Father can be an enemy to the country

The most fundamental reason why His Royal Highness the King of Chu is confident that he can solve the Great Depression in Suzhou by printing food stamps is the good foundation laid for him by his third brother.

Without the third brother, he wiped out all the gangsters in Suzhou City, and without the third brother, he scared all the big families in Suzhou City out of fear. If these people can still act like monsters, they can stir things up for him in a matter of minutes.

But now, the gangsters are confused, the big business owners are still in cages, and the instability factors have been reduced to a minimum. Only then can he confidently and boldly implement his Suzhou revitalization plan.

~~

Without further ado, after settling down the local officials, the King of Chu then received a group of locals from Fengyang...

They were Jiangnan immigrants who were moved to Fengyang by his father in the third year of Hongwu.

That year, Boss Zhu moved a total of 140,000 households from Jiangnan to Fengyang. All the wealthy people in the Jiangnan area were moved to Fengyang and were not allowed to go back privately.

However, starting from the year before last, Zhu Yuanzhang allowed them to return to their hometown to visit tombs every Qingming Festival.

These people came back to Suzhou from Fengyang on the pretext of sweeping graves.

It was Shen Rong and Gu Yuanchen who brought them in.

These two were recruited by Zhu Zhen to serve as shipping committee members of the Municipal Shipping Department last year, but they did not go to the Municipal Shipping Department's Yamen for a single day. After the Zhenjiang Laba Banquet, he was sent back to Fengyang and spent several months conducting a thorough investigation of the large Jiangnan households that had moved to Fengyang.

The people who came today were carefully selected by Zhu Zhen from the roster submitted by the two of them.

They all suffered serious crimes in Fengyang, and they also knew that Shen and Gu climbed up the high branches of the King of Chu and escaped from the sea of ​​suffering. Therefore, after meeting the King of Chu, everyone kowtowed as if they were pounding garlic, doing everything they could to be humble. They are completely different styles from those big Jiangnan families at the Laba Banquet who seemed to be submissive but were actually not inferior.

"Everyone, please get back on your feet." His Royal Highness the King of Chu smiled brightly, with two thick eyebrows like crescent moons. "Don't be nervous. I invite you to have tea. Let's all have a casual chat. Please sit down."

Everyone stood up with their gratitude, and then followed Shen Rong and Gu Yuanchen to sit down on two rows of armchairs down the hall. Each person only put a small piece of their buttocks on the chair, with their backs straightened, their eyes not squinting, and their breath not breathing.

Seeing that they were still very nervous, Zhu Zhen chatted with them first and asked them where they lived before and how many generations they had lived in Suzhou. What other local industries are there now?

His Highness King Chu's questions were more heart-wrenching than the last. Everyone who asked them felt sad, and many people even shed sad tears.

They told Zhu Zhen that they had lived in Suzhou for generations. Hongwu had never thought of leaving here three years ago.

As for the industry in Suzhou...even big guys like Shen Rong and Gu Yuanchen can't keep it, let alone people like them.

And to seize their property... Oh no, it should be said that they took over their property at a 'favorable' price. Naturally, they were their close friends in the past, the big business owners who stayed in Suzhou.

"Right now, we don't have much contact with Gusu City except the ancestral graves." A guest named Xu Bi said:

"I heard that those people were imprisoned. I have to thank your two highnesses for speaking out against us poor people."

"It's just a piece of cake." Zhu Zhen waved his hand and said with a smile, "Then what are your next steps?"

"Of course I'm going back to Fengyang." Everyone said sadly, "If you don't come back at the end of the month, you will be shackles."

"If there is a chance to stay, would you consider it?" Zhu Zhen leaned on the armrest and asked in a casual tone.

"Yes, of course I do!" When the guests heard this, their eyes lit up and they nodded. This was what they were looking forward to day and night.

"As long as His Highness can help us return to our roots, we can let the common people do anything." They expressed their opinions one after another as if they were grasping at straws.

