Anti-Qing: Starting from the Reincarnation of the Ming Dynasty

The man who just spoke was also angry when he heard this. Originally, he just complained, but in his heart, it was understandable that the Ming court did not choose to provide relief to the victims in Henan.

After all, Henan is not the territory of the Ming Dynasty now!

However, after being criticized like this, he couldn't help but feel angry in his heart, and he retorted.

"What do you mean by this? What does it mean to help the people on behalf of the Tatars? Do you think the people of Henan are not my subjects of the Ming Dynasty?"

A big hat was pulled down, and the short and stocky man didn't dare to refute.

Although Henan is indeed not in the hands of the Ming Dynasty yet, no one dares to say that Henan is not the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

If you say it, it is the sin of dividing the country!

Even if there is no literary prison in Ming Dynasty, not everyone can say this.

However, at this moment, there was a commotion outside the restaurant.

"Outside the number, outside the number, a great victory in Fengyang, the imperial army recaptured the central capital of Fengyang, and the troops stopped at the Huaihe River."

"Out of the blue, out of the blue, the imperial court has decided to start relief for the victims of the Henan disaster. On behalf of the Ming Dynasty royal family, His Majesty the Emperor donated various materials worth 500,000 silver dollars to the victims of the Henan area."

"Extraordinary, extraordinary, His Royal Highness the Prince has set up refugee camps on both sides of the Huaihe River to provide relief to hundreds of thousands of victims in Henan..."

"..."

A clear childish voice shouted out the number and read the headlines on the newspaper loudly to attract other people's attention and then sell the newspapers they were carrying.

As the saying goes, if you don't stand up for certain positions, others will stand up and speak for you.

In order to ensure that the Ming court had a propaganda channel for all classes in society, at Zhu Jing'an's suggestion, after regaining Guangzhou, the Ming Dynasty began to publish a newspaper, named "Da Ming Daily", as a propaganda mouthpiece.

To this end, a Propaganda Department was set up under the Ministry of Rites to review newspaper publication issues.

After several years, the current "Da Ming Daily" has already passed the initial running-in period and has begun to run well.

Almost throughout the Ming Dynasty, there were newsstands and strongholds in every state capital city.

Sales are pretty good too!

Basically every new issue of the newspaper is sold out.

Ordinary people may not care much about the movements of the imperial court, and they generally do not spend money to buy newspapers.

But the gentry, businessmen, and those scholars who aspired to the imperial examination were quite enthusiastic about newspapers.

Because they really need a way to understand the general trend of the world and the policy trends of the court.

And the content published in the newspapers must be much more reliable than what they can find by asking around.

Nowadays, the sales of Daming Daily are getting better and better.

Especially in big cities like Nanjing, newspapers are basically sold out as soon as they are published.

Sometimes even printing an additional batch cannot meet market demand.

This shows how popular it is!

The scholars in the restaurant heard the call outside, and all of them looked curious.

Seeing this, a gentleman at a table near the entrance of the restaurant said hello.

"Child, bring me a newspaper!"

Hearing this, the newspaper boy grinned and trotted into the restaurant. He took out a neatly ironed newspaper from the basket he was carrying and handed it to the scholar who spoke.

"Master, please take it and give me ten coins as a gift!"

The scholar took the newspaper and glanced at the newspaper boy's patched clothes and the worn-out straw sandals with missing toes, his eyes slightly pitiful.

He took out his money bag from his arms, took out a silver coin, handed it to the newsboy, and then spoke.

"Take it, I'll reward you if you have more, so there's no need to look for it!"

The silver cent is a newly issued currency unit recently issued by the Ming Dynasty. Its value is equivalent to one silver coin. One silver dollar can be exchanged for ten silver cents.

It’s worth almost a hundred dollars!

The newsboy suddenly received a reward of ninety copper coins and said with a beaming face.

"Thank you for the reward. I wish you a spot on the gold medal list and get admitted as soon as possible!"

The newsboy is also smart and knows what auspicious words to say when facing scholars.

Just a few words of compliments put a smile on the scholar's face.

Waving to signal the newsboy to leave, the scholar unfolded the newspaper and started reading.

At the same time, several people around him spoke one after another.

"Brother, please, could you please read what's in the newspaper?"

Hearing this, the scholar did not refuse, but nodded slightly and said.

"Of course it's okay!"

After saying that, he started reading.

"On the ninth day of the sixth lunar month in the third year of Xuanwu in the Ming Dynasty, Crown Prince Zhu Jing'an led his troops to Fengyang City and the Battle of Fengyang broke out."

"After a day of fierce fighting, our army gained a lot of troops, annihilating more than 81,000 Qing troops, capturing the Qing military minister Feng Sheng'e, and the crown prince of Horqin County Sangji Zabu, and gained hundreds of miles of territory..."

After hearing this, everyone looked excited.

Originally, they only knew that the Ming Dynasty had regained Fengyang, but they did not know how the Fengyang battle went and what the specific results were. Now that I see the reports in the newspapers, I have an idea.

