high official

Chapter 837
The carriage slowly drove into the county seat, Zhou Yong knocked on the window and reported in a low voice: "My lord, we're here."

Wang Xian said 'hmm', jumped out of the car with Ling Xiao, and then helped the prince to get out of the car.

Zhu Gaochi got out of the car and was stunned when he saw this county at the first sight - this is completely different from all the cities he has seen before!Dilapidated houses, desolate streets, scattered shops, and ragged clothes all over the street. The common people, men and women, all look disheveled and listless, and the whole street looks lifeless.

"Brother, what happened?" Zhu Gaochi stopped a passing middle-aged man and asked softly.

"..." The middle-aged man shook his head with a blank expression.

"Nothing happened," Zhu Gaochi said in disbelief, "Then why is everyone so frowning?"

The middle-aged man looked at Zhu Gaochi, and said with a weak smile: "You are very rich, of course you are happy. We can't even eat, what is there to be happy about?"

"Why, did some famine happen?" Zhu Gaochi hurriedly asked.

"Don't curse us." The middle-aged man seemed to have lost the strength to speak, shook his head and wanted to leave.Wang Xian stopped him, the middle-aged man was just about to be upset, but saw a small piece of silver in Wang Xian's hand, quickly took it and put it in his arms, and he had the strength to speak: "Back to the master, this county will have a silver coin this year. The weather is smooth, and there has never been a flood, drought or locust disaster.”

"Then why can't we eat?" Zhu Gaochi was confused.

"You don't know the sufferings of the people at first glance. If you walk around from east to west, north and south, you can see that the whole world is not like this except the prefectures and counties next to the canal?" The middle-aged man said bitterly: "Busy all year round, In the end, it was all taken away by the government. I have to serve three months of hard labor in vain, is there any way to live this life?"

"How can you do hard labor for nothing?" Zhu Gaochi asked puzzled, "Is the government paying you?"

"Yes, but I don't give money like you. What the government gives is precious money," the middle-aged man said bitterly. Complaints, but after all, it is all about how heavy the tax is, how worthless the treasures are, and there is nothing new to see, so Zhu Gaochi asked him to leave.

On this day, for three full hours, Zhu Gaochi walked through the streets and alleys of the county with difficult steps. Can barely fill the stomach, as for the others, they can't even eat enough...

On the way back, Zhu Gaochi felt extremely heavy, but he still had luck in his heart, hoping that it would not be the case elsewhere.But in the days that followed, every private visit through a micro-service, what I saw and heard was horrible.And the further north you go, the worse it gets.After entering the boundary of Shandong, there was a scene that was only seen in books, "Bones exposed in the wild, no rooster crows for thousands of miles." 'Even the whole village was deserted, only densely packed tombs...the whole village starved to death, and all the survivors fled to other places.

"How did this happen?" "Why did this happen?" Along the way, Zhu Gaochi said this sentence the most, and he was completely irritated.He even hated Wang Xian a little, why did he abandon the ship and land, and bring himself to see this living hell on earth!This is obviously the Ming Dynasty in the prosperous age of Yongle!It's almost a year away from the war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty!Why does it seem like it is still in the last days? !

Wang Xian was silent, he hoped to let the prince see with his own eyes what the world has become.Let the prince think about this world for himself, why is it like this?Let the prince understand that it is the top priority of the Ming Dynasty to save the people from the upside down and save the people from the fire and water!

.

On this day, I arrived at the boundary of Yuncheng County, Jining Prefecture.After finally arriving at a county town, Wang Xian decided not to leave, but to fight here, and let His Royal Highness take a good rest, and then end this journey of purgatory.

A group of people walked in the county town, but they saw that the houses were dilapidated, the businesses were extremely depressed, and the people who sold the most on the street turned out to be people... Walking all the way from the south, the prince already knew that those squatting on the side of the street with grass on their heads They are all preparing to sell their own population.Regardless of boys and girls, as well as young men and women.Squatting in a long row on the street with grass on their heads is shocking...

As soon as they saw the rich people coming, those people with weeds on their heads rushed forward, scrambling to sell themselves: "Master, take me in, I'm strong, don't need money, just take care of food!"

"Master, I can wash clothes, cook and have children, and I can also warm the master's bed..."

"Master, take us away, we are starving to death..."

Zhou Yong and others hurriedly pushed these people away, and separated a road for the prince. Looking at the begging faces, His Royal Highness could only lower his head and leave here with rare quick steps.

After finding an inn to live in, Zhou Yong took people to the street to buy ingredients so that he could cook a decent dinner for everyone.Wang Xian asked the store to bring hot water, and asked the prince to take a bath and change his clothes to relieve his exhaustion.

The prince didn't refuse, after he finished grooming and came out with clean clothes, his mood was not so depressed.At this time, the meal is also ready.

