Chapter 143: Swallowing Clouds and Breathing Fog, I am Qing Dynasty
Chapter 143: Swallowing clouds and spitting smoke, I am clear
What is the concept of one hundred pennies?
In the late Qianlong period, the average price of a dou of rice in the south of the Yangtze River was 140 to 50 cents (a dou of ten kilograms); farmers who worked part-time earned 50 to 70 cents a day, and long-term workers earned an average of about 100 cents a month. One tael of silver). Fifty cents can buy a foot of dark blue cloth or fish white cloth in Shandong. In places like Suzhou, Yangzhou, and Jiangning, the average monthly income of an urban family is around two taels of silver; although it is calculated in terms of silver, What is actually used is to make money, which is about 2,000 to 2,400 Wen.
(The exchange of silver and copper in the Qing Dynasty was not simply one tael of silver for 1,000 coins. This was just the exchange rate desired by the court. In fact, the exchange of silver and copper in a region often depends on the local supply of silver and copper. Once the silver flows in If the amount is too large, silver will be cheap and money will be expensive. For example, during the Northwest War, the local silver supply in Xi'an suddenly increased due to the military pay sent by the imperial court. The exchange rate of silver and copper in Xi'an at that time was one tael of silver to 985 Money.)
At this level, the box of cigarettes in Shen Jingdan’s hand is worth six to eight kilograms of brown rice, the wages of a farmer for two days of part-time work, and 8% to 15% of the monthly income of urban residents. A box of cigarettes worth one hundred yuan, If 10 boxes are shipped in a month, ordinary people will go bankrupt.
A group of businessmen smoked in the flower hall all afternoon, and then began to place orders for cigarettes with Shen and Huang. However, these people only bought four or five hundred boxes in total, and they all said they would take them back to try them out first, if the sales were good. , and then purchase large quantities.
Both Shen and Huang understood that although the tobacco used in the batch of cigarettes Zhao Xin gave them was easy to smoke and had a unique taste, it was still different from Fujian cigarettes.
During this period, in addition to Fujian tobacco produced in Fujian, cut tobacco was also produced in Jiangxi and Hubei.
The secret of why Fujian tobacco is unique in this era is that in addition to adding various spices during production, it also adds oil for frying. This kind of fried tobacco burns quickly and the ash falls to the ground. In addition to being instantly extinguished and not likely to cause a fire, it also has a special fragrance when smoked.
Although the emperors of the three dynasties of Kangxi, Yongzong and Qianlong did not smoke and did not like their courtiers to smoke, they did not prohibit private tobacco cultivation. This was also the main reason for the prosperity of tobacco. For example, the shredded tobacco made by Zhangzhou, Tingzhou, Pucheng and Xinghua in Fujian They are sold all over the country. Especially Jianyan produced in Pucheng has become a tribute purchased by the palace every year.
As for the reason why later British and American cigarettes entered China and became so popular, in addition to the large-scale manufacturing using industrial equipment, a huge sales system, strong capital support, and overwhelming advertising and promotion methods, cigarettes also replaced traditional cigarette rods and pots. important reasons.
Faced with the unsatisfactory start, Lao Huang was a little discouraged. If he had known better, he would not have brought so many cigarettes back. You must know that when leaving Beihai Town, Zhao Xin gave the two of them eight thousand boxes of cigarettes. If they could not sell these, the tobacco would If it gets damp after being stored for a long time, hundreds of taels of silver will be wasted.
Shen Jingdan was not in a hurry. He remembered that Zhao Xin told him before leaving that it was not important how much he sold at the beginning. What was important was to establish a huge sales network from cities to rural areas. Only with this network can cigarettes be sold. Very popular.
In the following ten days, Shen and Huang visited various guild halls and did not sell many cigarettes. On the contrary, they sold most of the leather goods.
As for those figurines, they are temporarily placed in the "Huang Shengtai" North and South Grocery Store opened by Lao Huang's family and will be sold slowly.
