The closer we get to New Year’s Eve, the stronger the New Year atmosphere becomes.
Even though the snow was falling heavily, it fell over and over again, turning the huge capital city into a world of crystal glass. It was so cold that people hunched their shoulders and hid their hands, covered their necks and covered their ears, but they could only walk around the streets and shop, hawking goods. On the contrary, there are many more people shopping than before, and there are crowds of people everywhere.
The new red window decals and peach charms have also replaced the old and faded window decals and peach charms. Under the attention of the elderly and children, and against the white eaves and jade ground, they look quite bright, as brilliant as a blooming red plum.
Shen Shixing also came to the Forbidden City on New Year's Eve in a carriage and a red python robe, preparing to make a year-end report to the emperor. After the report was over and he received the emperor's reward, he would put down his government affairs and go home. Spend the New Year with my family.
Because the price of silver had finally stabilized, Shen Shixing was in a good mood, so when he arrived in front of the imperial palace, he walked out of the carriage by himself without waiting for the servant to come to help him, and when he saw the handprint of the Supervisor of Ceremonies, Eunuch Zhang Hong then took the initiative to greet him, held Zhang Hong's hand one step at a time, and said with a smile:
"But when you enter the palace as usual, why should the Prime Minister welcome you in person?"
"Master Shen has worked hard for the country, and our family should welcome him personally."
Zhang Hong said with a smile.
Because now the imperial court has received nearly 20 million taels of silver from the Japanese state, the internal funds lent to the foreign treasury can undoubtedly be repaid by the national treasury. The internal funds will undoubtedly benefit everyone, and the emperor has made it clear that the internal funds will be used by everyone in the inner court. He understood that the court was in trouble and did not cause trouble, and he took the initiative to increase the share of this year's silver reward on the pretext of stabilizing the silver price. Therefore, Zhang Hong was in a good mood and became more respectful to Shen Shixing.
Zhang Hong then added: "I just saw that Master Shen is so old and healthy. I think it will be no problem to serve His Majesty for another twenty years."
"If you work for another twenty years, you will really have enemies all over the court! When ten years are up, you will have to ask His Majesty for some time off to give future generations a chance."
Shen Shixing said with a smile.
Zhang Hong did not answer Shen Shixing's words. He just looked at the silver-gray sky and said with a smile: "Next year will be a good year! I have finally persisted until now this year. No big troubles have occurred, no people have starved to death, and no heads have fallen to the ground."
"Yes, now that I think about it, I don't know how I got through this year. It turns out that it was thanks to His Majesty Hongfu that Uncle Shuozhou went to conquer the territory of Maori Huiyuan first, and unexpectedly found a big silver mountain."
"The Japanese are also very tight-lipped and have never mentioned this matter."
Shen Shixing also smiled and started talking.
"Master Shen, please go in. Your Majesty is waiting, and I am also here. At your request, I will let you see me first."
Zhang Hong said with a smile.
The young master is Zhu Changxun, the eldest son of the emperor.
Zhu Yijun was worried that if the eldest son of the emperor had the same fate as Zhu Changluo in history, he changed his name.
But now, Zhu Yijun asked the eldest son of the emperor to meet the chief minister. It was Shen Shixing who asked for it and agreed to it.
It was obvious that Shen Shixing had set his sights on the emperor's eldest son.
Zhu Yijun did not refuse, because the emperor's eldest son was now five years old, and it was time for him to gain courage after seeing foreign ministers.
Shen Shixing burst into tears after seeing Zhu Changjun. Then he bowed to Zhu Yijun and said, "The eldest son of the emperor is really worthy of your majesty. I look forward to him as if I were seeing auspicious clouds."
Zhu Yijun smiled slightly: "Master, you are too praised."
Then, Zhu Yijun chatted with Shen Shixing about other things and listened to his report.
After Shen Shixing left, it was already dawn, and his steps became more steady and powerful. After returning to the official residence, Qi Jiguang, Zhang Xueyan, and Wang Xijue hurriedly came to ask him: "Have you met the emperor's eldest son?"
Shen Shixing said: "See you, Long Zhang Feng Zi!"
All the ministers looked happy.
Shen Shixing then returned home.
When the weather turned dark, his family members all came to pay him New Year greetings and kowtow to him with smiles on their face.
Because Zhu Yijun asked Shen Shixing and other ruling ministers to help the court stabilize the price of silver coins by buying treasury bonds, the families of Shen Shixing and other ruling ministers did feel less resentful, knowing that their family property was not given to the court in vain by the family owner.
