Regarding Chongzhen's question, Lu Chengyuan, Qian Shisheng and other officials immediately opened their mouths and didn't know how to answer, these officials have always disliked to look through the account books of money and grain.

They regarded the officials close to the people as lay officials, and regarded themselves as the clear stream that upheld the righteousness of the imperial court. Although they love money, they regard it as a thing and are ashamed to keep money accounts on their lips.

They probably know how much a garden, a calligraphy and painting, and a piece of good ink are worth, but they rarely pay attention to how an ordinary person's life is lived.

They may sympathize with the suffering of the small people and recite two sentences: "On the afternoon of hoeing day, sweat drops fall into the soil." Who knows that Chinese food is hard work. "But I will never come to the side of a commoner and ask him how his life is, and that he may have enough to eat after a year's hard work.

In the minds of these officials, the people should be an illusory concept, not the slaves and tenant farmers who live by their side.

For example, they can stand in the palace of the emperor and accuse Chongzhen of competing with the people for profit, but in the end, they will not release a slave and maid for their own morality, and exempt the rent of an acre of land.

If it wasn't the emperor who asked them this question, I'm afraid these officials would have jumped up and scolded Chongzhen for a couple of sentences, "The gentleman is righteous, and the villain is Yili", and then they would cut off their robes with him.

And even if Chongzhen was educated by Chongzhen at the beginning of the year with "Wan Agency Miscellaneous Notes", maybe some officials in the capital will indeed understand the price in order to deal with Chongzhen's possible inquiries, so as to get a chance to rise to the top.

However, these self-proclaimed officials did not bother to do such things, and they were more eager to establish their own reputation for being upright and outspoken by challenging the emperor or the ruling ministers than Chongzhen's appreciation.

In fact, regarding the income of the people of the Ming Dynasty, except for a few officials in the household department, other people in the palace are also not very clear.

Perhaps the Ministry of Industry and some low-level officials can understand the prices in the market, but without the data of the Ministry of Households, they also cannot know what the average annual income of the Ming people is.

Chongzhen waited for a while, and saw that no one said anything from the officials kneeling there below, so he continued: "The salary of an ordinary male worker in the capital is about one dime and five cents a day, a month's salary is 4 yuan and 2 jiao, and the annual income is 50 yuan and 4 dimes.

The salary of an ordinary female worker is about one dime and two cents a day, a monthly salary of 3 yuan and 4 jiao, and a year's income of 40 yuan and 8 jiao.

According to a survey by the Daming Times, the average annual income of each household in Beijing this year should be 56 yuan, while the average annual income of each household in Shuntian is 44 yuan.

In the past three years, the average annual income per household in Beijing has been 40 yuan, while the average annual income per household in Shuncheon Province has been 32 yuan. That's what you say, the inner government looted the people's money? ”

The atmosphere in the Imperial Palace suddenly became a little weird, although the officials kneeling in the middle of the main hall had no sound, and many of the officials standing on both sides lowered their heads, trying to avoid the emperor's sight.

"This, if this income goes up, it may not mean that the people's lives are better." Qian Shisheng, who was kneeling at the front, finally opened his mouth and hit Chongzhen hard. The matter has come to this point, and as the main person who initiated this matter, he cannot sit back and watch the group exhortation incident he launched to become a laughing stock in the eyes of the world.

On both sides of Qian Shisheng, kneeling Lu Chengyuan, Wang Shoulu, and Qian Yuanxuan, although they did not say anything to respond to Qian Shisheng, but the waist that was originally bent down couldn't help but straighten a little.

The three of them had the same thought in their hearts, if Chongzhen's problem could be resisted by Qian Shisheng like this, then they would have a chance to turn over.

However, before the three of them could figure out how to respond to Qian Shisheng's words, Chongzhen had already said to Qian Shisheng with a slight mockery: "That's right, the increase in income may not be able to bring about an increase in living standards, it seems that you are not a wooden clay sculpture that does not know the fireworks in the world."

Then I will ask you again, tell me, how much does my family of five need to spend in a year to solve the problem of food and clothing? ”

Lu Chengyuan, Wang Shoulu, and Qian Yuanyu's originally upright upper bodies suddenly froze, and even Qian Shisheng, who wanted to force Chongzhen, was stunned by Chongzhen's questioning.

As an emperor, Chongzhen does not cultivate virtue, does not read sage books, and actually thinks about the life of these trivial people all day long, which makes a clean stream official feel very desperate.

Zhu Youzhen stared at Qian Shisheng, who was speechless with a depressed face, for a long time, before he said expressionlessly: "There is a folk proverb: if you are not hungry, you will not be satisfied, and you will have three stones a year. Based on the calculation of a family of five, it consumes 15 stone of grain a year, which can be regarded as solving the problem of eating.

This year, wheat and corn in the capital are both one yuan and one stone, and rice is one yuan and five cents and one stone. 15 stone of wheat is 15 yuan, and 15 stone of rice is 225 yuan.