Seeing that the most valuable goods were almost processed, Shen Jingdan said goodbye to Lao Huang, took his servant Ah Si, hired a small boat, turned from the Wusong River to the South Canal, and headed straight to Yangzhou.
Two days later, the boat docked at the canal pier outside the east gate of Yangzhou City. As soon as he stepped onto the pier, Shen Jingdan couldn't help but blurt out: "I'm finally home."
In the 34th year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty, Wu Guifang, the then magistrate of Yangzhou, built an outer city based on the east wall of Yangzhou City in the Song Dynasty, also known as the "New City", in order to prevent Japanese pirates from invading. The total length of the three sides is more than eight miles.
In the Qing Dynasty, Yangzhou City was under the jurisdiction of Jiangdu and Ganquan counties. The western half of the old city and the southern half of the new city belonged to Jiangdu County, while the eastern half of the old city and the northern half of the new city belonged to Ganquan County.
Shen Jingdan's home is near Dongguan Street in Yangzhou New City, which is under the jurisdiction of Ganquan County. The Dongguan Gate in front of him was originally called "Lijin Gate".
After the master and servant got off the boat, they just entered the Dongguan City Gate when they saw a boy in green clothes, about fourteen or fifteen years old, standing in the shade inside the city gate and looking around.
"Master!" When the young man in green saw Shen Jingdan, he jumped three feet high and shouted and ran over.
"Guisheng, I haven't seen you for half a year. I'm almost as tall as your father!"
Guisheng saluted and said: "Since I received the letter from the master, the day before yesterday, my wife and the second lady asked me to come to the city gate to guard for a while. Fortunately, the master came back on the third day."
As soon as he finished speaking, he stood up, took two bundles from Ah Si and carried them on his shoulders. "Dad, let me help you."
After the three of them passed the city gate, they turned right into Bianyimen Street, which leads directly to Bianyimen in the northeast corner of the new city.
"Guisheng, are the madam and young lady okay?"
"Everything is fine. It's just that Madam has been worried about you and Miss Quan, and they don't eat well every day."
"Well."
Guisheng walked behind Shen Jingdan and asked flatteringly: "Master, next time you go to sea, will you take me with you?"
With a straight face, Ah Si turned around and scolded his son: "Talk too much! What's wrong with you? Just serve the family honestly."
Shen Jingdan just smiled and listened without saying a word. The three of them walked a few dozen steps north from Bianyimen Street and turned west into an alley. The house in the back was Shen's house.
As soon as the three of them reached the door, Guisheng stepped forward and pushed open the courtyard door, letting Shen Jingdan and Ah Si go in first. He followed behind and shouted inside: "Madam! The master is back! The master is back!"
The courtyard of the Shen family is not large, with three entrances from the front and back, covering only over 500 square meters. As soon as Shen Jingdan passed through the foyer and entered the main hall, he saw two servants of the family carrying his wife and little daughter to welcome him out. .
I haven't seen my family for half a year, so I can't help but feel sad.
"Why didn't Sister Quan come back with father?" After Shen Jingdan changed clothes and returned to the back hall, the youngest daughter Ayu suddenly asked.
Mrs. Shen had read Shen Jingdan's letter before, so she naturally knew what was going on. She smiled and said perfunctorily: "Ah Quan is in Japan with Aunt Di right now, and he won't be able to come back for the time being."
"I want to play with Sister Quan, but she's not here, so I'm bored alone."
Mrs. Shen said: "A few years ago, when all your sisters didn't come, I didn't see you complaining. You are not young anymore. After this year, I should find someone to kiss you."
Ayu's face changed, she lowered her head and stopped talking.
Mrs. Shen didn't take it seriously and turned to Shen Jingdan and asked: "Master, how long can you stay when you come back this time?"
"I won't go to Japan for the time being. If I have anything to do in the future, I will go directly to Shanghai to pick up the goods."
