On the same day, two important ministers died before and after, and the news spread, and Dongliang was shocked throughout the country.

It is said that Emperor Zhengxi locked himself in Jingzhai for a day and a night without seeing anyone, and only came out the next day and took people to personally go to the right minister's mansion and Wang Ge's hometown to pay respects.

The livelihood of the common people on the long street is still the same, but the ordinary people who lead the car to sell pulp and set up stalls, while busy begging for a living, while talking one after another, almost everyone is shaking their heads and sighing and regretting, and some people are wiping their tears and crying, all saying that Yuan Youxiang is a loyal minister, and Wang Ge Lao is also a good person for the country and the people, although those big officials are so far away from the lives of ordinary people, they have never seen these two adults, but word of mouth, everyone knows that it is two Qing officials who died in the court.

"Why did the Qing officials die alone? Those corrupt officials who oppressed the people and fished the villagers, such as Zuo Xiangguo, surnamed Yin, why didn't he die early?" A little boy selling gourd skewers on the street, listened to a lot of everyone's discussions, and vaguely understood that the dead made people sigh, but the undead were all looking forward to death, he helped his grandfather collect copper coins, and raised his head and asked his grandfather curiously.

Grandpa shook his head: "God is blind, why else!"

The uncle who sold melons next to him clicked the knife in his hand and cut the melons, "God is blind, the good people are not rewarded, they die one after another, but the traitors and bad people are all alive and prosperous, and they will continue to plague us!"

"I heard that Wang Ge always hit the pillar and died, his head was broken, blood sprayed all over the ground, and even the jade bench of Emperor Laozi was sprayed red. Aunt Wang, who bought pancakes and fruits at the corner of the street, wiped her greasy old hands, bowed her head and asked the old Li Tou who was riding on a wooden bench and sharpening scissors at her feet.

"Wrong, wrong, you don't understand, the emperor will sit on the bench like you?

Aunt Wang was not angry at all, stabbed, and shoveled a cake out of the pot," I am a woman's family, naturally I don't know what dragon chair and snake chair are, I only know that since the right Xiangye was sick, the people of the left Xiangguo have become more and more arrogant, even the butcher at the corner of the street, it is said that he is the ninth uncle of the eighth aunt of the fourth brother-in-law of his third aunt, once saw my wife and son have a smiling face, and I also paid for the pancakes and fruits, and now, I am trembling, I can't pay the debts at every turn, and I don't pay the debts when I owe them, where can I, a lonely widow, dare to ask him for debts——"

Many people around me nodded yes, and now the most proud person is indeed the person who is Yin Zuoxiang, no matter if he is close to him, he has a reason, and he is living a nourishing life!

"Alas, if it goes on like this, we in Dongliang Kingdom are only afraid that it will be over-traitorous ministers are in charge, the emperor is good or bad, only we, the common people, are going to be disaster-" Lao Li Tou sighed.

On the long street, a middle-aged man who looked like a rich man, accompanied by an old man with a white face and beard, walked slowly through the street.

Hearing this, the rich man turned around, stopped, looked, and walked towards Aunt Wang's stall.

"You're in trouble again—you broken mouth—" Aunt Wang whispered to stop.

Lao Li straightened his neck, "What am I afraid of? My old guy will live for more than seventy years, and he is still sharpening scissors on the long street for a few life money, I have already lived enough, I really want to make Yin Zuoxiang's dog legs hear that they are coming to arrest me, I will happily follow them to the prison cell to eat a few days of prison food that does not cost money!"

"What's the hard mouth, you-you're really locked up, I won't go to see you!" Aunt Wang persuaded this stubborn old man, so frightened that her hands trembled slightly.

The rich man stood still and looked at the person in front of him, "These pancakes are so fragrant—I, oh, I really want to eat them—let's have two." ”

The white-faced old man next to him hurriedly came to stop, "Your Majesty, Bi Ye, don't eat it, let's eat it at home, it's windy and sun-drenched outside, it's not clean!"

Aunt Wang is hot-tempered, and she was worried about Lao Li Tou just now, but when she heard someone questioning the hygiene of her stall, she suddenly became anxious, "If you don't eat it, why do you say that my pancakes and fruits are not clean?" I sell them here every day, and I have been selling them for decades since I started in the hands of the first emperor of Dongliang Kingdom, and no one has not said that my fruit has eaten anyone's stomach!" The carrots are bright, the vegetable leaves are green, and the rich man drools. "That's it, I...... It's so fragrant, I want it-"

As he spoke, he took it with both hands, and regardless of the hot and hot ones, he puffed and blew in his mouth, and ate it in a big gulp.

The white-faced old man's face changed in anger, but he didn't dare to say anything.

Aunt Wang deliberately angered him, and quickly spread out another cake, this time it was scrambled eggs, and handed it to the rich man hot.

