usatvline Chapter 4 Analysis
Chapter 4 Analysis
After seeing Kong Tie and Chen Wang off, Shao Shuyi stood in the courtyard, looking slightly bewildered.
He sat down and quietly pondered the future.
The simplest situational analysis method is to comprehensively consider the external environment, the internal environment, one's own strengths and weaknesses, as well as potential opportunities and threats.
The external environment lacks sufficient information, making it difficult to make a judgment. However, based on current observations, there are more and more "Zhelankou" or "Lanyikou" on the Huai River in the Taicang and Liujiagang areas. It is said that there are natural disasters, plagues, and even small-scale wars in the north, causing people from Henan Province to flock south to seek survival. "Lan" is the same as "Lan". If there are lost items on the road, the officials will block them and wait for the owner to arrive before giving them to him. Otherwise, they will be confiscated by the officials. This is called "Zhelan". If this is the case with things, how can people be any different?
This indicates that the external environment is continuously deteriorating, but it has not yet spread to the Jiangnan region.
As for the internal environment, it was equally a mess, and the seafarers visibly became poorer.
First, freight costs are not keeping pace with inflation. Second, previously, when seafarers transported grain, the government would provide their families with grain as part of their income; this has now been cut off.
The miscellaneous corvée service for seafarers was suspended, then resumed, then suspended again, then resumed again, and so on.
By this point, the miscellaneous corvée service was unlikely to stop. Even though the Jiangzhe Province repeatedly petitioned for leniency for the suffering of seafarers and requested that their miscellaneous corvée service be exempted, the imperial court consistently refused. Helpless, the province and the grain transport office could only find their own ways to work around the issue, so that seafarers were effectively exempt from the miscellaneous corvée service—the service hadn't stopped, but someone was simply bearing the burden for them.
The continued deterioration of the financial situation of seafarers directly resulted in more and more people fleeing, but the task of transporting grain always existed, and in the end, it could only fall on the shoulders of the remaining people, causing them to slowly go bankrupt as well.
After understanding these two points, Shao Shuyi couldn't help but curse under his breath, "Damn it."
He had been in this world for over a month and had given up hope of returning to his original timeline. From a practical standpoint, his current concern was how to survive in the current world. However, after analyzing the internal and external environment, he suddenly felt a sense of despair and impending doom.
With two sighs, Shao Shuyi forced himself to stay focused and continued thinking.
What are his advantages?
Of course, being familiar with the general trend of history is an advantage, even if the details are not clear.
He was skilled in calligraphy, having practiced Zhao Mengfu's calligraphy for many years and had achieved a certain level of proficiency. In those days, he could be considered a semi-scholar.
Another factor is the knowledge and common sense that humanity has accumulated through countless trials and tribulations. The biggest challenge is that there may not be a stage to utilize this knowledge and common sense, or the conditions may not be right, but it is indeed a potential advantage.
It seems that this is all the advantages we have.
His disadvantages are obvious: he cannot integrate well into the current society. In addition, his original family was poor and of low social status, making it difficult for him to rise in social class and improve his living conditions in order to survive.
As for opportunities...
It's so damn hard! Sometimes opportunities come along, but you might not even be able to seize them.
Threats? Too many to count!
War, government, seafaring, disease, famine, and even competition among the lower classes could all pose significant threats to him, even to his life—the most immediate threat was the 45 strings of cash he had to pay before the end of the month.
It's very difficult, really very difficult.
But how should I put it? Even if there are many difficulties and little hope, he still has to try to change things, otherwise he's just waiting to die, which doesn't fit his proactive personality.
Having figured all this out, I have a general idea: take advantage of the current favorable situation before the internal and external environment deteriorates drastically, avoid risks, seek opportunities, leverage my strengths and avoid my weaknesses, seize the rare opportunities, and fundamentally change my situation.
Thinking of this, Shao Shuyi let out a long sigh, stood up, patted his backside, took the remaining five strings of cash, grabbed a sack, and prepared to go out.
******
Loujiang is the main drainage channel of Taihu Lake, and it is "deep without dredging" as it flows through the southern border of Taicang into the sea.
In short, this is a thoroughfare connecting the sea and the economic hinterland of the Taihu Lake basin.
The river is wide and deep enough, so the sea freight warehouse was located on the riverbank. The so-called "South Wharf" of Liujiagang is also located here. This is the South Wharf in a narrow sense. The South Wharf in a broader sense encompasses a total of thirty miles of waterway from Liuhekou (where Liujiagang is located, where the Loujiang River flows into the Yangtze River, near the sea) to Zhangjing, where the sea freight warehouse is located.
