The carriage slowly drove into the county seat, and Zhou Yong knocked on the window of the car and reported in a low voice: "My lord, it's here." ”

Wang Xian said 'um', jumped out of the car with Lingxiao, and then helped the prince get out of the car.

Zhu Gaochi got out of the car and was stunned when he saw this county town for the first time - this is completely different from all the cities he has seen before! The dilapidated houses, the depressed markets, the scattered shops, and the ragged clothes all over the streets, the people, both men and women, are dished and listless, and the whole street looks lifeless.

"Brother Tai, what's going on?" Zhu Gaochi stopped a middle-aged man passing by and asked softly.

"......" The middle-aged man shook his head, looking dazed.

"Nothing happened," Zhu Gaochi said in disbelief, "Then why is everyone worried?" ”

The middle-aged man looked at Zhu Gaochi, and said with a weak laugh: "You are so rich, of course you are happy." We can't eat, what's there to be happy about? ”

"Why, has there been any famine?" Zhu Gaochi hurriedly asked.

"Don't curse us." The middle-aged man seemed to lack the strength to speak, shook his head and wanted to leave. Wang Xian stopped him, and the middle-aged man was just about to be unhappy, but when he saw a small piece of silver in Wang Xian's hand, he hurriedly took it and put it in his arms at a fast speed, and he also had the strength to speak: "If you go back to the master, this county will have good weather this year, and there will never be floods, droughts, and locust plagues." ”

"Then why can't you eat?" Zhu Gao was confused.

"You don't know the suffering of the people at first glance, walk around the east, west, north and south, and take a look, except for the prefectures and counties next to the canal, where is this not the case in the whole world?" The middle-aged man said bitterly: "I am busy all year round, and in the end I will take it all away from the government." I still have to serve three months of labor for nothing, is there still a way to live this day? ”

"How can you do it in vain?" Zhu Gaochi was puzzled: "The government gives money, right?" ”

"Give is giving, but don't give silver like you, the government gives treasure money," the middle-aged man said hatefully: "The fart treasure banknote, wiping the ass is too thin." Next, he began to complain, but to put it mildly, it was all about how heavy the taxes were, how the treasure money was worthless, and he couldn't ask anything new, so Zhu Gaochi asked him to leave.

On this day, for three full hours, Zhu Gaochi dragged his difficult steps and walked all over the streets and alleys of this county, and everywhere he went, he saw that the people's livelihood was withered to the extreme, and the people were dark, and even the rich households in the county could only barely fill their stomachs, and as for the others, they couldn't even eat enough......

On the way back, Zhu Gaochi was extremely heavy, but he still had luck in his heart, hoping that this would not be the case elsewhere. But in the days that followed, every time Weifu made a private visit, what he saw and heard was miserable. And the further north you go, the worse the situation becomes. After entering the boundary of Shandong, there was a white bone exposed in the wild, and there was no rooster crying for thousands of miles. Even the whole village was deserted, only densely packed with tombs...... The entire village starved to death, and the survivors fled to other places.

"How so?" "How so?" Along the way, Zhu Gaochi said this sentence the most, and the whole person was stimulated. He even hated Wang Xian a little, why did he abandon the ship and land, and take himself to see this living hell on earth! This is obviously the Ming Dynasty in the prosperous era of Yongle! It's almost a nail away from the war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty! How is it like it's still in the last days?!

Wang Xian was silent, he wanted the prince to see with his own eyes what the world had become. Let the prince think about the world for himself, why did it become like this? Let the prince understand that it is already a top priority of the Ming Dynasty to relieve Li Min from hanging upside down and save everyone from fire and water!

On this day, I arrived at the boundary of Yuncheng County, Jining Prefecture. It was easy to get to a county seat, Wang Xian decided not to leave, so he would start here, and let His Royal Highness the Crown Prince have a good rest, and then end this purgatory journey.

The group walked in the county seat, but saw that the houses were dilapidated, the industries were extremely depressed, and the most trafficked on the street was the population...... All the way from the south, the prince already knew that those who were squatting on the side of the street with grass on their heads were ready to sell their own population. There are no boys and girls, but also young men and women. The long rows of squatting in the streets, with grass stuck on their heads, are shocking......

As soon as they saw the rich people coming, those who had grass on their heads rushed up and rushed to sell themselves: "Master take me in, I have a lot of strength, I don't need money, just take care of the food!" ”

"Master, I can do laundry, cook, give birth to children, and warm the bed for the master......"

"Master, take us away, we're all starving to death......"

Zhou Yong and the others hurriedly pushed these people away, separating a way for the prince, looking at the begging faces, His Royal Highness the prince could only bow his head and leave here with a rare brisk step.

found an inn to live in, and Zhou Yong took people to the street to buy ingredients so that he could cook a decent dinner for everyone. Wang Xian asked the store to bring hot water, and asked the prince to bathe and change his clothes to relieve his tired condition.

The prince did not refuse, and when he finished grooming and changed into clean clothes, his mood was really not so depressed. At this time, the meal is also ready.

