I heard this old man say that if he bought firewood, he had no money and no food, and he had no money to buy firewood, as for the charcoal for heating, for the people at the bottom, it was an unimaginable luxury, and it was too expensive for this charcoal.

Emperor Hongzhi, Liu Jian, Xie Qian, and Li Dongyang had ugly faces, and they always thought that under their hard work in the world, they should sing and dance to promote peace, make the people rich and the country strong, and prosper.

But from this old man's words, they seem to have seen with their own eyes the difficult life of ordinary people in the real estate, some people because they have no warm clothes, let alone charcoal and firewood for heating, they are even more hungry, and they are finally frozen to death.

There are people like the old man, the conditions are extremely limited, and they can't wait to spend every penny into two cents, and every time this firewood rises, the food in their mouths will be less, and the winter is the most difficult.

"Is it really as Liu Jin said, the times are changing, and if they don't change, how long can this world last?"

Emperor Hongzhi remembered what he had told Liu Jin not long ago.

These days, he had two things carefully investigated, one was the population and the other was the land.

After the in-depth investigation of the three intelligence agencies of Jinyiwei, Dongchang and Xichang, everything is just as Liu Jin said, the population of the Ming Dynasty has already skyrocketed a lot, a lot.

However, according to official statistics, the population not only did not increase, but decreased, and a large number of them were raised and concealed by the wealthy gentry, and the concealed population was almost the same as the official statistics.

What a terrible fact this is, if it is really as Liu Jin said, the total amount of land is inconvenient, and the output of food is limited, but the population is constantly growing, and eventually some people will definitely starve, and eventually the contradictions of the whole society will continue to sharpen.

Concealing the population is not the most worrying thing for Emperor Hongzhi, this population is at most related to conscription, he has always been light and thin, and it is a large-scale recruitment of people to do things.

What really worries him is that, as Liu Jin said, the land problem is becoming more and more concentrated in the hands of a few, and ordinary people have less and less land, while 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 that the princes of the old Zhu family, who were divided all over the country, occupied extremely amazing land.

These people used their status as royalty to monopolize the most profitable industries in the region, such as land, forests, mines, etc., as long as it was profitable, these royals would take it into their hands by begging the emperor or stealing it.

The princes everywhere like to cry poverty to the emperor and ask for land or the power of local taxes, and as time goes by, more and more princes are divided, which will inevitably lead to the increase of the palace and the expansion of the enclosure, and the best land in the world is in the hands of the palace.

Many of the royal palaces have 10,000 hectares of land, King Jing and King Lu have as much as 40,000 hectares of land in Huguang, 20,000 hectares of Fuwang's Zhuangtian, and 30,000 hectares of Guiwang, Huiwang, and Ruiwang's Zhuangtian.

Half of the land in Changsha and Shanhua counties is owned by King Ji, and half of the land in Henan Province is owned by the princes, and all of these lands are the best and most fertile land.

In addition to the royal family, these officials in the court and the central government, which one is not a wealthy family, and there are thousands of acres of fertile land under the name of any person.

Xie Qian is a native of Zhejiang, and the Xie family is also a famous big family in Zhejiang, covering an area of tens of thousands of acres; Liu Jian is a native of Henan, and his Liu family is also a well-known family in Henan, and it will occupy no less area than Xie Qian's family; As for Li Dongyang, he is a native of Hunan, and almost all of the neighboring counties in his hometown have the surname Li.

From the cabinet scholars, down to the seven-rank sesame officials at the bottom of the entire Ming Dynasty, and even the nine-rank county officials, everyone has a large amount of land under their names and families, and the bigger the officials, the more fields they have, and the larger the family behind them.

After a careful investigation, Emperor Hongzhi suddenly felt that he was the poorest in the world, and many princes and wealthy gentry lived many times better than they didn't know.

The palaces and mansions built are more luxurious than the palace, whether it is three meals a day, or food and clothing, etc., the emperor Hongzhi is beyond the reach of the emperor.

