Section 25 Continuing the Travel Notes of Dongmen City
Section 25 Continuation of Dongmen City Travel Notes
"I didn't expect that Mr. Liu of yours is not only a famous doctor, but also proficient in the art of Tao and Zhu."
"The third master is indeed a strange person!" the steward praised sincerely, "Runshitang is in the situation it is today, thanks to the help of the third master."
"So Australians are quite capable."
"Who says it's not the case? They are good at farming, working, fighting, building houses, and doing business. There are many things they don't know how to do."
"Let's go, find a place to rest." Li Luo closed his fan and said.
Gu Baocheng knew that his uncle's intention was to do business with the Australians, but when he arrived at the wholesale place of Australian goods, he was unmoved. He felt strange and quickly reminded Li Luoyou.
"It's okay." Li Luoyou shook his head, "This is a wholesale place for small customers, let's just take a look." Li Luoyou had other plans. He came here originally to meet with Australians to discuss business.
The Australians will definitely give themselves a much larger discount. Li Luoyou believes that the resources in his hands are enough to kill the Australians' prices.
Just as he was about to go out, he heard a commotion at the door and saw a female cooperative worker in a blue cloth skirt waving a small pennant and leading a dozen people in from the door.
"Come, dear guests! This is the largest commodity wholesale market in Lingao - the Cooperative Head Office! This store has more than a thousand kinds of goods of all kinds. From the mirrors used by the queen to the pickles eaten by the common people... everyone
Take a good look, there are all kinds of Australian products, and you can make money if you buy them back! It’s not easy to come to Lingao, so I’d be sorry for my legs if I don’t buy more...”
The female waiter was holding a triangular paper tube while shouting and waving a pennant. Followed by a group of traders, they were a little timid when they first came to such a splendid and magnificent store and looked around.
"Everyone has a cup of tea first. You are welcome. Take your time and look at it carefully. There is plenty of time." As he said this, a female waiter brought trays of cups, including hot tea, herbal tea, kombucha, and kvass.
, so that the vendors who got off the boat and queued for a long time through customs and rode in an oxcart for a long time could calm down.
These are the small traders who came to Gao to sell goods. After the rescue of Haijia's five-masted ship, the traders on the ship discovered a much closer channel for goods, so they later made a special trip to Gao to sell goods. At that time, in the external liaison department
Xiong Buyou was interested in promoting the light industrial products of Chuanchuan Group, so he quickly discussed with the executive committee whether to organize a "one-day trip to Dongmen City" for these people?
So this one-day trip to Dongmen City has continued. As soon as the vendors pass the customs, they will be organized, and a dozen people will pull into specially prepared ox carts and go shopping in batches.
The prosperity, cleanliness, and orderliness of Dongmen City are an eye-opener for small businessmen. The dazzling array of various products makes them itchy. There are too many new things here that are not seen in the mainland: there are now gradually
Thick "towels" popular among urban residents in Guangzhou, sewing needles with excellent steel mouths, snow-white sugar, colorful candies, and light, soft and breathable knitted socks, no need for flint, just scratch it anywhere.
Small wooden sticks that can light fire, white and smooth paper... and many kinds of food and wine that I have never seen before...
The dazzling array of goods dazzled the small merchants, and everyone was trying to figure out which items could be sold for a lot of money after being sold back. But to buy these items, neither silver nor copper coins were useful. Only “pieces of paper”—trading coupons—were accepted here.
There was a long queue in the lobby of Delong Grain Store. Small businessmen all went to Delong Grain Store. They first bought rice chips of brown rice with money according to today's grain price, and then exchanged the rice chips at the counter for circulation coupons.
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Over time, in order to facilitate customers, Delong not only set up exchange points in Dongmen City, but also set up temporary exchange points in some designated stores to facilitate customers.
In the past, there was only one shopping mall. After the second general meeting, this kind of wholesale point expanded to many places, including the cooperative after "nationalization", Tianchu Sauce Garden, and even Runshitang also joined this large number of places.
