Wang Qi talked a lot, and as he talked, Chen Kangbo and the other three looked very strange.
It sounds like the Southern Song Dynasty is ungrateful. They have tried their best, but they are still not satisfied.
Said Chen Kangbo and others felt embarrassed and felt that they had become villains.
That’s not all, he’s still saying.
"The Ming Dynasty is not as wealthy as the Southern Dynasty, and His Majesty cannot bear to watch the people suffer while he enjoys luxury, and he does not allow our officials to enjoy luxury, so Your Majesty sets an example, and the food is no different from the food here, no more than four dishes and one soup.
His Majesty the Emperor leads by example, how can our officials disobey orders and indulge in extravagance without conscience? Oh...I'm not saying that the envoys from the Southern Dynasties are enjoying themselves in luxury, I am saying...oh...if, if your envoy needs it, we can do our best to arrange it, really! "
Wang Qi talked a lot, but it seemed that he only noticed that what he said was a bit off, so he quickly made up for it, but the method of making up for it was very clumsy, and it would break when he poked it.
But this was enough to make Chen Kangbo's face turn red and white. He was holding the rice bowl and looking at the white rice in the bowl with great embarrassment.
Yu Yunwen and Lu You lowered their heads and ate quietly without saying a word. .
After dinner, Chen Kangbo, who felt that he was being publicly executed, did not ask for the dessert [specially prepared for them] and went directly back to his room to rest, not wanting to do anything else.
He is tired.
Yu Yunwen also refused the mung bean cake, the dessert after the meal, and went back to his room to rest.
Only Lu You accepted a serving of mung bean cake, thanked Wang Qi, and then returned to his room to rest.
Back in the room, Lu You sat at his desk and secretly took out the "Hongwu Political Treatise" he carried with him and started reading it. While reading, he ate mung bean cake. Unknowingly, seeing the darkness, he turned off the lights and went to sleep.
Lying in bed, Lu You thought of what Wang Qi said and the most informative thing in this conversation: "Ordinary farmers in the Ming Dynasty could also have three square meals a day", so he tossed and turned and couldn't sleep.
He kept thinking about why the Ming Dynasty was able to provide farmers with three meals a day when it was in such a difficult financial situation, while the farmers in the Southern Song Dynasty...
One meal a day is considered sufficient for food and clothing.
If what Wang Qi said is true, then it proves that what Su Yonglin wrote about his governance and the achievements of governing the country in the book are true. If we work backwards, such a key thing is true, then the other things he said are true. The content is also difficult to fake.
Lu You knows very well how difficult it is for ordinary farmers to have three meals a day. As the poem says, "Those who are covered with silkworms are not silkworm raisers." On the contrary, those who can eat People with fat brains are never farmers responsible for agricultural production.
Lu You still remembers the living conditions of the common people in the Southern Song Dynasty that he saw when he traveled to various places after he was a teenager and became an official. He still remembers the skinny old farmers in the farmland who had nothing to eat, and the refugees who were so hungry that their eyes turned green.
He knew how difficult it was for the living people and felt sympathy for them. He once thought that the living people themselves were living such a difficult life.
Even if the court tries its best, it cannot feed everyone, because it is impossible. The land in the world can only produce so much food, and it really cannot feed everyone.
But when he saw Su Yonglin's book and heard what Wang Qi said, he was shaken.
If all this is true, if the Ming Dynasty succeeded in keeping the farmers full, and if the Ming Dynasty succeeded in keeping the world from starving, then doesn’t it mean that the perceptions he formed in the past were completely wrong?
Doesn’t that mean that everything that happened to the farmers in the Southern Song Dynasty was man-made and not destined by God?
Was the land in the Southern Song Dynasty enough to support every farmer?
If "There is no idle land in the world, and farmers still starve to death" is not destined by fate, and it is not meant to show that China's land cannot support the Chinese people, then why did the farmers in the Southern Song Dynasty die?
Is it really because the system of the Southern Song Dynasty was not good?
Is it really a man-made disaster?
This reality cannot be changed without changing the system?
Lu You was so distraught that he felt like he couldn't decide what was right or wrong. He tossed and turned and couldn't calm down, and couldn't sleep at all. So he finally gave up on falling asleep and chose to get up, put on his clothes and go for a walk outside to relax. In a bad mood, maybe I can fall asleep.
