The Ming Dynasty’s Prodigal Son - Chapter 1164

[1164.Chapter 1112 Harsh government is fiercer than a tiger]

Going to Baoding…

Emperor Hongzhi was silent.

He looked at the man in front of him.

This is a very ordinary person, unremarkable.

But now, his eyes were red.

The two women at home had already cried their eyes red.

In this small wooden house, there is also a spiritual tablet. Incense is burning in front of the spiritual tablet, and words such as late father can be vaguely seen.

In other words, this man’s father has passed away.

He is the only man in this family.

This is the mainstay of the family, nine times out of ten, and the only one.

No one likes to leave their home, especially their mother and wife.

Not to mention how much inconvenience two women would have if they were here, how could a man have the heart to leave home?

Emperor Hongzhi was silent.

He has a great-grandmother and a wife. He can’t imagine how painful it will be for him when he needs to leave them, and how heartbroken Zhou and Zhang will be.

Come to think of it…if I hadn’t reached the end of my rope, I would never have run away from home.

“Baoding?” Emperor Hongzhi said in an unusually calm tone: “Why are you going to Baoding?”

“I get three taels of silver to pave the way for others.” The man seemed not to like being asked too many questions.

Emperor Hongzhi stared at the man: “Isn’t Tongzhou good? I…I heard…in Tongzhou, poor people will be given out silver coupons…”

Hanzi gave Emperor Hongzhi a strange look: “You are a foreigner, right? ?”

Emperor Hongzhi: “…”

Xiao Jing couldn’t help but said: “How brave are you to be so bold…”

Emperor Hongzhi’s eyes suddenly turned red and veins popped out on his forehead, and he became angry.

So he sternly said to Xiao Jing: “Get out of here!”

Xiao Jing was stunned for a moment, and suddenly he didn’t dare to express his anger, so he stepped back.

Fang Jifan stood aside and looked at Xiao Jing as if he was mentally retarded. This Eunuch Xiao was really getting more confused as he got older.

Emperor Hongzhi said: “I’m from the capital.”

“That’s no wonder.” The man seemed to see something fishy. The man in front of him was very extraordinary.

Fortunately, the man did not suspect anyone else. With his knowledge, it was even less likely that he would suspect that the person standing in front of him was the king and father of the world.

The man said: “What kind of silver coupons are they? They are obviously coupons that harm people.”

When Emperor Hongzhi heard the word harm, a look of guilt appeared on his face.

The man gritted his teeth and said: “Originally, in Tongzhou, children can still have a mouthful of food. In the past, I worked as a legworker at the dock. Although I could barely eat, I didn’t let the whole family starve to death. I heard that Baoding Prefecture is a good place. But after all, I couldn’t bear to let go of my mother and my wife who was a waste of money. But ever since those dog officials issued any kind of silver coupons, this life has become difficult.”

“At first, they collected business taxes from the merchants in the canal. , paid the tax, but did not get any benefits. Some small businessmen felt that the business could not be maintained, so they simply stopped and stopped doing the rest, so they tried their best to lower the wages. This business tax finally paid off. “

After that, it was said that the people were having a hard time, and many people were grateful for the silver vouchers. They said that the magistrate and county magistrate were really good officials who loved the people like sons. But how could they know that the silver vouchers were given out?” It was indeed issued, and it was said that with the silver coupons, one could buy firewood, rice, oil and salt, but… all of a sudden, so many people had silver coupons in their hands. In just three to five days, the prices in Tongzhou skyrocketed. It was so scary. Do you know the situation? In the past, a pound of rice was worth thirty copper coins, but within a few days, a pound of rice was worth one tael of silver coupons.”

Emperor Hongzhi frowned, he couldn’t understand: “This. Why? “How

can this man know the reason?

Fang Jifan said: “This is inflation. Your Majesty, think about it. There is only so much firewood, rice, oil, and salt on the market for the time being, but suddenly, everyone has silver coupons in their hands. You can imagine how high the prices will go.” “

Emperor Hongzhi seemed to understand but not understand. He seemed to feel that he had read such a theory in The Wealth of Nations.

Production has not increased, supply has not increased, but there are countless more money on the market.

“But… these silver coupons can be exchanged for real money in the future.” Emperor Hongzhi frowned.

