The nine years of Chongzhen passed slowly in a black miasma.

I don't know when, Tieshan has become another important trade point after the south of the Yangtze River, every year near the New Year's Festival, there will be a large merchant in Beijing, as well as a lot of nobles, the housekeepers and servants of the noble family Dengzhou boarded the ship, went north to this cold water, and then got on and off the boat in this land to buy.

At the earliest, they only bought some Northeast specialties, such as ginseng, mink, and deer antler velvet, to bring the nobles to enjoy, and then cigarettes, soju, and Mao Jue went down to the south of the Yangtze River, and the cane sugar of the obligation was actually sold back from here.

Later, after marrying Yu Leer, he reached a cross-regional cooperation with Yu Dacheng, the governor of Denglai, and contracted tens of thousands of acres of cotton fields.

Lao Cheng is such a cloth merchant from Beijing.

Since his grandfather's generation, his family's blue cloth workshop in Beijing has been selling Shaanxi cloth, and it is already a century-old cloth shop. Since the end of the Apocalypse, there have been thieves in Shaanxi, and the trade routes have been intermittent, and the cost has gradually increased, forcing him to come to Tieshan.

And this Iron Mountain, he is here for the first time.

The year before last, Lao Cheng's fellow villagers in Shanxi Hall entered a batch of cloth from the Dongjiang River, although the quality is not as good as those high-grade embroidery in Shaanxi cloth, it is more than enough to meet the bulk price, especially the price is only two-thirds of the price of today's cloth, which is a little more expensive than the peaceful years, and the freight is a lot less, this price, let him be moved.

To tell the truth, the Ming Dynasty only had the budding bourgeoisie, but could not grow up the bourgeoisie, it was too deserved! Even if he is moved, he is used to selling Shaanxi cloth, and he has cooperated for several lifetimes, Lao Cheng does not plan to change the court, and the situation of Shaanxi cloth is getting worse and worse next to the more and more expensive Shaanxi cloth, and he does not plan to return the new source of goods, but this year there is really no way, how many years has he cooperated with that Jin merchant fellow, when crossing the Yellow River, let the rebels be killed!

It is not a peasant army, but a real official army and a chaotic soldier, and it has become a habit of thieves and soldiers like combs in these years. However, the partner is unlucky, silent mourning is one thing, as soon as he died, he really strangled Lao Cheng's way of life, and the supply was gone!

What to do? Closed the shop and went back to his hometown in Xinzhou, opened the land and farmed? Not to mention that the past two years have been bad, just come and go, elusive thieves, and officers and soldiers like pickpockets, this old man feels a little bigger when he thinks about it! As a last resort, he gritted his teeth and stomped his feet, packed his luggage, followed a few friends from Beijing, and stepped on a sea ship in Shandong and came to this strange journey.

The sea travel in this era is by no means as comfortable as in later generations, especially when going to sea in this season, except for the novelty of the sea ship when you just board the ship and face the three masts, and the bow is like a knife, the rest is to sit in the shipyard and wait.

And at this time, Lao Cheng is still depressed about the shipowner's itchy teeth, they are such small businessmen, eager to squeeze out a few copper plates from between their teeth, buy naturally the lower cabin, that is, on the lower deck to set up a circle of Chase shop, although there is a warm channel under the shop, but the wind through the hall is still cold enough, what is even more annoying is that Lao Cheng's bunk is next to the aft building behind, and the treatment of people is obviously more than one grade higher than their own. Vaguely, I can often hear some indescribable voices, like singing a little song, and a special person tells the storyteller cross talk!

What's even more infuriating is that every time I eavesdrop on two sentences, the one wearing leather armor guarding the door, the rough man like the guard will definitely glare at him fiercely, and immediately slam the door of the aisle.

Grandma's, what's the big deal, waiting for the master to make a fortune, and buy this upper class cabin!

Tightened the padded jacket and coat tightly, and thought sourly.

In later generations, Shandong ran Dalian, ran Dandong, and arrived in eight or nine hours, but in this era, how could I run for two or three days, and when I arrived at Lushunwei, Lao Cheng thought that he had arrived, and a barren almost made him go home, listening to the ridicule of the fellow Shanxi villagers, he sat back stupidly, and waited for more than half an hour.

The sails were lowered with a clattering sound, and the only benefit of the whole journey arrived, and a sweet sound rang through the great ship along the brass horns connected throughout the cabin.

"This journey has arrived at the end station, welcome to Iron Mountain, I wish you a pleasant journey!"

