Chapter 2098 Flower War (6)

   There is a folk proverb: In the three years of the Qing Dynasty, one hundred thousand snowflakes of silver.

  The salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty were set very low. Many low-level officials could hardly make a living on their salaries, while it was impossible for high-level officials to rely on their salaries to maintain a life that was more in line with their status. After all, there were still a small number of "sages".

Therefore, most local officials will increase their actual income from the local tax interception, while Beijing officials will receive a lot of "filial" money from local officials. "Teacher", give the teacher a small gift to show your affection, which is in line with etiquette and closeness.

The so-called fire consumption refers to the part of the metal that is lost when casting money, usually referring to the consumption when scrap silver is recast into silver ingots. It was ordered to regulate, but it was of no use. After Yongzheng came to power, he implemented the "return of fire to the public".

Due to the regulations of "ancestral system", the Ming Dynasty was always short of silver, and the people were not allowed to mine silver mines privately. This led to the Ming Dynasty having less silver and more materials, while Japan's silver production was in short supply. If the two communicated with each other, It can promote foreign trade, but the problem of "Japanese pirates" makes this impossible. When Zhu Zhanji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty, came to the throne, the Ministry of Household issued a letter to stop treasure banknotes and use pepper to distribute salaries for officials, and these peppers happened to be Zheng He. Every time I go to the West, I will definitely bring it back.

With the size of the ship in the Ming Dynasty, the peppers brought back were all in the millions of kilograms, and the treasury had to find a place to store it. It happened that the Ministry of Household was devastated by the increasingly depreciated treasure notes. Compared with that page of mulberry paper. , Pepper still has some real value, so pepper often appears in front of officials on payday.

   Originally issued Daming treasure banknotes because of insufficient currency, and the Ministry of Household took back a large number of treasure banknotes and distributed pepper, and pepper was explicitly prohibited from private transactions.

The officials got the pepper salary, and if they got rid of their own households, they would definitely find a way to realize it. At this time, there were businessmen who received pepper. This not only violated the emperor's order, but also returned pepper to the market as a commodity, not currency, and also That is to say, the money became less, and to the point of deflation, the price of goods in the Ming Dynasty began to fall, and finally the court ordered that the rice of the land tax in Guangxi and other places be exchanged for silver.

Pepper was once used as currency in Europe, but Zheng He's voyages to the West to buy so much pepper at one time led to the scarcity of pepper in South Asia, and the price soared. European lords had to spend more money on spices and luxury goods, which accelerated Europe's the outflow of silver, and for a time it seemed as if the whole world was in a trade recession. So many navigators such as Columbus and Da Gama began to set sail to find the "East" where gold and spices are everywhere, but the "East" was not found. Instead, they found the New World and South America, which produced silver mines.

   Zheng He went to the West to buy pepper, and Europe also bought pepper in South Asia, so all the silver is concentrated in South Asia?

Spain discovered that the Ming Dynasty had almost unlimited demand for silver, and they could not only meet this supply, but also solve their domestic silver surplus problem, so a large inflow of silver in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty was established at this time. With the parallel circulation system of silver and money, silver officially became legal tender.

  The East Asian Tribute System is also known as the Mandala System. Not only small countries will pay tribute to the Celestial Dynasty, but Southeast Asian countries will also pay tribute to each other due to their disparity in strength. With the export of Indian culture, a Sanskrit and Buddhism-centered, multi-layered international order system has been formed. Even if the actual control area of ​​the king is small, through the recognition and allegiance of local strength, the territory can appear very large, and this One point just happened to overlap with the British Leviathan structure.

As long as all participants feel fair, it is not unfair to each of them. The UK believes in "free trade" and "free competition", but in fact it is "fairness" in the style of going up the stairs. When they have a monopoly and then compete with the backward countries for market share, the end result will be the same as in France, with local handicrafts going bankrupt and British goods gaining a market that can be freely plundered.

For example, Thailand and Myanmar, both of which have paid tribute to the Celestial Dynasty, are a pair of evenly matched opponents in the Indo-China Peninsula. In addition, the "white elephant" worship is popular in the Indo-China Peninsula. The white elephant is regarded as a symbol of royal power, so the Thai-Myanmar war is often It was caused by one party forcibly asking the other party for a white elephant, but in the early days of Myanmar’s strong national strength, Thailand was repeatedly at a disadvantage, and was invaded by the national capital many times, and the small neighboring countries belonging to Thailand also immediately paid tribute to Myanmar.