So he picked up a piece of mung bean cake that he had just finished, and while eating it, he put on his clothes and walked out of the room, downstairs, out of the station hall, and into the courtyard.
The moonlight was pretty good that day. Lu You looked up at the sky and saw the bright moonlight, and his thoughts gradually calmed down.
He felt that he could continue to observe the social situation of the Ming Dynasty in the days to come, use his own eyes to confirm what was true and what was false, and then confirm what he should do.
"Deputy Ambassador Lu?"
Wang Qi's voice sounded from behind. Lu You turned his head unexpectedly and saw Wang Qi, neatly dressed, standing behind him.
"Master Wang? Are you still awake?"
"Oh, I still have some things to do. I was delayed for a while. I was about to wash my face and go to bed. I have to get up early tomorrow and go on the road."
Wang Qi walked to Lu You and asked, "Why isn't Deputy Lu sleeping yet? Can't he sleep?"
Lu You hesitated for a while, turned his head and looked at the deserted hall, then sighed.
"I'm really thinking about something. I'm thinking too much, too complicated, and I can't come up with an answer. I'm so confused that I'm tossing and turning and can't sleep."
Wang Qi thought and had some thoughts about this.
"What is Deputy Ambassador Lu thinking about? Can you tell me? I may not be able to answer your doubts, but if one more person knows, there will always be more possibilities for answers."
Lu You pursed his lips, looked around again, and then lowered his throat.
"Mr. Wang, is it true what you said about farmers in the Ming Dynasty who could eat three meals a day? I am very confused about why farmers in the Ming Dynasty can eat three square meals a day, but farmers in the Song Dynasty cannot do this. a little.
I was once ordered to go out to Lin'an for business and traveled around the country. I saw that there were farmers who had no food to eat in various places in the Song Dynasty. Even in some places known as the land of plenty, similar situations would occur, but not in the Ming Dynasty? "
Wang Qi thought Lu You was going to ask something, but when he heard this, he suddenly burst into laughter.
Lu You didn't know why.
"Why is Mr. Wang laughing?"
"I...I don't mean any harm."
Wang Qi finished laughing, shook his head, and said: "I just didn't expect Deputy Ambassador Lu to ask me this question. This... I know that farmers in the Southern Dynasties lived a miserable life. They often died of hunger, had no land, and became refugees. This We all know this.
So it’s understandable that you have doubts about whether there is such a situation in the Ming Dynasty, but I must say that this is true. Except for a few remote areas in the Ming Dynasty, farmers in most areas can already eat a day. There are three main meals, all of which are grain. "
"Is this... really true?"
Lu You still doesn't believe it.
"Why do you think it's fake?"
Wang Qi shook his head and said: "The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty reduced and reduced taxes on farmers. In addition to normal agricultural taxes, all exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes were abolished, such as the exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes levied by the previous dynasty on farm tools, cattle, fertilizers, water, firewood, etc., and even some Miscellaneous taxes on kitchen knives, scissors and other items used by farmers in their daily lives have also been abolished in some places.
After the abolition of these exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, the burden on farmers has been greatly reduced. In the past, when collecting ten dou of grain, they had to pay seven dou of tax, and even if it exceeded seven dou, it was normal to not have enough to eat. But now, as long as you pay one dou of grain, everything else is covered. All belong to the farmers themselves. "
Lu You was deeply shocked.
"The taxes in the Northern Dynasty are so light? Are you serious?"
"The founding of the Ming Dynasty was not based on the exploitation and oppression of farmers. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it has relied on farmers. Therefore, His Majesty the Emperor resolutely abolished exorbitant taxes, reduced or reduced excessive agricultural taxes, and left most of the harvest to farmers. This is the agricultural policy of the Ming Dynasty. ’s foundation.”
Wang Qi said: "In order to take care of the farmers and make it easier for them to pay taxes, His Majesty even promoted the tax reform, changing the collection of physical goods into the collection of copper coins, exempting all transportation loss costs, and reducing the burden on the farmers. With such a two-pronged approach, how can the farmers Are you not full?"
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ps: On the first day of the first lunar month, I wish you all a happy new year, a happy new year, a happy family, and lots of happiness. Wish you good fortune~~~
