I

In Qinhuai River, the romantic business has become increasingly declining in recent years.

The reason is very simple. People's lives are getting better, and there are naturally fewer people selling their sons and daughters. What's more, the imperial court severely cracked down on human trafficking, and those caught were frequently exiled or beheaded.

Even the girls who used to go to the bar in the Washili were immigrated to the north in batches. In several northern provinces, not only the population has dropped sharply, but the male-to-female ratio is also abnormal. There are dozens of immigration quotas for women along the Qinhuai River every year - it is almost semi-mandatory.

However, in the past two years, Nanjing's romantic industry has gradually begun to recover.

Diecuilou is full of business today.

An old prostitute who still retains her charm walked to the stairs and said to the guests in the lobby downstairs: "Today my daughter is getting married. Thank you all distinguished guests for coming to support me despite your busy schedule. The title of this first level has been solved. It's been more than a month, I believe you all have the answer. Please listen to the question. The majestic ancient temple is hidden in the mountains and forests. I don't know how many monks there are in the temple. There are three hundred and sixty-four bowls. Let's see if they are used up. Three people eat a bowl of rice together. Four people eat a bowl of soup together. Sir, please tell me how many monks there are in the temple?"

"I'll come, I'll come!"

"I can do this question too!"

"..."

All the guests in the hall raised their hands. It was a very simple equation problem, and it was announced a month in advance. Even people who don't know how to do math would have already found someone to figure out the answer.

The old prostitute smiled and said: "Listen, everyone, to pass this level, you can't just tell the answer, but also give the calculation process. Whether you use the ancient Tianyuan Technique or your Majesty's equation, you have to do the calculation on the spot. .”

As soon as these words came out, there was an uproar.

Many scholars who only read the Four Books and Five Classics, as well as unlearned businessmen, complained that the old prostitutes were ruining the scenery.

But the more this happens, the more lively the atmosphere becomes.

Wu Weiye said to Mao Pijiang: "Brother Pijiang, why don't you harm Xiaoluo's skills?"

"What kind of skill is this? It's just a middle school question." Mao Bijiang already has some mathematical foundation. He has been studying textbooks by himself in the past two years. He has obtained his elementary school diploma and is expected to graduate from middle school next year.

Many scholars in the field, like Mao Pijiang, were stimulated by the standards of last year's official examiners.

Examiners for civil servants need a diploma, and they will definitely do so for exams for officials in the future. They need to get a diploma quickly. What if the policy continues to be tightened and adults are not allowed to attend primary school?

The old prostitute began to hand out paper, pens and arithmetic chips, which could be used to solve equations or arithmetic chips.

However, the person who answers the question must pay one or two silver coins!

This year there has been a severe drought in several provinces, severely reducing grain production, and the price of rice in Nanjing has risen to 13 cents per catty. The registration fee of one tael of silver can buy about 50 kilograms of white rice, and more can be bought in good harvest years.

But there were many people who signed up at the scene, and they all took out their money and took away paper and pen from the old prostitute.

After some calculations, more than sixty people passed the test.

The old prostitute smiled and said: "Tonight is a joyous occasion, and there are so many talented people gathered together. For the second question, please choose any chapter from "The Collection of Datong·Sanyuan Chapter" and write it down silently in a stick of incense. The thirty with the least mistakes People can pass.”

The whole place fell silent, and then became noisy.

This question was not asked in advance, and no one was given time to prepare. Who would be a serious person to memorize the "Datong Collection"?

Seeing that there were too many complaints and protesters, the old prostitute could only explain with a wry smile: "Dear guests, it's not that I mean to make things difficult. It's because someone from the government came yesterday and said that in the future of the singing and dancing pavilions, any daughter of any family who gets married will be asked to test her education. You must take "Datong Collection" with you when you are studying."

"puff!"

Albert Wu was tasting wine when he heard the words and spat out a mouthful of wine.

"Cough cough cough!"

Wu Weiye coughed for a while, wiped the wine stains from the corners of his mouth, and said at a loss of whether to laugh or cry: "This is something that is truly unheard of. It is indeed a sage today."

Mao Bijiang put down his wine glass, picked up his brush and started writing silently.

In addition to participating in literary conferences, he has recently focused mainly on self-study. "Sanyuan Pian" is part of the middle school textbook. I memorized it a few days ago. The word "Mao Bijiang is sure" is good.

After a stick of incense, the second question was handed in, and thirty people were quickly selected.

There are policies and measures to counter.

The government only stated that the questions must be related to the "Datong Collection", but did not stipulate that the answers must be answered. The old prostitute then decided on a quota of thirty people. Those who made the fewest mistakes could be selected. Most of the selected people only wrote two or three sentences silently.

The old prostitute smiled and said: "This third level is the pairing."

"good!"

Many scholars cheered loudly and finally came to their traditional program.

After three rounds, the five finalists were selected.

After comparing talents, it is natural to compare financial resources.

Mao Bijiang spent two hundred taels of silver to buy this girl's first night. Everyone is vying for it because the girl's reputation has spread throughout the Qinhuai River before she leaves the palace.

The Persian girl can speak Chinese, seems to have been studying for a few years, and can play Chinese and Persian musical instruments.

This is the secret of the revival of Qinhuai River's romance industry. There is a serious shortage of domestic women, so introduce foreign women!

Among them, Japanese women have the most, followed by Korean women, and Nanyang women again. The real best are the so-called Persian girls, but in fact most of them are women from Afghanistan.

Persia and India have been at war in Afghanistan for decades and often massacre cities. What does it mean to sell some women over?

