Chapter 20 Royal Exposition
The Daming Gate area has always been the most prosperous area in the capital city of the Ming Dynasty. Merchants gathered in this area, with a dazzling array of shops. The natural flow of people was also very large. From officials and dignitaries to traders and pawns, people from the south and north gathered here, and people coming from Tongzhou gathered here. The goods are basically gathered here.
Zhu Houzhao now asked people to build a high platform in front of the first floor pavilion in the center of Qipan Street, which has the most traffic in Daming Gate. The high platform was covered with a red carpet and placed a gilt dragon chair and throne.
Zhu Houzhao was sitting on the dragon chair, wearing a yellow robe and a mourning robe, with a kind face and a smile.
Even if he didn't let Liu Jin yell at this moment, the people of the Ming Dynasty who were coming and going were already attracted by the scene, because even if they had never seen Zhu Houzhao, they knew that besides the Emperor of Ming Dynasty, there were people who could sit on the gilded throne and wear yellow dragon robes. How could anyone be so bold?
"Your Majesty, that's your Majesty!"
Already the people shouted in surprise.
Then, more and more people gathered here consciously.
The Ming Dynasty is still popular among the people. Seeing this, the people even knelt down:
"Long live my emperor! Long live!"
"Long live my emperor! Long live!"
"Long live my emperor! Long live!"
Although these common people don't know why the emperor appears here, it is always right to worship him, just like meeting a Bodhisattva and not knowing what kind of Bodhisattva it is, but it is always right to worship him.
People who had already walked away rushed out after noticing the emperor was here.
Those who ate and drank in the tea house and restaurant also paid their bills and ran out in a hurry.
Even the scholars who were hugging the girl in the brothel put down their confidante and rushed over, and some even ran over with their confidante.
"The Emperor has come to Daming Gate, come and see!"
"Oh my god, why is the emperor here!"
"The sun is really rising in the west, and I, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, actually appeared at the Ming Dynasty Gate!"
……
For a time, people had consciously spread the word by word of mouth, so more and more people heard that the Ming Emperor Zhu Houzhao appeared at Daming Gate. Some merchants even closed their stores just to have a look at the Ming Emperor.
Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but smile when he saw about ten layers of people in front of the half-foot-high stage, all kowtowing and kneeling to him. He felt that he was like a big star in future generations, and he offended countless people when he appeared. They screamed and shouted, causing the streets to be deserted.
Liu Jin stood up at this time, holding a brass loudspeaker made by the Royal Industrial Laboratory and shouted: "Everyone! Please be quiet. As you can see, the one sitting in front of you now is me, the Ming Emperor! He is ours Emperor! Please give us a speech now. Please join our family in saying long live! ”
"Long live!"
"Long live!"
"Long live!"
Liu Jin's roar made the excited people of Ming Dynasty feel like they were beaten to blood again, and they started shouting "Long Live the Mountain" again!
Zhu Houzhao stood up, smiled and made a pressing gesture, and took the brass trumpet from Liu Jin's hand: "My people, please be quiet!"
When Zhu Houzhao roared like this, all the people stopped shouting and looked at Zhu Houzhao seriously one by one, because this opportunity was too rare. After all, for the ordinary people of Ming Dynasty, it was impossible to listen to the speech of the emperor or the speech of the county magistrate. It's difficult.
"I am here today outside the Ming Dynasty gate not to sit in the court and listen to politics, nor to listen to the voices of the people, but to open the first Royal Exposition that will continue the Ming Dynasty!"
As Zhu Houzhao spoke, he motioned to Wei Bin and Qiu Ju to open the red curtain behind him.
then. Wei Bin and Qiu Ju began to slowly open the red curtain.
The people in the audience were all staring at the slowly opening curtain. They were a little surprised when they heard that the emperor said that an expo was going to be held, wondering what the expo was. But when the red curtain opened, they saw The huge glass wall and the five gilt characters displayed in the center of the glass wall made everyone exclaim.
"Oh my God, it really looks royal! I, Xu Jing, have seen a lot, and I have never seen such a large piece of glass! And it's so pure and colorless!"
A middle-aged Confucian scholar named Xu Jing exclaimed.
"Not only that, the craftsmanship of the royal craftsmen of this palace is different. How the golden characters are embedded into the glass! It's amazing!"
There were also other people talking beside Xu Jing.
"This is even better than Western glass. As the name of the expo suggests, it should show some objects for us to see. Now this glass can be seen to be a very rare thing!"