"Yes, we are also willing to pour night incense for His Highness!"

"Hahaha." Zhu Zhen couldn't help laughing and said: "The people who pour night fragrance for me are all beautiful women. You guys want to do it, but you don't have the qualifications."

"Yes..." Everyone smiled and nodded: "In short, we will do whatever His Highness asks us to do, and we will never frown!"

"Don't worry, I'm not asking you to commit adultery." Zhu Zhen smiled faintly, pointed at Shen Rong and said: "I have read the information compiled by the two of them, and I know that you once had a silk weaving factory in your family, and you all personally Managed.”

"Yes..." everyone murmured. Generally speaking, there is no glory in running a workshop yourself. Because this either means that their family business is not big enough and they dare not let the factory be managed by the people below; or it means that their status in the family is not high enough and they can only be sent to manage the factory...

In short, they can only be regarded as marginal figures among the big families.

"This is the reason why I came to you." Zhu Zhen stopped talking and briefly talked about Suzhou's current predicament. Then he said:

"Because the weavers can't work, many Suzhou citizens have no food for their families. I am more or less responsible. So I thought of a 'work-for-relief' method and planned to have the Suzhou Weaving and Dyeing Bureau produce a batch of silk. If the citizens have work to do, they will have food to eat.”

Everyone was too busy praising His Highness for his kindness and being the savior of the people of Suzhou.

"You are boasting too early." Zhu Zhen smiled at the crowd and said: "As soon as I learned that there are only thirteen looms in the weaving and dyeing bureau, it will not help at all. So I asked them to invite you to ask if you are interested in taking over. Are you placing this order to produce these silks for the Weaving and Dyeing Bureau?"

"Yes, of course I do." Everyone nodded hurriedly and said, "We are definitely willing to do this kind of good thing that benefits the country and the people without any money!"

"It's just..." Xu Ben smiled bitterly and said, "We don't have a workshop now, not even a loom, how can we share your worries for His Highness?"

"Hahaha, this is easy." Zhu Zhen waved his hand, and Luo Guanzhong presented a stack of deeds stamped with a red seal.

"This is your original workshop. Of course, it has been transferred to other people's homes now. I have asked people to find out all the records left in the Yamen."

When everyone heard this, their eyes turned red. Staring straight at the pile of documents and deeds, it was their property that had been robbed and stolen by Mingming!

"Mr. Luo has read it for me. It is indeed unfair." Zhu Zhen said, looking at Luo Guanzhong and said, "right?"

"Yes." Luo Guanzhong nodded expressionlessly. He originally thought that the King of Chu invited him to serve as a military advisor, but he did not expect that the sixth man only used him as a tool to handle documents.

"Those buyers paid basically only 20% to 30% of the market price, or even only 10% of the market price. It's really unfair."

"That's them taking advantage of the situation!" Everyone shouted angrily: "After the imperial court issued the decree, in order to prevent us from escaping, we were only given three days before we had to set off on the road. There was no time to deal with the property, so we had to entrust us to stay. Someone sold it on my behalf - I didn’t expect them to be so shameless, they sold it to me at a very low price!”

"That bastard Zhu He, you haven't given me any money yet! Last year, when I went back to my hometown to sweep my grave, I was beaten out even if I came to beg for money..." A wealthy man named Zhu Ping complained through gritted teeth.

No wonder they were so happy when they heard that the big families who stayed behind were in jail.

"Well, I will help you get your property back!" Zhu Zhen patted the deeds and said proudly.

"I look forward to thanking Your Highness for your kindness." Everyone's eyes filled with excitement, and they kowtowed: "In this life, no, in all eternity, I will swear allegiance to Your Highness!"

ps. Sorry, sorry, you blame me today. While sitting in front of the computer preparing to code, I was suddenly shocked by what happened in a neighboring country. I never expected that ancient history would repeat itself abroad. And I deeply realized that Boss Zhu was indeed not unfounded... So I kept reading and writing, but I have only finished one chapter now. I was wrong……