In the system of collecting and using circulating coupons, Yang Shixiang is willing to collect a large number of circulating coupons mainly because he needs to pay for services such as buying machines from the Cross-Travel Group.
There is also a newly opened specialized rattan store. It displays many new styles of rattan that have never been seen before, including various rattan furniture, daily necessities and tools - Lingao has traditionally exported red and white rattan as its largest export.
Wu Kuangming felt that it was a pity that such a good resource could only export primary products. He set up a rattan workshop to develop rattan products. These products have certain special characteristics and require a larger display space, either in a commercial hall or
It was not suitable for the cooperative to sell on a consignment basis, so the Ministry of Commerce opened a special rattan store.
When small businessmen buy good products, each store charges the freight and packs them for them. The post office collects and consigns them together. When they get on the return ship of Gaoguang Shipping Line, the packaged goods are already loaded in the bottom hold.
The routes of Gaoguang Shipping have also expanded from the simple Guangzhou-Lingao to Guangzhou-Qiongshan, Guangzhou-Xuwen, Lingao-Qiongshan and other regular routes. The concept of fixed liner has been introduced, which has expanded the customer source group.
One-day shopping tours in Dongmen City have gradually become popular due to the vigorous promotion of the Cross Travel Group. Small traders welcome such thoughtful arrangements. Since then, there have been more and more merchants trafficking goods in Laigao. In addition to simply bringing cash for purchases, there are also
Many people began to bring goods for trading. Many goods are now shipped directly by merchants from the mainland without purchasing from Guangzhou, which not only meets the needs of the traveling people, but also meets the needs of the general public for daily necessities. This has a great impact on the entire Linzhou area.
High social supply is not without its benefits - the Cross-Travel Group cannot manufacture everything by itself.
Li Luoyou watched with great interest as this group of small businessmen loudly commented on the quality of the goods in the store and speculated on how much money they could make. It was the first time they came here and they didn't understand the rules and had to bargain. The female clerk was very interested.
He just pointed at the "No counteroffer" sign with his finger and smiled without saying a word.
Australians not only welcome big business, but also spare no effort to treat such small customers. They fear that they will not take good care of them. What is the purpose of doing this? And judging from the introduction just now and my own perception, Australians do not like money. They want money.
It must be goods - not the most popular foreign goods such as silk and porcelain, but ordinary goods: iron, coal, cloth, grain, wood...
He was suddenly shocked - Australians want everything for national and people's livelihood! This idea suddenly broke into his mind. When he thought about Jiannu and his trade, the most important things were food and ironware, and they were often willing to export large quantities of them.
Price buying - this is similar to the Australians.
After coming out of the cooperative, the manager saw that they were a little tired, so he opened a private room in the cooperative restaurant. Li Mei was checking the accounts in the cooperative restaurant. When she heard that a distinguished guest was coming, she came out to entertain them in person.
Li Luoyou saw this Australian woman who was "doing big business" wearing only a very simple green cloth skirt and jacket, with short hair that reached her ears, no jewelry on her body, and not an inch of silk. This outfit was from Guangzhou.
Even the most respectable maids from wealthy families can't compare to her.
Li Luoyou was very impressed that the business was so big and the enjoyment was so simple - at least he couldn't do it.
Li Mei had already known about the arrival of shopkeeper Li, and she was even more attentive. She specially presented the highest-grade bird's nest, coconut milk and mixed fructose syrup, which was smooth, fragrant and cool, and contained many unknown contents.
The fruits made Li Luoyou, who is not a fan of desserts, very satisfied. As for Quark, his eyes were straight from eating them.
Li Luoyou then looked for an opportunity to inquire about the internal affairs of the Australians. However, although the female Australian had a diligent attitude, she would either look away from him or just smile at his questioning.
He's quite a ruthless character! Li Luoyou thought to himself. According to the manager's introduction, this Li Mei should be a powerful figure among Australians, and seems to be some kind of "minister". Now that we have met once, we still have to treat him well.
