

Just for the donkey to eat and drink, it costs twenty or thirty coins a day.

Earning 130 85 cents, excluding [-] cents for feed and [-] cents for passing money, it was actually only a net profit of [-] cents.

Earning two and a half yuan a month can only be regarded as a make-do in the capital.

During the entire twelfth lunar month and the first lunar month, the briquettes alone cost a few cents, plus food, drink, clothing, rent, and rent, it would be good to have seven or eight cents left every month.

And if there were no things like donkey carts, the most profitable thing for ordinary people would be to go to Chaoyangmen to carry grain bags, earning fifty or sixty pence a day.

After the New Year, it won’t be so profitable.

"The price of grain has not increased this twelfth lunar month. It is still a cent per dou. I plan to buy a few dou of fine grain tomorrow."

Ma Danian sat at the dining table and ate the scrambled eggs.

"Why waste that money!" The wife scolded: "I only need to buy half a bucket to greet relatives, and only half a cent of miscellaneous grains!"

"You know nothing. Now that the economy is getting better, it's shameful to have less fine food."

Ma Danian took a large piece of egg and gave it to his son. After hesitating for a while, he took a piece of egg and gave it to his daughter.

The wife frowned: "What do the two little ones eat? You can't lose your health doing hard work."

"What's the point of driving a car?" Ma Danian said while drinking coarse grain porridge: "Let my son go to school next year. If there is smoke coming out of the ancestral graves and a scholar comes out, I will be crazy with joy."

My wife didn't object to this. Reading is a great thing.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and then a dog barked.

"Brother Ma, are you asleep?" "No!" Ma Danian was excited and said hurriedly: "It's Brother Zhao next door!"

"coming!"

He put down his chopsticks and hurriedly opened the door.

A six-foot tall man with a tall build and a simple and honest face came into view.

"Isn't it the winter solstice last night? Some things were distributed in the camp. When I come back today, I will bring it to you to try!"

As he spoke, he raised half of the wax duck in his hand. Its yellow-black luster made people appetizing just by looking at it.

"Come in quickly!" Ma Danian pretended to refuse: "Why are you and me so polite? Don't do this next time!"

Zhao Fahan smiled and entered the house.

"Brother Zhao is here? Sit down quickly. Have you eaten? Do you want another bowl?"

"Eat it, eat it!" Zhao Fa smiled and put down the wax duck, making the two children salivate.

Even my sister-in-law couldn't help but swallow.

In the market, a wax duck can fetch [-] yuan, but it is often still expensive and has nowhere to buy it.

After all, the Grand Canal was blocked, the Bohai Sea was frozen, and supplies were scarce.

The Ma family only became friends with Zhao Fa last year.

Zhao Fa was from Shandong. He passed the recruitment of the new army camp and joined the Beijing camp as a soldier. He rented a single room in the yard.

Ma Danian was warm-hearted and helped with a lot of rituals, and the relationship became closer.

"I can't finish this bacon duck at my place, so I'll give it to my elder brother and sister to try it!" Zhao Fa said with a smile.

"This is good stuff!" Ma Danian sighed: "Brother, your Beijing camp has distributed a lot of stuff during the winter solstice, right?"

"Not much!" Zhao Fa said casually: "I am the corps commander, so I was given a wax duck and a bucket of new rice."

"I heard that during the Chinese New Year, they will also give out one tael of brown sugar, half a catty of salt, and a pair of cloth shoes."

"Good boy!" Ma Danian shook his head and praised: "I have long heard that the welfare of Beijing camp is good, but I never thought it was so good."

"You have food and drink, two sets of clothes a year, two yuan a month, one stone of rice, and rewards during the New Year and festivals. These are the days of the gods!"

"Actually, the higher-ups have better benefits, but this is just a drop in the bucket for me!"

Zhao Fa restrained his smile: "By the way, I will take my mother-in-law over in the spring, and then my sister-in-law will have to take more care of her."

"She's a country girl and doesn't know anything."

"It's a trivial matter!" Sister-in-law Ma patted her chest and said, "Don't worry, I will make sure your mother-in-law is familiar with this street and it will feel like home."

"Beijing is very good, but the housing prices are too expensive!" Zhao Fa couldn't help complaining: "A tile-roofed house costs [-] cents, and you can rent a small courtyard in the outer city or in your hometown county."

"Oh, who says it's not?" Ma Danian couldn't help but agree: "I have two rooms, one big and one small, plus a small donkey shed. He asked me for three hundred coins. It's really a deadly thing!"