In Buddhism, the mandala represents a near-infinite worldview. This unstable, fluid mandala structure gives Southeast Asians a deeper understanding of the fluidity of the world order. Tribute to the powerful is not particularly important. On the contrary, it is possible to obtain corresponding commercial interests or political help with the help of tribute.

   And North Korea has never changed into the costumes of the Ming Dynasty, and when they go to pay tribute, it is not "to the sky", but "swallows". It may be that only Zungar paid tribute sincerely, but this kind of tribute is similar to that of Southeast Asia. They are all for commercial interests, as well as marrying a princess. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are surrounded by wolves.

Not only are there hungry wolves abroad, but there are also a group of hungry men in China. The imperial examination is the only way for a "scholar" to be promoted. Generally speaking, it takes place once every three years. Juren means those who are recommended to participate in the imperial examination. Those who participated in the imperial examination could only participate in the rural examination. The number of people in each imperial examination is about 3,000 to 4,000, and sometimes more, reaching 6,000. Among the 3,000 people, 300 jinshi are selected, and the jinshi is to participate in the palace examination. If the emperor is in a bad mood, there may be no 300 people. .

   In the 33rd year of Qianlong’s reign, Juren was preparing for the exam in Yanjiao. He entered Beijing a year earlier to avoid being affected by the environment and conditions. It was only later that he learned that he participated in the Spring Festival in the same year as Heshen and Zhongtang.

He has heard about the fraud in the field. Not only has he heard about it, but he has also participated in taking the test for others, but it was only when he could not survive and was in desperate need of money. young people take the exam.

   In 1768, when he was still young, he participated in the imperial examination for the first time. He was full of confidence and full of confidence. Saying that he was preparing for the examination in advance was actually going to Beijing to play.

  The scorching summer was over at that time, and when the autumn came, he was raising a glass with his friends in the restaurant, but he did not expect to suddenly receive bad news that the Governor of Zhili "left".

Death is a taboo. "Going" means death. It is not uncommon to die of illness while in office. Many officials died of illness while in office. …

Before he could discuss it carefully with his friends, another news came. There was a student from Shanxi. He carried a "reverse book" and a paper to expose the anti-book, and beat drums at the gate of the court. , to disclose his uncle's intention to rebel.

The   Military Aircraft Department immediately sent people to Shanxi to investigate with Governor Surde. The officials searched Zhang Ruzhao's house, but found no evidence of treason. The uncle of the student was wronged, and even the father of the student didn't know about it.

  In the absence of this certificate, the student admitted the whole story.

  The birth worker Zhang Tingrui confessed that his uncle Zhang Ruzhao and his wife monopolized the family property. His parents were cowardly and had been bullied by them for many years.

  The ministers of military and aircraft do not believe that treason is a heinous crime, so they sue uncle for the sake of family property? Also involved so many people?

  Conversely, if Zhang Tingrui's report is successful, then he can directly become an official without taking part in the imperial examination. Even if he is a county magistrate, he is still much better than Juren, and he is still a poor Juren, right?

This is called a success of a thousand bones. Unfortunately, Zhang Tingrui did not hold the pressure, recruited himself, and did not continue to make up stories. He should read more about the "Luo Zhijing" written by Lai Junchen, a cruel official during the Wu Zetian period, which teaches how to fabricate crimes, Arranged plots to frame innocent people.

   Qianlong issued a decree that the false accusation was true, and he was sentenced to capital punishment. There is no need to wait until after the autumn, it is autumn now, and it is not the execution of the decision, but the death of the late, unfilial is already a big crime, falsely accusing the family and wanting to take credit for his own prosperity, shouldn't this kind of person be cut with a thousand swords?

  The imperial examinations drove people crazy. If they weren't crazy, how could anyone come up with such an idea?

   "Do you think I'm crazy?"

   He laughed and asked Nick, one of his front teeth was missing, and it was still yellow.

  Nick made no comments.

   So he continued to tell the "story" that happened when he was young.

   (end of this chapter)