That voice, Gou Laocheng's heart itched.

Not to mention, there are quite a lot of people who have disembarked from this iron mountain, a total of three boats, and as soon as they got out of the cabin, the smell of coal rushed straight to Lao Cheng's nose, making him can't help but sneeze, and then he rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

Along the handrails made of steel bars and wooden ladders, almost more than a thousand passengers crowded down the boat, and as soon as they got off the boat, a group of people immediately squatted at the bottom, curiously picking. To be honest, I have never seen such a big and complete "boulder", Lao Cheng also wanted to squat down and pick and pick, but the fellow of the same boat looked disdainful, just like he looked at those hillbillies who entered Beijing for the first time, and walked over with his head held high, he really didn't pull down his face, he had to walk by with a mold that he had eaten and seen from the side, according to curiosity.

It is not a way to get off the boat and walk casually, there is a row of large walls around the outer harbor, and the "huge stone" is also nailed to a circle of iron railings in the vacancy of the wall, leaving only five passages, and at the other end, there is a small wooden building built on the other side of the wall, and the wooden staircase is painted red, and it is also carved with fine patterns, I don't know what it is for.

Coming down from the aft high cabin, Lao Cheng looked at more than 20 old and young, wearing mink fur, shaking the fan in the winter with the pretending of a little maid, and walked slowly towards the small building, sullen and stuffy, following behind, he was also going to go over, but the fellow next to him grabbed the collar of his clothes and quickly dragged him back.

"Lao Cheng, what are you going to do?"

"What are they going to do?"

"It's a high-class cabin, and it's the Dongjiang River, what are you going to do?"

As soon as he heard this, the old man became angry and shouted angrily.

"Why? Lao Tzu has to queue up here, they can go first, I don't care, Lao Tzu also has to go through this passage!"

Seeing that Lao Chengman's temper had turned, his fellow was helpless, so he simply let go and pushed him.

"Then you go! I don't care about you anymore! One hundred taels of silver, walk through this aisle, you have money, you go!"

Humming, as soon as he crossed the line, the fellow turned around and returned to the line and continued to line up, leaving Lao Cheng there staring wide-eyed.

Not to mention, he really has a hundred taels of silver, just in his coat, but in order to pretend to be forced, he spent all the money, and when he went back, he could also pack up and go home to farm, the mouth twitched for more than ten seconds, and in the snickering of others, Lao Cheng muttered stupidly, and also plunged into the team.

"Grandma, sooner or later, Lao Tzu will make a fortune, and he will also sit in the cabin, and he will also take this thunderbolt channel!"

But this is not the end of the sperm, let's line up honestly, waiting for the soldier with a blue face and who owes him how much silver he owes one by one, asking and asking, a family of people with luggage and a Henan or Shaanxi accent are all dragged out of the queue, and in the old Cheng grinning in the look, more than a dozen military men pressed the three men in the family to the ground and cut them.

It was really a big electric cannon and hit the face, and all of them were cut into pandas in a few moments, the child was so frightened that he cried, and the man was also beaten and screamed, but the four female dependents looked at the side indifferently as if they were not beating their own men.

After a few minutes of fighting, the family was dragged away again, and the three men were almost unable to stand, looking at the blood beads dripping on the ground, Lao Cheng was so frightened that he didn't dare to come out.

I'm really afraid of what, this kung fu, it's actually him, the Dongjiang soldier who was wearing an iron helmet and carrying a knife at his waist asked coldly.

"Name, hometown, what are you doing in Dongjiang? How many days? ”

"I ......, I ......, the villain ......, the grass people ......"

Beads of sweat appeared on his head, and he looked at the Dongjiang soldiers who were standing guard at the port and seemed to be smiling at him, as if they were going to drag him out to fight him in the next second, but the more anxious he was, the more he couldn't speak, which made the Dongjiang sergeant more and more impatient and shouted in annoyance.

"What the hell are you for?"

"He is my fellow villager, name: Cheng Yaojin, a person from Beijing, who came to Tieshan to buy goods and cloth, and stayed here for seven days!"

"Recently, the general is in a good mood, and now the maximum period can be fifteen days, buy more if you want to enter, our Dongjiang, it is affordable!"

The tone suddenly changed a lot, and as he spoke, he quickly wrote with a brush, and stamped two more seals, and in Lao Cheng's stunned, the ink-dripping small card had been stuffed into his hand, and then the Dongjiang sergeant shouted impatiently again.

"Next!"

