Sun Yuan Hua was good at making cannons, which showed that he had a deep understanding of machinery, smelting, and other industries. It was precisely because of this understanding that he was even more aware of how difficult it was to create something that was worth tens of thousands or even millions of silver coins. This level of technical ability was too terrifying. Previously, the creation of tens of thousands of identical wooden bowls was already astonishing, but now, the creation of silver coins was unimaginable.
"If I can learn this ability of the Revolutionary Army, I, Daming, will definitely revive." Sun Yuanhua walked out of the bank with more than 150 silver dollars in his hand. He was a little lost but secretly encouraged himself, "This Revolutionary Army can't be regarded as an ordinary rebel. They are already a great enemy of a country." But if they can do it, there's no reason why I, Daming, can't do it. Don't belittle yourself. "
Sun Yuan Hua's heart was heavy, but he still had a backbone. He passed by a teahouse on the street and casually walked in and sat down. The waiter of the teahouse came up to serve the tea. He specially mentioned that today's storytelling in the teahouse was wonderful and invited the guest to stay and listen.
"Oh …. What kind of books do you have in this teahouse?" Sun Yuan Hua felt depressed and wanted to find a place to relieve himself. The art of storytelling had its embryonic form since the Song Dynasty, and it flourished during the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty. However, the list of books that people would be familiar with in the future was still nowhere to be seen.
"This is the Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties. This book is good. It talks about the muddle-headed ruler of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Guang. He cruelly harmed the loyal and good people, preyed on the common people, and caused the land to be filled with refugees. The people had no way to make a living, and the Anti-Sui Rebellion Army rose up. In the end, Li Shimin, the King of Qin, established the Tang Dynasty. " The waiter in the teahouse was overjoyed. "Today's song is' Qin Shubao cleaves Yuanjue with a mace, Cheng Yaojin settles the tile hill with three axes'. It sounds great!"
What … it's actually a book that talks about rebellion? Sun Yuanhua had listened to many plays and songs, but he had never thought of literary propaganda. But he wasn't a fool. He felt as if he was sitting on pins and needles, and a layer of sweat appeared on his forehead. The strong servant beside him quickly asked, "Master, are you feeling unwell?"
"Amazing, this move is amazing." Sun Yuan Hua thought to himself, "Where do you feel uncomfortable? I haven't felt comfortable since I entered the city. This traitor's ability to beguile people's hearts was simply out of this world. This must be the Revolutionary Army's deliberate invitation to buy people's hearts. They are talking about the Sui and Tang Dynasties, isn't it reflecting the current dynasty? Unfortunately, there are many bad policies in this dynasty, making it hard for people to defend themselves. In the long run, the people's hearts will be shaken. "
This storyteller was really the idea of Chief Mu Sinian of the Revolutionary Army's Propaganda Department. The storytelling book was provided by the Minister of Education, Yin Hu. Not just the Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties, but also Shuo Yue's Complete Biography, Water Margin, Three Heroes and Five Righteous, and so on. It wasn't a story of resisting an incapable ruler or fighting against foreign races, but a story of eradicating evil and saving the world.
This kind of happy and carefree story just happened to be in line with this era. It became a channel for the people at the bottom of society to vent their hatred and hostility. The common people loved to hear it. Coupled with the many policies of the Revolutionary Army to clean up the society, this was much more acceptable than the official Daming's dogmatic talk about 'Heaven, Earth, King, Family and Teacher'.
Sun Yuanhua didn't leave. He ordered a pot of tea and a few dishes, then sat down and listened. The storyteller in the teahouse was really good, and the story was wonderful. It was a time-tested story that made people's blood boil. Qin Qiong and Cheng Yaojin were both characters that the common people were familiar with. As the story reached its climax, the audience cheered for it.
The teahouse waiter was right. Today's story was really good. After the story was finished, the people in the teahouse still wanted to continue. Sun Yuanhua also followed the rhythm of the storyteller's voice and was immersed in the story. When the storyteller said, "Let's listen to the next part." He couldn't help but sigh. "Sigh … the affairs of the country are difficult, the affairs of the country are difficult."
