Chapter 106
In a state of excitement, Chu Huan felt that those people did not care about their own lives. But then she thought, even ants try to survive, so who would want to die while they can still live?
Taking an ordinary waiter as an example, with a monthly salary of one tael, it would take eight years and four months to earn one hundred taels.
She didn't know how much the servants in Prince An's mansion earned per month. Considering Prince An's wealth, it should be more than one or two taels, which would be equivalent to seven or eight years.
However, those people would not make such a choice unless they were in a desperate situation and could not completely buy out a life with seven or eight years' annual salary.
This was just Chu Huan's rough estimate. She wanted to confirm it again: [Tong'er, how bad are the conditions at those families?]
System: [Wait a moment.]
Those deceased servants were only listed as "servant" in King An's melons, without even their names. If one wanted to know about their family situations, the system would have to search using other criteria, which would take some more time.
In these few short seconds, Shang Lu's eyes when looking at Chu Huan changed from puzzlement of "What is the purpose of knowing this?" to a vague realization of "She wouldn't want to..."
In the past year, his contact with Chu Huan seemed to be limited to two hours of classes every night, with no other topics except teaching and answering questions. However, through the reports shared by the court, he already fully understood what kind of person Chu Huan was.
Her insights and ideas are different from those of many people today, and some are even unconventional, such as not wanting to serve men or have children.
Her mind was flexible enough, and she would often come up with some surprising but feasible solutions, such as what she said in the Yu Jiayan incident: If you can't divorce, then divorce your husband; if you can't divorce your husband, then remain a widow.
She knew the difficulties women faced in this world, and took the initiative to lend a helping hand to other women. Nie Shui, Nangong Ling and others all benefited from this, but she would not help them endlessly.
She never felt resentful towards the imperial court because her efforts were not equal to her gains. In order to allow Dasheng to use the system better, she even handed over such a magical thing.
…
Shang Lu had speculated secretly about the matter of submitting it to the system.
The court has to conceal many things but not completely. Sooner or later, it will not be satisfied with the status quo, and Chu Huan may find traces, so a showdown is inevitable.
He just didn't expect that Chu Huan would reveal her cards first, and at such a perfect time, which made him feel like "Did Chu Huan know this a long time ago?"
Shang Lu knew that he would have such speculation, and the court was no exception, but both sides were satisfied with the current status quo and did not lift the window paper.
Furthermore, in addition to the system, Chu Huan also has a lot of things that the court wants, and this time, she might have to take them out.
Exposing such kindness and weaknesses will easily make you vulnerable to being exploited and forced to hand over the good things in your hands.
I hope the imperial court will not be greedy and abandon the donkey after it has served its purpose.
Shang Lu thought so much, but in reality only a few seconds had passed and the system had finished checking and came back.
Tietou is the eldest child in the family, with seven younger brothers and sisters. The youngest was only a few months old when his mother ran out of milk. She had no money to buy cow's or goat's milk, so she could only feed him with thin rice soup.
To others, Zhouzhou was the most affluent area in Jiangnan, where everyone wore silk and brocade and lived a life of luxury. In reality, the gap between the rich and the poor was enormous, with the wealthy skipping pearls on the water while the poor couldn't even afford a meal.
The current emperor is known for his pettiness and vindictiveness, but he is also quite tolerant in some areas. He has never beaten a palace maid or eunuch to death out of anger, but such incidents are common in Prince An's mansion. Unless someone is truly desperate or deceived, few people serve in Prince An's mansion.
Chu Huan had personally experienced the fact that the emperor was stingy and vindictive, but also forgiving.
She told the system a lot of gossip and bad things about the emperor, making the emperor lose face in front of all the officials, but the emperor never took any real action.
For the sake of the country and the people, the emperor was willing to endure that insignificant offense, and because of her abilities and the system's plug-ins, he was paving the way for her to enter the court as a woman.
As a monarch, one can have some minor flaws in his character. After all, no one is perfect, no one is perfect in every aspect, and no one never makes mistakes, but he must never deviate from the big things.
System: [Tietou knew he might die before he went to Prince An's mansion. His family was so poor they couldn't even afford to eat. If he didn't find a way to make some money, the dozen or so people in his family would starve to death.]
He had heard that Prince An had a long history of bad deeds, but he was also certain that servants who died in Prince An's mansion would indeed receive ten taels of gold. This was because one of Tietou's neighbors had worked as a servant there, and when he received the ten taels of gold, all the neighbors heard his family's joyful cheers.
Chu Huan pursed her lips tightly. She knew that in poor times, poor families would sell their children. Her maid Hongmei was sold by her family because of her family's poverty.
She couldn't save every child sold by their families. She only hoped that the families made such a decision because they could no longer make ends meet, rather than cheering and rejoicing because their children's death could be exchanged for ten taels of gold.
That would make her feel that some people's family affection is worthless in the face of money.
The system could actually choose to talk about the neighbor, but it didn't, because after being with Chu Huan for more than a year, it had picked up some human nature.
It subconsciously felt that it would be best not to let Chu Huan hear so much about the dark side of human nature. A little bit of it would be fine, but if it described it in too much detail, it was worried that the host would get stuck on it.
System: [Tietou's family has been poor farmers for generations, relying on the weather for their livelihood. You know, many crops in this era have low yields. Unlike modern crop selection and breeding, there's no hybrid rice, and no fertilizer to increase yields. The yields are just pitifully small.]
