My Daming New Empire

Page 546

Nowadays, the harvest of one mu of land in Daming is basically two or three stones, that is, two seasons of planting, and the harvest of one mu of land is basically about one tael of silver.

A family planted more than ten acres of land, and the total output was only a dozen taels of silver.

This has little impact on ordinary people, because ordinary people pay taxes in kind.The food that is planted is naturally food.

As for living money, it all depends on sideline jobs.Raise chickens, raise pigs, weave cloth, grow fruits and sell them in the market for some oil and salt. When the harvest is good, they can buy some sugar for the children.

But the price of such land is not a good thing for big families, big landlords, and grain merchants.

Daming's grain prices were stable, so their profits were pitifully small.

It is impossible for the landlords to farm the land by themselves. They are all tenant farmers, and no matter how harsh the landlord is, they must feed the tenant farmers. Under such circumstances, their profits are pitifully small.

Even the self-cultivating farmers are unwilling to farm the land, thinking that doing casual work in the city is better than planing food in the field.

If it weren't for the lack of connections and the inability to change the household registration, I am afraid that countless farmers in Daming would want to abandon the wasteland.

In such an environment, many people are naturally dissatisfied with the large amount of food transported by the imperial court from Nanyang.

Especially in the north, because there are many people and less land, and the land that one person can plant is limited, only one season of grain can be harvested a year, and the harvest is even lower.

Many big landlords are already on the verge of bankruptcy. At this time, they will play some tricks.

Zhu Zhanji imagined many people, but never thought that the one who came out was his own uncle.

He doesn't have much land of his own, and even though he has occupied a large number of people's land in Zhangde Mansion in recent years, he is not considered a big landlord.

Moreover, he does not have to pay taxes, and the money he earns through trade is definitely much higher than the income from farming, so there is no reason to do this at all.

But it was him!

Is this insatiable?Still being used by others!

After Ma Qi confessed, an interest group represented by him paid the water.These include two large grain merchants in Ningbo, two large grain merchants in Shandong, one in Hebei, and one in Henan.

Zhu Zhanji asked people to write down all these people. He couldn't directly deal with King Zhao, but it was no problem to deal with them.

But the problem is, if even the main culprit is at large, and the others are dealt with, everyone will inevitably face dissatisfaction.

Will Zhu Zhanji care?Of course not, so after hearing Ma Qi's confession, he wanted to understand the link.

"Since all your grain has been handled by these six major grain merchants, is there any evidence of handover?"

Ma Qi nodded and said: "Although there is no direct contract, there are handover procedures for the handover of food between the slaves and them."

Sun Lin nodded and said that he had checked the books. Zhu Zhanji made up his mind and said, "This matter is very embarrassing for Gu. If you are not punished, the whole case will not be handled. I'm going to wrong you."

Ma Qi said hastily: "This servant is not wronged, no matter how His Highness punishes, this servant will accept it willingly."

Zhu Zhanji smiled secretly in his heart, turned to Sun Lin noncommittally and said: "Now I have a clear idea of ​​the context of this case. Now, according to this context, I will find everyone one by one. In addition, I There are still two doubts, Ma Qi..."

"The servant is here."

"Why does Uncle Zhao speak for a group of grain merchants? What do you think there will be any interest relationship between them?"

"Your Highness, although these grain merchants are mainly engaged in the grain business, it does not mean that they do not have other businesses. Prince Zhao wants to do export trade, so he cannot purchase goods through the procurement channels of the internal supervisor. Presumably these aspects will make Prince Zhao tempted."

Zhu Zhanji nodded and said: "Indeed, even if Uncle Zhao Wang is doing some trade with him now, he can only sell some folk kilns and rough iron tools, which makes him have an intersection with many small traders. But who will Where are these people put together?"

Ma Qi stopped talking, stared at Zhu Zhanji's calm face with wide eyes, and then said hastily: "The servant is stupid. I never thought of this."

Zhu Zhanji sneered and said: "You are really ignorant! How much do you have of these hundreds of thousands of shi grains, how much do you eat, and how much money you give, you never thought that there is such an easy business in this world ?”

