The Road to the Imperial Examinations of Farmers in Ancient Times

Early in the morning, the city gate of the capital opened, and there was already a long queue outside the city gate waiting to enter the city.

Some ordinary people carried baskets or burdens in their hands, and a few people drove donkeys and oxen carts with goods for sale in the city. Most of these people were villagers living in nearby villages. City, leave the city and go home before the gates close at sunset.

The caravan escorted goods from other places to the city to sell, and lined up to enter the city as soon as the city gate opened.

At the back there is a woman sitting in a carriage with a child in her arms, in front is the driver driving, people outside can still hear the sound of the child crying inside, and so on.At this time, there are more people entering the city than leaving the city. There are small stalls selling goods outside the city gate, and it is bustling outside early in the morning.

"Everyone line up, line up..."

"Everyone who wants to enter the city is lined up!"

The soldiers guarding the city had swords pinned to their waists, and asked those who were waiting to enter the city to line up.The common people did not dare to contradict the officials, and the people behind them lined up in order, waiting to pay money and enter the city.

The villagers who carry things to sell and the merchants who escort the goods into the city to sell have to pay lijin to enter the city. The amount of lijin depends on the amount of goods, and the quantity is variable.The villagers carry relatively few goods, and they can enter the city with a few copper coins. For example, if the caravan escorts more goods, they have to pay more money.

In order to enter the city smoothly, the caravan escorting the goods would rather spend a few more money to enter the city smoothly, instead of wasting too much time at the gate of the city, they simply gave Lijin.

After taking the money, the soldiers guarding the city let them go after seeing that the goods were all right, "Go in."

"next."

"Hurry up, go to the city, go to the city."

"Be careful, don't break things."

As the sun rises in the east, another lively day begins in the capital.

"Sell newspapers, sell newspapers—"

"Good news, good news—"

"Good news, good news, the Ministry of Commerce was formally established—"

The newspaper seller shouted while waving the newspaper in his hand, and now "People's Daily" has become a must-read newspaper for scholars and ordinary people in the capital.

Ministry of Commerce?What business department, why haven't they heard of it?

As soon as the boy who sold the newspaper shouted, everyone knew that there was a new situation in the capital.

"Bring a newspaper."

"Okay... the newspaper you want, my lord."

At this time, the restaurants and teahouses were full of tea drinkers, and when they saw the little boy shouting for newspapers, they called for someone to come over. Seeing this, everyone pulled out a few copper coins to buy a newspaper.The boy who sold the newspaper gave the newspaper with one hand, took the money and put it in his pocket with the other hand, and then quickly handed the newspaper to the next person who wanted to buy the newspaper. He sold more than a dozen newspapers in the time it took to cover the tea.

Most of these children selling newspapers are the former little beggars in the city, and now they have found a legitimate job, which is to be a newspaper boy and sell newspapers.Each of them can earn an extra copper coin for every three newspapers sold, so it is equivalent to selling thirty newspapers to earn ten copper coins, and the more they sell, the more they get.

The shopkeeper of the bookstore limited each of them to receive one hundred newspapers a day to sell. If all the newspapers were sold out, they could earn thirty copper coins. They will still be paid a day's worth of money according to how many newspapers they have officially sold.

But if you have that ability, you can sell more newspapers, and you can also negotiate with shopkeeper Zhang.

When there is big news from the imperial court like today, ordinary newspapers will sell very well.

However, if it is rainy and there are no people outside, the newspaper will not be so easy to sell.But most of the time, they take dozens of newspapers a day, and they can sell them out in one day, earning a few copper coins, and the little beggars who are willing to endure hardships all go to work as newspaper boys and sell newspapers.

This job is not easy. Every day comes and goes in the wind and rain, and I work hard all day selling newspapers to provide food and clothing for three meals a day, but no matter how much money I have, I won’t have it.Some lazy beggars are unwilling to do such a hard job, thinking that they will get money by begging everywhere in the street with a broken bowl every day. Why do they need to do such a hard job?

