"I'm going to go to the ancestral hall to see my father, uncle, and uncle first."

After entering the first tun, Xu Shiyang instructed Old Man Hu:

"You take cloth and half of the silver and gold to the fair, and buy what you need. Remember, gold and silver were used to sell salt, and silk was exchanged for lead, iron, and brimstone! Don't buy anything else! I need something else until I get back! ”

The Xu family has five small sea boats, three belong to Xu Shiyang's uncle, and two belong to his father, who have to go to Jiangnan every year when the Japanese have stopped, and the main task is to buy salt, but the seafarers will also bring some luxury goods back and sell them on the market.

Xu Shiyang was really a little afraid that Hu Lanshan would spend precious hard currency on these unimportant things, and at that time, it would be too late to kill this old man.

"Young master, don't worry, Lao Han Province."

Old man Hu himself was busy agreeing, and that sincere look made Xu Shiyang feel a little embarrassed to suspect that he would waste money just now.

"Okay, I believe you, just remind you again, don't be afraid to spend money on what you urgently need, but you can't waste a penny on what you don't need!"

By the way, in fact, the legal tender of the Great Zhou Dynasty is only one kind of weekly money, not to mention gold and silver, and even the money made by the previous dynasty is not counted.

But in fact, because large households like to bury their money in the cellar, and the surrounding countries like to use Zhou money, the Great Zhou has been in a state of money shortage from the founding of the country to the present.

This made it possible to use all kinds of copper and iron coins, including private money, as well as gold, silver, and cloth.

Generally speaking, one copper coin in good condition is equal to two iron coins, and every 700 coins is consistent.

Because of the purity of silver, one tael is roughly equivalent to 700 to 1,200 coins.

The ratio of gold and silver exchange is around 1 to 5, and a horse of silk is equivalent to 800 to 1,500 yuan depending on the quality.

The problem with Jiangbei is that trade in many places has degenerated into bartering due to the exhaustion of all industries, so the general equivalent that can be circulated in the prosperous land south of the Yangtze River is very popular and can be regarded as "hard currency".

Hard currency is always hard to come by, and it must be used on the cutting edge.

……

The outer wall of the Xujia ancestral hall is more than 5 meters high, with a thickness of nearly half a meter, all of which are made of glutinous rice bonded square bricks and bluestones.

The exterior wall is divided into two floors, the lower layer is tightly matched to the outside, except for a large door, there is not even a window; On the upper floor, a row of small portholes was opened, which could be used for bows and spears for defense; A row of battlements was also built on top of the wall, on which were erected anti-arrow overhangs.

The ancestral hall covers a large area, and in addition to the hall used for ancestor worship and meetings, there is also a row of sturdy warehouses and even a well.

On the whole, it doesn't look like a building to worship ancestors, but more like a small fortress, even if the earthen wall of the first tun is broken by the enemy, the core members of the Xu family can hold out in the ancestral hall for a long time - it is not impossible to consume the enemy's retreat.

The ancestral hall of the Xu family was built more than ten years ago, Xu Shiyang's uncle and father were still officials in the Great Zhou, I have to say, very prescient, and now if you want to build such a large sturdy house in the Jiangbei area, you can't have money, because there are not so many craftsmen at all, and it is difficult to find enough building materials.

Walking into the gate of this building called the ancestral hall, which is actually a bunker, Xu Shiyang went straight to the lobby, and the guards he brought stayed at the door, joined the guards brought by the other castle owners, and surrounded the entire ancestral hall tightly.

The first tun where the ancestral hall of the Xu family is located now belongs to Xu Shiyang's uncle Xu Mujiang, and he is naturally responsible for the usual defense work.

However, during the annual meeting, all the core figures of the Xu family have to gather here, and safety becomes extremely important, so it needs the cooperation of the people brought by other castle owners - not only to prevent bandits or rival families, but also to prevent fire.

In the dock fort, in addition to the ancestral hall, warehouse, castle owner residence and other cores, other buildings, especially the houses where ordinary farmers live, are mostly straw huts, once a fire, the entire village is burned down.

In fact, if a battle broke out, the lord of the castle would usually order the demolition of all the villagers' huts to prevent the enemy from firing a few rockets to win.

As for the peasants, who already had nothing, how to survive the winter after losing their shelter from the wind and rain, this was not a concern for the castle owners.

At this time, while thinking about these marginal things, Xu Shiyang, who walked into the lobby, suddenly heard a burst of hearty laughter:

"Hahaha, look, my Xu family's young tiger is here!"

Then, a sturdy man who was a little shorter than Xu Shiyang got up from the bearskin chair placed on the left side of the lobby and greeted Xu Shiyang at the door.

The person who came held his hand tightly and looked at Xu Shiyang with undisguised appreciation: "Good boy! He's a good guy! ”

"Third uncle."

Xu Shiyang smiled reluctantly, he was not used to holding a man's hand for a long time, although the person in front of him was his elder.

The person who came was Xu Muhai, the youngest of the three brothers of the Xu family, and his actual age was only 5 years older than Xu Shisong, the eldest son of the eldest son of the Shizi generation, and he was not admitted to the Jinshi like the two brothers, so his status in the Xu family was much lower than that of Xu Mujiang and Xu Muhe.

He didn't care about it himself, the two real helmsmen of the Xu family gave him this old third face, and let him sit side by side with them, but he was not polite.

But usually, Xu Muhai looks more like the boss of the Shizi generation, rather than the younger brother of the Muzi generation - he has always had a good relationship with Xu Shisong (the eldest son of Changfang), Xu Shibai (the second son of Changfangshu), Xu Shiyang (the eldest son of Erfang) and other juniors who are adults or about to become adults.

"The third! You are an elder, what are you like to greet your juniors at the door? ”

Xu Muhe, who was sitting on the left side of the head, scolded:

"Come back and sit down!"

It seems that Xu Muhai is a little afraid that the two elder brothers, who have been admitted to the Jinshi and have been officials in the imperial court, will be reprimanded by Xu Muhe, and he does not dare to refute it, so he can only go back and sit down obediently.

Xu Shiyang smiled and shook his head, although this uncle, although he sat on the top, he didn't seem to be at ease here.

"Second brother, don't do this!" Xu Mujiang, who was sitting in the middle of the head, spoke: "Shiyang eliminated the Tartars by a Mouke, this is the biggest victory against Dongyu since Jianxing, it stands to reason, not to mention that the third brother is just at the door of this ancestral hall, even I, who is an uncle, should also go out of the village ten miles to greet him!" ”

Since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, when the Zhou army fought against foreign tribes in the north, the beheading did not exceed one percent of the number of troops led by the main general, and Xu Shiyang really deserved this kind of treatment in this victory.

Even, according to the previous imperial court's hanging red, a Jurchen Tartar head is worth 5 pieces of silk, and Xu Shiyang should be able to receive a huge reward of 200 pieces of silk for this victory.

Of course, after the imperial court crossed to the south, it successively proclaimed itself a vassal to the Jurchen Dajin and the Tatar Dayuan, and offered New Year's coins, and then this reward for the Tatars was also forced to be canceled.