After hearing what Wang Qi said, Lu You was so shocked that he couldn't speak. His mouth opened slightly and could not be closed for a long time.
But Wang Qi hasn't finished speaking yet.
Seeing Lu You's shocked look, he planned to give Lu You the final blow.
He organized his words.
"Under the leadership of His Majesty, the Ming Dynasty went to war against such a situation. After untold hardships, it replaced this situation with the peasant association system. His Majesty led the court to stand on the side of the peasants, called on the peasants to resist the landlords, and uprooted the landlords and gentry. All After being eliminated, peasant associations spread all over the country.
As a result, the Ming court controlled all farmers and land through the peasant associations, and the tax-paying population greatly increased. In this way, even if the taxes on individual farmers were greatly reduced, the total amount of taxes was still far higher than that of the previous dynasty.
Not only that, because the imperial court harvested less, farmers would get more as long as they planted more. Therefore, farmers were very active in production. The total grain output in the Ming Dynasty increased year after year, and taxes also increased.
So, Deputy Ambassador Lu, do you think the Ming Dynasty will have no money? No, the Ming Dynasty’s system ensured that as long as this situation continued, the Ming Dynasty court would never be short of money, and the farmers would never go hungry. .
They can all eat three square meals, all of which are dry. They can also eat meat during the holidays. They still have enough money to buy some of the things they want to eat, such as candies and fruits. They can buy some of the things they didn't dare to eat in the past. Eat some. "
Lu You only felt a little numb in his body and his mind went blank.
He hadn't felt this way for a long time. He vaguely remembered that the last time this happened was when his mother forced him to divorce his ex-wife Logan.
At that time, his body was numb, his mind was blank, and he didn't know what to do.
But last time it was for personal matters, and this time it was business.
Is Wang Qi lying to him?
Lu You looked at Wang Qi's expression, his excited expression with a hint of fanaticism.
This is not an emotion that a liar can display.
If he is lying, he must be a top liar, and such a person should not just hold this position.
It can only be said that there are many such people in the Ming Dynasty, and there are many, many people like Wang Qi. They fill the court from top to bottom, making the court extremely powerful.
And what they did was true.
Such things really happened on this land. Because of their hard work and struggle, the farmers of the Ming Dynasty were living a life that he had never expected.
The farmers of the Ming Dynasty are becoming happy.
Lu You couldn't doubt it, unless he really saw a picture that didn't belong to this situation, then he would doubt it.
However, Lu You suddenly realized that he sincerely wanted to believe that what Wang Qi said was true.
If Wang Qi's words are true, then it means that everything Su Yonglin wrote in "Hongwu Political Theory" is also true. All of this is true.
Because the landlord class and the gentry were eradicated, the Ming Dynasty could develop to this point.
That’s why the Ming Dynasty was so strong!
And all this...
It was completely different from what the Southern Song Dynasty officials claimed, and it was also different from what most of them wanted to believe.
What Chen Kangbo and Yu Yunwen believed was that all this was false and a lie deliberately fabricated by the Ming Dynasty.
But if all this is true...
Lu You suddenly felt his mouth was dry and he was a little excited.
He also wanted to know more and learn more about the Ming Dynasty.
"Can you tell me more about the Ming Dynasty? Of course, if you feel it is inappropriate, you don't have to say it. You can just talk about less important things."
Lu You expressed his desire.
Wang Qi smiled.
"Of course. Then let's talk about this inn."
"Inn?"
"Yes, the inns are mainly prepared by the imperial court for officials who travel far away on business. Of course, some long-distance business travelers can also stay at the inns with road guides. It's just that the imperial court pays for the accommodation, while long-distance business travelers have to bear their own expenses.
At the beginning, His Majesty carried out a wave of rectification of the post station, stipulating the functions of the post station and daily consumption limits, etc. The regulations were very detailed, paying special attention to the food and drink of officials, such as when to eat two dishes and one soup, and when to eat three dishes. One soup, four dishes and one soup, etc. The highest level is four dishes and one soup. There are no more.