Naturally, there are lazy people in this world, and there are also people who are willing to exchange their labor for food.

This suggestion was originally given by Li Wen to the storekeeper Zhang of the bookstore. The reason why he wanted to use these little beggars was to give these little beggars a job so that they could have a job and an income; But these little beggars will not dislike the low wages, and how much they can earn is their ability.If he meets a good child, he will let the shopkeeper

There can be hired down as long-term labor.

Li Wen didn't know it himself, but his suggestion helped many homeless children to have a bite to eat, so that they wouldn't go hungry in the last cold winter, and survived the winter safely.

Now those who stay to sell newspapers, there is already a fixed group of children.

As soon as there was big news, shopkeeper Zhang knew that today's newspaper would sell well, so he asked the masters in the backyard to print more newspapers.

Their newspapers are now well-known to every household. Now some houses in the capital subscribe to their newspapers on a monthly basis. Shopkeeper Zhang will arrange for people to deliver newspapers to some houses every day, and there are also newspaper sellers. Xiaotong's took up a large portion, and the rest was sold in the store. Every day, scholars would come to the store to buy newspapers to read.

Now their bookstore is well-known in the capital city. In the entire capital city, only the "Hanlin Bachelor Series Anthology" is exclusively released in their store. This series of anthology sells very well. Many scholars who come to the store will buy a copy. , Scholars who are not short of money will buy several sets at once, keep one set for themselves, and buy a few sets as gifts.

There is also the comic "Painting the Three Kingdoms", which is still serialized today. This book is the treasure of their shop. "Painting Three Kingdoms" has now published three volumes, and already has a large number of book fans and loyal readers.

But when it comes to this book, shopkeeper Zhang is in pain and happiness. The happiness is because so many people like this book, and the pain is because their boss is too busy to draw comics, so he stopped at the third book. Almost every day, book fans come to ask when the follow-up will be released, and who is the author of this book.

Of course he can't disclose this, but when this follow-up will be released, he also wants to ask.

Of course, as a good shopkeeper, knowing that the boss is busy with business, how can he bother the boss with such a trivial matter that is not so important!So this reminder is absolutely impossible, so even if you want to remind the manuscript again, shopkeeper Zhang wants to bear it.

But because their bookstore now sells newspapers, the masters get up from midnight every day and work until dawn.If the newspapers of the day are too easy to sell, the master and the guys will have to work for half a day before they can go to rest after eating the morning food.Some of the books in the store were very good, and a batch was about to be printed when they were almost sold out. There was not enough manpower in the back. After the shopkeeper Zhang asked the white manager for instructions, he invited a few more manpower to come back.

But even so, the masters responsible for publishing newspapers and books are still busy every day.

But being busy also pays off, that is, the store has made money, and everyone's wages have risen, even the monthly salary of the shopkeeper has increased by a factor of two.

People from all corners of the country gathered here in the capital, including local merchants in the capital and many merchants from other places. Most of them came to the capital from other places to do business.At this time, everyone is inviting each other to drink tea in the teahouse and discuss some business matters.

At the beginning of the first edition of today's "Daily", it is written in large font that the Ministry of Commerce was officially established, and it is a special notice.There is a seal on the lower right. The Ministry of Commerce is a department officially established with the approval of the emperor.Hearing about the Ministry of Commerce, the businessmen are more concerned about the news. Many businessmen are reading with a newspaper in their hands, "Department of Commerce?"

"The Department of Commerce is formally established?"

Judging from these words, the Ministry of Commerce is a department related to these businessmen. This is great news for their businessmen.

What is the use of this department?What is it for...

After reading the newspaper, these businessmen have a preliminary understanding.

"There is also the imperial seal of the emperor on it. It should not be fake." People who have read newspapers should be familiar with it. It is the first time that everyone sees this seal on it. It is a bit unbelievable. I have seen this seal once. People should know each other.

The newspaper also solemnly introduced that the Department of Commerce is a new department independent of the Six Departments, which is mainly responsible for the management and coordination of business development. The main person in charge of this department is Li Wen and Li Liuyuan.

