Lin Jin, who was practicing calligraphy in the study, heard the voice of the big girl Bihe in Yang Wan's room outside the house, and frowned imperceptibly, but her hand did not stop, and she continued to write her words on the paper nailed to the wall.

Zihao, who was serving on the side, saw her displeasure, and hurriedly threw a look at Yan Mo and Yan in the room, asking one of them to go out and have a look.

Yanmo went out for a while and came back to report: "Uncle, Mrs. sent Sister Bihe to tell you that everyone is not at home for dinner today, go to the restaurant that the uncle set earlier to eat, and then look at the lanterns, and now I am ready to go, let the uncle hurry over." ”

Lin Jin glanced at the Western clock and said with a surprised expression: "It's a bit early to have dinner at this time, right?" It's not dark yet, and when it's dark, the lanterns will be lit, so go out so early, and wait for a while. ”

Yan Mo hurriedly replied: "That's what the little one said too. But Sister Bihe said that Mrs. planned to stop by and go shopping. ”

In this era, the female dependents of large families either go out to burn incense and worship Buddha, or go out as guests to socialize, but the former goes to either a temple or a Taoist temple, and the latter is just from one house to another, and there are almost no opportunities to go shopping.

Originally, festivals such as the Shangsi Festival, the Lantern Festival, and the Qiqiao Festival were all opportunities for female dependents to go out to play, but with the rise of Cheng Zhu Lixue, female dependents only had the Lantern Festival as a festival that could go out blatantly, and in recent years, even the female dependents who went out on this festival began to become less and less, and women gradually had a tendency to stay at home.

Judging from Yang Wan's performance, Lin Jin knew that it was not that the women didn't want to go out, but that the oppression and restraint of this society on them became more and more great, and they couldn't resist the social environment, so they could only give in.

Thinking about this, Lin Jin understood Yang Wan's impatience and asked Zhu Yan: "How many words have I practiced today?" ”

He didn't need to count the inkstone, and replied very neatly: "Counting what you just wrote, the unfinished one, only twelve articles have been written, and there are still three articles short of the fifteen words per day stipulated by the uncle." ”

Lin Jin looked at the pen in his hand, thought for a while and ordered: "Zihao, you go to the East Courtyard to talk to my wife, just say that I am practicing calligraphy at this time, and I can't be separated, let her go with my grandmother and Brother Lin first, and when I finish writing, I will go over." Thinking that this day was when human traffickers were rampant, he said again, "Also, you don't have to come back after you go, just follow Brother Lin, and don't take care of him." ”

……

After completing the task of practicing calligraphy, packing up the four treasures of the study, and going back to the room to change clothes, Lin Jin went out. She didn't ride in a car or on a horse, but walked down the street.

At this time, it was already evening, and the shops on both sides of the street had already hung up their lanterns, and the rich squire and merchants made the lamp hill together, occupying a good position in the street, and when night came, these lamp hills would be lit up, and the whole Yangzhou city would be lit up.

Lin Jin went to the restaurant on the street is the most prosperous street in Yangzhou City, at this time I walked over and saw that various styles of lanterns have been hung out, for Lin Jin who has seen the colorful lantern exhibition in later generations, I don't think it's much shocked, but the inkstone and Yan Yan behind her feel very shocked, all the way over, I opened my mouth wide in surprise, and I couldn't close my mouth.

Yan Mo couldn't help but whisper and muttered to the inkstone: "I didn't go on an errand on the fifteenth day of the first month last year, I once came out to see the lanterns, how do I think this year's Lantern Festival seems to be extraordinarily lively." In particular, the lamp mountains of those salt merchants are not only several, but also large and gorgeous. ”

Holding Yan smiled and said: "I heard the long attendant who was on an errand in front of the master say that there are indeed many more lights this year than in previous years." This year's year is good, even small businesses have not made less money, so many small merchants feel that it is a bit unseemly to hang lanterns alone as in previous years, so they will sum up some money from each family to make a light mountain.

Like this, there are more than a dozen Dengshan in Yangzhou City. And I have also heard that many salt merchants do not only make one lamp mountain as before, but make two lamp mountains, saying that pairs into pairs means good, and some even make four, six and eight, take four flat and eight stable, six or six shun meaning. ”

Yan Mo looked at the lanterns and lamp mountains on the side of the street, and said, "It's not just that there are more lamp mountains, but I look at it, and it seems that there are more tricks." ”

Holding Yan said disapprerovingly: "What's so strange about this." There are many lanterns and lanterns, so it is natural to change the style, otherwise, they are all the same style, the same, what is there to see. ”

Lin Jin, who was walking in front, heard all their words, and for her, who had seen better-looking, more gorgeous, and more colorful lanterns, she really didn't think that these lanterns in front of her were so remarkable. But she forgot that the world she came from was an industrial society, and all the lanterns in front of her were artificially pierced, and the two were not comparable at all.

