Summer is coming to an end. In the summer of 1629, the county seat of Lingao was very quiet. One is that the weather is hot, the people in the city do not want to move, and the farmers are busy harvesting and planting in the summer under the scorching sun, and they have no time to enter the city. Second, the city has been gradually marginalized economically, the few merchants in the city have gradually been attracted to the Dongmen City to open shops to do business, the common people and gentry have gradually become accustomed to this new market, whether it is to buy things, or to take a walk and stroll around idly, the Dongmen City can buy things and shopping environment is much better than the county seat.

Several of the city's artisans closed their doors, including the county's only blacksmith shop. Their products are simply incomparable to the Traverser, and even fail in price. Finally lost in free competition. Now it's no longer in the county seat, and it is said that he is a craftsman with a good salary. According to those who saw it, the cooper who was originally so poor that he actually married a wife, and brought four or five apprentices with him, and he made hoops and barrels there every day.

The only place in the city that seems to be a little more lively is Runshitang. Since the owner of Runshitang went to the subcontinent, Runshitang, which had been quiet and quiet, suddenly became lively, and many foreign pharmacists were added to work. Baskets and baskets of medicinal materials are transported in, and boxes of finished medicines are shipped out. Everyone said that Yang Shixiang, the owner of Runshitang, was sent now. Once every 10 days, several large truckloads of goods are transported to Bopu, loaded with the latest Zhuge marching and plague dispersions made by Runshitang, which are said to be very popular in the Guangzhou area. These two kinds of medicine have also been well received in Lingao, especially the cheap and high-quality anti-plague powder, many people are carried with a bottle in their hands, and they have become a standing safety medicine in summer. Even if you can't afford it, you can get it at the door of the church in Dongmen City - the price is to listen to the foreign monk inside to say a passage.

The foreign monks are kind, tell the story very beautifully, and will come up with a good-looking picture album. Even if it's not for medicine, it's a good choice for recreation.

Well-informed people said that the reason why Runshitang was able to turn over was because Shopkeeper Yang took the path of a "miracle doctor" among the people, and he took out the prescription for medicine. I heard that I also received financial support.

This Australian is such a good money boy. People with active brains in the county have such feelings, let's just say that Lin Quanan, who opened the Quanfu Commercial Bank, was originally just a Fujian guy who carried the burden and sold goods, but now he has become a wealthy man in the county, and there are four-person sedan chairs in and out, and the whole house runs around, and now there is Yang Shixiang...... Many people's minds are starting to come alive. Someone was asking how to catch up with the people in the group.

The county government where the center of Lingao is located was also listless throughout the summer, the gate was closed, and the two officials who guarded the door also hid in the door to enjoy the shade. Now is the time to collect summer grain, but every autumn the clerks, officials, and "grain poor" who flaunt their might at the entrance of the county yamen are nowhere to be seen -- the local summer grain quota is only a mere 32 stones. Even if it doubles, there is not much oil and water to speak of. Naturally, they are not energetic.

The officials of the county, big and small, smelled something out of the silent air of the city and felt uneasy, but none of them could tell what was making them uneasy.

Now what are they not satisfied with? The bandits have been largely wiped out; The landing and robbery of large-scale pirates have completely disappeared, and these two items alone are already great achievements in the eyes of Wu Mingjin and others, and as for the road that passes through the county gate and continues to extend, it is a good governance that he has not been able to do for several years.

Personally, everyone is doing well. From Wu Mingjin to the ordinary officials in the yamen, they could receive a "negotiable coupon" from the people according to the rank chart every month -- although it was not a silver for nothing, it could be spent when it was taken to Dongmen City. Wu Mingjin originally disdained this kind of "counterfeit banknote", but since he fell in love with cigarette rolls, which are tasteful and easy to absorb, this kind of "counterfeit banknotes" has shown great value, and the shops selling cigarettes in Dongmen Market only accept this kind of money.

And the wife and children he picked up from Qiongshan are far more fond of Australian goods than him. First of all, his wife can't put down the glass mirror, and secondly, since Xiong Buyou sent a pair of porcelain bottles and packaged in the heavenly kitchen "secret monosodium glutamate", this is indispensable for cooking in the kitchen. Then he sent all kinds of pickles from the heavenly kitchen, which was really like a long drought and a rain for Mrs. Wu, who lived in this wild place-Wu Mingjin was a native of Nanzhili, and had a natural liking for pickles and bad eggs, although these were very common and cheap in Nanzhili, but they were rare in Lingao. Wu Mingjin ate a few slices of "Yangzhou Sauce Milk Cucumber", and felt that although the taste was not very right, the flavor was roughly the same, and he had a "thought of perch". Several poems were also improvised. For a while, Yaxing sent someone to invite Master Wang to come and chant poetry together, but was told that Master Wang went out with Xinna's concubine. made Wu Mingjin very disappointed.

