The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Although it is said that Emperor Jiajing neglected the government because of his Taoism, in fact, no matter which emperor was in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, the economy was booming and the national power was growing, and there was no obvious increase or decrease at all.

In fact, the reason is very simple. The production of goods during this period was far from sufficient supply.

In fact, the oversupply of social goods occurred after the Industrial Revolution. After the transition from household and factory handicrafts to large-scale machine industry, social goods were manufactured in large quantities, and the phenomenon of oversupply emerged.

In this era, people can restrain their consumption because of their income, but this does not mean that people have no needs.

Whether it is Jiujiang Prefecture, which Wei Guangde is familiar with, or the capital city, if we compare the East and the West, it is obvious that the people of the Ming Dynasty lived a more prosperous life. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are "gorgeous in clothing, elegant in demeanor, courteous, and elegant in conversation." Almost completely crushed the West.

You must know that most people in the West during this period had just lived a life of eating raw materials and drinking blood. They mostly wore clothes made of wool and linen, or even just a piece of cloth wrapped casually around their bodies.

In the Ming Dynasty, even if ordinary people could not afford silk and satin, the clothes they wore were better than the wool and linen used by ordinary people in the West, because most of these fabrics were made of cotton.

When Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, cotton was a crop with high economic value and its benefits were much higher than that of food. During this period, cotton planting technology was also relatively mature.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang vigorously promoted the planting of cotton in some places suitable for growing cotton.

When the cotton planting area and production increase, the price becomes a little cheaper, and ordinary people can afford to wear shorter and shorter cotton.

In the West during this period, the best fabric was silk from the Ming Dynasty, which was the highest-end luxury product, followed by fur, and then cotton.

During this period, Westerners used very little cotton, and most people had never seen it. Because the planting area was small, the value was still very high. In the end, they could only use the most common wool and linen to make clothing, which was also the wool of the West. One of the reasons why the textile industry can develop rapidly.

So despite the fact that woolen fabrics were expensive in later generations, in fact, in the West during this period, this was the only fabric that the poorest common people could afford.

Many Westerners were amazed by the wealth of the Ming Dynasty after arriving in the Ming Dynasty. Clothing is actually one of the main reasons.

The clothes they saw among the people of the Ming Dynasty, even those at the lowest level, were made of cotton, which could only be used by a few people in the West. Most of the relatively wealthy people such as businessmen and gentry in the Ming Dynasty wore silk. Such top-notch luxury goods naturally create an impression of the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty.

And what about the actual living standards of the people of the Ming Dynasty? In fact, compared with the West, it is definitely much better.

Starting from the Song Dynasty, Chinese people began to transition from two meals a day to three meals a day. This habit was only truly formed during the Ming Dynasty, because with the peace of the world, the supply of agricultural products also increased greatly.

And for a long time, the Ming Dynasty government pursued a policy of small government, low income, and low prices.

In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, common people were divided into three categories: civilian status, craftsman status, and military status.

In the Ming Dynasty, the national registration was mainly farmers, people who specialized in agricultural production. The main obligation of these people was to bear land taxes and corvee labor.

The Lijia system can be understood as the most basic administrative organization similar to the current "village committee". At that time, neighbors also supervised and cared for each other. If anything was inappropriate, they had to report it. Idleness was also strictly prohibited. This basically meant that Controlled the grassroots farmers.

Military status actually means the professionalization of the army and the separation of soldiers and farmers. Although the cost of supporting a professional army is relatively high, its combat effectiveness is relatively strong and can deal with internal and external troubles and other wars in a timely manner.

The establishment of the craftsmanship register actually followed the system of the Yuan Dynasty. It was also very detailed internally and had many types. For example, there were dozens of categories such as kitchen servants, tailors, horse households, boat owners, weavers, etc. These craftsmanship registrations could be inherited hereditary. Seen as a real "iron rice bowl".

Although such a system is solidified, it can solve social problems, so the people can afford to eat. If you want to advance to the next level, you can only rely on studying.

In times of good times, such a social system can naturally maintain stability. However, once natural disasters or wars occur, social stability will be broken, because every household has insufficient reserves and it is difficult to go through a long period of difficulty.

Since the Zhengde Dynasty, natural disasters have occurred in various provinces of the Ming Dynasty. Coupled with the rampant southern Japanese and northern pirates, social stability began to face challenges.

However, these are not seen in the capital. The pedestrians on the street have not changed from usual, and they still look like they are living a prosperous life.

However, in this prosperous street, Wei Guangde was sensitive to the fact that there were so many captains in Jinyi, as if all the captains from the North and South Town Fusi were on the street.

