This young man named Yang is named Yang Jiyuan. He is the son of Yang Kui, the young minister of Honglu Temple. He is only sixteen years old this year. Yang Kui does not come forward himself and usually lets his son deliver messages for him.
Yang Jiyuan was taken to the shopkeeper's room in the backyard by the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper Zheng Hongyuan was busy settling accounts in the room. The shopkeeper poked his head in and said, "Shopkeeper, Young Master Yang is here!"
"Let him in!"
Zheng Hongyuan quickly wrote down the calculated results, put down his pen and said to Yang Jiyuan with a smile: "Your father asked you to deliver a letter again?"
Yang Jiyuan cupped his fists and saluted, took out a letter from his arms and put it on the table, "This is for Uncle Zheng!"
Zheng Hongyuan glanced at the cover of the letter. There was a black stamp on it, indicating that the information was important but not urgent. If it was a white stamp, it was ordinary information. If it was a red stamp, it meant that the information was important and urgent.
He looked at Yang Jiyuan's figure again and saw that he was still wearing relatively thin clothes. He turned back and took out a cotton robe from the cabinet and said with a smile: "This is a sample sent from Taiyuan. It is high-quality cotton with a cotton core inside. It is very comfortable to wear."
It’s very warm, my dear nephew, let’s try it.”
"I can't have this!" Yang Jiyuan shook his head quickly.
"Just put it on. If you don't wear it, I will give it to others. All you need to do is tell me in ten days whether there are any shortcomings in this cotton robe."
Yang Jiyuan sheepishly put on the cotton robe. It felt very fit and warm. He quickly saluted and said, "Thank you, Uncle Zheng. It's very warm and comfortable!"
Zheng Hongyuan stepped forward and pointed to a row of threads on the side and said: "The cotton inside cannot be washed in water. When washing, remove this thread, take out the cotton core inside and dry it in the sun. After washing the fabric, put it back and put the edge
Just sew it up."
"Junior understands!"
Yang Jiyuan bowed and left. Zheng Hongyuan then opened the letter and read it carefully. The content of the letter was that Zhu Si was about to move south from Shangluo Road to Luoyang in the name of his southern tour. He had secretly notified the court officials to pack up his valuables and prepare to move with him.
At the end of the letter, it was mentioned that Zhu Si sent Zhang Yan to Taiyuan to negotiate, which mainly involved the issue of the transit of personnel and materials from Guozhou. Zhu Si's bottom line was to move the 150,000 wealthy households in Chang'an and all the materials from Zuozangku.
Both pieces of information were very important. Zheng Hongyuan immediately wrote the information into a pigeon letter with a special fine pen, and ordered his clerk to go to the pigeon farm outside the city to release the pigeons.
.........
As the New Year approaches, Taiyuan City is also very lively. Taiyuan's West Market mainly sells basic necessities such as food, clothing, housing and transportation. It is called the Gold Market by Taiyuan people. The West Market is crowded with people everywhere who come to buy New Year's goods.
Guo Song changed into his regular clothes and took two of his staff, Du Siye and Wen Miao, for a private visit in private to check the people's livelihood situation on the spot.
Wen Miao is a local and is very familiar with Xishi. He was responsible for leading the way.
"Your Majesty, this is an important junction."
Wen Miao led Guo Song to a crossroads and said to Guo Song: "On the right is the rice row, on the left is the sheep row, and to the south is the cloth row. Where do you want to go first?"
Guo Song thought for a while and asked with a smile: "Is the Sheep Bank specializing in selling sheep?"
"Exactly! Every year on New Year's Eve, a large number of fat sheep come in from the northern grasslands. Of course, money flows to the grasslands. The middle-class families in Taiyuan will basically buy a sheep and slaughter it. The poor families can only buy some cheap parts of mutton, such as sheep's hooves.
Sheep heads and the like are relatively cheap, so it’s good to buy them and make a pot of sheep soup.”
"Let's go take a look!"
Guo Song was very interested and took the two of them to the sheep market. The sheep market was full of odor, but the Taiyuan people ate sheep all year round and were used to this smell.
The market was crowded with people. There was a sheep pen in front of each shop. There were more than a hundred sheep in it. People crowded around to pick sheep. The merchants were very smart and hung a number plate on the sheep so that they could be easily identified.
.
"I want No. 7! Sheep No. 7 is fatter. How much does it cost per pound?"
The businessman tapped the sign on the sheepfold with a bamboo pole and said, "Here is the price, thirty cents per catty. Your No. 7 sheep weighs at least fifty catties. Prepare fifteen hundred cents or one and a half silver."
"Hey! How come the price hasn't increased as usual? I remember that at this time last year, the price of sheep was fifty cents per catty! Has the proprietor found out his conscience?"
Another commoner next to him curled his lips and said: "You have no conscience. There are 300,000 Hexi sheep on the market this year, so sheep are cheap."