After reading about the Battle of Fengyang, the scholar continued to read the next paragraph.

"On June 11, the third year of Xuanwu in the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court voted on disaster relief matters in Henan."

"After holding several cabinet meetings, the imperial court decided to provide relief to the people affected by the Yellow River breach. On behalf of the Ming Dynasty, His Majesty the Emperor donated 500,000 taels of various relief materials to the disaster area. All ministers in the DPRK made contributions."

"Disaster relief materials worth 6.2 million silver dollars have been raised and are ready to be shipped..."

When everyone in the restaurant heard this, they couldn't help but clapped their hands and applauded.

"Okay, with the imperial court providing disaster relief, I think the situation in Henan will be better."

"For such a large-scale disaster relief, the royal family alone donated 500,000 silver dollars. The Ming Dynasty is indeed the Zhengshuo of our Han family. If it were the Tatars, even if all the people in Henan died, they would not be able to part with this money."

"It's true, it's true. Based on the morality of the Tatars, they would rather spend their money on gardening than spend it on disaster relief."

"The restoration of the Ming Dynasty is really a blessing to the people of the world!"

"..."

The expressions on everyone's faces were full of excitement.

Originally, they were still discussing matters in Henan, and some people could not help but feel unhappy that the court did not provide relief to the victims in Henan.

But now, as the news of the imperial court's decision to provide relief to the victims of the Henan disaster has appeared in the newspapers, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is very satisfying.

Seeing this, the scholar patted the table and continued reading.

Next, at the end of this report, there is a list of the people who donated the most materials.

At the top of the list was the Huang family's 400,000 taels, followed closely by donations from Guangzhou Thirteen Banks, Yangzhou Salt Merchant, Suzhou Commercial Bank, Dongting Merchant Gang and other businessmen.

They are almost three to four hundred thousand!

In addition, famous gentry from various places also made donations.

The Ming court publicly commended these businessmen who donated large amounts of materials, money and food in newspapers!

Zhu Jianzhuo personally wrote a plaque for their family saying "House of Accumulating Good Deeds".

For a group of businessmen with low social status, the imperial court could publish their names in newspapers as a commendation, and they could also be rewarded with plaques written by the emperor. Many people felt that their money was well spent.

Although those famous gentry had a higher social status, for them, the plaque written by the emperor was still a rare thing.

Actually, this time the matter is quite special, and the court needs a lot of money and food for disaster relief.

Otherwise, the plaque written by Zhu Jianzhuo would not be taken out casually and given as a prize.

He, Lao Zhu, is also an emperor, and he is also a shameless one!

A scholar expressed sourly as he watched the court commend the businessmen who donated materials, money and food.

"If you donate three to four hundred thousand silver dollars, you can get a plaque written by His Majesty. Those merchants who are full of copper smell will make a lot of money this time!"

When the people on the side heard this, they just laughed.

"Haha, we can't envy this. Three to four hundred thousand silver dollars, the only ones who can afford it are the big businessmen."

"However, this can be considered a good thing. If these businessmen donate more money, the victims of the disaster in Henan will be able to survive longer."

"..."

Although studying is still quite a luxury these days, those who can afford to study do not have a bad family background.

However, who is this score compared to?

Compared with those wealthy merchants and gentry who were worth millions and were as wealthy as the country, the family background of these scholars could only be considered average.

Therefore, they are really envious of those wealthy businessmen who can get plaques bestowed by the emperor.

The scholar continued to read the newspaper. Suddenly, at this moment, there was another noise outside the restaurant.

I saw a procession coming from the street. This group of people held banners, beat gongs and drums and shouted loudly.

"The Yellow River bursts, the people suffer, starve to death in the fields, and they change their sons to eat!"

"I hope that all the wise men will be generous, those with money will contribute money, and those with strength will contribute, and actively donate materials to relieve the victims..."

These people wore uniform clothes, with a line of big characters written on the back of the clothes, "Da Ming Royal Charity Federation".

There is a gourd painted on the banner, which symbolizes the hanging pot to help the world.

The so-called Royal Charity Federation of the Ming Dynasty was a semi-official organization specializing in charity, led by the Empress Liu, and supported by the contributions of women and men from noble families in the Manchu Dynasty.

This time the Ming Dynasty wanted to provide relief to the victims in Henan, and the organization also participated.

The first step is to start public fundraising in big cities such as Nanjing!

Raise funds and supplies needed for disaster relief.

If we talk about the imperial court's fund-raising, it is aimed at those wealthy gentry and wealthy businessmen at the top of the pyramid.

The Ming Dynasty Royal Charity Association's fund-raising targets are all classes of society.

Rich people don't think it's too much if they donate tens of thousands of silver dollars at once.

Even if the poor donate a few copper coins, a few steamed buns, a piece of clothing, or a pair of shoes, they are not too little.

The main focus is to accumulate less and make more! (End of chapter)