I heard this old man say that if you buy firewood, you will have no money or food. If you buy food, you will have no money to buy firewood. As for charcoal for heating, for the people at the bottom, it is an unimaginable luxury. It is really
This charcoal is too expensive.
Emperor Hongzhi, Liu Jian, Xie Qian, and Li Dongyang looked ugly. They had always thought that under their hard work, the world should be prosperous, the people should be prosperous, and the country should be prosperous.
But from the old man's words, they seemed to see with their own eyes the difficult life of ordinary people in the real estate. Some people had no clothes to keep out the cold, no charcoal, no firewood for heating, and no food to eat, and eventually froze to death.
There are people like the old man who have extremely limited conditions and would like to spend every penny in two cents. Every time the firewood increases, they will have less food in their mouths. Winter is the most unbearable.
"Is it true that as Liu Jin said, times have changed and if things don't change, how long can this world last?"
Emperor Hongzhi thought of what he had told Liu Jin not long ago.
These days, he asked people to carefully investigate two things, one was the population and the other was the land.
After in-depth investigations by the three intelligence agencies of Jinyiwei, Dongchang and Xichang, everything is as Liu Jin said, the population of the Ming Dynasty has actually increased a lot, a lot.
However, according to official statistics, the population not only did not increase, but actually decreased. A large number of people were supported by wealthy gentry and were concealed. This concealed population is almost the same as the official statistics.
What a terrible fact this is. If it is true as Liu Jin said, the total amount of land is inconvenient and the output of food is limited, but the population is constantly growing, eventually some people will starve, and eventually the contradictions in the entire society will continue to become more acute.
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Concealing the population was not the most worrying thing for Emperor Hongzhi. This population was at most related to corvee work. He had always been light on corvee and low on taxes, and recruited manpower on a large scale to do things.
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 fewer and fewer fields, but the taxes they bear are getting heavier and heavier.
All this land was slowly concentrated in the hands of the gentry, wealthy families, and royal families who did not need to pay taxes. Not to mention the princes of the Lao Zhu family who were entrusted all over the country, the land they occupied was extremely amazing.
These people used their royal status to monopolize the most profitable local industries, such as land, mountains, mines, etc. As long as it was profitable, these royal families would seize it by begging the emperor or plundering it.
In one's own hands.
Princes from all over the world like to complain to the emperor about their poverty and ask for land or the power of local taxes. As time goes by, more and more princes are enfeoffed, which will inevitably lead to the increase of princes' palaces and the expansion of enclosures. The best in the world.
All the land returned to the hands of the royal family.
Many princes owned tens of thousands of hectares of land. King Jing, King Lu, etc. in Huguang had as much as 40,000 hectares of land, King Fu had 20,000 hectares of farmland, and King Gui, King Hui, and King Rui each had 30,000 hectares of farmland.
Half of the land in Changsha and Shanhua counties is owned by Prince Ji. Half of the land in Henan Province is actually owned by the princes. All of these lands are the best and most fertile. I don’t know how many people have been affected by these.
The prince's actions resulted in the destruction of his family and the separation of his wife and children.
In addition to the royal family, none of the high officials in the court are from a wealthy family. Any one of them can have tens of thousands of acres of fertile land under their name.
Xie Qian is from Zhejiang, and the Xie family is also a famous big family in Zhejiang, with an area of tens of thousands of acres; Liu Jian is from Henan, and his Liu family is also a famous big family in Henan, with an area of not much
There are fewer families than Xie Qian; as for Li Dongyang, he is from Hunan, and almost all the counties near his hometown have the surname Li.
From the Grand Master of the Cabinet to the lowest seventh-rank official in the entire Ming Dynasty, and even to the ninth-rank county magistrate, everyone has a large amount of land under their name and family. The bigger the official, the more they own.
The more fields there are, the bigger the family behind them is.
After a careful investigation, Emperor Hongzhi suddenly felt that he was the poorest in the world. Many princes, wealthy gentry, and their lives were many times better off than he was.
