Zhou Wendong said: "The current situation is not good this year, and the land production is not much. Besides, the grain obtained by farmers in a year is not as much as the goods produced by workers in a month. The goods produced by workers in a month are not as much as the capital obtained by merchants in a day. The profits are ahead, and common people will make their own choices, no wonder everyone wants to go to business."

Huang Laifu shook his head: "The common people are ignorant and short-sighted, and only care about small profits in front of them, but cannot see the future situation. In ancient times, gold, silver, pearls and jade, hunger, cannot eat, thirst, and cannot drink, which is worse than grain, silk and hemp. The wind of chasing the ground is prospering, and there is insufficient crops, and with great disasters and droughts, if a villain is provoked, it will cause great trouble."

Huang Laifu disagreed with Zhou Wendong's words. Although he was rich without work and business could not survive. However, when agriculture was unstable, if everyone wanted to do business, it would be just putting the cart before the horse.

Many people in later generations talked about the United States as the world's largest commercial power, and they became rich by business. In fact, many people do not know that the United States is also the world's largest agricultural power and the world's largest industrial power. It is modern Britain. Without the abundant development of agriculture, there would never be any development of commerce and handicrafts.

The situation in the Ming Dynasty was putting the cart before the horse. At that time, the Ming Dynasty pursued money with a strong taste, and the people abandoned farmers and went to business are very common. Suzhou Geography, Volume 4 of "Siyouzhai Congshuo" says: "There are few people who went to the end in the past, but now they have gone to farm and changed their business to business three times before. In the past, there were no people who were idle, but now they have gone to farm and eat while they are still 20 to 100% of them. Generally speaking, in the words of ten people, they have already gone to farm and have already left the farm."

Yizhen County, Yangzhou: Volume 7 of "Jiajing Yizhen Zhi": "Suxie merchants do not engage in agriculture... The fields are more than one-tenth of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10th of the 10

This deformed abandonment of agriculture and commerce has only occurred in the commercially developed area of ​​Jiangnan before. Unexpectedly, this trend is now spreading to the north.

Zhou Wendong pondered for a long time and said, "Can't you still transfer food from Jiangnan?"

Huang Laifu shook his head, "Far water cannot quench near thirst. The north is vast, so you can't rely on Jiangnan, right?"

In fact, because of the development of commerce in Jiangnan at that time, the annual sowing area of ​​economic crops in the Jiangnan area was increasing, while the sowing area of ​​grain and rice was decreasing every year. The supply of grain in Jiangnan itself was in short supply and there was not much spare time to supply the north.

Zhou Wendong looked a little dissatisfied, and the two chatted a few more times. Although they had different opinions, they were quite good. Huang Laifu asked about this guy. It turned out that he was also from Gujiao County and was a scholar. Seeing that the year was not good, he planned to go to Taiyuan City to join the uncle of the Silk Village and go there to make an account.

Huang Laifu talked to him for a few words and found that this guy had a lot of experience in accounting and accounting, and also knew some Western red barbarians' duplex bookkeeping methods, which were quite close to the later generations' borrowing and credit accounting methods. Huang Laifu couldn't help but feel sorry for his work in various farms in Wuzhaibao. He was about to recruit a capable account room to share the worries of Butler Yang, but he missed it.

The two chatted for a few more times, then broke up and entered Taiyuan Prefecture.

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There is Xuanwen Mountain in the west, Mengshan in the northwest, Fen River in the east, and Dongwo River in the southeast, which originates from Leping and flows into Fen. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Taiyuan Prefecture had 25 counties under its jurisdiction, with 121,043 households and 990,450 people.

The Ming Dynasty was established in 1368 AD. Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, appointed his third son as King of Jin and stationed in Taiyuan. The King of Jin asked his father-in-law Xie Cheng to expand Taiyuan City. The city wall was built east, south and north, and a city wall of 14 kilometers and about 18 meters high was built outside bricks, with eight doors. The moat outside the city was 10 meters deep, and 4 corner buildings were built, 92 small buildings and 32 enemy platforms, making it a castle that was more solid than an iron urn.

Huang Laifu and his group entered the Zhenwu Gate and walked into Taiyuan City. They saw that it was extremely prosperous and the shops were endless. This was one of the important towns on the nine sides and the base camp of Shanxi merchants. Naturally, merchants gathered together and goods and wealth were gathered. Various grain shops, oil noodles shops, silk shops, teahouses, and money shops were everywhere, full of markets and prosperity.

Many streets in the city are named after industries, such as Dongmi City, Ximi City, Dong, Xiyang City, Zuoyi City, Cotton Lane, etc. Businessmen everywhere are conducting business of silk, cotton, cloth, porcelain, paper, grain, sugar, tea, dyes, medicinal materials, etc. Walking on the street, your eyes full of shouting.

The civic culture in the Ming Dynasty was very mature, and Taiyuan was even more so, as an important commercial city in the Ming Dynasty. There were all kinds of people walking on the streets, all kinds of goods carried by donkeys, and the teahouses were filled with guests every day. The green willows were shaded, and the branches were smoky and smoked in the willow alleys were bustling with people, and all kinds of accents could be heard.

All of this in front of him only stunned Gu Yunniang, Jiang Dazhong and others. How could they have seen such a lively place? However, Huang Laifu just looked at everything in front of him with a curious look and appreciated the cultural customs of the important commercial town of the Ming Dynasty at that time. In terms of prosperity, he had seen enough in Beijing and Shanghai in later generations.

Several people were walking on the street, and suddenly heard a surprised voice beside them, "It turns out that it is really Master Huang, the younger one has finally waited for the eldest young master."