The rich man took a big bite and ate it.

After eating two cakes into his stomach, the rich man licked his lips and reached out to touch his pocket, wanting to pay for Aunt Wang.

I don't have any money.

He looked at the white-faced old man, the old man touched his whole body, his face turned pale, and he squeezed his eyes at the rich man, indicating that he didn't bring a penny with him.

"Why don't you take credit, when we go back, someone will send the money over, please believe us, we are from a big family, and we will not ignore your copper coins." The rich man was at a loss, so he could only plead with Aunt Wang.

Aunt Wang looked at the master and servant and smiled, "Forget it, forget it, forget to bring it, my wife doesn't want this money, isn't it just two cakes, my wife invited you." He said neatly picking up the stalls.

The white-faced old man hurriedly gave the rich man a look and told him to leave quickly.

But this rich man didn't leave, carefully looked at all kinds of people in the vicinity, and finally stopped at Lao Litou, "Old man, I heard you talk about the current situation from afar just now, what else do you have any opinions, can you tell me more?"

Lao Li Tou looked at the middle-aged man in front of him, this man looked rich and graceful at first glance, like a rich man, dressed in dark blue clothes, ordinary, not at all public, but if you look closely, you can feel that this person is extraordinary, he should not be a rich man, but a scholar.

Lao Li Tou put on the crooked bamboo strip hat on his head and lowered his voice: "Young man, my old Li Tou is more than half a hundred years old and buried in the neck of the loess, I sometimes see it clearly and dare not say, you still don't ask more, the little people in this city are full of nonsense, you don't want to be serious, hurry back to study, we just hope that one day you can be high school emperor, be a clean official, do more good things for our people, we will be satisfied." ”

"According to the old man's words, are the current officials not honest anymore? Someone is bullying the people?" asked the scholar with a smile.

When Lao Li Tou heard this, he immediately sighed with emotion, couldn't help it anymore, and shook his head into a rattle, "You must be reading and writing in the study at home every day, and reading yourself as a confused nerd, today, as long as you open your eyes and take a good look, who doesn't know that this Dongliang country is getting more and more cold?"

"Then old man, tell me, what is it about my Dongliang Kingdom that makes people's hearts cold?" said the scholar and sat down on Lao Litou's bench.

Lao Li Tou was also not polite, "The good people are aggrieved, but the bad people are succeeding one by one, isn't this chilling? Bai Feng, you must know the old general Bai? Is he a good person? In the eyes of our people, he is a big good person!" Lao Li Tou gave a thumbs up a little excitedly, he has been begging for a life in the wind and rain and the sun for many years, and his hands are corroded by the molten iron of the scissors to the point of pits, so that people dare not look directly, and his face is even more pitted, full of the vicissitudes of the years.

"You haven't seen Bai Feng with your own eyes, let alone had the opportunity to get close to him, how can you be sure that he is a good person?

Lao Li Tou glared at the white, clean, fat, and fat middle-aged man in front of him, and sighed: "You, you who sit at home all day in the dark and have someone to serve food and clothing, and only indulge in books, how do you know the hardships of being a soldier and eating food! Old man, I followed Bai Feng as a soldier when I was young, we are the famous Jiazi soldiers, our Jiazi soldiers can fight well, and the whole country is famous—— Although I have never spoken to General Bai in my life, he may not know that there is such a number one person in the army, but General Bai Lao does things for people, who in our Dongliang Army does not know, but the first good person-" gave a thumbs up again.

The reader was stunned, as if he was thinking about something.

Lao Li Tou thought that he didn't believe what he said, and he was suddenly excited and angry, "You people now, you are full of food and don't know the hardships of the past, how do you know the difficulties of our foundation back then, General Bai took us to really endure the hardships of the world, in the cold winter, the people of Layue ran out of food and horses, and they couldn't sleep at night, so they could only curl up under the horse's belly, peel off the bark and weave clothes on their bodies, and even boiled the horse's skin into soup and drank it-General Bai's legs were a year in the heavy snow, marching day and night for two nights and three days- ”

A strange look flashed in the middle-aged man's eyes, "Bai Feng, Old General Bai, according to you, he is really a person who has contributed to the Dongliang Kingdom——"

Of course, with military generals, it would be impossible without civil servants, and the most powerful civil and military generals under the first emperor were General Bai Lao and the talented Yuan Lingyun. Alas, alas, now, they are dead one by one like old trees. We're the only ones left, and we're all the same, and we're poor baba living in this world. When he was young, he sacrificed his life for the country, and he was disabled all over his body, and when he was old, this day was difficult-" Saying that, he picked up a trouser tube, and the middle-aged man was dumbfounded, it turned out that this thin-looking old man was missing a right leg, and the only thing that supported his body in the trouser tube was a prosthetic leg made of wood.

