Zhu Biao then comforted Zhu Yuanzhang: "After Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty conquered the world, the country was in difficulty, and there was even the siege of Baideng. Before the reign of Emperor Taizong Zhenguan, there was the shame of the Weishui River! And under your leadership, I, the Ming Dynasty, suppressed foreign nations.
, wipe out foreign troubles!"
"Compared to the previous dynasties, my Ming Dynasty's family fortune is just a little more difficult. My father has also ordered that corvee be frivolous and the people should be cultivated with little tax. Under your governance, I don't think the world will be prosperous again in less than twenty years!"
Zhu Yuanzhang felt a lot relieved after listening to his son's consolation. Not only did he see with his own eyes the hardships of people's livelihood these days, but local officials also kept reporting.
“The bones of Xuzhou cover the ground, and the grass is vast. There are often foxes and rats in the ruins and grass!”
In the prefectures and counties north of the Yellow River, "the roads are all blocked and the population is cut off." There is almost no life.
The Dongting Lake Basin in Huguang was originally a rich and fertile land, but now "the land is vast and sparsely populated, with few cultivators and many deserted areas."
Sichuan and Sichuan were originally known as Tianfu, but after decades of war, they are still full of wormwood, tens of thousands of acres of fertile farmland are barren, and the historical prosperity is hard to find.
Zhu Yuanzhang recited a sentence: "It's hard to prosper the people, and it's hard to destroy the people!"
Then he cheered up and started reviewing the memorial. Zhu Biao also picked up the memorial and thought about it carefully.
At the beginning of December, he finally arrived in Yangzhou City, and Zhu Biao finally saw with his own eyes what this once prosperous city looked like now. Most of the city walls collapsed, and it was almost impossible to see where the streets were and where the houses were inside. All the houses seemed to have been damaged.
It was like an earthquake, except for a few black pillars, there were rocks everywhere.
Standing on the carriage, I glanced over most of Yangzhou and saw that there was not a single high-rise house. Dozens of people were kneeling by the roadside, wearing ragged and thin clothes. The leader was wearing a shabby official robe and knelt down when he saw Zhu Yuanzhang.
He crawled over and said: "I am ashamed of your Majesty! I am guilty! I am guilty! I have been here for more than a year and have not been able to govern Yangzhou well!"
Zhu Yuanzhang pulled him up and almost couldn't recognize him at first glance: "Lu Mingyi? Why do you look like this! How can you, a prefect...
The Yangzhou magistrate looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with tears in his eyes and said: "I...I am really a clever woman who cannot make a meal without rice!"
This man has also been pursuing Zhu Yuanzhang for many years. Zhu Yuanzhang knows who he is, so he came to Yangzhou in person, but he really did not expect that all the magistrates would end up like this.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the dozens of people and asked the Yangzhou magistrate: "Is this the only number of people in the entire Yangzhou city?"
Then Zhu Yuanzhang personally walked to the front of the crowd. When the crowd saw the emperor coming, they directly pressed their heads to the ground and chanted: "Long live the emperor, long live the emperor!"
Zhu Yuanzhang personally helped an old man up and asked them to stand up. He pulled the old man to sit on a stone next to him and asked, "Brother, why are there only these people in Yangzhou City?"
The old man stared with cloudy eyes and said sadly: "Your Majesty... Your Majesty, everyone has run away, and we are the only ones left here who cannot run away."
The old man's granddaughter looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and asked her grandfather in a low voice: "Is this Emperor Zhu?"
The old man almost fainted from fright, but Zhu Yuanzhang patted his hand and said to the emaciated girl: "Yes! We are your Emperor Zhu! Emperor Zhu will let you have enough to eat from now on!"
Zhu Yuanzhang turned around and told Yang Xian: "Go and ask the guards to settle down and prepare some meals!"
Yang Xian took the order and left. Zhu Yuanzhang asked the old man some more questions, but unfortunately he couldn't answer some of them. He only knew that the war and taxes had forced them to have no choice.
The Yangzhou magistrate on the side calmed down and said to Zhu Yuanzhang: "The war continues, the people are fleeing in large numbers, and even if they have land, they can't cultivate it."
Zhu Yuanzhang was very surprised. What's the point of having land but not cultivating it?
Next to him, Lu Chang, who served as an official in the Yuan Dynasty, replied: "The military disasters caused the fields to become barren for many years; the Yuan army passed through Yangzhou many times, and the chickens and dogs were restless; the people of Yangzhou fled everywhere; and the harsh government made the people unwilling to farm."
