Chapter 24: A Tour of the East Gate Market

The Yang family’s banquet that evening was exquisite. It was not the kind of five-five banquet that was more for show than for eating, nor did it feature elaborate sugar-sculpted lions or decorative dishes. There were twelve small side dishes for wine, plus ten hot dishes. The local flavor was mixed with the official cuisine of Guangdong, creating a unique style. Although Li Luoyou only tasted a little, he found it quite flavorful.

After dinner, tea and fruits were served. Two songstresses, a gift from Yang Shiyi, accompanied them, singing songs and playing drinking games. Although Quaker was completely clueless about this, the presence of women was an exciting point for him, and he kept laughing foolishly and cheering. That evening, he even shamelessly asked Saoye if he could get a woman to sleep with him, which earned him the contempt of the entire party.

Li Luoyou was tired from his journey and woke up late the next day, getting up close to noon. After lunch, he told the attending steward that he wanted to walk around the county town and the East Gate Market, and by the way, to see the local scenic spots. He asked if the area was safe and how many people he should take with him.

The steward smiled and said, “The area is very safe. You can just go and enjoy yourselves, masters.” He then hurriedly called out, “Prepare the carriage!”

Li Luoyou had ridden in a mule cart in the capital and had almost been shaken to the point where his internal organs were turned upside down. Hearing that he was to be taken by carriage, his brow furrowed. Saoye quickly went over and whispered a few words to the steward.

“It’s no matter,” the steward said. “This is an Australian carriage, not the big-saddled carts of the north. It’s more comfortable than a sedan chair with no support on all four sides.”

The carriage that arrived was, of course, a Red Flag carriage, but the model had been improved: the number of leaf springs had been increased, ball bearings had been installed on the axles, and the interior of the carriage had also been improved to some extent. As for the exterior, it had been finely decorated by skilled craftsmen from the Zizhenzhai in Guangdong. It was both grand and luxurious.

Due to the limited number of horses, only two of these carriages had been built. They were not used on a daily basis, only for ceremonial purposes.

“This is very similar to a European carriage,” Li Luoyou said, sitting on the “yieldingly firm” spring cushions—the springs rolled by the factory were not good enough for manufacturing, but they were barely usable for making sofas.

“It’s much lighter and more comfortable than an English carriage,” Quaker said, looking at the interior of the carriage. “The inside is more like the cool sedan chairs we’ve ridden in.” The weather in Lin’gao was relatively hot, so this carriage had abandoned the velvet and satin interior of the first Red Flag carriage and used cool and smooth bamboo, rattan, and gauze instead.

The windows were inlaid with glass and covered with green gauze window frames. There were also fine bamboo curtains for shading. Besides the two rows of chairs facing each other, there were also low stools on the sides. This was specially designed for the conditions of the Great Ming. The carriage was fast, and it was impossible for servants to follow on foot as they would with a sedan chair. And if they were to ride in the same carriage, how could an ordinary master or official allow a servant to sit side by side with him? So two low stools were specially designed.

Saoye sat on one of these low stools. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. “Master, this carriage is really strange!”

The strange thing was a hidden cabinet in the wall of the carriage. When opened, it revealed two rattan-cased bottles—they had recognized them in their room yesterday. They were thermoses. Boiling hot water placed inside would still be hot when poured out after a whole night.

With this thing, you could have hot water wherever you went, anytime, anywhere. Saoye felt that this kind of Australian product was much more practical than things like mirrors.

One bottle contained boiling water, while the other, a wide-mouthed bottle, was filled with crushed ice. Besides hot and cold water, there were also several glass bottles of kvass, sealed with corks, and a few bottles of a reddish drink, the nature of which was unknown. Quaker, impatient, opened a bottle to drink.

“What does it taste like?” Li Luoyou teased him.

“It’s sweet and sour, with a strange fragrance,” Quaker said, smacking his lips. “It’s very good.”

After downing a bottle of kombucha, Quaker’s desire for alcohol was rekindled, but there was no rum in the cabinet, which made the Englishman shout “stingy.”

