Chang'an Street in Xi'an is the busiest commercial street in Xi'an at night. It is brightly lit and crowded with people. The shops are brightly lit and business is very popular.
Even after Ali Pasha, Moses and others had eaten and drank enough, they were not sleepy at all. Although the journey was tiring, they arrived in the Central Plains of the Ming Dynasty and wanted to see the prosperity of the Ming Empire.
"There are so many people!"
Under the guidance of the waiter, they arrived at Chang'an Street very smoothly. Looking at the endless flow of people on Chang'an Street, Moses couldn't help but sigh.
It was even more lively and noisy than during the day, as if people from the whole city came here to play.
Look at the brightly lit street in front of you. There are countless whale oil lamps and various glass lamps. It looks feasting and resplendent.
"Even the palace of our Ottoman Empire is not as bright as here at night!"
Ali Pasha sighed.
The two of them started hanging out very casually, just like the people around them.
Soon, they came to the door of a building. This building had a very large flow of people. There were many people coming in and out, and most of the people coming out were carrying various things in their hands. They were obviously all Bought a lot of things.
"What kind of store is this?"
Ali Pasha looked at the words written on the door of the store and could not understand them, so he could only ask the translator next to him.
"Sir, this is a supermarket called Yiyuangou. The advertisement above says that with just one tael of silver, you can buy everything you need for daily life here."
The attendant translator beside him also quickly translated.
"One dollar purchase?"
"supermarket?"
"It's interesting, let's go in and have a look."
When Ali Pasha heard this, he immediately became interested. He was looking for an opportunity to learn more about the prices and products of the Ming Dynasty. As for Moses next to him, he showed a strong interest.
Ali Pasha and Moses walked into the supermarket called One Yuan Gou. When they came to the door, they saw people pushing small cars one after another. The translator beside them quickly went to ask the people next to them.
"Sir, these little carts are all used for shopping. When people go inside to buy goods, they can push these little carts, so they don't have to lift and take them with their hands, which makes it more convenient."
"And when shopping here, you can buy all the goods at will, and pay at the same time when you get to the exit."
"I see, it's very convenient and very thoughtful."
When Moses heard this, he immediately nodded.
Ali Pasha and Moses walked in front, and their entourage followed behind, pushing a shopping cart with two grains.
After entering the supermarket, they discovered that the supermarket was very large, with many shelves filled with a wide variety of products, and the name and price of each product were marked next to it.
The flow of people in the supermarket is also very large. A large number of people push shopping carts and buy the goods they need in the supermarket very casually.
"Aren't they afraid that someone will steal something?"
Moses looked at the supermarket in front of him. It seemed that no one was watching at all. If he did this business in Europe or the Ottoman Empire, he would definitely lose money and die, because just stealing things would be enough to make you vomit blood and die. .
With such doubts, Moses and Ali Pasha also wandered around the supermarket very casually.
The variety of products in the supermarket is very complete, ranging from oily rice, soy sauce and vinegar tea, pots and pans, etc., which are needed for daily life. It is very complete.
"Sir, such high-quality surprise flour only costs five cents per catty. This 1,000 cents is almost equivalent to one tael of silver. In other words, this Ming Dynasty silver dollar can buy 200 catties of this white flour."
"The price of food in Ming Dynasty is really very low."
The first area he entered was the food area. Looking at the bags of good white flour in front of him, Moses quickly stepped forward to check.
"If such white flour were in Europe, the price would be at least ten times higher than here, and even coarse grains would be more expensive than this."
"In our Ottoman Empire, such high-quality fine white flour was very rare. Only the nobles and the truly rich could afford it. But here, it is a very common commodity. It is available for everyone to buy."
"And this rice is also very cheap. It only costs five cents a pound."
While watching, Ali Pasha was also surprised by the price level in Ming Dynasty.
"Sir, the north of the Ming Dynasty does not produce rice. Xi'an where we are located belongs to the north of the Ming Dynasty. The main crop in the surrounding area is wheat. These rice are divided into Suzhou rice, Huguang rice and Nanyang rice. Even the ones closest to here
The Huguang rice also comes from the Huguang area, which is hundreds of miles away."
"These rices have also been carefully processed. First they are rice, then pounded, and finally these polished rice are obtained. This also includes transportation, etc. If there are many processes, transportation, etc., it is transported from the Huguang area to Xi'an.
Its price is only five cents per catty."
Next to Ali Pasha, the translator who was proficient in Daming dialect also quickly emphasized.