After talking about eating, let's talk about dressing. Each person has a set of clothes, from the inside to the outside to buy a body, about 2 pieces of Songjiang standard cloth, about 1 piece of Beijing standard cloth. The former is 4 corners and 5 points a horse, and the latter is 9 corners a horse.

That is to say, each person buys a set of clothes, which is 4 yuan and 5 dimes. Coupled with the previous meal expenses, they were 19 yuan, 5 dimes and 27 yuan respectively.

In addition to food and clothing, a family always needs some other necessary expenses, whether it is oil, salt, vinegar, tea, or pots, bowls, scoops, and basins, it always costs money. This part of the expenditure is calculated as 4 yuan.

Then these two figures become 23 yuan 5 jiao and 31 yuan, plus the cost of medicine that you may need to spend on getting sick, that is 25 yuan and 32 yuan 5 jiao.

In other words, the minimum need to maintain the survival of a family of five is an annual income of not less than 25 yuan. If you want to live a little more comfortably, your annual income must be at least 32 yuan.

In the past three years, the people in the capital have been above the food and clothing line, but the people in Shuntianfu outside the capital are just barely surviving.

Now tell me about it, where did the inner government loot the people's wealth? ”

As Chongzhen slowly recounted the various livelihood data in his mouth, the waist of the clear stream kneeling in the hall finally bent down again, and even Qian Shisheng did not have the confidence to look at the emperor at this time.

Naturally, no one answered Chongzhen's question, and the atmosphere in the hall seemed to be becoming more and more solemn, and many officials even held back their coughs.

Liu Zongzhou looked at Chongzhen in the hall, and then at the Qingliu officials in front of him, and couldn't help but want to come out to defend these people.

But as soon as he moved, Chongzhen had already asked these officials again: "Since you can't tell what the inner government has looted from there, then tell me what kind of people are being fought for by the inner government?" ”

Hearing this question, Qian Shisheng couldn't help but look up, and looked up at Chongzhen to justify: "This inner government interfered in the purchase of Jiangnan raw silk and set up a raw silk market, and it had to force Jiangnan silk farmers to enter the market, and Jiangnan silk merchants suffered greatly.

Isn't this raw silk market competing with the people for profit by buying the silk farmers' silk at a lower price, and then selling the silk to the silk merchants at a higher price? ”

Qian Shisheng's voice was inexplicably sad and indignant, and suddenly made his colleagues behind him feel the same hatred. Most of these officials were born in the south of the Yangtze River, and their families were either large families that grew mulberry and silkworms, or they had shops that operated silk and satin weaving.

As soon as this raw silk market opened, the position of the family behind them in the past to earn the difference in the price of raw silk in their hometown was immediately shaken.

This is also why so many officials have jumped out today to advise Chongzhen to read more sage books, practice more of his own virtues, and not indulge in money.

They listened to Qian Shisheng's words, and suddenly felt that the emperor should always back down a little in the face of the facts, but things didn't seem to be developing in the direction they imagined.

Zhu Youzhen turned his head sideways and looked at Guo Yunhou on the left and asked: "Didn't the household department send personnel to supervise the raw silk market, and this raw silk market has the phenomenon of forced buying and selling?" ”

Guo Yunhou replied without hesitation: "Back to Your Majesty, there is no such thing." The raw silk trade has always been huge, and it is the main income of the households in the south of the Yangtze River.

Therefore, after receiving His Majesty's edict, the minister did not dare to slack off, and specially selected 2 officials to go to Huzhou to take care of the establishment of the raw silk market.

As far as the minister knows, before the establishment of the raw silk market, the raw silk in all parts of the Yangtze River was purchased by silk merchants, and people from all over the country ran for silk merchants to collect raw silk from households.

If the silk merchant is delayed, and the household is in a hurry to pay the tax, they have to mortgage their raw silk to the Chinese, or borrow money to pay the tax, or sell it at a low price.

In previous years, in addition to the lake silk, the price of raw silk sold by households in various parts of the Yangtze River ranged from 30 taels per quintal to 36 taels per quintal according to the quality of raw silk, and the price of lake silk was one-third higher than that of ordinary raw silk.

The silk traders sell silk in other places, generally 05-06 taels per catty of raw silk. It can be seen that although this raw silk is profitable, most of it is made for silk merchants and Chinese.

After the establishment of the raw silk market, it coincided with the flood in the Hangjiahu area. In order to help the victims rebuild their homes, the raw silk market decided to raise the price of silk and buy cocoons.

According to the quality of raw silk sent to the market, lake silk is divided into special grade and first grade, and other raw silk is second, third and fourth.

The prices of ordinary raw silk in the second, third, and fourth grades are two per catty. The lake silk is 09, 1 tael per catty. This is the guaranteed purchase price of the raw silk market for farmers.

If the farmer is not willing to sell at this price, he can also sell it to the merchant who buys the raw silk in the raw silk market. According to the data obtained by Chen, the highest transaction price of ordinary raw silk this year is 70 taels, and the highest price of lake silk is 110 taels.

If there is a strong buying and selling of raw silk in the market, how can the price be much higher than in the past? Most of those silk merchants bought raw silk from farmers, how did it become a forced sale in the raw silk market? ”