The river was embanked, and along the thirty-mile-long embankment, "famous buildings lined the market" and "foreign merchants flocked here," where all kinds of goods from home and abroad gathered, making it extremely prosperous.
Shao Shuyi walked slowly, observing carefully.
At first glance, there seem to be quite a few wealthy people in Taicang, perhaps even a vast number—a realization that deeply hurt him.
As for clothing, fine silks and satins are everywhere, but the styles are a bit different, looking like a kind of Han-style Mongolian clothing that blends Mongolian and Central Plains characteristics.
As conquerors, the Mongols had requirements regarding Han Chinese clothing—unlike the Manchu Qing dynasty's policy of shaving heads and changing clothes, the Mongols stipulated that "southern people" were not allowed to wear Mongol clothing.
However, since the Mongols had ruled the world for decades, some influences were inevitable. For example, many men wore the Mongolian noble attire of the zhisun (yesa), while many women wore bijia (bijia).
As Shao Shuyi observed along the way, he saw countless Han-style Mongolian clothes that were not round-necked or two-piece styles, mainly in shades of blue, green, and white. As for hats, the vast majority of men on the street wore conical hats, while a few wore corrugated hats, which looked quite incongruous as they swaggered around—this was quite different from the ancient clothing and attire seen in period dramas.
"Master, what would you like some tea?" came a warm greeting from ahead.
Shao Shuyi looked up, only to find that it wasn't someone calling him, but a monk a few steps ahead.
"Let's make tea. Is it ready?" the monk asked, waving his hand.
"You flatter me, sir. The oil press was filled with Ma Si Ge oil all night last night, it's still very fresh." The shopkeeper said with a beaming smile, "We just received some Fan Dian Shuai tea buds from Qingyuan, how about we stir-fry them together?"
"Very good." The fat monk with big ears walked straight into the teahouse.
The shopkeeper glanced at Shao Shuyi, then looked away, not even bothering to greet him.
As Shao Shuyi passed by the teahouse, he glanced back and saw about ten tables inside, almost all of which were occupied. The guests were not only drinking tea, but also enjoying various pastries and fruits. They were chatting and laughing happily as they ate and drank.
Indeed, people are different.
A monk can be fattened up and eat stir-fried tea—butter, milk, and tea are stir-fried together in an iron pot—while he can't even eat vegetable porridge for more than a few days.
The streets were filled with a dazzling array of goods, but he could only look and couldn't afford to buy anything; the gap was simply too great.
"Iron cloth, kudzu cloth, banana cloth, bamboo fiber cloth, kapok cloth, hemp cloth..." The energetic shouts rang out again from ahead.
Amid the bustling crowd, one man stood at the door, his face flushed and neck bulging, gesturing wildly as he tried to catch any potential customer.
Behind him, several houses stood in a row, filled with all kinds of colorful fabrics, so vibrant and varied in pattern that they were dazzling to behold.
"Zhou She, the red silk you asked me to keep an eye on has arrived." Perhaps having spotted someone he knew, the shopkeeper walked straight over and greeted him warmly.
"She" is a term used since the Song and Yuan dynasties to refer to the sons of wealthy and noble families. It is not usually used alone, but rather with a surname or birth order as a prefix, such as "Zhang She", "Wang She", "Da She", and "Er She".
Upon hearing this, Zhou She stopped and smiled, "So fast? What was the price?"
"Twenty-four strings of Zhongtong paper money."
Zhou She pondered for a moment and said, "Alright, take the two bolts and send them directly to Granny Wang's house up ahead, saying it's my thank-you gift."
Having said that, he took out a coin from his pocket and said, "Keep the change."
"Okay!" the shopkeeper replied happily.
Shao Shuyi passed by the two of them like air.
He wore a patched-up old burlap garment and carried a burlap sack on his back. Although he was not short, he looked malnourished and was clearly not a wealthy man, just like the countless ordinary seafarers in and around Taicang.
He was so inconspicuous in a crowd that there was nothing about him that would attract special attention.
After walking for a while, a large courtyard appeared ahead.
The courtyard gate was crowded with people. If it weren't for the soldiers and constables maintaining order, they would have rushed in long ago, making the courtyard completely packed.
This is the Ever-Normal Granary, one of the few benevolent policies of the Yuan Dynasty, which can be called a price stabilizer. However, it is becoming increasingly shaky and may not be able to sustain itself any day.
"Creak..." The courtyard gate was opened from the inside.
The impatient people, who had been waiting for a long time, pushed and shoved their way in, desperately trying to buy the food they depended on for survival.