The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 356: Slapping Old Zhu in the Face
In Kunshan County, Suzhou Prefecture, Old Zhu and Ma Niangniang were walking along a country road in simple clothes.

Tang He followed with two guards, and more guards were on guard at a distance.

There are neat farmlands on both sides of the road. There are many people working in the fields, and some children playing in the fields.

A beautiful picture of prosperity.

Old Zhu looked very satisfied, but he said, "People still have to work hard in winter. It's hard for them."

How could Madam Ma not know what he was thinking? However, she did not cooperate and deliberately said:

"It is because those in power are unjust that the people have to work hard all year round without a moment's rest."

Old Zhu's face turned dark. This daughter-in-law didn't give him any face at all.

But before he could refute, he heard an old man herding sheep on the side of the road say:

"Big sister, you can't say that. If it weren't for the Supreme Emperor and the current emperor, the people wouldn't have the good life they have today."

Old Zhu was immediately delighted, and gave Madam Ma a smug look, then squatted down and said with a smile:

"What do you mean, brother?"

The old man was also a chatterbox. When he saw Lao Zhu talking to him, he immediately started talking:

"I lived through the chaotic Northern Yuan Dynasty in the first half of my life. That was a world where people ate each other."

"All the land belongs to wealthy families. In our village and the village next door, all the land belongs to a wealthy man named Zhao."

“People from both villages are tenant farmers of their family. Not a blade of grass on the roadside can be moved without their permission.”

"I'm busy all year round just to make a living."

"Later, when the world was in chaos, we couldn't even get enough food to eat. We ate all the grass roots and tree bark."

"When the Emperor Emeritus establishes the Ming Dynasty, our days... hey..."

Zhu Yuanzhang was very curious when he saw that he was having a hard time explaining himself, so he asked:
"What happened after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty? Why don't you tell me, brother?"

Empress Ma seemed to have guessed something and showed an expression of enjoying a good show.

The old man looked around and whispered, "I told you, don't spread it around."

Old Zhu patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, brother. I have a secret that won't be spread."

The old man then said, "After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, we went from being worse than cattle and horses to becoming cattle and horses."

Old Zhu was shocked. He didn't expect this result.

Madam Ma's playful expression made him feel even more embarrassed.

However, he did not get angry with the old man, but asked unconvincedly:

"Why is this so? I heard that the emperor hates corrupt officials the most and loves the people like his own children..."

The old man must be a man of few words, and he was immediately amused when he heard this:

"Hey, if you say that the emperor hates corrupt officials, I won't refute it. If you say that he loves the people like his own children..."

At this point, he asked, "From your accent, you are from the north, right?"

Lao Zhu nodded and said, "Northerners, come and do some small business."

The old man said, "No wonder... Let me tell you this, before the 16th year of Hongwu, the land tax here was twice as much as that of other places."

"There are more than thirty kinds of taxes and levies."

"In a year with good weather and good harvests, it's good to have something to eat."

"If the year is bad, after working hard for a year, you will still owe the court a large sum of money at the end of the day."

"How many people are forced to sell their children in order to pay taxes."

"If you can't raise a child, you have to drown it. There's a big pit in the mass grave at the east end of our village, which is used to dump dead babies."

"There are many elderly people who choose to commit suicide in order not to burden their children."

"Those days were... miserable."

The old man looked as if he couldn't bear to look back.

These words were like a slap in the face. Zhu Yuanzhang was completely defeated, feeling ashamed and angry, and his face became a little ferocious.

The old man was also frightened by his expression and didn't dare to speak for a while.

At this time, Ma Niangniang stepped forward, patted Lao Zhu's hand, and said:
"You see, you start getting anxious again when you talk about sad things."

Then he said to the old man, "My old man had a hard time back then. He had to herd cattle when he was young. His parents and brothers all died of hunger. He was the only one who survived."

"So when these sad things are mentioned, his emotions will get out of control."

"It's not directed at you, don't be afraid bro."

The old man patted his chest and said with lingering fear: "Brother, the look in your eyes just now was too scary..."

"Hey, I understand. We've all been through a lot."

Then he suddenly thought of something and said, "My experience is similar to that of the emperor."

Mr. and Mrs. Zhu: "..."

Madam Ma took the opportunity to change the subject and said, "Since the people are having a hard time with the emperor, why are you still saying good things about him, brother?"

The old man immediately forgot what happened just now and continued to talk:
"In the past, we ordinary people were short-sighted and didn't understand state affairs. We just thought the emperor was strict."

"The imperial court set up a reserve force two years ago, and my four sons and six grandsons all participated in the training."

"We learned a lot there. We realized that the emperor is helpless."

Madam Ma pretended to be curious and asked, "Oh, what do you mean?"

The old man said angrily: "It's all the fault of the Northern Yuan Dynasty. Although the Ming Dynasty was established, the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty have always wanted to fight back."

