After listening to the coachman's words, Richard suddenly realized, but this made him more interested in inquiry.

So he took out a pack of "Fugui" brand cigarettes from his pocket, which was a pack of two cents and two cents, much better than the "Qinli" brand cigarettes for 8 cents a pack, and gave one to each of the coachmen around him.

After playing around the pond, the atmosphere immediately became much more harmonious.

"Yo ho...... Da Fuguiha, thank you sir! The coachmen were all knowledgeable, and one of them took one and lit it with a smile on his face, and began to enjoy it.

Most of these drivers on the dock take 8 cents a pack of "diligence", and only a few are willing to smoke "wealth", after all, this thing is much more expensive.

If they all smoke such good cigarettes, and a few dollars a month are gone, how much money do you have to spend on cigarettes in a year?

It's not that the drivers can't afford it, but every driver has a family and a lot of children behind him, and there are people who save money to buy a car.

After smoking a cigarette, the conversation box opened.

"To tell you this gentleman, we also want to save up money to buy a car, how powerful is that thing?"

"Isn't it...... No matter how many goods you load, you can easily pull the throttle and go. ”

"People's trucks come before dawn in the morning, and they work until they can't see the road at night, almost one car does the work of our four carriages, earning at least more than 20 yuan a day.

What about us?

Our carriage works for six or seven hours at most, and we are queuing for more than half of the time, and we can get four or five yuan a day, which is a big difference.

No matter how long it takes, the horses can't stand it, and the people are tired and panicked. ”

"Also, if the goods are transported in the dock, it is better, and the warehouse is directly to the warehouse without a pause, basically a round trip in more than 40 minutes.

If the warehouse is far away, it will be a terrible crime to go out on the street.

There were cars and pedestrians on the streets outside, and the horse-drawn carriages stopped and stopped all the way, and every time they stopped, you had to fight and push the animals hard, and you could tire people half to death.

Unlike those trucks, it doesn't take much trouble to run all the way with one foot on the accelerator. ”

"The truck is good, it's just too expensive, we can't afford it!"

"It's estimated that saving for seven or eight years like this is enough, and there are more and more trucks on the dock, which are basically bought by those rich people in the city and transportation companies, and we don't buy much."

"Well, those who buy trucks are either selling houses and land to make money, or they are backing the chamber of commerce to raise funds, or a few people are putting together a copy, which is estimated to account for about a small half on our No. 9 pier, which is the case."

"I think we can make it together, the sooner we buy a truck, the sooner we can make money, and we can earn the car money in a year and a half, and we will make a net profit in the future."

"After making money, buy a car, 1 car becomes 2 cars, 2 cars become 4 cars, are you afraid that you won't make money by working so much on the dock?"

"I think it's okay, let's sum it up after this thing is finished, anyway, we will get more dividends, everyone will just make up a stock, and we should have saved some money."

"It works...... Big Brother Dong takes the lead, right? ”

"Okay, one of us who is familiar with each other is counted as one, don't expand it for the time being, and when the time comes, we will discuss it together, and everyone will have to agree to attract other brothers to join the shares. Let's try to buy a car together and put it on the dock to work together. ”

"Hahaha...... This is called sharpening knives and chopping wood, count me in. ”

Richard listened to their discussion becoming more and more lively, and gradually deviated from the topic and became buying a car, and he couldn't help but smile.

It is a good phenomenon that the new social wave impacts the minds of Chinese immigrants, allowing them to change with the changes of the new society and subtly adapt to the new environment.

Think about it

These new immigrants, who were originally facing the loess with their backs to the sky, quickly integrated into this society a few years after coming to the Tang Empire, and were full of enthusiasm in a fair social environment. What is on your mind is how to make more money? How to make up shares?

This is simply unimaginable in the original life, who knows what it is like to collect shares?

On weekdays, everyone knows that when it comes to "making up stocks", the response is very enthusiastic, because there are many successful examples that have been clearly placed in front of us.

The vast majority of the people working on the wharf are new immigrants, who have only recently arrived to carry bags and goods, and they work hard to earn eight or nine yuan a month.

Most of these coachmen have been emigrating for some years, and they have saved money to buy carriages to transport goods, and they have to earn one hundred and thirty or forty yuan every month, which is equivalent to the annual income of ordinary workers in Chang'an, the imperial capital.

What's even more powerful is the truck owner, most of these are immigrants in the early years, who quickly made their fortunes with the rise of the empire, and can spend tens of thousands of dollars to buy a truck, and easily get five or six hundred yuan a month.

In addition to labor, fuel, maintenance, taxes and other expenses, there must be more than 400 yuan in the pocket, which is nearly 5,000 yuan a year. It's not just this number that has done well, and it's not a dream to get back the capital in a year and a half.

Why are shipping costs so high?

This is due to the backward level of human transportation in today's era, in the imperial capital of Chang'an, the world's top level of marine terminals, the huge number of goods and the use of new terminal loading and unloading cranes, giving birth to a massive transportation demand.

The efficiency of human transportation is low, but it is a common mode of transportation in ports around the world, and there is naturally a corresponding transportation price level.

The same is true in some remote or backward ports of the Tang Empire, which are mainly transported by rickshaws, mules and horses, and horse-drawn carts, and expensive trucks are far from being widespread in these areas.

The lower limit of the overall transportation price is determined by the transportation price of the rickshaw, a rickshaw is tired and tired to work for a day, but it only earns four or five dimes of hard money, and a dozen yuan a month is the top of the sky, and no one is willing to do it no matter how little.

Heavy 4-wheeled carriages and freight cars transported in large quantities and at high speeds, and of course more profitable.

The economically booming Tang Empire is full of opportunities, just like the stalls selling cigarettes, tea, cakes, and melons on the docks, all of which are quite profitable, otherwise who would put this thing on?

Just like a stall selling burritos, even if a burrito only earns a penny, selling more than 200 copies a day is a gross profit of more than two yuan, and after paying half of the money on the dock, it can also fall a lot.

There are more than 13,000 people working at Pier 9, and there are dozens of stalls and shops, lined up like a temporary snack street, selling everything.

Richard even saw a makeshift spring house here, where more than two dozen horse-drawn vans were parked on the side of the road, enclosing in a specific area. On each wagon, there were two or three Mexican women scratching their heads, their eyes greedily watching the strong men who came and went, and they were all moving guests!

Chinese businessmen really don't miss the slightest opportunity to make money, what else can they say!

In the Tang Empire, neither prostitution nor gambling is prohibited, but it must be filed by the government and taxed according to the regulations, which is a common norm in all countries in the world.

In this day and age

There is no such thing as equality between men and women, and no country prohibits prostitution and gambling, and even the United States of America, which claims to be the most civilized, open and free country, cannot ban these gray industries, and the red light districts of New York and Philadelphia are famous.

Within the scope of the Tang Empire

The brothels are mainly white and Mexican women, and in recent years, a large number of Fuso women have traveled east to North America, becoming the main source of popular prostitution.

There are very few real Chinese women, this is because the imperial government controls it very strictly, once it is verified that the Chinese women are forced to sell sex against the original intentions of the Chinese women, then the owner of the brothel will be punished and bankrupt, and even put into a hard labor camp for the rest of his life.

In accordance with the laws of the Tang Empire

Any operating enterprise, company, mine and shop stall, the operator must have the legal citizenship of the Tang Empire, pay taxes according to the regulations, otherwise it is an illegal act that the law cracks down, once investigated, not only to confiscate the illegal income, close the business venue, but also to implement severe punishment for the operator.

Being able to get the legal citizenship of the empire is worth cherishing, and no one is willing to take a huge risk to do such a bad thing that loses their conscience, and isn't it fragrant to make money legally in peace and stability?

Different from ordinary economic crimes and public security crimes, this kind of person is hated by people when they go to a hard labor camp, and it is basically impossible for them to come out alive.

A large number of Dongying women entered the empire, mainly engaged in prostitution, which satisfied the great demand of society, and so the business became more and more prosperous.

Generally speaking

The Fuso people will find some citizens of the empire to be the bosses on the surface, and they only need to collect money every month, and they don't have to ask anything else.

This is also an area where local power is concentrated, gangs and social prodigals gather together, and all kinds of Fuso prostitutes, health centers, and Japanese-style baths have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, forming a red-light district.

This also led the Fuso government to vigorously export Dongying women to North America, in order to earn large sums of hard currency to subsidize the domestic economy, which became the most important means of foreign exchange income.

In 1870 alone, in January ~ November 1870, Fusang imported more than 130,000 young women like the Tang Empire, with an average of more than 10,000 per month, and the scale was considerable.

