Chapter 2429 royal circus (twelve)

Brussels is actually located on the Seine River. Before entering the city, the motorcade arrived at the dock. There were also very gorgeous buildings built here. Henry Joseph Langhenhoven was standing at the door waiting.

If the Stock Exchange had been repaired, it would have been included in the morning itinerary in the city center, but since it has not been repaired, the Trade and Exhibition Market has been used instead.

Ever since Louis XIV bombed the center of Brussels and occupied the original bread and cloth market with his palace, merchants could only trade in one place. Usually it was the city gate, because there was a city tax to enter the city.

However, although it is not as centralized as the city center outside the city gate, it still enjoys certain conveniences. Just like the hawkers in the vegetable market and the hawkers operating outside the market, they have to pay a management fee to set up stalls in the vegetable market. The vegetable market

Vendors outside do not pay this amount. People who come to the market to buy vegetables see that the vegetables outside the market are cheaper and more convenient than those inside, so they buy them outside the market. The vegetable vendors inside the market who have paid the management fee will definitely stop working.

, they asked the market to find some solution, otherwise they would refuse to pay the management fee, or simply withdraw from the market and occupy the same road as the vendors outside.

This phenomenon is also seen in other cities, and different places have different management methods. Henry Joseph Langhenhofen is a senior official of the "Tax Chamber of Commerce", which is Latin for "toloneum", meaning road tax.

This is different from the toll tax, which means that if a vendor wants to set up a stall on the road to display his goods for customers to choose from, then he has to pay the tax. He hid the turkey in his coat pocket and waited for the customers to find him.

Suspicious, he then opened his coat, took out the turkey and gave it to the customer, paying for it and delivering it. In this case, there was no need to pay road tax.

What normal housewife would buy food like this? She picks and chooses at the stalls, bargains and then pays. However, there is a black market for bread in France. They are like ghosts and operate at irregular times and places.

The place where the Langhenhofen family lived was called "Sausage Street", which started from Market Street and extended to Violet Street. In the Middle Ages, it was once called Bow Street because the street was full of craftsmen selling crossbows.

, after the Austrians occupied it, it became a place selling sausages, so it was renamed Sausage Street.

Germans love to eat sausages and bacon. This habit has not changed even after leaving their homeland, so more Germans come to buy sausages on this street. However, most German farmers cannot leave their territories, and almost none come to Brussels.

They were all aristocrats and wealthy people, so the sausage shops on Sausage Street were gradually replaced by various boutiques, and the streets were full of exquisite display windows.

There are also bookstores and cafes. Mrs. Langhenhofen would sometimes leave home and go to the cafe downstairs to drink a cup of coffee, read a book for a while, and enjoy a quiet time without the noise of her children. Although her two daughters were in Georgiana

It seems quite quiet.

If a woman is unfortunate enough to have six healthy, "lively" and mischievous sons like her twins like Molly, and there are no parents, servants, etc. to help, Mrs. Langhenhofen's life is still different.

After thinking about it, the main reason why she could leave home for a short while was because Henry's brother Joannis was at home. He was a doctor and liked children very much, but he was not married.

She did not elaborate on the situation at home, but Langhenhofen himself was actually proficient in medicine, but it was not as obvious as his former role as Brabantine's lawyer.

Under Langhenhoven's initiative, the "Exhibition Tax Chamber of Commerce" built such a building on the edge of the Seine River. They also had to pay taxes. Why not go indoors instead of being exposed to the wind and sun outside?

In fact, most of the small vendors were ungrateful, and they moved to the open space next to the pier, but there were many types of goods, and it was not just food that needed to be exhibited. For example, the first Industrial Expo in Paris was mainly intended to show other countries that Paris had returned to

In the commercial field, there are more than 100 booths, including carpets, clothing, wallpapers, porcelain, glass products, watches, etc. The second industrial expo has steam engines, metal molds, chemical equipment, new textile machines, etc., all of which are French

Self-developed.

If you change the name, you will be familiar with "expo", the world's fair, but the main products on display at the Brussels Exhibition and Trade Center this time are not industrial products, but hundreds of beers. These are brewers from all over Belgium. If Georgiana

If you try a sip one by one, you will have to get drunk.

In addition, there are clocks, gems, leather goods, accessories, umbrellas, antiques, etc., which are displayed like a window display. It happened that Georgiana wanted to buy some Christmas gifts, so she bought some.

When she said "buy", she actually just pointed to a certain product and said how much she wanted. It was like this was a department store, but there was only one customer and everyone was surrounding her.

It's just that the lack of shopping bags made her feel insecure. In department stores in the 21st century, there will always be "drivers" carrying large and small bags, following a fashionably dressed woman. Then she fell in love with a dress made of wool.

She was wearing a black coat with a gray fur collar on it. She tried it on and found it "surprisingly" fit. Then she didn't intend to return it and continued shopping in this dress.

Padma also took the opportunity to "buy" one, and the girls also "bought" after seeing this. Even if their clothes didn't fit, there were Bertin and the seamstresses, but they didn't touch anything when they passed by the jewelry district.

One bracelet was enough to buy dozens of pieces of clothing for them, but Georgiana stopped when she passed a shop selling amethyst.

The fine amethyst has the same color as wine. The amethyst in this booth is a bit blue. It is made into the shape of lotus flowers of different sizes. It can be opened and closed, and when put together it looks like an egg.

The small lotus flower is suitable for making a brooch, and the large lotus flower can be used as a candlestick. When the candle burned to the position of the lotus heart, she almost bought it impulsively.

The price of amethyst at this time was about the same as that of ruby, but just when she was about to move on, the jeweler started selling it with a eloquent tongue.

In Roman mythology, Bacchus, the god of wine, played a drunken prank by letting wild beasts chase a girl named Amestre. The girl fled in panic, and happened to be seen by Diana, the goddess of hunting. In order to protect the girl from danger,

She cast a spell to mutilate the girl and turned her into a stone sculpture.

After Bacchus sobered up, he regretted it endlessly. Feeling sad and guilty, he sprinkled the wine on the sculpture, and the stone turned into amethyst.

Queen Catherine also liked amethyst. She once sent people to search for it in the Ural Mountains. The amethyst in this booth came from the same mine as the amethyst the queen liked.

She knew that Bonaparte currently wanted to establish good relations with Russia. What could be more direct than sending money?

Georgiana placed an order and asked the boss to make a batch of the same brooches. She planned to give them to the ladies attending the dinner party at the Boucher Castle today. It would be really shabby to just send French perfume as a "Christmas gift".

The boss was beaming with joy, and the jewelers at other booths looked at him with jealous eyes.

While walking to the next booth, Georgiana asked Leila to remember to tell him to use Russian amethyst when handing the list to the boss. Then she told Shaptal that if Belgium did not have enough amethyst,

, you can ask Tsarist Russia’s minister in Europe if she knows where to find amethyst. She wants to transfer the goods and send them out before Christmas.

Then Schaptal asked Georgiana what she planned to use as a Christmas gift to the Tsar, or should she use porcelain as last year?

Georgiana thought for a while and shook her head. She planned to send a sugar jar to Tsar Alexander filled with French candies made from beet sugar.
Chapter completed!