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Chapter 254 Unexpected changes (additional update from the leader)

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    In the study of Wu Mansion.

    Zhao Hao was startled by Wu Shilai's appearance. His mouth was full of blisters, his cheeks were sunken, and he had thick dark circles under his eyes, as if he had been playing mahjong for ten days straight

    "Uncle, aren't you going to sleep a little longer?" Wu Kangyuan asked Wu Shilai, who was yawning repeatedly, while making tea.

    "I'm not going to sleep anymore. I have to go to the palace for a banquet later." Wu Shilai asked Zhao Hao to sit down and joked: "At this time every year, Guanglu Qing will be greeted by hundreds of officials to greet his ancestors. Your old man  My brother is a lucky man, but he actually let him escape."

    Zhao Hao knew that it was a tradition of the Ming Dynasty that on New Year's Day the emperor gave a banquet to his officials and envoys from the vassal states.

    It is said that there were as many as 2,000 people attending the banquet, and it was such a cold season. After all the officials were busy with the red tape, the dishes were naturally cold.  After eating it until I feel uncomfortable in my stomach, I want to scold Guang Luqing¡¯s mother

    After paying New Year greetings to Uncle Wu, the two chatted for a few words, and then Zhao Hao changed the topic back to the beginning.

    "Uncle Cai was talking about refugees just now. What's going on?"

    "Hey, look at me, I'm on fire." Wu Shilai pointed to his mouth full of bubbles and said, "It's all because of them."

    "Didn't they all be driven out of the capital?" Zhao Hao asked in confusion: "I looked at the shacks on the road twice and they were all demolished."

    "The city is peaceful, but outside the city there is chaos. Shuntian Mansion governs the seven counties and five states of Gyeongsang Province. It is not a place as big as the capital. We also have to take care of the chaos outside the city." Wu  Shi Lai smiled bitterly, took a sip of strong tea to refresh himself, and explained to Zhao Hao:

    "The reasons why the imperial court is clearing out the refugees this time are more complicated, so I won't go into details. But in any case, the refugees will not understand the difficulties faced by the imperial court. Many of them have actually found jobs in the city. Although the money is not much, the days are long.  I can finally live with it"

    Zhao Hao nodded. There was a very important reason why people in the Ming Dynasty abandoned their homes on a large scale. That is, as refugees, they didn¡¯t have to pay taxes or do hard labor, and there were no government apportionments.

    In this way, they only need to earn a small amount of money to support their whole family.

    ???????????????????????????????????????????????? For many people who are unable to survive due to taxes, the benefits of being a refugee allow them to completely overcome the pain of leaving their hometown.

    ¡°As a result, the imperial court drove all the people out of the capital, but they were unwilling to go home.¡± Wu Shilai then sighed: ¡°So they wandered around the towns outside the capital, resulting in an increase in cases of theft, robbery, and murder.¡±

    "Don't you mean that the two empresses and the eldest princess have set up a porridge factory in the Baiyunguan area, and all walks of life in the capital have also donated funds, so they won't starve a refugee to death?" Just like what Wu Shilai said to Zhao Hao, he had reservations.  , Zhao Hao also won¡¯t tell him everything.

    ¡°It¡¯s just that I won¡¯t die of hunger¡± Wu Shilai said with a look of compassion on his tired face: ¡°But families like you and me have to celebrate the New Year, and so do the refugees!¡±

    "" Zhao Hao froze as if he was struck by lightning.

    "They are also fathers, husbands, and sons. On weekdays, the whole family just eats porridge to get by, but as the New Year is approaching, who doesn't want to buy a firecracker for their children? Don't want to improve the elderly? Don't want to let them go?  Does the mother-in-law have a flower in her hair?" Wu Shilai said with tears in his eyes:

    ¡°The imperial court did not allow them to make money with their own hands, so they took out their grievances on the people outside the capital and stole, cheated, and even went out in groups to rob!¡±

    Wu Shilai has suffered in Guangxi for more than ten years. After all, he understands what the people are thinking better than ordinary officials.

    But the more you understand, the more painful you are than those officials who are ignorant and just follow orders

    "Stability comes first in Gyeonggi. If you dare to commit crimes during the Chinese New Year, the court will naturally punish you severely. The jails in Shuntianfu, Wanping, and Daxing counties are already full, and the boards are broken ten times.  A few Of course there are some villains who deserve it. But most of them are just ordinary people who were forced to steal and steal."

    He now regrets that he did not urge Xu Fan not to expel the refugees across the board.

