The closer you get to Chinese New Year's Eve, the stronger the atmosphere of the New Year.

Rao is the heavy snow, always plugged in the empty over and over again, the huge capital has completely turned into a crystal glass world, so cold that people shrank their shoulders and hide their hands, cover their necks and ears, but there are many more people who walk the streets and shop than before, and there are people everywhere in the corners.

The new red window flower paper and peach charm also replaced the old and faded window flower paper and peach charm, and under the attention of the elderly and children, under the background of the white eaves and jade ground, it looks quite bright, like the blooming red plum blossom.

Shen Shixing also came to the Forbidden City on the day of Chinese New Year's Eve, wearing a big red python robe, ready to make a year-end report to the emperor, and after the report was over and received the emperor's reward, he would put down government affairs and go home to accompany his family for the New Year.

Because the price of silver has finally stabilized, Shen Shixing is also in a good mood, so when he arrived in front of the Zhu Gate of the Inner Court, he didn't wait for the little handyman to come to help him, so he raised his feet and came out of his shoulder, and after seeing the eunuch Zhang Hong, the eunuch of the master of ceremonies, he took the initiative to greet him, and held Zhang Hong's hand step by step, and said with a smile:

"But if you enter the palace as usual, why should the prime minister greet you personally."

"Master Shen works hard for the country, and our family should welcome him personally."

Zhang Hong said with a smile.

Because the imperial court has now received nearly 20 million taels of silver from the Japanese state, the loans lent by the internal treasury to the treasury of the foreign dynasty can undoubtedly be repaid by the treasury, and the internal treasury will undoubtedly benefit everyone, and the emperor has made it clear that the inner court understands that the imperial court is difficult and has no trouble, and also takes the initiative to stabilize the silver price as the reason to increase the share of this year's silver reward, so Zhang Hong is in a good mood, and he is more respectful to Shen Shixing.

And Zhang Hong said and said: "Seeing that Master Shen is so old and healthy just now, it will not be a problem to come and serve His Majesty for another twenty years." ”

"If you work for another twenty years, you will really be an enemy of all dynasties! When the ten-year period is up, you have to ask Your Majesty for leisure, so as to give future generations a chance. ”

Shen Shixing said with a smile.

Zhang Hong didn't answer Shen Shixing's words, only looked at the silver-gray sky, and said with a smile: "Next year will be a good year!" This year, I have finally persevered until now, and there has been no big mess, no starvation, and no head on the ground. ”

"Yes, now that I think about it, I don't know how this year came over, but I still asked His Majesty Hongfu to let Shuozhou Bo go to fight the territory of Maori Huiyuan first, and found a big silver mountain."

"The mouth of the Japanese is also very strict, and they have never said anything about it."

Shen Shixing also said with a smile.

"Master Shen go in, the emperor is waiting, and the young master is also here, at the request of your elder, let you see him first."

Zhang Hong said with a smile.

The master is the emperor's eldest son, Zhu Changxun.

Zhu Yijun was worried that if the eldest son of the emperor took Zhu Changluo's fate in the future, he would also be like Zhu Changluo in history, so he changed his name.

And now, Zhu Yijun asked the emperor's eldest son to see Shoufu, which was requested by Shen Shixing himself, and he agreed.

Obviously, Shen Shixing has set his sights on the emperor's eldest son.

Zhu Yijun did not refuse, because the emperor's eldest son is now five years old, and it is time to see the foreign minister's courage.

Shen Shixing burst into tears after seeing Zhu Changxun, and then said to Zhu Yijun: "The eldest son of the emperor really has the qualifications of His Majesty, and the ministers look forward to it like seeing auspicious clouds." ”

Zhu Yijun smiled slightly: "The master has a good reputation." ”

Then, Zhu Yijun chatted with Shen Shixing about other things and listened to his report.

After Shen Shixing left, it was already dawn when the snow stopped, and his steps became more steady and powerful, and after returning to the official residence, Qi Jiguang, Zhang Xueyan, and Wang Xijue hurriedly asked him: "Have you seen the emperor's eldest son?" ”

Shen Shixing said: "See, Long Zhang Fengzi!" ”

All the ministers were happy.

Shen Shixing then went home.

And when it got dark one night, his family members all came to kowtow to him with a smile.

Because Zhu Yijun asked Shen Shixing and other ruling ministers to help the court stabilize the price of silver dollars by buying treasury bonds, the families of Shen Shixing and other ruling ministers did have a lot less resentment, knowing that their family's property was not given to the court by the head of the family.

Now the Shen family's family members are still paying New Year's greetings to Shen Shixing from the bottom of their hearts, so they are still very serious about kowtowing their heads, and the family members kneeling under the eaves of the corridor are not perfunctory.

