The carriage slowly drove into the county town. Zhou Yong knocked on the carriage and reported in a low voice: "Sir, we are here."
Wang Xian said 'hmm', jumped out of the car with Lingxiao, and then helped the prince to get out of the car.
Zhu Gaochi got off the car and was shocked when he saw the county town at the first sight - it was completely different from all the cities he had seen before! Dilapidated houses, depressed streets, scattered shops
, there are also rags all over the street, the people, both men and women, are disheveled and listless, and the whole street looks lifeless.
"Brother, what happened?" Zhu Gaochi stopped a middle-aged man passing by and asked softly.
"..." The middle-aged man shook his head, looking confused.
"Nothing happened," Zhu Gaochi said in disbelief: "Then why is everyone frowning?"
The middle-aged man looked Zhu Gaochi over, gave a feeble chuckle and said, "You are so rich, of course you are happy. We can't even eat, so what's there to be happy about?"
"What, what happened to the famine?" Zhu Gaochi asked hurriedly.
"Stop cursing us." The middle-aged man seemed to have no strength to speak. He shook his head and wanted to leave. Wang Xian stopped him. The middle-aged man was about to get upset when he saw a small piece of silver in Wang Xian's hand.
, hurriedly took it over and put it in his arms at a very fast speed, and said with strength, "Sir, the weather in this county has been good this year, and floods, droughts, and locust plagues have never happened before."
"Then how come you can't eat?" Zhu Gaochi was confused.
"You don't know the sufferings of the people at first glance. Take a look around the east, west, north and south. Except for the prefectures and counties next to the canal, which are better, nowhere else in the world is like this?" The middle-aged man said bitterly: "I am busy with work all year round.
In the end, everything will be taken away by the government. You still have to serve three months of hard labor in vain. Is there any way to survive this life?"
"How can you do your hard work in vain?" Zhu Gaochi asked puzzledly: "The government provides money, right?"
"I give you money, but I don't give you money like you do. What the government gives you is treasure money," the middle-aged man said bitterly: "The treasure money is too thin to even wipe my butt." Then he started to ramble on.
He complained, but after all, the taxes were too heavy, the treasures were worthless, and he couldn't find anything new, so Zhu Gaochi asked him to leave.
On this day, for three whole hours, Zhu Gaochi dragged his arduous pace through the streets and alleys of this county. Wherever he went, he saw that people's livelihood was extremely poor, and the people were in darkness. Even the rich households in the county were just
They can barely fill their stomachs, but others can't even eat enough...
On the way back, Zhu Gaochi felt extremely heavy, but he still had luck in his heart and hoped that it would not be like this elsewhere. But in the days that followed, every time he visited privately incognito, what he saw and heard was horrific. And the further north he went, the worse the situation became.
.After entering the boundary of Shandong, there was a thing that had only been seen in books: "White bones exposed in the wild, no roosters crowing for thousands of miles." Even the entire village was deserted, with only dense tombs... The entire village was actually deserted.
They starved to death, and all the survivors fled elsewhere.
"How could this happen?" "How could this happen?" This was what Zhu Gaochi said the most along the way, and he was so excited. He even hated Wang Xian a little, why did he abandon the ship and land with him to see
This world is a living hell! This is obviously the Ming Dynasty that is in the prosperous age of Yongle! It is almost a century away from the war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty! How can it be like it is still in the apocalypse?!
Wang Xian remained silent. He hoped that the prince could see with his own eyes what the world has become. Let the prince think about why the world has become like this? Let the prince understand that he can save the people from hanging upside down and save everyone from water and fire.
, has become a top priority for the Ming Dynasty!
On this day, we arrived at the boundary of Yuncheng County, Jining Prefecture. After finally reaching the county seat, Wang Xian decided not to leave, so he decided to stay here and let His Highness the Crown Prince take a good rest before ending this journey to hell.
A group of people walked in the county town, but they saw that the houses were in dilapidated condition, the industries were extremely depressed, and the most sold thing on the street was actually human beings... Walking all the way from the south, the prince already knew that those squatting on the street with grass in their heads
They are all ready to sell their people. Not only boys and girls, but also young and middle-aged men and women. They are squatting in a long row on the street, with grass stuck in their heads. It is shocking...
As soon as they saw the rich people coming, those who had straw in their heads swarmed over and tried to sell themselves: "Master, please take me in. I'm very strong. I don't need money, just take care of the food!"
"Lao Jing, I can wash, cook, and give birth to children, and I can also warm the master's bed..."
"Master, take us away, we are almost starving to death..."
Zhou Yong and others hurriedly pushed these people away and opened a path for the prince. Looking at the begging faces, His Highness the prince could only lower his head and leave here with a rare quick step.
After finding an inn to stay at, Zhou Yong took people to the streets to buy ingredients so that he could make a decent dinner for everyone. Wang Xian asked the store to bring hot water and asked the prince to take a bath and change clothes to relieve his exhaustion.
The prince did not refuse. When he finished washing himself and put on clean clothes, he felt that he was no longer depressed. At this time, the food was also ready.
