Chapter 1264: This Is Money Poisoning

On the fifth day of the tenth month of the seventeenth year of the Shun reign, northeast of Kunming City, at Rabbit's Ear Pass.

Rabbit's Ear Pass was the strategic gateway into the Shun's southern capital of Kunming from the northeast, and also a flourishing commercial town within Kunming Prefecture.

Unlike Shaanxi, where tensions ran high all year round, the Ming and Shun armies on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau were not really fighting at all — at most they fought three months out of the year, and spent the rest of the time doing business. Yunnan's copper cash, Burma's jade, Huguang's ironware, and the southeast's silk and cotton all flowed back and forth along the trade routes between Yunnan and Guizhou. The two sides had been at war for over a decade, and while few heroes had emerged, a great many rich men had — and Rabbit's Ear Pass had gone from a military strongpoint to a commercial boomtown.

And with Li Jicheng's return laden with plunder from India, this commercial hub grew even more prosperous.

Dressed in a plain blue robe with a strip of white cloth tied at his waist — in mourning for Li Guo — Li Dingguo, accompanied by a hundred or so attendants, entered the town of Rabbit's Ear Pass by the northern official road at dusk.

White mourning banners hung everywhere in the town, and the passersby all wore plain-colored clothes. Every man in blue, like Li Dingguo and his attendants, wore a white cloth at his waist, mourning the recently deceased Shun Taizong Emperor, Li Guo.

This was now the period of national mourning for the Shun dynasty. Every household of the prefectural troops wore full mourning, ordinary people were forbidden to wear bright clothing, all entertainments were prohibited, and drinking in public was not allowed. Rich food and meat, however, were still permitted.

As the travel-worn Li Dingguo rode into Rabbit's Ear Pass town, he caught the aroma of cured meat in spiced broth wafting from a roadside eatery.

After days of hard riding, Li Dingguo had not had a proper meal in some time. The smell stirred his appetite at once, and he reined in his horse, turned to his son Li Runxing, and said, "Son, let's eat here."

"Sure! Father, I've been hungry for ages. Let's eat here before we enter the pass." Li Runxing had already swung down from his horse, tossed the reins to an attendant, and was about to stride toward an eatery with a sign reading "Old Northern Shaanxi Inn."

"Son," Li Dingguo said, seeing the boy swaggering along, and quickly admonished him, "Don't disturb the people."

He did not want everyone in Rabbit's Ear Pass town to know that the Prince of Jin had arrived — what a commotion that would cause? What need was there for it?

"I know, Father." Li Runxing answered, then walked into the eatery and soon came back out with a waiter.

The waiter was a Sichuan man. Seeing Li Dingguo on horseback, he knew at once this was a high official and hastily dropped to his knees and kowtowed — in the Shun realm, merchants were of low status and the rules were strict; a merchant had to bow even to an ordinary prefectural soldier, and before an official he had to kowtow.

After kowtowing, the waiter said to Li Dingguo, "Begging your pardon, sir, but business is booming today and there are no empty seats. Only one private room remains to receive guests, but it is small and truly cannot hold so many people."

"Then let them eat outside," Li Dingguo said, already dismounted. "Bring plenty of good meat and good dishes. I don't mind spending."

The waiter bowed to Li Dingguo again and said with a rueful smile, "You are generous, sir, but I must tell you — lately the price of good pork and mutton here in Kunming has risen sharply, and even rice and flour cost more than before. This small shop runs on thin capital, so we have no choice but to follow the market."

"Enough chatter. Would my father short you on silver?" Li Runxing, growing impatient, cut the waiter off.

"Let him speak," Li Dingguo said with a frown. "How much has rice and flour risen? How much is a jin of braised meat? How much is a jin of mutton?"

"To answer you, sir: today rice in Kunming Prefecture has risen to 30 wen per jin. Our cured braised meat sells at 700 wen per jin, and cooked mutton at 800 wen per jin."

"That expensive?" Li Dingguo's expression changed at once.

The Shun's standard cash exchanged with silver at 1,000 wen to one tael, so 30 wen was 0.3 mace of silver. One shi was 100 jin, requiring three taels of silver. This was, of course, the market retail price — not the bulk wholesale price, and certainly not the price farmers got for their grain. Such high prices would be nothing in Yingtian Prefecture or Shanghai Prefecture, but this was Kunming Prefecture!