Nowadays, all the members of the Shen family still wish Shen Shixing a happy New Year from the bottom of their hearts, so they kowtow very seriously, even the family members kneeling under the eaves of the corridor don't do anything perfunctory.
"Father, can the court really pay back the money it owes us?"
"There are many people below talking about it, saying that the imperial court is afraid that it will not be able to repay the debt."
However, the families of these ruling ministers were still worried about whether the national debt could bring benefits. After all, it was a fact that silver was expensive and valleys were cheap, so Shen Yongjia couldn't help but ask Shen Shixing that day.
Shen Shixing took out the printed copy of the Tang newspaper from his sleeve and handed it to Shen Yongjia: "Take it and circulate it to your family. If you are illiterate, read it to them! Let them read this while visiting relatives and friends. Publicize the matter, publicize it in a big way, exaggerate it, help the court stabilize people's hearts, and make everyone really happy in this new year, so as not to worry about it."
"So much silver?!"
Shen Yongjia took a look at the printed copy of the Tang newspaper and was dumbfounded. Then he immediately handed over his hand and walked out quickly.
"Did you hear that?"
"Uncle Shuozhou defeated the Japanese chieftain named Toyotomi Hideyoshi and stole more than 20 million taels of silver!"
"No, I remember it was thirty million taels. I heard it from Yuan Fu's bearer."
"No! It's fifty million taels! They say that the Japanese slaves are very rich. Firstly, the bandits robbed a lot of silver when they robbed our southeast. Secondly, the silver there is as much as the stones here, so there is only so much, I I heard it from Da Sinong’s boy. He was drunk and leaked the news. He said that he only posted 20 million taels because he was afraid that others would know that the Japanese country was very rich!"
“Why did I hear it was 100 million?”
…
For a time, various news about the imperial court obtaining a large amount of silver in the war against Japan spread wildly in the market.
Moreover, these news are becoming more and more exaggerated.
However, in this era, the level of communication is limited, and there is still a lag in the complete dissemination of news.
Therefore, most ordinary people still believe in the anecdotal news that silver prices will continue to rise.
As a result, at the end of the year, many people were no longer willing to use the silver they obtained through participating in infrastructure construction to buy high-quality assets sold cheaply by powerful bureaucrats, and began to hoard silver dollars.
"Don't buy it! Silver dollars are worth more than anything else right now. New clothes and shoes are not important. Next year, I might be able to get my eldest son a wife with the accumulated silver dollars."
Zhang Sanwu, a mason from Daxing County, grabbed his wife Tian who was going to the market to buy cloth to make new clothes for the New Year.
Mrs. Tian also retreated: "Do you want to buy some meat?"
"Don't buy it either!"
"In short, now that I have one less silver dollar, I can still earn one point even if I do nothing, so why bother spending it? It's better to count on the silver dollar to make money."
Zhang Sanwu said.
After hearing this, Mrs. Tian said: "Okay, no wonder the rich man next door is so willing to sell his silk cloth at a low price. He said that one silver dollar can buy three pieces. This is like giving it away for free. He must be beaten. The silver dollar idea.”
In short, by the end of the fifteenth year of Wanli, even if the powerful bureaucrats were willing to sell at low prices, the common people were unwilling to buy them and began to hoard silver.
Unfortunately, at this time, there were more silver dollars put into the market, so there were more silver dollars in circulation, and the price of silver dollars began to fall rapidly. At least the official stores began to lower the price of silver dollars and raise the prices of goods. As the new year came, the prices continued to rise. Many private shops have also begun to see more people. Originally they just wanted to spend some silver dollars to buy necessary things, such as firewood, rice, oil and salt. However, they found that the prices of these necessities began to rise. At first, they thought it was for the Chinese New Year. The reason turned out to be that it would rise again after the year, but later it was discovered that this was not the case, and the relative price of the silver dollar actually began to continue to fall!
"Falled again?"
Gu Xiancheng asked Gu Yuncheng, who had just returned from inquiring about the situation.
Gu Yuncheng nodded: "We have to stop selling properties at low prices now, right? However, not many people are willing to buy them."
"Stop it."
Gu Xiancheng nodded.
A few days later, Gu Yuncheng came to Gu Xiancheng quickly and said in a panic: "Brother, it's over!"
Gu Xiancheng felt nervous and asked, "What's the end?"
"Our domestic slaves who were doing business in the Japanese country brought back news that the Japanese country was defeated and a steady stream of silver was shipped back!"
"Also, I happened to find out that some people who claim to be New Party slaves have indeed made tens of millions of dollars in silver from the imperial court!"
Gu Yun Chengdao.
After a while, Gu Xiancheng said to himself: "Our Gu family is finished!"
(End of chapter)