The carriage left the county town and went straight onto the main road. The weather was fine, neither cold nor hot, a day of favorable winds and gentle rain. The farmers were all in the fields, and there were many pedestrians on the road, some on foot, some pushing carts or carrying poles. This two-horse carriage drove proudly down the middle of the street, and amidst the sound of the wheels and the shadow of the whip, people kept pointing at it. Li Luoyou ignored them and just sat steadily. He secretly regretted it. Going out like this was too ostentatious!

The carriage soon stopped. The steward got down from the driver’s seat and reported that they had arrived at the East Gate Market.

“Please give your instructions, Master. Shall we get off here and enter, or drive the carriage directly into the market?”

“We’ll get off here.”

After getting out of the carriage, he saw a gray embankment spanning the river. Water cascaded down from the top of the dam, and white mist swirled around, a rather magnificent sight. Looking further, not far away on the riverbank was a large area of red houses, surrounded by high earth ramparts, with watchtowers dotted along them.

In the center of this cluster of houses stood a tall iron tower, the likes of which he had never seen before. On the other side of the river was another area of red houses, stretching out like saw teeth, with red brick chimneys of various sizes, tall and short, spewing black, yellow, and white smoke into the air. Li Luoyou was so captivated he almost forgot himself. Such a scene had never appeared even in the most bizarre of dreams.

The rhythmic sound of rumbling and hammering could be faintly heard on the wind. A pungent smell drifted in the air, with a faint hint of sulfur. Li Luoyou shuddered. Under the blue sky and bright sun, he felt the smell of hell.

Quaker couldn’t help but make the sign of the cross.

“Gentlemen, please this way.”

The prosperity of the East Gate Market soon attracted them. Of course, its prosperity could not compare to that of Guangzhou or Foshan. But the neatness of the houses and the flatness of the roads were unprecedented. The atmosphere of the market was a hundred times better than that of Guangzhou or Foshan. The road surface was clean, with not a single piece of litter, let alone a fruit peel, and there was no standing water on the street. The trees lining the streets, though not large, already provided some shade.

What was puzzling were the tall poles along the street, each with an iron mesh and glass cover on top.

“What is this?” Li Luoyou asked.

“It’s a street lamp,” the steward replied.

Li Luoyou had also guessed it was a street lamp. But to have them lined up along the main street like this, such grandeur was probably only found in the imperial palace. He had heard from a eunuch in the capital that the palace’s long alleys were lined with stone lanterns, lit every night to illuminate the way.

To light street lamps in such a market town was a bit too extravagant. Even if the night market was bustling, the merchants would light their own lamps. Why go to this extra trouble? Li Luoyou did not approve.

Strolling down the street, there were many pedestrians, both rich and poor, all busy with their own affairs. Among them were local natives, visiting merchants, and also Australians in their blue, gray, or khaki short jackets, with their monk-like short hair. At a rough glance, there were quite a few Australians. But from their accents, he could tell that most of them were from Guangdong and Fujian. These were probably the so-called “fake kun.”

How many true kun there were was impossible to verify. But there were many fake kun. With a little attention, one could see that although the fake kun dressed similarly, the details of their clothing revealed their specific occupations.

Those wearing brimmed hats, with belts around their waists and short swords hanging from them, were soldiers. Those wearing rattan helmets, with their chests bare and sleeves rolled up, were probably craftsmen in the workshops. Those wearing straw hats, with their trousers rolled up, were undoubtedly farmers. The last category, neatly dressed, with every detail in place, and often carrying a bag, Li Luoyou couldn’t figure out their profession, so he asked the steward.

“These are the Australians’ scribes,” the steward said. “They specifically handle administrative matters for the Australians.”

“So they are like the scribes in the yamen,” Li Luoyou nodded.

“Yes and no,” the steward said. “It’s more complicated than that. Even among these scribes, there are different ranks. They call them ‘cadres’ internally. And there are many other variations. We outsiders can’t figure it out. But you see, Master, all the ‘cadres’ have four pockets on their jackets. If they are just ordinary scribes, they only have the two lower ones.”

Looking over, it was indeed so. Li Luoyou nodded. Suddenly, he saw women wearing similar clothes.

“What? The Australians also have female scribes?”

