A thin sheet of paper, typeset in guò type, printed in ink, and published every five days, was sent to all the prefectures and counties.

This is Nanzhong Business Daily.

In addition to promoting various types of agricultural science and technology, most of the articles published in Nanzhong Business Daily are all kinds of official notices and propaganda of various policies and measures of the Nanzhong Army, which inadvertently and imperceptibly complete the education and enlightenment of the people.

In the third issue of the Nanzhong Business Daily in May of the fifth year of Chongzhen, in addition to the price of summer grain, a sample of the so-called industrial coupons was also published.

This humble newspaper soon sparked a craze in various parts of the South China Army.

Wu Yonghai, a farmer carrying Xingu, ran to the nearest grain purchase point in sweat, while still scolding his son and a few local hired laborers.

"Gan Yi Niang! It's still grinding there! Didn't you eat a full meal in the morning?! ”

The eldest son of the Wu family muttered, so he had to wipe the sweat from his head, took a few steps to keep up with his father's pace, and did not forget to urge a few local hired workers, "Go faster!" Don't have one top two when you eat, and two lose to one when you work! ”

Seven or eight people carried the burden and drove two ox carts to the grain purchase point located relatively close to several villages. Collect grain and oil at three times the market price! ”

Several men from the grain store also ran before and after the door, delivering hot tea to the farmers waiting in line for rice. "If you're coming from afar, we've got some dim sum rice noodles and the like, if it's not too slow, you can go in and use a little."

A few grain households came out of the shed made of bamboo, wood and straw, carrying a bulging bag of money and a pair of men from the grain store, talking and laughing.

Someone who knew Wu Yonghai came over to say hello.

"Old Wu! Come to the rice too! ”

"That's it! You're early! ”

"What a thing! It's not just half sold, the family has few people, can't transport this lot of grain, and there are still a lot of rapeseed at home, and they plan to buy it together, and it's good to start a new house! ”

While greeting Wu Yonghai. On the one hand, the basket full of rice was opened. Gazing at the golden rice in the basket.

"Lao Wu, your rice is good, according to the quality standards of the official family, it is at least second-class rice!"

"What quality standard?" Wu Yonghai was a little strange. In the past, rice. It's all about seeing if it's full. Whether it's dry or not, nothing else seems to matter.

"Lao Liang, what are you talking about the new charter?"

Lao Liang is also refreshing. Putting down the few grains of rice twisted in his hand, "Old Wu, you and I have planted the same indica rice." All of the rice grains are white, and the cornein is less. ”

As he spoke, he kept walking, and pulled Wu Yonghai to a public notice in front of the grass shed, where a notice was pasted, and under the notice was a long table with several plates, which were filled with this year's new rice.

"Well, this is this year's new rice standard sample, and the above article is the detailed provisions of the quality standard of new rice."

Compared with previous years' rice purchases, this year's rice has no new patterns, but in addition to the brown rice production rate, the whole rice milling rate has been added to the rice quality standard. The so-called whole rice is when the brown rice is processed and milled again, and the rice grains are broken, and the length of the whole milled rice grains still reaches more than three-quarters of the average length of the complete milled rice grains. The unified regulations are that indica rice shall not be less than half, and japonica rice shall not be less than sixty percent.

In addition to this, the requirements for moisture and quality are harmonized. Although there are still five classifications according to early and late indica rice, japonica rice, indica glutinous rice, and japonica glutinous rice, different water and quality indicators are no longer formulated according to the early and late planting seasons and the southern and northern regions. Indica rice, which accounts for the largest proportion of planting, implements unified water and quality indicators in the South China Military Region, and japonica rice also implements unified water and quality indicators. Overall, it is stricter than the original standard.

"All kinds of rice are determined by roughness, and grade 3 is medium. The brown rice rate of first-class rice is 70%, the brown rice rate of second-class rice is 60%, and the third-class rice is 50%. Indica rice is divided into five grades, according to the calculation standard of rice milling rate, among them, the first-level indica rice milling rate is 50%, the 2nd grade is 40% 7, the 3rd grade is 40% 5, and the fourth grade is 40% ......"

