The days always fly by, and in a blink of an eye, it is the twenty-third day of the lunar month, which is commonly known as the small year. The weather is getting colder and colder, and it's the season when the air turns into ice.

However, although the weather was very cold, the hearts of the people in Erlong Valley were warm, and their eyes were full of expectation. Everyone is eagerly waiting for the opening of the shopping street today.

The caravan in Datong came several days earlier than the agreed time. Egawa felt that he was underestimating the enthusiasm of the merchants. Bai Jinxiu came to the valley with a mighty caravan, Jiang Chuan took a general look, the number of this caravan was about five or six hundred, and it was definitely a big caravan.

So many people made Jiang Chuan a little unexpected. After asking Bai Jinxiu, she was also surprised before. After the prefect of Datong announced this matter, many merchants soon came to the door and asked to take the goods to Erlong Valley.

Jiang Chuan and Bai Jinxiu originally discussed the first batch of quotas to come to the valley with a hundred merchants, which was enough for the people in the valley to have a decent year.

However, with the fermentation of the information of Wu'anhou's residence to attract investment, more and more businessmen came to the prefect's yamen to sign up, and the hundred places were soon filled. Moreover, there is a steady stream of merchants who come to Mu Zuo with various connections to intercede and ask to join the caravan.

Mu Zuo had no choice but to consult with Bai Jinxiu.

Bai Jinxiu finally made a decision to control the number of merchants to one hundred and fifty, and the first batch of people from each family to follow the caravan should not exceed three.

Rao so, the one hundred and fifty places were quickly sold out, and in this way, a huge caravan was born.

After the places were sold out, these merchants began to actively stock up and select manpower, ready to follow the caravan to set off. It was precisely because of the high enthusiasm of the merchants that the time reserved by Bai Jinxiu was shortened by half, so he was able to arrive in Erlong Valley in advance.

The huge caravan arrived with a team of men and horses escorted by Li Yongnian with 20,000 stone of grain and grass, which was also equivalent to escorting the caravan to arrive.

After receiving Bai Jinxiu's news, Jiang Chuan also sent a team of cavalry to meet and escort him, ensuring that the caravan and grain and grass arrived at Erlong Valley smoothly.

The majestic and towering fortress of Erlong Valley shocked these well-informed merchants who traveled from south to north. For the elite and fierce Jiang family army cavalry, he was even more amazed.

After Liu Ji gave a brief banquet to the merchants, they visited the newly built commercial street. Seeing that it was all made of bluestone, spacious, clean and bright, with all kinds of shops and residences, and even facilities dedicated to storing garbage, sewage, and excrement, these merchants were even more surprised, and they didn't expect to see this kind of street market comparable to a big city in a valley, and they couldn't believe their eyes.

Liu Ji worked for several days with the people of the city, and almost half of the shops were allocated, so that all the merchants who came were assigned shops and residences.

These merchants are all registered in the city, and the names of the proprietors, the number of employees, the goods sold, the number of shops, etc., are all clearly recorded.

After these procedures were completed, the merchants began to urgently tidy up the shops, decorate the shops, make shelves and so on to prepare for the opening, so that they could be opened on the 23rd day of the lunar month.

Because each shop needs a large number of shelves or decoration shops, many carpenters among the people are too busy these days, all of them go out early and return late, but they all have a smile on their faces, their pockets are empty when they go out, and their pockets are jingling when they go home, and they are full of money.

That's it, many businessmen still can't hire people, and they are in a hurry. After Liu Ji reported it, Jiang Chuan had an idea and simply asked the engineering battalion to select people to form a decoration team of the official camp.

In accordance with Jiang Chuan's instructions, the government-run decoration team mainly receives customers for overall decoration. Among them, there are craftsmen who are responsible for design, as long as the merchant says his own decoration ideas, the craftsman will draw him the corresponding design drawings.

Many businesses saw such a one-stop service decoration team for the first time, and they were quite moved by the amazement and came to the door one after another.

At the speed of the engineering camp, it is almost a day to get a shop, and the quality is excellent, and the work done fully meets the expectations of the merchants, this speed and quality make the merchants exclaim at the same time, more people come to the door.

In just a few days, no matter how fast the Rao is decoration team is, it can't meet the needs of so many people.

Jiang Chuan simply asked the engineering battalion to divide a few more decoration teams, a total of five decoration teams, and set up a Xinglong Jinxiu decoration firm, which was hung under the engineering battalion to undertake the decoration of shops, so as to help the army earn a little extra money.

After the establishment of Xinglong Jinxiu Decoration Company, in addition to those merchants, there was another person who was Bai Jinxiu.

When she heard the word Jinxiu, she suddenly felt a huge sense of happiness in her heart, and the eyes that looked at Jiang Chuan in those days were all smiling.

Of course, many people probably think so.

Jiang Chuan realized it later, and he couldn't laugh or cry when he found out about this beautiful misunderstanding, but he wasn't stupid enough to explain.

Although he also said this name casually, it was taken from the meaning of prosperous business and boundless splendor, and he didn't think of using a name to please Bai Jinxiu, but it accidentally fit Bai Jinxiu's name, which can be regarded as the will of God.

This beautiful misunderstanding made Jiang Chuan eat braised pork for several days in a row, of course, it was all cooked by Bai Jinxiu himself.

Although the decoration team is fast and of good quality, it has not affected the business of those folk craftsmen. After all, the decoration team is a big job, and the overall decoration is not the same, so everyone has their own market.

And there are still a lot of chores that need to be hired, and many people are also hired by the merchants, and the whole shopping street is very busy, and the merchants are excited, and the people are happy.

Originally, those craftsmen with a skill were not very popular because of the household registration system of the Ming Dynasty, but now these craftsmen go home every day with a bag of money, which makes those who originally looked down on them envious one by one.

If people have money, they will be able to buy a lot of New Year's goods when the market opens on the 23rd day of the lunar month.

There are so many people settled in the commercial street, although there are houses, but the four rigid needs of food, clothing, housing and transportation are indispensable, and the others are easy to solve, because these businessmen have people from all walks of life.

But the problem of eating alone cannot be solved.

At first, Egawa let these businessmen eat collectively in the military canteen, but later found all kinds of inconveniences. First of all, the food menu in the military canteen is greasy, and these businessmen are used to eating good things, and they are not used to eating them at all.

Second, the military canteen had to cook for the soldiers and then for the merchants, and the time was too late, and the burden suddenly increased.

In the end, Qi Xuan gave Jiang Chuan an idea, simply open a restaurant directly in the commercial street, and directly do the business of these merchants.