[Comprehensive History] Clothes are all over the world

Emperor Hongwu came from among the peasants. When he was young, he used to work and herd cattle at the landlord's house. The memory of being exploited and oppressed by the landlord at that time made him hate the existence of the landlord.

But as an emperor, he also knew very well that landlords had their inevitability and rationality, so he kept suppressing his temper and preferences, and did not interfere with the power of landlords and rich people.

Even, in the eyes of later generations, Emperor Hongwu, who was full of factors of hatred of the rich, could be said to be extremely tolerant to the wealthy people in the early days of his reign.In the early Ming Dynasty, the commercial tax rate was 3 per cent, which is [-]%. If it is put into modern times, this tax rate is enough to make all the merchants stare.

Of course, this is mainly because the merchants in the early years of Hongwu assumed a lot of social responsibilities. They traveled across the country, stepped on natural roads with horses and mules, and helped the court deliver the materials needed by the local area. The relationship between the restless people and the court was broken.

To use the labels of later generations, almost all the businessmen who traveled in the Ming Dynasty today can be stamped with the red stamp of a patriotic businessman.

For example, the current situation in Yunnan is a living example.

After the recovery of Yunnan, the first batch of people who entered Yunnan were neither the army nor court officials, but Bashu businessmen recruited and encouraged by the court. The isolated Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau has brought the rich products and friendly smiles belonging to the Central Plains.

Without the middlemen and the exploitation by the Yuan government, the prices of materials in the Central Plains are more affordable to the people. If it were not for the protection of the merchants, these goods might be robbed before they reach Kunming.

While exchanging rice with the Yunnan government for salt, a group of brave and fearless merchants from the Central Plains set foot on the ancient tea-horse road for the first time, exchanging information with Tibetan merchants on the Tibetan plateau.

The Ancient Tea-Horse Road began in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, due to the relationship between Princess Wencheng, the Tang Empire had a close relationship with the Tubo Dynasty at that time. The ancient road is inconvenient because it needs to take the Shu Road.

However, in the Song Dynasty, especially the Southern Song Dynasty, which lost a large area of ​​northern land, the only thing they could rely on was the tea-horse road.

Tibet is located on a plateau with little oxygen, so the horses grown up there are naturally more durable than those in the plains. For the Southern Song Dynasty, which lost most of the horse-raising areas, the horses from Tibet were their battles with the Jin Dynasty. last confidence.Therefore, the Song people gave green light to the ancient tea-horse road along the way, and this road also ushered in its first bright period.

The Song Dynasty destroyed the Yuan Dynasty, and the Northern Yuan government focused on business. At the same time, in order to strengthen the control of Tibet and encourage businessmen to pay more taxes, a large number of post stations and post roads were built on the main roads of several ancient tea-horse roads.

But now, these roads are in Daming's hands as a historical legacy.

However, because the Ming government's control over Yunnan is quite weak, some local Tu ethnic groups still disobey Daming, and most of the ancient tea-horse roads are in deep mountains and dense forests. There is no heart to go back.

These businessmen even made a gentleman's decision, agreeing that each other must help each other on this road, and must not hinder each other. Correspondingly, as long as one person can leave this business road alive, all the family members of the deceased To be handed over to his care.

This is not moral kidnapping. Judging from the current situation, as long as there is one person who can return to Handi in full, he will definitely make a lot of profits, not to mention only the family members of these businessmen, plus several times can afford it.

In fact, they did make a lot of profits.

Tibetan secret medicines, thangkas, Tibetan incense, pulu and horses are all very popular. It may be because of frequent business relations. Tibetan businessmen are also relatively friendly. They can communicate with gestures even if they don’t understand the language. Using the method of dialing the abacus to bargain with the Central Plains merchants, in short, this group of merchants made a trip to the roof of the world and it was quite profitable.

But when it comes to their biggest harvest this time, it's not these commodities.

It is a special kind of tea from Yunnan - Pucha.

