Chapter 128 The irredeemable winter coat
Clothes were very precious things in ancient times.
Many people only have one piece of clothing.
During the Yongle period, Emperor Yongle and his grandson left the brigade and made a living. I saw a family huddled among the straw, afraid to see anyone. Because they only have one set of clothes, whoever goes out wears it. I don't know how to face the sudden arrival of dignitaries.
Yongle used this to educate his grandson and understand the difficulties of people's livelihood.
But forgot. The conditions on both sides of the canal are actually related to the fact that when he was King of Yan, he sent troops south to Shandong as the main battlefield.
Today's Ming Dynasty is due to He Xi's influence. The strength in all aspects is much better than that during the Yongle period. The life of the people in Jiangnan is much better than that of the people in Shandong who have never recovered after the war.
But it's not much better.
Every winter, some people will pawn their cotton-padded clothes and give them to pawnshops in exchange for a few copper coins to manage their current lives. When winter comes, I redeem my cotton-padded clothes from the pawn shop. Get through it this way.
Cotton-padded clothes have become a big item in people’s homes.
It's just that it's winter again.
An old man hesitated in front of the pawn shop. Without him, they would have no money this year. But you can’t live without cotton-padded clothes in winter, even in the south of the Yangtze River. The entire Ming Dynasty was in the Little Ice Age, although it was relatively warm for a while in the early Ming Dynasty. But it's just warmer.
Not to mention, whether it is cold or not is not only a matter of temperature, but also a matter of feeling.
Many people in Henan feel that their winters are colder than those in Northeast China. That's because there is heating in the Northeast, but not in many places in Henan.
In ancient times, the means of heating were quite limited.
Timber also costs money. Forget it elsewhere. It is still possible to cut firewood yourself, but there is almost no undeveloped land in Jiangnan. Even if there is a barren mountain, it still has an owner. You can't chop wood casually. Read the book
It is impossible to burn charcoal all winter long.
Moreover, winter is not a busy period for farming, and it is impossible to eat everything. After all, poor people don’t have enough food.
In this case, cotton-padded clothes are already the best solution. A cotton coat can be worn for many years, keeping the body warm, using less firewood and eating less food. Save some money in every aspect.
But the old man didn't have enough money. I can’t give up cotton-padded clothes. Once he can't redeem it, the cotton coat will become a pawn shop. Although due to the industrial production of cotton cloth, the price of cotton clothes has dropped a lot. But it was still something he couldn't afford.
Because people earn their spare money through textiles. This has been said before.
People have more physical goods such as food. If they don't buy cloth, they can't make money at all. Now the most profitable business is gone. There is no money in the hands of the people at all. No matter how cheap these cotton cloths are, what does it have to do with the people?
Even some taxes must be paid with new banknotes.
This is Ding Xian's method to expand the liquidity of new banknotes. But this is tantamount to exploiting the people again.
The old man finally sighed.
Left the pawn shop.
The steward in the pawn shop also looked sad.
For him, this is not a good thing either.
Pawn shops are there to make money. It is not just an old man who cannot redeem his cotton-padded clothes, but many people. Most of the people can only give up on redeeming their cotton-padded clothes. It is hard to say whether they can survive this winter.
What the pawn shop wants is money, not cotton-padded clothes. You must know that the overall price of cotton-padded clothes is also falling, and a pile of old cotton-padded clothes is not worth anything.
Not to mention, as the banking system expands, old financial institutions like pawnshops are also under attack. The pawn shop is having a hard time, too.
The pawn shop doesn't know how to survive this cold winter.
While pawnshops are having a hard time, the people behind them are having an even harder time.
Generally speaking. A pawn shop is not something that ordinary people can open. They can only be opened by local powerful people. The so-called local powerful people are local landlords, not even ordinary landlords, at least those with official status.
. Able to control people.
Many scholar-bureaucrats had such businesses in their homes. And he will not open a pawn shop in a place outside his influence.
Pawn shops are essentially a way to realize the influence of local landowners.
If an outsider wants to open a pawn shop, it will be impossible to open it without proper management. Otherwise, someone owes you money. How to come back is a question.
However, now the entire Jiangnan is trembling under Ding Xian's sword. No one cares at all, it's just a pawn shop. In other words, the pawn shop is also a small piece of meat in this big purge.
Suzhou City, the most prosperous city in the world, also looked a lot more desolate under this atmosphere.
In this case, a tightly packed carriage passed by on the bluestone road of Suzhou Street.
There was a sudden bump and a bag of cotton suddenly fell to the ground.
Watched by countless people.
The person in charge got out of the car, cursed and said, "We can't deliver it to Jiangning District in time, so be careful with your skin."
This looks like a caravan collecting cotton from Suzhou and transporting it to Jiangning District.
Before that, Suzhou was the gathering place for all cotton. Countless cotton arrived in Suzhou and was woven into cloth and transported to various places. Or when you come from the countryside, it’s just cloth. It was moved to Songjiang Prefecture in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.
But now, someone has taken away so much cotton from Suzhou Prefecture, which is a great irritation to the locals.
Because no one had ever pulled cotton out of Suzhou City before.
It's all cloth.
Not to mention, the people of Suzhou are now feeling the cold wind blowing from Jiangning District.
I don’t know who is first. Suddenly someone rushed forward. Pick up a ball of cotton and run away.
Once one person starts, countless people follow, and then a large bale of cotton disappears in an instant.
The steward was simply stunned. He immediately shouted and ordered someone to capture the cotton robber. He even personally captured a little girl. He was whipped hard with a whip, which immediately aroused public outrage.
Countless people rushed forward, and after a huge chaos, there was no cotton left at all.
This matter is both big and small. But it has become a hot flashpoint in Suzhou this winter.
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When Ji Gang knew this, it was already several days later.
This merchant belongs to the Ding family.
At least Ding Xian was the one in the background. So the steward asked someone to send a message to the prefect, asking the prefect to deal with it strictly.
But the prefect is not easy to handle. Because most Suzhou people and gentry sympathized with the local people. They all felt that this matter was not a big deal, so they could just leave it alone. But the manager felt that if he didn't deal with it harshly. Isn't this kind of thing going to happen all the time in the future?
Strict requirements are imposed.
As a result, the people below have no choice. We can only deal with it strictly.
This strict action caused something to happen. The government officials who went to arrest people were beaten, and the people started to riot. Today, the city of Suzhou is in chaos.
Ji Gang is not an ordinary person.
He took a closer look and immediately concluded that someone must be involved here.
The reason is simple. There are too many unusual things in this matter. Too many coincidences are no longer coincidences. There must be something wrong here. But the question is who is behind it?
Ji Gang was not sure whether it was from Beijing.
After all, Ji Gang didn't know whether he was the only one here in Beijing or whether there were other people in Beijing. This was not a random thought on his part. After all, he already knew that Zhu Xiongying actually had some intelligence agencies.
He touched it secretly.
Moreover, not everyone in Nanjing listened to Zhu Yunwen. ,
There must be something wrong here. Not to mention what Ding Xian did during this period, Ji Gang would not be surprised by what the Jiangnan scholar-officials would do. He knew very well that this incident must be a beginning.
There is a big drama ahead.
In this case, he naturally wants to
Go see it up close. As for who did it, they will definitely point it out when they get there. After all, the matter is serious and many traces cannot be covered up.
Ji Gang made up his mind and immediately left for Suzhou from Nanjing.
As a result, the war started in Suzhou.
It's just that at this time, Zhu Yunwen and Ding Xian were very slow to react to this matter. There are not many things like this every winter, but they are definitely not impossible. They all feel just ordinary and right.
