Yangzhou Prefecture is located in the south of the Yangtze River, with little snow and more rain in winter, but since this autumn, the weather has been cold, with frosty soil in the morning and biting cold wind at night.

In the winter of the twelfth year of Hongzhi, Yangzhou Mansion.

Snow has been falling since the beginning of November. I don't remember which night it started, the goose feather snow fell down, and then it never stopped, the snow in Yangzhou Mansion was three feet thick, and many roads were closed and blocked, which made people sigh that the snow was falling so deeply and so seriously......

In this cold season, the entire Yangzhou Mansion seems to be shrouded in a cold current, and the sky is full of clouds, as if it is about to be pressed down. The doors of the big families are closed, and the small families hide under the covers all day long, scolding the thief for not giving people a way out. As for the beggars, most of them huddled in the dilapidated temples, and some shivered by the side of the street.

On the streets of Yangzhou City, there are few pedestrians, and occasionally one or two pedestrians passing by are also tightly wrapped, walking on the hard streets, even if they slip, they quickly get up and leave in a hurry.

Mui House in the north of the city.

Cao Wei had designed several autumn pants with cotton to keep out the cold, as for the silk, it had already been abandoned by Cao Wei, although it was slippery to wear, it was impermeable to the wind, affecting the development of a certain place......

There are two charcoal basins in Cao Wei's room, on which hot water is boiling, and the boiling water is boiling, giving people more warmth. There are also a few sweet potatoes roasted next to the charcoal pot, which are Cao Wei's favorite snacks in winter. There are also several vases placed in the corners of the house, and several plum blossoms in the vases are delicate. Outside the house is bitterly cold, but inside the house is as warm as spring.

"Three Cakes!"

"Ah, touch yourself five cakes! It's mushy! ”

On the card table, Cao Wei sat with sweet potatoes, Mei sat gently in Cao Wei's lower hand position, and Mrs. Mei sat opposite Mei Qingrou. Cao Wei looked at the broken silver stacked in front of the sweet potato table opposite, and couldn't help but cry out in his heart.

Mahjong was made by Cao Wei for several female relatives to use in the winter for boring pastime, and the sweet potato began to get started at the first contact, and showed amazing talent, often killing Cao Wei to lose his soldiers and unload his armor.

The sweet potato probe held the dice in his hand, and the white fingers of the green onion were gently loosened, and the two dice turned on the table, and the technique was extremely skillful, which made Cao Wei frightened.

Cao Wei couldn't help but have a toothache when he thought about it, he won 60,000 or 90,000 yuan, and he was actually sandwiched five cakes by sweet potatoes!

"Yikes! It's mushy! ”

"Oops! I actually touched myself! ”

"Wait, touch nine, it's mushy again! Haha......"

After a few laps, Cao Wei's face was sad, he was shy, and he looked sad and chuckled softly.

"Senior brother, are you out of money, there are still some here gently, you can lend it to senior brother, you don't have to pay it back." Mei gently took out a few pieces of broken silver from her purse and handed them to Cao Wei with a smile.

Mrs. Mei couldn't help but sigh in her heart when she looked at Mei's gentle appearance. After a few days of observation, Mrs. Mei has already discovered that her daughter Mei Qingrou has intentions for Cao Wei, but the goddess has a heart, and King Xiang has no dreams, Cao Wei just treats her daughter as a sister, but she has other thoughts about the titular maid sweet potato.

Besides, although Sweet Potato is a maidservant, but judging by her generous manners and polite conversation, she is obviously a young lady from a big family, but she is willing to be a maid by Wei'er's side for some reason. In any case, it is better to be gentle as soon as possible, so as not to take root in love......

Just when Mrs. Mei was groaning, Mei Gongbo also walked into the room, frowning, her face was full of worry, Mrs. Mei hurriedly stepped forward and patted the falling snow on Mei Gongbo's body, while complaining that Mei Gongbo didn't know how to understand her own body.

Mei Gongbo smiled bitterly: "The accumulation of heavy snow has caused many houses in Yangzhou City to collapse, and many people have been homeless, which has led to many injuries. Moreover, the price of grain in the city has risen, and the people have already been uneasy in their hearts, if there is any incident, I am afraid that Yangzhou will be in chaos......"

Mrs. Mei frowned and said: "All over the prefecture and county, there are officials, big and small, officials and servants, each performing their own duties, how can there be any chaos." Besides, the people's livelihood in the city has its own prefect's jurisdiction, why is the lord worried? ”

"Madame!" Mei Gongbo said bitterly: "Disaster fell from the sky, how innocent are the people!" On the road, you can now see many poor beggars who have froze to death, leaning against the extinguished fire, frozen and stiff, and the corpses are not cared for.

Besides, the prefect Zhou Bin, I heard that she recently accepted a new concubine room, drinking and having fun at home all day long, and her life is extremely absurd, how can she have time to pay attention to those poor people who have no food or clothing! ”

"I'm afraid that Governor Zhou doesn't care, but he doesn't want to take care of it, he can't manage it, he doesn't dare to manage it." Cao Wei said quietly.

The local grain prices in Yangzhou are controlled by a few large households, and the backlog of grain in the disaster year, and then sell it at a high price, is a means for these large families to collect money, if the Zhou Governor suppresses the price of grain, it will make the local large families suffer heavy losses, and there are many people in these families who are officials in the court, how dare the Zhou Governor offend, how dare to manage?

Besides, the amount of silver that these big families send to the Zhou Mansion every year is not a small amount, if they fight with them, there will be no silver in the pockets of the Zhou Governor's Mansion in the future, how can the Zhou Governor's Mansion care?

It is even more impossible for the government treasury to release grain to help the poor people, how much money is left in the prefect's treasury, and how much grain is left in the granary, which is probably only known to the prefect himself, if the warehouse is opened to release grain, then the prefect's treasury will be revealed to the world, so how can the prefect be managed?

Cao Wei also saw this clearly, and then said that Governor Zhou couldn't manage it, didn't want to manage it, and didn't dare to manage it. Therefore, Zhou Zhifu can only create an image of indulging in beauty to the outside world, if something happens, at most it will be a dereliction of duty, send some silver to it, and someone will naturally carry it for him.

Mei Gongbo was silent, obviously figured out the inside story, took a sip of tea slowly, and then let out a long breath, staring at the charcoal basin silently.

Seeing this, Cao Wei stepped forward and said: "A gentleman moves in action, and he acts in his manners." Nowadays, as many people can be saved, the teacher can set up a porridge shed at the gate of Meifu to give soup and rice. There is rice in Meifu, and the porridge shed does not stop! ”

Mei Gongbo got up and patted Cao Wei's shoulder, his eyes were full of relief, and he cut the gold and cut the railway: "There is rice in Meifu, and the porridge shed does not stop!" This is the morality of a gentleman! ”

"Master, this is all the silver from sweet potatoes, and it is also used to relieve the victims."

Cao Wei turned his head, and saw the sweet potato holding the broken silver he had just won, and a few small silver tickets, which should be the wages saved in Qinyang County, and his heart couldn't help but warm.

"Sweet potato, let's keep this money as a dowry." Cao Wei said incomprehensibly: "The fastest way to make money is naturally to rob the rich and help the poor." ”

Sweet potato knew what Cao Wei was referring to, and asked with a smile, "Which one is rich?" ”

Pan ...... Rich ......"