According to Zhang Guang's statement, **** must not be able to go, at least under the guise of "business", which made He Xi very depressed for a few minutes. He didn't want to go to that place to solve his physical problems, but he really wanted to see how different the oriental nightclubs of the 17th century were from 400 years later. Even if he wants to go, He Xi can only wait for the salary system to be determined in the future, and go in to play out of his own pocket, otherwise once the matter of "prostitution with public funds" is transmitted back to the base camp, it will be properly sprayed into a dog by many depressed single men.

"Idle is also idle, go, go to the talent market. After He Xi made a decision, he pulled Zhang Guang in reverse direction and headed towards the south gate.

Zhang Guangqi said: "There is still a talent market in Yazhou?"

"Hmm...... It should be said that the labor market is a little more accurate. He Xi immediately corrected his statement: "I heard that Confucius mentioned that there is a place outside the south gate for unemployed idlers waiting to be hired there......

The term unemployed idlers may not be accurate, but every year, many prisoners will be assigned to Yazhou, and these people often have the situation of dragging their families with them, so that Yazhou has always maintained a considerable number of unemployed vagrants. If the whole family sits together, it is easier to do it, and they can be dragged directly into the hard labor camp, but those family members, relatives, subordinates, domestic servants, etc., who are innocent but come to Yazhou with them, will become a hidden danger to public security if the number is too large. How to make these outsiders who are not familiar with the place can find a stable livelihood in Yazhou is also a headache for the magistrate.

In the end, in line with the principle of "headache doctor", Lord Zhizhou set aside such a place outside the south gate for outsiders, one is to minimize the number of unemployed vagrants in the city, and use a softer method to drive them all out of the city; After a long time, such a market for hired labor was fixed outside the south gate, and some local gentry and merchants who needed to hire manpower would also come here to select.

The two of them walked out of the south gate and walked along the main road for about half a mile, and then they saw this so-called "labor market". Of course, there were no recruiting units here, and there were no officials here to maintain order, but about two or three hundred people were seen sitting in groups of three or five in the open space on the side of the road. These men, women, and children, most of them numb-faced and blind-eyed, stand up and bow their heads when someone approaches, hoping to gain the favor of their customers.

"When I first started working in the city, I went to some labor markets, and it was pretty much the same. Zhang Guang saw the situation in front of him and said with feeling.

"That's still different. He Xi shook his head and said: "In the labor market in later generations, there are mostly migrant workers who want to go to the city to earn money, and we see these people now just to find something to do and make a living." For them, there is basically no way out when they come here, and the pressure to survive is much greater than that of migrant workers. ”

"Are we really going to hire someone in this place?" asked Zhang Guang, somewhat confused.

"If there are suitable ones, you can hire a few. He Xi already had a plan for this: "We are also overseas wealthy businessmen now, even if we can't take a car or a sedan chair when we go out, one or two errands and miscellaneous servants are always needed, right?"

"I don't think there's any need, we can do it ourselves, why spend money to hire servants!" Zhang Guang paused for a moment, and then added: "Of course, if you plan to buy a few maids, then I think you can still have them." ”

"Maid, you're big!" He Xi scolded with a smile: "Don't think nonsense, you kid, this is for the sake of our image and convenience in the future." Think about it, many of the people we will deal with in the future are wealthy businessmen, celebrities, gentry and high-ranking officials in Yazhou, if there is not even a person around to call you, do you think others will agree with your social status? When you go alone to discuss business, the effect will definitely be different from going with Ma Zai, the driver's secretary, right?"

Zhang Guang had to admit that He Xi was also reasonable, on the issue of whether to use servants or not, now more needs to be considered the image of the crossing in Yazhou than the cost. As the designated distribution place of the imperial court, Yazhou City has a certain amount of population input every year, and the local labor force is actually surplus, which also leads to the labor price in Yazhou to be at a relatively low level all year round. As far as Zhang Guang knew, the price of a servant in Yazhou was about five taels of silver a year, which was still a healthy young and middle-aged servant, and the price of children, the elderly, and women was even lower. This fee is completely affordable for the Cliff Office, even if it includes food and lodging, the cost of hiring a servant for a year will not exceed ten taels of silver.

Before the two of them walked into the market, a man in Tsing Yi had already greeted him, clasped his fists and said, "May I ask the two masters, are you going to hire a worker or buy a servant?" ”

"There is actually a shopping guide in this place!" Zhang Guang couldn't help sighing, it seems that the ancients also had a strong sense of business.