Wu Yonghai's second son stammered the notice again, and when he finished reading, he turned his eyes to his father, hoping that his father could give some instructions.

"Old Wu. I think this bit of rice of yours is good, at least the standard of second-grade indica! Lao Liang gave Wu Yonghai strong support and encouraged his confidence.

"That's it! Our food is carefully served! Can you still rate it badly?! ”

Sure enough, when it was the turn of the Wu family father and son to sell grain, the men of the grain store used a long sampling trough, (wrought iron, similar to a three-edged bayonet, but the inside was empty, which was convenient for sampling grain and rice. Pierced into the sack of burlap, gently pulled out the sampling trough, and handed the grain and rice samples inside to the master in charge of grading and reviewing.

The grain store people checked the moisture content of the rice or the drying process, and gave a good evaluation of the grade of the rice, "It is between the first and second grades, if you screen it a few more times when you are at home, it will be ironclad first-class rice!" ”

Listening to the tone of some regret and pity from the grain shop, although Wu Yonghai regretted that his intestines were green, he still looked calm on the surface, "It's nothing, isn't this the first year, and when the rice comes down in autumn, you will have experience!" ”

"So that you know that the purchase price of the general rice merchants on the market today is the wharf price of one-third of a quintal, and their prices must be known to you, although they are not high, but they do not look at indicators such as water content. Most of your more than 100 stone paddy is between the first and second grades. According to the notice of the General's Mansion, the purchase price of first-class rice is three times the market price, that is, within one penny, and the second-grade rice is lower than that of the first-class rice, which is eight cents of silver and one stone. This millet of yours. A few of us will discuss it, and what do you think of giving you eight and two cents? ”

Eight cents and two cents of silver, one hundred and seven stones of rice, that is, eight taels of silver and industrial coupons, it is a good deal.

Wu Yonghai slapped his thigh very decisively, "Okay! Sold! ”

The guy from the grain store still led Wu Yonghai to the table in the account room with a smile on his face, and handed it to the bookkeeper who was busy counting silver dollars and industrial coupons.

"Sir, settle the bill."

Wu Yonghai and his two sons handed over a few documents such as receipts for grain sales and grade appraisal results, and Mr. Na looked down. raised his head again and asked Wu Yonghai. "How much grain was sold?"

"Sir, my family sold for one hundred and seven stones."

"Good. According to the above regulations, half of the payment was made in cash and half of the industrial vouchers were paid. Your family's grain should pay you eighty-taels-seven cents of silver and industrial vouchers. ”

The bookkeeper fiddled with the abacus with his hands and feet. He reported the grain payment that should be paid to the Wu family. this number. On the way to Fangcai, Wu Yonghai had already checked with his eldest son twice, and it was not bad at all.

The bookkeeper counted four silver dollars, just as he was about to count the copper coins. Wu Yonghai pressed his husband's hand.

"Sir, can you discuss it?"

The bookkeeper glanced at Wu Yonghai vigilantly, and carefully looked at the peasant in front of him with a little cunning on his face, although he didn't look like something that could be linked to words such as honesty and simplicity, but he was not a villain.

"What's the matter?"

Mr. Bookkeeper quietly pulled out Wu Yonghai's held hands, and quietly stretched out under the table, there was a rope for the alarm hidden underneath, which was connected with the big copper bell hanging in the shed next door.

"We've taken the silver dollar, so forget about this Tongbao, right? Can you give industrial coupons, there will be some things at home soon, and you need these things for the boss to ask for relatives. ”

Mr. Bookkeeper quietly wiped a cold sweat in his heart, damn it! It's dangerous! I almost thought that the three of them were gangsters who tried to rob the grain store!

