Different from the prominent position of the time-honored Chinese brands in later generations, Liuquanju in Beijing in 1632 was not a high-end and high-grade restaurant, but a relatively special Shandong-style restaurant mainly aimed at the middle and lower class Beijing citizens, mainly selling rice wine and side dishes. [No pop-ups]

Liuquanju was founded in the Longqing period. By 1632, the diner had only been in existence for more than 50 years. If it is placed in the modern society, in the fiercely competitive market economy environment, the business that can operate for such a long time must have a foundation, background, origin, and strength of the big business.

However, in the era of feudal agriculture, this kind of small and medium-sized enterprises that could exist for decades or even hundreds of years were actually all over Beijing.

Huang Shouzong, the owner of Liuquanju, was originally from Jimo, Shandong. During the Jiajing period, Jimo encountered ******. Huang Shouzong's father took his wife and children all the way from Shandong to Beijing to join his family.

Huang Shouzong's father, who learned the ability to brew Shandong rice wine in Jimo County, has since taken the whole family to take root in Beijing and make a living by virtue of his ability to brew rice wine.

Speaking of which, it is also the luck of Huang Shouzong's family. Originally, because the emperor's family was from the Jiangnan region, and most of the high-ranking officials of the imperial court were from the Jiangnan, the rice wine trade in Beijing was still based on Jiangnan rice wine. Huang Shouzong's father originally made wine with average means, and in this environment, Shandong rice wine brewed with millet originally had no market. But in the early years of Longqing, Gao Gong, who was born in the north, became the first assistant of the cabinet.

The so-called "good at the top, very good at the bottom", Gao Gong, who was born in the north, became the first assistant of the cabinet, and the style preferences of the upper echelons of the entire Ming Dynasty changed. Northern dishes with thick oil and heavy sauce began to become popular in Beijing, and along with Shandong rice wine, which was originally brewed with millet and could not be put on the table, the sales in Beijing also improved.

Different from his father, the young Huang Shouzong has higher requirements for his rice wine brewing skills, not only seeking advice from teachers to improve his brewing level, but also looking for high-quality water sources everywhere in Beijing. On the other hand, Huang Shouzong has a stronger sense of professionalism and success**.

Thanks to his efforts, Huangjia rice wine began to gain a certain reputation in Beijing.

In the agricultural era, Beijing was not polluted and had abundant precipitation, so it was still able to find relatively high-quality water sources.

A year after Huang Shouzong took over the family business, he built a winery in a place with a high-quality water source. In the backyard of the winery is a workshop specializing in making rice wine, and in front of the winery is a tavern that is not too large.

With serious craftsmanship, excellent quality of the things he sells, and relatives at home who work as errands in the Ministry of Officials (the relatives of the Huang family who took refuge in him are officials of the Ministry of Officials), Huang Shouzong's business was not affected by the personnel changes in the upper echelons of the regime. This small restaurant called Yanagiquanju has been open ever since.

Huang Shouzong founded Liuquanju when he was twenty years old, and Huang Shouzong has always maintained the habit of visiting restaurants frequently. Huang Shouzong, who is over 80 years old and has long handed over the operation of the restaurant to his children and grandchildren, has always been at ease with his own business. If it weren't for the fact that the world had not been peaceful in the past two years, he would probably have to sit in the restaurant for a while every day as before.

The F&B industry can be said to be a barometer of socio-economic conditions. From the middle and late stages of the Apocalypse, Liuquanju, which mainly targeted the middle and lower classes of people in Beijing, and the Yamen officials and ordinary traders as the main market targets, began to decline. When Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, the business of Liuquanju could not be said to be profitable, and it was basically barely maintained.

Unlike those high-level elites in ancient and modern China and foreign countries who aim to "make a fortune and make a name for themselves", whether it is ordinary people or small businessmen like the Huang family, what they are most afraid of is social turmoil. Because their livelihoods are based on a stable social environment.

In the face of turmoil and turmoil, small businesses like Liuquanju basically have little resistance. During the rebellion in the capital at the end of 1631, if it weren't for Huang Shouzong's lifelong honesty and generosity, and his frequent help to his neighbors, such small businesses would have been most vulnerable to attack and destruction by the rampaging citizens.

Even though it was not attacked and destroyed by the citizens, Liuquanju was also sacked by the Liaodong soldiers who entered the city to quell the rebellion. More than 30 jars of high-grade refined rice wine were robbed, and two large vats of ordinary rice wine were smashed and streamed. All the cash on the cabinet was snatched by the rebels. Huang Shouzong's grandson, the shopkeeper of this generation of Liuquanju, was also broken in the process of rebellion.

