The empty streets for days, the closed doors and windows along the streets, the soldiers of the Guards Division patrolling with live ammunition, and the sturdy heavy tanks guarding the intersections, really gave Guangwu, as well as the hundred or ten high-ranking officials and powerful families at the top of the Qing Dynasty pyramid, peace of mind.
There is no small sense of security. However, the martial law for many days has caused the economy in Beijing to nearly collapse. People are not allowed to go out and cannot make a living on their own. The remaining food at home has been exhausted and they cannot go out to buy. The entire city of Beijing is on the verge of man-made famine.
Guangwu's mind is very clear. He knows that a sense of security is a sense of security. Although it is safe now, it is only temporary. Just "not allowing people to take to the streets" will be difficult to implement for a long time. The "security" gained in these ten days
, Beijing has become a boiler on the verge of exploding. If nothing else, in a few days most families will run out of food and face starvation, and even machine guns and tanks will not be able to stop the mob from flooding the streets.
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At this juncture, even several of his close ministers who usually did not dare to give him advice now had the courage to advise him in a roundabout way: This is not the way to go. Guangwu himself fully understood. He discussed with several close ministers.
After thinking about it, we decided to take temporary and gradual relaxation measures, so that at least the people in Beijing would not take risks because of hunger.
Therefore, on the front page of the "Da Qing Daily" on the morning of the 12th, the full page published Emperor Guangwu's latest "people-loving and virtuous policy": From now on, all eligible families can go out to buy groceries with the last number of their ID card.
Got it!
The detailed regulations are as follows: Every Han citizen can go to the prescribed vegetable market within the prescribed time period on the date corresponding to the last digit of his or her ID card, and freely purchase the prescribed grain and oil at the prescribed price.
Dishes. For example, the last digit of Zhang San’s ID number is “7”. From now on, he can go shopping on the 7th, 17th and 27th of every month. Of course, he must be in
Within the specified time period, it generally cannot exceed one hour.
Manchu citizens in Beijing only need to line up with "odd and even numbers" to go out on the street. That is, if the last digit of the ID number is an odd number, they can go shopping on the odd-numbered date, and if it is an even number, they can go out on the even-numbered date.
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Foreigners in Beijing are not within the scope of martial law. As long as they are foreigners, they can travel freely without restrictions.
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Several small vegetable markets that were previously scattered throughout Beijing have now been almost completely closed. Only the four largest vegetable markets remain, which are under unified control by the government, with unified purchasing and sales, and sales at official prices.
Guangwu killed two birds with one stone. On the one hand, he maintained the basic state of martial law, and on the other hand, he could collect gold and silver from the people to the maximum extent. Now, Guangwu had no hope of preserving the foundation of the Qing Dynasty, and he was already planning to go into exile.
.Now, he wants to plunder as much of the wealth of the entire Qing Dynasty as possible, and then transfer it overseas.
Maximizing civilian plunder is also the common need of the court officials below. Although they do not necessarily have to go into exile like Guangwu, Nanming promised to ensure the vested interests of the Northern Qing officials as long as they voluntarily surrender. So what can be gained now?
One point. When Nan Ming comes, there will be no way to catch it.
"Da Qing Daily" was stuffed into the newspaper box of every house as usual. The propaganda truck on the street was also driving slowly, and the loudspeaker played His Majesty the Emperor's "Love the People and Virtuous Government". In addition to the content itself, there were also several envelopes in Beijing
Letters from "foreign friends" all enthusiastically praised His Majesty the Emperor's great love for the people. They said with "envy" that even in Europe and the United States, this kind of warning
It is also very rare for Yanzhong to allow people to take to the streets. "Foreign friends" advised the people of the Qing Dynasty to live happily and peacefully with a grateful heart. Because if it were not for His Majesty the Emperor, how could everyone
They had the opportunity to go shopping for groceries. But they saw with their own eyes that the people of Nanming could only starve to death in this situation... It was His Majesty Emperor Guangwu of the Qing Dynasty who saved the people of the whole city...
