"And such a wide ring?" Wang Erzhu muttered a few words and happily pocketed it.
No matter what this thing looks like, it looks very good and is made of jade, so it should be worth some money!
"Fellow, can I go to your house and talk now?"
"Let's go."
The four of them followed Wang Erzhu home and walked for about 20 minutes to a wooden house surrounded by an orchard.
The house was extremely simple, with only one room and the stove outside.
There was only a muddy kang and a dirty table in the house.
The room seemed a bit crowded with five people.
Fang Zheng took a few glances and came to a conclusion.
This Wang Erzhu is an old bachelor who doesn't even have a family, otherwise he should be able to build another room outside.
After all, I still have an orchard.
Wang Erzhu was also in trouble. When he met a rich man, he quickly took out two dirty broken bowls and scooped two bowls of water from the bucket in the corner of the room.
Putting it in front of Emperor Jing, he smiled shyly and said, "Drink, drink water...just two bowls."
Emperor Jing smiled and nodded, but made no move, and the same was true for Guo Tianyang.
This broken bowl was also dirty, and it was really hard to eat.
Fang Zhengyi and Zhang Biao didn't mind it, they each took a bowl and drank it all.
I am indeed thirsty. I have never seen anything dirtier than this. As long as the water is clean, it will be fine.
Wang Erzhu felt a little happy when he saw that he didn't dislike him.
Emperor Jing said: "I came here to see the customs and customs of the county, and then do some business in the county, so I want to ask you, what do you think of the situation in Xinzhang County? Are the people living well?"
Unexpectedly, as soon as these words came out, Wang Erzhu became wary again and looked at Emperor Jing carefully.
The next second he said solemnly: "You don't have eyes, can't you see? Okay, great! The people have food and drink, and live and work in peace and contentment!"
Guo Tianyang was unhappy: "Hey! Why are you talking?"
"Wait a minute." Emperor Jing raised his eyebrows and stopped him. "I think the people in the city are not in good spirits. They are not as good as you said."
Wang Erzhu said sarcastically: "Do you have eyes?"
"If you don't believe me, you have to tell me, right? Don't you just want to hear good things?"
Emperor Jing, who was holding a gun and a stick as he spoke, was speechless for a moment. Fang Zheng pulled him aside and whispered: "Let me ask, sir. He is wary of us."
"Why does he speak so sinisterly?"
"If people are restricted and cannot speak normally, they can only behave in strange ways."
Fang Zheng turned around, walked towards Wang Erzhu and said with a smile: "Don't be angry, fellow, why don't I just ask you some questions? Just tell me whether the people of Xinzhang are living well or not."
Wang Erzhu's face was full of disgust: "Stop pretending, who is a fellow countryman with you? Foreigner, I will know as soon as I look at you that you are sent by the government to collect good things. If you want to hear good things, you can just make up some lies of your own. ?I want to tell the truth, I am the unlucky one!"
"Let's go, let's go, my place is small and I can't accommodate big Buddhas like you!"
After Wang Erzhu finished speaking, he actually started to push Fang Zhengyi.
Fang Zheng tried his best to compete with him and shouted: "In broad daylight and the world is bright, such a thing can happen? I sent people to collect good things from the people. Did the Xinzhang County Magistrate call Sun Sheng that dog official to do it?" "
Dog officer? !
Wang Erzhu stopped and looked at Fang Zhengyi in disbelief.
"You...are really here to do business from other places?"
Fang Zheng said, "Of course. My father and I dragged our family and moved here from the capital to do business. We couldn't compete with others in the capital, and were suppressed by our peers, so we had no choice but to change to a smaller place. I heard that Xin The officials in Zhang County govern the Qingming Festival, and are well-known in Hengjiang Prefecture, so I came here."
"But I think what you mean... doesn't seem to be the case? Brother, please tell me, we came all the way here and lost most of our wealth in the capital. If we fail again here, then what will happen? But there really is no way to survive.”
Hearing what Fang Zhengyi said was a bit miserable, Wang Erzhu slapped his thigh and sighed: "Hey, you are in the wrong place. If you want to do business, you should go to Pingwan County. I heard that it is the most suitable place for doing business. You can make money from anything you sell. "
"So what's the problem here?"
Wang Erzhu said: "You don't know something. This Xinzhang County... is rotten to the core!"
"Everything looks good on the surface, but what about the reality? Let me tell you this, everything is much more expensive than the outside world, and ordinary people who want to do business can't get involved!"
"What's going on?" Fang Zheng asked hurriedly, "I think the prices on the streets are much cheaper than in the capital."
Emperor Jing and others raised their ears and listened carefully.
Wang Erzhu said again: "Listen to their farts! Those businesses are the businesses of the famous landlords in the city. The prices he calls are low, but if you go in and buy them, as long as you can buy them at the price he calls, I don't care. You can call me daddy!"
Everyone looked at each other.
"Tell me more, is there such an unheard-of strange thing? It is said that the new magistrate of our county is an expert from the capital. How can such a thing be allowed to happen?"
Wang Erzhu's chatterbox had already opened up, and he kept chattering: "Yes, who the hell says no?! When this new official took office, the people in Xinzhang actually welcomed him, and he did do a lot of practical things. The landlords bullied the people, He went to crack down on the landlords, and the profiteers were selling substandard goods and exorbitant prices, so he sent people to crack down hard."
"Even when officials bullied the people, he took action and punished them severely. In the first two months after arriving... everything was fine, no one was bullied, and things were sold very cheaply."
"But who knew that within two damn months, prices in the city would start to skyrocket. The prices sold out were still cheap, but you couldn't buy them at the original price except through the back door privately!"
"Especially the medicinal materials have been multiplied several times. If anyone gets a minor illness, their wealth will be used to pay for it, and their life will be in vain!"
Emperor Jing looked solemn and murmured: "The outside is gold and jade, but the inside is rotten. Didn't you expect that it has become so rotten?"
"Oh, it's not just that. The officials and landlords who used to bully the people are all back, and they are getting worse! If anyone dares to say otherwise, the people behind him will suffer."
“Many people originally had a relatively good family background, but this year they encountered minor illnesses and disasters and fell back into poverty. Their land was also sold to big landlords... and they became long-term laborers.”
"Everyone has guessed that the wealthy locals have already colluded with the government and businessmen. New businessmen like you, I dare say, will be squeezed out in less than a month, and there is no way they can survive here!"
Land annexation, local gentry monopoly, it seems that the collusion between government and businessmen is not gone.
Fang Zheng thought to himself.
Wang Erzhu got excited and suddenly stamped his foot: "It was okay in the past few years, and the days got better and better, but now it's not okay anymore. If I continue, I'm afraid I won't be able to eat!"
"Damn it, the imperial court has nothing to do with human affairs, and sent such a bastard county magistrate! However, do you think there is a possibility? Is it because our Dajing has no money to fight with the Jin Kingdom, and instead spends it in our small country? How about making money from the common people?"
Guo Tianyang felt as if someone had grabbed the stolen goods and quickly looked at Emperor Jing.
...