However, these losses are not the most serious problem for Liuquanju, which has been in business for decades. On the contrary, after the establishment of the Dashun Dynasty, because of the cut off of transportation, the millet, which was already very difficult to knock down, was now completely gone.

As the owner of the winery, it is certainly impossible for the Huang family not to have some inventory. However, because of the perennial high grain prices, the Huang family also began to feed on millet for brewing more than half a year ago. There are more than 30 people in the whole family, except for the rations of the old lady Huang Shouzong, who are still refined white rice, and the others live on a bowl of millet porridge with a bowl of clear soup and few water to count the rice grains every day.

Even so, Huang Shouzong's sons and grandsons did not dare to tell the old lady Huang Shouzong about the current bleak situation of their own business.

In a feudal agrarian society, it is rare for a person to live to be over eighty years old and still ensure a clear mind and good health. You must know that with the status and conditions of the supreme emperor, the average life expectancy of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty was less than 40 years old, and the average life expectancy of the Manchu emperors, who were known for their "ability to live", was only about 50 years old. A state of clarity and clarity at the age of 80 like Huang Shouzong can only be compared to the old people in modern society.

has lived for more than eighty years, and has been doing business all his life, Huang Shouzong's sophistication is not something that ordinary hairy boys can catch up. So even though he knew that the situation at home was not good, Huang Shouzong still didn't know how to eat and sleep well. He thought very clearly, the life of the family has reached a situation where they can't afford to die. Once he swallows his breath at this time, just C's doing a white thing will have to bring the family down.

It is precisely because he is afraid that his death will bring trouble to his children and grandchildren, so Huang Shouzong will not only eat and sleep well every day, but also exercise his legs and feet in his backyard.

Not everyone is as sensible as Huang Shouzong. Not everyone will grow in wisdom as they get older. One of his nieces, who is in her fifties and sixties this year, is such a person.

One day in April 1632, Sun Huang, the eldest niece of Huang Shouzong, who had been married for many years, went to Huang's house to borrow grain.

When Sun Huang was young, he married a young official of the household department through the relationship of the Huang family's relatives who worked as an errand in the ministry. Among the girls of the Huang family, she is the best to marry and live the most comfortable life.

Most of the officials of the six ministries are low-level scholars from Xiucai, but these people have been holding the position at the grassroots level for many years, so that these people have been in the positions held by their families for generations through various kinds of eating and taking cards, and they are all full of brains.

Sun Huang's husband, a household official named Sun Wenju, once boasted about the rewards of high-ranking officials in various provinces and the filial piety of the yamen in any place when he was drinking with the Huang family, and the Huang family could be said to have heard it all over his ears.

Sun Wenju is really not bragging, and the Sun family's life is indeed good. In this way, in front of the Huang family, Sun Wenju, as a niece-in-law and nephew-in-law, will definitely show a very rude disrespect in his speech because he looks down on the Huang family's businessman status.

Sun Wenju looked down on the Huang family, and the Huang family didn't have anything to think about. But Sun Huang, who married Sun Wenju, also contracted her husband's illness and was arrogant in front of her own family.

The Huang family does have the kindness and sleek spirit of a businessman, but this is also a sub-target. Sun Huang showed offense to the Huang family several times, and the unhappy Huang Shouzong no longer allowed Sun Huang to come to the door, completely cutting off contact with the Sun family.

Decades have passed, and now in this difficult and difficult years, Sun Huang's family suddenly came to borrow grain, and the small characters of the Huang family had no choice but to tell her the truth, saying that their own rice jar was also bottomed out. No one expected that Sun Huang's fifty or sixty-year-old people were still so brainless and lacking in heart, so they actually ran to the old lady to shout.

Looking at his gray-haired and wrinkled niece crying loudly in front of him, Huang Shouzong sighed in his heart. This niece of mine is the best color among the girls of the Huang family. Not only is the color good, but her mother is also ruthless, and she wrapped his little feet early. It was because of this color and small feet that she was able to marry into a good family.

At the beginning, his niece looked arrogant in front of her own family, and offended all the women in the family. Huang Shouzong also broke off contact with the Sun family for the sake of the peace of the house, under the pressure of losing the customers of the household officials. So to put it mildly, in his heart, he really doesn't complain about the Sun family, but thinks that his niece is not sensible and can't behave.

But decades have passed, looking at his niece who is crying and has reached the age of being a grandmother, Huang Shouzong has long had no negative emotions in his heart. He made Sun Huang stand up and said to her:

"I've been mind-blowing for decades. Everything in the family is decided by the sixth son of the old family. But since you're going to meet with me, I'll hear you say what's going on. ”

It's easy to say. The Dashun Dynasty is now short of money and food, and Emperor Gao Yingxiang wants to learn from Emperor Shi Jingjiao, buy grain and rice from the Baxing Party, and give money and gifts. But Emperor Gao Yingxiang felt sorry for his pocket, so he thought of a good way to "torture salary".

