Although the hour hand on the clock tower has already pointed to eight o'clock in the evening, a teahouse in the east of Fucheng, Jinan, Shandong is still bustling with people.
In the past, it was dark at night, and it was impossible to do anything with the dim light of the oil lamp. Teahouses are not brothels. Whether you are watching a play or reading a newspaper, you need a bright environment. Generally speaking, by eight o'clock, the teahouse has closed.
, where will there be guests?
However, now that Jinan has electricity and electric lights, things are completely different.
The Jinan Prefecture Experimental Power Station has officially opened for business. This teahouse is located on the first street in Jinan Prefecture to have electricity and was the first to install electric lights.
The rumbling experimental power station transported endless electric energy to Jinan City, bringing light to the people of Jinan under Li Zhi's rule.
Because other teahouses have no electric lights and are all closed at night, this teahouse's business is particularly good at night. Teagoers not only come to this teahouse to drink tea, watch a play, and listen to newspapers after a busy day, but they can also come and see this electric lamp
What is it?
Every seat in the teahouse is full of people, often one or two groups sharing a table, and there are some late guests from time to time outside. As soon as the later guests entered the teahouse and looked at the packed hall, everyone was there.
He sighed in admiration and left helplessly.
There was only a clang of gongs, and the singing of "Dingxing Bo vs. Jiangbei Army" on the teahouse stage ended. The waiter in the teahouse took out a copper basin to receive the reward money. The spectators took out two or three coins from their money bags.
He threw it into the copper basin. After a while, a thick layer of coins was collected in the copper basin.
Under Li Zhi's governance, the living standards of the people in Shandong have caught up with Tianjin. Ten years ago, it would have been considered good to get one hundred pence for a teahouse performance. But now two or three pence in Jinan is really not worth it.
Not counting things, you can often get five or six hundred cents from a teahouse after a scene.
Many opera troupes from other places with unique skills also came to Shandong to earn Shandong people's copper coins, which greatly improved the level of Shandong opera.
For example, the play "Dingxing Bo Battles Jiangbei Army" played a few days ago is a new play written and arranged by the local opera troupe. Although it is a new play, it is quite sophisticated and the level is not low.
After watching the play, the man who read the newspaper stood on the stage.
Other teahouses only have oil lamps at night, making it impossible to read newspapers. But under the illumination of electric lights, newspaper readers in this teahouse can clearly read the small print on the newspaper. Therefore, in this electric teahouse, reading the newspaper every night is the most important thing.
Popular program.
"The new army from the Beijing Camp crossed the Yangtze River and attacked the Jiangbei Army."
The first piece of news in today's newspaper attracted everyone's attention. Everyone pricked up their ears and listened carefully to what was said in the newspaper.
"The new army in Beijing has assembled an army of 100,000, and will fight a decisive battle with the 90,000 Jiangbei army. If this battle is won, the tax resistance movement of the Jiangnan gentry can be put to rest. The emperor's new law of equalizing taxes will be implemented in the world."
"The emperor was determined to prove the strength of the new army in Beijing and did not recruit the Huben army to join the war."
"However, as the king of the Ming dynasty, the Prince of Tianjin could not sit back and watch the new army of the Beijing Camp stand in danger. Therefore, the Prince of Tianjin took the initiative to send Dingxing Bo Li Xing to lead an army of 20,000 people southward to contain the Jiangbei Army's troops in Nanchang, hoping to become the new army of the Beijing Camp.
Create conditions for the army to win."
"If the emperor wins this battle, the imperial court will become more powerful! All within the four seas will be the king's territory."
After hearing the reciter's recitation, none of the people in the teahouse spoke. Especially when they heard the last sentence, everyone was a little stunned.
What does "within the four seas, everything is the king's land" mean?
Next is a commentator's article: ""If the Beijing camp wins, we may withdraw from one town and nine provinces."
This article was written by a local commentator in Shandong. The words are spicy and to the point. It talks about the deep meaning behind the emperor's adventure in using troops in Jiangbei. The commentator said it very directly: "The emperor took the risk to use troops alone, and all he wanted was a great victory.
The latter’s reputation! The emperor’s pursuit of reputation is nothing more than to dismantle the Tianjin system of one town and nine provinces in a heroic manner.”
"One town and nine provinces are not under the jurisdiction of the county king, but are under the jurisdiction of the county king. It is unreasonable to have a large tail. If the emperor wins this time, he will directly send officials to govern the nine provinces and reduce the county king to a free prince..."
The people in the teahouse listened, with very surprised looks on their faces.
Is it possible that the emperor will deprive the princes of their jurisdiction over Shandong and send civilian officials to manage Shandong? This is undoubtedly bad news for the people of Shandong. Which of those civil servants is a good thing? How can they ever serve the country and the people like the officials of the princes?
?
If Shandong were to be ruled by civilian officials from the imperial court again, wouldn't the good life that the people of Shandong have lived over the years have to be returned in one day?
Immediately, there was an explosion in the teahouse. Teagoers began to whisper on the table, discussing this big news that would affect everyone's life.
Suddenly someone yelled: "Shandong belongs to the Prince of Tianjin! We cannot let the imperial court manage Shandong!"
The tea patrons in the teahouse heard this roar and cheered in unison.
A scholar in his thirties stood up and said loudly: "Everyone has clearly seen what kind of face those civil servants have for decades. Let them manage Shandong, and I, the people of Shandong, will be the meat on their chopping board."
, bullying and exploitation at will!”
"In the past few years, our Shandong province has been managed by county kings and has become richer and richer day by day. Now anyone who works as a helper in Jinan can get four or two months of money to support his family!"
"I gave up the books of saints and kept accounts for merchants, earning more than five taels a month. Which of us Jinan people would dare to imagine such a life before?"
Hearing the scholar's words, all the tea guests cheered again.
However, a middle-aged businessman said loudly: "If the imperial court defeats the Jiangbei army, it will control the entire Jiangnan. At that time, the emperor will not be short of money and recruit 300,000 to 400,000 new troops to surround Tianjin. If the prince does not agree to the emperor, how can he raise the flag?
rebel?"
After hearing the businessman's words, the tea patrons in the teahouse fell silent again.
The emperor treats the prince well. With the style of the prince, he will not rebel no matter what. If the prince had the intention to rebel, he would have rebelled long ago.
At that point, will the county prince give up his power and become a free prince?
Suddenly a young man shouted loudly: "No! The prince cannot send troops to help the new army of the Beijing Camp attack the Jiangbei Army. If the Beijing Camp wins, Shandong will fall into the hands of civilian officials again. The prince is abandoning us!"
No matter what, we cannot let the prince send troops to contain Nanchang!"
"As long as the prince does not send troops, how can the Beijing camp defeat the Jiangbei army?"
When the tea patrons in the teahouse heard this young man's words, they all applauded in unison.
A middle-aged man dressed as a vendor stood up and said loudly: "The good life of the people of Shandong is given by the king! The king wants to abandon us, we can't say a word! Seeing that these days are getting better day by day, but something happened
Such a thing! We must stop the prince from sending troops to contain the Jiangbei Army. We must gather the people and go to the governor's office to petition and resolutely oppose the prince from giving up control of the nine provinces!"
"Even if we risk our lives, we will let the county king continue to govern Shandong."