Before the dish was served, the prince couldn't help but sniffle, he actually smelled a smell of meat, and he couldn't help but be full of relish. There has been no meat at all along the way for a while, and His Royal Highness the Prince, who has been clothed and fed since childhood, has long been unable to stand it.

When the meal was served, except for a stir-fried tofu, meat was put in the rest of the dishes, and there was a bowl of red and bright braised pork, the aroma came to the nose, and Lingxiao swallowed his saliva directly.

Seeing the prince's expression, Zhou Yong was overjoyed, and said with a smile as if inviting merit: "After all, it is the county seat, and there is still meat for sale in the butcher shop, so I will wrap it up for him!" As he spoke, he distributed chopsticks to the prince, Wang Xian and Lingxiao, and said with a smile: "Your Highness and Lingxiao have suffered for a while, so let's make up for oil and water if it's delicious." ”

Lingxiao took the chopsticks and nodded vigorously, then quickly grabbed a piece of braised pork, and couldn't wait to send it to his mouth, but he was unexpectedly hit by Wang Xian with chopsticks, Lingxiao was unguarded, and the meat piece rolled to the ground, and the little girl pouted depressedly, but she still whispered obediently: "Uncle Prince eats first." ”

The prince glanced at Wang Xian reproachfully, and said to Lingxiao: "Don't worry about him, you can just feel free." ”

Lingxiao squeezed his eyes at Wang Xian as if demonstrating.

"Your Highness, don't eat it yet." Wang Xian didn't mean that, turned his head to look at Zhou Yong and said, "What kind of meat is this?" ”

"It seems to be horse meat, so it is braised and it doesn't smell like it." Zhou Yong hurriedly said.

"What do you mean?" Wang Xian's expression became more and more displeased.

"Don't worry, my lord, my subordinates have already tasted it, and there is no problem." Zhou Yong also thought that Wang Xian was afraid of poison in the meat.

"......" Wang Xianbai glanced at him, and just wanted him to ask what kind of meat this was, when the store happened to come in to deliver hot water, and when he saw the meat on the table, he had a disgusting expression.

"You're here just in time, do you know what kind of meat this is?" Wang Xian asked the shopkeeper.

"Hehe," the shopkeeper looked puzzled: "Whatever, it's the same until you eat it." ”

"What are these words?!" Wang Xian became more and more sure of his guess, and asked, "So, you know?" ”

"This meat was bought at the Sun family's butcher's shop, right?" The shopkeeper asked.

"yes." Zhou Yong nodded apprehensively: "What kind of meat is it?" ”

"Let's put it this way, the birds and beasts in our Yuncheng County have long been eaten cleanly," the shopkeeper looked at them, and his voice became quieter and quieter: "There is only one thing that still has meat on it." ”

"What?" Everyone asked in unison.

Although the voice of the "......" store was small, everyone heard it clearly, and their faces changed in an instant.

"You say it's human flesh?!" Zhou Yong's voice changed tone, like a chicken stuck in the neck.

"Yes." The shopkeeper nodded very affirmatively and said, "This morning, I saw that they received a dead body, it must not be wrong......

"Whew......" Zhou Yong suddenly covered his mouth, rushed out of the door like an arrow, and spit out while holding on to the door frame.

"Ahh Lingxiao also screamed and threw the chopsticks far away, retching for a while.

Although the prince has long practiced the realm of immobility like a mountain, his face is also pale and .......

That night, the prince's grain of rice did not enter. At night, Wang Xian sent rice porridge to His Royal Highness the Prince, Zhu Gaochi had no appetite, and he was really hungry, so he reluctantly drank the rice porridge, handed the bowl to Wang Xian, looked at him for a long time, and asked in a low voice: "How do you know that it is human flesh?" ”

"I took the Borzigit people through the Gobi ...... of death," Wang Xian did not want to talk more about the past, and said in other words: "This Shandong is full of hunger, how can there be anything to feed the livestock?" ”

"Hey......" Zhu Gaochi closed his eyes in pain, and it took a long time to open them, and he looked at Wang Xian with blazing eyes and said: "I finally know, why did you let me get off the boat for a private visit." After a pause, he said in a low voice: "It turns out that my Ming Dynasty has reached the edge of the cliff, and I can no longer toss." ”

"Yes......" Wang Xian nodded, his eyes were heavy and said: "Today's saint has ruled martial arts and has surpassed the eternals, but it is a great joy and a great success!" The crown prince nodded and listened to him continue: "It is often said that in the past five hundred years, the merits of all emperors combined were less than the ten years of His Majesty's achievements. How did Your Majesty do it? It's nothing more than an overdraft of the people's resources. ”

The crown prince nodded heavily, instinctively wanting to defend his father: "It's a bit excessive, the overdraft of the people's power has been done in all generations, but there is no emperor who can make great achievements today." ”

"That's because they are overdrawing the people's resources, and they are just collecting taxes and grain in a few years in advance and making a fuss about salt and iron." Wang Xian said coldly: "Today, I have started to make an article on currency!" In the fifteen years of the Yongle Dynasty, the value of the Ming treasure banknotes has depreciated tens of thousands of times, and the wealth of hundreds of millions of people has come to naught! ”