“Indeed,” the steward said, as if telling a piece of news. “The Australians have no distinction between men and women. Women can also be officials and managers. Some factories and workshops even specifically hire female workers. It’s not surprising to have a few female scribes.”

The beggars and ruffians commonly seen in bustling markets were nowhere to be found here. Not even a single wandering performer like a horse-tamer or a martial artist could be seen. Li Luoyou was secretly surprised. Could it be that they had specially cleaned up the place for his arrival? He thought to himself that he probably didn’t have that much face.

For now, he just strolled through the market. He saw that the shops were lined up, and all kinds of goods were available. Li Luoyou casually entered a few to have a look. There was nothing unexpected. The various Australian goods sold here could also be bought in Guangzhou. However, the houses here left a deep impression on him.

Almost all the houses were two stories or more, and three-story buildings were common. They were built one next to the other, densely packed, and the style was also different from that of the Central Plains. Quaker also shook his head, saying that they had a slight resemblance to European houses, but were by no means the same.

It was hard to say whether the houses were beautiful or not, but they were obviously very land-saving. Li Luoyou had always been puzzled by this. There was so much wasteland in Lin’gao, why were they so frugal with land?

He saw a large shop with a five-bay storefront ahead, with people coming and going, very bustling. Strolling over, he saw several female shop assistants in blue cloth dresses at the entrance, calling out to customers in various dialects, sometimes Cantonese, sometimes Hakka, sometimes Leizhou dialect, and sometimes Fujian dialect… Li Luoyou secretly frowned. Did they even use female shop assistants in business? It was almost as if they were using their looks to attract customers.

But when he got closer, he realized that the so-called “attracting customers with looks” was nonsense. These female shop assistants were all stout and broad-shouldered, none of them had a graceful figure. They wore wooden name tags on their chests. On the back of their clothes were three large characters: “Cooperative.”

“Sir, is this your first time here? We have all kinds of fresh and popular goods, sold by the piece or in bulk. Our shop also offers packing and shipping services for customers. The more you buy, the better the price!”

A female shop assistant saw Li Luoyou standing there, watching, and quickly came over to promote her goods enthusiastically. Li Luoyou did not refuse and simply entered the shop to have a look.

The shop was huge. In the middle was a courtyard that reached all the way to the roof. The second and third floors were all galleries. Standing in the middle of the room, the sheer height and space were enough to leave one speechless.

The most surprising thing was the roof. It was a skylight made of “mingwa” (translucent tiles).

Of course, mingwa skylights were not rare. Some families used translucent mica, ox horn, or thinly ground large clam shells for lighting, but they were only small pieces.

Here, however, the mingwa was made of glass, and it was a huge expanse—the entire courtyard was covered by a frame made of iron bars, with whole panes of glass set into it. Sunlight streamed through the skylight, making the three-story building extremely bright, a stark contrast to the dimness of ordinary shops.

“What a grand gesture!” Li Luoyou couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.

On the third-floor gallery hung a large plaque, a black board with gold-painted characters, with three large words written on it: “Cooperative.” On both sides of the plaque were two wooden pillars with inscriptions: “High Quality, Low Price” and “No Bargaining.”

Li Luoyou asked the steward what “cooperative” meant.

“I don’t know either,” the steward said. It was probably a name brought from Australia.

In the center of the courtyard was a circular counter, with five or six female shop assistants in blue dresses behind it. These women were different from the ones calling out to customers outside; they were all in their mid-twenties and had clear, delicate features. In front of each of them was a small box-like thing. When a customer came, the female shop assistant would press something on it, and then there would be a clear “ding” sound, and a drawer would pop out of the box. Li Luoyou watched with fascination but didn’t understand what was going on.

“They are collecting money,” the steward said. “The money has to be put into this drawer.”

Li Luoyou didn’t know the meaning of this, and when he asked the steward, the steward didn’t know either. But the Australians seemed to like using this thing very much. Whenever they collected money, they used this box with a pop-out drawer.

Outside the counter, there were also female shop assistants standing in various parts of the courtyard. When they saw a customer standing there, unsure of what to do, they would go up to them and guide them in the direction of the goods they were looking for.

“Truly, truly,” Gu Baocheng was young and had never seen such a scene. His face turned red. “This is not a proper place.”

