The morning of the second day

When Wu Sanzhu was on vacation, the family went out shopping and played, and brought Ah Xiang with them.

After coming to Australia

The charming style and full material life of the metropolis simply dazzled the eyes of Ah Xiang, an indigenous woman, how could she have ever seen such a prosperous scene? After the first few days of discomfort, I quickly fell in love with it.

When I heard that I was going out to play, I jumped up happily and followed behind.

The streets are full of cars and people, and you can tell who are the local residents and who are the immigrants who have just arrived, and you can often see white people on the streets, and occasionally you can see one or two Qing people with pigtails in tow.

Most of the local residents, whether white or Chinese, wore crisp woolen suits or youth clothes, and a small number of them wore silk satin Tang costumes with large trippers, and their manners were polite and their faces were full of confidence.

Women are mostly wearing woolen skirts or Western skirts, that is, the kind of waist is extremely tight, the skirt is fluffy and expands the new style of Paris, this kind of Western skirt is cumbersome to make, the materials are high-end, and it must be specially customized, with a women's top hat and a flower umbrella on the head, showing a wealthy family.

A rich lady who can dress like this must have a car, otherwise she will be tired after not walking far.

Most of the pedestrians on the streets are well-dressed and laid-back, they are residents of the metropolis, and some people in cloth clothes come and go, mostly new immigrants.

Newcomers are still in the stage of hard work and have not yet taken root in the metropolis, and many of them have to work part-time after working a job, trying to earn as much money as possible, hoping to settle down in the metropolis as soon as possible and provide a house for a wife to marry.

Newcomers are busy working except for sleeping, and those who don't work hard can't stand in the metropolis.

Therefore, they usually do not wear straight woolen clothes, wearing cloth clothes is convenient for work, and after finishing a job, they rush to the next place of work, and they buy a little on the road to solve the problem.

It is not easy to wash woolen clothes if they are dirty, so they have to be sent to a special laundry room to wash, which is costly, laborious and time-consuming.

Australia is the world's main wool producer, the wool textile industry is extremely developed, in addition to the Red River Textile Corporation such a giant enterprise, there are hundreds of large and small textile mills, dyeing and finishing factories, rich and diverse, can be very selective.

Therefore, the price of Australian woolen clothing is not expensive, and the price of cotton clothes is not cheap.

Compare the two

The masses prefer light, soft, warm, more high-end woolen clothing, in recent years, the domestic market has expanded dramatically, has become the mainstream of clothing consumption.

Housewives who can live their lives often say; It costs more than a dozen silver dollars to tear the cloth to make a cotton cloth, so it is better to add a little more money to buy woolen clothes, how much face does it look like to wear?

In terms of price

The ocean empire does not produce cotton in Australia, and most of the cotton cloth comes from Mozambique, Africa, and a small part of British cotton cloth and Citigroup cotton cloth, and the price is not much different, all of which are between 8 jiao and 1 yuan silver ocean per horse.

A man needs 8 pieces of cloth to make a robe, plus handwork and cotton materials, no matter how it goes, it costs 11~12 pieces of silver, so it is not cheap to make cotton clothes.

If you buy a woolen coat, the most common kind of material containing 60% wool is about 20 yuan of silver (about 1 pound) a piece, which is not expensive at all according to the average income of ordinary residents.

Of course, this is only the price of origin, if it is shipped to the Luzon Islands, it will increase by at least 30%, if it is shipped to Somalia, it will have to be doubled, and if it is shipped to the European market, the price will be tripled to 4 times.

This is different from the empire's home market, there are many taxes and fees to enter the European market, as well as the profits and expenses of business partners, terminal storage and transportation costs, distribution channels, etc., plus the high cost of ocean shipping, local producers must make more money by working so hard, and the price will naturally rise.

The difference in the price of woolen coats is in the content of the brand and wool, the price of pure wool clothing is several times higher than that of 6 into wool polyester blend, and the premium of ready-to-wear of famous brands is higher.

The most expensive is private customization, and the price is not counted, and it is not uncommon for hundreds of silver oceans to be a piece.

How happy the people are, it depends on the comparison.

The vast majority of immigrants from the Ocean Empire came from the land of Shenzhou, what is the situation now?

1899 (25th year of Guangxu of Qing Dynasty)

The population of the Qing Dynasty reached 420 million, compared with the original historical time and space has not decreased, coupled with the frequent wars and natural disasters year after year, it is a luxury to want to eat a full meal.

Why did more than 25 million people immigrate to the Ocean Empire, and there are still so many people on the mainland?