Just when Sun Yuanhua was about to pay the bill and leave, he heard the people in the teahouse chatting about the changes in Tianjin City. He stopped and wanted to listen carefully to understand the public opinion of Tianjin City. Someone said, "Recently, there has been a lot of hiring. There are roads being built in and outside the city. The refugees from other places have jobs, and the market is much more stable than before. "
"That's true. The 'Revolutionary Army' is providing work for people. As long as they come to Tianjin, they will have food to eat. They said that they want to build a 'beautiful Tianjin'. Recently, a few houses were demolished at the intersection of our house just to build a stone road with a drain. Now, it is about 20 to 30 feet wide. The ground is really flat and comfortable to walk on. "
"Don't the people whose houses were demolished make a fuss?"
"What's there to make a fuss about? The shacks in the city are demolished, and the people living in them are poor. They are the priority in hiring. Their families are taken care of, and there are new houses to live in. They can't wait to demolish their houses. "
"I personally went to see the matter of demolishing houses and replacing them with new ones. A two-story house is good. It is big and spacious. There was a well, a toilet, and some sort of 'living facilities' that were specially built. Sigh … this' Revolutionary Army 'Grand Marshal always does things that people don't understand, but the things that he does make people like it. "
"But this is a stone road and a two-story house. How much will it cost?"
"That's going to be expensive. Take that stone road for example. It's not a real stone road. It's made of mirage ash. It's the ash of burnt oyster shells mixed with lime and used to mop the ground. It's very hard after it dries, so it's very useful. I heard the people at the construction site call it 'cement'. It's also a word that people don't understand. "
"I've heard of this. Some places by the sea have oyster shells piled up like a mountain. It's said that it was accumulated for decades or even centuries. In the past, few people thought of burning them to ashes because they didn't have enough firewood. But this' Revolutionary Army 'just did it. "
"There have been a lot of strange things recently. The inns in the city have been reorganized. Did you know? Chief Ma of the police station was ordered by the Grand Marshal to replan the 'car and ship shop' and other industries to eradicate all social instability. Not long ago, the city was too chaotic. Other than the Beggar Leader's instigation, it was these people from the underworld. Now these people are all out of luck. "
This was surprising. There wasn't much news about it.
In ancient times, there was a saying that 'car and ship shop shop workers should be killed even if they're not guilty'. It was about the large number of criminal activities hidden in the service industry of transportation and accommodation. Just like the bandits of later generations, they were the big brothers of society. On the other hand, the 'ivory merchants' were commercial intermediaries supported by the government, and they were local merchants. Foreign traders had to sell their goods to them at a low price. Otherwise, there would be all kinds of trouble or even death.
The 'Revolutionary Army' was reorganizing the business environment. The 'ivory merchants' in the past still wanted to retain their privileges. Ma Keshi, Eunuch Ma, actively understood the essence of the Grand Marshal's social management and directly cleaned up these social scum. The retained parts also had to be registered and managed in a standardized manner. Social chaos was not allowed.
A tea guest quickly echoed, "It's a good thing that the ivory merchants were cleaned up. The prices on the market immediately dropped by 30%. Think about how much dirty money those guys made in the past. Traders from other places heard that there were no more ivory merchants in Tianjin, so they all rushed over. I think the prices will drop even more next month. "
Another tea guest laughed and said, "I heard that just the big ivory merchants in Tianjin got more than a million taels of silver from them. There were also fields, real estate, gold, silver, and jewelry. Chief Ma of the police station was very happy. "
The goods that the 'Revolutionary Army' transported from Liaodong to Tianjin had to be sold to the Zheng family in Tianjin. The purchases also had to be bought from the Zheng family. If Wang Kai wanted to contact other merchants in Tianjin, he couldn't do it. It was against the rules!
Now it was great. Emperor Wanli was dead. The Zheng Guozhang was completely tricked by Zhou Qingfeng. The bullsh * t rules were all invalid. Even if they knew that Tianjin was controlled by the rebels, all the merchants in North Zhili were now moving after hearing the news. They all wanted to make a big profit.
Listening to the tea guests talking about these drawbacks that had existed for many years but were hard to get rid of, Sun Yuan Hua felt helpless. He could imagine himself writing notes at night. He would definitely use an envious and uncomfortable tone to record this matter. The 'Revolutionary Army' was new and had nothing to do with the old forces. They could happily wipe out all the evil in this world. Daming … The evil had already penetrated deep into his bones.
Sun Yuan Hua was sighing when he heard someone shout in a disdainful low voice, "You mortals only know how to lick the rebel's eyes and say good things, but you don't know that this rebel's evil is monstrous. He wants to destroy the ethics of the world."
When everyone in the tea house heard this, they all fell silent.
