The Beijing-Tianjin area was at the feet of the emperor, and the prince was the chief envoy of Beizhili. Even if there were thorns in the area, they would be severely dealt with quickly. Therefore, although it was banned, everything was still very stable.
In just two days, the epidemic situation in Beijing and Tianjin has greatly improved. The number of infected people is getting smaller and smaller, and the entire situation has changed for the better.
At the same time, in various places in the Ming Dynasty, the court's strict orders have been issued, but when they are implemented, the differences are reflected.
The places in charge of officials of the practical faction can naturally strictly follow the requirements of the imperial court, seal and control various places, and investigate and punish those profiteers who want to enrich the country.
While ensuring social stability and order, quickly control the local epidemic.
But in some places dominated by conservative officials, the situation is completely different.
In some places, conservative officials were afraid of death and had already fled to the countryside, leaving matters to their subordinates to handle.
Conservative officials in some places don't pay attention to this. They think it's no big deal. There is no need to close the city or anything like that. Just do what you need to do. Isn't it just the plague? It will disappear after a while. History
It’s not like it hasn’t happened before, it’s always been this way.
In some places, conservative officials have not only done nothing, but have also colluded with unscrupulous businessmen to enrich the country and make a lot of money.
A typical representative of this is Tang Mu, the chief envoy of Shandong.
In Jinan City, at this moment, the entire Jinan City has also been sealed off in accordance with the strict orders of the imperial court. However, Tang Mu sealed the city not to fight the plague, but to greatly enrich the country.
There is a factory in Jinan City. While other factories have stopped working, the factory here is in full swing. It is working day and night, rushing to produce goods in two shifts.
"Sir, almost all the factories in the northern part of the Ming Dynasty have stopped working. The prices of various goods are rising. The prices are changing every day. As long as you have the goods in hand, the price is easy to negotiate."
Tang Quan, the director of the factory, took Tang Mu to inspect the factory with a smile on his face. There was no doubt that this factory belonged to Tang Mu and was the property of the Tang family.
"Well, not bad, not bad!"
"You have to work overtime. Now is a rare good time. When everything recovers, it will not be easy to make money."
Tang Mu nodded with satisfaction.
As the chief envoy of Shandong, he did not go to personally direct the prevention and control. Instead, he went to his own factory to see the production conditions in the factory. All he could think about was making a fortune.
"Sir, if we can bring over all the factories next door, our output can be doubled."
Tang Quan thought for a while and whispered.
"Hmm~"
Tang Mu nodded slightly, and then nodded to the person next to him, who immediately understood and went to handle it.
At this time, it is a very easy time to do things. It is very easy to annex other people's factories and industries. You can just find a reason to seal up the other party's factory and drive away the people who stay inside.
You can take it for yourself.
If the other party dares to make a single utterance, then he will be immediately imprisoned on the grounds of hindering the control of the epidemic. Moreover, now he can also be dealt with strictly, severely and quickly, and he can be killed directly.
As for whether you should worry about things being exposed, there is no need to worry.
He, Tang Mu, also has people in the court. As long as he has money in his hands, everything can be settled.
"Master, Master~"
At this time, someone from his own family came to report the matter.
"whats the matter?"
Tang Mu asked quickly.
"Master, all the disobedient grain merchants in the city have been locked up, and the price of grain has also risen. The price of a pound of grain has now reached fifty cents."
Tang Zheng reported to Tang Mu in a low voice.
"Only fifty cents per catty?"
When Tang Mu heard this, he frowned slightly.
After thinking about it, he said: "If we continue to increase the price, we won't be able to make much money at fifty cents per catty. We will have to at least increase it to several hundred cents per catty to be very profitable."
"There are now more than 3 million people in Jinan City, and they consume millions of kilograms of grain a day. This is a good opportunity to make a fortune. If you miss this opportunity, you will not have such a good opportunity."
"Yes~"
When Tang Zheng heard this, he quickly went to handle it.
Now that the epidemic is under control, almost everything is decided by him as the chief minister. On the one hand, he secretly sends people to find those profiteers and colludes with each other to raise food prices. On the other hand, he seizes those grain dealers who are unwilling to cooperate.
The reason is that the price of the other party's food has increased a little, which is making the country difficult to make money.
At the same time, on the other hand, the disaster relief grains distributed by the court were withheld and then sold to profiteers.
The price of food took off immediately. The food that originally cost only a few cents per catty suddenly reached tens of cents per catty. However, this still made Tang Mu dissatisfied. He felt that the price was too low and he would not be able to earn much in a short period of time.
silver.
