Chapter 27 27 New Year

The last class of the 29th year of Jiajing, after finishing their daily homework, the children stood up respectfully and said New Year's greetings to Master Sun.

The private school would not open until the 15th, and Master Sun assigned them ten essays, one every two days on average. To be honest, it didn't seem too difficult for Wei Guangde.

Wei Guangde welcomed his first holiday in the Ming Dynasty, and also his first New Year.

For poor people, the New Year is like a sea of ​​fire and a mountain of swords. Those who owed rent and debts before the New Year must pay off their debts at this time, so there is a saying of the New Year's Eve.

Of course, such days have nothing to do with Wei Guangde.

A few days before the New Year, the eldest brother Wei Wencai ran back and forth in the county and town two or three times to prepare New Year's goods.

They all went out in the morning with a cart, and often returned home after dark.

This is not to say that their family has a good harvest of silver this year and they have to make a big fuss. Not only do they have to prepare New Year goods for their own family, but the entire Hundred Households also have a lot of items to purchase. The Hundred Households will use large carts to go out and purchase, and the larger the quantity, the cheaper it will be.

This year, the military households of the Bengshan Hundred Households have received more silver than usual, so they naturally want to have a prosperous New Year.

On the 28th, the Hundred Households slaughtered several New Year pigs, which was considered to be a real New Year atmosphere.

A few pigs were picked out, and of course the officers got the good ones first. The military households could still get some, otherwise the children in the military fort would be so excited.

Wei Guangde also went to see it. A group of children gathered there, watching the fat white pigs that were washed clean and pressed on the bench, and some children couldn't help but drooling.

There are many children in the Hundred Households, but most of them can't go to private schools like Wei Guangde and his friends.

Fish meat can be seen from time to time in the Hundred Households, but other meats are not common. Only the officers and hunters can enjoy such a delicacy.

Starting from New Year's Eve, children can be heard from time to time in the military fort setting off firecrackers, adding a touch of joy to the festive atmosphere.

However, Wei Guangde is in the Bengshan Hundred Households, where there are no celebrations, which is far worse than in the city.

On New Year's Eve, he followed his parents and eldest brother to worship the ancestors and kowtowed to the ancestral tablets. This was the first time in Wei Guangde's two lives that he knelt down to worship. In Wei Guangde's later generations, although there were also kneeling ceremonies, most of them were just bowing. There were times when he knelt when he was a child, but he really didn't bow down.

Afterwards, Father Wei briefly talked to the two brothers about the process of the family's passing down to this generation. There were also such things in previous years, but Wei Guangde didn't listen much at that time. Now Wei Guangde only has a vague concept, that is, he knows that the ancestors of the Wei family should be from Fengyang.

This time he listened carefully to what Father Wei said, and he was indeed from Fengyang Prefecture.

As for the fact that he had not heard of any relatives in the past six months, he had a general understanding of it at this time.

The ancestors had been in Jiujiang for quite a while, so they must have had many branches.

However, transportation and communication were inconvenient in ancient times, and as a military household, it was also difficult to change the household registration, and there was no way to choose too much. Most of the branches that were scattered went to the border towns to strengthen the garrison.

As the time of separation became longer, the contact became less and less. By the time of Wei Meng's generation, he was the only one left, after all, he encountered that war disaster.

Wei Guangde understood the actual situation of the Wei family, but he secretly kept in mind the approximate destinations of the branches that his father had said.

On the first day of the New Year, Wei Guangde got up in the morning and followed his eldest brother to kowtow to his parents and wish them a happy new year. After completing the ceremony in a proper manner, Wei Guangde received lucky money.

In previous years, in Wei Guangde's memory, his parents would generally give him a string of money, each of which was fifty, so every New Year, Wei Guangde could get a hundred copper coins.

Of course, this copper coin is not like the parents in later generations, who would try every means to take away the New Year's money received by their children, under the euphemism of "saving it".

However, this year seems to be a little different, perhaps because the family received more silver this year, Wei Guangde received two silver ingots from his parents, each weighing about one tael.

The prices during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty were really not too high.

On weekdays, Wei Guangde could eat snacks in the town with a few copper coins.

This time, he got two taels of silver at a time. According to the current exchange rate, he could exchange it for two thousand good coins. If it was private money of poor quality, he might be able to exchange it for three thousand.

Now, after traveling through time for so long, Wei Guangde probably knows that the currency was still a bit chaotic during the Ming Dynasty.

For example, if the government cast coins, they were made with high copper content and good quality, which was good money. With this money, 1,000 copper coins could be exchanged for one tael of silver.

There are also private mints in the folks, but like the counterfeit notes in the future market, they contain less copper, so more than 1,000 coins are needed to exchange.

In Wei Guangde's opinion, the counterfeit banknote printing industry is also a long-standing industry if it is carefully verified.

According to what Wei Guangde knows, in the early Ming Dynasty, gold and silver were strictly prohibited from circulation. With the passage of time, such laws have long been thrown into some corner.

"Thank you, Dad and Mom, you are still the best to me."

Wei Guangde happily took the silver ingot and shouted sweetly.

"Study hard."

At this moment, Dad Wei stroked his beard and looked at Wei Guangde, saying earnestly, while Mother Wei touched his head kindly.

The eldest brother Wei Wencai also received New Year's money, and he was also very happy like Wei Guangde.

Two taels of silver, this is a huge sum of money, and the helpers in the city have to work for two or three months to earn it.

This is also an important reason for the escape of military households in the Ming Dynasty. Military households can't go out to work to make a living. Even if they work, they can only work for their superiors, and it's usually free.

Wei Mengwei Baihu also embezzled silver, but at least he only took silver, and the rations of the military households below could still be barely supplied.

At this time in the Ming Dynasty, consumption was also monotonous. In fact, after solving the problem of eating, there were not many places to spend money. About one tael of silver could send those military households.

Whether it was Wei Guangde or Wei Wencai, their usual food and clothing were all from their families, so naturally this money was spent by themselves outside, which was really not a small amount.

After a while, Zhang Dayong and other general flags and small flags in the military fort also came to the mansion to greet Wei Baihu and stayed for a banquet.

In this Baihu, there are not so many things to pay attention to.

Early in the morning of the third day of the Chinese New Year, the eldest brother Wei Wencai was ready to harness the carriage. The family was going to the Wu family of Qianhu Suo. This was agreed long ago.

When leaving the fort gate, Wei Laodi smiled and said to Li Dayong, the general flag who was seeing him off, "This Banyue Fort is all in your hands. I'm going out for a little longer this time, so you have to pay more attention."

Wei Guangde and Wei Wencai stood quietly behind their father Wei Meng. Wei's mother was already sitting in the carriage. This was to go back to her parents' home and to talk about marriage for her eldest son. From time to time, she lifted the curtain to see what was happening under the carriage.

"Don't worry, sir, I'm here in the fort."

Li Dayong said to Wei Laodi with a fist. He was a dull man who only did things but didn't say anything, so he didn't say much.

Wei Laodi smiled and nodded, turned to Wei Wencai and said, "Then let's go."

He got into the carriage with Wei Guangde, while Wei Wencai climbed onto a horse next to him and walked away with a few servants.