    But both Wu Shilai and Xu Fan judged that after the refugees were driven out of the capital, if they did not want to starve to death and freeze to death, they would have to quickly go to the lower prefectures and counties such as Liangxiang, Gu'an, and Xianghe to make a living.

    ¡°The capacity of the county towns below is limited, so the refugees can only spread out and even go to Baoding, Tianjin and other further places to survive.  In this way, the relief pressure on states and counties will be less, and the difficulty of management and control will be greatly reduced.  By the spring of next year, they can all be sent back to their places of origin.

    Of course, some people will die on the way back and forth, but with nearly 200 million people in the Ming Dynasty, how could tens of thousands of people not die one day?

    In Xu Fan¡¯s view, as long as the question can be answeredThe problem is solved, and the cost is completely negligible

    ¡°But neither of them nor even Mr. Xu Ge expected that the two empresses and the eldest princess would actually take the lead in providing relief, and they also raised nearly 100,000 taels of charity, which basically ensured that the refugees would not die of hunger.

    Who will now embark on an uncertain road of life and death in the ice and snow?  Hundreds of thousands of refugees were all stranded outside Beijing at once, and changes occurred that those in power had not anticipated

    ??~~

    The Forbidden City.

    On the corridor outside the three back halls, the eldest princess was sitting in a phoenix carriage carried by four eunuchs, preparing to take her children home to catch up on her sleep.

    Last night, the three mothers stayed in the palace to accompany Emperor Longqing and his family to watch the New Year's Eve, and they didn't stop until the fourth watch.

    The three ladies took a short rest at the Queen's place, and as soon as the palace door opened, they hurried home to catch up on their sleep.

    The eldest princess was sitting in the sedan chair, yawning repeatedly, when she suddenly heard Liu Shanggong reminding her in a low voice: "The imperial concubine is here."

    She hurriedly rubbed her eyes, opened the sedan curtain and saw a similarly sized Feng Yu coming slowly from the opposite side.

    The eldest princess thought to herself: 'It seems that she has just brought Zhu Yijun to greet the emperor's brother'

    She quickly took a deep breath to drive away the fatigue from her face, making herself radiant again.

    Then the eldest princess ordered someone to stop the sedan by the roadside, and asked Li Chengen and Li Mingyue to get off the sedan and wait for Concubine Li's phoenix chariot to come over.

    After a while, the two phoenixes met in the corridor sandwiched by high vermilion walls.

    Concubine Li¡¯s sedan also stopped, and then the two empresses opened the sedan curtain at the same time, revealing the friendly smiles of the family.

    "Mother, congratulations on the first day of the new year, may you have long blessings."

    "Your Highness, congratulations on the first day of the new year, may you have long blessings."

    It¡¯s a pity that we can¡¯t call each other sister-in-law

    The eldest princess¡¯s sister-in-law is Queen Chen, not Concubine Li.

    After Li Chengen and Li Mingyue also paid New Year greetings to Concubine Li, the eldest princess smiled and asked:

    "Has the imperial concubine just returned from Qianqing Palace?"

    The two of them were sitting in their respective sedan chairs, talking softly and holding the family together.

    "Yes, I took Yijun to pay New Year greetings to His Majesty. This child can't even recite a few auspicious words, which makes people sweat"

    "How could it be? Children are cute in everything." The eldest princess looked into Concubine Li's sedan chair.

    "Is His Highness looking for Yijun?" Concubine Li said with a smile: "If he were on the sedan chair, he would have been clamoring for his cousins ??to play with."

    "Oh, your Majesty has left Yijun?" The eldest princess was slightly surprised. Today was the New Year's Day meeting, so how could your Majesty have time to coax the child.

    "Yes, His Majesty said that he will be brought to court so that all officials and foreign envoys can meet Yijun." Concubine Li couldn't help but beam with joy, and her voice sounded like a magpie chirping:

    "They also said that they were going to announce the establishment of a crown prince. I think it's a bit urgent. But how can a woman like us get involved in such a national event? I don't dare to say more"

    When the eldest princess heard this, the smile on her face visibly froze for a moment, and then her expression showed joy and she said:

    "Really? That's great!"

    After a moment of astonishment, the eldest princess hurriedly offered her most sincere, warmest and joyful congratulations to Concubine Li.

    With a smile on her face, she listened to the woman who was going crazy with joy for a long time. Then she made an appointment to celebrate her grandly on another day, and then said goodbye to Concubine Li.

    When the sedan curtain fell, the smile on the eldest princess¡¯s face melted away

    ps. The fourth update, thank you to the new leader ¡®Shili Piaofei¡¯, thank you for your support, please give me monthly votes and recommended votes~~ (Remember this site¡¯s website address: www.hlnovel.com
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