However, the Court's silver is also increasing.
But are the people's lives improving?
Honestly, apart from the Southeastern Land, the lives of people in many provinces are getting worse.
There are natural disasters and human-induced calamities.
Because reforms in some places result in good governance, but in more places, they are excuses for the Officials to exploit the common people. Many small landlords also suffer from the reforms.
Yet, the Court is wealthy, and the military strength has increased, making the power to suppress local forces stronger than ever.
In fact, even now, the Great Ming Newspaper in South Zhili has some Scholars concluding that the population of this dynasty is the highest of all previous dynasties, but the land and grain have not increased correspondingly to past dynasties. Moreover, forests are gradually disappearing, animals are becoming fewer, and the average meat consumption by the people is actually less than in the Middle Ages.