Before the dishes were served, the prince couldn't help sniffling. He could smell the smell of meat, and he couldn't help salivating.During this period of time, there was no meat at all along the way. His Royal Highness, who was well-clothed and well-fed since he was a child, couldn't bear it long ago.

When the food was served, except for a piece of fried tofu, meat was put in the other dishes, and there was also a bowl of bright red braised pork.

Seeing the expressions of the prince and the others, Zhou Yong was very happy. He smiled and said, "After all, it is a county town, and there is still meat in the butcher shop, so I will make a round for him!" You Lingxiao shared the chopsticks, and said with a smile: "His Highness and Miss Lingxiao have suffered a lot these days, so hurry up and replenish oil and water if you eat something bad."

Ling Xiao took the chopsticks and nodded vigorously, then quickly picked up a piece of braised pork, and couldn't wait to put it in her mouth, but was hit by Wang Xian with chopsticks, Ling Xiao was unguarded, and the meat rolled to the ground, the little girl was depressed pouted, but still whispered obediently: "Uncle Prince eats first."

The prince cast a reproachful look at Wang Xian, and said to Ling Xiao: "Don't worry about him, you can do whatever you want."

Ling Xiao winked at Wang Xian like a demonstration.

"Your Highness, don't eat it yet." Wang Xian didn't mean that, he turned his head to look at Zhou Yong and said, "What kind of meat is this?"

"It seems to be horse meat, so it's braised in soy sauce, so it won't taste bad." Zhou Yong said hastily.

"What does it seem like?" Wang Xian's expression became more and more displeased.

"Don't worry, my lord, this subordinate has already tasted it, and there is no problem." Zhou Yong thought that Wang Xian was afraid that the meat would be poisonous.

"..." Wang Xianbai glanced at him, and just wanted him to ask what kind of meat it was, when the store just came in to deliver hot water, and when he saw the meat on the table, he had a disgusted expression.

"You came just in time, shopkeeper, do you know what kind of meat this is?" Wang Xian asked the shopkeeper.

"Hehe," the shopkeeper said with a puzzled look on his face, "Whatever, it's the same as long as you eat it."

"What is this?!" Wang Xian became more and more sure of his guess, and asked: "So, you know?"

"I bought this meat at the Sun's butcher shop across the street, right?" the shopkeeper asked.

"Yes." Zhou Yong nodded anxiously and said, "What kind of meat is it?"

"Let's put it this way, all the birds and animals in our Yuncheng County have been eaten up long ago," the storekeeper looked at them, his voice became lower and lower: "There is only one thing that still has meat on it."

"What?" Everyone asked in unison.

"People..." Although the shopkeeper's voice was low, everyone heard it clearly, and all of their faces changed instantly.

"You said it was human flesh?!" Zhou Yong's voice changed, like a chicken with its neck stuck.

"Yes." The shopkeeper nodded in affirmative way: "I saw that they took away a dead body this morning, so I can't be wrong..."

"Oh..." Zhou Yong covered his mouth suddenly, rushed out of the room like an arrow, and vomited loudly while holding the door frame.

"Ah!" Ling Xiao also screamed and threw the chopsticks far away, retching.

Although the crown prince has already practiced the state of being as immobile as a mountain, his face is also pale...

.

That night, the prince did not eat any rice.At night, Wang Xian sent rice porridge to His Royal Highness. Zhu Gaochi had no appetite and was so hungry that he drank the rice porridge reluctantly, handed the bowl to Wang Xian, looked at him for a while, and asked in a low voice, "Why are you so hungry?" Do you know it's human flesh?"

"I took the Borzigit people through the Gobi of Death..." Wang Xian didn't want to talk about the past, and put it another way: "This Shandong is full of starvation, how can there be anything to feed the animals?"

"Hey..." Zhu Gaochi closed his eyes in pain, and opened them after a long time. He looked at Wang Xian with piercing eyes and said, "I finally know why you let me get off the boat for a private visit." After a pause, he said in a low voice: "So I, the Ming Dynasty, have reached the edge of the cliff, and I can no longer toss about."

"Yes..." Wang Xian nodded, and said with serious eyes: "The current sage's martial arts and martial arts have surpassed the ages, but he is very happy, and he has also surpassed the ages!" The prince nodded and listened to him continue: "People used to say that five hundred In 500, the combined achievements of all the emperors are not as good as His Majesty's ten years. How did Your Majesty do it? It is nothing more than overdrawing the power of the people."

The crown prince nodded heavily, and instinctively wanted to defend his father: "It's a bit extreme. Overdrawing people's power has happened in all dynasties, but there is no emperor who can make great achievements today."

"That's because they overdraw the power of the people. They just collect taxes and grains a few years in advance and make a fuss about salt and iron." Wang Xian said coldly: "Today they are making a fuss about currency! Yongle Dynasty In the past 15 years, the value of the Daming banknotes has depreciated tens of thousands of times, and the wealth of hundreds of millions of people has been wiped out!"

(End of this chapter)