Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 221 Kitchen riot!

In the middle of July, the nineteenth year of Hongwu.

Hangzhou Prefecture, as the seat of the Zhejiang Provincial Government, has always had a developed trade.

But now it has become even more desolate.

While people outside the city were busy preparing for the autumn harvest, a large group of cooks crowded to the top of the city wall and looked at the notices posted in the city.

"What does the imperial court mean?"

"You won't accept the salt we make? You won't distribute grain to us either?"

"Isn't this going to cut off our chance of survival?"

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On the top of the city wall, a minor official in black clothes looked at the kitchen workers rushing up below with a flash of contempt in his eyes. He said coldly: "Don't make a fuss. This is not the first time you have heard of this. Now the court has just announced the rules."

"From now on, the court will no longer need kitchen servants."

"Now we have two salt factories in Hangzhou. The salt they produce is high in quantity and good in quality, much better than the salt you usually produce, and the price is a few coins cheaper than before. The court sympathizes with the lower-class people and wants to provide them with good salt, so the price is more affordable. You should not be so ignorant."

"But the court will no longer spend money on you in the future."

"I have kept you for so long, but the salt you produce is not even half as good as the machines. If it were me, I would not need you. You will have to find a way out for yourselves in the future. Of course, these two salt factories are still looking for people. You can go and give it a try. Maybe you can get a job."

"Besides, we have already told you this information. If you didn't grasp it, you can't blame us."

"All right."

"I won't say anything more."

"I have said everything that needs to be said, and I have explained everything that needs to be explained."

"Don't blame me."

"This is all the will of the court."

"Let's go, let's go."

The clerk said a few words impatiently and went straight back to the yamen.

He had no intention of quarreling with these cooks.

This matter was decided long ago.

Inside the Yamen.

A minor official looked out the door with a worried look on his face, and said anxiously: "This will directly cut off the food supply. Isn't this a bit too much? There are quite a few kitchen households in Hangzhou Prefecture."

The official in black clothes said disdainfully: "This is what the higher-ups want."

"The leaders of our Zhejiang Salt Transport Bureau all want to take credit for this. This will reduce the court's expenditure. Our Zhejiang Provincial Administration Bureau has tens of thousands of cooks, and the grain consumed this month is not small. Now we only give to about a thousand people. How much grain can we save?"

"And His Majesty loves the people."

"I heard that the price of salt in Zhejiang has dropped and the quality of salt has improved. If the emperor is pleased and gives us some rewards, we might even be able to benefit from it."

"Besides, distributing food to these cooks was exhausting, but now it's easy for us."

"As for these kitchen owners, who care about them, can they still cause trouble?"

"Moreover."

"The autumn harvest is coming soon, and there are many people looking for temporary workers."

"Are they still afraid they won't survive?"

"If they can't survive this, then they shouldn't live."

The soap-corn clerk had a look of contempt on his face.

He didn't feel that there was anything wrong with it. These kitchen servants couldn't do anything big, and there were so many people in the world who couldn't make a living. Who were they? If the court took care of everything, wouldn't these petty officials be exhausted to death every day?
Qiantang County.

A low earthen house.

A middle-aged woman with freckles on her face was weaving, but she kept looking out the door, unable to hide her anxiety and uneasiness. She turned around, looked at the two sleeping boys with pigtails, and then looked at the several baskets of salt piled up, her eyes filled with worry.

No one collects salt anymore.

Since last month, the government has cut off food supplies.

Although their family continued to make salt, the government no longer purchased it. Instead, people from the salt factories in Hangzhou came to buy salt from time to time, but the price of salt was half of what the government had paid for it before. With such a low price, they could not even make a living.

If I hadn't lived frugally before, I would not have made it to this day.

Many households in Qiantang County have run out of food, and some have even resorted to selling salt illegally. However, the government has been keeping a close eye on them recently, and very few people dare to sell salt illegally. With no one to buy salt and no other means of livelihood, they have been living off their savings, and no matter how wealthy they are, they cannot support themselves.

What's more, there is a family to support.

The woman lamented, "Why has life become like this?"

She knew it too.

They had been cooks for generations and were doing well, but suddenly they lost their livelihood. The government did nothing but issued a notice and drove them away. They also didn't want their salt and were not allowed to sell it privately. Their hope of living a good life was suddenly cut off.

creak.

The door of the house was promoted.

A dark man returned home.

The woman looked up and said hopefully, "Boss, what does the salt factory say?"

The dark-skinned man shook his head and cursed, "Those bastards said they would let me work in the salt factory if I gave them two taels of silver, but when I got there, they asked me to give them five taels. How can we afford five taels? And looking at their behavior, I'm afraid that even if we gave them five taels of silver, it wouldn't be enough to feed them."

"What a damn world!" The woman stood up and took a piece of linen to wipe the man's sweat. She said worriedly, "What should we do now? The government doesn't collect salt anymore. Although the people from the salt factory will come to collect salt, the price of salt is getting lower and lower. We can't even buy one or two rice. We don't have much money at home."

