At nightfall, a black carriage passed through the bustling street and stopped in front of a slightly secluded garden on Fumin Street in Zhongdu. It is a stately yet elegant building. The courtyard with the word "bamboo garden" written on the door is the residence of the first assistant Fang Yizhi - this bamboo garden, its original owner is His Majesty the Emperor, and Fang Yizhi spent more than 40,000 taels to buy it, even so, this garden is half bought and half given.

And the person who slowly stepped down from the carriage, although he was dressed in civilian clothes, no matter who looked at it, he knew that his identity must not be an ordinary person.

Li Yindu, who has just entered the cabinet, has not been easy for a while recently, and the reason for this is simple, when he presided over a section in the past, he only needed to ask about the affairs of the ministry, but after being a cabinet minister, he was faced with many problems that he had not participated in in the past, such as colonial expansion, and he had not been able to understand why he tolerated Spain's occupation of Luzon in the past. The conflict in Luzon is likely to lead to a war between the two countries in North America...... This is a well-known reason for tolerating the occupation of Luzon by the Spaniards, at least until the power of North America did not form an advantage over Mexico.

But what about outside of this well-known reason?

There is another reason that is extremely absurd - because of silver, because the Ming needed to import the silver of the Ming Dynasty from Luzon...... This reason is very nonsense and absurd, but it is a fact, during the reign of Emperor Lie, the decrease in silver imports had a disastrous impact on the Ming Dynasty.

For the Ming Dynasty, which did not produce silver but used silver as its currency, the reduction in silver imports would inevitably lead to a shortage of silver, which would lead to skyrocketing prices, which in turn would lead to economic collapse. Although the actual circulation of silver in the Ming Dynasty is only 30,000 taels, and the silver dollar coupons have long exceeded 50,000 yuan, even so, the imperial court does not want to see the sharp decline in silver imports after the outbreak of war with Spain.

Li Yindu is naturally very clear about this truth, but in the past, when he was a minister, he didn't need to think about the overall situation, but now he has to think about the overall situation, so more often, he will put himself in the position of a student.

After all, the cabinet minister's perspective on the problem must be in charge of the overall situation. And this also made him work harder than the others, and it was not until about six o'clock in the afternoon that he finished the official business of the yamen, and then rushed home to change into civilian clothes and rushed to Shoufu's mansion. When he came to Fang's house, the boredom caused by the backlog of affairs during the day naturally disappeared.

Coming to the unique garden of Fang's Houfu, with the help of the lights in the pavilion, Li Yindu saw Fang Yizhi talking and laughing with people, and when he walked in, he said with a smile when he saw that the visitor was Qu Dajun.

"I've seen Shousuke and Brother Jiezi."

When he was young, Li Yindu and Qu Dajun intersected, and the two were extremely close, but he didn't expect to see him here.

"Sit!"

Fang Yizhi pointed to the stone bench on the side, and then said.

"I invite the two of you to come over today, not for anything else, but to come to the house to admire the moon, such a beautiful day, isn't it also a joy in life to chant poems?"

Although Fang Yizhi said so, everyone knew that with two ministers and a squire here, it was impossible for him to just drink and admire the moon.

The Fang family's dishes are also simple, but there are only three meat and three vegetables, and one soup, the reason why it is simple is because everyone is afraid of "overstepping", after all, everyone knows that when His Majesty and the queen dine together, it is at most six dishes and one soup, so the private gatherings of officials are often controlled within this range.

This is the most common truth throughout the ages, but this is the case in the officialdom, but the people are different, and now the folk atmosphere is increasingly reappearing in the luxury of the Wanli period, which is also well known. Even when the three of them were talking, they talked about the trend of luxury among the people.

"Look, this pomegranate ......"

When it was close to the Mid-Autumn Festival, it was the time to eat pomegranates, and I picked up the Lintong pomegranates from Shaanxi, Fang Yizhi said.

"This Lintong pomegranate is bright in color, the fruit is large and thin, juicy and sweet, it is the emperor's tribute in the past dynasties, and now thanks to the convenience of the railway, it has already entered the homes of ordinary people, in the capital, like such a big pomegranate, but only a dozen dollars."

When eating pomegranate seeds, Fang Yizhi said again.

"The people of Zhongdu now eat pomegranates with Lintong pomegranates as the top, even the domestic servants in the house think so."

"It can be like this, and it is all the credit of the railway train, the train from Xi'an, a day and a half of hard work can be in the capital, and now, it is because of the convenience of the train."