Get to the bottom of why

Because of the huge population of the Qing Dynasty, the number of children who die every year just because of natural disasters or family difficulties is very staggering, and the average annual immigration to Australia is one million, and the impact is minimal.

After the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War

The Qing Dynasty borrowed large sums of money from foreign powers for war reparations, which had to be repaid year by year, and these heavy burdens were placed on the heads of the people.

Qing-Zhongfang's "Gengzi Chronicles" wrote: "Carved ten pounds of silver per stone, five cents of silver per catty of coarse bran and white noodles, only ten catties of rice are sold, and only two catties of noodles are sold. ”

On October 7 of the same year, he wrote:

"The white flour is 560 Wen, the millet flour is 300 per catty, the cornmeal is 200 per catty, the white rice is the southern grain, the sea road is not smooth, the rice village is inevitably strange, and each stone needs eight taels of silver."

One tael of silver can be exchanged for 1,000 wen money, and you can only buy less than two catties of white noodles, and in the 13th year of Jiaqing, Tongzhou white noodles were only 30 wen a catty, and the price skyrocketed 19 times after 40 years.

Eight taels of silver can only buy one stone of white noodles, one stone is equal to 10 buckets, and one bucket is equal to 13.5 catties, that is, 135 catties of white flour (note; another said 125 catties).

To understand what this concept is, we need to understand the current purchasing power of silver;

In the twenty-first year of Guangxu, the price of seven and a half houses in the northwest corner of the inner city of Beiping was 85 taels, that is, the price of 1,400 catties of white noodles, and the selling price of each house was less than 200 catties of white noodles.

Is it the house that is too cheap or the white flour too expensive?

The conclusion is: nothing is cheap.

Take wheat, for example;

When Kangxi had just ascended the throne, in June of the first year of Kangxi, one stone of wheat and five coins of silver.

By the 25th year of Guangxu, one stone was 4 taels of silver, and the price had risen 8 times.

Take soybeans, for example;

In October of the second year of Kangxi, one stone and five coins, "Hejiang County Chronicles, Food and Goods" recorded that in the twenty-fifth year of Guangxu, soybeans in Hejiang area sold for 0.067 taels per catty, and one stone also cost more than eight taels of silver.

The poor and white general public can save anything, even this mouthful of food, which can't be saved anyway.

In the Qing Dynasty, a sturdy dock worker or shop man, a year of hard work is 7~8 taels of silver, now the price of grain is so expensive, it is difficult to fill the stomach, and it is even more extravagant to eat a bite of meat.

This is not only food, food, clothing, housing and transportation, which one does not cost?

1 kg of brown sugar 35 Wen, 1 chicken 48 Wen, 1 duck 100 Wen, 1 tael of lard 120 Wen, 5 green onions 1 Wen, 1 horse white cloth 70 Wen......

Ordinary people can neither afford to eat rice nor white flour, and eating a handful of fried soybeans is a luxury, let alone a sense of happiness.

In the Ocean Empire

Under the strict orders of Emperor Li Fushou, the cabinet did its best to pursue the goal, which was to strengthen the administrative efficiency of government departments, do practical things without false talk, and improve the happiness of the people.

In recent years, the government has continuously and significantly increased the salary level of government employees, raised the minimum income standard, improved the Labor Law and the Labor Dispute Arbitration Law, continued to standardize the employment system, improved the employment environment, guided scientific and technological innovation, vigorously promoted scientific and technological progress, and accelerated the process of urban and industrial electrification.

Food, clothing, housing and transportation are related to the interests of everyone, and it is the place where the general public in society can not do without and have the deepest experience, and it is the most important place to create a sense of happiness for the people, and the puzzle pieces are indispensable.

Stemming from the tradition of Chinese cuisine, there is no need to worry about eating, as long as the economy is prosperous and developing, the people of the empire can create dazzling cuisine, only you can't think of it, you can't do it without them.

Much has been said about getting dressed, so I won't repeat it.

In terms of housing, the imperial policy can be said to be quite relaxed, as long as it is not within the boundaries of large and medium-sized cities, the average resident of small cities and towns can legally obtain a homestead with an area of 0.3 acres with a marriage registration certificate, which can be used for self-built housing.

Homesteads are generally located in government-designated areas, and it is not impossible to have a larger area, just pay more. Once these houses are completed, the property rights remain in perpetuity with the homeowner.

The only thing worth noting is that ~ there is some property tax to be paid every year.

If property tax is not paid, the government has the right to repossess homesteads and houses. In the noble realms, this part of the tax was collected by the lord, and the tax standard was the same as that of the government.

The empire has a vast territory and few people, as long as you have money, you can build as many houses as you want, build manors, castles, and even palaces, and the empire has no hard and fast rules in this regard, as long as you fulfill the approval procedures.