The increase of more than ten times was not enough. They even said that they would raise the price of food to hundreds or hundreds of cents. In this case, the money would come quickly.
This is a typical business that makes the country hard to make money and makes a huge profit. Just like those grain merchants in the past, they took advantage of the opportunity of famine, deliberately hoarded grain to drive up grain prices, and tried their best to suck the blood of the people.
Of course, in Tang Mu's opinion, he did all this perfectly.
Because the grain stores are not under his name, even if something happens, those businessmen can be directly used as scapegoats.
As for the factory, it is not a problem, that is, the workers in the factory know, so what if they know, they can't feedback it to the higher authorities at all, so it is still nothing.
Moreover, even if something goes wrong, some unimportant people can be thrown out as scapegoats. Anyway, he himself knows nothing and has nothing to do, and the money is flowing into his pocket.
"The plague is good, the plague is good!"
"Without this plague, how would I make a fortune? If I don't have money, how would I climb up in the future?"
Tang Mu was so happy that she almost started singing. She was living such a comfortable life now.
The money coming in every day is like running water. This factory is nothing. The real money comes from selling grain.
This person cannot go a day without eating. Food is an indispensable thing for three meals a day.
By controlling food and driving up food prices, the price is more than ten times higher than before. The profits can be imagined. However, he is not satisfied with this. He still thinks that the price is low and wants to keep the price of food rising.
Going up there can be said to be the ultimate black heart.
Tang Mu was here to make money from the national crisis, thinking that no one knew about it.
However, he did not know that his affairs had been exposed long ago, and everything had been placed on Emperor Hongzhi's desk.
There is an epidemic now. In order to control the epidemic and implement strict lockdown measures, Emperor Hongzhi naturally had to use the power of factory guards in order to understand the situation in various places.
Dongchang and Jinyiwei are the most important forces in the hands of the emperor. Their most important role is to control information from all over the Ming Dynasty and monitor every move of civil and military officials.
Over the years, Emperor Hongzhi invested a lot in factory security, and the allocation increased every year. Now, tens of millions of taels of silver are spent on factory security every year.
With sufficient funds and the attention of the emperor, the strength and number of the factory guards have grown unprecedentedly. They have not only penetrated into all fields of the Ming Dynasty, but even have the power of the factory guards all over the world, including Europe, Egypt,
Both the Ottoman Empire and Persia had factory guards, and anything that happened could be reported back to the capital as soon as possible.
At the same time, the use of wireless telegraphy also provided a qualitative leap in the information and intelligence capabilities of factory guards.
With wireless telegraphy, anything can be reported quickly and without anyone noticing.
At this moment, Emperor Hongzhi held in his hands the performance and actions of officials from all over the Ming Dynasty in fighting the epidemic.
"You still need to be a practical person."
"In such critical moments, these hard-working officials, just like Liu Jin, are always able to head on, take the lead and do their own thing well, to protect the country and stabilize the country."
"Look at the Chief Executive of Shaanxi, Henan, and Liaodong who have done a very good job, especially in Henan. The epidemic was the first to appear, but it is also the first to control it. Now the new cases are
There are very few of them anymore, and the social order is quite stable.”
"These old-school officials just can't do it. They talk about being loyal to the emperor and patriotism, and write beautiful articles casually. But when they encounter difficulties, they either cower and hide in fear of death, or they don't pay attention at all, thinking that it doesn't matter, that it doesn't matter.
Big deal.”
"The Point Guard Is Here"
"What's more, people like Shandong Chief Minister Tang Mu actually colluded with unscrupulous businessmen to enrich the country. They have already strictly prohibited food price increases, business closures, and sales bans. The food security and needs of the people must be guaranteed.
.”
"But this Tang Mu actually colluded with the government and businessmen to enrich the country. The food has increased more than ten times. The food that was unwilling to increase in price was arrested and sealed."
Seeing the situation reported by the factory guards from all over the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Hongzhi's anger was like a volcano that had accumulated for thousands of years. At this moment, he wanted to have this Tang Mu executed by Ling Chi.
When my imperial edict reaches these places, it is like farting. No one cares about it at all, and they don't care at all. They even use it as an opportunity to make money, and collude with officials and businessmen to make money, raise food, and make a lot of money for the country.
They simply ignored the current outbreak of plague and did not realize at all how terrifying this plague was, with terrible harm and serious consequences.
"Immediately summon the cabinet ministers, six ministers, and ministers to discuss matters!"
PS: It shouldn’t be too much, after all, there were real cases a few months ago~