Huang Laifu looked at him, but he was dressed as a servant, nodding and bowing to him.

Huang Laifu said in confusion: "You are..."

The man said, "The youngest is a friend of the old boss Qu's family. That day, he was in Wuzhai Fort, and the youngest even gave gifts to the adults."

Huang Laifu remembered that this person was a servant next to Qu Tingzhu and Qu Liangwan, and a person responsible for the role of holding a silk gift box.

The man said with a smile: "The boss has been instructing me to wait for Master Huang here. I waited for many days in a row and finally arrived." I was overjoyed.

Huang Laifu nodded, remembering what he promised Qu Tingzhu at Wuzhai Fort. He just said it casually at that time, but he didn't expect that Qu Tingzhu would really send someone to wait here, which would save himself money from the inn.

Huang Laifu whispered to Gu Yunniang and others, and said to the man: "Thank you for your hard work." He rewarded him with a piece of silver.

The man was even more happy and said repeatedly: "Thank you, Young Master, Thank you, Young Master." He said diligently: "Young Master, please come with the younger one."

He looked at Huang Laifu and led the way in front. When he saw Gu Yunniang, Jiang Dazhong, Yang Xiaolu and others beside Huang Laifu, they kept looking around, just like a local bun. However, this young master Huang looked ordinary, as if he had lived in a small poor military fort before, but like a capital. He couldn't help but secretly exclaimed that when he arrived at the provincial capital, he had no reaction at all.

Under the leadership of that person, everyone walked through the streets and alleys. Huang Laifu looked around and felt the charm of his eyes. This kind of walking through the streets and alleys can better appreciate the lives of ordinary citizens.

When I walked to a street and alley in Nanguan City, this area was full of courtyards, all with high walls and rich doors, and wide doors.

When I arrived at a courtyard house in the Qu family was in Taiyuan. The man said to Huang Laifu: "Please wait a moment here, and the younger one should hurry in and report to the old boss."

Huang Laifu nodded and the man went in. Soon, Qu Tingzhu brought Qu Liangwan and others to greet him.

Qu Tingzhu moved his fat body and bowed and laughed: "After the farewell of Wuzhai Fort, I have been waiting in the house. Today I finally waited until the eldest young master came to Taiyuan." Qu Liangwan beside him also smiled and bowed to Huang Laifu with a slight smile.

Huang Laifu was not polite either, but just clasped his fists and said, "I'm here to disturb the shopkeeper Qu this time."

Qu Tingzhu laughed and said, "Young Master is so polite, please come inside."

At that moment, Huang Laifu and others entered the courtyard, and the horses of Huang Laifu and others were naturally led away by the servants of the Qu family.

※※※

"Haha, young master, please try this squid rolled fish belly. This was made by the chef from the capital."

Qu Tingzhu said to Huang Laifu with a smile. Huang Laifu nodded slightly, stretched out his chopsticks and tasted it.

During the dinner, Qu Tingzhu specially welcomed Huang Laifu and others to clean the air and dust, and made four sets of large mats. These four sets of large mats were clear soup fish bones, chicken shredded rolls, fresh shrimps and sea cucumbers, slightly wheat, roasted tendons, squid rolls, roasted fish belly, braised scallops, braised shark fins, steamed fish skin, chicken slices, stewed bird eggs, fried Buddha hands, braised three silks, pearl balls, fish fillets, meat fire roast, rice noodles.

Four tables were invited, all of whom were merchants, famous men and important figures from the Qu family in Taiyuan City. They also invited a Shanxi Bangzi singing opera. In addition to these, there were more than a dozen girls standing with their hands standing around the luxurious hall, carefully serving everyone.

Looking at all this in front of him, Huang Laifu couldn't help but sigh in his heart. People said that the Ming people and merchants were competing for extravagance and were complimenting wealth and fighting for beauty. It was indeed good. Looking at the luxurious situation in front of him, and then looking at the gathering of refugees everywhere, it was really touching.

"Young Master, can these dishes fit your taste?"

Qu Tingzhu glanced at Gu Yunniang, who was eating very happily beside Huang Laifu, and laughed at Huang Laifu. The dishes in front of him were not eaten by ordinary people in Taiyuan City. The people from Wuzhaibao, whether Gu Yunniang in the table, Jiang Dazhong, Yang Xiaolu and others, were all having a lot of fun, only Huang Laifu had a faint expression.

It seemed that these dishes were just ordinary things to him, which surprised Qu Tingzhu a little. Isn’t this young master Huang a poor military fortress? Even in Qianhu’s house, he couldn’t eat such good goods. Why didn’t he feel anything? But he didn’t know that such dishes were not special to Huang Laifu in later generations.

Huang Laifu nodded and smiled and said, "It's not bad, Old Manager Qu is kind." This Qu Tingzhu admired his small family so much and invited so many people to accompany him, which surprised Huang Laifu.

"Haha, that's good, that's good, as long as the eldest young man doesn't blame me for being careless," Qu Tingzhu smiled. He was enthusiastic, and only Qu Liangwan next to him barely kept a smile, occasionally raising his cup to Huang Laifu.

Huang Laifu drank another glass of wine. A girl about fifteen or sixteen years old, wearing light blue clothes and having a pair of buns on her head, came to drink with Huang Laifu. A faint fragrance came. Huang Laifu looked at her unconsciously and couldn't help but feel a little surprised.

It’s not that this girl is very beautiful, but that this girl’s eyes are clear and her whole person looks very pure, which makes Huang Laifu very strange that such a pure person would have appeared in the Qu family, a merchant land.
Chapter completed!