You must know that Emperor Hongzhi's wife, Empress Zhang, is still wearing patched clothes, and Emperor Hongzhi himself is also a typical representative of thrift and thrift, not willing to eat, nor willing to use, and the hard work to save some silver is also stared at by the ministers of the court, and I can't wait to let Emperor Hongzhi take it all out at once and use it all.

The growth of the population, the serious concentration of land, all of this, as Liu Jin said, is now the time to make changes.

If all this is not changed, it may be able to support it for a few more years, but in the end, the old Zhu family's country will still be the same as the previous dynasties, and it will not be able to escape the fate of reincarnation.

In the past, Emperor Hongzhi just listened to the report and looked at the data, and he didn't have a very real feeling, but now, hearing what this old man said, he knew that Liu Jin's words were right.

"Either the excess population will be relocated, or the land will be increased, and in the final analysis, it will be external expansion~"

Emperor Hongzhi's mind remembered what Liu Jin said, and a hesitant look appeared on his face again.

"Master~"

Xiao Jing was stunned when he saw where Emperor Hongzhi was, and he also reminded him carefully.

"Oh~"

Emperor Hongzhi came back to his senses, and at this time there were more and more people queuing up when he heard the news, and Emperor Hongzhi looked at this long line, these people were basically ordinary people at the bottom.

At this time, the weather is freezing, but there are still many people wearing very thin clothes, the cold wind blows, the whole person shiveres, shrinks into a circle, most of the people wear clothes are also very tattered, old.

"Mom, I'm cold~"

A little daughter of about seven or eight years old was held tightly by her mother, but because the clothes on her body were very thin, the cold wind blew, it was still very cold, which made people feel heartache when they saw it.

Emperor Hongji took off his coat, came to the little girl's side and said, "Child, put on my clothes." ”

"Nobleman, this must not be done~"

When the child's mother saw it, she quickly 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, picked her up, looked at her little face and turned red, and couldn't help asking, "What's your name?" ”

"My name is my sister~"

The youngest daughter looked at the amiable Emperor Hongzhi in front of her and said timidly.

"My sister~ How cold is it, how did you run out?"

"Mom said that there was a bad guy who would take the child, and I was afraid, so I followed my mother out."

Emperor Hongzhi was holding this child, because he took off his coat, the cold wind blew, and it was suddenly bitterly cold, Xiao Jing on the side naturally quickly took off his clothes and hurriedly put them on Emperor Hongzhi.

"Master, it's cold, hurry up and put it on, your body is important."

Xiao Jing said worriedly.

"Let me feel the cold of this winter, they can be cold, and so can I."

Emperor Hongzhi stubbornly waved Xiao Jing's clothes, and then said to the little girl with a smile: "Can you usually eat enough at home?" ”

The little girl looked at her mother, then at Emperor Hongzhi, and then at the people around Emperor Hongzhi, and did not dare to speak.

"Say, it's okay, with me, no one dares to bully you."

Emperor Hongzhi touched his sister's head and said.

"I can't eat, my father died early, my mother makes money by washing clothes, and I haven't eaten for 1 day."

My sister is very thin, the kind of hungry and thin, Emperor Hongzhi can feel it when he holds it, her whole body is full of bones, her eyes are big, and it looks big under the kind of hunger and thinness.

"Poor child~"

"What do you like to eat? I'll ask you. ”

Emperor Hongzhi's eyes were filled with tears, and he felt extremely guilty in his heart, feeling that he was really incompetent as an emperor, so he touched his sister's head and said.

"I like to eat steamed buns, and steamed buns are the best."

My sister said almost without thinking about it.

"Go buy something to eat."

Emperor Hongzhi nodded, turned his head to Xiao Jing and said.

"Yes, sir~"

Xiao Jing nodded hurriedly, and then said, "Master, you better put on your clothes, your body is important." ”

"Yes, your body is important, why don't you hurry up and help the master get dressed."

Liu Jian, Xie Qian, and Li Dongyang on the side were also anxious, and said to the people around Emperor Hongzhi.

"Alas~ I have clothes to wear, but I don't know how many hard-working people like my sister are in this world."

Emperor Hongzhi nodded, put on his clothes, and said with a long sigh in a hurry.