Vol 2 Chapter 1112: Tyranny is fiercer than a tiger
Chapter 1112 Tyranny is fiercer than a tiger
Go 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 eye sockets are red.
The two women in the family also had their eyes red from crying.
In this small wooden house, there is also a spirit tablet, with incense burning in front of the spirit card, and the words "Father" can be vaguely seen.
That is to say, the man's father has passed away.
In this family, he is the only man.
This is the pillar of the family, nine times out of ten, and the only one.
No one likes to leave their homeland, especially their own mother and wife.
Not to mention, how much inconvenience will there be for two women here, how can 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 much pain he will have when he needs to leave them, and how heartbroken Zhou and Zhang will be.
I want to come... If I hadn't reached the end of my life, I would never have run away from home.
"Baoding?" Emperor Hongzhi said in an unusually calm tone, "What are you going to do in Baoding?"
"Paving the road for someone, there is a wage of three taels of silver." The man seems to dislike being asked too much.
Emperor Hongzhi stared at the man: "Is Tongzhou not good? I... I heard... In Tongzhou, the poor people will give out silver coupons..."
The Chinese characters looked at Emperor Hongzhi strangely: "Are you a foreigner?"
Emperor Hongzhi: "..."
Xiao Jing couldn't help saying: "Bold, you let go like this..."
Emperor Hongzhi suddenly had red eyes and blue veins on his forehead. He was angry.
So he said sharply to Xiao Jing: "Get out!"
Xiao Jing was taken aback for a moment, but he didn't dare to vent his anger, and hurriedly backed away.
Fang Jifan stood aside, looking at Xiao Jing as if he was mentally retarded, this Eunuch Xiao is getting more and more confused with age.
Emperor Hongzhi said: "I am from the capital."
"It's no wonder." The man seemed to see something strange, the person in front of him was very extraordinary.
Fortunately, the man didn't suspect anything else. With his knowledge, it was even more impossible for him to doubt that the person standing in front of him was the ruler of the world.
The man said: "What kind of silver coupon, it is clearly a victim coupon."
Emperor Hongzhi heard the word "harmful", and guilt surfaced on his face.
The man gritted his teeth and said, "Originally, in Tongzhou, the little ones can still have a bite to eat. In the past, at the wharf, they were used as leg strength for others. Although they barely fed themselves, they would not let the whole family starve to death. I heard that Baoding Mansion is a good place to eat." In this place, I can't bear to part with my mother and the wretched wife of the family. But since those dog officials issued some silver coupons, this day can't be passed. "
"In the beginning, they collected merchant taxes. The merchants in the canal paid the tax, but they didn't get any benefits. Some small merchants felt that the business could not be maintained, so they simply stopped doing it. The rest, desperately Lowering wages, this business tax, after all, has been received by people like villains."
"Afterwards, it was said that the common people were having a hard time. Many people were grateful for the issuance of silver vouchers. It is said that you can buy firewood, rice, oil and salt with the silver coupons, but... all of a sudden, so many people have silver coupons in their hands, and within three to five days, the prices in Tongzhou have skyrocketed. Do you know how terrifying it is? One catty of rice costs thirty copper coins, but within a few days, one catty of rice, even one tael of silver, cannot be bought.”
Emperor Hongzhi frowned, he couldn't understand: "Why?"
How does the man know, why is this.
Fang Jifan said: "This is inflation. Think about it, Your Majesty, there is only so much food, rice, oil and salt in the market for the time being, but suddenly, everyone has silver coupons in their hands. It is conceivable how high the price will be. "
Emperor Hongzhi seemed to understand, he seemed to feel, as if he had seen such a theory in The Wealth of Nations.
There is no increase in production, and there is no increase in supply, 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 exchange for real gold and silver. Thinking about it, it won't take long for these silver certificates to snowball into the hands of a few people."
"That's right." The man still gritted his teeth: "In the market, prices are skyrocketing, and a catty of rice can only be bought with a silver coupon of one or two silvers. Wealthy families in the city, as well as gentry outside the city, only use a little food, and hold a lot of silver coupons in their hands. Why don't the common people know that silver coupons can be exchanged for silver in the future, but soon, Everyone found that not only shopping with silver coupons, the price of goods soared, but also real gold and silver shopping, the price has also risen a lot. Everyone is already full and hungry. Whoever has the leisure to save the silver coupons."
"As soon as the price of goods soared, those who had food in their hands became more hoarded. They could mix eight liang of sand and incense ash into the two liang of grain. Ordinary people's homes, even if there were some family members in the past, in order to survive. , and had to take it out, you said, can you live on this day?"
Emperor Hongzhi's face was covered by dark clouds.
He clenched his fists and was silent for a long time: "Why didn't anyone go to the nearby counties to buy food."
"How can it be so easy." The man said: "Not to mention, the local gentry are so entangled here, how can they allow foreign businessmen to interfere? Do these ordinary people have to walk a few miles to buy a few more catties of rice?" Is it a hundred miles to go back and forth? Hey... I really can't live my life... Doing my feet on the pier, I used to be able to barely keep my family from starving, but now... I can hardly support myself."
"People say that only when you go to Baoding Mansion can you have a good life. If you don't go to Baoding Mansion, you really can't live in this day."
Emperor Hongzhi was already trembling with anger.
He suddenly remembered something: "Yang Yiqing, Zhizhou, 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 official, no matter what official comes, it's not the petty officials who really do things. Who knows what happened under his nose? Anyone who can communicate with him, Which one is not a gentry, these gentry buy a large number of silver certificates, and then exchange them for real gold and silver from him, what a huge profit this is, how many people have made a lot of money, they will naturally praise this as good governance. Those The petty official has long been colluding with the gentry. These dog officials who took office are not all relying on something to govern the place. What the petty official says, what do they believe? Oil is the deaf and the blind..."
The man said: "It's late, I'm leaving, no matter how late, I won't be able to reach Baoding Mansion tomorrow..."
Emperor Hongzhi couldn't imagine it. At this time, the sky was brighter, and he could already see the man's face clearly.
This Tongzhou is a thoroughfare. Who would have thought that at the feet of the Son of Heaven, someone would come here suffering from hunger and cold.
Emperor Hongzhi said: "I am also going to Tongzhou, so why not go with me."
As he said that, Emperor Hongzhi wanted to take out some silver, but after thinking about it carefully, here... I am afraid that the use of the silver will not be great for the time being, so he turned his head and looked at Xiao Jing: "Did you bring any dry food? Give them Keep some at home."
Emperor Hongzhi sighed, but felt that his eyes were a little red, and tears were swirling.
Many things are beyond his imagination.
He originally thought that Tongzhou might be getting better, but it was by no means as good as what the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty boasted.
But where did you expect...the New Deal...became a tyranny.
The business tax came, but in the end...it was a mess.
Xiao Jing hurriedly took some dry food and stayed.
The man sees this, no more hostility, thank you so much.
He said goodbye to the women, and then went to Baoding with Emperor Hongzhi.
Leaving Baoding City, I found that on the bumpy road towards Baoding, there were countless ragged civilians, dragging their families along the same road.
Emperor Hongzhi looked livid.
Fang Jifan just smiled wryly, but he felt uneasy in his heart, what will happen to Baoding Mansion, Ouyang Zhi, don't make yourself a teacher.
(end of this chapter)