Scolding in his heart, the work in his hand did not stop at all, he stretched out the wooden pole dip pen in his hand into the inkwell, dipped it in some ink, and began to copy the number on the grain sales receipt of Wu Yonghai's family in the account book for future inspection.

Originally, the dipping pen was made of a wooden handle and a copper movable nib, which could be replaced, although it was said that the ink could not be stored because there was no pen bag, and only one or two drops of ink could be stored in the convex and concave small pieces of the guò nib, and a few words could be dipped in ink. It often happens that when you write a word with a lot of strokes, you have to dip half of the word in the bottle with some ink, and then continue writing. However, compared with the brush, the requirements for the writing environment and conditions are not so high, and the strokes written are thick and thin, thick and light, both smooth, and have the tip of the brush, which looks unique.

The boss of the Wu family is also a veteran of using this kind of dipping pen, and glanced at a few lines of words written by Mr. in the account book, "There is now a hundred and seven stones of grain sold by Wu Yonghai in Qihai Village, and the grain payment is eight taels and seven cents and four cents. I offered to receive four silver dollars, and the balance was paid entirely by industrial vouchers. I couldn't help but exclaim, "Sir, good words!" ”

"Hey! Say what good words, this one is written quickly, and it can be used anytime and anywhere. But if you don't write much, you have to change the nib once! ”

"That's it! However, my teacher also said that there are no two ends of sugar cane that are sweet! ”

The two exchanged a few polite words, and the bookkeeper gave a handful of industrial coupons with denominations ranging from 1,000 wen and 500 wen and 100 wen to the Wu family father and son.

Holding a handful of industrial coupons with a face value of nearly five taels, the father and son walked out of the grain store in high spirits.

I didn't take more than 30 steps when I suddenly heard someone calling behind me.

"Dude, please stay! Dude, please stay! ”

Wu Yonghai stopped and looked back at the sound, only to see a person walking briskly behind him, wearing an oxtail scarf, a muslin shirt, a bag tied around his waist, and a money tie on his shoulder. Blue-white skin, a pair of thin eyebrows, and two fox eyes. I can't remember where I dealt with this person.

"Yes, we haven't dealt with each other before, but aren't we starting to deal with each other now?"

People laughed and talked with Wu Yonghai.

But the original purpose was only for the handful of industrial coupons in Wu Yonghai's hand.

"Dude, I know you just sold food, and you plan to use this to buy something for your child's relatives. Such. I happen to have a friend who asked me to redeem some industrial vouchers for him. The official price is 100 Wen, and the industrial voucher can be used as 110 Wen, so I can't bully you, an honest man, my friend gave me the price of 100 Wen, and the industrial coupon can be 120 Wen, how about I charge you the price of 115 Wen? ”

The industry engaged in by the people who came was called the scalping party in later generations, but there are also unique titles that conform to local habits, such as the piling mold in Shanghai. They are engaged in nothing more than buying all kinds of securities, and then selling them to those who need them more at a higher price, and making a profit from them.

"One hundred and fifteen? Isn't it one hundred and twenty? "Wu Yonghai has always been sensitive to the issue of money. Not to mention that when the industrial coupons of 100 wen were exchanged for huàn, there was a problem that the price difference of 5 wen was so strict.

"Huh! Man. You're not good enough! It's a hot day. I am here in this grain store, the people and horses are noisy, the sun is basking above, and the soles of my feet are steaming. It's not a lot for me to earn five cents out of 100 yuan! ”

"One hundred and forty mosquitoes! Nothing less sells! ”

"Hey! Man. You also see. Is this where you bargain? The scalper couldn't help but be a little annoyed when he saw Wu Yonghai bargaining, and the price offered was not much different from the price given to him by the boss behind him. Exit was about to threaten a few words, but unexpectedly, two big hands behind him violently pressed him to the ground.

Those who came were in charge of patrolling near the grain store to prevent someone from making food payments. Unexpectedly, after a few days, the people who dared to fight the idea of food payment did not appear, and a few of this kind of petty thieves and scalpers were arrested.

