In this sudden and profound crisis, the fate of almost all people has taken a sharp turn, and no one has been spared, but people have different attitudes towards disasters On the dock where Ma Liuye worked, the cargo throughput was less than 10% of the heyday, and naturally he could not feed the more than 300 brothers under him. In order to make a living, he asked the idle brothers to go to the grain store and construction site to work hard, but the world was difficult, and the brothers could only eat with their own efforts, but they could not feed the family. Although Ma Liuye laughed loudly, he was so sad in his heart that he was angry, but fortunately, he was optimistic, and for the sake of his brothers, he had to hold on.

Zhou Laohan's family has changed dramatically. Thirty years ago, he started with a loom, taking advantage of the east wind of overseas trade, the textile industry is lucrative, his family worked hard, thrifty, gradually added looms, hired weavers, opened a small weaving workshop. After that, the scale grew larger, and at its peak, it became a medium-sized factory with 100 looms and 500 employees.

After the age of sixty, Zhou Laohan handed over the business to his two sons to take care of, retired to retire to live a long life, and lived a prosperous evening in Sangyu, which everyone admired. After the outbreak of the financial crisis, the high-end fabrics were sold out of market, and many silk weaving factories closed down, and his family's weaving factory did not suffer much from sales because of the low prices of its products. However, the Zhou family had no time to rejoice, and they were hit by heavy taxes, and the cost increased, and they wanted to pass it on through price increases, but consumers did not buy it, and sales plummeted, and there were serious losses without price increases.

Many similar factories have already laid off workers on a large scale, and the Zhou family is no exception, and the remaining workers have to take turns to work, and can only reduce losses by reducing output. Zhou Laohan couldn't enjoy Qingfu anymore, he went to the factory every night to watch the door, and left the money for hiring a husband. Today, I also came directly after the night shift, so I fell behind Ma Liuye.

The worst is the shopkeeper Hou, the silk village in which he has a stake is the most affected by the crisis, not to mention the serious losses, but the harsh taxes are heavy day by day. A few days ago, because he did not pay the tax on the deadline, the boss was detained by the tax yamen, and the store was also seized......

"Before the boss left, he told me to take care of my home." Shopkeeper Hou had old tears in his eyes, and choked up: "As a result, in the afternoon of the same day, the tax collector pulled a cart to the store to move things, but the guy stopped him, was seriously injured, and the store was also smashed. How do I explain to my boss? How are you going to live this day,........."

"At the beginning, Boss Qin instructed us to sell our property and spend the winter with gold and silver, but none of us listened." The only one who is better is Chen Guanren, because he is a member of the yamen, in addition to issuing banknotes every month, there is also Lu Mi to take, and life can always go on. But his decades of savings have been turned into ashes in the stock market crash, and the losses are extremely heavy.

"Now I understand, what's the use?" Shopkeeper Hou laughed at himself: "In the past 30 years, I have wanted to make a fortune, and I have made money, but I have used it to buy land and invest. has been tossed for decades, but only a butt of debt has been tossed. Saying that, he cried and said: "In the future, my brothers will advise the future generations, if you have money, you should eat, drink, prostitute and gamble, and do nonsense, but don't do good things!" Tell them that there is a fool surnamed Hou, who has tossed all his life to understand this truth! He's a big joke! As she spoke, tears crackled and fell.

"You just said moving." Chen Guanren diverted the topic and said, "Where are you going to move?" How can you give us up? ”

"I can't bear it." The shopkeeper Hou said gloomily: "But the store was sealed, the boss was locked up in prison, and the creditor came to the door and asked me to sell the house to pay off the debt......"

"It's okay to move, don't you still have land in the country?" Old man Zhou comforted him and said: "Going back to be a farmer with no worries about food and clothing is still the best among us." Said with a self-deprecating smile: "It's like my family, all the money I earned was invested in the factory, and I didn't save any land, and now I'm blind." ”

"The land has also been repaid," the shopkeeper Hou said with tears: "I have a hundred taels of silver tickets left all over my body this morning, and when I buy these small dishes, I will be completely naked." ”

"Don't be so depressed, I've already become a poor egg, and it's not the same every day, hehe? Come, drink and drink. Ma Liuye picked up a wine glass for him and said, "Didn't Li Bai say, there is wine today, and you will get drunk today, and you will come back when your daughter is gone!" ”

"If you don't have a place to live, go to me first" Zhou Laohan also said: "If you have nothing to do, just do it with me first, you can't get paid for this situation, but if you have a bite to eat in my family, you can't starve your family." ”

"yes." Chen Guanren also said: "I will also find you mō to find mō and see if you can find an errand in the yamen." ”

