Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 65, the people suffer
I heard this old man say that if he buys firewood, he has no money and no food, and he has no money to buy firewood after buying food. As for the charcoal for heating, it is an unimaginable luxury for the people at the bottom. This charcoal is too expensive.

Emperor Hongzhi, Liu Jian, Xie Qian, and Li Dongyang had ugly expressions on their faces. They always thought that under their hard work, the world should be able to enjoy singing and dancing, make the people rich and the country strong, and prosper.

But from the old man's words, they seem to have seen with their own eyes the difficult life of ordinary people in the real estate. Some people were frozen to death because they had no clothes to keep out the cold, let alone charcoal or firewood for heating, and even starved of food.

There are people like the old man, whose conditions are extremely limited, and they can’t wait to turn a penny into two cents to spend. Every time the firewood increases, they will have less food in their mouths, and winter is the most difficult.

"Is it really like what Liu Jin said, time has changed, if things don't change, how long can this world last?"

Emperor Hongzhi remembered what he had said to Liu Jin not long ago.

These days, he asked people to investigate two things carefully, one is the population and the other is the land.

After in-depth investigations by the three intelligence agencies of Jinyiwei, Dongchang, and Xichang, everything is just as Liu Jin said, the population of the Ming Dynasty has actually skyrocketed a lot, a lot.

However, according to the official statistics, the population not only did not increase, but decreased. A large number of the population was kept and concealed by wealthy gentry, and the hidden population was almost the same as the official statistics.

What a frightening fact this is. If, as Liu Jin said, the total amount of land is inconvenient and the output of food is limited, but the population continues to grow, some people will definitely go hungry in the end, and eventually the contradictions in the entire society will continue to sharpen .

Concealing the population is not the thing that worries Emperor Hongzhi the most. This population is at most related to corvee labor.

What really worries him is that, as Liu Jin said, land issues are becoming more and more concentrated in the hands of a few people. Ordinary people own less and less land, but the taxes they bear are getting heavier and heavier.

All this land was slowly concentrated in the hands of those gentry, nobles, and royal families who did not need to pay taxes. Not to mention the princes of the old Zhu family who were entrusted all over the country, the land they occupied was extremely amazing.

These people take advantage of their royal status to monopolize the most profitable industries in the local area, such as land, forests, mines, etc. As long as they are profitable, these royal families will seize them by begging the emperor or plundering them. own hands.

Princes from all over the world like to cry to the emperor for the power to ask for land or local taxes, and as time goes by, more and more princes are entrusted, which will inevitably lead to the increase of the palace and the expansion of the enclosure, the best in the world All the land belonged to the royal family.

Many palaces own tens of thousands of hectares of land. King Jing and King Lu have as many as 4 hectares of land in Huguang, etc., King Fu has 2 hectares of farmland, and King Gui, King Hui, and King Rui each have 3 hectares of farmland.

Half of the land in Changsha and Shanhua counties belongs to King Ji, and half of the land in Henan Province belongs to the princes' mansions. All of these lands are the best and most fertile land. The prince's family was ruined and his wife was separated.

In addition to the royal family, among the officials in the court, which one is not a wealthy family, and there is ten thousand acres of fertile land under the name of just anyone.

Xie Qian is from Zhejiang, and the Xie family is also a well-known big family in Zhejiang, covering an area of ​​tens of thousands of acres; Liu Jian is from Henan, and his Liu family is also a well-known big family in Henan, covering an area of ​​not much There are fewer than Xie Qian's family; as for Li Dongyang, he is from Hunan, and almost all the counties near his hometown have the surname Li.

From the cabinet bachelor, down to the seventh-rank sesame officials at the bottom of the entire Ming Dynasty, and even the ninth-rank county magistrates, everyone has a lot of land under their names and families. The more fields, the bigger the family behind it.

After being carefully investigated, Emperor Hongzhi suddenly felt that he was the poorest in the world. Many princes, nobles and gentry lived better lives than he did not know how many times better.

The built palaces and mansions are even more luxurious than the imperial palace, whether it is good to eat three meals a day, or the cost of food and clothing, etc., the emperor Hongzhi can't match it.