"I see, I thought these businessmen had discovered their conscience!"
The selected sheep was dragged away by the waiter, tied up with four hooves with hemp rope, and sent to the customer's cart. The money had already been paid, and it was basically the former Kaiyuan Tongbao. The new money made by Zhu Si and the small money made elsewhere were not accepted.
Unless it is Hexi money, but Hexi money cannot be seen in the market and is kept in a collection.
Guo Song walked all the way and saw sheep being carried out one after another, mostly Hexi sheep. This was the first batch of sheep sent from Yulin, totaling 500,000, of which 200,000 were given to the army.
Three hundred thousand sheep were put on the market, and of course not only Taiyuan, but also the entire Hedong, Taiyuan was allocated 80,000 sheep.
Merchants also imported hundreds of thousands of sheep from the Sijie Department to supply the New Year markets in Hedong states. This year, due to the impact of the low prices of Hexi sheep, the prices have become cheaper.
After coming out of the sheep market, they came to the cloth shop. There was a Huanghe cloth shop here. It was newly opened this year. It was a big deal. It swallowed up three cloth shops at once and merged them into one. The owner of the Huanghe cloth shop is Li Wenyu.
This is a shop she opened and has nothing to do with her husband Zhang Lei, so the name she gave it was the name she had when she became a monk in Kongtong Mountain.
Of course, in addition to cloth shops, Meishou Liquor Shop has also opened in Taiyuan, specializing in selling high-end shochu and high-end wine. During the New Year period, business is also particularly prosperous.
Huanghe Cloth Shop is the name of the store named by Guo Song. Guo Song walked into the store and coincidentally met Li Wenyu. Li Wenyu recognized Guo Song at a glance and was stunned. Guo Song quickly explained: "I came to take a look.
Check out Senior Sister’s shop.”
Li Wenyu immediately understood and said with a smile: "Junior brother is welcome to visit. I just have nothing to do, so I will take junior brother to visit the store."
Li Wenyu pointed to a row of cotton robes, cotton skirts, bijia and other clothing hanging on the wall and said: "These are ready-made goods. The biggest feature of my store is that it sells cotton tires and ready-made clothes made of cotton.
There are clothes and quilts, thick and thin, just buy them and sew them with cotton. If you want to buy cotton directly or buy cloth, you can do it as you like."
"What about the price?" Guo Song asked with a smile.
"The key is the price. They are all bought in two cents. Rich people buy cotton and velvet. One tael of cotton costs two guan, and one tael of velvet costs ten guan. Ordinary people can't afford it. Now you can buy cotton, and one tael of cotton only costs 100 yuan.
Wenqian is much cheaper! And the quality of cotton and kapok is the same. I believe that once cotton comes out, no one will want kapok. Although wealthy people have money, they are not stupid."
"Are there many people buying?" Guo Song asked again.
Li Wenyu pointed outside and said, "Look at the people lining up outside."
Guo Song had already seen it. There was a long queue outside, at least two to three hundred people.
"Are they all here to buy cotton tires?"
"Half and half! Either buy cloth or cotton batting. Ordinary people like to buy cotton batting for clothes and robes, but not quilts. Junior brother, guess why?"
Guo Song shook his head, "I can't think of it."
Later, Du Siye said: "I bought a cotton robe because it can be worn during the day and can be covered with a quilt at night. In fact, it is just a quilt."
Li Wenyu pursed her lips and smiled: "Xiao Du is right, that's why."
Du Siye scratched his head and said sheepishly: "Actually, my family is like this. My father has a cotton robe that he wears during the day and used as a quilt for my brother and me at night."
Guo Song said with a smile: "Then why don't you buy two quilts and give them to your parents?"
"I gave it to them a long time ago. They have cotton robes and quilts."
At this time, a soldier walked up quickly and whispered a few words in Guo Song's ear. Guo Song nodded and said to Li Wenyu: "It's a little urgent, senior sister, I'll go back first."
"Junior brother, go and get busy. Let's have a drink together when the fat guy comes back in two days."
Guo Song nodded, then turned and left, and a dozen soldiers quickly followed Guo Song.
At this time, the short and fat shopkeeper walked up to Li Wenyu and said with a smile: "Proprietor, your junior brother is very young!"
"How young is he? He's in his early thirties, okay?"
Li Wenyu suddenly turned around and glared at the shopkeeper, "What do you mean? Do you mean that I am very old now?"
The guys covered their mouths and snickered, and the shopkeeper looked embarrassed.
Li Wenyu snorted and said to the shopkeeper: "When my junior brother comes next time, don't neglect him, or your head will be in danger. Do you know who he is?"
"Proprietor, I don't know."
Li Wenyu pointed to the sign, "This sign was inscribed by my junior brother. Who do you think he is?"
"Ah!" The big shopkeeper was stunned and his legs felt weak. He knew who the young man was just now.