Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 1658, Depressed Nanjing
Nanjing Railway Station, Wang Shouren, many officials from Nanzhili, and officials from the Sixth Ministry of Nanjing were all present, waiting patiently for the arrival of Zhu Houzhao and Liu Jin.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince came to Nanjing for the first time, which was a big event for the whole of Nanzhili.

Because this time, Emperor Hongzhi, represented by the prince Zhu Houzhao, came to Jiangnan for inspection on behalf of the emperor. The officials at all levels in Jiangnan who received the news, the six ministers of Nanjing, the servants, etc., were extremely excited and made many preparations in advance.

In addition to Zhu Houzhao, Liu Jin is undoubtedly worthy of their welcome.

The celebrities around the emperor, cabinet ministers, and people in their thirties are almost certain to be the chief assistant in the future, and even now, most of the cabinet affairs are handled by Liu Jin, Liu Jian He and Li Dongyang are drinking tea most of the time.

Liu Jian is old, already in his eighties, and he is thinking about going back to his hometown to provide for the elderly. Li Dongyang is in poor health and often asks for leave due to illness. Naturally, this matter basically falls on Liu Jin.

Liu Jin has always been a practical official who likes to innovate. It was not long after he became a cabinet minister that he came up with a new memorial system.

Notes on greetings, greetings, and flattery are not allowed to be written. If you write a criticism once, you will be transferred to the frontier to become an official if you write it twice. If you dare to write a third time, you will be dismissed directly.

The memorials you write should be straightforward and important. Don’t make it smelly and long like a lazy woman bound her feet. Don’t quote scriptures and show off your literary talents and knowledge. Talk about things when you have something to do. Don’t waste the precious time of the cabinet and the emperor.

After such a stringent regulation, now everyone is afraid to write memorials. There is nothing important, so try not to write memorials.

For this reason, Liu Jin naturally received another wave of impeachment and attacks, saying that Liu Jin blocked the way of speech, deceived the saints, and manipulated the government.

However, Emperor Hongzhi had a lot of trust in Liu Jin, and all those who impeached Liu Jin were reprimanded, and everyone knew what to do, just follow what Liu Jin said honestly.

At the same time, everyone knows that this old Liu Ge is someone who can't afford to offend, and definitely can't offend. When he comes to Nanjing this time, he naturally has to give him a good reception so that he won't have to wear small shoes for himself when he goes back.

The only one who can really understand Liu Jin is probably Wang Shouren.

Compared with other officials, he is the most relaxed one.

He has known Liu Jin for many years, and he knows Liu Jin very well. Although Liu Jin has a lot of rules in doing things, it is for the court and to improve the work efficiency of the government. As for Liu Jin himself, he has always been very easy-going, nothing exquisite.

What really worries Wang Shouren is the current situation in Nanjing.

Because of the incident in the winter of the previous year, Nanjing's economy was hit hard, and it has been cut off a cliff for two consecutive years.

From the taxes collected by the Nanjing tax office, we can know that the tax revenues in the whole Nanzhili have increased, especially in Songhu, where the growth is the most rapid.

This year alone, Songhu has received more than [-] million taels of silver in taxes, contributing one-tenth of Ming's tax revenue. It has far surpassed Nanjing and has become the third largest city in Ming Dynasty after Tianjin and Beijing. City.

But Nanjing, in the twelfth year of Hongzhi, Nanjing was the third largest city in Ming Dynasty, and in terms of tax revenue, it could receive more than [-] million taels of silver a year.

However, in just two years, Nanjing's economy has fallen into a cold winter, and tax revenue has fallen off a cliff. This year, Nanjing's total tax revenue has not exceeded [-] million taels of silver.

You must know that it is almost winter now, and there are only a few months left. This tax is not even one-third of that of Songhu, and the gap is really too big.

Although Wang Shouren is the chief envoy of Nanzhili, the situation in the whole of Nanzhili is still very good.

Nanzhili has always been a tax-heavy land of Ming Dynasty, and the land in the south of the Yangtze River is extremely rich.

With the development of capitalism and colonialism, coupled with the Yangtze River Waterway, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and the developed and convenient shipping, railways have also been opened.

The development speed of Nanzhili is also very fast, especially driven by Songhu, the development is extremely fast.

Nanzhili also handed over a good report card.

Especially in terms of taxation, after Wang Shouren's successive blows, the taxation work in the Jiangnan area is much better than before. Taxes are easier to collect, and more are collected, which is more standardized.

However, the incident in Nanjing still made his political achievements look eclipsed.

Nanjing has always been a famous big city in Ming Dynasty. It used to be the capital of Ming Dynasty, but now it is not even comparable to Songhu. Even Guangzhou in Guangdong and Guangxi, Crescent City in Nanyang, and Kaifeng in Henan are all developing extremely rapidly. There is a tendency to catch up with Nanjing.