“This is also a way of doing business,” Li Luoyou did not see it that way. “Without real gold and silver to make money, what’s the use of just a few women?”

“The manager of this shop is a female Australian, so all the shop assistants are women,” the steward interjected with interest.

“Oh? Then she is a remarkable woman.”

“Indeed!” the steward said, as if telling a piece of news. “This old lady is very capable! Her business ideas are one better than the next. Look at this shop, from building the house, selecting the clerks, to setting the shop rules… it’s all her work.”

“I must meet her if I have the chance,” Li Luoyou said.

There were no counters in the shop, only display shelves with glass panels, on which various goods were displayed, visible but not touchable. Next to each item was a hard cardboard tag with the price written on it. Li Luoyou looked at it. There were three prices in total: retail, whole case, and wholesale. Finally, there was a “large quantity” option, with the words “negotiable.”

The variety of goods was dazzling. Upon closer inspection, most of them were daily necessities and local products. As Li Luoyou had guessed, the so-called Australian goods were actually Lin’gao goods. The cooperative was probably mainly for wholesale.

Customers selected goods in front of these display shelves. When they had made their choice, a female shop assistant would write out a bill on the spot. The customer would take the bill to the counter in the middle to pay and get a small ticket in return. Then they would go to the back. What happened next?

“The rule here is this,” the steward explained to him. “You look at the samples, pay, and get a bill at the front. Then you go to the back to collect the goods with the ticket.”

Quaker asked, “There are only samples. What if the goods you get are not the same as the samples?”

“That’s absolutely impossible. The goods here are all genuine and of good quality,” the steward said. “The biggest advantage of Australian goods is that the quality is exactly the same. What the sample looks like is what the goods look like. Even if there is a slight difference, it’s negligible.”

He then asked another question: “What is this ‘yuan’ in the price? I see they don’t seem to use silver or copper coins for payment.”

“They use circulation coupons.”

After hearing the steward explain what circulation coupons were and seeing a sample of them, Li Luoyou fell into deep thought. What he had seen and heard today had surprised and shocked him greatly, but nothing compared to this circulation coupon.

Li Luoyou was not an economist and did not understand what monetary economics was. But with his merchant’s mind, he could not fail to understand the difficulty of promoting paper money and the huge benefits that would come once it was successfully promoted.

The entire Ming Dynasty did not pay much attention to minting coins. The common people suffered from a shortage of coins, which was inconvenient for circulation. Therefore, private minting of small and inferior coins was rampant, and the government did not prohibit it. There were also tokens similar to circulation coupons used in some places, but not on such a scale. And from the steward’s words, he knew that the Australians had a strict system for the use and exchange of circulation coupons, and had even set up a special grain bank to manage them. These practices were by no means an expedient measure to solve the shortage of coins.

The Australians had gone to great lengths to promote circulation coupons here. This move was far more than just settling down and trading. Li Luoyou’s heart was filled with another layer of doubt.

The second floor of the cooperative was still filled with various glass display shelves. The third floor, however, consisted of small rooms, all with their doors closed. Occasionally, people would go in and out. The steward said that if there was a big deal, the shop assistant would invite the person into one of these small rooms, serve them tobacco and tea, and someone would naturally be there to talk with them in detail.

“…Our shopkeeper has also done business here.”

“Master Yang also buys goods here?”

“No, he sells goods.”

It turned out that this cooperative not only sold and wholesaled various Australian goods but also purchased goods locally. A portion of the “Plum Su Pills,” “Secret-recipe Dried Tangerine Peel,” “Lotus Leaf Tea,” “Dried Grass Tea,” and “Stewed Meat Spices” that Runshitang produced in large quantities were also sold through here.

In the past, traditional Chinese medicine shops sold many such things that were not quite medicine but were still medicinal. They did not account for a large part of the business, and the shops did not expect to make a profit from them. It was mainly to build relationships with local customers. So the prices were not high, and they were convenient for household use, making them very popular. Liu San attached great importance to this business, believing that these products had a large market in the vast rural areas. So he produced them in large quantities and sold them in uniform packaging. Although the profit from this was limited, it had a miraculous effect in building the brand.