"A short knife hidden. Nanzhong Tongbao is less than ten times, and there are twenty-one silver dollars. 50,000 industrial vouchers. ”

The two inspectors tied the scalper with a rope like a zongzi, and found a lot of things from his body and money.

It seems that the means of this generation, in addition to the temptation of rhetoric, is the threat of force when necessary.

Seeing this, Wu Yonghai secretly screamed a fluke!

Similar things have happened at the grain sales points of major grain stores, and the situation was reported to Bao Zhongchen, the inspection department, after being summarized by inspections in various places, which also made the descendants of the so-called Bao Gong worried.

How to convict?

If it is a knife that threatens the victim, it is easier to do, and it can be convicted of knife robbery; If the victim finds that there is a shortage of money in the huàn, he can be convicted of fraud, but if there is neither a threat of a knife nor a shortage of money, what should be done?

This is a phenomenon in public security or a phenomenon in commercial activities, and the joint submission of the inspection department and the household division that was not allowed was sent to Shouhan, and immediately made Shouhan spray hot tea everywhere.

"Nima's! Scalpers, ticket sellers are all out!? ”

Shouhan held Erya in one hand, took the pen on the table in the other, reached into the inkwell and dipped it, and in the process of reporting the purchase of summer grain, there was a high-priced purchase of industrial vouchers on the post: "This kind of person, can be called a scalper, a ticket seller, using the price difference to carry out reselling activities, which is different from normal business dealings, and is purely disrupting the market." After the interrogation, the main messengers behind the scenes were dug up, and all the cattle were sent to work in mines, forestry farms, plantations, wharves and other construction sites. ”

The inspection department, which received the guidance, immediately launched the activities of cracking down on scalpers and protecting the interests of farmers with great interest, and at the same time, began to interrogate the scalpers who had been detained.

Our ancestors left a saying, "Under Miki, why can't you ask for it?" Under severe torture, these scalpers, who were composed of idlers from various villages, states and counties, confessed the behind-the-scenes instructions and the source of funds.

"There are a group of Guangdong businessmen, and more than a dozen businessmen from Fujian, who speak with an accent from the Zhangzhou and Quanzhou areas, and seem to have something to do with Zheng Zhilong's men."

Many of these people, especially the Cantonese merchants, had dealings with the remnants of the Zheng family, and they provided a lot of funds. It is intended to make a big profit in this year's grain purchases. Seeing that the purchase price proposed by the Southern Zhongjun was unacceptable to him, he quickly changed his business objectives and no longer targeted grain, but targeted the industrial vouchers used to pay for the grain price.

"Wait and see what happens, watch closely, and crack down on smuggling."

Shouhan made the above annotations on the wrongdoing of the merchants of Liangguang and Fujian.

Off the coast of Annam. Tsubame Island.

Thirty or forty lucky boats, large and small, gathered here.

A group of pot-bellied or well-dressed wealthy businessmen inspected all kinds of goods in the form of ants moving in small boats.

"This is cheap to buy with industrial coupons!" A pot-bellied businessman talks to his partner.

"Iron pots and farm tools are made of wrought iron. Cotton cloth and sugar, these can be sold when they are shipped to Haojingao! ”

Looking out of the cockpit window of the Fu Ship to the sea, there were still many small boats coming here one after another, and the big-bellied merchant turned his head and asked his partner and the bookkeeper, "How many more goods are still on board?" ”

"Sir, there are a hundred sheaves of cloth, ten horses each. There were 2,000 iron pots of various colors, and 110 wrought iron ploughshares. ”

"Let them hurry! Be sure to anchor before the sun goes west, there are so many ships gathered here that it's easy to get into trouble! ”

He glanced at the fleet near him with some concern, and there were many ships coming from the Zhangzhou area. It seems to have something to do with Zheng Zhilong, who has just accepted Zhao'an. These pirates! The usual audacity is used to it! I don't know how thick the sky is!

