The most fundamental reason why His Royal Highness the King of Chu is confident that he can solve the Great Depression in Suzhou by printing food stamps is the good foundation laid for him by his third brother.
Without Third Brother, he could wipe out all the gangsters in Suzhou City, and without Third Brother, he could scare all the big families in Suzhou City out of fear. If these people could still act like monsters, they would be able to stir things up for them in a matter of minutes.
But now, the gangsters are confused, the big business owners are still in cages, and the instability factors have been reduced to a minimum. Only then can he boldly implement his Suzhou revitalization plan.
~~
Without further ado, after settling down the local officials, the King of Chu immediately received a group of locals from Fengyang...
They were Jiangnan immigrants who were moved to Fengyang by his father in the third year of Hongwu.
That year, Boss Zhu moved a total of 140,000 households from Jiangnan to Fengyang. All the wealthy people in Jiangnan were moved to Fengyang and were not allowed to go back privately.
However, starting from the year before last, Zhu Yuanzhang allowed them to return to their hometown to visit tombs every Qingming Festival.
These people came back to Suzhou from Fengyang on the pretext of sweeping graves.
The ones who brought them in were Shen Rong and Gu Yuanchen.
These two men were recruited by Zhu Zhen as shipping committee members of the Municipal Shipping Department last year, but they did not go to the Municipal Shipping Department's Yamen for a day. After the Zhenjiang Laba Banquet, they were sent back to Fengyang by him, and it took several months to prepare for the move to the city. Fengyang's major Jiangnan households conduct a thorough investigation.
The people who came today were carefully selected by Zhu Zhen from the roster submitted by the two of them.
They all suffered a serious crime in Fengyang, and they also knew that Shen and Gu climbed up the high branch of the King of Chu and escaped from the sea of misery. Therefore, after seeing the King of Chu, they kowtowed to each other as if they were smashing garlic, doing everything they could to be humble. .Compared with those wealthy Jiangnan households at the Laba Banquet who appeared to be subservient but were actually not inferior, they were completely different styles of painting.
"Everyone, please stand up." His Royal Highness the King of Chu smiled brightly, and his two thick eyebrows were like crescent moons. "Don't be nervous. I invite you to have a cup of tea. Let's all have a chat. Please sit down."
Everyone stood up after expressing their gratitude, and then followed Shen Rong and Gu Yuanchen to sit down on the two rows of armchairs in the hall. Each person only put a small piece of their buttocks on the chair, their waists were straight, their eyes were not squinting, and they were not breathing.
Seeing that they were still very nervous, Zhu Zhen chatted with them first and asked them where they lived before and how many generations they had lived in Suzhou. What other local industries are there now?
His Highness the King of Chu's questions were more heart-wrenching than the last. Everyone who asked them felt sad, and many people even shed sad tears.
They told Zhu Zhen that they had lived in Suzhou for generations and that three years before Hongwu, they never thought they would leave here in this life.
As for the industry in Suzhou...even big guys like Shen Rong and Gu Yuanchen can't keep it, let alone people like them.
And to seize their property... Oh no, it should be said that they took over their property at a 'favorable' price. Naturally, they were their close friends in the past, the big business owners who stayed in Suzhou.
"Right now, we don't have much contact with Gusu City except the ancestral graves." A guest named Xu Bi said:
"I heard that those people were imprisoned. I have to thank your two highnesses for speaking out against us poor people."
"It's just a piece of cake." Zhu Zhen waved his hand and said with a smile, "Then what are your next steps?"
"Of course I'm going back to Fengyang." Everyone said sadly, "If you don't come back at the end of the month, you will be shackles."
"If there is a chance to stay, would you consider it?" Zhu Zhen leaned on the armrest and asked in a casual tone.
"Yes, of course I do!" When the guests heard this, their eyes lit up and they nodded repeatedly. This was what they were looking forward to day and night.
"As long as Your Highness can help us return to our roots, we can let the common people do whatever they want." They expressed their opinions one after another as if they were grasping at straws.