Well, this is the capital, and it is normal for the Jinyi captains to appear in the streets and alleys. They are also responsible for the security of Beijing, maintaining peace on the streets, and collecting some extra money.

Wei Guangde felt that maybe he was a little nervous because of his experience in Nanjing City, so he lowered the car curtain.

The carriage has entered the inner city and will be home soon.

Soon, the carriage turned into Nanxunfang, and the familiar streets came into view of Wei Guangde.

The carriage stopped in front of the Wei Mansion. At this time, the door had been opened. His wife Xu Jianglan, who should be called Wei Xu now, was waiting outside the door to welcome him back to the mansion with her maid, mother-in-law, and servants.

The specifications were a bit high. Wei Guangde saw it from a distance and jumped out of the carriage before it stopped.

Although Wei Guangde did not come from a wealthy family, because Xu Jianglan was the only daughter of the Duke of Wei, there were still many people brought here. Wei Guangde thought that the spacious house was not enough, so he built a big house in the yard to solve so many problems. People's accommodation issues.

"Don't stay outside, let's go in."

Wei Guangde got out of the car, took his arm around Xu Jianglan, who was about to greet him, and pulled her back to the house.

The young couple had been apart for half a year this time, so it was normal for them to miss each other, but in broad daylight, Wei Guangde couldn't be like that in later generations. After all, he was still in the Ming Dynasty.

Back in the backyard, Wei Guangde changed out of his official uniform and put on the clothes he usually wears at home. Nowadays, the clothes of scholars are still wide robes and long sleeves. They look elegant when walking around, but Wei Guangde doesn't like them. He still likes to be changed by Lao Zhu. Military uniforms are simple and convenient to wear, and are very similar to the clothing of later generations.

After chatting with Xu Jianglan in the room for a while, he noticed Zhang Ji and Zhao Hu peeking in secretly outside the door, as if they were peeping or looking for him with something.

"What's going on outside? What are you talking about secretly?"

Outside the door were the maids brought by Xu Jianglan, but Zhang Ji and the others were from the Wei family, and they usually couldn't say anything. Although they thought many of their actions were inappropriate, Mr. Wei didn't care, and neither did their servants. What can I say.

I mentioned it to my wife in private, but Xu Jianglan just smiled casually and didn't care about those things.

In her opinion, the servants had some bad habits, but Wei Guangde didn't care, so why should she force them to correct them.

"Master, there is something going on outside. We just found out about it, so..."

Zhang Ji replied outside the house.

Wei Guangde's heart was slightly moved. When Zhang Ji spoke like this, he must have encountered something very important, and it was inconvenient to say it casually in the backyard, so he smiled at Xu Jianglan and said, "I have to write a memorial and hand it in when I return to Beijing. Just go to the study first."

"Husband, just leave."

Xu Jianglan stood up and sent Wei Guangde out of the room and watched him go to the study. Although he was a little curious about what Zhang Ji said about the outside world, he did not ask any questions.

In fact, Wei Guangde had already written the memorial while on the ship, and it was just an excuse.

Soon, the three of them arrived in the study. Wei Guangde leaned on the Grand Master's chair and asked seemingly casually: "Tell me, what big thing happened outside?"

"Sir, Governor Lu fell seriously ill yesterday."

Zhang Ji didn't speak, Zhao Hu bowed down and answered.

"What?"

Wei Guangde, who was lying lazily on the Taishi's chair, jumped up as if he had been rubbed by a cat with its tail stepped on. He asked with a look of disbelief: "More details, what's going on? What kind of disease do you have? Did you see the doctor?" Seen."

Lu Bing died. This time Wei Guangde returned to the capital and wanted to take time to discuss with Gao Gong to see if he should come forward to talk to Lu Bing and see if he could be brought over to help King Yu.

With the help of Lu Bing, Prince Yu's Mansion will no longer be blind and deaf in the contest with Prince Jing's Mansion. Isn't it easy to use the power of Jinyiwei to detect every move of Prince Jing's Mansion and Yan's Mansion?

It's a nice thing to think about, but how could it happen?

Lu Bing unexpectedly died of a sudden illness yesterday. Did he really die of illness or was he killed?

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde shook his head. Not to mention what Lu Bing did, he would definitely be very careful about his diet and daily life, and Jinyiwei's power was there. If someone wanted to murder their family members, it was unlikely that they would be exposed. A little bit of a flaw was discovered by Jin Yiwei in advance.

Is this really Lu Bing's fate?

Wei Guangde sat back on the chair, still thinking about it.

In Nanjing, Weng Pu analyzed the forces in the court for him. Don't even think about the power of Prince Jing's Mansion and the Yan family. They are the enemy. Qingliu is relatively scattered and difficult to win over, but there is a high probability that he will support Prince Yu. , so just let it go.

