Chapter 141 Melancholy Chongzhen

Wang An hid in the room and scattered all the treasures he had taken out of the secret compartment on the bed. Looking at the golden treasures, Wang An's previous dejection disappeared.

Although there was a huge gap between his expectations, if he sold these dozen treasures in front of him, they would be worth at least 10,000 or 20,000 taels of silver.

Although it doesn't sound like much, in the past it would have been enough to pay Mao Wenlong's Dongjiang soldiers a month's salary.

With this money, Wang An did not need Chongzhen's support for many of his ideas and could put them into action on his own.

Wang An randomly picked up a night pearl and put it in his arms, then prepared to go out to find a pawnshop to pawn it and exchange it for some silver.

As soon as he walked into the yard, he met Xiaowu leading Chongzhen and Wang Chengen walking in.

Wang An was a little angry at first, and then a little surprised.

Come to think of it, my little brother hasn't come to see me for almost a month.

Wang An was naturally talkative, so he started by saying, "Hey, whose nobleman is here?"

Chongzhen had known Wang An for some time and had long known Wang An's character. Hearing this, he did not take it seriously and smiled slightly, saying, "Brother, please don't make fun of me. I miss you so much after not seeing you for so long!"

"I just happened to have some free time today, so I came here to have a few drinks with you, brother."

As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Chengen behind him hurriedly carried ten boxes to the stone table in the yard, opened the food boxes, and took out some exquisite side dishes and two pots of fine wine.

Wang An felt relieved when he saw this, as his cousin still cared about him.

So Wang An and Chongzhen sat down together, and Wang An directly picked up the wine pot and poured a glass for each of them.

But before the wine pot was put down, Chongzhen, who usually didn't like drinking, actually picked up the wine glass and said, "Here's a toast, brother."

After he finished speaking, he tilted his head back and drank the wine in the glass.

Wang An raised his eyebrows but said nothing. He also picked up the wine glass and drank it all, then filled it up again.

Chongzhen raised his cup and drank without saying a word.

Wang An also accompanied him, drinking one cup after another.

After drinking three or four cups in a row, Chongzhen put down his glass and sighed.

Seeing this, Wang An's original anger had completely dissipated. Instead, he asked with some concern: "Brother, is there anything on your mind? Why don't you tell me? I will give you some advice."

Chongzhen first sighed, and after a long time he expressed his insights in the Wenhua Hall, but he changed the way he phrased it.

When Wang An heard this, he was reborn and lamented that his old business in Liaodong was facing competition from outsiders and internal corruption. There were even shopkeepers who colluded with outsiders to sell business intelligence and sell their own unique supply to others.

Chongzhen lamented that these people made their livings from their own businesses, yet they were the ones who most wanted the businesses to go bankrupt.

Wang An gave some advice and suggestions to Chongzhen.

Chongzhen just listened perfunctorily, and finally extended the matter to the Ming court, saying: "The sage said, to govern the family and the country, you must pacify the world."

"I have had some insights recently. I feel that running a business is similar to how the emperor governs the Ming Dynasty." Wang An was a little surprised. It was very rare for people of this era to have such awareness. He immediately became interested and asked, "How did you come up with such an insight? Tell me in detail."

Seeing Wang An taking the bait, Chongzhen smiled smugly and said, "I have been with you for a while and have heard you predict the fate of the Ming Dynasty. I have also heard about many recent events, so I have this insight."

"Nowadays, bandits are everywhere in Ming Dynasty. This is the same reason why my customers no longer support me and want to open their own business to compete with me."

"Secondly, the Eastern and Northern Tartars are eyeing the Central Plains covetously, and their intention to destroy the Ming Dynasty is undiminished, just like other competitors wanting to destroy my business."

"And my assistants and shopkeepers, each of them uses their little power to engage in corruption, steal my goods, and take my kickbacks. Isn't this exactly the same as the corrupt officials in the court?"

"Brother, tell me, if you were the current emperor, what would you do to turn the tide?"

As Chongzhen's last words fell, Wang Chengen's eyelids behind him couldn't help but twitch.

I thought that Emperor Chongzhen really treated Wang An as an outsider and actually asked him to think about the problem from the emperor's perspective.

However, the person who said this was Chongzhen himself, so Wang Chengen certainly wouldn't jump out and say anything disrespectful.

Wang An listened to Chongzhen's question and suddenly asked seriously, "What do you think is the biggest problem of the Ming Dynasty now?"

Chongzhen was stunned, but then he said: "We are in trouble both internally and externally, the people are poor, and the court is corrupt!"

Wang An nodded and praised: "It's a pity that you don't become the emperor, my dear brother. You have summarized the current predicament of the court very well."

Chongzhen just smiled slightly in response to Wang An's praise and said nothing.

Wang An continued: "Although it is a cliché, there is a saying from a sage: Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it!"

"No matter what time it is, my dear brother, you must remember that the Ming Dynasty can have nothing, no money, no army, and even no officials, but it cannot be without the support of the people!"

"So I think the most important thing is to let the people live a good life. Only when the people can have enough food and live a good life will they truly support the court."

"Even if the imperial court has no army, when national disaster strikes, these people will spontaneously fight against foreign invaders for the country!"

"So no matter how many problems there are, if I were Emperor Chongzhen, I would first find a way to ensure that the people have enough food and clothing. This is the most important thing."

Chongzhen had imagined many answers, but he did not expect that Wang An's answer would be the people.

Chongzhen frowned slightly and said, "In fact, the emperor of this day does not want the people to live a good life, but for some reason, the heavens seem to have cursed the Ming Dynasty with constant disasters and man-made calamities, floods in the south and droughts in the north!"

"The imperial court wants to provide disaster relief but the treasury has no money. Even if they scrape together some relief money, 70% to 80% of it will be taken away before it reaches the local level. Only 10% of it will be left in the hands of the people. It is not easy to let the people live a good life..."

Chongzhen said this and sighed heavily again.

In fact, as the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen did not dare to say that he loved the people like his own children, but at least he never treated the people as grass, nor did he ever think that the people were a group of people who could be sacrificed at will.

It’s just that there were too many problems in the Ming Dynasty, which resulted in him not being able to focus much energy on the people.

In the original history, any money the Ming Dynasty had was given priority to supplying to the front-line troops. Even if some money was occasionally allocated for disaster relief, as he said, 70% to 80% of it would have been gone before it reached the people.

(End of this chapter)