The battle between the two waves of water tribes did not affect the passenger ship, and both sides obviously exercised restraint.
On the afternoon of the eighth day, along the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, Wang Xu arrived at Yangzhou Mansion.
Wang Xu had only heard about the prosperity of Yangzhou Prefecture before, but had no actual experience.
Nowadays, walking up the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and looking at the painted boats docked on both sides, the giant merchant ships, and the bustling city, it is really not comparable to a place like Liyang County.
Liyang County is just a small county town. In the afternoon, when it gets dark, there are no people on the streets.
This is not the case in Yangzhou Prefecture. Nightlife begins after dark.
There were literati who went in and out of restaurants, painted boats, recited poems and composed poems, and were high-spirited.
There are businessmen who spend huge sums of money just to win a smile from a beautiful woman.
Wang Xu even saw glass beads in some people and the pursuit of glass beads.
There is no doubt that Yangzhou City is the truly prosperous place, and there are only a few cities in the south of the Yangtze River that cannot lag behind.
"What's your name? What are you here for? Is there any cargo with you?"
Contrary to the rumors, Wang Xu discovered that if he wanted to enter the city, he actually had to pay taxes.
Foreigners who do not bring goods will have to pay three hundred coins to enter the city, and those who bring goods will have to pay five taels.
Even people with a good reputation must pay this money, otherwise they will not be allowed to enter the city.
"Brother, I want to ask you, what is this city tax?"
Wang Xu found a hawker and inquired about news in the city.
The hawker sighed and said bluntly: "It's not up to the imperial court. You said that Duke Yan's new policy is so good. There is no need to compete with the people for profits, and there are not so many rules.
Nowadays, money is required everywhere, including entry fees, sanitation fees, street stall fees, and spitting on the ground. If you don't pay, you will be thrown into a cell and locked up for a few days.
I can finally see that the big men in the court are not planning to give us a way to survive."
The hawker's tone was solemn, and judging from his accent, he was from Zhejiang Prefecture. He also carried a lot of goods, so I'm afraid he didn't get away with the five taels of silver entry fee.
"Exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes!"
Deep in Wang Xu's heart, this word flashed across his mind.
When the New Deal was strictly enforced, most taxes were targeted at the gentry, and very little was taken from the common people.
After the New Deal was abolished and the Cold Party was demoted, the tax revenue in the court was immediately reduced by one-half, leaving holes everywhere.
No matter how we block these holes, we can't let the gentry bleed.
The Zhu Party, based on the gentry, was the winner and the beneficiary of this party struggle. If they were willing to bleed, they would not oppose the New Deal.
Now that the New Deal has been repealed and faced with less and less tax dollars, of course the wool comes from the sheep.
What's even more outrageous is that the entrance fee to the city is calculated based on the number of visits.
Once into the city, a small merchant drives a horse-drawn carriage and charges 5 taels of silver to enter the city, while a big merchant charges 5 taels for a boatload of goods. The charging standard is obviously unreasonable.
A thousand-meter-long sea-going ship enters Yangzhou Prefecture along the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, and can pull thousands of times as much cargo as a horse-drawn carriage.
The small merchants have to scrimp on food and clothing for five taels of silver, but the big merchants give them five taels of silver, but it's like sending a beggar away.
Such rules are obviously not for the lower class but for the upper class. They impoverish the common people and enrich the merchants. They are completely opposite to the tax collection based on the quantity in the New Deal.
The shortcomings of the Cold Party's defeat and the repeal of the New Deal have begun to emerge.
Wang Xu was worried, but there was nothing he could do. He could only pay the entry fee and enter Yangzhou City. He did not dare to think about how the imperial policy would change in the future.
Yangzhou City is the capital of Yangzhou. The land south of the Yangtze River is full of water. There are constant rivers in Yangzhou City, and the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal passes through the city.
The most talked-about thing is the Yangzhou thin horse.
Yangzhou thin horse does not refer to horses, but to people.
Yangzhou City is the base camp of salt merchants in the south of the Yangtze River. The salt merchants are as rich as the rest of the country and are extremely competitive. The idea of raising thin horses spread from within the salt merchants and has become the embodiment of extreme luxury in the south of the Yangtze River.
Yaren, Yagong, would buy six or seven-year-old girls from poor families, train them from childhood, teach them singing and dancing, playing music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and when they grow up, they would sell them to the rich as concubines or enter the Qin Tower and Chu Palace to make profits.
A first-class thin horse knows everything about poetry, calligraphy, and painting, and is no different from other ladies. He can recite poems and compose correctly. His literary talent is not necessarily worse than that of scholars, and he often becomes the concubine of an official or gentry.
Second-class thin horses, good at singing and dancing, but slightly lacking in literary talent, often end up in the Qin Tower, the Chu Pavilion, the Flower House, the Boat Painting, or doing business, or selling themselves. If they do well, they can marry a scholar and have a worry-free life.