Although it was a very cold day, Ma Qi broke out in a cold sweat. He just collected the money, who would have thought that there would be someone to organize it later.

Zhu Zhanji looked at Sun Lin again and said: "The second thing is why Shandong has cooperated with this grain trade on a large scale. It has been more than half a year, and there is a shortage of grain everywhere in Shandong, but the officials are not afraid of rebellion caused by lack of grain. What is the reason?

Only when there is food, the people can live and work in peace and contentment. Even if they exchange food with labor, it will make life much easier.However, these officials don't seem to care about the life and death of the people at all, and it's not just one or two, but half of Shandong. This is strange, and everyone's conscience will not be eaten by dogs! "

Speaking of this, Zhu Zhanji was stunned for a moment, and then said: "Immediately send out spies to inquire about the situation in Henan and Hebei. Also, report to me the grain prices in these places in the past few years, and give me accurate information. Every county."

"Yes!"

Zhu Zhanji then turned to Ma Qi and asked: "If you cut off the food supply in Shandong, no one in the Navy will doubt it? Didn't the officials in Shandong urge food?"

Maggie shook her head, a surge of fear welling up in her heart.Behind what he thought to be simple, it seems that there is still a huge conspiracy hidden.

He had never worried about his own life, but at this moment, he was really scared.

"It's really stupid!" Zhu Zhanji shook his head and sighed: "The desire for profit is not enough to make you just make money and don't care about anything, right?"

Maggie knelt on the ground trembling. "Your Highness, this servant really didn't think about it!"

Zhu Zhanji knew that it was not his ignorance.It's that he has always been high above, and he doesn't care what the people below think, and whether there is any conspiracy behind it.

Zhu Zhanji picked up his statement and read it again, reorganizing his thoughts.

This case is actually not complicated. Ma Qi originally served as a transport envoy, but she was just a petty greedy man.For example, use the transport ship of the internal prison to load more grain and sell it to earn the difference. Even if some grain is withheld, it will not affect the overall situation.

But since Zhao Wang Zhu Gaosui stepped in last year, he became more courageous and colluded with the grain merchants to transport the grain to Shandong, and then brought half of the grain back to Ningbo and sold it directly to the grain merchants.

During this period, because the ship was supervised by the internal supervisor, the people were supervised by the internal supervisor, and the unloading was organized by the local government. Except for a commander who participated in the navy, the other links did not pull too many people into the water.

The key is the attitude of the local government in Shandong after this incident happened.

According to Ma Qi, in addition to distributing 2 taels of silver to King Zhao, Liu Zhong, commander of the Shandong capital, distributed about 5000 taels of silver, and Yao Shizhuo, commander of Laizhou Shuizhai, distributed about 3000 taels of silver. He put it in his purse.

Then the question arises, since he didn't give money or food to the Shandong government, why would the other party hide it for him?

Also, Shandong's current immigration policy is overt and overt, what's going on behind it?Who gave them such courage?

King Zhao?

As a prince in captivity, he can influence one or two officials, more than a dozen officials, Zhu Zhanji believes, but it may be impossible to influence half of Shandong!

This case is very simple, but what is hidden behind it makes Zhu Zhanji a little scared.

White Lotus Sect?Impossible, they are poor people, how can they manipulate the government?

The remnants of Meng Yuan?That's even more impossible. Over the past few decades, the remnants of Meng Yuan have been almost wiped out, and even their base camp has almost completely fallen to Daming.

Is it the King of Han?Liu Zhong has always been a supporter of Zhu Gaoxu.

Since he couldn't figure it out, Zhu Zhanji didn't think about it for the time being, and said to Sun Lin: "I will come to investigate in person, King Zhao, and you are responsible for investigating the changes in grain prices in the north in recent years, as well as the government officials in various places in Shandong. Why have you been silent all this time!"

After Sun Lin agreed, Zhu Zhanji turned to Ma Qi and said, "This matter is very difficult for Gu. If you don't go to prison, how can Gu deal with those businessmen who trade with you. So, I will wrong you for the time being."

Ma Qi knelt down and said: "This servant is willing to be punished..."