As for why there are more lanterns this year than in previous years, Yan Mo and Zhu Yan did not get to the point. In fact, this matter is still so disconnected with Lin Jin.

The Salt Merchant Chamber of Commerce took Luzon last year, and even if the salt merchants did not move their families there, it was equivalent to having a way out, which greatly improved the situation of "people are swordsmen, and I am fish and meat" in the past. The salt merchant was so happy that he couldn't help but celebrate with a lot of money, so he made a move on the Lantern Festival.

The Cao Gang is also happy, they finally have land, and they don't have to worry about old age and decay, and they can't get on the boat to live in their own homes and the safety of their families. Therefore, when helping merchants to transport goods, although the freight remains the same, the loss is much less, so that the merchant profits. And the merchants make more money than in the past, so they naturally have the mind to make some bells and whistles in the Lantern Festival.

As for the many styles of lanterns, it is because the Chamber of Commerce now controls almost 80% of the craftsmen in Jiangnan. Although only a very small part of these craftsmen specialize in making lanterns, in this era, the hands of craftsmen are very skillful, so the lanterns they make are not as exquisite and chic as those made by Dengshan, and they are not rated as special and first-class, and there is no problem at all in getting a second-class or third-class.

Not all the merchants in Yangzhou City have to hang the best lanterns and put the best lanterns, on the contrary, the medium-grade lanterns and lanterns are the ones with the largest sales.

The reason why the Chamber of Commerce has so many craftsmen in its hands is that Lin Jin asked the Chamber of Commerce to collect them.

Although the library in Lin Jin's hands was only some very popular books in later generations, and the technology in them was very backward, it was already very advanced in this era.

It's just that even if Lin Jin has the technology, and because of the existence of the Yanzhu Chamber of Commerce, she doesn't have to worry about money, but no one can turn the technology on paper into reality, after all, it is in vain, so she asked the Chamber of Commerce to collect craftsmen on a large scale in order to create conditions for her to realize the "technological revolution".

And because of the capture of Luzon and the sea trade business, Lin Jin planned to set up a shipyard by the Chamber of Commerce, not only to further get rid of the situation that the sea ships had to be purchased from the imperial court and controlled by the imperial court, but also because of the current shipbuilding technology, although the imperial court had to make the treasure ship technology from the Ming Dynasty Zheng He to the West, and it was impossible to perfectly restore and manufacture the same treasure ship to later generations, and some places were actually more advanced, but in general, it was still backward.

Lin Jin took out the shipbuilding technology, hoping that the craftsmen would learn from each other's strengths and weaknesses, combine the technology in her hands with the advanced technology of this era, and build better ships, but they just want to fully master these technologies, which is not an overnight thing, so these craftsmen have further improved many daily appliances while learning advanced shipbuilding technology, such as waterwheels, columbs, mills, spinning machines and looms, etc.; Threshing machines and other things were also made.

Although these things first appeared in the families of the wealthy squires in Yangzhou, even if the emperor still had three poor relatives, these good things quickly became popular in Yangzhou and gradually spread to the surrounding areas.

There are some things that cannot be handled by a family on their own, but the people of this era live in groups based on clans, so the clans come forward and gather the power of a clan to buy them, and they can still afford to buy them.

Because of the existence of these improved equipment, the farmers in Yangzhou not only collected three or five more buckets in the fields, but also greatly improved their income in the textile sector, not to mention earning one or two more than before.

On the surface, it seems that the increase in income is not much, but for ordinary families who have 20 taels of silver is enough for a family of five to live for a year, the extra income has a great effect on the improvement of their family situation.

The three classes of merchants, farmers and craftsmen have all increased their incomes because of the technology that Lin Jin has taken out, and the four classes of Shinong industry and commerce, the three classes with the largest base, have all become better than in previous years, and although the officials in Yangzhou do not know the reason, they also find that this year it is much easier than in previous years to collect taxes and arrange assessments. For those of them who are officials, not only has it become easier to handle official duties, but even other aspects of affairs have become much easier than in the old days.

The economy is well-off, life is better, the market is prosperous, and the whole class has obviously changed for the better, which is also a reason why this year's Lantern Festival lanterns are better than in previous years.

However, Lin Jin is not very clear about this, she has no idea that she has a share of the current prosperity of Yangzhou City. Of course, even if she knew, she would only be happy with this change, and as for the invitation, she didn't have this idea. In fact, even if you have this idea, it is useless, because this credit cannot be invited, because in this era, 99% of people do not have this consciousness at all, and do not know how much impact technological changes can have on their lives.