My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 60 Price Index (Additional Updates)
Two Children Arguing About the Sun is an article from Liezi. Tangwen.

A child said, "When the sun first rises, it's as big as a car cover, but when it's at its highest point, it's as small as a bowl. Isn't it because those that are far away are small, and those that are near are big?"

One child said, "When the sun first rises, it's cool and icy, but at its zenith, it's like dipping into hot water. Isn't it because those who are close are hot, while those who are far away are cold?"

Faced with this question, Confucius was stumped. The original text says, "Confucius could not decide."

It's obvious that this article was written by Su Ze. Su Ze used two paragraphs to discuss the problems of the two children respectively.

First, in "The Puzzle of Dawn and Dusk," Su Ze wrote:

"At sunrise, the giant wheel is seen hanging down to the ground, because the atmosphere is like a 'glass mirror'. The rising sun slants through thousands of layers of 'glass mirrors'; the morning mist condenses into dew like a diamond-shaped gauze curtain, and the water vapor refracts, diffusing the sun's shadow; the earth's vapor rises like a white silk thread across the sky, and the dust scatters, causing the wheel of light to expand."

Zhang Juzheng felt a headache after reading this, but he understood the metaphor in Su Ze's last sentence.

"It is like placing a candle behind a gauze curtain; its shadow will be larger than the actual candle."

In other words, is the rising sun magnified by some kind of "atmospheric glass mirror"?

The second half of Su Ze's work is titled "The Secret Interpretation of Noon Heat".

"Children find the midday heat unbearable because the path of light is as swift as an arrow. At zenith, direct sunlight can only penetrate a ten-foot 'glass mirror'; at the zodiac, oblique rays can penetrate a hundred feet. 'Dream Pool Essays' calculates that each layer of air filters fire like an icy silk. Thicker layers filter more heat, resulting in a cold ground temperature; thinner layers filter less, resulting in scorching sand and rocks."

Zhang Juzheng still didn't understand, but he did understand the following metaphor.

"It's like the paper through the window on a winter day; the slanting sun is warmer than the direct sunlight."

Zhang Juzheng thought Su Ze’s “Daily Methods” were quite interesting. At the end of the article, Su Ze also left a small experiment.

Su Ze used the "grand glass mirror" as an example, and pointed out that by polishing the glass mirror into a mirror that is convex in the middle and thin on both sides, it is possible to magnify what is seen.

is this real?
Zhang Juzheng was not sure, but among the officials who had read "Yuefu Xinbao", there should be some who would be interested in trying it?
After Zhang Juzheng finished reading the article, there was only one table left on the second edition.

"Price list of the four corners of the capital?"

Zhang Juzheng frowned. What worried him most about Yuefu Xinbao was actually the "Voice of the City" on the second edition.

People have their own ideas, what is the gossip of the market?
Who can tell whether the voice of the common people that you, Su Ze, wrote in "Yuefu Xinbao" is the voice of the people or the voice of the common people themselves?

Moreover, the people in the market have different ideas. Merchants and farmers, craftsmen and actors, can their ideas be the same?

How do you represent the voice of the people?

Zhang Juzheng knew that Su Ze had offended the censors. If the censors wanted to attack Su Ze, the second edition would be the best target.

If the newspaper published any taboo news, the one who would be in trouble would naturally be the editor-in-chief Su Ze.

But Su Ze first filled the page with an article on "Daily Life", and then came up with this price list.

The entire table lists the prices of daily necessities in the ten larger markets in the capital.

For example, the prices of rice and flour in the rations, the prices of coarse grains, the prices of meat, and the prices of liquor.

There are also prices for daily necessities such as candles, needles and thread, and coarse cloth.

In addition to the current prices, Su Ze also left several columns blank, which were the prices of the same period last year and the prices of last month.

Zhang Juzheng was in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, and he immediately saw the appeal of this price list.

The prices of goods in the capital are objective facts, and the censors could not find any points to attack.

