Ming Dynasty: My Father Zhang Juzheng

Chapter 136 The Second Step
The dawn is just beginning. After last night's autumn rain, Beijing is finally feeling a bit cooler.

Today is the day when the salaries of Beijing officials are distributed.

In the whole city of Beijing, there are more than 10,000 officials of all ranks, big and small. Except for those high-ranking officials, most of the officials depend on their salaries to make a living.

As soon as I received my salary, it happened to be my day off.

Many officials either went there themselves or sent their servants to rush to Chongwen Street.

Although they had received the order from the Ministry of Public Administration in advance, the silver dollar could flow freely like normal silver.

But when the time came, looking at the thin silver dollar in my hand, I was still somewhat nervous.

Sun Yuan, ambassador of the Military Equipment Bureau, was one of them.

He stood at the street corner, looking at the huge crowd of people, then looking at the silver dollar in his hand. He gritted his teeth and rushed into the street.

Watching the fun has been a Chinese tradition since ancient times. When this silver dollar came out, many people also came to join in the fun.

Although it was early in the morning, the streets were already blocked.

Sun Yuan took two steps with difficulty and came to a rice shop.

When he looked aside, he saw a clever young man in green clothes shouting, "Gentlemen and neighbors, today is the first official opening of our store. Our master said that he wants to give everyone a lucky draw."

"You want to know what the prize is? My master said that anyone who uses silver dollars to buy grain today will be sold to you at 90% of the market price. There will be many prizes in the future."

"Do you think this is a big gamble?!"

"Big!" Many onlookers shouted.

"Is our master rich?"

"Grandeur!"

The young man's smooth talk made the atmosphere lively in a short time.

"Everyone, remember that we only accept silver dollars today. If you don't have silver dollars, it doesn't matter. Go to Chongwen Street first. There are special officials there to exchange silver dollars for you. It's absolutely free for everyone."

As soon as these words were spoken, the people who were watching the fun began to talk about it.

"Oh, the sun is rising from the west today. Can we have a chance to enjoy this great fortune?"

"Yes, I have been in Beijing for more than 20 years, and I have never seen such a scene."

"That's what it means when a toad jumps out of the embroidery room - it's a wicked thing."

"Look, someone really went to exchange silver dollars for it."

Suddenly, a cry of surprise interrupted the discussion. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw several men in white summer cloth robes walking into the crowd with smiles on their faces.

Several people winked at the servant and slammed the silver dollars on the table.

"Five silver dollars worth one ounce, five ounces of silver, all converted into silver."

"Got it."

The servant shouted in a drawn-out tone, then turned and shouted inside: "Hurry up and bring out ten stones of grain for these gentlemen. Don't be short of a pound or two, or I won't let you go."

Everyone's eyes lit up when they heard the voice.

You know, the price of grain in the capital is already more than six cents of silver, but here it is only five cents.

The difference between the two transactions was already one penny of silver.

While he was weighing the pros and cons, several laborers had already weighed the food and delivered it.

Seeing several men leaving with bags full of food, many people were slightly tempted. Those who had extra money directly exchanged it for silver to trade.

Those who didn't have much money would pool together with their friends and exchange for one or two taels of silver to buy it.

The business of the entire Chongwen Street became booming instantly.

Sun Yuan let out a long sigh and was about to go forward to buy food when suddenly someone patted his shoulder gently.

He quickly turned around and saw an unfamiliar lieutenant in black boots.

"Are you Sun Yuan, the ambassador of the Ordnance Bureau?" asked the lieutenant colonel in black boots.

"That's right." Sun Yuan was terrified, but he pretended to be calm and said, "Who is Bing Ye? I'm a law-abiding person and have never done anything illegal." "Hey, look at what you said, I'm not a man-eating wolf," the black-booted lieutenant smiled and waved his hand, pointing to the teahouse in front of the left, saying, "There's a distinguished person upstairs, let me invite you up for tea."

"Who?"

"You'll find out when you go there."

Having said that, he grabbed Sun Yuan and ran towards the teahouse without paying attention to the looks from others.