Confused and followed the stack, as soon as the port came out, the bustling wharf area was suddenly revealed, the streets seemed to be more spacious and neat than those of the Beijing Division, the four-wheeled carriage that Lao Cheng had never seen was rushing and running, and the lively and noisy small restaurants were full of people coming and going, this scene was about to catch up with the eight alleys of the Beijing Division.

It's just that at this time, Lao Cheng didn't have the heart to admire the prosperity here, he patted his chest with palpitations, and shook his head with emotion.

"Oh Mom! I'm scared to death that we're old! ”

As he spoke, he also slapped himself and shouted angrily: "Let your mouth be open, there is no door!"

"Brother, what's wrong with you?"

His fellow was simply confused, inexplicable, and thought that he suddenly suffered from some hysteria, and reached out to touch his head, but he didn't care about opening him, and Lao Cheng was extremely grateful.

"Brother's life-saving grace is unforgettable!"

"How did you save your life?"

I couldn't help but be curious, and the fellow sadly popped up a lot of question marks in his head, but the old man who listened to it waved his hand more eagerly.

"Didn't you know that military master just now? We made trouble just now, if it weren't for you, we would have been dragged out and beaten! ”

After three or four glances at him, at last, his fellow man laughed out loud while holding his stomach, and his waist was almost straight.

"My brother, that's what you say! Hahahaha~ I'm happy to die, oops......"

"Brother, I'm going to be scared to death, and you're still laughing!"

I couldn't help laughing for a long time, the fellow was supported by Lao Cheng to sit down in a small restaurant on the street first, and asked for a pot of tea.

"That's the rules of General Mao, those who were beaten were all displaced people who fled with mud legs, originally Mao Jiangye was very generous, and the towns accepted these homeless people, but you don't know, these bastards also kicked their noses in the face, occupying the port of General Mao, and opened their mouths to ask for this and that, this Mao Jiangye was angry, just waved his hand, and hit!"

"There is a saying that the military order is like a mountain, our Mao general gave an order, and our Mao family army let go of their hands and feet, and in an instant, the homeless mud legs who were still playing there just now, Sha La La La was beaten and kowtowed, and the head was swollen, and the general forgave them!"

"After this, the displaced people who fled to the Dongjiang River have to eat and beat first, which is called knowing the rules!"

The look was vigorous, as if he waved his hand, and more than 100,000 homeless people were beaten to the ground, but he really learned the same, in this tavern, there was actually applause, the words of the northerners were undoubtedly revealed, a strong man with a neat short stubble on his chin, who seemed to be much tougher than ordinary people, shook his head at the shopkeeper while slapping his face.

"This benevolent brother said well, our general is so arrogant, give the pot of wine on the table, put the beef on the plate, and settle the account for me!"

"Don't mind, master, you are also bleeding desperately with the general, Xiao Er, serve wine and meat, count it in the store!"

I really didn't expect that once the vernacular was passed, there would be wine and meat to eat, and this Shanxi fellow hurriedly made a circle of excitement: "Oh, thank you!"

"Thank you, thank you, our general! If it weren't for the general, how could there be this? ”

Listening to the enthusiastic voices around him, Lao Cheng looked around a few more times in surprise, and then couldn't help but lower his head again.

The second reason why he is reluctant to come to Dongjiang is because this is a military town, and in these years, how can a soldier be reasonable, especially a military general, and he is the master who pulls out a knife and cuts people without saying a word, or how would his old partner who has cooperated for decades die.

It is the first time that Lao Cheng has seen that a place can support the town general like this, this is definitely not exaggerated, it is definitely from the heart, and he is definitely proud of being a Dongjiang person.

We are old and dignified people, and we are not proud, you are a poor countryman, proud fart?

While thinking, he picked up a piece of meat, and Lao Cheng subconsciously filled it into his mouth, but as soon as he chewed two bites, suddenly, he spit it out like he had eaten poison.

Wait, what kind of meat is this? Beef!

In these years, cattle are protected like giant pandas, in the Guannei, killing a cow is a felony of exile, even if you eat a piece, you will also eat a lawsuit, or in "Water Margin", why did the heroes of Liangshan slap the table and give Lao Tzu two catties of cooked beef? How dare this shop openly sell beef?

But in front of him, his fellow villagers are all eating with peace of mind, and there are a lot of people around who are eating various parts of the cow, so many people are fine, so he won't be unlucky, right? I really didn't want to embarrass the people of Jingshi anymore, so I picked up the beef that I spit out, Lao Cheng stuffed it back into his mouth, and chewed it vigorously.

