The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

Two merchants behind Heifu were discussing the King of Qin's attack on Yan.

One of them asked, "What did the King say in his manifesto to attack Yan?"

Another person answered, "The King said, 'The King of Yan is confused, and his crown prince Dan secretly ordered Jing Ke to be a thief. I will order the soldiers to kill him and destroy his country!' Now, I am afraid that the army has reached Zhao and even crossed the Yishui River."

The first merchant said worriedly, "Whenever the army is raised, the son-in-law and the city dwellers will be recruited first. Will we also be recruited to transport grain? I heard that Yan is bitterly cold, with rain and snow in August and September. I am afraid that many people will freeze to death if we travel thousands of miles north in the winter..."

Another person comforted him, "I heard from people in Jiangling City that the governor of Nanjun only recruited capable old soldiers from various counties to go to the Qin-Chu border for vigilance. The attack on Yan should not involve Nanjun, after all, it is too far away..."

This was probably a merchant who ran errands and transported goods for the Qin government. He traveled far and wide, was well-informed, and was much more informed than ordinary people like Ji Ying who heard things from hearsay.

However, what they talked about afterwards was mostly the prices of goods in various places, and gossiping about the rural households of Yan State. While talking, they also laughed vulgarly... Hei Fu, who was standing by, was stunned. The people of the imperial capital were too hospitable!

After a while, the two merchants hurried away after eating, leaving Hei Fu thinking.

As he expected, as a follow-up to Jing Ke's assassination of the King of Qin, the vengeful King of Qin, Ying Zheng, did send a large army to attack Yan!

At the same time, Hei Fu also realized that he had miscalculated one thing: since the Qin State used October as the beginning of the year, today was the first day of the new year, which meant that it was already the 21st year of King Qin Zheng?

If he remembered correctly, in history, Qin Wangzheng defeated Yan in the 21st year and Wei in the 22nd year. After that, he would attack Chu...

"There are still two years left. My time has been reduced by a few months for no reason!"

Heifu cursed inwardly. This was not a matter of one or two seconds. At the same time, he felt a sense of urgency. After drinking the meat porridge in a few mouthfuls, he wiped his mouth and called Jiying, "Let's go. Go to the South Gate Parade Ground to report now, so as to avoid more trouble at night."

"Ah? Go now? I also want to go to Nvlu..."

Jiying was a little reluctant. Nvlu was the brothel of this era. He had a typical small peasant mentality. He wanted to be corrupt when he had a few thousand dollars in his pocket.

He also asked Heifu to go with him with a smile, because judging from Heifu's age, he was probably still a virgin.

Heifu, however, had no interest in the women in that kind of place. When he was an intern in his previous life, he had participated in a crackdown on prostitution, and he was deeply impressed by the ugly scene, so he was very disgusted with this kind of thing. He immediately frowned and said, "I heard that a brothel costs hundreds of coins a night. You will spend all your money in less than two or three visits! It is better to save the money and go home to marry a wife."

Ji Ying calculated the bill and found that it was indeed more cost-effective to marry a wife, so he stood up angrily. Unconsciously, he had begun to follow Heifu's lead, although he was obviously older.

Perhaps out of shame, when paying the bill, Ji Ying took out money from his pocket and gave twenty and a half coins to the owner to treat Heifu to this meal. On weekdays, their meals were worth at most three or four coins, so today they spent a lot of money.

The owner took the money, but did not put it in his pocket. Instead, in front of Heifu and Jiying, he put the twenty coins one by one into a pottery jar that all the guests could see. For a while, there was a lot of money in it.

It turned out that this thing was called "銗" (xiàng), which is a piggy bank in later generations. Because this restaurant is a "state-owned restaurant", all income must be returned to the public. The owner dare not pocket it, because he will be fined one jia. The correct operation is to put the meal money into the money jar in front of the guests, and wait until the end of the day, when the officials will come to count the income.

Heifu secretly thought that he had learned something new. The two of them left the restaurant and walked slowly towards the south gate. It was afternoon, the sun was about to set, and the wind blew. Heifu, who was lightly dressed, shivered.

"Brother Heifu, you must be cold." Ji Ying had already put on a thick winter coat and said with a smile, "It's already winter, why are you still wearing summer clothes?"

Yes, it's already winter, but Heifu left home in a hurry, and the winter clothes his mother had made for him were not finished yet. His elder brother said he would bring them back in a few days. The thin clothes on his body were exposed to the wind, rain and sun, and they were as cold as iron after being worn for many years.

Besides, although the clothes made by his mother were warm no matter how he wore them, Heifu, who loved cleanliness in his previous life, couldn't get used to wearing the same clothes for several months. On the way to the South Gate Parade Ground, they passed by the market, and Heifu asked Ji Ying to go in and buy some clothes for himself.

...

The market in Qin was not a street with stalls on both sides selling things randomly as imagined by later generations, but a closed place, similar to the vegetable market in later generations, surrounded by a city wall.

"Did you see the tall flagpole?"