Before the food was served, the prince couldn't help but twitch his nose. He smelled the aroma of meat and couldn't help but salivate. There was no smell of meat along the way. His highness, who had been well-fed and well-dressed since childhood, couldn't stand it for a long time.
.
When the food was served, except for one portion of fried tofu, several other dishes contained meat, and there was also a bowl of bright red braised pork. The aroma filled the nostrils, and the greedy Lingxiao swallowed hard.
Seeing the expressions of the prince and others, Zhou Yong was so happy that he smiled and said, "After all, this is a county town, and there is meat for sale in the butcher shop, so I wrapped it up for him!" As he said this, Wang Xian returned the favor to the prince.
You Lingxiao divided his chopsticks and said with a smile: "Your Highness and Miss Lingxiao have been miserable these days. Please replenish your food as soon as possible."
Lingxiao took the chopsticks and nodded vigorously, then quickly picked up a piece of braised pork and couldn't wait to put it into his mouth. However, Wang Xian accidentally hit him with the chopsticks. Lingxiao was unprepared and the piece of meat rolled to the ground. The little girl was depressed.
He pouted, but still said in a low voice obediently: "Uncle Prince, eat first."
The prince looked at Wang Xian reproachfully and said to Lingxiao: "Don't worry about him, just do as you like."
Lingxiao winked at Wang Xian as if demonstrating.
"Your Highness, don't eat it yet." Wang Xian didn't mean it that way. He turned to look at Zhou Yong and said, "What kind of meat is this?"
"It seems to be horse meat, so it's braised in braised sauce so it doesn't taste bad." Zhou Yong said quickly.
"What does it mean?" Wang Xian's expression became increasingly unhappy.
"Don't worry, sir. I have already tasted it and there is no problem." Zhou Yong thought Wang Xian was afraid that the meat was poisonous.
"..." Wang Xian rolled his eyes at him and was about to ask him to ask what kind of meat it was. At this time, the storekeeper came in to bring hot water. When he saw the meat on the table, he felt nauseated.
"You came just in time, shopkeeper, do you know what kind of meat this is?" Wang Xian asked the shopkeeper.
"Haha," the store owner said with a confused look on his face, "Who cares, it's the same even when you eat it."
"What are these words?!" Wang Xian became more and more sure of his guess and asked, "So, you know it?"
"This meat was bought from Sun's butcher shop across the street, right?" the shopkeeper asked.
"Yes." Zhou Yong nodded anxiously: "What kind of meat is it?"
"Let's put it this way, all the birds and animals in our Yuncheng County have long been eaten clean," the store owner looked at them and said in a quieter voice, "Only one thing still has meat on it."
"What?" everyone asked in unison.
"People..." Although the store owner's voice was low, everyone heard it clearly, and their expressions suddenly changed.
"You said this is human flesh?!" Zhou Yong's voice changed its tone, like a chicken with its neck stuck.
"Yes." The store owner nodded with certainty: "This morning, I saw them collecting a dead body. It must be true..."
"Ouch..." Zhou Yong suddenly covered his mouth, rushed out of the room like an arrow, held on to the door frame and vomited loudly.
"Ah!" Ling Xiao also screamed and threw the chopsticks far away, and started to retching.
Although the prince has long since achieved the state of being as immovable as a mountain, his face is also pale...
That night, the prince did not eat any rice. At night, Wang Xian brought rice porridge to His Highness. Zhu Gaochi had no appetite and was really hungry, so he reluctantly drank the rice porridge and handed the bowl to Wang Xian to look at him.
After a long while, he asked in a low voice: "How did you know it was human flesh?"
"I led the Borzigit people through the Desert of Death..." Wang Xian didn't want to talk about the past, so he put it another way: "The land in Shandong is full of hungry people, how can there be anything to feed the animals?"
"Hey..." Zhu Gaochi closed his eyes in pain, and opened them after a long time. He looked at Wang Xiandian with bright eyes and said, "I finally know why you asked me to get off the boat for a private visit." After a pause, he said in a low voice: "It turns out.
I, the Ming Dynasty, have reached the edge of the cliff and can no longer struggle."
"Yes..." Wang Xian nodded and said with heavy eyes: "The current sage's civil and martial arts are beyond the ages, but his great joyful skills are also beyond the ages!" The prince nodded and listened to him continue: "People often say that in the past five years,
The combined achievements of all the emperors in a hundred years are not as good as your Majesty's achievements in ten years. How did your Majesty do it? It was just an overexploitation of the people's power."
The prince nodded heavily and instinctively wanted to defend his father: "It's a bit extreme. Overdrawing the people's power has happened in all ages, but no emperor has been able to achieve the great achievements of today."
"That's because they are overdrafting the people's power. They are just collecting taxes and grains in a few years in advance to make a fuss about salt and iron." Wang Xian said coldly: "Now they are making a fuss about currency! Yongle Dynasty
In the past fifteen years, the value of Ming Dynasty treasures has depreciated tens of thousands of times, and the wealth of hundreds of millions of people has been wiped out!"