Aunt Wang next to her also exclaimed when she saw it, "Old Li, why didn't you say it earlier?" I only knew that your leg was not good, and I thought you were just lame, but I didn't expect your leg to be broken——"

Lao Li Tou smiled bitterly: "I lost the battle against the Moro Kingdom, but fortunately I picked up a life." ”

The middle-aged man frowned: "Don't you old, weak, sick and disabled veterans who have made war exploits have the pension money given by the imperial court, why do you still run out to beg for a living in person?"

"Pension silver?" Lao Li Tou looked sad and indignant, "Don't mention this matter again, mention it for nothing! Back then, the imperial court issued a pension, and there were a lot of it, but nominally I heard that there was this money, but in fact, it has not been allocated, we wait, wait, the old general Bai was squeezed out, retired to the countryside, and the next person in charge is Qin Jian, without the old general Bai, Qin Jian turned his face and didn't recognize people, where is he willing to recognize the account of the pension silver." Many of us disabled veterans died while waiting. The rest of me, who is not dying, can only come out to make a living by myself. If you see a doctor and take medicine or something, you don't dare to think about it at all. ”

"Is it true that your pension money has not been put in place......? It's really shocking! I've heard that the imperial court has dropped a lot of money—"

Lao Li's face wrinkled even deeper, "We have also visited and asked many times, but no one paid attention to us." asked too much about the superiors who gave us a hat of restless living and relying on military exploits to rebel, and for this reason, they also arrested a lot of Jiazi soldiers, some of them were caught and beaten and released, and some of them refused to admit defeat, and finally they were crippled and killed - and some are still locked up in prison - alas, do you say that this God doesn't have eyes at all, we don't even care about our lives in the water and fire to fight for the country, and finally end up in such a miserable end- Also, there are some things that we dare not say when General Bai is alive, and it is a great rebellion to say them. Now that General Bai is gone, the world says that his house has suffered a fire and the whole family is dead, so I can say this: the veterans of the Jiazi soldiers have no hope of pursuing the pension money, and they have also secretly gone to Qingzhou Mansion many times to find General Bai to help come forward, but General Bai Lao persuaded us to focus on the overall situation, saying that now the dynasty is initially decided, the war is the first product, the treasury is empty, and the national strength is difficult, we should not embarrass the court, don't embarrass the current saint- Think about what General Bai said is unreasonable, a good man should serve the country and work hard, it is the luckiest to return to his hometown alive, think about those brothers who died tragically, we are really lucky - but we have to eat, dress and live - how can we live without money!"

The middle-aged man trembled with anger.

"Young master, it's time for us to go back—" The white-faced old man hurriedly came to help.

The middle-aged man shook off his hand, "Why has no one ever told me these things? Isn't it a big joke that millions of taels of silver have already been allocated, and there are still veterans who haven't received the pension money?"

As soon as Lao Li Tou heard this, he hurriedly waved his hand: "This little brother, don't be angry, my old Li Tou will say it casually, don't take it seriously, and don't dare to say it to others, otherwise it will kill my old Li Tou - if you call the spies of the court to listen to it, my old man's tongue will suffer." ”

The middle-aged man got up, staggered, and staggered away.

"You must have caused a big disaster, dead old man—why do I look at him like an official—" Aunt Wang hurriedly scolded the old Li Tou beside her.

scolded like this in his mouth, but he spread a piece of hot cake in his hand, rolled a thick layer of vegetables and vegetables, and handed it to Lao Litou, "Eat it while it's hot, I didn't expect you to have only one leg - more pitiful than I know——"

Lao Li Tou held the pancake fruit thoughtfully, "I just hope that my old man's tongue-in-cheek problem can bring some tangible benefits to the old brothers today." ”

Emperor Zhengxi and Liu Chang walked happily, crossed the long street, and went straight to the Ouchi Palace.

Behind him, more than a dozen plainclothes guards quietly followed.

Liu Changhuan saw that no one was paying attention, and hurried to catch up: "Your Majesty, what's wrong with you today? As soon as the memorial service is over, Yuan Youxiang and Wang Ge Lao changed into civilian clothes and left the palace, even if you want to observe the people's feelings and listen to the people's voices on this hot day, you should wait for the cold weather to come out--I listened to the old man in the countryside again, you must not go to your heart——"

The emperor suddenly turned around and gave Liu Changhuan a heartwarming foot, "Just your verbosity, such a big thing, if I hadn't run out on a whim today, I would have heard a trace of wind until I died-I have raised a group of good courtiers, and one by one I only pick up good things to tell me every day, and there is always peace in the four seas, singing and dancing, and it is difficult for me to hear a trace of real folk suffering!"

Liu Changhuan rubbed his heart, didn't dare to pick up the stubble, just quietly inhaled the cold air.

"Go back and quickly pass on Li Dunian—" Zhengxi coldly ordered.