However, the rise and fall of prices does affect the livelihood of ordinary people.

Life in the capital city hinges on the four necessities of life: food, clothing, housing, and transportation, all of which are closely tied to these prices. Comparing prices last year with those of the previous month reveals price trends, a crucial indicator of people's well-being.

Are these the prices that Su Ze collected from the folk songs collected by the officials he recruited from the Imperial College?
Wonderful!

Zhang Juzheng stroked his beard and felt that this table was a masterpiece of exquisite craftsmanship!

He looked more carefully and found that the price of grain in the north of the city was lower than that in the south. That was because the people in the north of the city were basically poor, and the expensive grain could not be sold here.

The prices in the east of the city are the highest because all the dignitaries in the capital live in the east of the city.

But the price of food in the east of the city is not high.

Zhang Juzheng touched his beard and quickly figured out the reason.

In addition to officials in the east of the city, there are also officers from the capital's garrisons. These people are much more numerous than the officials of the Ming Dynasty.

According to the data in the Ministry of War's accounts, the three major camps and seventy-eight guard posts guarding the capital had a total force of 200,000, among which there were naturally countless captains and lieutenants.

Of course, this number is just talk, and anyone who believes it is a fool.

Today in the Ming Dynasty, no one believes that the 200,000 troops in these three camps can defend the capital.

During the Gengxu Rebellion in the 29th year of the Jiajing reign, Altan's cavalry had already reached the capital. Where were these 200,000 troops?
In fact, when the Ming Dynasty fell, there was no sign of these 200,000 troops.

But when collecting military pay, these 200,000 troops really existed.

The 200,000 military households in the capital were like the Shit Mountain Code passed down from the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty, and were passed down to Emperor Longqing.

But no one ever thought of checking these 200,000 people.

As for the reason why grain prices are cheaper in the east of the city for these 200,000 people, it is because of the grain transported to the capital.

People often wonder where the millions of dan of rice transported by grain transport during the Ming Dynasty went?
In other words, where did the millions of grains that the Ming Dynasty court collected from Jiangnan every year and transported to the capital via the Grand Canal go?
Later generations said that it was used to support princes, some said it was used to support the royal family, and some said it was embezzled by officials.

Zhang Juzheng, who was in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, would tell you that the more than two million dan of grain transported to the capital every year was basically distributed to the officials, flag officers and soldiers of the three major camps and seventy-eight guards.

The three major camps and seventy-eight guards spent as much as two million dan of grain every year, while the officials of the nine ministries and yamen in the capital, plus the food stipends for the students of the Imperial College, only spent a total of forty thousand dan a year.

When the officials, flag officers, and soldiers of the 78 guards received the grain, they would immediately sell the rice. It was this large-scale sell-off that led to the low price of grain in the east of the city.

When Xu Jie was in power, he once mentioned this issue in a memorial:
"The southern part of the country sends one dan of rice to the capital, which is calculated as two dan of rice. Each dan costs five coins of silver, for a total cost of one ounce of silver."

To transport one stone of rice from the south to the capital, two stones of rice were needed, including consumption, half of which was loss along the way, which is the so-called "additional loss".

The cost of one stone of rice in the capital is one tael of silver.

"The soldiers in the capital sold the rice at a low price, earning only four coins."

I'm afraid that even the Eight Banners descendants of the Qing Dynasty in later generations would only call it an expert after seeing it.

These garrison soldiers would also say that my great-grandfather followed Emperor Chengzu in the Jingnan Rebellion and suffered all the hardships I have ever endured in my life.

Such a table can clearly show the changes in prices in the capital and the changes in people's livelihood.

At the very least, the emperor would know the price of rice and would not say things like "why not eat meat porridge?"

This newspaper is well run!
Zhang Juzheng felt a little regretful. It would have been better if Su Ze had passed the imperial examination earlier and become his disciple.

Zhang Juzheng raised his head again, and Zhao Zhenji's face looked a little ugly.

(End of this chapter)