People in Beijing originally didn't care much about the "Qing Daily". It often took several days to open the newspaper box, take out a large pile of newspapers, and then throw them there. It was time to paper the windows, and it was time to wipe the butt.
Anyway, usually people who are not sick will not go to see him.
The policeman who delivered the newspaper didn't care. All he had to do was pay the money anyway. But today, loudspeakers all over the street kept blasting into the windows, as if they were talking about what was in the newspaper. At this time, the newspapers that had been accumulated in the newspaper box for many days were
, they were all taken out and read by people.
The common people in Beijing, who had been locked up at home for more than ten days and were about to run out of food, seemed to be greeted by rain after a long drought, and the whole city suddenly burst into joy. Many elderly people could not restrain their excitement and knelt directly in their homes in the direction of the palace.
They went down, kowtowed tremblingly, and said, "Long live my emperor, long live my emperor." There were many people shouting "Long live your emperor" from the windows.
Of course, most of those elderly people expressed their sincere feelings. However, it is unclear how many of those who were lying on the windowsills shouting "Long live" were arranged to be seen by the foreigners on the street.
At noon on the 12th, the first batch of citizens who were allowed to go shopping appeared on the streets and alleys. They lined up in neat lines, carried neat banners, and shouted neat slogans. The banner read:
"Rebuilding with kindness", "Don't forget the well digger when you are drinking water", "Kowtow to my emperor and thank the court", "Go shopping with a grateful heart", "State-owned Guangwu, life is not hard", "Eat well"
The meat and fish taste all depends on the Qing Dynasty"...
On the street, sporadic foreigners and foreign reporters stood on the side of the road, looking at this kind of procession with complicated eyes. Foreign reporters were strictly controlled in taking photos. They were not allowed to take pictures of anything else but people with banners of thanks.
If the team takes pictures they shouldn’t, “hooligans” will definitely rush out from nearby and snatch their cameras away.
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Citizens from all walks of life gradually entered the four large markets. There were a total of ten kinds of commodities in the market: onions, ginger, garlic, Chinese cabbage, white flour, corn flour, sorghum flour, salt, soybean oil, and briquettes. There were no others. And there were none.
Prices are also set by the government: cornmeal costs 2 cents per catty, white flour costs 70 cents per catty, Chinese cabbage costs one yuan per catty, salt costs two yuan per catty, and soybean oil costs four yuan and five cents per catty.
Of course, the few yuan and jiao mentioned here refer to Qingyang, which is a silver dollar. "One yuan" refers to a silver dollar worth seven cents and four cents. "One dime" refers to a dime of silver, which is a small silver dollar.
Ten cents are equivalent to an ocean. Moreover, the officials and merchants in the market clearly stipulate that they will not accept banknotes, only oceans in cash.
The common people who had just arrived here happily began to complain. They expected that the government and merchants would not accept banknotes, but since they used cash, the price was still so high - one pound of soybean oil was equivalent to the whole family's monthly living expenses.
In the past year, the Beijing Mint has been printing banknotes day and night at full capacity. Qingyang's banknotes have continued to depreciate, and the prices of everything such as food, clothing, housing and transportation have skyrocketed. But if calculated based on current foreign prices, the increase is very limited. A lot
All localities began to reject banknotes, either openly or covertly, especially major monopolies.
Although the government and merchants still accept banknotes in name, ordinary people with no background have no ability to use banknotes to buy things from the government and merchants, so they all have to pay in cash. And when the government and merchants ask for money, if the buyer is an ordinary person, they must
I'll give him banknotes, but it's not okay if I don't accept them.
Because after the Guangwu coup came to power, he felt that his foundation was unstable and was afraid that the ruling machine below would be unstable and disloyal to him. Therefore, in addition to spreading spies, semi-openly acquiescing to the sale of officials, and using corruption to win over military and political officials, he also resorted to
A last resort for dictators to maintain their rule: to use money printing to rob wealth from the people, and then subsidize it to the ruling class.