This made ordinary subjects of the Tang Empire form an inherent impression of Fusang State, one was short and vulgar, the other was prostitute and obscene, and it was generally believed that its race was low, and they looked down on it in their hearts.

These Dongying women, who were imported into the Tang Empire through additional treaties, could not have obtained legal resident status no matter how many years they stayed in the empire.

From the moment he arrived on the North American continent, he was marked with a black chrysanthemum tattoo on his shoulder, and he could only be reduced to a plaything with a tragic fate.

For more than 100 years from now on, the total number of Dongying women who have crossed to North America is about 700,000, and the number of posthumous children is more than 10 million, and they have earned hundreds of millions of huge foreign exchange for Fuso for countless years, which is the largest item of its exports, and has strongly supported domestic economic development.

However, in the end, the women who were able to become citizens of the empire were only a handful of them, and they were completely negligible.

These 7 million Dongying women are operating in a harsh environment, suffering from diseases, and very few can survive 10 years, less than one percent, and most of them have ended their flower-like youth early and withered on the land of North America.

How many years later

Fusang once filmed a film that reflected the tragic past of 7 million women in Dongying, called "Dongying Tragedy", also known as "Blooming Black Chrysanthemum", which tells the story of a group of Fuso women who traveled east to North America and made it difficult to look back.

But the movie received a ban just two days after it was released, and this unbearable memory was sealed in history, and there was no chance to present it in front of the world, which made people sigh!

Wander freely on the pier

Richard had close contact with coachmen, stevedores, stall owners, planners, dock company employees and freighter crews, and had a real experience of the life and work conditions of the grassroots people in the empire, which was unimaginable in the past.

Although he often toured various places, he was able to come into contact with the better social groups, even the lowest farmers or ranchers, who lived a much better life than the ordinary working class.

But don't underestimate the farmers or hired workers who work on the farms, they eat better than the grassroots people in the cities, white flour cakes can be eaten open, and there is no shortage of meat, eggs, milk and vegetables, after all, these things are not worth much on the farm.

A few pigs, cows, and sheep that have been crushed to death can't be thrown away, so they should be slaughtered and eaten!

There is no such thing as sanitary quarantine these days, and wasting food is the greatest sin, and that is to be damned!

Eggs, milk, vegetables, and oilseeds are not lacking in the farm, and the standard of living is naturally higher.

As long as you spend more than 110 yuan to buy a hand-cranked oil press, the whole farm does not need to buy oil, peanuts, oil seeds, cottonseeds, all can be squeezed oil, the operation is convenient and fast, can meet the needs of hundreds of farms.

Generally speaking

As long as the oil residue is left as a processing fee, such as peanut residue, rapeseed residue, cottonseed residue or something, these things are excellent things whether it is fertile fields or breeding livestock, and you can't buy them if you want to.

Urban residents are different, no matter what they eat, wear, and use, they have to spend money to buy, of course, they have to be careful to buy food, and buy food mainly with cheap stick noodles and more affordable economic flour, and the pursuit is cost-effective.

Economic flour is coarsely ground flour, the flour particles are relatively large, and it will be mixed with some fine crushed wheat husks and other sundries, the color is yellow, the taste is general, not as gluten as white flour, and some belong to the processing of old grains.

The more expensive refined wheat flour is commonly known as "white flour", as well as high-quality japonica rice from Central America, which is basically the staple food of Chinese middle-class families, but the disadvantage is that it is more expensive.

High-quality stemmed rice from the provinces of Straits, Central Plains, Zhennan and Costa Rica, glutinous rice is the staple food of many Chinese families, and the resulting glutinous rice sweet white wine, glutinous rice gnocchi, rice noodles, rice cakes, fried glutinous rice cakes, fried cakes, and delicious rice balls wrapped in fritters and various pickles can be seen everywhere in the streets and alleys of major cities in the empire.

However, due to the long distance, the price of high-quality stem rice and glutinous rice has always been high.

There's no way around it

It is not surprising that the cost of transportation from Central America to the Pacific coast of the empire and the large and small cities of the Great Plains of Central North America is higher than the value of the rice itself, and it is not surprising that the price is more expensive than it changes hands several times.

On the contrary, the price of grain shipped to Europe by sea is not high, because the sea movement is tens of thousands of tons, and the sea freight is diluted to every pound of grain, and there is not much.

Britain, Germany and the Netherlands implemented a low customs tax of 2% on grain, which was also one of the reasons why the price of grain in the Tang Empire was very competitive.

(End of chapter)