The foreign slave trade began a hundred years ago.

First, the Portuguese purchased Japanese slaves and resold them around the world. They also promoted Japanese women as Chinese women and sold them to European brothels to make money.

In the fifth year of Longqing, that is, 1571, the Portuguese royal family issued an order to ban the Japanese slave trade because they were afraid of offending the Japanese government and affecting normal commercial and missionary activities.

But the Portuguese royal family's order was obviously useless. A Portuguese missionary mentioned in his diary in 1598 that Japanese women were sold to Portuguese merchant ships to meet the physiological needs of black crew members.

Macau is the slave trading center in East Asia. A large number of Japanese women were first transported to Macau and distributed to black and Malay slaves, who continued to give birth to slave offspring. If you teach these little slaves from an early age, you can get more gold and silver when you sell them, so you can mass-produce slaves.

It is equivalent to raising black, Malay and Japanese slaves as pigs and then selling them after giving birth.

By the time Japan closed its borders, Macau already had about 5,000 slaves, half of whom were underage slaves.

There were also Chinese slaves, but they were few in number and expensive.

According to historical records, the first Chinese slave sold to Europe was actually a scholar. The time took place in 1540, which was the Jiajing period. This Chinese slave's job is to translate Chinese materials into Portuguese...

By the way, most of the 5,000 slaves in Macau belong to the Jesuits.

After Zhao Han expelled the disobedient missionaries and Portugal cut off the Jesuits' funds, the Jesuits in Macau relied on selling slaves to make a living. In particular, slave girls are the most popular and are sold to major brothels across the country, effectively filling the shortage of human resources in China's erotic industry.

Most of the slave girls are of mixed race, and there are also Black Pearls who are of Japanese and Malay descent.

Mao Bijiang opened the door. Inside, red candles were swaying, and the girl was wearing a fake version of a wedding phoenix crown and harem.

Lifting the hijab, it turns out that she is a Persian beauty, and her exotic style is breathtaking.

The Persian girl was a little nervous and kept rubbing the corners of her clothes with her fingers.

Mao Bijiang did not want to offend the beauty, so he chose to chat: "Is the girl from Persia?"

"Yes." The Persian girl replied.

In fact, the girl lied. She had lived in Makran since she was a child, which was the coastal zone at the junction of Pakistan and Iran in later years. The place was once occupied by Persia and now belongs to the Mughal Empire in India. When she was eleven years old, she was sold to the Dutch by her uncle, who in turn sold her to a Chinese businessman.

Mao Bijiang added: "Girl, don't be afraid. If you don't want to, just play the piano and drink wine tonight. Can the girl know Persian instruments?"

"meeting."

The Persian girl took out a harp, which looked a bit like a Chinese banhu with four strings.

The girl played the strings of the piano and sang an unknown exotic song. She closed her eyes and kept in time with the music, but she completely forgot about other things.

"ah!"

A shrill scream broke the beautiful music.

Mao Bijiang went out to check the situation, but found nothing unusual. When he returned to his room, he heard a brass whistle coming from the street, and he immediately knew that something must have happened.

By the Qinhuai River.

A dark-skinned girl was picked up wet. Looking at her skin color, one can tell that she has black ancestry, but I don’t know how many generations of mixed blood she has, but her facial features are more like those of an Oriental, and her skin color is more similar to that of a native of South Asia.

The turtle man and the thugs of the brothel wanted to take the girl back, but they were stopped by a patrolman.

There were two patrolmen, one allowed the person to be released and the other refused to let the person go.

The young patrolman pushed away the silver dollar and reprimanded sternly: "The imperial court has ordered that singing and dancing in pavilions are not allowed to be forced to do work. You actually forced the woman to commit suicide by jumping into the river. What happened tonight cannot be covered up, so she has to be taken to the Yamen to see the official!"

"Keep your voice down!"

The elderly patrolman scolded: "Xiao Liu, you have just been transferred to Qinhuai River, and you don't know much about this place yet. To tell you the truth, today's Goulan Houses and brothels have stopped forcing Chinese people. The woman in front of you, at first glance, I know that she is not a Chinese, she must have been bought from Nanyang. Shangguan said that settling down and settling down is a citizen. How can a foreign woman be considered a citizen if she does not have a household registration? "

"I don't care whether she has a household registration or not. Since I encountered her, she must go to the official on this matter!" The young patrol officer did not accept this trick.

The brothel thug suddenly spoke up and said with a sneer: "Where did you get the stupid young man from? Take the money honestly, and don't toast or eat as a fine. If you continue to make trouble, you will have no money, and you will have to hang out with Shangguan." !”

Hearing the threat, the young patrolman suddenly drew his sword out of its sheath: "I killed the Tatars in Liaodong last year. I followed General Wang out of the Great Wall and killed the Tatar pseudo-Wang Hauge to pieces. It was because of his hand injury that he came back to work as a patrolman after retiring. , it’s not something a bastard like you can bully! If you want to take this woman away, you have to ask me if the knife in my hand will answer!"

This young patrolman is not only a veteran, but also a member of the Datong Cavalry.

The Datong Knights are not only proficient in riding skills, but also have outstanding martial arts skills.

The brothel thugs didn't dare to cause trouble for a moment, and the older patrolman didn't dare to speak. He watched helplessly as the young patrolman took the woman away.

After being stunned for a moment, the elderly patrol officer suddenly ran away and went to find his boss anxiously. The police in the Qinhuaihe area, from the officials in charge to the patrol officers, all accepted the benefits of the major brothels. If this matter gets serious, many people will lose their official positions.