前几年笔者在工作之余,偶尔翻阅《三言两拍》,看到一则故事,主要讲述明朝某年间某地方大灾歉收,一个家庭妻离子散、悲欢离合的故事。此类故事在该部书里颇多,内容容易混淆,至今已记不清了。但该故事说书人的一番开场白却别开生面,笔者至今记忆犹新。在这篇开场白里,说书人直抒胸臆,痛快淋漓地道出了他对如何在灾年里调理经济,平抑物价,减轻灾民痛苦的一番主张。他说,眼下只要某处地方一旦遭灾,庄稼歉收,便会饥民塞道、饿殍遍野。这里面尽管有自然原因,但官府应对不善,人为地加重了饥情,此种原因亦不可忽视。他说,如今在地方上做官的人,大都是读书人出身。他们在家里做秀才、举人时,看到每逢灾年,粮商偏不卖粮,囤积居奇,待粮价一涨再涨后,方才高价抛售。这样,本能买一斗粮的钱,此时只能买一升了,芸芸升斗小民,越发饥谨。这令书生们义愤难平。他们心想,待自己做了 A few years ago I spare time, occasionally read “three words and two beats” and saw a story, mainly about a certain place in the Ming Dynasty a catastrophic failure, a family wife and children scattered, joys and sorrows story. Such stories in the book quite a lot, the content is easy to confuse, so far can not remember. However, some people say the story of the story opening but not surprisingly, I still remember. In this opening speech, the storyteller expressed his feelings freely and vividly demonstrated his ideas on how to regulate the economy during the disaster-stricken years, stabilize prices and ease the suffering of the victims. He said that as soon as somewhere once the disaster was suffered and the crops failed, it would starve people and starve all over the world. Although there are natural reasons for this, but the government failed to deal with, artificially increased hunger, such a reason can not be ignored. He said that most of the people who now work on the local government are schoolmates. When they were scholar and gentleman at home, they saw that in the disaster years, the grain traders did not sell their grain, they hoard their bags and wait until the price of food rose and then rose, before selling at a high price. In this way, instinct to buy a bucket of food money, at this time can only buy a liter, uphill fight small people, the more hungry. This makes scholar indignation flat. They thought for themselves