You must know that Emperor Hongzhi's wife, Queen Zhang, was still wearing patched clothes. Emperor Hongzhi himself was also a typical representative of diligence and thrift. Staring at it, wishing that Emperor Hongzhi would take it all out at once.

The population growth and the serious concentration of land, all of these are just as Liu Jin said, and now it is time to make changes.

If all of this is not changed, it may be able to last for a few more years, but in the end the old Zhu family's country will still be the same as the previous dynasties, unable to escape the fate of reincarnation.

In the past, Emperor Hongzhi only listened to the reports and looked at the data, and didn't feel too real, but now, after hearing what the old man said with his own eyes, he knew that Liu Jin's words were right.

"Either move the excess population out, or increase the land, in the final analysis, it is external expansion~"

Emperor Hongzhi thought of the countermeasure Liu Jin had said, and hesitant expression appeared on his face again.

"Master~"

Seeing where Emperor Hongzhi was in a daze, Xiao Jing carefully reminded him.

"Oh~"

Emperor Hongzhi came to his senses. Hearing the news, there were more and more people queuing up. Emperor Hongzhi looked at the long line. These people were basically ordinary people at the bottom.

It was freezing cold at this time, but there were still many people wearing very thin clothes. When the cold wind blew, the whole person shivered and shrank into a circle. Most of the people wore very tattered and old clothes.

"Mom, I'm cold~"

A little girl about seven or eight years old was hugged tightly by her mother, but because the clothes on her body were very thin, she was still very cold when the cold wind blew. .

Emperor Hongzhi took off his coat, came to the little girl and said, "Son, wear my clothes."

"My lord, this is absolutely impossible~"

When the child's mother saw it, she immediately knelt down, shook her head and said.

"It's okay, it's okay, it's just a piece of clothing~"

Emperor Hongzhi gently wrapped the little daughter up, hugged her up, saw her face turned red from the cold, and couldn't help but ask, "What's your name?"

"My name is Yaomei~"

The youngest daughter looked at the amiable Emperor Hongzhi in front of her, and said timidly.

"Yaomei~ It's such a cold day, why did you run out?"

"My mother said that some villains would take the child away. I was afraid, so I followed my mother out."

Emperor Hongzhi hugged the child, because he took off his coat, the cold wind blew in, and it was bitingly cold. Xiao Jing, who was beside him, naturally took off his own clothes, and quickly put them on for Emperor Hongzhi.

"Master, it's cold, put it on quickly, your body is important."

Xiao Jing said very worriedly.

"Let me also feel the cold of this winter, if they can be cold, so can I."

Emperor Hongzhi waved Xiao Jing's clothes stubbornly, and then said to the little girl with a smile: "Can the family have enough to eat?"

The little girl looked at her mother, then at Emperor Hongzhi, then at the people around Emperor Hongzhi, and dared not speak.

"Say it, it's okay, with me here, no one dares to bully you."

Emperor Hongzhi patted Yaomei's head and said.

"I don't have enough to eat. My father died early. My mother makes money by washing clothes for others. I haven't eaten for a day."

Yaomei is very thin, the kind of starving and thin. Emperor Hongzhi could feel it when he hugged her. Her whole body was covered with bones. Her eyes were very big, which was the kind of starvation that made her look very big.

"Poor boy~"

"What do you like to eat? Let me treat you."

Emperor Hongzhi's eyes were filled with tears, and he felt extremely guilty in his heart. He felt that he was really incompetent as an emperor, so he patted Yaomei's head and said.

"I like to eat steamed buns, steamed buns are the best."

Yaomei said it almost without thinking.

"Go get some food."

Emperor Hongzhi nodded, turned his head and said to Xiao Jing.

"Yes, sir~"

Xiao Jing nodded quickly, and then said: "Master, you should put on your clothes, your body is important."

"Yeah, your body is important, so hurry up and help the master put on his clothes."

Liu Jian, Xie Qian, and Li Dongyang on the side were also anxious, and said to the people around Emperor Hongzhi.

"Hey~ I have clothes to wear, but I don't know how many poor people like Yaomei exist in this world."

Emperor Hongzhi nodded, put on his clothes, and said with a long sigh.

　Today is only one chapter by car, please help to promote the next book, I don’t think there will be any recommendations in the future, I hope everyone can help to promote it.

　　


(End of this chapter)