There are many manor castles, but no one has dared to build a palace so far, not because they don't have money, but because they are too sensitive, unless they are kicked in the head by a donkey.

In terms of "walking", urban residents feel it most directly.

Gone are the public carriages that dotted the streets of the Red River Valley, replaced by "jingling" trams, and the streets are rarely buzzed with cars of all kinds.

The dim kerosene street lamps on both sides of the road have become a thing of the past, and all of them have been replaced with bright electric lights, which makes the city brighter at night and more secure.

This kind of street scene is already very much like the taste of European and American cities in the thirties and forties of the twentieth century.

Volkswagen has just produced a streamlined new car, named the "Volkswagen Century", a car designed by an Italian designer that was very well received by the market at first sight.

The original low-priced "Volkswagen Type 95" square-box car was quickly left out in the cold, and compared to the beautiful "Volkswagen Century", it was simply impossible to see.

The Volkswagen-Century is more than twice as expensive, but enthusiastic consumers still flock to it.

Following this trend, several other car companies are working hard to create their own new products, striving to get a share of the increasingly prosperous world car market.

The power of example is endless, just in these two years

More than a dozen new automobile factories have emerged in the Ocean Empire, as well as "Haichao Power Company", "Bynum Industrial Company", "Brisbane Internal Combustion Engine Power Company", "Qingdao Chenfeng Power", "Qingdao First Internal Combustion Engine Company", etc., as well as "Scott Transmission Company", "Pacific Transmission Company", "Shipbuilder Transmission Company" and other enterprises, and hundreds of various rubber manufacturing enterprises, showing a gratifying situation of manufacturing refinement.

There are many bicycles and cars on the streets, and ordinary cargo trucks are no longer allowed to enter the city, and the city is more clean and hygienic, without the smell of cow dung and horse urine.

Occasionally, the large carriages passing through the streets must have been luxurious carriages with the coats of arms of the nobility, and the vigorous horses were fat and strong, and the manes of the horses were carefully combed neatly and uniformly, and they were beautifully united, and the horses were draped in velvet vests on their backs, and they hung long tassels.

The dung bag under the horse's buttocks is hidden in the hanging vest, which is visually very comfortable, and there is no longer the original abrupt feeling.

The four horses in excellent condition are either all black or all white, without a little variegation, and it is worth a lot of money just to match these four horses.

The bells around the horse's neck are all brass gilded, the leather saddles used are all exquisite, and the carriage itself is even more luxurious, all of which are made by famous craftsmen.

Such an aristocratic carriage swaggered through the city, not so much as a means of transportation, but a means of showing off wealth.

Of course, the most popular is not these aristocratic carriages, but the crown car company has just launched the "crown - the world" series of cars, currently only for the use of the royal family, to meet the needs of the British Empire and the ocean empire in advance, the series of models are all handmade, every link is a famous craftsman Seiko, highlighting the majesty of the royal family.

The 6-meter-long "Crown-Royal World" series of cars is front with a shield-shaped air intake grille, and the long raised engine compartment is equipped with the latest eight-cylinder high-horsepower diesel engine, equipped with three forward gears and one reverse gearbox.

When the car was sent to the Emperor Li Fushou, his statement was only one sentence; "Very good, it's a classic that will last a long time."

When shopping in the metropolis of the Red River Valley, you will often see inexplicable surprises.

This beautiful and clean city is filled with a rich and peaceful atmosphere, which invisibly shows vitality and vitality, and leaves a deep impression on every visitor.

The happy smiles on the faces of the people are the best reward for the government's work.

This can be seen in every thriving emerging country, the German Empire, the Citigroup, the Ocean Empire and the Fuso Kingdom, perhaps they have different levels of material affluence (especially Fuso), but because of full confidence in the bright future of the country, life will have more expectations, and their faces will unconsciously show a happy smile.

Wu Sanzhu took his family to visit the zoo, saw so many novel animals, and made the two children so happy that they had a beautiful meal in the restaurant at noon, and went to see Western movies and paintings in the afternoon.

After watching it, there was still time in the afternoon, Wu Sanzhu simply took the whole family to the theater to listen to the play, and the famous Liyuan singers from the mainland won the full house with their wonderful singing, only Ah Xiang couldn't understand it at all, and the beautiful eyes flashed and revealed the word "confused".

In the evening, the whole family went to the newly opened Changlong Circus Garden and enjoyed the circus performance from Citigroup.

It cost more than 30 silver oceans at the end of the day, but looking at the two children who were tired and fell asleep halfway, still with a sweet smile in their sleep, Wu Sangui felt that the money was worth it.