The specific method is to print more banknotes, and then distribute these banknotes under various names to government officials, military and police systems and other ruling classes. When the ruling class spends these banknotes, a large amount of banknotes will flow into the market, devaluing the banknotes, and at the same time
Prices in all walks of life are high. But by this time, the money of the ruling class has been spent and in exchange for real material wealth. They only make profits but not losses. The losses will be passed on to the bottom class.
Because the banknotes in the hands of ordinary people will depreciate at the same time, and they get nothing. This process is equivalent to taking money directly from the pockets of ordinary people, and then distributing it to the ruling class, so that the wealth of the whole society will quickly concentrate in the ruling class. He Ming grabs the only
The difference is that the "currency devaluation" is used as a cover-up. And the people who lack information will only blame it on "their own bad luck" and "their own inability".
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On the west side of the Forbidden City in Beijing, there are three connected royal gardens surrounding the lake from north to south: Beihai, Zhonghai, and Nanhai. Among them, there is a round island in the center of the lake in Nanhai. This island is very small, with a diameter of only one hundred meters.
Duomi. The island is lush with green trees and there are several palaces in the middle. In later generations, this island was very famous - Yingtai.
But in this time and space, the Guangxu Reform Movement of 1898 was successful, and he was not imprisoned in Yingtai by the Empress Dowager Cixi as in the standard history. Therefore, the word "Yingtai" now has no special meaning, but is just a reference to countless scenic spots in the royal gardens.
Just one of the names.
But just after Guangwu came to power, a special "guest" moved into Yingtai. The identity of this "guest" was no less than that of Emperor Guangxu. He was the deposed Emperor Jiade, now the "Qingguo"
male".
After the Guangwu coup, the former Emperor Jiade disappeared from the sight of the government and the public. Whether it was the two words "Jade" or the three words "Qingguo Gong", they were all like "Fourteen Princesses".
The same four words became one of the many banned words in the Qing Dynasty. They were sucked into the black hole and completely disappeared from broadcasts, printed matter, and people's public discussions. Many people are speculating that the late emperor may have been killed.
But in fact, Guangwu did not directly kill Jiade. He just secretly imprisoned Jiade in Yingtai. It is not a coincidence that both Cixi of that time and space and Guangwu of this time and space chose Yingtai. Yingtai was an important figure in the imprisonment.
This place does have unique conditions. First of all, it is surrounded by water. There is a lake surface of about 100 meters on the north side closest to the shore. On the other three sides, the lake surface is even larger.
It is more than two hundred meters wide. You have to take a boat to get in and out. In addition, the area of Yingtai is just right, more than 10,000 square meters. It can arrange the necessary personnel and guards, but it is not too big to monitor. The most important thing is
What's more, Yingtai is located in the Nanhai Royal Garden, with tight security and no need to speak of safety. Moreover, the palace is next door, and those with power in the palace can keep track of the prisoners in Yingtai at any time.
Since Guangwu came to power, the entire Nanhai Garden has been heavily sealed off. The small circular island in the middle of the lake has become the most mysterious forbidden area. In the entire Qing Empire, no one is allowed to set foot on Yingtai.
Thirty. Around the lake shore
The Royal Guards were heavily guarded, as if they were facing a formidable enemy. However, those officers and soldiers, holding loaded guns and live ammunition, looked at the small island surrounded by green trees in the distance of the blue waves all day long, but they didn't know why they wanted to guard this island. They didn't know.
What happened on the island.
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A strong and low cement house was built in the center of Yingtai. It has no windows and only a dark doorway. It looks like a bunker and is very inconsistent with the surrounding jade inlays and carved railings. There is a thick and small iron door on the doorway.
The door is locked very firmly.
At the door, two tall soldiers with cold faces stood guard on both sides. There was a small window on the iron door, and there were a few thick steel bars on the small window. In the February weather, the cold wind from Beijing seeped in. The inside was pungent.
The stench came out from time to time, sometimes accompanied by a few weak coughs.
A wooden sign was nailed to the iron door with four small words on it: