After bidding farewell to Lao Zhu, Zhu Yunxuan returned to the capital with a heavy heart.
As a prince, and as the future emperor of the Ming Dynasty, sometimes he has to be ruthless!
When Lao Zhu died, both in public and in private, he had to change to a new commander of the Imperial Guard.
This is not heartless.
But do it as a last resort!
Just give Jiang Yu a whole body when the time comes and treat his family well.
…
Capital.
city gate.
When Zhu Yunzhen returned, he found that there were more and more vendors on the street.
It's getting late, but the crowds on the street are still endless and lively.
The people of the capital gathered together in twos and threes, drinking tea, eating pies or pastries sold on the street, and chatting.
In front of the rice store, people lined up in a long line, waiting to buy.
As the saying goes, be prepared for danger in times of peace. Now that people have some money in their hands, they naturally want to store more food at home.
in case for need.
This is also the simplest and simplest idea of ordinary people.
Zhu Yunzhen wanted to go back to the palace directly, but when he passed by the rice store, he couldn't help but stop and walked forward.
Asked: "What is the current price of rice?"
Everyone in Midian saw that Zhu Yunxuan was surrounded by many guards and must be a great nobleman, so they quickly replied.
"Back to my lord, the price of rice is now more expensive than before."
"One tael of silver can be exchanged for one stone and a half of grain."
Zhu Yunzhen frowned.
I couldn't help but ask: "At the usual market price, one tael of silver can be exchanged for two stones of grain, not to mention that since the introduction of sweet potatoes, the price of grain has dropped a bit."
"Why is it so expensive now?"
The waiter at the rice store smiled flatteringly.
Said: "I'm afraid you don't understand the recent market situation very well."
"We are strictly following Taisun's instructions, and we are raising prices within a reasonable range. After all, people in the entire capital are buying grain in large quantities now that they have money."
“No matter how much inventory we have, it’s not enough.”
"Food must be mobilized from other places, and if it is expedited, it will cost more."
"That is to say, there are cement roads everywhere in Yingtian Mansion now."
"The loss is much less, otherwise the food would be a bit more expensive."
The waiter from Midian explained clearly.
Even Zhu Yunzhen couldn't fault him at all, after all, what he told was the truth.
Prices in the capital of the Ming Dynasty are indeed showing signs of rising!
And it’s quite violent!
It's just that everyone has more money in their hands now, so they don't particularly notice it.
If it had been in the past, this sudden price increase would have caused public dissatisfaction and everyone would have known about it.
But now, every household has more money.
This price increase seems innocuous and does not attract much attention.
But Zhu Yunzhen was different. He naturally saw the hidden worries in this! Prices in the capital of the Ming Dynasty have risen, and the people have become rich, but the income of the people in the capital of the Ming Dynasty has not increased much!
After the people's savings in the capital of the Ming Dynasty were all spent.
There is a disproportion between rising prices and income, and there will be big trouble sooner or later!
"After all, it's still because there are not enough resources!"
The Ming Dynasty has been at peace for more than 20 years. Although there were many conquests during this period, it did not harm the country.
Therefore, Ming Dynasty’s food reserves are still sufficient.
I won’t see you low for a while.
But if this continues, the Ming Dynasty's food production will not be able to keep up, and prices will not only rise a little!
By then, the price of one stone of grain may be several times what it is now!
Even more!
Zhu Yunzhen had to worry about this... But the good news is that Zhu Yunzhen already had a solution.
As long as Zheng He conquered the Japanese country and broke through the Japanese customs, Zhu Yunxi would have countless ways to invade the Japanese market and plunder their domestic raw materials and food wantonly!
By then, Ming Dynasty will no longer need to worry about insufficient food.
Even if there is still a shortage of food, everyone will not panic. Instead, they will continue to dump goods from neighboring countries and exchange low-priced goods in the Ming Dynasty for precious raw materials and food.
By repeating this process, Ming Dynasty will only become richer and richer, and its material resources will become richer and richer.
"All hope... lies with Zheng He!"
Although Zhu Yunxuan had other options, transporting food back from Japan was the simplest and most direct way.
Zhu Yunzhen could only hope that Zheng He would send good news as soon as possible.
But wait until Zhu Yunzhen returns to the palace.
The next day, there was bad news!
The navy led by Zheng He has been out of contact for a month!
No news has been sent back!
A month ago, the navy led by Zheng He had just arrived on the coast of Japan, preparing to break through Japan's maritime defenses!
I suddenly learned the news.
Everyone is panicking! The princes in the court were even more frightened! .
Everyone was worried whether Zheng He had suffered a defeat in Japan!
Otherwise, why would there be no news for a month? Judging by the days, Zheng He should have almost returned home by this time!
Could it be that something happened at sea? Encountered an unprecedented storm?
Even the new army trained by Zheng He was not good at all. It was defeated on the outside and was defeated by the Japanese navy?
Suddenly, all the negative voices came out.
Some courtiers even suggested that Zhu Yunxian re-close the customs! Close the country!
Naturally, Zhu Yunzhen became furious immediately, dragged the man down and gave him fifty canes! Almost beaten to death! A few days after returning, news of his death came!
He even directly dismissed this person’s descendants from office! The entire family will never be used again in the Ming Dynasty!
The officials were so frightened that no one dared to mention the matter again.
There is no doubt that seclusion against Zhu Yunxu was his fault!
In the following days, no one dared to mention Zheng He's incident.
He began to turn around and deal with the final touches on the Zhejiang Chengxuan Administrative Envoy case.
Cheng Qian, Xin Yan and other people who intervened in the case were all captured by the Jinyiwei. In the entire Zhejiang Chengxuan Political Envoy Department, there were more than a thousand officials from top to bottom, and no one escaped!
Maybe it's because of Zheng He.
Zhu Yunzhen was not very happy these days, so he dealt with it very mercilessly.
Everything should be handled in accordance with the Ming Law!
Peel off the skin and fill it with grass! Behead in public display! It took three days just to behead these people!
Kill until the ground is covered with blood! The cement pavement and bluestone slabs were dyed red!
But during this period, there was not no good news.
Perhaps due to the influence of the Zhejiang Chief Envoy case, land reform in other places suddenly progressed much more smoothly. Local officials no longer dared to be sneaky and made rapid progress.
After Wang Dun took office as the Chief Envoy of Zhejiang Province.
A team was quickly reorganized and land reform was launched, which is currently progressing in full swing.
Only Zheng He...still no news came...
Royal study room.
Zhu Yunxuan looked at the good news and slowly put down the memorial.
Looking at the fallen leaves gradually heading towards autumn.
I sighed in my heart.
"Zheng He, Zheng He... don't let me live up to my expectations!"
"We must come back smoothly!"
In the bottom of his heart, Zhu Yunxuan still believed in Zheng He's ability. The reason why he lost contact was probably due to some changes.
But he couldn't imagine what it was?
There are many storms at sea, but the Pacific Ocean is actually relatively calm.
Except for the annual typhoon season, most of the time, the Pacific Ocean is very peaceful, otherwise, it would not get such a name.
But everything has its surprises.
After all, the sea is no better than land.
At the same time... Zhu Yunzhen really couldn't find a candidate to replace Zheng He!
Zheng He cannot fail! No failure is allowed!
(End of chapter)