"In order to completely defeat the Northern Yuan Dynasty, the emperor had no choice but to impose heavy taxes to support the army."

"I heard that the situation in the north is even worse, and almost all the people are being killed."

Madam Ma nodded and said, "Indeed, at the end of the Song Dynasty, there were still tens of millions of people in the north. By the 10th year of Hongwu, the population was less than 10 million."

The old man said: "So... the emperor had no choice. At the beginning, we did feel that the emperor was unfair."

"After I learned the truth, I no longer hated him."

"If we don't drive the Northern Yuan away, we will have to live a life worse than cattle and horses."

"And after defeating the Northern Yuan Dynasty, the emperor immediately adjusted his policies and reduced our taxes."

"He also ordered the cessation of all taxes, even the head tax. Now there is no other tax except the land tax."

"That's really the best policy we haven't seen in thousands of years."

"We ordinary people just have little experience, but we are not really ignorant."

"I can't thank such a wise ruler enough, how can I hate him?"

A few old farmers in the distance saw them chatting and came over curiously.

They all opened up and talked about the hardships of the past and the sweetness of today.

In short, he expressed that he is very satisfied with his current life.

I am especially grateful to the Emperor Emeritus and the Emperor, and hope they both live long lives.

"The Ming Dynasty deserves to rule the world. The Emperor, the Emperor, and the Crown Prince are all wise rulers."

"Three generations of wise rulers, how good the future will be, I dare not think about it, I dare not think about it."

"Yes, yes, yes. And His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, even though he is young, he will definitely be a wise ruler in the future."

"The schistosomiasis in our south was a disaster for us back then. It was only thanks to the prince that we were able to cure it."

"It is said that the Crown Prince is a holy king appointed by Heaven, and Chen Bandu is also a wise minister appointed by Heaven."

"The loom was improved by Chen Bandu. With the new shuttle, weaving is ten times faster than before."

Zhu Yuanzhang's complexion improved a lot, but he still felt hot.

Because according to his heart, he would rather collect more taxes and has never considered tax cuts.

These people-benefiting policies were implemented under the strong advocacy of Chen Jingke.

But the common people didn't know this and attributed the credit to him and were grateful to him.

It's definitely a bargain that I picked up for free.

Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang’s strength was the main factor in the implementation of these policies.

In this matter, his contribution is no less than that of Chen Jingke.

But for him, merits are merits and faults are faults, and he cannot forget the harsh policies he had in the past just because of his later merits.

So, he still felt ashamed.

Seeing that his complexion had improved, Madam Ma was relieved and continued to ask:

"The imperial court forcibly split up the clan and relocated some people to the north. I heard that there was a lot of opposition from the people?"

The old man immediately laughed: "Hey... it's funny to talk about this." Another old man with gray hair also said happily:

"That's right. Many people's relatives and friends have been relocated."

"At first, no one was willing to do so and they cursed the imperial court."

"Later, the court distributed the vacated land to the remaining people, and no one complained anymore. Instead, they all praised the court's policies."

Everyone laughed.

What neighbors, what relatives and friends, is it important to have land?
If they don't leave, when can I get a share of the land?

The old man said, "My family didn't have any land before, so we had to be tenants."

"During that population migration, the imperial court allocated eighty acres of paddy fields to my family."

"See these two sheep? We bought them last year. We also have several chickens at home."

"Before, every blade of grass in the field belonged to someone else, so we couldn't afford to raise sheep."

Others also started talking one after another.

The clans were broken up the most severely, and the local people suddenly found that the local gentry and bullies who had been riding on their heads and acting arrogantly were gone.

In addition, after the land was distributed, they immediately became supporters of the new policy.

Every household was allocated land and raised pigs, sheep, chickens and other poultry and livestock.

Of course I couldn’t bear to eat it myself, so I sold it to rich people.

However, now that I have money, I can still see some greasy food during festivals.

In short, after the 16th and 17th years of Hongwu, people's lives became better.

Empress Ma was very pleased to hear this, and Old Zhu finally returned to normal and rejoined.

Everyone chatted until noon, then the old men got up and left. After a while, one of them came back carrying two jars.

"While we were chatting, it's time to eat. Brother and sister-in-law, please don't be disgusted. How about we eat together?"

Seeing this, Tang He, who was far away, wanted to come over, but was stopped by Zhu Yuanzhang with a wave of his hand.

"Haha, thank you guys, I won't be polite then."

At this time, people still have two meals a day. They eat the first meal in the morning after working for half a day.

Some people work for another half day before having their second meal, while others finish their day's work and have their second meal after returning home in the evening.

Because I go to bed right after dinner and feel hungry again in the morning.

People would feel it is a waste and often just take two bites and consider it a meal.

So if you calculate carefully, I only eat one and a half meals a day.

This has led to widespread malnutrition among the people, with nine out of ten people on the street eating only hemp straw.

Several people opened a clay jar filled with water.