"Stop talking! This kind of glass is worth thousands of taels of silver at least."
"More than a thousand, from my perspective, no less than a thousand taels!"
……
The people below looked curiously at the Ming Emperor Zhu Houzhao on the stage and the glass wall behind him.
At this time, Emperor Zhu Houzhao shouted again: "You think that since I am the Ming Emperor, I must be rich all over the world, but I tell you the truth, I am poor! The poor have not been able to eat big cakes for two months."
Some simple people didn't know that Zhu Houzhao didn't eat flatbreads. One of the butchers even said casually: "So miserable? I, a pork seller, can eat enough flatbreads stuffed with cabbage and meat. I can eat better than the emperor." ?”
"It was still a winter, the snowflakes were falling, and it was so cold that people shivered. At that time, I was still the prince, and the emperor was still the emperor. My father saw that I was very cold, so he asked the eunuch to find me a thick cotton coat to wear. But the imperial court was poor and could not find a thick cotton coat, but fortunately my father was still alive at that time, so except for the cold weather in winter, I had a carefree life. ”
Zhu Houzhao began to complain, and kept making up nonsense about how miserable he had been in the past, and then wiped his tears and said: "But who would have thought that his father would suddenly pass away, just like the children of you ordinary people's families. Same, no one cares about me anymore, ugh! I have no money to eat or buy clothes, and now that I have grown up, I want to marry a queen, just like you people, I have no money to marry a queen! "
"Also, I have to spend money to buy a coffin for my father to build a mausoleum for burial. Even if your parents are old, you have to do this. Besides, I am still the emperor, but I have no money. My father has not been buried yet, so why not?" My Qianqing Palace cannot block the rain in summer and the cold wind in winter, so I have to spend money to repair it. In short, I am poor!”
"So, I am going to hold a royal expo today. The purpose is to show you some of the treasures in the royal family. If you can afford it, buy these treasures back. It is equivalent to helping me, the emperor. , it can be regarded as helping me to be enlightened, I don’t want to increase taxes on the people to earn money to marry a wife and bury my father. This is the only way. If you want to say that I am a prodigal emperor, just say that I will live with it. As long as my father cannot be buried, let As long as I can’t marry the queen!”
The people in the audience were all surprised. They didn't expect that the Ming Emperor was so poor. He wanted to sell his family's treasures, marry the queen, and bury the late emperor.
The people of the Ming Dynasty were not as numb as they were in the Qing Dynasty. Now when they heard what the emperor said, some people who were more sympathetic had already started to wipe away their tears.
In addition, Gu Dayong also sent people as caretakers according to Zhu Houzhao's instructions, and said to the people: "This is really touching. You are my good emperor of the Ming Dynasty. I would rather A prodigal is unwilling to raise taxes even if he sells his royal treasure!”
"Isn't it? Moreover, our Ming Emperor sold the treasures in his house just to marry the queen and buy a coffin for the late emperor to bury! It can be seen that my Ming Emperor is not only a good emperor but also a filial son. I don't know if those husbands are blind or just making it up. They say that our emperor is a foolish emperor. If this kind of emperor is a foolish emperor, how can there be any good emperor in this world?”
Some common people listened to this discussion and echoed it with approval.
Of course, there are people who don't want to believe it. One of the merchants questioned: "How is this possible? We pay a lot of taxes every year. Nearly 30% of my family's income is given to the court, which is thousands of taels of silver. No matter how much the court pays, How can you be so poor if you can collect several million taels? "
Gu Da, who was pretending to be a sitter, shouted in a sharp voice: "Then let those corrupt officials get corrupted! The emperor is a good emperor, but these officials in the world may not be good officials, so those corrupt officials in the court are not necessarily good officials." one by one He is so rich that he eats delicacies every day and buys children and land. It is pitiful that our emperor is obviously a good emperor, but he has been turned into a cowardly tyrant by these corrupt officials who do not care about the people! "
The people at the bottom have natural illusions about the emperor. Even in the early stages of the uprising, many peasant rebels only shouted the name of killing corrupt officials. In their eyes, those who made them unable to survive were corrupt officials, rather than directly exploiting them. Their emperor would be sympathetic and at least view them as less bad.
So now that Gu Dayong said this, the people all felt that he was right, and began to say indignantly: "Yes, it is these corrupt officials who have caused the harm, and these corrupt officials should be killed. Not only has it made us poor, but it has also made us poor. Even the emperor is poor, the taxes we pay are not for them! They are for the emperor’s food!”
(End of chapter)