After going up to the private room on the second floor, Sun Yuan looked inside and hurriedly clasped his hands and said, "My humble servant Sun Yuan, nice to meet Zhang Sicheng."

This person was none other than Zhang Yunxiu.

Smiling and nodding, Zhang Yunxiu waved his hand to signal the lieutenant to leave, and then waved for Sun Yuan to come over and sit down, saying jokingly, "Ambassador Sun, you are a little late today."

Sun Yuan just sat on the bench, ready to get up at any time.

After being teased by Zhang Yunxiu, he scratched his head and stood up, smiling innocently: "I didn't expect that this silver dollar could be so useful. I just had a meal at home, and when I came here, it was already crowded."

"How many taels of silver did you get as your salary this month?" Zhang Yunxiu asked.

"Five yuan. My original monthly salary was seven dan of grain. According to the original rule of seven cents per dan of grain, I should have four taels and nine cents. This official from the Ministry of Revenue is really generous and rounded it up for me."

As Sun Yuan spoke, his brows couldn't stop rising.

"Is it enough?" Zhang Yunxiu asked again.

"Hey, this money is not enough. Even if the court gives me 10,000 taels of silver, I can spend it all. Even if the court gives me one tael of silver, I won't starve to death." Sun Yuan shook his head and said frankly, "The poor have their own way of living, and the rich have their own way of living. We are poor, so we should spend frugally, and divide one petal into two petals. We can live a good life by saving money."

Zhang Yunxiu nodded, smiled and poured a cup of tea for Sun Yuan, who hurriedly stood up to greet him.

"Sit down, I just want to ask you, how much compensation do you think the court should pay if your land is demolished?" Zhang Yunxiu waved his hand to invite him to sit down, and said directly.

"Demolished?" Sun Yuan stood up suddenly in shock.

"The last time we went to your place, we saw that it was dirty, messy, and smelled terrible. It's time to clean up this place."

"How does the court plan to deal with this?"

"Tear down everything. Tear down all your houses, clean up the mess, and build new ones." Zhang Yunxiu picked up the tea, took a sip, and said with thunderous force, "And it has to be done quickly. All the houses must be demolished by the end of this year, and then construction can begin."

"If it's demolished, where will we live?" Sun Yuan was a little confused.

"We will give you a large compensation. With this money, you can go anywhere in the world." Zhang Yunxiu stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the West City from afar. "Look, the sun in the West City is dimmer than here."

"Zhang Sicheng, I'm afraid that won't work. These people think they are the people under the emperor's feet, and they are unwilling to go anywhere else."

"If they don't want to go somewhere else, that's fine. Just take less money, and when the new house is built, we'll give them another house as compensation."

The first shot of the silver dollar has been fired.

If the second shot is to be launched, it will have to rely on demolition compensation and distribute these silver dollars to the hands of the people.

As long as these silver dollars can be circulated, they will eventually flow back into the hands of the imperial court.

"Mr. Zhang, may I ask who will the house in West City be sold to after it is built?" Sun Yuan tilted his head and thought for a moment, then walked to Zhang Yunxiu and asked.

"Don't worry about that. Anyway, you small officials have great benefits." Zhang Yunxiu smiled and directly pointed out the plight of Sun Yuan and other small officials. "We know that this capital is big and it's not easy to live."

"You low-ranking officials have low salaries, and there's not much left after all the entertainment. Let the court spend money to make your living more comfortable."

Sun Yuan nodded heavily and gave Zhang Yunxiu a grateful smile: "If this is really possible, then I will thank Zhang Sicheng on behalf of the officials in Beijing."

"Why should you thank me? If you want to thank anyone, you should thank the emperor." Zhang Yunxiu grinned and pointed to the sky.

"Ah, yes, yes, we should thank the emperor for his grace." Sun Yuan slapped his forehead and bowed deeply in the direction of the Forbidden City.

"Okay, go buy some scarce items quickly. As for food, we have sent someone to deliver three stones of grain to your house, which should be enough for you to eat for a month." Zhang Yunxiu waved his hand, signaling Sun Yuan to leave.

"I'll take my leave."

"By the way, don't tell anyone else about the news that you are going to start construction in West City."

"I understand."

(End of this chapter)