Fang Jifan smiled and said: “For ordinary people, they can’t wait to redeem real gold and silver. Come to think of it, it won’t be long before these silver coupons will snowball into the hands of a few people.”

“Not bad.” The man still gritted his teeth. : “In the market, prices have skyrocketed. A pound of rice requires one or two silver coupons. In the end, the so-called issuing of silver coupons may mean that a whole family cannot even buy half a pound of rice. The rich in the city Households, as well as gentry outside the city, only had a little food, and they were holding a lot of silver coupons in their hands. Didn’t the common people know that the silver coupons could be exchanged for silver in the future, but soon everyone discovered that not only the silver coupons were used for shopping. , prices have skyrocketed, even if you go shopping with real money, the price has also risen a lot. Everyone is full and hungry. If you don’t eat food, you will die. Except for the rich households and gentry, who has the leisure to spend money? “

Save up your coupons.”

“When prices skyrocketed, those who had grain in their hands became even more hoarding. They could mix eight ounces of sand and incense ash into two ounces of grain. Ordinary people even had some in their homes before. The family has to spend money in order to survive. Do you think you can survive this day?”

Emperor Hongzhi’s face was already covered with dark clouds.

He clenched his fists and was silent for a long time: “Why doesn’t anyone go to the nearby prefectures and counties to buy grain?”

“How can it be so easy?” The man said: “Not to mention, the local gentry is so entangled here, how can they allow foreign businessmen to interfere? Do ordinary people like this have to walk for several kilometers just to buy a few more kilograms of rice? A hundred miles round trip? Sigh…I really can’t make it through the day…I used to be able to keep my family from going hungry by doing legwork at the dock, but now…it’s hard to feed myself.”

“People are all. He said that only when you go to Baoding Mansion can you have a good life. If you don’t go to Baoding Mansion, you will really have no way to live this life. “

Emperor Hongzhi was trembling with anger.

He suddenly remembered something: “Zhizhou Yang Yiqing, I heard that he is a good official who loves the people, how could he allow…”

The man spat and said disdainfully: “What kind of good official, no matter what official comes, who really does things, It’s not just those petty officials. Who knows what happened under his nose? Anyone who could interact with him was not a gentry. These gentry purchased large amounts of silver coupons and then exchanged them for real gold and silver from him. , this is such a huge profit, how many people have made a lot of money, they will naturally praise this as good governance. Those petty officials have long been in cahoots with the gentry, and these dog officials who took office are not relying on anything. When they come to manage the place, they will believe whatever the petty officials say. The people at the top and bottom are either rich or deaf or blind…”

The man said: “It’s getting late, I’m going to leave. Too late, we won’t be able to reach Baoding Prefecture tomorrow…”

Emperor Hongzhi couldn’t imagine it. At this time, the sky was brighter, and he could see the man’s face clearly. The man had a good face, and the two women were also sallow and thin.

This Tongzhou is a land of thoroughfares. Who would have thought that right at the feet of the Emperor, there would be people forced to come here due to hunger and cold.

Emperor Hongzhi said: “I am also going to Tongzhou, so I might as well go with you.”

As he said that, Emperor Hongzhi wanted to take out some silver, but after thinking about it carefully, here… I’m afraid that the usefulness of the silver will not be great for the time being. Turning his head and looking at Xiao Jing: “Did you bring some dry food? Leave some for them at home.”

Emperor Hongzhi sighed, but felt that his eyes were a little red, and a ball of tears was spinning.

There were many things that he could not imagine.

He originally thought that maybe Tongzhou had gotten better, but it was definitely not as good as the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty had boasted.

But who would have thought that… the New Deal… would turn out to be a harsh government.

Business and taxes were collected, but in the end…it was nothing but chicken feathers.

Xiao Jing was busy taking some dry food and staying there.

When the man saw this, he was no longer hostile and thanked him profusely.

He said goodbye to the women and went to Baoding with Emperor Hongzhi.

After leaving Baoding City, I found that on the bumpy road towards Baoding, there were countless people in ragged clothes, dragging their families along with them.

Emperor Hongzhi looked livid.

Fang Jifan just smiled bitterly, but he became worried in his heart, what would happen to Baoding Mansion… Ouyang Zhi, please don’t harm your teacher.

(End of chapter)