"If he raises the price again, I will move outside the city."

"Brother, it's better to say goodbye!" Zhao Fa hurriedly advised at this time: "There are more and more people in the capital, and it's hard to find a good house. This is suitable for us. If the house price is not too high, don't move. If the price is high in other places, Even more powerful.”

"By the way, brother, how do we sell the houses around here?"

"If you live as a family, a small courtyard with two or three rooms will suffice, and it only costs 60 to 80 yuan. If you buy a small shop on the street and put it on the second floor, it will cost about [-] yuan."

Ma Danian knew all the treasures: "This is still the outer city. If you want to go to the inner city, you have to double the amount."

"I have to save for three years!" Zhao Fa exclaimed: "Sure enough, living in the capital is not easy."

Ma Danian choked immediately.

With the speed at which he was making money, he could only go outside the city and buy two half-tiled houses near the walls, which would cost more than ten yuan.

Soldiers in the Beijing camp earn two yuan a month, and they also bring one stone of food, which is almost three yuan a month. Indeed, it only takes two or three years.

After he left, Ma Danian couldn't help but said: "Damn it, why don't you send your son to be a soldier in the future?"

"What's the best place to go to in Qiu Ba?" the mother-in-law immediately put her hands on her hips and said, "A scholar is a good place to go, to honor his ancestors."

"I mean if you can't pass the exam, then go..."

After leaving Ma's house, Zhao Fa walked a few steps and arrived at the house he rented.

This is a side room with one bed, a stove, and a table. It is extremely small.

Originally, he didn't want to rent a house, and it was very nice to live in the camp.

But communication is needed.

At the same time, the hut is also a good place for him to rest for three days a month. It isolates him from the tense atmosphere in the camp and relaxes him.

Moreover, he also heard that the imperial court seemed to have decided to extend the three days of rest in the capital camp to five days per month.

After the winter solstice, the imperial court closed the government office, but the Beijing camp was not allowed to rest. During the Chinese New Year, the Beijing camp took three shifts to rest, and most of the troops were kept in the camp at all times.

An average of five days of annual leave per person is very soothing to military morale.

Zhao Fa opened the hanging pot, and the thick porridge was bubbling. He tore a few pieces of bacon shreds and put them in. The aroma became even stronger.

Opening a thousand-character book, he memorized the words carefully.

Soldiers must know [-] characters, while officers such as corps commanders must know [-] characters.

If you want to climb to the top of the team, you must learn to read military orders.Two thousand words are required.

The prerequisite for promotion is literacy.

"Oh, it would be great if I were in charge of the team. Buying a house would be easy..."

He scratched his head in distress, and then smiled naively: "When my wife comes, I can have a baby. Then I can buy a house and I will be a native of the capital."

At this time, Yin Yamen of Shuntian Prefecture.

As the prefect of Shuntian, Yang Tingjian, who was sixty-five years old, was the number one scholar in the 16th year of Chongzhen, but he had no time to spare during the period when he was granted the title of Yamen.

After all, there is no small matter in Gyeonggi.

His temples were white with frost, and he was writing with a pen, while the maid beside him was grinding ink for fear of being frozen.

Suddenly, Master Qian Gu pushed open the door and entered.

"Dong Weng, the price of food in the market has been stable recently, and the price of meat, firewood, salt, vinegar, etc. has not increased much. The common people can live a good year!"

"That's good!" Yang Tingjian nodded, put down his pen and said: "I am the busiest in the civil and military affairs of the dynasty. I can't take a break even during the New Year. I have endless worries!"

The master smiled and flattered, "Your Majesty can sleep peacefully if you are always in the capital."

"Don't try to elevate me!" Yang Tingjian shook his head: "Being the governor of Shuntian Prefecture will shorten my life by ten years."

"What's wrong? Something happened again?"

"The temporary residence permit issue proposed by the imperial court was initially implemented smoothly, but it has evolved into a formality and can be obtained with a small amount of money."

The master said angrily: "Now it has become a harsh government and a tool to make money. No cents will be left in the treasury!"

"This matter?" Yang Tingjian stroked his beard and fell into thinking: "How many people are there in the capital now?"

"No one knows if the temporary residence permit has become a piece of paper. Probably a million!"

The master said casually: "After all, there are 20 people in the capital camp alone. Including their families, they account for [-]% of the capital."

"The capital's population is imminent!" Yang Tingjian realized that Beijing's population could not continue to expand.

The pressure on local support is too great, which makes people feel distressed.

(End of this chapter)