"Brother, you can see that it says that the person in charge is Li Wen, Mr. Li."

"Hey, it really is."

"This is Li Wen, Mr. Li... If the person in charge is Mr. Li, this should be a good thing." These businessmen all have certain sources of information, and they all know that Li Wen and Li Liuyuan are now the emperor's favor. Trusted and reused, he is a celebrity in front of the emperor and has done several great things.

Others are born sons, and they are also born sons. Look at Li Liuyuan, and compare them with their own worthless sons.I don't know, I just wish I could stuff my useless son back into the mother's womb and have a new birth, to see if the son born can be half as promising as Li Liuyuan.

The people in the entire capital are familiar with the name Li Wen. At the beginning, everyone knew the people. It was this sixteen-year-old boy who won the number one scholar in one fell swoop, becoming the youngest number one scholar in Dacheng, and the only one since the founding of Dacheng.

One of six yuan lang.Later, Li Wen and Li Liuyuan were ordered to go to Xiangzhou for disaster relief, took down all the corrupt officials in Xiangzhou in one fell swoop, and took them back to the capital; A string of officials, and so on.

Every time Li Liuyuan did something, the common people applauded.

Unlike the officials in the court who regarded Li Wen as a ghost, the common people's support for Li Liuyuan was quite high.In the hearts of the common people, Li Liuyuan is just like Wenqu Xingxia, a living Lord Qingtian, fair and honest, a living Lord Qingtian.

Now, Li Liuyuan wants to set up a Ministry of Commerce according to the emperor's order?

When these businessmen knew that the person in charge of the Commerce Department was Li Wenliuyuan, many of them had a good feeling in their hearts, "This is something big is going to happen!"

"I have the same hunch."

In addition to reporting the formal establishment of the Ministry of Commerce, today’s newspapers also wrote various articles about commerce and businessmen in the later editions. Several of the titles were "The Function and Influence of Commerce", "Forecast and Future of Commerce", "On Scholars, farmers, businessmen, merchants at the end", "The Merchant's Injustice" and so on.

Different from the belittlement of commerce and businessmen in the past, the articles above all positively introduce the development and influence of commerce, and justify the reputation of businessmen.

"These articles are really well written!"

"Yes, yes, that is to say, we are really wronged."

These businessmen were almost moved to tears when they read these articles. They just did a few small businesses, so why are they so unforgivable!When it comes to merchants, they are called "profiteers", "thin and ungrateful" and other infamys. They do business honestly.

The deceitful business is not long-term, and the most important thing for their businessmen is "sincerity" and "loyalty"

"This article is well written. If there were no merchants like us, how would the goods from the south be transported to the north? How would the goods from the north be transported to the south?" Look, without these merchants, how could we OK?

These businessmen have been scolded by the world for thousands of years, but this is the first time they have been praised.

A group of businessmen are as happy as picking up gold when they read these articles praising them in the newspaper. Maybe even picking up gold doesn’t necessarily make them so happy.

As soon as these articles were published, some people naturally agreed with them, but some people also disagreed, which caused a war of criticism among scholars.

After all, since ancient times, merchants have been burdened with all kinds of infamy. Some noble scholars do not associate with merchants. They think that merchants are full of money and are not worthy of standing with them.So as soon as these articles were published, scholars in the capital were divided into two factions, one faction agreed with it, and the other faction maintained the previous opinion, thinking that businessmen were cunning and valued profit over righteousness. In short, they thought that businessmen were not good people.

One side says that businessmen value profits over righteousness; the other side says that businessmen are honest and loyal, and they are the most honest people.

One side said that the businessman was full of money and secular; one side pointed at the other side and scolded: You don’t eat whole grains, you don’t need to wear clothes to eat?If you are capable, you don’t need to eat whole grains, wear clothes to eat, and the food you eat is just the way of reincarnation. Otherwise, why would you say that others are worldly! ...

The scholars in the capital are full of scolding and spitting, and no one is dissatisfied. You say you are right, and I say I am right. Both sides hold opinions and have their own views.