The man may not have understood what Zhang Guang meant by "shopping guide", and immediately took out a piece of paper from his arms and said: "Two Mingjian, this is a tooth card issued by the Yazhou Prefecture Yaya, and it is a serious official tooth below, specializing in hiring workers to buy and sell." The documents signed by the two hired workers or servants here must also be signed and signed by such officials as witnesses before they can be validated. ”

Zhang Guang and He Xi glanced at each other, and said in unison: "Intermediary!"

The middlemen who introduced transactions to buyers and sellers in the market and took commissions were called "tooth shops" or "tooth merchants" in ancient times, and tooth shops must hold tooth stickers issued by the government and pay taxes and taxes, which also began in the Ming Dynasty. Like this, the man in Tsing Yi who can take out the official tooth card is the official tooth, and the person who operates without a license is the private tooth, which is similar to the formal intermediary company and black intermediary in later generations, in comparison, of course, the official tooth with a business license is more reliable. In order to eliminate the storage of private teeth, this labor market directly stipulates that the employment documents need to be witnessed by official teeth to be effective, so that private teeth have no room to operate at all.

After understanding the other party's intentions, He Xi asked, "Then how is your commission calculated?"

The man was not busy quoting, but first introduced: "Although there are many people who come to this place to find errands, but the su zhì is uneven, some people are perennial veterans of work, and they can go to work immediately when they are hired, and some do not know anything, but they are forced to come here to find a way to make a living, and if outsiders do not notice, they may not be able to hire suitable candidates." In the next can be at the request of the two to find people, bargaining, only two dollars of silver a day, today is past the afternoon, see the two is also the first time to come here, that only one penny of silver can be charged. ”

Zhang Guang calculated in his heart, this offer doesn't sound high, but this guy has two taels of silver even if he only picks up a group of merchants a day, and he has to get six or seven taels of silver in a month, and the annual salary is much higher than Luo Shengdong's total, it seems that this intermediary is quite profitable.

Seeing that they didn't open their mouths to respond, the man thought that his offer was too high, and continued to persuade: "Two, I said that this price is the actual price given by the state government, and I am not shouting casually. You must know that every time you receive a tael of silver from the lower side, you have to pay half of it to the state government as a tax, otherwise you will not be able to operate here. ”

He Xi's heart moved, and he asked him: "You show me the tooth slip again, I didn't see who issued it just now." ”

The man took out the tooth slip and handed it to him according to his words, and the handle column on the tooth slip was indeed filled with the name of the Confucian official. He Xi said with a smile: "I said why is this guy so enthusiastic, when he heard that I was going to hire someone, he immediately recommended this place, and I couldn't wait to bring me in person, it turns out that he also has oil and water...... Alright, a penny, right? That's you. ”

The man was overjoyed, took the silver from He Xi's hand and put it in his arms, and led the two of them to walk towards the crowd: "The two of you are here, please, I don't know what kind of person you want to find?"

"Younger, honest and obedient, able-bodied, and clean men, let's have two or three. He Xi thought for a while and added: "If there is a girl who is suitable for being a girl, you can also take a look." ”

Zhang Guang bumped He Xi with his elbow and said, "Didn't you say before that you wouldn't buy a maid?"

"I wasn't going to buy it for myself. He Xi explained: "Zhao Xiaoruo, a girl's family lives in the same courtyard with a group of big men of ours, and there will be some inconvenient things. Buying her a maid, one is to let her have a female companion to talk to, and by the way, she can take care of her life. Second, if there is anything, it is more convenient to have a woman in the courtyard. ”

"Ah...... It's me who owes it to me. Zhang Guang scratched his head embarrassedly and admitted that he wanted to be crooked, but he obviously overestimated He Xi's discipline.

“...... If you really have the right eye, in fact, it's not bad to buy yourself a room to warm up, which is much more serious than going to solve the problem. He Xi added shamelessly.

With the leadership of the tooth merchant, the two of them saved the effort of going around like headless flies, and He Xi's conditions have been very clear, and it is relatively quick to find a suitable candidate.

Soon they made up two young servants, one fourteen and one fifteen, both from the north to follow the family of their assigned master. These two teenagers have been sold into slavery when they were young, and their masters were convicted by the imperial court and sent to Yazhou, they have nowhere to go, and they can only follow thousands of miles to come here, but now the master's family no longer has the financial resources to support their servants, so they simply let them fend for themselves. And this kind of situation is also the most common in this servant market, almost sixty percent of the people are in a similar situation, when the three of them are negotiating with the two teenagers, there are also many self-recommended people next to them who keep begging them to hire themselves, and the scene is chaotic for a while.