"Father, can the court really pay back the money owed to us?"

"There are many people at the bottom who talk about it, saying that the court is afraid that it can't afford to pay it back."

But the family members of these ruling ministers are still worried about whether the national debt can bring benefits, after all, it is still a fact that the silver is expensive and the valley is cheap, so Shen Yongjia couldn't help but ask Shen Shixing this day.

Shen Shixing took out the printed copy of the Tang newspaper from his sleeve and handed it to Shen Yongjia: "Take it to your family and circulate it, and if you can't read, read it to them!" Let them take advantage of the time to visit relatives and friends, publicize this matter, publicize it bigger, exaggerate it, help the court stabilize people's hearts, and make this New Year really happy, so as not to hang their hearts. ”

"So much silver?!"

Shen Yongjia took the copy of the Tang newspaper and looked at it, and was dumbfounded, and then immediately said yes and walked out quickly.

"Did you hear that?"

"Shuozhou Bo defeated a Japanese chief named Toyotomi Hideyoshi and copied more than 20 million taels of silver!"

"No, I remember talking about 30 million taels, I heard what Yuanfu's sedan chair man said."

"That's not right! It's 50 million taels! It is said that the Japanese slaves are very rich, one is that they robbed a lot of silver when they plundered my southeast, and the other is that they have as much silver there as we have stones here, so that's all, I listened to the little guy of Dasi Nong, he was drunk, so he leaked the news, saying that he only landed 20 million taels, for fear that others would know that the Japanese country is very rich! ”

"How did I hear it's 100 million?"

……

For a time, all kinds of news about the imperial court getting a large amount of silver in the war against the Japanese spread wildly.

Moreover, these news are becoming more and more exaggerated.

However, in this era, the level of communication is limited, and there is still a lag in the complete dissemination of news.

Therefore, most ordinary people still firmly believe in the news that silver prices will continue to rise.

As a result, at the end of the year, many people were no longer willing to use the silver they had obtained through their participation in infrastructure construction to buy high-quality assets sold cheaply by the powerful bureaucrats, and they also began to hoard silver dollars.

"Don't buy it! Now the silver dollar is worth more than anything else, and it doesn't matter what new clothes and new shoes and socks are, and next year maybe the eldest son will be able to marry a daughter-in-law with these accumulated silver dollars. ”

Zhang Sanwu, a mason in Daxing County, grabbed his wife Tian, who was about to go to the market to buy cloth and make new clothes for the New Year.

Tian also retreated: "Then do you want to buy some meat?" ”

"Don't buy it either!"

"Anyway, if you can lose a silver dollar now, even if you don't do anything, you can earn a point, so why bother to spend it, it's better to count on silver dollars to make money."

Zhang Sanwu said.

After hearing this, Tian said: "That's okay, no wonder the rich man next door is so willing to take out his silk cloth and sell it cheaply, saying that one cent of silver dollars can buy three horses, which is the same as giving it away for nothing, and it must be the idea of winning silver dollars." ”

In short, by the end of the fifteenth year of Wanli, even if the powerful bureaucrats were willing to sell it cheaply, the common people were not willing to buy it, and they began to hoard silver.

At this time, there are more silver dollars into the market, so the circulation of silver dollars increased, and the price of silver dollars began to fall rapidly, at least the official stores began to lower the price of silver dollars, raised prices, and then with the arrival of the New Year, even many private shops began to flow more, originally only wanted to spend some silver dollars to buy necessary things, such as firewood, rice, oil, salt or something, but found that the price of these necessary goods began to rise, at first I thought it was the reason for the New Year, but it rose again after the year, But then it turned out that this was not the case, and the relative price of the silver dollar began to continue to fall!

"Fell again?"

Gu Xiancheng asked Gu Yuncheng, who had just come back from inquiring about the situation.

Gu Yuncheng nodded: "We have to stop selling the industry now, right?" However, not many people are willing to buy it. ”

"Let's stop."

Gu Xiancheng nodded.

And a few days later, Gu Yuncheng hurried to Gu Xiancheng's place, and said with a panicked expression: "Brother, it's over!" ”

Gu Xiancheng's heart tightened and asked, "What's over?" ”

"Our house slaves who are doing business in the Wa Kingdom have brought back news that the Wa Kingdom has been defeated, and a steady stream of silver has been transported back!"

"In addition, I just happened to hear that there are some people who claim to be slaves of the New Party, and there are indeed people who have earned tens of millions of silver in the imperial court!"

Gu Yun became enlightened.

Gu Xiancheng said to himself after a while: "Our Gu family is finished!" ”

(End of chapter)