September 30 from Nanjing, October on the first night to Suzhou, October on the second day of Suzhou into the city, such a travel speed, but also Zheng Xunrui and others pioneered, all the people who read travel, all the way are to chant poetry and painting, the worst is also to appreciate the scenery along the way, walk slowly, a day can travel 30 miles to 50 miles, even if it is very good, from Nanjing to Suzhou, at least it takes about 10 days.

Yang Tingshu had actually made arrangements a long time ago, but the time when they arrived in Suzhou was too fast, so that the arrangements were too late to be rolled out, so in the first two days of their arrival in Suzhou, the two spent most of their time wandering around Suzhou City, watching the charm of the small bridges and flowing water in the city, this kind of purposeless wandering made Yang Tingshu feel bored.

But this kind of wandering is very important to Zheng Xunrui, his mind is not on the small bridge and flowing water, nor on the wealth and beauty of Suzhou City, he is concerned about Suzhou's commerce and trade, as well as the price of goods.

The price of rice, which is closely related to the lives of the people, is basically stable, and the price of rice per stone is basically about three taels of silver, which is slightly higher than the price of Nanjing, and the price of salt surprises Zheng Xunrui, one or two salts actually need one or two silver, that is to say, the price of one pound of salt has reached sixteen taels of silver, which is equivalent to the price of five stones of rice, which is unimaginable after hundreds of years.

Suzhou has a lot of huge wealth who rely on salt to make a fortune, in fact, the cost of salt is very low, if it is really calculated, the cost of salt per stone, will not exceed one hundred taels of silver, but it is sold at a price of three thousand two hundred taels per stone, the profit is too crazy, salt merchants do not want to make a fortune are difficult, of course, the reason for the high price of salt, as well as the factors of the imperial court's implementation of the salt and iron monopoly, the former salt and iron monopoly, the imperial court to obtain taxes is also huge.

In the first year of Chongzhen, the Donglin Party proposed to reduce trade taxes, and even to cancel the salt and iron franchise regulations, most of the construction was adopted by the emperor, and these adopted construction yì meant that the merchants of Suzhou walked on the road to prosperity.

The price of silk is slightly cheaper, one or two or eight dollars of silver per horse, probably because the silk is produced here, and the price of tea varies, but also because the quality is different, and it is difficult to really count.

After a general understanding of the price and the prosperity of the shop business in Suzhou, Zheng Xunrui's view of the Donglin Party has changed greatly, and he used to be a college student who graduated from the Department of History, and he stood in the middle of the Donglin Party, thinking that the Donglin Party people are still doing well in terms of their own character requirements, but they have fallen into the strange circle of scholars misleading the country.

The living reality made Zheng Xunrui begin to dislike the Donglin Party, not to mention whether the Donglin Party people were for the sake of their family and country, even from the basic perspective of economics, they should also be aware of the wealth of the southern merchants, let these merchants bear the taxes, and not hurt the bones, but they turned a blind eye, but increased the burden on the heads of the peasants, let the imperial court increase agricultural taxes, and led the peasants to lose their way to live and fell into the bottomless abyss.

On the one hand, it promotes the great development of commerce and trade, collects a large amount of taxes from it, and maintains a lot of expenses, on the other hand, so that the people and farmers can live and work in peace and contentment, and their lives remain stable, and if possible, they can also reduce the taxes of the peasants, which is the way to stabilize the long-term stability.

Of course, it is not as simple as Zheng Xunrui understands, the land annexation has also promoted the emergence of the huge rich, and most of these huge rich, most of them are from the scholar class, on the one hand, the Donglin Party representing the interests of the merchants called on the imperial court to reduce the trade tax, on the other hand, the scholar doctor with a meritorious reputation, using various means to escape the tax, the final result is that the burden of the common people continues to increase, and when the disaster year is encountered, it is impossible to pay the tax on time, and the guide zhì completely collapses.

In this sense, the Donglin Party members were out-and-out sinners, regardless of whether they had benefited from the merchants or not, because the policies and measures they proposed directly led to the emptiness of the treasury, the loss of taxes, and the increase in the burden on the people.

Suzhou is the best epitome of this, no wonder this can become the base camp of the Donglin Party, countless court officials who have gone out from here have spared no effort to win benefits for the merchants, and a little bit of cannibalization of the already dilapidated body of the Ming Dynasty, in turn, these Donglin Party people have also been touted and supported by the merchants, so that they have enough strength to compete with the outside world.

Allowing such a vicious circle to lead to the collapse of the Ming Dynasty in the end, and then the Houjin, who became the master of the Central Plains, unceremoniously deprived these merchants of their wealth, robbed and killed, and made the prosperity of the south of the Yangtze River disappear in an instant. But the so-called many Donglin Party members surrendered to Houjin without changing their faces and continued to enjoy glory and wealth.

On the fourth day of October, Zheng Xunrui, who got up early in the morning, heard a noisy sound from the courtyard in front of him, including laughter and greetings.