Not to mention, the first time I eat beef in my life, it's really fragrant!

The tavern was an episode, and the two of them unexpectedly filled their stomachs, and with the help of the bold vacation soldier, they successfully found the hotel to stay, and it turned out that the small paper card given by the port was used to live in the hotel, and after registration, Lao Cheng quickly stuffed the small card back into his arms.

But this time, the most important thing is to buy! Just put the luggage away, pulled the fellow, and Lao Cheng was impatient to go to the street.

After all, he has been here twice, this fellow is really not built, the complex street area of Tieshan Port, he took Lao Cheng three crutches and two crutches, and got on a public carriage, Lao Chengdu was confused, he also looked left and right with great interest, saying that there was nothing here last year, and this year there is, tossing for half an hour, brushing a water cloth village, and suddenly met the eyes of the two.

Grabbing Lao Cheng's sleeve, this fellow went directly to the first shop at the corner of the street.

Here finally let Lao Cheng find a lot of familiarity, neat cloth stacked on the shelves, stacked neatly, red, green, blue, all kinds of cloth patterns, just entered the door, a face full of fat, chubby big cloth merchant smiled up, enthusiastically hugged his fist and arched his hand.

"Oh, isn't this Xu Ye? It's been a long time, but you've had a lot of energy and made a fortune last year! Ha, and this master, at first glance, he is a rich and noble appearance, and he is here, and he is shining! ”

"Come on, Master Zhao, don't stumble on me, our little fight, where can you compare to your big boss!"

In these words, this fellow is obviously sincere, compared with these nouveau riche, they are really small shrimp! However, if people get rich, they don't have the momentum of getting rich to make people comfortable! The old face was about to come out of honey with a smile, and the shopkeeper of Dongjiang Zhao hurriedly shouted in the back kitchen.

"Tea!"

Drinking hot tea on a cold day is enough to enjoy, but even so, Lao Cheng is not a rabbit or an eagle, he can see a lot of means of going to the rivers and lakes, come up to give you a date, and he may hit you with a big stick when he turns around, just a little sip, he is impatient and hugged his fist.

"Boss Zhao, our brother is here this time, but we have to prepare the goods for the second half of the year, I don't know, can I go and see the goods!"

"Ha, Cheng is really a bold person, but I like bold people, we won't look at these goods outside, let's get started inside!"

This is a confession, these years, there is no difference between selling cloth and selling fruit, the best is placed outside, Lao Cheng has been buying goods for many years, and some don't even let you enter the warehouse, when shipping, how much is shoddy, you have to endure it, this Boss Zhao is not like a businessman, but it also makes Lao Cheng feel relieved.

The shop is not small, backward through the backyard, only to arrive at the warehouse, which is full of big boxes, it is really good goods are not afraid of inspection, just standing at the door, this Zhao boss waved his hand casually, let Lao Cheng see it himself, and he was not polite, picked up the third box from the inside, opened it, pinched the corner of the cloth, and Lao Cheng pondered.

This look at the cloth also has a means, although there is no acrylic fiber or anything in these years, but the weight of the cloth, the thickness, the feel to the touch, the fineness of the knitting, are determined by the quality of the cloth, and the noble cloth is not afraid of breaking, pay attention to the thick in winter and thin in summer, like the thin silk Lu Min, is the top grade, but the old into the sale are for the common people, the people of the provinces, and even the brocade guard, the thicker the cloth is the better, which is durable and wear-resistant.

However, this box of green cloth is obviously very demanding, and Lao Cheng couldn't help but nod his head, closed the box, and opened a box of red cloth on the other end.

But this pinch, his face changed slightly, not that it was bad, but that this feeling was exactly the same as the box of green cloth just now.

In these years, the cloth is woven by housewives with hard work with looms, since it is produced in a family workshop, the quality is naturally uneven, a batch of goods are good and bad, there are up and down is too normal, like this batch are all other quality goods, it is too rare!

Don't talk about him, even if he is a fellow countryman, touching the cloth, his face showed a look of surprise, after opening the fourth box, Lao Cheng simply didn't touch it, and turned back to Boss Zhao and hugged his fist very decisively.

"Just take the goods from here, this batch of cloth, how much silver, you can give a word!"

The smiling eyes were almost gone, Boss Zhao smiled and gestured a few fingers, and all of a sudden, Lao Cheng's eyes were round again.

"How much?"

(End of chapter)