It's just a perfunctory thing, as there is no guarantee that she will be of any use in the future.
As soon as she thought about it, she changed the subject, her words became very sincere, and she even praised the cooperative's management. As expected, Li Mei's face showed a proud look.
Seeing that the time was almost up, Li Luoyou winked. Sao Ye was already prepared and took out a brocade box from his bag:
"It's just a small gift from Liaodong local products, I hope you'll accept it." He cupped his hands, "There will be many places that Minister Li will take care of in the future."
"Where do we start talking about this? Your old lady is out of touch -" Li Mei smiled like a flower. She took the box and opened it. It was a ginseng with all the roots and leaves. Even according to the value of this time and space, it is still a valuable gift.
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This made her hesitate. Recently, she really wanted to buy a few ginseng sticks for herself and the old man to keep for winter tonic. But according to the regulations, expensive gifts must be handed over, and if she wants to keep them, she has to pay them at the market price.
It wasn't that she was stingy with the money - the ginseng was in such good quality that it was cost-effective to buy it herself. But the relationship between shopkeeper Li and her was unclear, so would accepting the gift hastily cause any sequelae? She
As a person who has suffered a loss once, he has to be cautious in this matter.
After careful consideration, I returned the ginseng.
"This gift is too heavy," she said, "I deserve it."
After repeated offers, the other party still declined politely. Li Luoyou used ginseng as a stepping stone, and it always worked wherever he went, but now the other party actually refused. It was quite surprising.
Li Mei had some perfunctory talk with them before she left. After a while, someone brought four cotton bags. The bags were extremely delicately made, dense and neat. There were fonts embroidered with colorful silk threads on the bags: "
A gift from the Cooperative Association."
"This is Minister Li's idea."
Instead of accepting a gift from myself, I gave a gift to myself instead. I was surprised when I opened it and found that inside was the most popular and popular product among Australians, two towels, one large and one small. They were dyed in blue and white patterns.
Pay attention to.
Although it is a very popular Australian product, it is quite practical in Lingao. After all, it is of very low value. Is there anything special about sending it specially?
This Australian's thoughts are really different. Li Luoyou has a strange feeling: he and the slaves have more in common. At least he can understand the thoughts of the barbarians. But he feels completely different about this group of people.
Not to the north.
"Let's go shopping again." Li Luoyou waved his fan.
When he reached the intersection, he saw a building made of the best red bricks. After asking, he found out that this was the place where market trade was managed. There was someone standing guard at the door, probably a government office or something like that. But on the steps
People were coming in and out at the gate, and the people on duty did not stop them from questioning them. Li Luoyou became interested and wanted to go in and have a look.
"There's nothing to see in there." The manager said, "It's just a place to do business."
"It's okay, I just want to see how to do something." He said and walked up the steps.
There is really nothing to see in this Yamen. Australian houses have a large number of windows with glass, so the house is always bright. This makes Li Luoyou who is used to the dim light in the house not very accustomed to it. He cannot imagine himself in such a house.
Things can be done here.
There is a large table on display in the middle, with three objects placed on it. One is a huge balance scale. There are many weights placed next to it. One is a ruler that seems to be made of steel, and the last one is a small bucket made of iron sheet.
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There is a sign in front of the big table that says "Weighing Scale Office". The manager said that this place is specially used to store standard weighing instruments. Anyone who buys or sells items on the street and has doubts about the size and weight can come here to check.
If you don’t know how to use it, there are dedicated book offices to help.
Li Luoyou nodded and took a closer look. The size seemed to be different from that of the Ming Dynasty. If you look carefully, the scale of the ruler is called "meter", the scale of the weight is called "kilogram", and there is a unit called "gong stone".
The bucket is the volume, which is called "liter".
"These weights and measures should have been brought from Australia."
"It should be." The steward said, "It is different from the standard of this dynasty." He pointed to the "meter ruler" and said, "This ruler is about three feet more than the standard ruler of this dynasty."
