"Master Samurai, I think you look like a kind person, so I'll tell you something heartfelt..."

"In recent years, there have been no major disasters, but life has become increasingly difficult."

"Things on the market are getting more and more expensive. Not to mention the luxury goods used by rich people, even salt, pots and bowls for eating... and other things that are necessary for living are all going up.

The price of land has gone up, but it has never gone down.”

"At this critical moment when money is needed more than ever, the rice and vegetables I have grown with so much painstaking efforts, as well as the cloth woven by my mother-in-law, are becoming increasingly difficult to sell."

"To be honest...if this continues, I'm really afraid that one day my family and I will starve to death because we have no money to buy food..."

"I'm just a rough guy, I don't know a single word, I don't understand the big principles, I'm a college student, and the only craft I know how to do is farming, so I don't dare to give advice to the officials..."

"Sigh... I just hope that the officials can quickly implement some benevolent policies so that the lives of poor people like us can be easier as soon as possible..."

Before he finished speaking, the old man laughed bitterly at himself.

"..." Tokugawa Iemo fell silent with a complicated expression. He raised his gaze numbly and inadvertently cast his gaze into the distance, his cheeks filled with elusive emotions.

Why does the old man feel that life has become difficult nowadays?

Due to limited cognitive level, even in the West, where culture and technology are the most developed, the profession of economics has just begun. Therefore, let’s not talk about just a farmer, even if you look across the country of Japan, there are five people in the country.

Not many scholars or government officials with rich political experience can answer this question.

As a time traveler, Qingdeng, who had studied in middle school history classes the methods used by Western powers to exploit colonies and semi-colonies, roughly knew what the answer was.

The fate of countries and places invaded by Western powers is basically the same.

What the old man just said was actually wrong.

This country has not been without major disasters in recent years - just over 7 years ago, didn't that major incident known as the "Black Ship Attack" plunge this country into a state of great change unseen in a thousand years?

After Japan was founded, foreign trade surged.

Economic commodities such as raw silk, tea, silkworm seeds and cotton were exported in large quantities, causing prices to rise.

Let’s not mention other commodities, just take raw silk as an example: due to insufficient quantity and rising prices of raw silk, the silk weaving industry in various places, led by Nishijin in Kyoto, has become unsustainable.

The skyrocketing prices of export products have also affected general commodity prices. The price of rice has been rising year by year since a few years ago.

Because the price of gold in Japan is far lower than the international price, Western businessmen and embassy personnel from various countries took advantage of the difference to rob Japanese gold, causing a large outflow of gold and falling gold prices. It also prompted a sharp increase in the prices of daily necessities such as rice, wheat, and salt.

This caused further hardship to the lives of civilians and middle- and lower-level samurai.

In a nutshell - the semi-colonial and semi-feudal social environment has made the current Japanese economy go from bad to worse.

If we want to fundamentally solve this problem... it is far from enough to just rely on the so-called benevolent policies and the issuance of a few so-called policies and orders to benefit the people.

Aonto thought: Tokugawa Iemo should have roughly understood the crux of this problem, so he showed such an expression as if he had eaten a fly.

About 2 minutes later, Tokugawa Iemoji took a long breath, and then slowly withdrew his gaze to look into the distance.

"Old sir, thank you for your answer. Can you please help me pick the 10 freshest Chinese cabbages? I want to buy them."

Hearing that Tokugawa Iemo wanted to buy his food, the old man suddenly became excited.

He responded with a loud smile, "Okay."

The old face covered with wrinkles and dust showed no trace of the anguish he had just described when he was describing his current hard life.

For the people at the bottom, happiness is so simple...and difficult.

…

…

Qingden and his party left Kanda without talking all the way, holding 10 cabbages in their arms.

After leaving Kanda, under the instructions of Tokugawa Iemo, they headed straight west to the next inspection site: Koishikawa Health Center.

Koishikawa Health Center - The Eighth Generation Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune, after receiving a petition from the Kam herbalist Ogawa Sasufune to put it into the Measan box (public opinion box), ordered the establishment of a health center for the poor in the seventh year of Kyōho (1722).

The medical facility, the Koishikawa Health Center, could initially accommodate about forty patients, and later increased to more than one hundred and fifty patients.

Until now, this old hospital with a history of hundreds of years is still the most famous charity institution under the Edo shogunate.