Ali Pasha and Moses were obviously not fools, and they immediately understood the meaning of the words.
In an era when transportation was inconvenient, the loss of transporting grain was very large. Often, even half of a hundred kilograms of grain might not be left at the destination.
But in the Ming Dynasty, the situation was completely different. The price of rice shipped from the Huguang area hundreds of miles away was so cheap, which is really incredible.
"The price of Suzhou rice and Nanyang rice is only one cent higher per pound, and the traffic and transportation of this rice are terrible."
Moses quickly looked at the other types of rice. Each type of rice was marked with Arabic numerals, which was very easy to identify.
Then he took out his little notebook, took out a pen, and began to record the price of every commodity here in detail.
Salt costs eight cents per pound, and the Changlu Salt Field produces high-quality snow salt. The Changlu Salt Field is more than two thousand miles away from Xi'an, which is almost the same distance from the capital of Spain to the capital of the Holy Roman Empire.
Sugar costs sixty-six cents per pound. The fine cane sugar produced in Nanyang is very sweet. If this kind of sugar were in Europe, only nobles and truly wealthy people could afford it. One pound would cost at least several taels of silver.
And the quantity is very rare.
But not only is it open for sale here, the price is so cheap that ordinary people can afford it.
Kitchen knives are high-quality fine steel knives produced by Miyun Iron Works. The sound of the flick is definitely good steel. In Europe and the Ottoman Empire, it was definitely used to forge swords, and it was impossible to make it into a kitchen knife.
Here, a kitchen knife only costs eighty-eight cents. If the blacksmiths of the Ottoman Empire saw it, they would definitely scream, waste, waste, such good steel is only used to make kitchen knives.
Mutton, the best prairie sheep, only costs fifteen cents per pound. If you buy more, you can even send the sheep bones back to make soup.
Eggs, two cents each.
Beef jerky comes from the western regions and rivers. A pound of beef jerky only costs 30 cents.
Dried salted fish, dried salted fish from Tianjin, has a lot of salt on it, and a pound of dried fish only costs less than five cents.
The porcelain bowls, plates, plates, etc. produced in Jingdezhen are sold according to their size. A porcelain bowl that can be sold for several taels of silver in Europe only costs ten cents here.
Tea, a piece of Fujian black tea brick costs only 300 taels of silver per pound. This is a relatively expensive commodity, but such a brick of black tea would cost at least 5 taels of silver in the Ottoman Empire, which is more than ten times the price here.
As for Europe, it is even more expensive.
A piece of fine woolen cloth only costs ninety-nine taels of silver here. However, if this piece of cloth were in the Ottoman Empire, a cloth of the same importance and quality would cost at least two taels of silver, and it would not be as good as the quality woven by the Ming people.
, many flowers, bright colors, beautiful.
…
Moses kept recording each product. The more he recorded, the more surprised he became.
"Too cheap, too cheap!"
As a Jew, Moses was naturally good at business, and doing business naturally required a thorough knowledge of commodities, prices, production, etc. in various places.
He knew very well about commodities from Europe and the Ottoman Empire. Now that he came to Ming Dynasty and saw the prices of various commodities, he found it incredible.
"The prices in the Ming Empire are so cheap. No wonder people who have been to the Ming Dynasty say that the people of the Ming Dynasty live in paradise."
Ali Pasha also nodded, his eyes dazzled.
There are so many types of products and they are so dazzling. The key is that these products are produced from all over the world. They can be easily found here and the prices are not expensive.
"It's hard for you to imagine that the price of dried meat shipped from the Hezhong area, thousands of miles away, is not much different from that in the Hezhong area. The difference is only less than two cents per pound."
Ali Pasha found it incredible.
"The power of the Ming Empire is once again reflected. It is rich in products and fertile land. The key is that the transportation capacity of the Ming Dynasty must be very strong. Otherwise, even if it is the cheapest thing, if it is shipped thousands of miles away, its price will be
It’s going to be very expensive.”
"But in the Ming Dynasty, the price difference between the place of production and the place of sales is not big. This is enough to show that the transportation in the Ming Dynasty is extremely developed."
"Such an empire, once a disaster or invasion occurs, it can mobilize a large amount of food and military support from thousands of miles away in a very short period of time."
"This is the truly terrifying thing about the Ming Empire. No wonder that back then, even when the Ming Empire's 200,000 troops invaded our Ottoman Empire from thousands of miles away, they were able to ensure that there would be no problems with the army's food and supplies.
This shows the powerful transportation capabilities of the Ming Empire."