But there is still another force, the one whose holy family is not inferior to Yan Song, that is Lu Bing.

Winning Lu Bing and Prince Yu's Mansion together to fight against Yan Song was Weng Pu's idea to balance the forces in the DPRK. But now that Lu Bing is dead, that force has naturally disappeared.

While Wei Guangde was still thinking, he heard Zhao Hu say: "The news came out this morning. It was said that the governor of the mainland died of a sudden illness yesterday. He asked an imperial doctor, but the disease was too severe and he could not be saved. .

As for what the disease is, I don’t know. I only know that it is a terminal disease that is very violent after the onset. It is not visible even if it does not occur on weekdays. "

Thinking of the sudden appearance of the Jin Yiwei on the street, Wei Guangde knew that they might be sent to patrol the streets to arrest people who spread rumors and cause trouble. After all, Lu Bing was not an ordinary person.

However, Wei Guangde suddenly thought of something and immediately asked again: "Who is in charge of Jin Yiwei now?"

Jinyiwei is different from other health centers in that the position of steward can be temporarily vacant.

Lu Bing was in charge of the Jinyiwei affairs as a colleague of the Jinyiwei. Now that he is dead, who will Emperor Jiajing order to take care of this big thing?

"This is Chengguo Gong Zhu Xizhong and Governor Zhu Da."

Zhao Hu hurriedly replied, "I heard that he is still in Fusi, Beizhen."

Zhu Xizhong, the fourth grandson of Chengguo Duke Zhu Neng, ascended the throne in the 15th year of Jiajing. He went from Shizong to Chengtian and took charge of the affairs of Zuofu.

Emperor Jiajing went on a patrol to Weihui, and the palace caught fire that night. He and Lu Bing rescued Emperor Jiajing, and were favored by him and entered Zhixi Garden.

Now Zhu Xizhong is mainly in charge of the rear army governor's office, the right army governor's office and the Beijing camp. Therefore, although he has the title of Commander of the Jinyi Guards, he never takes care of the Jinyi Guards. Lu Bing is in charge.

In any case, Zhu Xizhong is Duke Chengguo and is already a high-ranking nobleman. It would be appropriate for him to temporarily take over the Imperial Guard.

However, when Wei Guangde asked the reason for this, he was still making inferences.

Although I didn't really think Lu Bing would be killed, I couldn't rule out the possibility, at least until the cause of death was verified.

So, whoever benefited the most from Lu Bing's death is suspected to be the real culprit behind the scenes.

But when he heard that it was Zhu Xizhong who took over Jinyiwei, Wei Guangde shook his head.

To others, the official position of commander of the Jinyiwei may be very attractive, but for Zhu Xizhong, it is dispensable. There is no need for him to take the risk to punish Lu Bing. You must know that Lu Bing's favor is no longer Yan Songzhi's. Next, it definitely surpasses Zhu Xizhong.

"Go and find out what's going on. Please tell me in detail, when did the disease occur, what are the symptoms, and which imperial physician was invited."

After giving the instructions, Wei Guangde thought about it and called Zhao Hu who was about to go out, "Go to the accounting room to count the money. I want detailed and clear information."

"Yes, sir."

Zhao Hu replied hurriedly and solemnly, then opened the curtain and went out.

"Master, you are suspicious of Mr. Lu"

When Zhang Ji heard Wei Guangde's instructions, he had some guesses in his mind, but he was just not sure.

He was one of the few people in the Wei Mansion who knew about Wei Guangde's interactions with Lu Bing, although he rarely moved around.

Wei Guangde raised his right hand and waved feebly, "You have just returned to the capital. Logically speaking, you should rest in the mansion for a few days. You should also go out and interact with friends outside and inquire about what I just ordered.

Also, send someone to deliver a message to Ren Zhi and the others, telling them that I am back and asking them to come to my place to drink at night. "

The news that Lu Bing died of a sudden illness yesterday began to spread in the capital in the morning. By the afternoon, it was almost a household name. Not to mention officials, even ordinary people knew who he was.

The Jin Yiwei is not a high-ranking organization. They often walk on the streets and are very down-to-earth.

The older people in the capital had all seen the grand occasion when the Jinyi Tiqi was dispatched. Those officials they thought were powerful were wagging their tails like dogs in front of these Jinyi captains and begging for mercy.

Now, the boss of these people died suddenly, and countless jokes began to circulate. In the mythical version, he was killed by someone who died unjustly, in the conspiracy version, he was murdered by a political opponent, and in the secular version, he died on a woman's belly.