As soon as Li Yindu's words fell, Qu Dajun next to him sighed.

"Isn't that the case, this year's New Year, if it weren't for the train, how could I go all the way back to my hometown in Guangdong to accompany my family for the New Year, if it is convenient, I am afraid that this railway and ship, and telegraph, are the most convenient things in the world."

As a Panyu Qu Dajun has experienced the convenience of the train more than once, once far away in the world, now it only takes a few days.

"Indeed, the day before yesterday, when I had nothing to do, I went out into the streets, and guess what I saw on the streets?"

Fang Yizhi, who started the topic with pomegranates, looked at the two and asked.

"Oh? Shousuke, but what is new? ”

"I can't talk about anything new, but I just saw a vendor selling fruit from Nanyang on the street."

"Pineapple?"

For the Nanyang fruit, both Qu Dajun and Li Yindu instinctively think that it should be this fruit, although its origin is not Nanyang, but the fruit imported from the Americas, but it is the most familiar Nanyang fruit, because it can be made into canned food.

Shaking his head, Fang Yizhi said.

"It's a banana."

Li Yindu couldn't help but be a little surprised, he is no stranger to bananas, there are them in the royal tropical botanical garden, but the tropical fruits are often exclusive to the royal family, when he was not in the cabinet, he was fortunate to get the queen's reward of the fruit basket - a basket of fruits, but they are rare exotic fruits in the market, although not much, but also the emperor's grace.

Qu Dajun said on the side.

"Oh? It turned out to be this, this kind of fruit is not only in Nanyang, but also in Guangdong, in the opinion of the following officials, even if there are people selling it in Zhongdu, it should also come from Guangdong, after all, Nanyang is still too far away, Guangdong...... Well, it's okay, but bananas are easy to ripen and spoil, so Guangdong is more likely. ”

Qu Dajun's explanation made Fang Yizhi just nod slightly, and then said.

"A banana is forty to fifty wen, and what is the price of meat in Zhongdu? Each catty is only a dozen Wen, the price of this banana is several times the price of meat, but because it is a long-distance trafficking, and it is easy to spoil, it can be understood, but, I don't know if the two of you know, now the people are interested in eating these fresh things from other places? ”

Fang Yizhi looked at the two of them and asked rhetorically.

"More than ten years ago, the people of the world only sought food and clothing, but today it is a luxury competition in the hearts of the people, even if the peddlers and pawns are all wearing silk clothes, do you think the people of the world are like this, is it my luck to be Ming?"

Shoufu's rhetorical question made the two of them silent for a while, and after a while, Qu Dajun said.

"Your Majesty has ruled the world for seventeen years, and the world has reproduced the old style of the Divine Sect, and the people can be rich like this, it is really the reign of the Holy Son of Heaven, so that I can wait to see the prosperous era."

In their memory, before the apocalypse, the world was very prosperous, and in the records of the official history, it was also a scene of prosperity and peace and security. Especially in the Wanli period as the most, every time people see the "Golden Vase Plum", they will be fascinated by the bustling prosperity of Linqing, when there were merchants coming and going, ships gathered in the place, because there are many people, many businessmen, and more importantly, businessmen have money, whether they are talking about business or after doing business, they will often carry silver to find some fun.

As a result, there are 32 flower streets and willow alleys and 72 brothels in the land of Linqing! Ximenqing's son-in-law Chen Jingji opened a restaurant, and there are dozens of pavilions upstairs and downstairs. A pavilion can set a table, you can have dozens of tables at the same time, a restaurant of this scale, more than ten years ago, even in the central capital, there were only a dozen or so.

Yesterday's prosperity and glory have become memories in words because of the entry of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, although the world is prosperous again now, it still cannot be compared with that time.

"When the Emperor of God, the world became extravagant, the reason is because the people are rich, and the people in the world today are also like this, its wealth is far greater than then, and the people are becoming more and more luxurious, and for a long time, I am afraid it will not be the blessing of my Ming Dynasty!"

Shoufu's words made Li Yindu retort.

"Shoufu was surprised by this, if there is no prosperity in the world today, and the wealth is hidden in the people, how can I have hundreds of millions of dollars in the Ming Kingdom today? When Emperor Lie was in power, even if there were tens of millions of taxes, how could the thieves and slaves be pacified? ”

On this point of view, Li Yindu is clearly on the side of His Majesty's point of view - consumption stimulates the economy.