Pushing open the window slightly, Zheng Xunrui saw Yang Tingshu standing in the courtyard, and also saw a group of people surrounding Yang Tingshu, these people he basically didn't know, but he had a vague impression in his mind.

Slowly clean up and go downstairs.

Seeing Zheng Xunrui coming down, the excited Yang Tingshu hurriedly walked over.

"Qingyang, introduce you to an old friend......

The five or six people around Yang Tingshu, after seeing Zheng Xunrui, all looked a little strange, some were embarrassed, some were smiling, and some even had a slightly contemptuous look.

"This is Brother Tianru, a talented man from Suzhou, this is Brother Zichang, this is Brother Linshi, you are Brother Jungong, and this Brother Wei, who came from Jiaxing to ......"

Every time Yang Tingshu introduced someone, Zheng Xunrui greeted him with a fist, he had long expected that when he came to Suzhou, he would definitely meet these celebrities in the late Ming Dynasty, but he didn't expect that everyone would gather together.

Zhang Pu, Zi Tianru, Yang Yi, Zi Chang, Wu Weiye, Zi Jungong, Gu Menglin, Zi Linshi, what was even more surprising was Wu Changshi, the word Weizhi, specially from Jiaxing, Zhejiang.

"Qingyang is the small Sanyuan of Tianfu, after the end of the government test, and in the next free time, travel around, I didn't expect to come here, I can meet all of you, I am really happy, today in the east of the East, everyone must be drunk before resting......"

Yang Tingshu's interest was very high, and in addition to the introduction, he had already set a schedule for the whole day.

Zheng Xunrui looked at Yang Tingshu with a smile, he knew that Yang Tingshu was careful, he and these people had a conflict in the Qinhuai River, and it must be embarrassing to meet, Yang Tingshu first said that he was the little Sanyuan of Ying Tianfu, and reminded you in disguise, so that it shows that everyone is a scholar, and they are basically scholars with meritorious reputation, so don't mention the previous things, let alone have any conflicts here.

As for the arrangement of meals, he must be thinking of easing the relationship between each other, Yang Tingshu has a good relationship with these people, and even Zhang Pu, Yang Yi, Gu Menglin, Wu Changshi and others are all members of the Ying Society, he must hope that everyone will become friends.

"It turned out to be Brother Qingyang, I heard about the Magnolia Flower Order, if life is only as first seen, it can be called a peerless poem, it can't be done in the next, and I must ask for advice later."

Zheng Xunrui looked at Zhang Pu who was speaking, with a smile on his face.

"Don't dare, don't dare, are some carving insect skills, on the elegant hall, Suzhou is a place of outstanding people, countless talents, down here, with a heart of reverence, is to want to ask you for knowledge, just say that the sky is like a brother, the story of seven records and seven burnings, in the next is like thunder, this poem is used to help fun, in the next travel, or want to increase knowledge."

Zheng Xunrui's words were soft and hard, and it can be said that he responded to Zhang Pu unceremoniously.

Zhang Pu's face was slightly red, in terms of age, he was much older than Zheng Xunrui, but from the expression in the words just now, it was shown that Zheng Xunrui was much more sophisticated than him.

"Oh, this discussion of knowledge is certain, next year all brothers will participate in the township test, when the time is indispensable, Qingyang came to Suzhou for the first time, and he has just come back in the next, everyone is close to each other, and I want to tell you in the next, although Brother Qingyang is young, his ability to drink is not bad."

There was laughter all around, and the atmosphere soon became harmonious.

Zheng Xunrui's face showed a wry smile, this Yang Tingshu wanted to ease the atmosphere, but he didn't know what to do, saying that he could drink, wouldn't he let everyone come to drink hard at noon, even if he was a wine barrel, he couldn't bear it, but fortunately, when drinking, he could always find a topic, so he could avoid being desperately drunk.

The eldest Yang Yi, mentioned that everyone went to Suzhou City to take a look, at this time there was some time before noon, everyone walked around and killed time.

Yang Yi and Gu Menglin are both past the age of not being confused, they look a lot more sophisticated, and their eyes on Zheng Xunrui are also different, when they saw Zheng Xunrui in Qinhuai River more than half a year ago, they felt that they were apprentices, they didn't understand anything, they blindly looked good at face, and they were purely scoundrels, but this time they saw that there was no frivolous appearance, but there was a taste of youth and old age.

The magnolia flower order was also inherited in Suzhou, and everyone felt that it must be a great talent to be able to write such an excellent poem, but later learned that it was Zheng Xunrui who wrote this poem, and everyone felt the difference, which was simply incredible, and after the news of Zheng Xunrui's little sanyuan reached Suzhou, everyone felt even more strange.

Knowing that Yang Tingshu and Zheng Xunrui were going to travel to Suzhou, everyone was ready to make a move, first of all, to meet friends with texts to test how deep Zheng Xunrui's knowledge was, and secondly, to see if Zheng Xunrui was a friend worth making, if not, they would also collectively admonish Yang Tingshu not to make friends with such a disciple.