Or do your best to complete the loading of your own goods. Hurry up and get out of this place, and make a fortune in a muffled voice! These goods on the ship, transported back to Guangzhou, do not count the vegetable oil and soybean oil. Just the cotton cloth and ironware. Selling to the Portuguese in Ho Kuo can make a lot of money. If you go a little further and sell it to Fuso, it will be at least several times the profit.

"Brother Nian. How much did we invest in the capital and boatmen's water feet silver when we went south this time? ”

"Don't worry, your 14,000 silver can at least double the earnings!"

The big-bellied merchant was about to make his account office report the accounts in detail, when suddenly he saw a chaotic shadow of the sail in the distance, and several small boats that were transporting goods to his own ship were also noisy for a while, and several sailors on the small boat looked panicked, looking around, as if they were looking at where to escape.

"What's going on?"

The businessman was shocked and angry, he knew that this was the case, so he wouldn't have mixed up with that group of Fujian businessmen! Presumably something was in trouble on their boat.

In the blink of an eye, there is an answer.

Four rocket ships and two brigs, under the command of a large ship, stretched a large circle in the distance, enclosing Duyan Island and the ships loaded with goods around the island.

"Damn it! It's that guy again! ”

The captain of the ship stood on the mast and looked into the distance, and the bow of the big ship at the head was a tiger head made of gold and silver.

It was Zhang Xiaohu, the commander of the left wing of the naval division of the Nanzhong Army, and at this moment, this uncle was holding a clairvoyant mirror in his command position, looking at these dozens of large and small lucky ships in the distance.

"Lose that horse! It's okay to buy things with industrial vouchers, anyway, so many things from the lord always have to be sold out, but it's not right for you not to pay taxes! ”

"Surround it! Order them, drop the sails, drop anchor, and those who dare to disobey will be greeted by rockets and Cron cannons! ”

Under the threat of the notorious Zhang Xiaohu in the South China Sea, all the ships had to drop sail and drop anchor, and the few Dafu ships that tried to escape were controlled by several small boats carrying goods nearby.

"Commander Qiqi Zhang, we are from the investigation room, and we have been monitoring this group of unscrupulous businessmen for a long time!"

"I've met Commander Zhang, we are from the business intelligence room. This time I'm here to cooperate with the sailor's action! ”

Good boy! There was only one crackdown on smuggling, but two major spy agencies were dispatched, which couldn't help but make Zhang Xiaohu secretly smack his tongue.

Zhang Dagou, a trainee sailor on the rocket ship, jumped with a few veterans to help Fang Cai's big fortune ship.

A few flying ropes were attached, and the sailors, with the help of the passing of the two ships, leaped up, and a few of them were dragged upward, and their feet had landed on the deck of the ship.

As soon as they saw the posture of boarding the ship, several sailors who had originally planned to have a hand-to-hand fight with the sailors who came up, and after being captured, they killed a waterway and escaped, and immediately became more honest than the big girl who didn't go out of the gate, "Sure enough, it's an old water thief who has accumulated years!" ”

The big-bellied Guangdong businessman immediately changed his face, walked out of the cabin with a smile, and saw the group of sailors in front of him, all of whom were wearing fat jackets in the style of Ming officials and soldiers, and immediately made up his mind, "It's easy to deal with this group of Qiu Ba, it's nothing more than spending some money on wine and meat." Forgive them, and they don't dare to kill people and sell goods. ”

On June 13 of the fifth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xiaohu, the commander of the left wing of the naval division, was ordered to inspect and seize smuggling in the waters of Duyan Island, seized 43 smuggling ships, a number of various goods, and arrested more than 70 illegal businessmen. (To be continued......)

PS: Everyone helped name one of the sons and a daughter of Pig's Feet. The son was born to Le Muhua, and the daughter was born to the princess of Siam. The genealogical ranking of their generation is Chinese, thank you!