As for pork and mutton, they were even dearer — cooked pork and cooked mutton both reached seven or eight hundred wen per jin. Nearly a tael!

Seeing his father's grim expression, Li Runxing thought to himself: Is Father being too stingy? He just got 80,000 taels of silver, and now he can't bear to spend any?

Just then, Li Dingguo spoke again. "I understand. Bring the mutton soup and the meat-filled flatbreads. I won't short you on silver."

"Thank you, thank you! Please come in, sir, and you, young master, and all you gentlemen!"

The waiter was naturally grinning from ear to ear as he solicitously ushered Li Dingguo, Li Runxing, and the several guards, aides, and the bookkeeper who attended Li Dingguo closely into the shop.

Business inside was astonishingly good — the price hikes had not made it quiet at all. Those sitting inside eating and drinking were all prefectural soldiers in blue. Li Dingguo noticed that these men's blue clothes were not coarse cloth but silk! And none of them were old. Where had they come from?

Once inside the private room, Li Dingguo stopped the waiter and asked, "Are all those people eating downstairs prefectural soldiers? Where are they from?"

"Those are certainly prefectural soldiers — otherwise they couldn't wear blue!" the waiter said. "They're all from the Rabbit's Ear Pass camp."

"Rabbit's Ear Pass camp?" Li Dingguo thought for a moment. "Isn't that an empty camp?"

"Not empty anymore," the waiter said with a smile. "A month ago, His Highness the Crown Prince's Long March prefectural troops came up from the south and garrisoned the Rabbit's Ear Pass camp. Those Long March troops all came back from India, and every one of them has money in his pocket. When their leave comes around, they come out to amuse themselves and eat and drink."

He did not tell the whole story. Li Jicheng's pampered soldiers did not leave camp merely for a bite to eat — there were also several brothels in Rabbit's Ear Pass town.

Li Dingguo asked again, "Does the rise in the price of rice, flour, pork, and mutton in Kunming Prefecture have anything to do with these Long March soldiers from the south?"

"That..." The waiter was startled by the question. "That I wouldn't dare say carelessly!"

Li Dingguo waved his hand, stopping the man from going on, then ordered the meat-filled flatbreads and mutton soup and sent him away.

The sharp rise in prices in Kunming Prefecture was already known to Li Laiheng and Li Jicheng up on Wuhua Mountain. As for the cause of the price rise, the Prefect of Kunming, Niu Quan, was reporting to the father and son, Li Laiheng and Li Jicheng.

"The recent soaring of prices in the capital is due to an excess of gold and silver coming up from the south. This subject has already arranged for official merchants to purchase goods in Guizhou and Sichuan. In a while, prices should be brought back down. I beg Your Majesty and Your Highness not to worry."

"What about prices elsewhere?" Li Laiheng asked. "Surely they haven't all risen as sharply as here in Kunming?"

"They have risen a little," Niu Quan said, "but nothing comparable to Kunming. Kunming is commercially prosperous and also profits from minting coin, so merchants and artisans gather here, and prices are naturally somewhat higher. Elsewhere, commerce is suppressed and agriculture is emphasized; the people there till their own land and eat their own grain, so what does the price of grain matter to them?"

Li Laiheng nodded slightly. "That is true."

In fact, what Niu Quan said was not quite right. Inflation affected self-sufficient farmers considerably too, because the Shun's peasants bore heavy corvée labor — chiefly transporting military grain and supplies to the front lines, or building fortifications at strategic points. For this they had to leave their homes and serve in distant places, sometimes being shifted between different service locations. Once they arrived at their service post, provisions were naturally supplied, but on the road they had to fend for themselves. So they had no choice but to carry a little copper cash to buy food.

Moreover, farmers also had major expenses such as weddings, funerals, and buying medicine when ill, and sometimes they had to purchase farm tools or livestock. There were quite a few places where money had to be spent.

Their source of silver and cash was the official merchants' "harmonious purchase" of surplus grain and cloth. So-called harmonious purchase meant compulsory purchase at officially set prices. Of course, since the Shun suppressed commerce, no private merchants would go into the countryside to buy up grain, cloth, pigs, and sheep. Only official merchants commissioned by the government could conduct such trade.

And because the Shun's peasants found it hard to obtain money, they tended to treasure the silver and cash they got from official merchants, unwilling to spend it on food or goods, and carefully saved it all.

(End of Chapter)