If it continues like this, Nanzhili may have to move its capital to Songhu in the future.

"Come, come~"

I don't know who yelled, which pulled Wang Shouren back from his thoughts.

Everyone looked at the railway in the distance, and a train was slowly approaching the station.

"Woooo~woooo~"

The train stopped slowly amidst bursts of sirens.

An excited Zhu Houzhao and a smiling Liu Jin got off the train.

Zhu Houzhao was dressed in a bright yellow prince's suit, with a golden silk crown on his head, and golden dragons embroidered on it; as for Liu Jin, he was wearing a crimson official robe with cranes embroidered on it.

"I will pay my respects to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

When the officials from the six ministries in Nanjing, Wang Shouren and others saw him, they immediately saluted Zhu Houzhao in unison.

"No, no~"

Zhu Houzhao waved his hand. He has always been annoyed by these red tapes.

Soon, the huge team of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Ming came to Nanjing Railway Station in a mighty way, and everyone in Nanjing soon knew that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Ming came to Nanjing.

Zhu Houzhao came to Nanjing this time with many tasks. He supported the groundbreaking ceremony of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, and he also went to Xiaoling Mausoleum to pay homage to the Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty. It's here, it must be going to pay homage.

It is also necessary to inspect the flood-stricken areas in the south of the Yangtze River, convey the emperor's concern for the common people, and finally go to Songhu to inspect and see the development of Songhu.

The news that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince arrived in Nanjing also made the whole Nanzhili and Nanjing excited.

It has been a long time since an emperor or prince came to Nanjing.

Since the capital of the Ming Dynasty moved to Beijing, the status of Nanjing has been worsening day by day. The six ministries in Nanjing have all become nursing homes. Those who come here to be officials have no future, no future, and are waiting to eat and die.

The last emperor who came to Nanjing was Emperor Xuanzong. Since then, no emperor or prince has come to Nanjing. This makes the young and old in Nanjing and Nanzhili really feel bad.

Originally, the country of Ming Dynasty was Nanjing. Before the capital was moved, Nanjing was the largest city of Ming Dynasty, and everyone could enjoy many benefits along with it.

But as soon as the capital was moved, Nanjing's status dropped drastically, and my parents didn't love me or my mother.

Up to now, Tianjin and Songhu have surpassed Nanjing, and there are still several cities catching up with Nanjing, and they may surpass Nanjing in the future.

But what is even more sad is that Nanjing is very depressed now.

In the past, there was a huge industrial area, thousands of factories, and millions of people came to work in Nanjing every year, which drove the development of Nanjing in all aspects.

The size of the city is constantly expanding, all kinds of business are particularly easy to do, and housing prices are also constantly rising.

But in the past two years, a large number of factories have closed down or moved to Songhu. No one has come to Nanjing to work, and many places have become ruins.

The previously bustling and bustling streets have become extremely depressed, with few people, and the housing prices have been falling again and again.

Two years ago, a house in Nanjing cost 100 taels of silver, but now, even if it was sold for [-] taels of silver, no one wanted it. This left countless house buyers in Nanjing with no place to cry.

The sense of loss and the huge contrast make Nanjing people extremely eager to change, hoping to go back to the past, two years ago.

The arrival of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has brought hope to the whole of Nanjing, and everyone hopes that this side of Nanjing can develop again because of the arrival of the Crown Prince.

Of course, it is also hoped that through the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, the status quo of Nanjing will be slowly changed, so that Nanjing can resume development.

Horse-drawn carriages drive through the streets and alleys of Nanjing.

Liu Jin carefully watched everything here through the car window.

Even after the temporary superficial work done by Nanjing local officials and some whitewashing, Liu Jin can still see it.

Compared with when I came here two years ago, Nanjing is indeed much more depressed.

Many of the shops received from above were closed, without even signboards, and the windows above restaurants and teahouses were all closed, so it was obvious who it was.

There are also some places passing by along the way, where you can see unfinished houses, which stopped when they were only half built. When passing through the factory area, although the gate of the factory was blocked, Liu Jin could still see that these factories It has been barren for a long time, overgrown with weeds.

The inside of the factory is extremely quiet, you can’t hear any roaring at all, and there are tall chimneys that can’t emit smoke. You can see swallows building nests on them, and there are groups of swallows from time to time. Birds stay on it and fly around.

Even if the convoy enters the old city of Nanjing, it can be seen that the old city has become extremely depressed, and the shops that are doing business are weak; many houses are empty, and many people have gone to work in Songhu.

"Perhaps we should go to the Qinhuai River to see if the number of flower boats has decreased."

Liu Jin looked at all this, despite the whitewashing of Nanjing local officials, it is already so depressed, which shows that Nanjing is indeed too decayed now.

(End of this chapter)