"To what extent has the harsh government reached? One acre of land can produce two dans of grain, but all taxes and taxes are added together and they actually receive three dans. The harder the people work, the poorer they become. As time goes by, they no longer want to farm."
"Later, the taxes were actually received. Fifty years later, the taxes were actually received from an adult's grandson. Land tax, Ding tax, head-cutting tax, autumn tax, winter tax, labor tax, utensil tax, five-poultry tax, etc.
Wait, there are more than thirty types of taxes on the surface."
"The imperial court issued a decree asking the people to pay fifty qian per household. The state, government, county and township governments levied additional taxes, and eventually collected thousands of qian. The court collected less than 10% of the qian, and the rest went into the hands of corrupt officials.
There are no honest officials under the harsh government."
Because the imperial court has cut off the salaries of officials, if you are not a corrupt official, you will starve to death.
In Yangzhou City, the people had nothing to satisfy their hunger, so they dug wild vegetables, ate tree bark, and even exchanged seeds for food. The vast majority of the people "had not eaten meat for more than ten years, and had not eaten grain for three or four years."
Hearing this situation, even a hero like Zhu Yuanzhang who emerged from the mountains of corpses and seas of blood couldn't help but burst into tears.
Yang Xian came back and saw Zhu Yuanzhang's condition but did not dare to speak. Upon seeing this, Zhu Biao called him back and asked what was going on.
Yang Xian was Zhan Shicheng of the Prince's East Palace and could be considered one of Zhu Biao's people. Yang Xian cupped his hands and said to Zhu Biao: "Your Highness, it just snowed in Yangzhou City yesterday. The weather was cold and the firewood was wet. Now we can't light the fire.
I’m afraid it will take a while before we can cook.”
Zhu Biao said: "These people seem to have been hungry for a long time. Let's dismantle my carriage! Let's cook for the people first, and I will just squeeze in with the other princes later."
Yang Xiangang wanted to say where he could dismantle the prince's bicycle frame. If he wanted to dismantle it, he might as well dismantle his! But he closed his mouth when he saw Zhu Biao's calm eyes.
When Zhu Di heard this, he walked up to Zhu Biao and said, "Brother, please dismantle my bicycle frame! I will ride in one with the third brother later!"
Zhu Biao patted his head. Yang Xian saw that Zhu Biao had made up his mind and went to remove it.
Zhu Biao glanced at the emaciated crowd again and said to Zhu Di: "Go and take out all the meat. Except leaving some for the father, make it into broth and distribute it to these people."
Zhu Di also left in response. Zhu Biao sighed, feeling a little depressed. Seeing the words in the memorial and seeing it with his own eyes were indeed two different feelings.
He ordered the removal of his bicycle frame to show his benevolence, but he did feel sorry for these people. He is the crown prince of the country, and these people are also his subjects!
Zhu Biao really hopes that his people can have food to eat and clothes to wear!
The wood on the Prince's frame is all excellent, and it's not so wet that it will ignite the fire in a short while.
Liu Bowen walked to Zhu Biao and asked, "How does Your Highness feel now?"
This was the first time Zhu Biao was talking to Liu Bowen. He glanced at his guests and said, "I feel bad! I wish I could give them endless food, clothes to keep out the cold, and shelter from the wind and rain."
Liu Bowen glanced at the frowning young man: "Your Highness can think so, that is the luck of the people in the world!"
Zhu Biao asked: "It is said that Mr. Ming has great talent in the world. Is there any way to quickly restore the people's livelihood in Ming Dynasty?"
Liu Bowen shook his head and said: "I will not be stingy if I have the means, but as the governor of Yangzhou said, it is difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice. Yangzhou is easy to solve!"
"The Holy One has seen the situation here. After returning, he will definitely arrange manpower and material resources to help Yangzhou, but what about other states and counties? There are only so many supplies in the world now, and it is impossible to support the whole world."
Zhu Biao also sighed. This is the reality. It is impossible for him to conjure food. He knows high-yielding crops such as corn and sweet potatoes, but these are overseas, and the current situation in Ming Dynasty is simply incapable of exploring.
The materials needed to build a large sailing ship were terrible. Ming Dynasty could not afford it now, and Zhu Yuanzhang could not let him waste resources like this based on his words.
What's more, the sea is extremely dangerous. Even in modern times, there is no guarantee that navigation will be foolproof, and no one can guarantee that corn and sweet potato seeds will be found.
……………… I didn’t expect that I would update another chapter today, huh (~_~;) In fact, I updated four chapters today and there is one left for tomorrow (▽｀) It will be almost 100,000 words tomorrow (