In the middle of April on the lunar calendar, the weather in the capital has become very hot. Hong Gouzi, known as Rat Night, got up early in the morning and walked around the streets with a few followers carrying several enamel jars.
By the time I was shopping around noon, I had no more enamel on my hands.
"Second brother, I'm a little hungry after walking around at noon. What should we eat for lunch today?" The little follower came over, touched his belly, and asked his boss a little shyly what he had eaten.
A few of them were able to wander around the streets with Hong Gouzi all the time just to make a living. These days, half-grown kids like them are not looking for jobs, so it is good luck to have the opportunity to make a living with others.
Hong Gouzi, with these helpers, will usually take care of a meal at noon, and will give him a few cents as a reward at the end of the day. Every time at noon, these helpers will either overtly or covertly urge Hong Gouzi to ask for a meal.
.
"The shipment is going fast today, so we have some free time. Wuzi, you go buy a chicken, and we'll go back to the shed to cook the chicken." Hong Gouzi said as he took out more than thirty cents and handed it to Wuzi, the follower, and asked him to
He went to buy chicken.
With the business of reselling enamel, Hong Gouzi's business has become more formalized. They occupied a small shack in a small alley on the street as a stronghold. Usually, some miscellaneous things would be placed in the shack and used as a base.
A stove is convenient for cooking at noon.
It is very expensive to buy cooked food outside, especially meat. Build a shack and put a broken clay pot, and buy some meat, bread, and grains at noon. It is cheap and delicious. This is the most enjoyable time for these children.
Wuzi, the little follower, took Hong Gouzi's money with his dark hands and bought a chicken and some cereals in a blink of an eye with his broken shoes, and then the gang of boys started running around in confusion.
Busy cooking.
Looking at the chicken cooked in the broken clay pot, the young men's mouth watered with greed. To be honest, the rice they cooked was not much different from what beggars ate. In later generations, even children in poor areas would not eat this way.
But in the slums of Beijing now, their life is enough for other children to envy.
The chicken that had been stewed for a while was ready to be eaten quickly. The young men took the bowls and chopsticks they had prepared and snatched up all the chicken in the clay pot. Some people couldn't get enough and could only pour more soup cakes.
eat!
Hong Gouzi didn't need to grab it. His meal was prepared by a follower. Holding a damaged enamel jar, Hong Gouzi was eating chicken beautifully. A man suddenly appeared at the door of the shack. He took a closer look.
Isn't this the eunuch who was accompanying Eunuch Cao? Hong Gouzi quickly put down the food in his hand and went to greet him.
"Lu Gan, why do you have time to look for me today? We are having dinner, why don't you have some too?" Hong Gouzi rubbed his hands and greeted the visitor.
The eunuch Lu who came here had no intention of entering the shack. He waved his hands with a look of disgust and said, "I won't eat any of your food. I came here to tell you something. You will come to Cao Governor in person in the afternoon."
Come to the office, the governor wants to talk to you about something serious."
After saying that, Eunuch Lu went away minding his own business. Although he was also a young eunuch, he would definitely not be able to bear it if he and these beggar-like boys were left to stay in this shabby shack. If it weren't for Hong Gouzi and
Their leader, the eunuch, had some friendship, and he would not condescend to come to such a shabby place.
Eunuch Cao has something important to do with me again? Looking at Eunuch Lu who had gone away, Hong Gouzi muttered in his heart. These days, Hong Gouzi made some money by exchanging enamel from Eunuch Cao. After one month
Being able to get two or three taels of silver was a lot of money for a child. This time Eunuch Cao came to see me. Could it be that there were changes in the transaction? I heard rumors that the job of collecting rat tails was going to stop! There are no rat tails.
Since then, he and Eunuch Cao have lost their friendship, and the enamel business will probably be difficult to maintain.
Feeling anxious, Hong Gouzi hurried to Eunuch Cao's newly built public house in the afternoon.
"My dear, I wish you well, father-in-law. You are well." Hong Gouzi knelt on the ground and gave Lao Ban a big salute.
"The dog is here? Get up quickly! Of course the Za family came to you today because they have something to say. In recent days, it has become increasingly difficult to keep the rat tail. The palace is ready to stop and wait until the next half year. But the Za family is here
The business has not stopped, otherwise we would not have set up such a public house. The Zajia family still wants to let you handle the future business, I wonder if you are willing?"
Eunuch Cao's words were full of twists and turns, which made Hong Gouzi's mood fluctuate greatly. But finally he calmed down when he heard Eunuch Cao say that future business deals would be settled for him. He quickly knelt on the ground and saluted Eunuch Cao.
He opened his mouth and said, "I thank my father-in-law for the meal."
"Just accept it. I'll still be doing things for the palace this time, but it's a bit messy, so don't get tired of it."
"What are you talking about, father-in-law? As long as there is food to eat, how can a young man despise errands? It is a great favor that father-in-law can give me a job."
"This time, you are taking people to collect urine in the alleys nearby. The price charged by the palace is one penny and two cents, and the price you collect from the households is one penny. This price is the official price, and it will be the same everywhere.
.You can start working from tomorrow.”
Collecting urine? Hong Gouzi never expected this strange errand. However, he has been in business for so long, and his mind has become a lot more flexible. A pound of urine can be converted into two cents, so collecting several thousand pounds of urine a day seems to be enough.
I can earn one tael of silver. But is it easy to collect these several thousand kilograms of urine?
"How much urine does father-in-law have to make in a day? I'm afraid that I won't be able to collect much of this stuff."
"You little clever guy are afraid that you won't make any money! Don't worry, there are only about ten public houses in this business palace. You are the only one who can do this in the area where you live. There are tens of thousands of people, and one day
It's not a problem to collect thousands of kilograms. Don't worry about doing your business. I can't lose anything to you. But the Za family has promised you that the stuff you handed over can't be adulterated to fool people. The palace has ways to check whether it is adulterated or not.
, if it is discovered that it has been adulterated, both the family and you will lose your job."
The reason why Eunuch Cao asked Cao Gouzi to do this is that they are familiar with each other and know that he can do things reliably, and it is cheap and efficient for him to do this. It is actually very easy to test whether urine is mixed with water, because it
The phosphorus extraction rate is fixed. One hundred pounds of urine can steam out about two pounds of phosphorus. If it is lower than this standard, it is naturally adulterated! The goods collected at each collection point will be steamed separately, and it is easy to find out which point
The goods contained moisture. This is why Eunuch Cao specially asked Hong Gouzi to handle this matter. It would be easy to be deceived if left to others.
There are only so many people in the palace, and the amount of phosphorus produced from the urine collected now is only about 100 kilograms a day, which is definitely difficult to meet the demand for large-scale use of muskets. Fortunately, Beijing is a large city with a population of over one million, and the residents are concentrated, and commercial buildings are used.
This method can solve the problem of supply volume. However, the cost is not low. Zhu Youjian roughly estimated that the cost of collecting phosphorus alone in a year is hundreds of thousands. This output is not large! If there is more in the future
Conditions require that the real primer raw materials be found.