The biggest feature of Koishikawa Health Center is that you can receive free medical treatment.

For the poor people at the bottom who have trouble even eating, the Koishikawa Health Center, which can provide free medical services, is like a life-saving straw.

Tokugawa Iemo probably wanted to take an in-depth look at the operating status of this charity hospital, which has high hopes for countless poor people.

Except for the time when he first traveled through time, Aoto had no shortage of money for daily expenses. Naturally, he had never visited the Koishikawa Health Center, which specialized in serving the poor.

In Qingdeng's imagination, the entrance of this kind of charity hospital should be crowded with poor people waiting for treatment.

But who knew... After arriving at Koishikawa Health Center, Qingto suddenly realized how conservative his imagination was...

At this moment, an indescribable scene unfolded in the field of vision of Qingdeng and others.

Today's sunshine is so bright - but such bright sunshine, when it shines on the surrounding areas of Koishikawa Health Center, the light is instantly dimmed due to the influence of the environment.

The red soil road near Koishikawa Health Center is covered with a thick layer of variegated color that looks like grease.

The colors that make up this patchwork are: dark brown, burnt black, dark green... In short, all the ugly colors that can cause people's physical discomfort can be found here.

If you look carefully, you will find that these color blocks are actually living people.

There were men, women, old and young, and a rough visual inspection revealed that there were about a thousand people.

They gathered on the street, in the middle of the road, and on every inch of land around the Koishikawa Health Center.

A pungent stench composed of the smell of sweat, feces, urine, and body odor from not bathing for a long time permeated this crowded and heavy space.

Children's cries, feeble moans, comforting sounds with sobbing sounds, and screams that are unbearable to hear...these noisy sounds filled the ears of Qingden and others with an overwhelming sense of presence.

"Mom...my stomach hurts..." a little girl said angrily.

"Be good...you can see the doctor soon. Just bear with it a little longer...just bear with it a little longer..." The young woman holding the little girl patted the little girl's back with one hand and wiped it away quietly with the other hand.

Tears in the corners of the eyes.

Although she said, "You will see the doctor soon," there were still at least 200 people queuing in front of her... It was already afternoon, and if nothing else happened, it would be absolutely impossible for the mother and son to cross the border today.

Go through the gate of Koishikawa Health Center.

"Masters! I beg you!" A middle-aged man knelt on the ground and kowtowed to the people lined up in front of him with tears in his eyes. "My mother... my mother is about to die of illness! Please

Come on, please! Give me your seat in the queue and let my mother see the doctor first! I beg you!"

A young man in front of him turned his head impatiently and scolded: "Your mother is going to die of illness, but my son is also dying of illness! If I give up my place in the queue to you, what will happen to my son?"

?”

With this young man taking the lead, others immediately joined in the condemnation.

"That's right! You can't be so selfish!"

"Your mother's life is life, but my daughter's life is not life?"

"I started queuing here before dawn! Are you trying to steal my seat with just one mouthful? What a beautiful idea!"

…

Facing the flood of accusations and abuses, the middle-aged man did not make any rebuttal.

He just continued to kowtow silently, and silently begged everyone to give him his place in the queue, silently trying to fight for as much life as possible for his mother.

Similar pictures and similar situations appear everywhere in this not-so-large space.

Looking at the scene in front of them, Qingdeng and his party showed different expressions, but the emotions contained in them were quite consistent.

Sha Zhong drooped the corners of her mouth.

Yae lowered his head and eyes.

Tianzhangyuan's eyes flashed with sadness.

Tokugawa Iemo remained calm, but his hands, which were naturally hanging down, were now clenched tightly.

As for Aoto... He has no expression on his face just like Tokugawa Iemo.

But in fact, his heart at this time was not unwavering.

At this moment, Qingdeng's mind suddenly had this thought:

——This is the true portrayal of the poor people at the bottom of the feudal era...

With this thought, an unknown strange emotion emerged from Qingdeng's heart...

Suddenly, an angry shout attracted all the attention of Qingdeng and his party.

"Hey! Why is there such a thing here? Hey! Smelly woman, get out of here! This is a medical center for treating people, not a place where you dirty dirty people should come! The evil energy in your body will

If you pollute this place, everyone will get sick!"

*******

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The author's biological clock and life rhythm have gradually recovered! Look, the number of words is beginning to increase day by day! It is about to return to the previous update level!

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Chapter completed!