Mrs. Shen was overjoyed when she heard her husband say that he would not go to Japan for the time being. Every time her husband went to sea, she would be frightened.
Just when Mrs. Shen was about to speak, Shen Jingdan said again: "Oh, there is one more thing. This time I stayed in Shanghai Lao Huang for a few days, and he wanted to propose marriage to his son."
When the wife heard that someone was proposing marriage to her daughter, she quickly asked: "Who is that?"
Shen Jingdan said: "Who else could it be? The owner of 'Huang Shengtai'. I figured Ayu was still young, so I didn't agree. I'll talk about it in a year or two."
Mrs. Shen said: "You are still young? You are already thirteen this year."
After hearing this, Ayu said anxiously: "Dad, I don't want to get married."
Shen Jingdan nodded and said, "Dad didn't agree. You go to the main hall first. I bought a lot of stuff in Japan. You go ask Ah Si for it."
When Ayu heard this, she quickly asked her servants to help her away. Seeing that her daughter's back was gone, Shen Jingdan said to his wife: "I met two great doctors in Beidi this time. They told me that girls Premature childbirth is very harmful to the body. Therefore, I want Ayu to be married after she is seventeen."
"Seventeen? Then she's an old girl!"
Shen Jingdan ignored his wife's surprise, stood up, called Guisheng, and said: "Go to Ma's house on East Street and ask if the Ma family is home. If he is, tell me that I will visit the house tomorrow."
"Yes, sir." Guisheng responded and went out.
Mrs. Shen asked strangely: "Huh? What are you doing with Mr. Ma?"
"I have a good deal to discuss with him."
The Mr. Ma that Shen Jingdan is talking about is the owner of "Jienan Bookstore", Yangzhou salt merchant Ma Yu. It is said that the most famous thing about the Ma family is their own bookstore, also called "Xiao Linglong Mountain Library".
In the thirty-seventh year of Qianlong's reign, in order to compile the "Sikuquanshu", in view of the insufficient collection of books in the imperial palace, Qianlong instructed the Military Aircraft Department to ask the provincial governors and academic administrators to pay attention to the search for classics, and prepare a catalog in advance to submit to the court. The valuable ones were to be determined. After the bibliography, an order was made to retrieve it, and it was sent to the capital and kept in the inner court, "to highlight the prosperity of ancient Youwen".
Unexpectedly, after the edict was issued, there was very little response from the people. Especially the families in Jiangsu and Zhejiang who inherited poems and books, no one was willing to give the books collected by them for generations to the imperial court. It sounds like they are borrowing, but in fact everyone understands that, then It's just like meat buns beating dogs.
In the thirty-eighth year of Qianlong's reign, Qianlong once again ordered the governors of all provinces to quickly purchase the posthumous documents within half a year. If there was further prevarication, "the only thing the governor should do is ask." Now the governors of the provinces and the academic administration knew that the emperor wanted to take action. , so a large-scale book collection campaign was launched in various places.
The fathers of the Ma Yu family made their fortune from salt, but unlike other salt merchants who liked to build villas and play with thin horses, they loved collecting books and making friends with literati. The Ma family's rich collection of books was praised by people at the time, with as many as 1,385 kinds.
Qianlong had long heard of the name "Xiao Linglong Mountain Pavilion", so he ordered the Lianghuai Salt Administration to search for books from the Ma family. According to the account books of the Ma family's collection, the salt inspector selected 776 kinds of books and submitted them in three batches. ; Worried about omissions, the Salt Patrol Censor conducted private investigations and conducted secret visits to confirm that the Ma family had no other private collections before giving up. As a result, the Ma family became the family with the largest number of private donations of books in the country. Several generations of people worked hard to spread their wealth. The hard work accumulated over the years was finally gone and never came back.
In order to commend the Ma family for ranking first in the country, Qianlong rewarded the Ma family with a collection of ancient and modern books. In addition, he also rewarded many poems written by himself - the thirty-two poems of the imperial poems of Pingding Yili, He composed sixteen poems composed by the emperor of Jinchuan to pacify him, and produced thirty-two winning pictures.