The palaces and mansions built were more luxurious than the palaces. The three meals a day, the food and clothing expenses, etc. were beyond the reach of Emperor Hongzhi.
You must know that Emperor Hongzhi's wife, Empress Zhang, was still wearing patched clothes. Emperor Hongzhi himself was also a typical representative of thrift. He was not willing to eat or use it. He worked hard to save some money but was killed by the ministers in the court.
He stared at it, wishing that Emperor Hongzhi would take it all out at once and use it up.
The growth of population and the serious concentration of land are all just as Liu Jin said. Now is the time to make changes.
If we don't change all this, we may be able to sustain it for a few more years, but in the end, the old Zhu family will still be the same as 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 did not have a very real feeling. But now, after hearing what the old man said with his own eyes, he knew that Liu Jin's words were right.
"Either relocate the excess population or increase the land. In the final analysis, it is external expansion~"
Emperor Hongzhi thought of the countermeasures Liu Jin mentioned in his mind, and he showed a hesitant look on his face.
"Master~"
When Xiao Jing saw Emperor Hongzhi in a daze, he also reminded him carefully.
"Oh~"
Emperor Hongzhi came to his senses. At this time, more and more people were lining up after hearing the news. Emperor Hongzhi looked at the long queue. These people were basically ordinary people at the bottom.
It was freezing cold, but there were still many people wearing very thin clothes. When the cold wind blew, everyone shivered and huddled up in 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. However, because the clothes on her body were very thin, she was still very cold when the cold wind blew. One look at her and she couldn't help but feel heartache.
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Emperor Hongzhi took off his coat, came to the little girl's side and said, "My child, please wear my clothes."
"My lord, this is absolutely impossible~"
When the child's mother saw it, she immediately knelt down and shook her head.
"It's okay, it's okay, it's just a piece of clothing~"
Emperor Hongzhi gently wrapped his little daughter and picked her up. Seeing her little face turning red from the cold, he 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.
"Yao Mei~ It's so cold, why did you run out?"
"My mother said that some bad guys would take away the child. I was afraid, so I followed my mother out."
Emperor Hongzhi held the child in his arms. Because he took off his coat, the cold wind blew and it suddenly became biting. Xiao Jing, who was standing by him, naturally took off his own clothes and quickly put them on for Emperor Hongzhi.
"Master, it's cold. Put it on quickly. Your health 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 stubbornly waved Xiao Jing's clothes, and then said to the little girl with a smile: "Can the family usually have enough to eat?"
The little girl looked at her mother, then at Emperor Hongzhi, and then at the people around Emperor Hongzhi, without daring to speak.
"Say, it's okay. As long as I'm here, no one will dare to bully you."
Emperor Hongzhi touched Yaomei's head and said.
"I don't have enough to eat. My father died early. My mother makes money by washing people's clothes. I haven't eaten for a day."
Yaomei was very thin. Emperor Hongzhi could feel it when he held her. Her whole body was made of bones. Her eyes were very big. She was so thin that she looked very big.
"Poor child~"
"What do you like to eat? Let me treat you."
Emperor Hongzhi's eyes were filled with tears. He felt extremely guilty in his heart. He felt that he was really incompetent as an emperor. He touched Yaomei's head and said.
"I like to eat steamed buns, steamed buns are the best."
Yaomei said almost without thinking.
"Go buy some food."
Emperor Hongzhi nodded, turned to Xiao Jing and said.
"Yes, Master~"
Xiao Jing nodded quickly, and then said: "Master, you'd better put on your clothes, your health is important."
"Yes, your health is very important. Why don't you help me get dressed quickly?"
Liu Jian, Xie Qian and Li Dongyang on the side were also anxious and said to the people around Emperor Hongzhi.
"Oh~ I have clothes to wear, but I don't know how many miserable people like Yaomei are there in this world."
Emperor Hongzhi nodded, put on his clothes, and said with a long sigh.