The harvest was already very low, so part of the grain had to be taxed, part had to be saved for seed, and the rest was eaten. To live a life of luxury, King An levied additional taxes throughout Zhouzhou, including a head tax and a grain tax.
[The boss' behavior was such that the subordinates followed suit. They would add 10% or 20% to whatever tax King An ordered, pocketing the extra money. Imagine how difficult it must have been for the people below them, as even most of their grain had been taken away.]
They've taken all the grain, so what are the people going to plant the next year? They won't leave any food behind. Are they planning to starve the people to death? Chu Huan knew that Prince An was messing around in Zhouzhou, but she had no idea he was messing around to this extent.
What is the difference between King An’s actions and that of the last emperor of the previous dynasty?
One brings disaster to a state, another brings disaster to a country, and both are the ones who bring disaster to the country and the people.
If Prince An continues to do this, perhaps the people will rise up in rebellion because they can't survive. Isn't this how the Dasheng Dynasty was founded by overthrowing the previous dynasty?
As Chu Huan became excited, the system calmed down: [It is difficult for those in higher positions to understand the difficulties of those below them because they are at different levels, just as you cannot make workers and bosses empathize with each other.]
Chu Huan held her forehead and sighed: "It's my fault. I can't expect a boss who earns tens of millions a month to know what life is like for a worker who earns three thousand a month. I can't expect a prince who has lived a life of luxury since childhood to know what it feels like for the poor to go hungry."
We can't even expect such people to have a heart that loves the people like their own children.
Fortunately, no matter how much the late emperor liked Bai Yueguang, he did not pass the throne to Prince An, otherwise Da Sheng would have followed in the footsteps of the previous dynasty.
The last emperor of the previous dynasty still had a national treasury and the capital accumulated by the previous emperors to squander. If Prince An came to power, there would be little money in the national treasury. If he continued to act recklessly, he might end up with nothing and not steal the national treasury, but instead steal Prince An's head.
The system continued: [Tietou wanted to live. He used his monthly salary from the Prince An's Mansion to support a family of over a dozen people. He also lived and ate at the Prince An's Mansion, not leaving a penny. Even so, life was still difficult.]
The family was living on coarse food, their faces pale and their bodies thin. Tietou couldn't bear it. He had tried holding his breath underwater, but couldn't do it for long, so he resorted to balancing fruit on his head. If he hit it, it would be one or two taels, and saving some would be enough for the family to eat for a month.
Tietou tried to hold the fruit twice, but he kept his eyes closed, fearing he would dodge if he saw an arrow. Prince An hit the target, and Tietou received two taels of silver. But this wasn't the fun they really wanted to see, so the third time, the arrow struck Tietou in the eye, piercing his skull and killing him instantly.
Chu Huan:!!!
Phytolacca:!!!
This is intentional homicide!
No wonder Prince An waited so long after being captured. The crimes he committed are truly innumerable.
The only thing to be thankful for now is that Prince An, who has brought disaster to the entire state, has been imprisoned in the clan office and is not far from death.
Chu Hua: [Are there many people who can't make a living because of low crop yields and inability to pay taxes?]
System: [Are you asking about the area within Zhouzhou, Dasheng, or the entire continent?]
Chu Hua's voice lowered a little: [Great Sheng.]
System: [A lot.]
Chu Hua didn't ask about the specific data. She remained silent for a long time, thinking it over. Then she turned to Shang Lu and said, "Sir, I'd like to suspend classes for a few days to do some experiments."
She originally came to Shanglu to attend classes in order to cover up the system's ability to predict the weather. Now that she has submitted the system, it doesn't matter if she doesn't come to class, but neither of them has ever mentioned this.
Shang Lu didn't ask Chu Huan what experiment she was going to do or when she would continue the course. He just reminded her, "Be careful."
Not long after, Chu Huan returned to the Chu family with a gloomy expression.
Jia Yi and Cai Gang were very worried, but they didn't know how to start. Just when they were thinking about whether they should ask Pei Mingcheng for help, they heard a voice coming from the house.
Chu Hua: [Tong'er, help me find some high-yield crops in Dasheng and surrounding countries.]
[Regardless of origin or variety, not just agricultural crops, but also cash crops with high economic benefits are acceptable.]
System: [Okay!]
Jia Yi Cai Gang:?
Have you recovered and started working so quickly?
The imperial court had considered this idea, but the sweet potato had not yet been promoted throughout Dasheng, so what if there was another high-yield crop?
Forcing people to plant unfamiliar crops and allowing them to voluntarily plant high-yield crops have completely different effects.
Moreover, that would go against the original intention, and might even lead to incidents of lip service and hypocrisy, in which the people would be the ultimate victims.
In her previous life, Chu Huan heard about a college student who paid out of his own pocket to give new varieties of sweet potato seedlings to his fellow villagers. Those people let piles of sweet potato seedlings rot instead of planting them, which made the college student so distressed that he cried. So her initial plan was to take it slow.
After two or three years, all of Dasheng knew how productive sweet potatoes were, the court's credibility increased, the people's confidence grew, and they were willing to try new things and start the next step.
But now it seems that if it is delayed by a year, even by a few months, many lives will die of hunger.
She had to take out the fertilizer in advance.
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