Faced with the various goods brought by the merchants from the Central Plains, the Tibetan merchants expressed that they wanted Pucha more, which naturally aroused the curiosity of the merchants from the Central Plains.After going down the mountain, they immediately contacted the tea merchants in Yunnan, and purchased the puerh tea that the Tibetans named to buy.

In fact, Pucha is the name of the local people. It is said that it is the earliest tea planted by the local Pu people. It has a history of more than a thousand years. It has been drunk by the local people before, and it was once a local tribute to King Wu of Zhou. Due to the unpopularity of drinking tea at that time, and the barriers between Yunnan and the outside world, it has not been well-known.

Later, because of Tibetans’ demand for tea, the pucha, which was planted in Yunnan itself, started a foreign trade model by relying on its geographical location.

Relying on the ancient tea-horse road and the frequent businessmen of the Song Dynasty, the production method of pucha changed from loose tea to cake tea. Tea is not immune to moisture, and after repeated dampening and drying, pucha has undergone a strange change—its fragrance has become stronger and more mellow, and most importantly, pucha is now very, very, very effective in treating constipation .

Yes, the main reason Tibetans buy tea is for its ability to treat constipation.

In Tibet, constipation is the fairest disease, whether it is a nobleman or a commoner slave, all have such distress.After all, their staple food is meat and coarse grains, and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is not suitable for growing vegetables. During the long freezing period, only meat can be eaten. Even noble people cannot eat fresh vegetables in winter.

So constipation naturally found them along with the unhealthy diet.

Just kidding, the tea sold by the Han people is so expensive, if you don’t buy it as a medicinal material, who would be willing to buy it!

Wouldn't it be nice to have more rice in the south with this money?

Therefore, after the first tea drinker discovered that the curative effect of Pucha is better than that of other teas, this tea became famous in Tibet, and quickly seized the market, becoming the TOP1 in the hearts of all Tibetans.

Out of curiosity, they also wanted to test the waters. These merchants who returned to the Central Plains from Yunnan purchased a batch of Pu-tea and shipped it to the capital. Of course, if they want to sell the goods, they must be packaged to a certain extent. They gave these Pu-tea The original packaging is - exclusively for Tibetan national teachers.

"There is still a national teacher in Tibet?" Zhu Yunwen, who was watching his brother making tea and listening to the story, blinked his eyes curiously, and asked doubtfully, "Did you appoint the national teacher in Tibet?"

"No, it was sealed by the emperor's grandfather." Mu Bai stirred the walnut charcoal and peeled off the charcoal ash on it to make the fire more vigorous. At the same time, he explained: "In the third year of Hongwu, the various tribes of Tubo that belonged to the Yuan Dynasty at that time Belonging to Ming Dynasty, the imperial grandfather gave them official positions one by one."

"Later, Nangaba Zangbu, the former emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, led many former Yuan Dynasty officials to Nanjing to meet the emperor's grandfather and express his surrender. The emperor's grandfather named him the national teacher of Tibet and ordered him to obey the court's law and comfort the party."

The radish heads couldn't help but tilt their heads when they heard this. They always felt that something was wrong. It was the older princes who asked the question. The eighth son frowned slightly, with a bit of doubt on his expression: "Father, did you let those princes ask questions?" The Tubo officials who belonged to him were restored to their original posts?"

The disbelief and disapproval in that tone were about to ooze out: "Then what is the difference between today's Tubo and Bei Yuan's Tubo?"

"This question..." Mu Bai paused slightly, turned his head to look behind him, glanced left and right, and said: "Zhou Buzheng, can you explain it?"

The middle-aged civil servant who was named paused for a moment, and then bowed to the little princes and grandchildren from a distance. During the action, the sound of shackles and chains continued, showing his embarrassing appearance with shackles added to his body.

In fact, it wasn't just him, around these little princes and grandsons, behind every wooden fence, there was a prisoner in prison uniforms and shackles. If these people were put outside, they would all be famous.

They are the palm prints of all the provinces of the Ming Dynasty except Yunnan.

If we compare today's Daming to a person, they are the muscles and bones of Daming, they are the ones who connect the torso and limbs, and they are responsible for conveying the commands from the brain, but it is also them who deviate from the thinking of the brain and act without authorization. Emperor Hongwu was annoyed.

