The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

The little beggar left the restaurant with a big bowl of white flour buns. Not long after he walked away, he was surrounded by other beggars. No one tried to steal his buns, but they just said nice things and tried to beg for one or two buns from him.

At this moment, the child held his head high and walked out with the momentum of a king.

Wanli and others also came out, and following the gaze of Min Xi and Yun Ji, they saw a group of little beggars surrounding the little beggar who had received the steamed bun.

Wanli was somewhat incredulous: "How could there be so many beggars?" He noticed that in addition to those little beggars, there were many adult beggars sitting along the wall on the street, basking in the sun and pinching lice.

Zhao Yu looked at them and said, "Sir, let's get in the car quickly. There are too many beggars here. It's not very safe here."

Wanli didn't say much, just nodded and said, "Go and find out what's going on. Min Xi, get in my carriage."

"Okay!" Zhao Yu and Min Xi both agreed.

Seeing this, Yun Ji said to Teng Feng, who was driving Wanli's carriage, "Let's switch carriages and I'll drive yours."

Teng Feng looked at Zhao Yu, and Zhao Yu nodded: "It's okay to change." He knew Yun Ji's skills, and it would obviously be safer for the emperor to follow him.

So the three carriages finally started up again and slowly left the town.

Min Xi said to Wanli: "Sir, you didn't have lunch, right? Let me cook for you in the evening."

Wanli nodded: "Okay." He also knew that although the lunch was not prepared by Min Xi, it was still quite tiring and cost extra money. It would be better to let Min Xi prepare it, which would be delicious and safe.

Wanli opened the curtains and looked at the scenery on the street. He had not noticed it before, but now he found that there were really many beggars here. He couldn't help asking: "I haven't heard of any natural disasters this year. Why are there so many beggars here?"

Min Xi probably guessed something, but he didn't dare to make any conclusions, so he said, "Maybe this town is relatively wealthy, so there are more beggars."

Wanli said: "It's only half a day's drive from here to the capital. Why don't these beggars go to the capital to beg? Is there any place in the world richer than the capital?"

Min Xi didn't know how to respond. Most of these people were driven out of the capital, and they were not allowed to disrupt the order of the capital.

"Why don't you speak?" Wanli looked at Min Xi.

Min Xi hesitated for a moment and asked, "Sir, how do you think we should deal with these beggars?"

Wanli was stunned for a moment. He had never thought about this. A quick look through the cracks in the doors of the wealthy families in the capital might be enough to feed and clothe these beggars.

Min Xi said: "When there are more refugees, all kinds of thefts will increase, and the governor of Shuntian Prefecture will not be happy to see it."

Wanli was puzzled and asked, "Where do these beggars come from?"

"They could be farmers who have lost their land, or widows and widowers who are lonely."

"How come there are so many beggars in the Ming Dynasty?" Wanli frowned, "Shouldn't the local government be responsible for settling them?"

Min Xi said helplessly: "Sir, the government needs money to do anything."

Wanli's teeth were clenched tightly. The Zhu emperors were particularly sensitive to beggars because Taizu had begged on the streets before he became rich. But what was that like? It was the end of the Yuan Dynasty when people were living in poverty! But now, under his rule, there were so many people displaced! This made him a little creepy.

Wanli asked Min Xi: "Have you ever seen so many beggars elsewhere?"

Min Xi thought about it carefully and nodded: "But not in Ming Dynasty, but in Europe. The places I stayed in Ming Dynasty included Lingnan, Fujian and Jiangnan Province, and I have never seen so many beggars."

Wanli was slightly relieved after hearing this, but he still asked angrily: "Why are there so many beggars under the feet of the emperor?"

This can only mean one thing: land annexation in this area is more serious than anywhere else.

Min Xi said, "Let's see what Zhao Yu says when he comes back."

It was a long time after they left the town that Zhao Yu rode up to catch up. When Wanli heard Yunji say that Zhao Yu was back, he lifted the curtain and waited for Zhao Yu to approach: "Have you found out what happened?"

Zhao Yu hesitated and didn't dare to speak. Wanli said angrily: "Hurry up and say it, don't hesitate!"

Zhao Yu could only say: "Some beggars were sent here from the capital. Others were driven out by local wealthy families. Many of these people sold their land for a living, and in order to avoid paying the capitation tax, they took the initiative to rely on wealthy families and became slaves. When they lost their ability to work, the wealthy families were unwilling to support idle people, so they drove them out and left them to fend for themselves. They had no land and no ability to work, so they had no choice but to beg."

Wanli sneered when he heard this: "To avoid taxes, he became a slave, and ended up being thrown away like a worn-out shoe! He deserves it!"

Min Xi knew that he had not grasped the point, so he did not comment. In the early Ming Dynasty, the people were all allocated land, and the court also encouraged land reclamation. The land they reclaimed belonged to them. However, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, a large number of people had to sell their own land to make a living. This shows that the taxes were heavy and the people's ability to bear risks was too weak. Once a family encountered an accident, they could only sell land to make a living.

Seeing Min Xi silent, Wanli couldn't help but ask: "Min Xi, what do you think?"

Min Xi said: "This should not be an isolated phenomenon. The problem of land annexation exists throughout the country, and the number of people who have lost their land is definitely not just 30,000 or 50,000."

"Didn't you say that you haven't seen so many beggars in the south?" Wanli asked.

"The south is different from the north. When autumn and winter come in the north, everything withers and people have no way to get food, so they can only beg. Moreover, the winter is too cold to survive in the wild, so they can only go to the city to find shelter from the cold. The climate in the south is much warmer, and in autumn and winter, there are wild vegetables, grass roots and other things to fill the stomach. Moreover, the south is densely populated, so beggars are scattered and not so conspicuous." Min Xi said.

Wanli scratched his head in distress. He didn't expect that he would encounter so many things on his first day out. When he was in the palace, every time he went to court, he heard the civil and military officials arguing over trivial matters in the hall. He didn't know how many times he impeached Zhang Juzheng for seizing his love. No one in the court said how much a minister had embezzled, and no one said how much land a minister had annexed or how many slaves he had.

He only started to get involved in political affairs this year, but all the memorials he came into contact with were selected by Zhang Juzheng and given to him. Although there were various types, his general impression was that it cost money to do this and that, but the problem was that the national treasury was empty and could not pay the money.

He thought that apart from the empty treasury making it difficult to do business, the world was really peaceful.

Now, looking out, he sees that the entire Ming Dynasty is full of problems, like a leaky house with numerous holes, which can be blown down by a rain, snow or strong wind. No matter what, the Ming Dynasty must not collapse in his hands.

Wanli asked: "How should this land annexation problem be resolved?"

Min Xi shook his head: "I haven't thought about it yet, let me think about it."

Wanli sighed: "I have to think about it carefully." Although he was young, he had read a lot of books. He had learned about the issue of land annexation from history books.

In Min Xi's opinion, there is no solution to this problem, unless there is a revolution and a reshuffle. But will the Ming Dynasty overthrow itself?

Officials in the Ming Dynasty did not pay taxes, so they did not know how much land they owned, some of it their own, and some of it their relatives and friends registered in their names to avoid taxes. The royal family of the Ming Dynasty did not pay taxes either. Not only did they occupy a large amount of land, but the court even had to pay money every year to support the huge royal family that had developed since the early Ming Dynasty.

These alone are enough to drag the Ming Dynasty into the abyss.