"Yes, we are also willing to pour night incense for His Highness!"
"Hahaha." Zhu Zhen couldn't help laughing and said: "The people who pour night fragrance for me are all beautiful women. You guys want to do it, but you don't have the qualifications."
"Yes..." Everyone smiled and nodded: "In short, we will do whatever His Highness asks us to do, and we will never frown!"
"Don't worry, I'm not asking you to commit adultery." Zhu Zhen smiled faintly, pointed at Shen Rong and said: "I have read the information compiled by the two of them, and I know that you once had a silk weaving factory in your family, and you all personally Managed."
"Yes..." everyone murmured. Generally speaking, it is not very honorable to personally manage the factory. This either means that their family business is not big enough and they dare not let the factory be managed by the people below; or it means that their status in the family is not high enough. , can only be sent to manage the factory...
In short, they can only be regarded as marginal figures among the big families.
"This is why I came to you." Zhu Zhen stopped trying to be pretentious and briefly talked about Suzhou's current predicament. Then he said:
"Because weaving households can't start work, many Suzhou citizens have no food at home. I am more or less responsible. So I thought of a 'work-for-relief' method and planned to produce a batch of silk by the Suzhou Weaving and Dyeing Bureau. If the citizens have work to do, they will have food to eat."
Everyone was too busy praising His Highness for his kindness and being the savior of the people of Suzhou.
"You are boasting too early." Zhu Zhen smiled at everyone and said: "As soon as I learned that there are only thirteen looms in the weaving and dyeing bureau, it is of no use at all. So I asked them to invite you to ask if you are interested in taking over. Are you placing this order to produce these silks for the Weaving and Dyeing Bureau?"
"Yes, of course I do." Everyone nodded hurriedly and said, "We are definitely willing to do this kind of great thing that benefits the country and the people without any money!"
"It's just..." Xu Ben smiled bitterly and said: "We don't have a factory now, not even a loom, how can we share your worries for His Highness?"
"Hahaha, this is simple." Zhu Zhen waved his hand, and Luo Guanzhong presented a stack of deeds stamped with a red seal.
"This is your original workshop. Of course, it has been transferred to other people's homes now. I have asked people to find out all the records left in the Yamen."
When everyone heard this, their eyes turned red. They stared straight at the pile of documents and deeds. It was their property that had been robbed, almost clearly!
"Mr. Luo has read it for me. It is indeed unfair." Zhu Zhen said, looking at Luo Guanzhong and said, "right?"
"Yes." Luo Guanzhong nodded expressionlessly. He originally thought that the King of Chu invited him to serve as a military advisor, but he did not expect that the sixth man only used him as a tool to handle documents.
"Those buyers paid basically only 20% to 30% of the market price, or even only 10% of the market price. It's really unfair."
"That's them taking advantage of the situation!" Everyone shouted angrily: "After the imperial court issued the decree, in order to prevent us from escaping, we were only given three days before we had to set off on the road. There was no time to deal with the property, so we had to entrust us to stay.
Someone sold it on my behalf - I didn’t expect them to be so shameless, they sold it to me at a very low price!”
"That bastard Zhu He, you haven't given me any money yet! Last year, when I went back to my hometown to sweep my grave, I was beaten out even when I came to beg for money..." A wealthy man named Zhu Ping complained through gritted teeth.
No wonder they were so happy when they heard that the big business owners who stayed behind were in jail.
"Well, I will help you get your property back!" Zhu Zhen patted the deeds and said proudly.
"I look forward to thanking Your Highness for your kindness in rebuilding." Everyone's eyes filled with excitement, and they kowtowed: "In this life, no, in all eternity, I will swear allegiance to Your Highness to the death!"
ps. Sorry, sorry, you blame me today. When I was sitting in front of the computer preparing to code, I was suddenly shocked by what happened in neighboring countries. I never expected that ancient history would repeat itself abroad. And I deeply realized that,
Boss Zhu is indeed not unfounded... So I kept reading and writing, but I have only finished one chapter now. I was wrong...