At the beginning, the cooking skills of the cooks at the post stations varied. Some cooks cooked delicious food and everyone was happy to eat it. Some cooks cooked food so poorly that no one wanted to eat it. As time went by, officials who often traveled far away were still reluctant to eat it. For this purpose, a map was compiled, marking the stations where all the chefs who cook delicious food are located. "
"Is there such a thing?"
Lu You couldn't help but laugh.
"Yes, this really happened."
Wang Qi said with a smile: "Later, due to the collective reaction of the officials, His Majesty decided to launch a reform and sent all the incompetent cooks in the post to the army to practice their cooking skills with the old firemen in the army.
The old firemen in the army cook very well. His Majesty's royal chefs are all selected from the old firemen in the army. After a period of intensive training, these cooks were allowed to return to their original posts. After that, their cooking became delicious. A lot.
This is a good thing. Officials on business trips no longer have to worry about food. For this, everyone is very grateful to Your Majesty. This is a very interesting thing, that is..."
Wang Qi spoke while Lu You listened.
When it comes to interesting things, Lu You can't help but laugh.
Speaking of serious things, Lu You will also be very serious.
When it comes to something that Lu You finds incredible, he will ask Wang Qi to explain it more carefully, listen to him again and again, and draw his own conclusions.
It was not until midnight that Lu You apologized to Wang Qi for delaying his rest.
Wang Qi shook his head.
"It doesn't matter. Vice Envoy Lu and I have similar interests. It was a pleasure to talk to him. I hope I will have such an opportunity in the future. I will tell you whatever Vice Envoy Lu wants to know."
"If so, thank you very much."
Lu You smiled and said: "It's been a long night, and I thought I didn't want to sleep. With your honesty, I think I should be able to sleep."
The two said goodbye and returned to their respective rooms to rest.
Lu You was filled with inexplicable excitement and prepared to return to his room to rest.
After listening to many things about the Ming Dynasty, Lu You felt that he could understand many things that he could not understand in "Hongwu Political Theory".
He felt that he gradually understood how difficult and dangerous what Su Yonglin was doing was, and how persistently Su Yonglin was doing it.
He kept telling himself not to believe what others said easily, but because what he told was so true, he couldn't convince himself not to believe it.
He felt that he must find an opportunity to go to the people of the Ming Dynasty to see the real situation in person. Hearing is believing, seeing is believing. He must see it with his own eyes.
Whether all this was true, what Ming Guo did was not right, and whether so many people died out of absolute justice, he had to see it with his own eyes.
With such thoughts in mind, he climbed to the second floor, and at the corner of the stairs, he saw Yu Yunwen standing there looking at him with incomprehensible eyes.
"Mr. Yu, you..."
"Wuguan, you seemed to have a very happy chat with Mr. Wang?"
"I……"
Lu You panicked for no reason and didn't know how to answer Yu Yunwen's question.
After thinking about it, he felt that he had done nothing wrong. He was just chatting with Wang Qi and did not reveal any information about the Southern Song Dynasty. Instead, he got a lot of information about the Ming Dynasty from him.
So he calmed down.
"His Majesty told us that he wanted us to find out more about the true situation of the Ming Dynasty, so I just found the king's principal, made some insinuations, and asked some news about the Ming Dynasty."
"Oh, I see?"
Yu Yunwen looked deeply at Lu You and stared at him without speaking.
After a long time, when Lu You felt uncomfortable all over, Yu Yunwen finally spoke.
"As long as you can remember your mission, I think you will not make mistakes as an official of the imperial court. As for the rest... don't get too close to the people of the Ming Dynasty. I'll stop here."
After saying that, Yu Yunwen turned around and left, walked to the door of his room, took one last look at Lu You, then pushed the door open and entered his room.