A third-class thin horse, limited by his qualifications, is really funny.
If you want literary talent but not literary talent, if you want singing and dancing but no singing and dancing, you can only live by picking up people's wits and making fun of others.
When people reach old age, they often end up miserable, and very few people survive unscathed.
As for the thin horses of the fourth and fifth classes, they are considered the worst and can often only be used as maids.
The grading of thin horses starts with their appearance. When they grow up, their talent is the first priority, their looks second, and the two are combined into one for the outstanding ones.
When Ya Ren and Ya Gong choose girls, they will always choose the one-in-a-hundred beauties. Only girls like this who have been dazzling since childhood are worthy of making great efforts to cultivate.
However, there is a saying that when you grow up, you also become disabled, and this is the case for thin horses of the fourth and fifth grades.
If you have a talent but not a literary talent, and if you have no good looks, although you are not illiterate, you can't do anything about it. You can only sell it to others as a maid, or serve as a foil to a first- or second-class skinny horse.
With thin horses as its profession, Yangzhou Prefecture has supported a large industry.
The girls who are bought range from seven to eight taels to more than ten taels, and after being trained for several years, even a third-rate skinny horse can be resold for a thousand taels of silver.
If a first- or second-class skinny horse wants to redeem himself, the cost will be as high as tens of thousands of taels, or even hundreds of thousands of taels.
Many poor people are not ashamed of thin horses, but are proud of them.
I feel that my daughter can be bought as a skinny horse, which is a blessing earned in eight lifetimes.
Some thin horses who grew up, got along well and came to look for relatives would buy thousands of acres of fertile land for their families, and the whole family would wear gold and silver.
One thing is going down, the other is going up, and when people see the benefits, they will even take the initiative to raise their own children as if they are skinny horses. As a result, the trend of comparison becomes more and more intense.
"It is now the end of May. In a few days, the news will come down that the imperial court is going to open Enke. Scholars from Yangzhou will come to take the exam. Therefore, the top priority is to settle down and make plans before prices rise."
Wang Xu entered Yangzhou and began to think about where to stay.
Liyang County is far away from Yangzhou Prefecture, separated by several prefectures and counties including Jinshan Prefecture, Hangzhou Prefecture, and Suzhou Prefecture. The Wang family has no property here.
It's only the end of May now, and there are still three months until the end of August when Enke's exam starts.
For such a long period of time, just staying in a hotel is a big expense. With this money, it is better to buy a yard in Yangzhou. Anyway, these yards will not depreciate in value, and they will be the foundation of the world.
Of course, you can’t rush into buying a yard. You have to pick and choose a suitable place.
Let's stay in a restaurant for the first two days, so that we can ask the guys in the restaurant if there are any good houses for sale nearby.
Wang Xu walked on the street, looking for a restaurant to stay.
After walking two streets, a five-story restaurant caught his attention, especially the couplets hanging outside the restaurant, which spoke of the vicissitudes of life.
First couplet: Busy for fame, busy for profit, take a break and have a cup of tea.
Second line: Work hard, work hard, enjoy the hard work, and bring a pot of wine.
Horizontal batch: fame and fortune.
"What a great place for fame and fortune, let's settle here."
Wang Xu was inspired by the word fame and fortune. He didn't want to go anywhere else and planned to settle here.
When we got inside, we saw that the first floor was the living room, surrounded by dozens of dining tables, and a stage was set up in the middle of the living room. There were singing and dancing at noon, and storytelling in the afternoon.
The second floor is a private seating area. There is a screen to cover you when listening to books. When watching songs and dances, you can remove the screen so that you can see more clearly from top to bottom.
There are private rooms on the third floor. Respectable people who don't want to be seen in public can dine in there and close the door without being disturbed by others.
The fourth and fifth floors are guest rooms, which are divided into upper rooms and lower rooms. The upper and lower rooms are actually divided by floors.
However, ancient people believed that as people go to higher places, water flows to lower places, so the upper house will be more expensive than the lower house.
If you don't like someone living on top of you, you can choose to live in the upper room. If you don't mind, the lower room is cheaper and not much different from the upper room.
When Wang Xu went in, it was already afternoon and it was almost dark.
On the stage, an old man was telling a story about the scholar's past, a story about a scholar named Cui Yu and the white fox.
Cui Yu did exist, and it is said that he was the ancestor of the Cui family in Qinghe, a large northern clan.
The story is similar to that of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio. It tells the story of Cui Yu saving a white fox and how the white fox repaid his kindness.
This white fox would later become the demon king of the white fox clan in the Far North.
Through her friendship with the White Fox King, Cui Yu also led the Cui family to great success and became a famous family in the north, creating a great story.
It’s just that laymen watch the fun, while insiders watch the door. The story of Cui Yu and the fox has actually always been the heartache of the Cui family.
Why? Because this is a male fox. In the story, the white fox cooks porridge for Cui Yu and accompanies Cui Yu to read. The story is not as beautiful as everyone thinks.