443 The girl is here (Part 2)

December of the fifth year of Chongzhen's reign and January of 1633 AD are a rather special period in Qiongzhou Prefecture, Hainan. This is because many people here have gradually started to use the Western calendar according to the short-haired custom.

A few days ago, on the first day of the first lunar month of the Western calendar, all the merchants with some status in the market set off firecrackers for a long time. Why did they set off firecrackers? Because the largest commercial organization here, Qionghai Trading Company, was holding a celebration, so they

It must also be followed up.

Fortunately, although shorthairs use the Western calendar, they pay attention to the festivals of the Central Plains. They pay the most money every year, and the longest holiday is still the Spring Festival. So now at the end of every year, starting from November (lunar calendar), on Hainan Island

The atmosphere will become very lively - the wealthy merchants on the island all follow the short hair method and celebrate Chinese festivals and Western festivals together. From the 14th day of the 11th month of the lunar calendar, which is the 25th day of the twelfth month of the Western calendar, Christmas Day

Various festivals have appeared, and this "festival period" does not end until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month of the following year, after the Lantern Festival and the New Year.

This period is also the prime sales season for merchants and stores. Various promotional tactics learned from Qionghai Trading Company are emerging in endlessly. Many merchants at first thought that the female boss of the trading company was simply crazy - discounts, gifts, etc.

Membership point system... There are so many discounts given away, even if you want to make a loss and make a profit, you don't do it like this

But now that they have used these methods, the strength of the trading company is not something they can offend, forcing them to follow suit. After several struggles, they found that instead of paying compensation, the store made a lot of money, and some unsalable goods

They were also given away in the name of gifts, and they actually tasted the sweetness.

So now, when Zhang Ling and his sister were walking on the shopping street outside Baisha Port on the way to Qionghai Market, all they could see were signboards showing New Year discounts and sales, as well as all kinds of novel and interesting gadgets given away.

Zhang Ling was used to seeing it and didn't care at all, but a silly girl like Zhang Xiaomei who came from the countryside of Shaanxi was immediately dazzled.

"Yeah, brothers, let's go over there and have a look... No, no, the shop here seems to be more interesting... Hey, let's go to this one first."

Zhang Xiaomei looked around, only feeling that her own two eyes were not enough. The route she walked on the street was completely in a "Z" shape - every shop on both sides of the street had to be visited. The little girl was very simple, or out of

A kind of country bumpkin has the fear of entering the city for the first time. He always feels that everything here has nothing to do with him. He is very satisfied just looking at the goods, and he has not offered to buy them. But it also makes Zhang Ling feel very embarrassed - he often

Most of the shop owners who patrol here know him.

After walking patiently for a short distance, Zhang Ling felt that he could no longer let his sister embarrass him with such a countryman appearance, so he decided to lead the tour route himself. Of course, he could not be harsh on this little girl who was used to being arrogant.

Yes, you have to use some tricks...

"You are hungry, little sister. Let's go get something to eat first. The shops here are just some outdoor shops. I will take you to the Qionghai Market later. The things there are quite complete."

"No, no, no, I don't feel hungry at all..."

Sure enough, as Zhang Ling expected, his little sister would definitely not feel hungry at this time. But he knew very well his sister's biggest weakness:

"There are a lot of sweets here... You should have heard people mention it when you came here. One of the most famous 'Qiongzhou Three Whites' here is sugar. Many merchants come here just to buy sugar."

When she heard about sweets, Zhang Xiaomei's ears immediately stood up - she had loved sweets since she was a child. But the place in Shaanxi was really poor. Although she was born in a relatively wealthy family of military commanders, she was also the most favored elder in the family.

Well, usually a pack of jelly beans or a few malt candies is enough to keep her happy for a long time.

"Sweet? Are there sweet beans and maltose?"

"No, that thing is too cheap. Who in the serious shop here sells it?"

"Ah... are there any candied haws and sugar figures?"

"That's true, but it's also something for children. You have to find a vendor to sell it... Little sister, I'll take you to eat a kind of snack. It's very high-end. You'll never forget it in your life.

No."

Using these words as a temptation, Zhang Lingshun let the girl go with him. Finally, he no longer had to waste time on the miscellaneous shops on the street.

…………

Soon after, when the two of them reappeared on the street, Zhang Xiaomei was carrying two bunches of candied haws in her left hand and a bag of candied fruit in her right hand. There was also a piece of snack stuffed in her bulging mouth. She couldn't bear to swallow it after holding it for a long time, as if she was holding it to herself.

He said vaguely:

"...It's delicious...it's so delicious. I've never had such a delicious snack before."

"Yes, I was surprised when I tasted it for the first time. I didn't expect such delicious food to exist in the world."

