klisemfg Chapter 608 Southern Tour
Chapter 608 Southern Tour
In the seventh year of Zhaowu, at the end of May, time passed, and it had been seven years since Meng Jun ascended the throne. Thinking back to the time when he just started his army, Meng Jun even felt a little unreal.
Since moving to Beijing as the capital, Meng Jun has been stationed in the capital. Over the years, state affairs have become more stable, and Meng Jun has been feeling increasingly annoyed in the capital.
Although Meng Jun was an emperor who was high above everyone else, it was actually difficult for him to truly understand the situation below. Most of the civil and military officials would only report good news and not bad news, and seldom would they actually mention the various problems at the local level. Even though Meng Jun had the Qingluan Guards as his eyes and ears, there was still a difference between what was written and what he saw with his eyes.
Therefore, Meng Jun decided to leave the capital, personally experience the people and conduct inspections, and Meng Jun’s first target was Jiangnan.
Meng Jun wanted to take a closer look at how far Jiangnan had developed. In his previous life, he had heard people say that Jiangnan in the late Ming Dynasty had entered the stage of capital budding. Although Jiangnan had experienced the ravages of the Qing army, Jiangnan had obvious geographical advantages. Once the situation stabilized, the development speed would naturally be faster than that of the north.
Only by seeing clearly what stage Jiangnan has developed to can it be easier for the court to formulate corresponding strategies and policies. If there are any problems, they can be modified as soon as possible.
Therefore, Meng Jun appointed the crown prince as regent, and asked important ministers such as Yang En, Wu Tai, and Li Weita to handle state affairs. Except for urgent matters that required notifying Meng Jun who was on his southern tour, ordinary affairs were discussed and decided by the court cabinet.
The emperor was going to tour the south, so there were naturally some opponents among his ministers. However, Meng Jun ignored these memorials of opposition and immediately arranged for the imperial guards and accompanying officials to accompany him on the southern tour.
Meng Jun's prestige was enough to silence his opponents. As Meng Jun's order was issued, the personnel and carriages had been assembled in less than half a month. Meng Jun did not hesitate and immediately ordered to set off. A large group of people and horses surrounded the emperor's carriage, and the imperial guards were all strong and brave men. For a time, the momentum was huge.
In the past two years, the Qian Dynasty implemented the salt and iron monopoly, the land-based tax, and the unified tax payment by officials and gentry. The power of large landowners, wealthy businessmen, and gentry was greatly restricted, but Meng Jun knew that where there is a policy from the top, there must be a countermeasure from the bottom.
Therefore, if Meng Jun wanted to truly know the local situation, he naturally could not make a big fuss, otherwise he would only know what was on the surface. However, the journey from the capital to Jiangnan is long, and with fewer people, the danger increases.
In order to avoid risks, the Southern Tour team was huge. After the Southern Tour team entered Shandong, Meng Jun left the team and walked in front of the team.
Since they wanted to conduct a secret investigation, Meng Jun was only surrounded by the secret protection of the Qingluan Guards, as well as Shen Congwen, the imperial guard general Yu An, and Lu Ping, who played the roles of a merchant, an accountant, a guard, and a follower respectively. The four of them rented a donkey cart and entered Jining City.
During the Northern Expedition, Zhao Yongping used a large amount of gunpowder to blow up the city of Jining. But after so many years, the gap created by the gunpowder has long been repaired.
Meng Jun and his two companions entered the city, which was naturally prosperous. Seeing this, Shen Congwen whispered to Meng Jun: "Your Majesty... Shopkeeper, it seems that the people are living a good life."
Meng Jun looked at the busy crowd and sighed, "They can do even better!"
Compared with the war-torn times, the peaceful times are certainly much better, but if compared with the life in later generations, at least, later generations will not have to worry about food and clothing.
But one generation cannot accomplish the work of ten generations. Meng Jun's lifelong efforts may only lay a foundation for future generations to be proud of, or lay a foundation for science and technology. Maybe he can see a steam engine in his lifetime, but even so, he cannot be sure that at that time, the people of the Qian Dynasty will really have no worries about food and clothing.
The four of them squeezed together in the car, which really made Meng Jun feel a little crowded. He hadn't had such an uncomfortable experience of traveling on the road for many years.
The hired driver was a middle-aged man in his forties, from Jining. Hearing the southern accents of Meng Jun and the others, he asked curiously if they were businessmen.
After hearing Meng Jun's confirmation, he said with some envy: "Businessmen in the south are all very rich."
Meng Jun laughed and said, "No, I'm just a small businessman who travels all over the country."
Several people were chatting casually in the car. Through getting to know each other, Meng Jun learned that the man's surname was Sun and his family had some land. Now was the slack season for farmers, so he took advantage of this time to drive the car and earn some money to supplement his family income.
After the man surnamed Sun and Meng Jun got to know each other well, he started to talk a lot. He talked about his life now and in the past. "Back then, my ancestors were also wealthy and had a lot of land. Later, for some reason, they donated it to Confucius' family. Every year, they gave the family some silver, food, chickens, ducks, pigs, sheep, etc., and we were able to make a living."
Hearing this, Lu Ping asked curiously, "Now that the Kong family has been confiscated, the land should have been returned to everyone, and life should be very prosperous. Why are you still driving a cart?"
Driver Sun turned his head and glanced at Lu Ping, then sighed and said, "Well, that's true, but the deeds of our family's land are all in the Saint's Palace. The government searched our house and the deeds disappeared. We couldn't produce any evidence to prove it, so many of the lands became government farmland. The government only returned my family's 25 acres of land to me after the villagers proved it, and because my family has no land."
At this time Meng Jun asked: "How many acres of land did your ancestors have?"
Driver Sun said with some pride: "That's a lot, at least 700 to 800 acres of land."
Shen Congwen nodded when he heard this and said, "So, it is indeed a little too little."
Driver Sun was a little embarrassed and said, "Not really. I have four brothers in my family, and my father has six brothers. The government not only divided my family, but seventeen or eighteen families in total."
Everyone understood what he said. Even a large family with a lot of wealth could not withstand the division and inheritance of many generations of descendants. So it seemed that the local government's distribution of land was not unreasonable.
You won't be able to reveal any problems by just walking around the place in a hurry. Instead, you can better understand the quality of the local government's governance by talking to the local people.
At this time, Meng Jun suddenly asked: "Brother, do you think it was better before or now?"
Driver Sun waved his whip and said with a smile, "Of course it's better now. As the saying goes, it's better to be a dog in peacetime than a man in troubled times. In the early Ming Dynasty, the Tartar invaded and the bandits rebelled. Every time they killed people, corpses were everywhere. We are still alive to see the peaceful and prosperous times. That's already a favor from God."