What a lousy thing! Mr. Ma Yuma was so angry that he wanted to curse.
Qianlong wrote more than 40,000 bad poems in his life, and thus took away the Ma family's foundation for several generations "overtly and covertly". The Ma family's "Xiao Linglong Mountain Pavilion" has never recovered since then.
However, Shen Jingdan was not looking for the Ma family for books, but for cigarettes.
The Hanjiang Poetry Society in Yangzhou, which was very influential in the history of the Qing Dynasty, was founded by Ma Yu's father and second uncle. When these literati in the Hanjiang Poetry Society held parties regularly, in addition to drinking and composing poems, the most important thing One thing is smoking.
For example, Li E, who was a member of the poetry club and the leader of the Western Zhejiang Ci School, wrote a poem called "Heavenly Fragrance" during his lifetime, praising tobacco as "better than betel nut and used to burn off the food."
Another example is Quan Zuwang, another famous figure in the society, who actually wrote a poem called "Tamba Hao Fu" during his lifetime!
If we can sell cigarettes to the Hanjiang Poetry Society through the connections of the Ma family, and let the literati of the poetry society write a few poems praising it, then the sales of cigarettes will definitely be huge!
Turning back to Shanghai, Lao Huang has been busy helping Zhao Xin find a house since he handed over all the cigarettes and figurines to the shop.
In order to help the benefactor in Beihai Town find a house, Lao Huang personally took people to Suzhou and Jiangning, and looked at houses every day. When he returned to Shanghai from Suzhou more than ten days later, the shop owner came to his home and told him, Two thousand boxes of cigarettes have been sold!
The shocked Lao Huang hurriedly asked who the buyers were. He thought they were several ship dealers he had bought from before, but unexpectedly the shopkeeper told him they were several brothels in Shanghai County.
"Brother?" Lao Huang asked in surprise: "Why did the brothel buy so many cigarettes?"
The shopkeeper replied with a smile: "My boss, all the girls in brothels smoke nowadays."
"Pa!", Lao Huang slapped his thigh and said: "How could I forget this!"
Since the late Ming Dynasty, smoking has become an indispensable part of the high-end commercial entertainment provided by high-end brothels. As part of the tea party, it has become a common practice for brothels to present tobacco pipes or hookahs to guests.
And those famous prostitutes not only provided tobacco to their customers, but they themselves also smoked to refresh themselves because they often chatted with their customers until late at night.
Nowadays, famous prostitutes are often invited to attend gatherings of literati, so it is normal for them to smoke with them. It is said that beautiful women enjoy tobacco with guests, and their puffing posture fascinates poets. They wrote the poem "Jade lips are filled with breath and they are also beautiful". Of course, they still smoked tobacco pipes or hookahs.
Even though Lao Huang and Shen Jingdan were hanging out with alluring women in Nagasaki every day, it was because they couldn't get out and had nothing to do; but when they returned to China, they rarely went to brothels. So Shen and Huang were together At first, I didn’t even think of brothels as an excellent “sales channel”.
Thinking of this, Lao Huang asked the shopkeeper again: "How much does a box cost in the brothel now?"
"It was hard to sell before, so the owner gave me a 20% discount. I paid it at this price."
"Next time I come back to buy something, I'll give them a 30% discount! The extra 10% discount will be a rebate!"
Thinking that there were more brothels in Jiangning and Suzhou than in Shanghai, Huang immediately decided to bring a batch of cigarettes back to Suzhou!
A few days later, in the early morning, Lao Huang returned to Shanghai with satisfaction. The cigarette sales price he reached in Suzhou reached 80 yuan per box!
Back home, Lao Huang drank tea and smoked a cigarette, sighing secretly in his heart.
"I wish I had planned to come here every month and a half! It's only been more than half a month and it will be out of stock. Mr. Zhao, you must arrive on time!"