However, the thieves are very ghostly, and although they often give things, they refuse to do the same. MSG, pickles, and bad eggs are gone, and I hope Xiong Buyou will send them again, but there is no trace. You have to buy it at the East Gate. Wu Mingjin had no choice but to compress part of his cigarette money to his wife to spend.

As Xiong Buyou gave more and more gifts, Wu Mingjin found that his money for cigarettes was becoming more and more tight. His method was to take the brown rice issued to him by the imperial court and let the servants take it to Dongmen Market to exchange it for negotiable coupons, which really made him feel incredible. However, the negotiable ticket is a good thing.

However, the price of this "Australian product" is too high! He was smoking a "Holy Boat" brand cigarette roll, ten white cigarettes, each with a small bamboo tube made of cigarette holders, and the box had the pattern of a ship on it - Wu Mingjin knew that this was the giant ship of Bopu. The price of the Holy Boat brand is 6 yuan per pack. According to the price of Delong Grain Bank, it is almost four or five catties of brown rice!

A small cigarette roll is half a catty of rice! Wu Mingjin felt that he was too extravagant, so he took care of the servants to buy cheaper ones. The servant bought a kind of "Bairentan" brand cigarette roll. The smoke tastes similar, but there is no bamboo tube mouthpiece. Cigarette pack packaging has also become much simpler. The price is only 3 yuan. After smoking for a few days, he found that the clerks in the county government were smoking the same kind of cigarettes. If you look closely, it turns out that this paper cigarette has different font sizes. The most expensive is the "Holy Boat", followed by the "Bairentan", and then there is a 1 yuan called "Gaoshan Ling", and Zuihou is "big production", as long as 50 points. That's what the peddlers' pawns smoked

Wu Mingjin, as the highest magistrate of the county, smoked cigarettes of the same grade as the Yamen Clerk's Office, which was really unseemly. So he had no choice but to continue pumping the "holy boat".

Recently, the East Gate Market has been selling ice cubes again - this incident has caused a great sensation, and everyone in Lingao wants to know where the ice cubes of the thieves came from. Lingao does not freeze in winter, and there are no deep mountains where snow can be hidden. The thief not only seems to have ice, but it seems to be very easy to come by, and it can be sold even if you use it yourself. You can buy a large piece of money for 10 cents of a circulation coupon.

A large piece of ice in the hall immediately feels much cooler, and it is even better to use ice cubes to chill the fruit. Xiong Buyou sent a few small jars of sour plum soup -- drinking a bowl of chilled sour plum soup was also a good thing -- but Wu Mingjin's expenditure on negotiable coupons was further expanded.

Wu Xianling was quite clever enough to perceive that this was the Crossing Group using all kinds of "kitsch and lewd skills" to lure him and his whole family into taking the bait. Real money is not sent, but all that is sent is for enjoyment, and these things are only available to thieves.

Wu Mingjin secretly sneered: Do you think I don't know your tricks!

Knowing is knowing, but the demand is unstoppable. The so-called from thrift to luxury, from luxury to thrift, difficult. Once a person is accustomed to the enjoyment of life, it becomes difficult to change. For example, his attempt to smoke dry tobacco again failed, it was spicy and bitter, and he was full of smoke and oil, and after a few puffs he became angry and threw the dry tobacco stick directly. Frightened, he knelt on the ground and didn't dare to speak. Zuihou still bought cigarettes for him from Dongmen City.

As for the ice, even if he can bear it, his wife and children can't understand his distress, so he has to. The son actually proposed: send someone to ask the Australians to bring some ice cubes every day - I think they will not fail to send them. was so angry that Wu Mingjin just wanted to slap him a few times.

Of course, you can buy your own ice, but the money for cigarettes is decreasing...... The problem of insufficient cigarette money that modern men often encounter, Wu Mingjin also encountered.

Money, he naturally has it. Although Lingao is a small border county, there is a copy of the county order in the summer and autumn every year. But the money accumulated in the past has been sent back to his hometown one after another. Xia Fu doesn't have any money, and Qiu Fu hasn't come yet, and for a while and a half, except for a pitiful little money every month, there is no place to make money -- Wu Mingjin thinks that he is still a "conscientious" county official, and he generally doesn't do anything like making black money and bending the law for bribes.

Of course, as long as he expresses a little bit and sighs with Wu Ya, it is estimated that the thieves will take the initiative to increase the "allowance". However, in addition to being "conscientious", Wu Xianling also has a little "backbone" -- he will never do such a thing that is almost "begging".

Unexpectedly, a few days later, Xiong Buyou actually sent a stack of ice tickets very understandingly, and went to Dongmen City to get ice with the tickets, one piece per ticket. Thirty dollars a month. Wu Mingjin's emotions were very complicated: he did not have the courage to refuse the bribe of the Australian, but he accepted it - he felt that he was getting deeper and deeper. Not only him, but also the subordinates of the whole county

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