"I thank you." Shopkeeper Hou arched his hand to everyone and said: "See the truth in adversity, Brother Zhou, Sixth Master, Brother Chen." My old marquis has a few friends from you in this life, even if he didn't work in vain, but I'm not in the mood to do anything now. In the past few years, I haven't tried my best, bribes who should have bribed, and pretended to be grandsons, but I haven't done anything that lacks morality or hurts nature and reason, so why don't you let me live? Who have I offended? Who? Your Majesty, Niangniang, those dead eunuchs in various wine pools and meat forests, why don't you let me eat the nest? Whose idea was this?! ”

"Come on, let's not talk about that." Everyone was silent, but the shopkeeper Hou seemed to have recovered his spirits, and poured wine for the three old friends one by one and said: "After drinking this cup, we won't be able to drink together in the future, don't forget me when you have a New Year's party." ”

"That's what I said." The crowd "bah bah and said, "What bad luck! Say something else! ”

"I didn't say anything, drink a bar!" Shopkeeper Hou picked up the wine cup and saluted everyone.

"Yes, drink the bar, you won't worry if you're drunk." Everyone also left their worries behind, and while drinking, they recalled the prosperous times in the early years of Wanli. At that time, sitting at home, the silver flowed in, the body was dressed in silk and satin, and the house was placed with a table clock and a large mirror, and those who wanted to eat fragrant food were fragrant, and those who wanted to drink spicy food and spicy food were drunk and spicy food.

Who would have thought that this sweet dream could wake up so quickly and turn into a nightmare in the blink of an eye?

On that day, everyone was so drunk that no one went to work, and they supported each other and walked around Shanghai for a long time. In the afternoon, they went home to sleep.

When he was in charge of the lamp, Ma Liuye, who was thundering at home, was called up, and the Hun family told him bad news that the shopkeeper was hanging himself in his shop.

Ma Liuye woke up as soon as he could, and ran to the silk village on the front street without wearing shoes. The silk village was already full of people, and the nose was being examined, the wife and daughter of the shopkeeper were crying and paralyzed, Zhou Laohan and Chen Guanren also arrived one after another, and saw that the old guys who were drinking together and shopping together in the morning became cold corpses, and the three of them were sluggish.

In the next few days, although it has been muddy, the three of them still managed to deal with the funeral of the shopkeeper Hou, and even the thin wooden coffin was bought by the three of them with money. On the day of the funeral, they * watched the burial of the shopkeeper Hou, and while withdrawing the paper money, tears poured down! O old man,

Let's start over in yīn, and when our brother goes, you'll have to eat and drink well

......On the way back, the three of them walked on the road as if they had been hollowed out. Old Man Zhou sighed, Chen Guanren was silent, but Ma Liuye clenched his fists, and drummed one after another.

As soon as they entered the city, a newsboy shouted: "Outside, outside, Luzon riots and uprisings, expelling tax officials and eunuchs!" Eight articles of autonomy proposed to the imperial court! Otherwise declare independence! The three of them looked up at the sky, only to see that black clouds were crushing the city, and the mountain rain was full of wind...... One...... Mouth...... One...... One...... One...... One...... One...... One...... One...... One...... One...... One...... One...... One...... One...... One...... Mouth...... Mouth...... One...... One...... One...... One...... One...... One...... One...... In the name of saving the city, the Wanli Emperor sent a mine tax supervisor to harm the world, and the industry and commerce in the southeast were almost swept away, and the people lived in hardship, which naturally aroused the unanimous indignation of the government and the opposition. In the face of Zhu Yijun, who is obstinately and greedy, and the mine supervisor and tax envoy who is mad and angry with heaven and man, the people of the government and the wild people all express their resentment in their own ways and ways.

From the ministers to the cabinet ministers, the six ministries and nine secretaries, down to the chief of Langzhong and the local magistrates, they have all handed over chapters and regulations, some of them have summarized the harm of mining taxes, and some have divided into the arbitrariness of tax supervisors, and the number has reached thousands of sparse. even submitted his resignation en masse to threaten the Wanli Emperor to take back his fate. In a letter jointly submitted by more than 1,000 officials, they said to Emperor Wanli bitterly: "Since the mining tax is prosperous, the people are unemployed, the government and the opposition are arrogant, and I don't know what to do. The emperor is the lord of the people, not only does not wear it, but takes it away from it. The envoy of conquest, anxious for the spark, and the order of looting are as dense as a cow's hair. Today, a certain mine gets a certain amount of silver, and tomorrow it will add a certain amount of silver: a certain tax will be paid today, and a certain tax will be increased tomorrow: a certain official today obstructs the mining tax solution, and tomorrow a certain official neglects to play with the mining tax and resigns. Thousands of miles of mountains and rivers, envoys in the four cloths, plus scoundrels, winged tigers and wolves, false will to extort money, moving tens of thousands, digging graves along the way, knocking out the bone marrow, getting wealth to stop, the sacred heart is at peace? Uneasy? And the heart of one person, the heart of tens of millions of people! The emperor loves pearls and jades, and people also admire food and clothing: the emperor is worried about the world, and people also love their wives and children, but why is the emperor's gold higher than the Beidou, and the people do not have the reserve of chaff and bucket promotion? The emperor has been for his descendants for thousands of years, and he has not let the people have a peaceful day? Looking at the past, there is such a decree in the imperial court, there is such a scene in the world, and there are people who are not chaotic? Although the attitude of the figures in the Jin Party is not as resolute as that of the officials from the southeast, and some of them have a warm attitude, none of them dare to publicly stand up and shout for the mine supervisor and tax envoy.