"Moreover, as early as more than ten years ago, His Majesty said in the court that only consumption can stimulate the economy, so he asked the local government to build street lights, must make the night light up, unless there is a threat of bandits, the city gate does not need to be closed, so that the people can enjoy peace in the night market, so that every night in all places, there is no night sky, the government gets taxes, the traders get the market, and the people get work, whether it is the government, the merchants, and the people all profit a lot from it."

Seeing that Shoufu frowned slightly, Li Yindu deliberately added.

"The prevalence of extravagance, the increase in consumption, the provision of more employment opportunities for the people, especially the increase in the quality and quantity of commodity trade, and the development of the commodity economy, from which the government also received taxes. In this way, the officials and the people benefit from it, isn't it in the interest of my Ming Dynasty? ”

And Qu Dajun also said on the side.

"Indeed, today is different from the old times, the prosperity of the commodity economy in this world, the government can collect huge taxes from it, commodities on the road need tolls, customs duties, after arriving at the destination, and have to pay the landing tax, last year in addition to the field endowment, official land rent, other miscellaneous tax revenue has exceeded 36 million taels, in the next view, ten years later, all kinds of miscellaneous tax revenue will account for more than 60 or 70 percent of our Ming income......

Looking at Shoufu, when he said this, Qu Dajun said again.

"Of course, the social atmosphere is extravagant, day by day, the people lose their sincerity, the style of arrogance and offense is popular, especially the extravagance, stimulate people's desires, in order to satisfy their selfish desires, all say that it is beneficial, in terms of the country, it is really harmful and useless, for a long time, everyone in the world is heavy on profit and light on righteousness, and it is bound to reproduce the shameless situation of the past, so it is not the blessing of the Ming Dynasty."

Nodding slightly, Fang Yizhi looked at the two of them and said.

"The poor also hammer the ox to shoot fresh, enjoy the group rituals, and fight with the rich to be luxurious, so that they don't care about it. If you are enslaved, you will be tempted. There are no young and old in it, and they are used to being superficial, and they are embarrassed and laughing when they see those who are honest and frugal. Profit-making at the end of the day, filling in the overflow lane. ”

Fang Yizhi, who frowned, said worriedly.

"Since Emperor Sejong, people in the world have been competing for luxury at the same time, but they are unwilling to bear the share of servitude and social assistance. In this way, later, when there was a great drought in the north, the old and the young migrated, selling their wives and children, in order to make a living, and all parts of the south of the Yangtze River still competed for luxury and inaction, completely ignoring the dilemma of refugees in the north and cannibalism. ”

Fang Yizhi looked at Li Yindu and asked rhetorically.

"Zide thinks that I am trying to redeem it because of the extravagance of the people, but how can we stop this kind of extravagance? The reason is because the people have money in their hands! Because of his wealth, he sold mane and was a pawn, and he also wore hats and shoes, gauze skirts and trousers. Because of the money, the wine house and tea shop are immersed in it. Therefore, even if the court orders it to be thrifty, I am afraid it is just a piece of waste paper, and the thing I am worried about is not that the people are addicted to luxury, but that on the one hand, the people compete for luxury, and on the other hand, they are not very tempted by tax relief, so that people's hearts are luxurious, but they are very indifferent! This is the trouble of my Mingming! ”

Fang Yizhi picked up the pomegranate again and said.

"Ordinary people, buy a few pomegranates, rather spoiled, a hundred and ten dollars are wasted, but they are unwilling to take out dozens of dollars, donate to the temple, relief of the poor, such indifference, by no means the blessing of the Ming Dynasty, so-called

"If you are good, you will help the world, and if you are poor, you will be good alone", but the problem is that now the people of the world cannot help the world at the same time, and if you are poor, you cannot be good alone......"

The reason why there is such an exclamation is because whether it was during his exile in the past or in the Northeast, Fang Yizhi had contact with many ordinary people, and even now, he will often go to the people to contact ordinary people to understand the people's sufferings and thoughts. And the more I know, the heavier the worries in my heart, in the past he was the second assistant, and some things were inconvenient to say, but now, he is the first assistant, and some things must be done.

"What does that Shoufu mean?"

Looking at Shousuke with a worried face, Li Yindu couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, he really didn't think about it so much.

Looking at the two, Fang Yizhi said with a solemn expression.

"Those who are good must help the world, and the poor cannot be left alone......"

。 Book Reading House