By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the prosperity and frugality of commerce had been replaced by luxury fashion. Rich businessmen gathered in the prosperous places in the south of the Yangtze River, competing to win by luxury. As a scholar-bureaucrat, Wen Zhenheng naturally despises the bad tastes of these rich people, so he wants to use this book to help his magnanimity. His good friend Shen Chunze couldn't help sarcastically: Recently, rich people and one or two mediocre slaves and dull people are bent on doing good deeds and pretending to be themselves. Every time they appreciate it, the export is vulgar and the beginning is vulgar. And rich, uneducated and tasteless, these rich people are undoubtedly local tyrants in the eyes of genuine materials and true feelings. Luxury goods have spread all over the south of the Yangtze River in the Ming Dynasty, with a high degree of commercial development. Since Jiajing, industry and commerce have flourished and many people have become rich. At that time, Huizhou merchants all made fish and salt, and there were millions of silver at home, but there were very few small and medium-sized businessmen with wealth of 200 thousand to 300 thousand. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, frugality gradually faded, and the rich began to enjoy and show off their lives. Gu comments: Since the American rule, there have been more and more inferior products, the prestige of this country has been weak, and the American people's heart has been bad. This situation has lasted for decades. The drama theorists in Jiajing period remember that there were only five fruits and five dishes before the banquet in Songjiang House. Only when guests come or newly-married in-laws visit will three or four shrimps, crabs and clams be added, but only once or twice a year. At that time, the dishes of ordinary banquets should not only be doubled, but also be perfect, and we should also look for far-reaching treasures to surpass others. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, a gentleman gave a banquet in honor of the local commander. At the banquet, a pair of chickens and geese served as pots, and the fruit was six or seven feet high. Children aged three or four can walk under the sugarcane arch. At that time, the rich people were full of suspense tricks, taking pleasure in bitter He Shuang. For example, roast duck, wrapped in iron, roasted with fire and dipped in Chili sauce. Its hair fell off and the meat was cooked before it died. When you eat mutton and donkey meat, you can I can't bear to watch it. Li Yu, a scholar in the late Ming Dynasty, recorded a way to eat geese in his spare time. At that time, he put a live goose's paw in boiling oil and then threw it into a pool to make it jump. After several times, the goose's paws are fat and sweet. These methods are available to local tyrants and are no worse than others. People say that today the house is rich, the poor mountains are expensive, the oyster house is exhausted in the south, the bear's paw is in the north, the barbecue is in the East China Sea, and the milk in the western regions of Malaysia is so-called "enriching the people all over the world". You also need to have jade musical instruments, dance accompaniment and mixed vocal music. The cost of such a banquet is enough to bankrupt a middle-class family. In addition to food and drink, rich families also compare with each other in rooms and clothes. In 2000, it was recorded that the rich built palaces and kept concubines, and their food and clothing were no different from those of the nobles, while women were idle and lived in a state of constant beauty, wearing smart makeup, carving jade as jewelry, matching with bright pearls and jade feathers, and embroidering clothes, all of which were pure. They are extremely extravagant! According to the regulations, jade beads and dragon and phoenix costumes can only be worn by queens and princesses, but by the late Ming Dynasty, rich women had no scruples. Household appliances have also become exquisite and luxurious at this time. "Fan Lian Ming Dynasty Du Jiang County Records" said that when he was a child, folk furniture had better only be painted with gold paint on ginkgo wood, and wood was rarely used. After Qin Long and Wanli, ordinary people began to like exquisite furniture. In Qianfu, all the beds and cabinets are made of rosewood, beech, ebony, acacia and boxwood, which are extremely expensive, costing thousands of dollars. It can be seen that the richest man in Jiangnan at that time was the Qinhuai River in Nanjing. The rich family has a primitive boat, surrounded by a fence carved and decorated with jade yarn, and tassels are hung on both sides of the corner lights of the sheep finance office. There are more than 20 young musicians on each ship. they are

To celebrate his mother's 90th birthday on Saturday, the rich in Kunshan invited the painter Chou Ying to his home to draw a picture for his mother. With his daughter as a reward, he provided more food and drink than the imperial court. Every month, he will light a lamp for him and invite several actresses to eat several Song banquets. It took six years to finish this painting. But rich people have money, but they may not have corresponding tastes. It was recorded in 2000 that the wealthy businessmen at that time liked to talk about Bo Gu and read and draw, but they didn't think I had no vision. I don't know how to pretend to understand. Zhong's Fake Book Brother, Mi Haiyue's Fake Post and Shui Yan Tan are often rare treasures and have been handed down as jokes by scholars. Under the fool of antique dealers, these rich people spend money like water and are confused. They drink antiperspirants every day, but they never tire of it. As a result, local tyrants who love to collect but are easy to cheat have greatly developed the fake market for calligraphy and painting antiques. At that time, there were numerous works of Ming Sijia, Shen, Tang and Qiu in Suzhou, and Suzhou's characteristic alleys were even famous for forging famous paintings and antiques. In Songjiang, a clever antique dealer compiled a manual of ancient masters, called "The Forest Map of Zixu", which was full of fakes by Gu Kaizhi, Zhan Ziqian, Zhang Monk Friends and others. And lured local tyrants to spend a lot of money on it. Officialdom is the real local tyrant. However, compared with officials, the life of local tyrants in the south of the Yangtze River is still dwarfed. The extravagance of officials at that time was an example for local tyrants to follow. Needless to say, the royal luxury. When Jin Jia was in power, the American family in Yan Song was also very rich. Yan Shifan's son spat and was picked up by a beautiful young maid, called a fragrant spittoon. When Yan Song was looted, there were three hundred and two thousand gold and two hundred and two thousand silver in the house. There are thousands of famous calligraphy and paintings, precious ancient books and more than 600 precious beds here. Wang Shizhen, the minister of punishments, built a garden in his hometown, with a rockery three feet high. In order to transport it to the city, he did not hesitate to tear down the gate. And wine, very rich. The house at home is like a palace, and the garden is 100 mu wide. He bought a stone ten feet high and three feet wide as the peak of the rockery and sank into Taihu Lake during transportation. In order to retrieve the stone, a weir was built to stop the water, and hundreds of water trucks were used to drain the water. At that time, an official named Xie Rushao visited the eunuch. This is our home. There are only three guests. The food prepared in the kitchen is 18 geese, 72 chickens and 150 Jin pork. There is also a meal 130 more chickens, only eating the heads of chickens. There are some ridiculous and extravagant methods, which are almost nonsense: break the eggs of chickens, ducks and geese, separate the yolk, and steam it with cow bladder, which is called ostrich eggs; Make big steamed buns and break them at the banquet. There are more than 200 steamed buns in it. Corresponding to the extravagance of officialdom, it is the atmosphere of corruption. According to Wanli local chronicles, before Zheng De and Jiajing, officials retired empty-handed, and people in the village went to comfort and praise him. If you go back to China, you won't associate with them. When the official returned to Qin Long, the village didn't ask him about his character, only how much money he earned. If he has no money, laugh at him as a crazy shepherd. At that time, some people proposed to curb the extravagance of the rich and asked officials and scholars to set an example. Wang Shizhen is worried that scholars don't know how to be thrifty, saying that nowadays scholars are admitted to Jinshi, often entertain each other and like fur and horse ornaments. If they don't, if they don't know how to be frugal, how can they be as honest as officials in the future? Yes, he is the Wang Shizhen who tore down the city gate to repair his own garden.