Zhang Ling responded to his sister's emotion, took out a handkerchief, wiped off the white cream foam on her nose and the corners of her mouth, and said with a smile:

"I heard that this kind of 'cream cake' used to be enjoyed exclusively by short-haired ladies, and it has only recently spread to the market. It tastes great, but the price is also very high - just two small pieces cost five.

As for money, the money here is considered a silver dollar."

"ah?"

Zhang Xiaomei was stunned and covered her mouth with her hand:

"I just ate half a stone in those few bites?"

Zhang Ling chuckled and patted the girl's arm:

"Not only that, the price of rice here is five cents per stone, so you just ate one hundred and twenty kilograms of rice in one go..."

Seeing his sister's nervous look, Zhang Ling, who had always been serious, couldn't help laughing:

"Don't worry, it's okay. Although your eldest brother's salary is not too high, he can still afford to treat the girl to a few pieces of cake."

"Oh, speaking of this..."

Although Zhang Xiaomei is cheerful, she is a woman after all. As a woman, she is inevitably gossipy. She swallowed the pastry in her mouth in a few mouthfuls, went to her brother and started asking:

"Brother, are you very rich now? Mom has put away the silver cakes that people brought home the past few times. She said they were of good quality and she wanted to keep them for emergencies... To have so much spare money to bring back, you must be very rich.

"Affluent"

Zhang Ling shook his head slightly and responded casually:

"It's not bad. There are always dozens of taels of salary and various subsidies every month. The short-haired government never defaults on arrears, and there are no messy things like folded banknotes. They are all paid in silver dollars."

"What, so little? Brother, you are a Qianhu official. No matter how few people you have, you can't only have a few dozen taels of silver, right?"

Zhang Xiaomei suddenly screamed. Although she was not familiar with worldly affairs, she came from a noble family and knew a thing or two about military rules.

But Zhang Ling looked at her with a strange expression on his face:

"No, these dozens of taels are just my personal salary. The income of my subordinates is not under my control. The rules here are different from those in Shaanxi."

"What about your soldiers and servants?"

"There are no personal soldiers, no servants - private guards are not allowed here, and to be honest, I can't afford to support them."

"Ah? Well, brother, aren't your thousands of households just like empty frames? It's so miserable."

"awful?"

Zhang Ling looked at his sister and couldn't help laughing, but his tone was full of pride:

"Little sister, you are also a general, and you know the bad habits in the army - our military attachés in the Ming Dynasty are known as Qianhu. When they actually go out to fight, they can have three to five hundred households, a dozen general banners... and more than four hundred people.

Even if it’s good, the rest are all vacant, right?”

"Yes, how else would we be able to support the army? The food provided by the court is only a small amount of money, and most of it is moldy and inedible. If we don't get free pay, we won't all starve to death."

Zhang Xiaomei looked like it was natural, and Zhang Ling snorted:

"I have always thought so before, until I was captured by Shorthair... Well, let's not go too far, little sister, how many people do you think I have now?"

Without waiting for the girl to answer, Zhang Ling took the lead and extended a palm to count:

"There are five hundred and sixty-one people, a real establishment. The above gives out money and food to five hundred and sixty-one people every month, which is not much. But do you know how much we spend every month?"

Without waiting for a response, Zhang Ling reported the numbers himself:

"More than 11,000 yuan, which is equivalent to about 5,000 taels of silver - this is just the soldiers' military pay, subsidies, and food and vegetable money. These expenses alone cost each of us close to 10 taels of silver per month. In addition,

Soldiers here are issued two sets of inner and outer clothing, four sets of shoes and socks, cooking utensils, tableware, backpacks, bedding...all of these are military supplies. Well, I haven't mentioned weapons yet...we

We all use fire blunderbuss here, although the blunderbuss we use are inferior and are second-hand goods seized from Westerners, but there is also live-fire training at least once a month, and of course we do not miss the usual close combat training."

"sky"

Before Zhang Ling could finish speaking, Zhang Xiaomei was already dumbfounded:

"How much will this cost?"

Zhang Ling smiled bitterly and shrugged:

"I don't know either. I only know that if these five hundred people were in my hometown, they could easily defeat my father's five thousand troops. If they were rogue bandits, even tens of thousands of them wouldn't be a big deal - and we are here

This place isn’t even considered a regular army, it’s just an auxiliary force used to patrol the streets and look after homes and homes.”

"That……"

Zhang Xiaomei looked around, leaned into her brother's ear, and whispered:

"Brother, if you bring these people back, wouldn't you be able to hold great power immediately? The court will definitely..."

"Shhh"

Regardless of the differences between men and women, Zhang Ling directly reached out and covered his sister's mouth:

"Don't talk nonsense. You can't talk nonsense like this."

He looked around nervously for a moment, then breathed a sigh of relief as if he remembered something:

"Fortunately... I heard that the guy went to Luzon and hasn't come back yet. If he were here, he would be in trouble."

Isn’t the situation bad? It’s about to fall out of the top ten.
Chapter completed!