In the matter of "torture and salary," the army has long carried out a great deal of practice and accumulated rich experience. They know that the status of the officials in charge of the yamen seems to be very respected, but at the level of middle and low-level bureaucrats, the family property of these petty officials may not be as rich as the officials below.

Therefore, the "Jingshi Great Torture" action of the Great Shun Dynasty not only includes all the current former Ming officials, but also the large and small officials in various yamen, and is also the target of the "Beijing Normal University Torture" action.

The Sun family has been working in the household department since the Chenghua period. In Sun Wenju's generation, the Sun family relied on their foundation in the household department, and several generations of people have really accumulated tens of thousands of taels of family property. Originally, after the establishment of the Great Shun Dynasty, Sun Wenju, like other officials from various ministries, was accepted by the new court and continued to control the posts at the grassroots level. Unexpectedly, a group of soldiers rushed into Sun's house, and without saying a word, they began to raid the house to "torture money".

Sun Wenju is also a hard bone, he stubbornly endured the torture for two consecutive days, and only after his father and eldest brother were beaten to death did he confess all his family wealth. After more than 13,000 taels of silver were lifted from under the big locust tree in the courtyard of the Sun family, Sun Wenju, who was covered in blood and scars, swallowed his breath in less than half a day, leaving a room of orphans and widows, fully explaining what it means to be empty of people and money.

A large family of more than 20 people now has no money except for the clothes they wear and the place where they live at night, and they have no money and food. If it weren't for the fact that there was really no way, Sun Huang would not have lowered his face and returned to his parents' house to borrow food.

Huang Shouzong listened to his niece's words and didn't say anything else. He took out a small wooden box from under the bed, and took out twenty taels of silver from the wooden box, and said to his niece:

"Now I don't care about my family. In the affairs of the family, I am an old man who should not be disliked casually. Although you have been married for so many years, in the final analysis, it is the blood of our old Huang family and my niece, so I will take out some silver from my coffin book to subsidize you. ”

"I also know that this money is not much, and I don't know what the price of rice is now, but I only have so much strength. Take this money, and don't blame me in your heart. ”

Sighing, Huang Shouzong continued:

"I don't want to be disgusted with my children and grandchildren this time. Doesn't Aunt Sun have two grandsons who are only three or four years old? You're going back today and you're going to send your two children here. If I have a bite to eat, I will give these two children a bite to eat. That's all I can do, uncle. ”

As soon as Sun Huang left, Huang Shouzong called the children and grandchildren who were in charge of the family to his side and asked:

"Sun Wenju suffered on an errand in the household department. Has our family, who is on an errand in the ministry, also suffered? Don't fool me, tell me the truth. ”

Huang Shouzong has accumulated power for decades, and his children and grandchildren dare not lie to him in person. Looking at the children and grandchildren who nodded, Huang Shouzong said:

"If this court has no rules, doesn't even want its own face, and treats its officials as thieves, such a court won't be able to grow."

"At the beginning, I said that Emperor Gao didn't have an emperor appearance, but now it is completely revealed. Now make haste to take all the money and brass that you have in your house out of the ground, and go out to buy grain, and buy dry food. No matter how expensive it is, don't feel distressed, prepare more food and prepare it to death. ”

"Little third son, you take the boys to build the front door and window with stones. Four large vats are prepared in the backyard. Two vats were filled with stones, and two vats were filled with water. ”

"The cellar I asked you to dig last time will be repaired and expanded this time. Prepare so that the whole family can spend a month in the cellar. ”

"Whether it's elm money or wild vegetables outside, they are desperately picked for me and dug for me. Whatever you can eat, what you can wear, what you can use. Whether it is food, water or firewood, prepare it to death, and get it to death. ”

"Let me tell you, in less than half a month, the world will be chaotic again. If we don't prepare in this troubled world, our whole family will have to die! ”

Just when the old and sophisticated Huang Shouzong assigned his family to prepare for the upcoming turmoil, the Second Army Corps, the main force of the Fuxing Army, left all parts of Shanxi to be garrisoned by the second-line troops of the Western Route Army of the Northward Plan. After clearing the Ming army and the Shun army in various border passes, they captured the Changping and Shunyi lines on the outer line of Beijing. The First Army Corps, the main force of the Revival Army, swept away the remnants of the enemy in all parts of Beizhili all the way to the front line of Liangxiang and Tongzhou.

At the same time, the Ludong base area also opened two supply lines by sea and land from Shandong to Beijing.

The complete liberation of the Central Plains region will begin with the "Beijing Campaign."