However, Zhu Yijun, the emperor of Wanli, has the firmness of letting the wind and rain blow, and I am unmoved. He believes that the officials' descriptions of the suffering of the people are exaggerated, and how can it be that in less than a year, heaven on earth will become a hell on earth. What's more, the silver taels that the eunuchs untied into the palace are only ten million taels, how can they hurt the fur of the southeast?

Therefore, he understood the minister's extreme advice as solidarity with the southeastern chaebol, but he was extremely tolerant of the eunuchs' outrageous behavior. Whenever a minister and a eunuch went against him, he would definitely punish the former and protect the latter, showing his determination to fight the wealthy clans of the southeast.

It's not that Wanli doesn't know that he is playing with fire, and he is also trying his best to increase his safety. On the one hand, he allowed the eunuchs stationed in the provinces to spend a part of the taxes, gold, mines and silver, recruit troops, and expand their strength in preparation for civil unrest. On the other hand, he expanded the number of guards to more than 10,000 people, all of whom were equipped with the latest muskets.

However, he also knew that when it came to combat effectiveness, the eunuch army would definitely not be able to compare with those tiger and wolf divisions who could fight well, so Wanli increased the strength of the eunuch army, whether it was Jingying,

The border armies, as well as the garrisons of the provinces, were stationed with eunuchs who supervised the army and gave them the power to mobilize the army and kill the officers. On the other hand, he forced all 27 commanders in charge of the army to send their families to live in the capital, when they would leave their posts, and when they would be reunited.

In order to resolve the resentment of the army and maintain their support, Wanli also tilted a large amount of financial revenue to military spending, and also gave officers additional officials and knights, giving them the power to sit on an equal footing with civilian officials............... in a word, everything for the stability of the overall situation. He firmly believes that as long as he has the strength of eunuchs in one hand and the support of the army in the other, no matter how bad the situation is, his country will be as stable as a rock.

As for the suffering of the Li people now, and the apocalyptic scene presented by the country, he is very open-minded, thinking that only when the chaos can there be great governance, and when the hao clans in the southeast run out of oil and dry up, there will no longer be uncontrolled.

When the wealth of the terrifying people who endangered the rule of the dynasty, the civil officials also became a tree without roots, and they regained the situation by themselves, and restored to the beautiful ...............era when Taizu founded the country, which was based on agriculture, closed off to self-control, and monarchs and ministers.

It must be admitted that Wanli has a wisdom that is difficult for ordinary people to achieve, and the royal education he received since he was a child has enabled him to perceive the problems that threaten his rule and quickly find ways to solve them. However, after successfully resolving the silence of the ministers, he also lost his patience and became arrogant, believing that as long as he did it himself, any problem could be solved.

However, when he thinks about it, he also has a deep helplessness. After the encroachment and boycotting of the ministers of the three dynasties, the imperial power has been isolated from the imperial court, he cannot appoint any officials, and his ministers' opinions on government affairs are also regarded as deaf ears. If this trend is allowed to develop, perhaps the next generation of emperors will become puppets completely, and even their lives will not be guaranteed.

For the sake of the foundation of his ancestors and his own imperial power, Zhu Yijun, the emperor of Wanli, had to go against everyone.

Because in his opinion, it is first and foremost that everyone is against him. He did not fail to think of détente - such as supporting Zhang Siwei, clearing the opposition in the cabinet, and promoting the officials of the final emperor, but all efforts were in vain under the counterattack of the huge bureaucracy, and after years of hard struggle, everything remained the same.

Therefore, he had to resort to jī fierce means to savagely remove the vines that entwined the dragon chair, which was a matter of course for him as an emperor.

To be fair, his only mistake was to appoint eunuchs to do these things, and he underestimated the perversion and madness of eunuchs, and he would be punished most mercilessly.

For example, the uprising that took place in distant Luzon.

However, apart from the eunuchs, who can the emperor, who has been surrounded by layers of bureaucracy, trust?

Descendants have commented on the merits and crimes of right and wrong, and the people of the world can only struggle hard according to their own ideas, even the emperor is no exception.