An old man explained, "This is boiled water... Schistosoma japonicum lays eggs and grows in water. We all drink hot water here now."

Another old man immediately echoed, "This is also the benefit of dividing the land. In the past, there was no firewood, and no one was willing to drink hot water."

"Now that we have fields, we can use rice stalks as firewood, and we can burn more than all of them in a year."

Old Zhu couldn't help but think of a sentence Chen Jingke often said, that everything in this world is interconnected.

This is a very good thing to say.

In order to prevent and treat schistosomiasis, people had to drink hot water. Only after the land was divided did the people have firewood to burn and could afford to drink hot water.

One thing leads to another.

Everyone shared a bowl, filled it with water and handed it to Lao Zhu: "Don't mind the dirtiness, brother, just use it for now."

Old Zhu laughed and said, "Haha, brother, you think I am one of those wealthy and well-to-do people. I am also a peasant."

The old men smiled but said nothing. You two really think we old men are blind, don't you?

Lao Zhu also knew that his words were not convincing, so he didn't say anything more.

He took the bowl and drank it in big gulps without any look of disgust.

Seeing this, several old men smiled happily.

"Haha, now I believe it. You really have suffered a lot, brother."

"Yeah, if it were any other master, his brows would be twisted into knots when he saw our bowls."

While chatting and laughing, several old men started to open the second jar.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked inside curiously, only to find that there were actually vegetable dumplings inside.

It is not quite right to call it a vegetable dumpling. It contains about one-tenth rice, so it can be considered a rice dumpling that is a mixture of rice and vegetables.

He was very familiar with this thing. When he was too poor to afford food, this was the best food.

In other words, this was what ordinary people ate every day in the past, just with a little more rice.

but……

"Brothers, didn't we just say that life has improved? Why do we still have to eat these things?"

At first, the old man laughed and said, "I am just a worthless person. I can't eat good food. These things are enough for me."

The gray-haired old man said, "Yes, look at these vegetable dumplings. They are all the fattest wild vegetables, without any grass roots."

"I even gritted my teeth and mixed in a handful of rice... Oh, what a waste, such a waste."

Another bald old man said, "They have become picky because of eating white rice. They couldn't even eat grass roots or tree bark before, and now they are scorning such good rice."

Seeing that Lao Zhu didn't believe it, several elderly people started talking about their family situations.

"My family has built three houses in the past five years, and the foundations used fifty layers of bricks."

"After building these houses, we still have more than 1,000 kilograms of rice left at home."

"That's more than a thousand kilograms of high-quality rice... I never dared to imagine such a good life before."

The houses of ordinary people, those with a better life, were made of adobe, and at most three or five layers of blue bricks were used for the foundation to prevent water from soaking.

Those whose lives were bad simply built mud shelters, and those whose lives were even worse had no choice but to sleep outdoors.

Those who can afford blue bricks are all wealthy families.

The fact that they used fifty layers of blue bricks to lay the foundation shows that their family is indeed doing well.

"There are few men in my family, so we didn't build that many houses. But when my two daughters got married, our family was poor and didn't give them dowries."

"If a woman gets married without a dowry, she won't be able to hold herself up straight in her husband's family."

"I gave each of my daughters 3,000 kilograms of rice as a dowry, and now their husbands' families treat them as treasures."

……

"My family has bought a lot of furniture and a cow, and now we have some extra food at home."

……

Zhu Yuanzhang finally understood that these people were generally allocated land ranging from 60, 70 to 80 acres.

Don’t think it’s a lot. In ancient times, people used the rotation system and the yield was very low.

Half of the field is cultivated, and the other half is left fallow for fertilizer, so only thirty or forty acres of land actually produce grain.

Kunshan is located in the south, and rice can be harvested twice a year.

The yield of early rice is high, ranging from 180 to 200 kilograms per mu, while the yield of late rice is low, around 100 kilograms.

One acre of land can yield less than 300 kilograms of crops a year, and thirty to forty acres of land can yield about 10,000 kilograms.

Excluding seed grain and land tax, there would be about 6,000 to 7,000 kilograms left.

If this food is only used for eating, the whole family would never be able to finish it all.

But if you use the money to do other things, such as building a house, it seems not enough.

In the game world, you create a farmer and throw him into the fields, and when the time is up, he will produce food.

However, the real world is not like this, and more factors are needed to survive.

All in all, we were too poor in the past and had nothing at home.

Now that I have money, I have to start from scratch and everything costs money.

These six or seven thousand kilograms of grain seem so meager.

It is not surprising that it took five years for the family to have a little surplus food.

This is the case when no one gets sick. If you are unlucky and someone in the family suffers from one of the three disasters or five misfortunes, you may still end up with nothing.

This is the case in the south of the Yangtze River, where the foundation is relatively strong. The situation in other poorer and weaker areas will only be worse.

This is also the reason why Chen Jingke strongly advocated rest and recuperation.

(End of this chapter)