"Let's go, let's go to Nihaqi's mansion and have a look!" Wu Yue looked sideways at Li Dong on the side and said, then took a step and walked out of the guest room. "Brother, Niuniu wants to go too!" Niuniu looked at Wu Yue and said.

"Let's go." Wu Yue turned around and waved his hand at Niuniu.

Niuniu suddenly had a bright smile on her face, and stepped forward, and Rong Xianger hurriedly followed.

Baoding Mansion is in Hebei Province, and it is a relatively wealthy state capital. Although the people walking along the street can still see people wearing patched clothes, their faces do not show the sallow color of hunger. From this, it can be seen that although they are still not very wealthy, at least they are not hungry.

In fact, Wu Yue's current goal is not so high, he just wants to let the people under his rule be well fed and warmly clothed.

Of course, if Wu Yue can achieve this, then the people under his rule will become peaceful and self-contained. And those forces that rebel against the court will not be able to mobilize the masses and launch an attack on the court.

Water can carry a boat, and it can also capsize a boat! This truth, as a traverser, Wu Yue, is deeply understood.

However, Rong Xiang'er, who was accustomed to seeing the prosperity of Beijing, couldn't help frowning after seeing the people's clothes on the streets of Baoding Mansion, and whispered to Li Dong on the side, "Is Baoding Mansion very poor?" ”

When Li Dong heard this, he immediately turned his head, shook his head at Rong Xiang'er, and pouted at Wu Yue's back.

Rong Xiang'er hurriedly shut up.

Wu Yue's marching steps suddenly stopped, his eyes looked straight at this moment, sitting against the wall in the sun, closing his eyes and enjoying the sunbath, the old man who was over the age of six, and had gray hair.

The old man's clothes looked relatively new, a brown robe, but with patches on the sleeves.

Wu Yue walked over slowly, squatted down, raised his hand and touched him gently, and said with a gentle smile on his face, "Old man, may I ask how to go to the prefect's mansion?" ”

The old man slowly opened his eyes, and when he saw Wu Yue dressed in luxurious satin, he hurriedly stood up.

Seeing this, Wu Yue hurriedly made a move and helped him up with both hands.

Seeing that Wu Yue was so humble, the nervousness on his face suddenly subsided, and after getting up, he raised his hand to the front of the street, and said with a kind smile, "The prefect's mansion is at the corner of the front, and the third one on the left." ”

"Are you looking for the prefect?" The old man then asked.

Wu Yue nodded.

"Childe, at this time, Lord Ni is not in the house, it should be an errand for the yamen. If you're looking for him, go to the government office. The old man said.

"Doesn't Lord Ni live in the palace?" Wu Yue asked suspiciously.

The old man shook his head, "The government allocated by the imperial court was rented out by you. ”

"Rented?" Wu Yue thought that he had misheard, and looked at the old man with round eyes.

The old man nodded, let out a long sigh, with a look of reverence, and responded, "Yes, although Baoding Mansion has been taken care of by God for all these years, Lord Nehaqi has shown compassion for the suffering of the people, played the imperial court, reduced and exempted harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and the people's lives have finally undergone earth-shaking changes. ”

"The people of Baoding Mansion are all grateful for the kindness of Lord Ni." As the old man spoke, he couldn't help but raise his hand and arched his hand in the direction of Nihaqi's mansion.

Wu Yue heard this, and finally a knowing smile appeared on his face.

The old man only cared about giving Nihaqi a hand, but he didn't see the subtle changes on Wu Yue's face at the moment. Instead, he continued, "The common people know in their hearts that Lord Ni has been under a lot of pressure to be this prefect over the years. In order to help the people, he offended many officials. ”

And this time, the imperial court allocated money and grain to the local government to help the exiled people who came. The immediate boss of Lord Ni deliberately underallocated money and food to Lord Ni on the grounds that the treatment funds allocated by the imperial court were limited. But it is asking adults to help more people. ”

"The nuns can't, so they can only come up with a way to rent out the government to the local wealthy families in exchange for a certain rent, which can be used to raise some money to buy food and help the exiled people."

Wu Yue's face changed drastically when he heard this, but after a while, he still looked at the old man with a smile, and then asked, "Lord Ni is so difficult, why don't you go to the imperial court?" ”

The old man shook his head, "The common people have also told Master Ni about it. But Mistress Ni shook her head. ”

"He said that the current people of Baoding Mansion have just lived a little better, if once he plays the court and angers the officials, once he can't bring down the official, it doesn't matter if he loses the official, but what kind of prefect will the people under his rule usher in, it's hard to say."

"Once an official who is not considerate of the people comes to office, the consequences can be imagined, and the people's livelihood that has been painstakingly built up in the past few years will be over."

"So Lord Ni chose to be wronged by himself and tried every means to do the errand given by the imperial court."

"I once heard that the family of Ni was a big family in the past. However, after the imperial court issued an edict to treat the exiled people, the nuns sold their ancestral property, and the silver came out to buy food from the hands of the rich families. ”

"Those black-hearted rich families, but none of them are willing to give food, even if the price given by the prefect is already very high, but they are still unwilling."

"So adults can only buy some grain that has deteriorated from the hands of the merchants."

The old man said, his eyes couldn't help but glow a little brightly. A line of old tears, down his cheeks, dripped down.

"However, even so, you can't use moldy rice to eat the people." Wu Yue couldn't help but say.

The old man heard Wu Yue's words, his eyes instantly widened, and the tone of his speech instantly increased by several decibels.

"So what? You can't watch the homeless starve to death, can you? ”

"If you eat moldy rice, you will have a stomachache, but you can still get over it, it's better than those homeless people eating Guanyin soil, right?"

"If it weren't for the moldy rice, mixed with the rice allocated by the imperial court, do you think Baoding Mansion would be able to hold on until now?"

"Those black-hearted Shangguan also gave the nun people eye medicine, and drove all the displaced people from other state capitals to the direction of Baoding Mansion!" The old man's voice at this moment was trembling!

Obviously, Wu Yue inadvertently said this sentence, which angered the old man.

"I'm sorry." Wu Yue said with some embarrassment.

The old man's anger did not subside, he sat down by himself, and no longer paid attention to Wu Yue.

Wu Yue smiled awkwardly, squatted down, and continued, "Even if Lord Ni sells his ancestral business and gets the silver in exchange, I'm afraid it won't be able to last for a few days, right?" ”

The old man glared at Wu Yue with a sideways face, and then said, "Lord Ni is the parent official of the common people, how can he be willing to embarrass him?" ”

"We spontaneously gave the good food at home, leaving the amount of food and clothing, and the rest to the nun, in exchange for a small amount of moldy rice. I just hope that Lord Ni can hold on! ”

"The people can't live without him!" The old man said in a deep voice.