chapter 14 big purchase

In order to encourage people to hunt tigers and prevent local officials from buying and selling them by force, the imperial court stipulated that county governments needed to pay bounties for hunting tigers, but they could not purchase tiger carcasses.

Cutting off the tiger's tongue is to prevent someone from buying the tiger and claiming the reward again.

Several people received the rewards and had to find buyers themselves.

As soon as I pulled the cart out of the county office, I was surrounded by several fur traders who came after hearing the news.

"Joyce Chen, you can do it. You actually killed a tiger! Tell me, how much did it cost!"

Orion comes to the county every year to sell animal skins, and soon someone recognizes him and asks for the price.

Killing a tiger is big news in Xihe Bay, but Jinchuan County has 16 towns and hundreds of villages, all in mountainous areas. There are too many tigers. On average, two or three are killed every year. Orion has seen There have been several tiger auctions and I already know the approximate price.

A tiger can usually be purchased for about 25 guan.

But Orion stretched out four fingers and said, "Forty dollars!"

"Joyce Chen, you must have been blinded by lard. Don't you know the price of a tiger?"

A fur trader cursed.

"Lao Zhou, are our tigers the same as those sent by other villages?"

The hunter also refused to give in: "The tigers they sent were not stabbed to death by a group of people. They had long been cut with big holes and small eyes. If you look at ours, there are only a few small holes in the body, and the size is still small." Big and beautiful, can they compare?"

"That's not worth forty coins!"

"Such a good tiger can only be encountered once in decades, so why isn't it worth it? I won't sell it for less than 40 coins!"

…

After half an hour of bargaining, the tiger was finally sold to Lao Zhou for thirty-two dollars.

Including the three guan bounty from the government, the tiger gained a total of 35 guan.

The usual amount of money is one thousand copper coins, and thirty-five copper coins are filled with half a cloth bag.

Dakang's copper coins are still very valuable. One copper coin can buy a meat bun.

With this money, Abraham Jin will not have to worry about taxes and food and drink for several years to come.

"Let's go eat!"

With money in his hand and confidence in his heart, Abraham Jin saw the sky getting dark, waved his hand heroically and led a few people to find a restaurant.

They had traveled dozens of miles of mountain roads without eating since morning. Ives Zhang and the others were also hungry, so they followed up with smiles.

There is no cooking in Dakang, and the food mainly consists of steaming and cooking. We found a relatively clean-looking inn on the roadside, and each person ordered a bowl of broth and a bowl of white-flour steamed buns.

These things are already the best food in the inn.

Food and accommodation cost a total of seventy coppers. Ives Zhang felt sorry for Abraham Jin for half the night, feeling that Abraham Jin was too wasteful.

Seventy copper coins to buy coarse grains and some wild vegetables would be enough for their family to eat for a month.

But the next morning, Zhang Liang knew what a real prodigal was.

When he got up in the morning, Abraham Jin sealed a red envelope for each of the village chief and several others. Ives Zhang opened it and saw that it contained two hundred copper coins.

"Abraham Jin, there are too many, I can't accept them."

This red envelope was so big that even the village chief felt it was a bit hot to touch.

"No more, no more. You put down your work and followed me so far. I can't let you run away in vain, right?"

Abraham Jin said: "Bai Wuyi is a scholar. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't even be able to touch the door of the county government, let alone sell the tiger at such a high price."

This is not Abraham Jin modesty. If the hunter and the village chief hadn't bargained with the merchants, this tiger would have been sold at least several times less.

That's thousands of copper plates.

"They are all from the same village, as it should be."

The village chief said: "Yesterday you invited us to eat meat and steamed buns with open stomachs. You already spent a lot of money. Today, just give us a few copper coins as a token of your will."

"They are still as simple as the ancients."

Abraham Jin sighed in his heart, and deliberately said with a straight face: "I, Abraham Jin, am a scholar. What I say is just like spilled water. If you don't accept it, just throw it away."

"You, you, you!"

When the village chief saw that Abraham Jin had the stubborn temper of a scholar, he had no choice but to stuff the red envelope into his arms.

"That's right."

Abraham Jin nodded with satisfaction and started the big purchase.

In one morning, Abraham Jin spent a total of eight copper coins. Not only did he buy daily necessities such as grain and salt, but he also bought a lot of things that Ives Zhang didn't recognize or thought were useless, and filled most of the cart. .

Originally, she wanted to buy some clothes for Julianna Guan, but after searching all over the county, there was no one selling ready-made clothes, so she could only tear off two pieces of cloth and go back to find someone to make a dress for her.

After the purchase was completed, there were still more than twenty copper coins left, which filled half the bag. Abraham Jin felt it was troublesome, so he exchanged twenty of them at the bank for silver ingots that were easier to carry.

We invited everyone to a restaurant for a meal before starting our return trip.

As soon as Abraham Jin and others left the city gate, the Yamen led a young man in armor into the inn where Abraham Jin stayed last night.

"You guys, it's better to stay in a hotel if you want to get better!"

The waiter hurriedly greeted him.

"I won't give you a tip and I won't stay in a hotel. Let me ask you about someone."

The yamen servant asked: "Do the people who sold tigers yesterday live in your place?"

"Tiger seller?"

The waiter was stunned.

He was very busy yesterday and didn't have time to watch the excitement. He only heard that someone was selling tigers, but he didn't see them.

"There are five of them in total. The leader is an old man, there is also a gentle scholar and a one-armed man."

When the yamen servant said this, the waiter immediately remembered: "Yes, yes, they stayed here yesterday, but checked out early in the morning."

"Do you know where they went?"

"This little one doesn't know."

The waiter couldn't help but ask: "Master, why are you looking for them? Could it be that they have committed something?"

"Don't ask what you shouldn't ask."

The yamen servant scolded him in a deep voice. The waiter shrank his neck in fright and did not dare to ask any more questions.

"They didn't commit any crime. I watched the tiger last night and found that the person who killed the tiger was very skilled in archery, so I wanted to get acquainted with him. There's no harm in that."

The young man in armor smiled and said: "If you see them again, come to Qingfeng courtyard in the south of the city and let them know. Your reward will be indispensable."

"yes!"

As soon as the waiter heard the words Qingfeng courtyard, his attitude immediately became more respectful.

He had heard someone say that it was the residence of a great general.

After leaving the inn, the yamen officer noticed the disappointed look on the young man's face and comforted him: "Master, our county kills several tigers every year. If you like tiger-killing heroes, I will go find some for you tomorrow."

"Different."

The young man in armor said: "The tiger's two legs were pierced by arrows, and the arrow on its forehead was half a foot deep. It shows that the person who killed the tiger was a master of archery, and he was extremely powerful. To the north The war is going on and we are in urgent need of such talents!"

"catcher Zhang, please keep an eye out for me. If you find any news about this person, please let me know."

"You're welcome, Louis, it's just a little effort."

The yamen servant bowed and agreed.