"That's it?"
"These three scales have been installed since the opening of Dongmen City," the manager said. "Originally, whether a foot is long or short, and a pound is heavy or small, everyone said they were the most accurate. With these three things
Once the scales are accurate, there will be no dispute about the length when doing business. If you are not convinced, just come here to weigh and measure. Everyone finds it convenient, so they all use it."
Setting up private weights and measures. Li Luoyou added another crime to the Australians. He turned around and saw a large room on the left side of the atrium separated from the atrium by a half-person-high wooden fence. There was a door on the fence, which was now locked.
Inside is a long table arranged in a horseshoe shape. The middle table is high up. Hanging on the wall behind the middle table is a huge wooden sculpture, which looks a bit like a European coat of arms. There is a red sun on the top, a scale in the middle, and a wavy pattern on the bottom.
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"It's more like a court." Quark suddenly said.
This reminded Li Luoyou that it was indeed very similar to a European court. When he asked, he found that it was indeed a "place where cases are tried," and the official name is "Dongmen City Simple Court."
According to the steward, this court specializes in all kinds of trivial cases, such as littering, fighting, shortfalls, and stealing. It is also responsible for hearing small-amount trade disputes and filling out and issuing notarial certificates and other legal documents. The trial is very simple.
In a few words, if the facts are clear, the case will be decided in court, and more than a dozen cases can be tried in half a day.
Generally, if there is no plaintiff or defendant in the Sheriff's Department, the case will be closed directly by the court. For example, if someone is caught stealing by the police, going to the court is just a formality. After the verdict is read out, he will be directly recruited into the labor camp to work as a free coolie.
If the defendant is the defendant, both parties must first spend money to buy standard official paper to fill out the complaint. This kind of official paper is in a unified format and printed uniformly, and all legal documents are written on this paper.
"Is there any office certificate document here?" Li Luoyou suddenly asked.
"Yes, there are, but few people do it. Everyone doesn't understand it very well..." The steward pointed to a row of picture frames hanging on the wall, "It's all written on it."
"Let's go and take a look." Li Luoyou greeted Quark.
Luoyou Li read it carefully, and exchanged a few words with Quark from time to time. Quark could speak Chinese but could not read it, so he could only judge based on Li Luoyu's narration.
"...According to what you said, these Australians use the European legal system." Li Luoyou said, "At least this notarial certificate does not exist in the Ming Dynasty."
"Yes, there are these laws. If this was enacted by Australians, then the people who made the laws must be familiar with Roman Law and various civil codes." Quark said, "I know little about the law, but according to you
The Australian judicial system is obviously related to Europe, but it is different." He shook his head, "I have a feeling that they should be smarter than us."
"Better than your motherland?" Li Luoyou joked.
"Haha, how can my motherland compare?" Quark made no secret, "An overseas colony can do this. I don't know what the mother country is like. I really want to see it."
After leaving the management office, the sun was already setting, and the pedestrians on the street had dispersed. The street became empty and quiet. Quark bought some small things on the street and said he planned to ask someone to take them back as gifts.
At this time, a sharp whistling sound suddenly came from the air, coming closer and closer, as if some monsters were screaming one after another. Gu Baocheng's face turned pale. Li Luoyou also felt a shiver in his heart.
I wanted to check where the sound was coming from. The manager quickly reassured me: "It's not a problem! It's the whistle that comes from the morning shift."
The whistling sound was one long and one short, and it sounded seventeen times in a row. Soon after the sound, there were more and more groups of people wearing greasy blue coarse cloth on the road. They were like a tide, and they were crowded all at once.
The entire Dongmen City.
The craftsmen were talking and laughing loudly while flocking to the cheap hotels and restaurants. The food stalls on the roadside also became energetic and started shouting hard.
Dongmen Market was suddenly filled with a strange smell of sweat, oil and food. The originally deserted market suddenly became full of life again.