The one who spoke was a scholar who was down and out. He leaned on the table and drank. He muttered drunkenly, "When this rebel comes, the scholars have no way to survive. In the past, when the imperial court was still around, we still had some rice every month. Now the rebel has nothing. Without the assistance of us scholars and the support of the country gentry, this rebel can forget about lasting long.
Also, when this rebel comes, the taxes collected are several times more than in the past. Emperor Taizu set a tax of one out of thirty, but this rebel wants to pay ten out of ten. He even wants to set up a special tax bureau to collect taxes according to the revenue. Exploiting the people like this and offending the peddlers, it won't be long before business is banned.
Daming and the imperial court all know about the situation in this city. Now that the new emperor has ascended to the throne, he immediately opened Enke's office to recruit the talents of the world. He wants to do something big. This rebel only knows how to play tricks to bewitch the ignorant people. How capable can he be? All of you are saying good things about the rebel now. In the future, when Daming's heavenly army attacks, he will settle the score with all of you sooner or later. "
Daming's power was not over yet. When the people in the tea house heard the words of this down and out scholar, they all fell silent. They all paid and left like they were fleeing. On the other hand, when Sun Yuan Hua heard this, sparks were ignited in his heart. He felt that this drunk scholar had some penetrating insight and was someone he could fight for.
When the waiter of the tea house saw the customers leaving, he anxiously urged them to stay. He even scolded the down and out scholar, wanting to chase him away. The scholar said a few words of disdain and stood up shakily with a wine bottle. He walked along the corner of the street, not knowing where he was going.
Sun Yuan Hua came out of the tea house and let the strong servant follow the down and out scholar for a distance. After making sure that no one was watching, he quickly went forward and cupped his hands to ask, "Brother, my surname is Sun. Just now in the tea house, I heard that you seemed to have a big talk that you haven't finished, so I want to clarify."
The down and out scholar looked back and said with a sneer, "What big talk do I have? I just have some complaints about these rebel thieves. "
"Other than what you said just now, did the 'Revolutionary Army' in the city do any other evil things to disturb the people?" Sun Yuan Hua asked shamelessly.
"Whether they did evil or not, I don't know. But the official school in the city is a great hatred in my heart. "
"What's wrong with the official school?"
"I don't know what's wrong with that group of rebel thieves. They actually recruited a group of peddlers and even the children of the peasants to go to the same school as us, the children of good families. The courses they teach are also very vulgar. They don't learn the Four Books and Five Classics, they don't talk about the words of the saints, they only learn some useless words and formulas. My classmates and I jointly wrote a petition, asking the rebel thieves to treat the scholars well, but we were actually beaten out by the rebel thieves. "
When the down and out scholar said this, his face twisted with anger and he cursed a few times. He said again, "Not only that, the rebel thieves even made the school coed. They also recruited some women to study in the school, but they didn't read the 'Women's Teachings' or other books on how to educate good wives and mothers. Instead, they shouted nonsense about 'equality between men and women' every day. It's really hateful.
The rebel thieves not only let women study, be soldiers, and be officials, but they even want to bind their feet. The day before yesterday, I bound my own girl's feet, and the girl cried a little too loudly, causing the neighbors to call the police. They actually came to my door.
Those policemen followed a group of people from the so-called 'Women's Federation'. They were like wolves and tigers like the government runners in the past. They even said that if I hurt women again, they would break my feet and bind them. They stripped me, a scholar, of all my dignity in front of all my neighbors. I only hate that I don't have the strength to truss a chicken. Otherwise, I would definitely fight to the death with those rebel thieves. "
The more the down and out scholar talked, the angrier he got, the more he cried. In the last gulp, he emptied the wine bottle and sat on the ground, wailing incessantly. Sun Yuan Hua listened to his story with fear and trepidation, as if his own family had suffered the same tragedy. "The rebel thieves are really hateful. They actually did so many things that go against human morality. Brother, don't cry. Why don't you go to the capital and hide for a while? It'll be better than suffering again. "
"The capital? I won't go, I won't go! " The down and out scholar shook his head repeatedly. "I don't have the support of the imperial court. My family's expenses are earned by my wife working for the rebel thieves. If I go to the capital, I will have no one to rely on. The Ming court is filled with corrupt officials like wolves and evil officials like tigers. My whole family will starve to death. It's better to stay in Tianjin. Only a fool would go to the capital. "
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