These people are counted one by one, all of which are related to the empty seal case. As for whether they are corrupt or not, they still need to be reviewed, but at least the one of dereliction of duty must not be passed. to be taken off.

But in fact, these leaders who came here basically never had a dream of leaving here alive.

Because the place where they are now is called the Supervisor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Since Hongwu established the Metropolitan Procuratorate in 13 years, this prison has become a name that makes all officials fearful.

Compared with other prisons, the equipment and decoration of this prison can be said to be the best in the Ming Dynasty. It even provided candles and paper for everyone who was imprisoned, which can be said to be very considerate.

This is because the prisoners held here are all officials ordered by the imperial court, and they are important officials who can only come in with a certain grade, but being able to let these officials live in basically means that their crimes are almost indistinguishable, and basically they can be skipped. The interrogation session went directly to hospice care.

The candles, pens, inks, papers and inkstones provided are used to write confessions and memoirs for these officials. After all, everyone is a cultural person.

By the way, a group of officials detained here recently were Hu Weiyong and his cronies who ransacked their families and exterminated their families.

From the day they were brought here to await trial, the ten heavenly officials were heartbroken, and their only prayer was not to harm their family members.

But none of them thought that on the second day after being locked up here, the prison door was wide open, and the grandson of the emperor led his younger brothers and younger uncles down the steps, and the movements were so skillful that they cleared out an open space in the prison. , Light a kerosene lamp and start studying current affairs.

There is no need for textbooks or teachers. The leaders of the provinces here are excellent teaching materials and teachers.

As the important officials of the provinces in the early years of the Hongwu Dynasty, these people can sit firmly. Everyone has two brushes. As long as they are willing to pour out three or four points of the contents in their stomachs, it will be enough for these young princes and grandchildren to chew. It's been a long time with digestion.

Zhou Xian, the chief envoy of Sichuan, is very unlucky. His predecessor took office last year. He was parachuted into this position. Therefore, when paying taxes, it is also business as usual.

Although Zhou Xian also felt that it was inappropriate when his subordinates asked him to get the seal, but after hearing that it had been done like this since the early years of Hongwu, he did not hesitate much, and got the seal.

Who knew that this seal knocked him here, Zhou Buzheng almost wanted to cry without tears.

However, he did not dare to delay the little emperor's grandson's question, and hurriedly answered, "His Majesty, although His Majesty has appointed the original Tibetan officials to continue to govern Tibet, he has also set up a commander and a consolation envoy in Tibet." The officials appointed by the Division, the Thousand Households Office, and the Hundred Households Office are all officials of the Ming Dynasty.”

The Du Commanding Envoy Division is the highest local military leadership organization in Daming today, and its concept is similar to modern military regions in various places.

In other words, although the Ming Dynasty did not set up a chief envoy in charge of civil affairs in Tibet, all the military power was in the hands of Emperor Hongwu, and every move of the major tribes in Tibet was under his nose.

It can be said that this was an announcement of the existence of the Ming government to Tibet with a silent and strong attitude.

"In addition, His Majesty said that the commanders of the local capital, officials of thousands of households, and hundreds of households can be hereditary, but the hereditary inheritance of officials requires His Majesty's permission, and the imperial edict and seal must be replaced."

The little princes seemed to understand and looked at Mu Bai, wanting to hear his nephew's explanation.

Mu Bai removed the bubbling teapot from the walnut charcoal, poured the tea into the cup one by one, and explained with a smile until the last cup was poured: "That is to say, these forces from Ming Dynasty will gradually spread in the local area as time goes by. However, the old forces in Tibet itself will gradually withdraw from the local officialdom as time and power overlap."

"This is to manage the soil with the flow, and rule the Fan with the soil. After a long time, the flow will replace the soil. As long as there is enough time and effort, the Tibet of the Tubo can become the Tibet of the Ming Dynasty."

The young boy raised his head and smiled, his white teeth gleaming in the dim cell: "Come, try the Pucha brought by the merchants from Yunnan, this is the most authentic way of drinking it!"