Ji Ying had been to the county town before, so he introduced: "That is the city flag, which stands in the city pavilion. Every morning, all the merchants who come to trade wait outside the city gate. They can enter in order after the city flag is raised.

The officials who manage the market are at the city pavilion. All the merchants who come to the market to trade must check their documents and goods, and then stamp them before they can do business.

After entering the city gate, the whole market is full of hawking sounds. The first thing that catches your eye is all kinds of grain. Now is the season when grain is abundant after the autumn harvest. Many farmers near the county town sell their excess beans and wheat in exchange for some cloth and money.

In addition, there are also people selling agricultural tools such as plows, hoes, hoes, sickles, etc.; there are people selling lacquerware and pottery, but most of them are daily utensils, and there are few exquisitely crafted luxury goods.

Most of the people walking around the market were civilians, including women carrying bamboo baskets and wearing thorny cloth skirts; soldiers wearing coarse cloth and short jackets with several patches on their clothes; and children running and laughing, each with a dirty face... The market was bustling with people coming and going.

Hei Fu quickly found what he wanted. They stopped in front of several stalls, where raw silk, woven winter clothes and shoes were sold.

Faced with the enthusiastic greetings of these shop owners, Hei Fu hesitated and didn't know what to choose. In his previous life, he hated bargaining the most. Even if he hesitated and bargained, he found that the boss still smiled meaningfully after he left. Yes, he was ripped off again...

Fortunately, there is no need to bargain when buying things in Qin!

Because the Qin State stipulated in the "Golden Cloth Law": For market transactions, wooden sticks should be used to indicate the price; unless it is a small item worth less than one penny, there is no need to use a stick... If a merchant deliberately raises the price and deceives the buyer, once it is confirmed, he will be fined by the city clerk, so here, you will not see a merchant holding goods of unknown value and shouting "998 for each item".

It can be regarded as the consumer rights protection law of this era, which is simply a blessing for straight men like Heifu who are not good at speaking.

Finally, after comparing prices from three stores, Heifu bought a thick winter coat made of ramie cloth of good quality for 150 coins, so that he can survive this winter without air conditioning, heating, or kang. After all, he is a southerner, and he has to rely on his integrity to survive the winter. In addition, he bought a close-fitting single coat for 75 coins, a skirt for 50 coins, and two pairs of coarse cloth shoes for 50 coins, which he put on his feet immediately - along the way, his straw sandals were already worn out, and his soles were about to touch the ground!

Among the money Heifu gave to the vendor, some were damaged, but the vendor just frowned and still reluctantly accepted it. It turned out that the "Golden Cloth Law" stipulated that the coins used in the exchange, regardless of good or bad, should be mixed together, and no picking and choosing was allowed!

It seems that just like in later generations, it is not allowed for sellers to refuse to accept RMB. Only when the government is strong enough can such an order be issued.

After taking the clothes, Heifu was about to turn around and leave, and the vendor hurriedly chased him out and shouted: "Sir, you forgot to take the voucher!"

"Voucher?"

Heifu was stunned. What voucher? Coupon? Discount voucher?

"Sir, you are joking. Of course it is a deed."

After the vendor stuffed a small wooden block with jagged edges into his hand, Heifu looked at the words written on it and suddenly realized it.

"I thought it was something else, but it turned out to be a shopping receipt!!! "

It turns out that in Qin, any transaction involving more than one hundred coins required a certificate, as the saying goes, "A certificate is used to establish trust." After the transaction is concluded, the seller must write down the transaction items and prices on a wooden board, and then saw it in half, with the buyer and seller each holding half.

If the amount of money is incorrect or there is a problem with the goods, it can be used as a voucher to replace the goods or to sue. Of course, it is only valid on the same day, and expired items are not counted. If the number of items, money, and certificates sold by merchants does not match, they will also be punished by market officials. Of course, if someone with ulterior motives wants to cheat with this, don't forget Qin's unique "false accusation and counter-attack."

"I have learned a lot again! "

After Hei Fu put the shopping receipt in his pocket, he sighed for the nth time.

The Qin State had to write a deed as proof for everything: paying rent and taxes, storing grain, answering questions from the people, and market transactions... and there were laws to enforce them. Both parties held a copy, which had become an unspoken habit. Look around, if there is a transaction of more than one hundred coins, even illiterate civilians will take the initiative to ask the store for a deed. Don't know the words on it? It doesn't matter. The teeth of different lengths on the deed represent different amounts, such as ten thousand, thousand, hundred, and ten. You can tell at a glance.

Isn't this very similar to the "unique contract spirit of the West" that some scholars in later generations have boasted for many years? It has reached this level before paper appeared. It is really terrifying to think about it. Those who shouted "Chinese people have no contract spirit since ancient times! "The one who wore it should really wear it back and have a look.

With this mood, Hei Fu looked back at the bustling market, his face heavy and thoughtful. After a moment, he suddenly said: "I understand!"

Ji Ying was squatting on a stall selling scabbards, looking left and right. When he heard Hei Fu yelling, he turned back quickly. "What do you understand?"

Hei Fu said happily: "Old man Shang Jun must have been ripped off by unscrupulous merchants in the past!"

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