The man sighed, with some annoyance in his eyes.

How could he not know the situation at home?

There are now two salt factories in Hangzhou Prefecture. The workers have almost finished their work. The salt produced every day is equivalent to what they produce in several months. Now people in the city basically buy salt from the salt factories. Even if they want to smuggle salt, they have to worry about being reported to the authorities.

The man picked up a ladle, scooped up some water, and drank it in big gulps.

Then he went out again.

Cooks are different from farmers, they don't have land.

Their livelihood depends entirely on salt making. In the past, the imperial court would distribute some grain every once in a while, and would also use money to buy salt. Now the government simply doesn't care. They won't give them grain, and they won't use money to buy salt. Most of the salt they made with so much effort has fallen into the hands of the salt factories.

It can be sold at a high price once it is resold at the salt factory.

Ten days later.

The man fled back home in a hurry.

At the same time, another piece of news was brought back.

The man who went out with him to smuggle salt was caught by the government and beaten to death.

Sitting in the house, the dark-skinned man was trembling all over. He just looked at his family with hope in their eyes, but a hint of cruelty gradually appeared in his eyes. No one wants salt now, and those who sell salt illegally will be punished by the government. No one wants to work as a temporary worker either. Several people in the family are relying on him, and he has been forced into a desperate situation.

The man licked his dry lips and asked, "How much food is left at home?"

The woman whispered, "If we eat one meal a day, it will last for three days."

"Three days!" The man muttered a few words in a low voice, gritting his teeth and said, "We can't go on like this. If we continue like this, we will starve to death. These dog officials are forcing us to death. The salt government won't accept it, the salt factory doesn't want it, and they won't allow us to sell it ourselves. Since they are so cruel, I, Deng Muzi, will also give it my all."

"Isn't it just a steam engine?!"

"Smash it!"

"Without this shit, the government will just have to buy our salt, and everything will be back to normal."

Think of this.

Deng Muzi climbed up from the corner.

He said, "You guys stay at home and don't move anywhere. I'm going to go out for a while."

As he said this, he looked around the house, found a shoulder pole, held it tightly in his hand, and found it was very firm. Then he went out directly. It was not just his family that could not survive now. There were thousands of households in Hangzhou Prefecture, and they were all harmed by this steam engine.

There was only one thing on his mind now.

Smash the steam engine and everything will return to the way it was before.

The government will continue to collect salt and provide them with food, and their entire family will survive.

The commotion that occurred in Hangzhou Prefecture soon spread to the whole of Zhejiang.

But what greeted them was only bloody suppression.

However, the commotion caused by the kitchen owners did not end quickly, but spread rapidly to Jiangxi, Fujian and other places. It was only after this incident that officials from several provincial governments in Jiangnan realized that something was wrong.

Before this.

Several letters have already been delivered to Yingtian Prefecture.

But it was not sent to the Fengtian Palace, but to the Salt Transport Bureau.

Seeing that riots broke out among kitchen workers in most of the southern provincial governments, such as Huguang, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, etc., the Salt Transport Commissioner Wei Heng was frightened.

He knew something was wrong.

Something big has happened.

He did not dare to hesitate for a moment and immediately called all other officials from the Salt Transport Bureau to discuss countermeasures. They had to suppress these situations before the court took action, otherwise once His Majesty knew about it, none of them would be able to escape.

Just seeing the letters written by the salt transport envoys of these prefectures, Wei Heng couldn't help but want to curse.

It is really something even dogs and pigs would not eat.

He had already warned them in advance, but these people didn't listen at all. They even intensified their exploitation and left no way for these cooks to survive. If these people were willing to give up a little bit of their profits, sell salt at a slightly higher price, or provide some daily food, this would not have happened.

But the fact is that no one cares.

They all find ways to make money.

I wish I could put all the money into my pocket and not spend a single cent.

In just two or three months, the kitchen owner was forced into a dead end.

Wei Heng did not hide anything at all. He slammed the letters on the table and said, "You can see for yourself. Jiangnan is really like what Xia Zhibai expected. There is trouble in a large area. These bastards have no idea how to restrain themselves and are trying to make money. Now, in the provincial governments of Huguang, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and other places, there are cooks causing trouble. Some provincial governments are even preparing to submit letters to the court, but they are deliberately suppressed."

"Now they remember us and want us to help them."

Wei Heng sneered, his eyes extremely cold.

Didn't they offer any solution?
Gave it.

But no one listened.

As for the suggestions made by Xia Zhibai, the Governor General simply ignored them. Now that something has happened, they remembered them again. What were they doing before? If Zhou Dexing and others had agreed to let Xia Zhibai go south, or if they had left him some chance to survive, how could things have ended up like this?

Tian Jing looked at it for a few seconds and asked in a serious tone, "What should we do now?"

Wei Heng said dissatisfiedly: "What should we do? How would I know what to do? Let them take the blame themselves."

(End of this chapter)