"What's the matter?" Ma Ye was also stunned when he heard Li Xiu's words, and then turned his head to look at him and asked.

"That's right, in order to build this cemetery before, I estimated the approximate cost, and applied to the imperial court, but the imperial court also approved the money, but the current situation, Uncle Ma, you and General Qin also know that this money will definitely not be spent, and what I want to discuss with you is about the remaining money." Li Xiu spoke again at the moment.

Originally, in Li Xiu's plan, the wages, food, tools, etc., as well as various materials for building a cemetery, etc., were also a lot of expenses, but I didn't expect that after the news spread, the families of the Sui soldiers who died in Liaodong also rushed to work, and they didn't need wages at all, and even the tools were brought by themselves, and some wealthy people even helped Li Xiu buy materials and send them, so that the cost of the entire project was naturally greatly reduced, and Li Xiu estimated that nearly half of it could be left in the end.

"What's negotiable about this, isn't it okay to return the rest of the money to the imperial court?" Without waiting for Ma Ye to speak, Qin Qiong next to him frowned and asked, if he wasn't familiar with Li Xiu's personality, I'm afraid he would think that Li Xiu was going to swallow this money privately?

"General Qin doesn't know, the money allocated by the imperial court to us not only has money, but also some materials, such as wood, stones, tools, etc. for building the cemetery, these things have been transported to Luoyang, and it is very troublesome to return them, I just have an idea to use these things, so I want to discuss it with the two of you!" Li Xiu explained again at this time.

"If you have something, what are you selling in front of our brothers?" Ma Ye was also a little anxious at this time, and immediately opened his mouth again to urge, he knew that if Li Xiu didn't have anything particularly important, he would definitely not show such a cautious expression.

"Actually, this matter is also related to the Xu Liu family and their grandchildren, after I learned about the situation of their grandchildren that day, I suddenly thought that Datang is so big, there must be many old and weak people like them who have no means of life, so I want to help them." Li Xiu finally said what he thought at this time.

Hearing Li Xiu's words, Ma Ye and Qin Qiong were also stunned, and then the two glanced at each other, only to see Qin Qiong speak: "Don Ma, the ancestors and grandchildren of the Xu Liu family are indeed pitiful, but how can we help them, we can't give them the money of the imperial court, right?" ”

"Of course, it's not to give them money, in fact, the imperial court also has some preferential treatment for them, such as giving them forty acres of Yongye land for the old and weak, so that they won't be unable to eat, but Xu Liu's is old, and the insect is a child, and he can't afford to farm, and as Xu Liu's age is getting older, I'm afraid it won't take two years, and their ancestors and grandchildren will have no source of livelihood at all, so won't they have to beg on the street?" When Li Xiu said to the end, he couldn't help but show pity on his face.

"And what do you mean, how can we help them?" Ma Ye tapped his fingers on the table at this time to show a thoughtful look, and only after a while did he ask.

"I wonder if in the name of the imperial court, in Luoyang and other places to set up an institution, specifically to accommodate people who are not able to support themselves, such as orphans, the elderly who have no one to support, etc., at least not to let them live on the streets, in fact, there is a precedent for this matter, when Emperor Wu of Liang believed in Buddhism, so he set up a place called 'Lonely Garden', which is to accommodate these homeless people." Li Xiu said his thoughts at the moment.

In fact, Li Xiu just wants to build a combination of an orphanage and a nursing home, which can be regarded as a charity, after all, now the national strength of Datang has gone up, and the people have become rich, but it is inevitable that there will still be some people who cannot support themselves for various reasons, such as the orphans, the elderly, the disabled, etc., in fact, Datang also has a similar institution, called Beitian Yuan, but it was set up by Tang Xuanzong decades later, and Li Xiu just advanced this charity.

"I see, the pony means to use the remaining materials and money to build a place of mercy for the homeless, which is a good idea!" Qin Qiong nodded in agreement when she heard Li Xiu's plan and said, Xu Liu's family is just an old man they have met who has nothing to support, and in addition to her, there must be more people who do not have the ability to live, now that the imperial court has destroyed the enemies of the Quartet, there is no pressure outside the country, and it is indeed time to pay attention to the country.

Qin Qiong is just a pure military general, and he has no concept of government affairs, but Ma Ye has been in Feinusi for many years, so he naturally thinks more comprehensively, so I saw him ponder for a moment before speaking again: "This idea is not bad, and it is easy to build a place to accommodate these old, young, sick and disabled people, but the key is to maintain the operation of this place, but it takes a lot of money and energy, this is not a trivial matter." ”

"Uncle Ma is right, so I plan to report this matter to the court first, if the court agrees, we will use the remaining money from the cemetery to build a nursing home in Luoyang to accommodate these homeless people, as for the future expenses of the nursing home, if the imperial court is willing to allocate funds, if the imperial court is unwilling, then ask the imperial court to give them some land, so that there is more land, you can also ask someone to farm, it should be able to maintain the operation of the nursing home!" Li Xiu once again spoke out what was in his heart.

Originally, Tang Xuanzong set up a pension institution called Beitian Yuan, but the word Beitian came from Buddhism, its ** adoptive parents for Entian, for the Buddha for the field, for the poor for the sad field, but now Buddhism was hit by Li Xiu for the great withering, if he now uses the name of Buddhism, it will only make people laugh, so simply changed to "nursing home", this is a charity set up in the later Song Dynasty, Li Xiu directly borrowed the name and used it.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that the nursing home during the Song Dynasty was also the most complete adoption institution in ancient times, and there were nursing homes all over the country for the adoption of the elderly and orphans who lived without a fixed place, and it is said that it could reach the county level, which was also the lowest level that the ancient ruling institutions could reach, in other words, as long as there were places where the imperial court sent officials, there would be nursing homes, which was extremely rare in ancient times, even the Ming and Qing dynasties in later generations did not reach the scale of the Song Dynasty.

Li Xiu borrowed the name of the nursing home, and also hoped that the Tang Dynasty could reach the scale of the Song Dynasty in later history, in fact, under his influence, especially the introduction of high-yield crops, the Tang Dynasty has basically solved the problem of food and clothing, after all, the population of the Tang Dynasty is only tens of millions, and there is too much land that can be cultivated. After the food and clothing are solved, it is time to pay more attention to the problems of people's livelihood, the current pension institutions are only one of them, in addition to education, medical care and other issues, as long as there is an opportunity in the future, Li Xiu will also start to promote, of course, he is just behind the idea of what he does, as for the real work still depends on others.

"The name of the nursing home is good, with my understanding of His Majesty, he will definitely agree to this matter, as for whether the imperial court will directly allocate funds, or will the land be allocated to the nursing home for them to take care of themselves? There are pros and cons to both methods, and it will be up to His Majesty to choose. Ma Ye couldn't help but laugh when he heard Li Xiu's words.

Li Xiu and Qin Qiong also looked at each other and laughed when they heard Ma Ye's words, Li Shimin is extremely good-looking, and he is very conceited, he has always wanted to be a wise man through the ages, especially the older he gets, the more obvious his idea is, so he only drove to Goguryeo before, in order to leave a strong mark on his martial arts, so things like the establishment of a nursing home that can not only buy the hearts of the people, but also earn reputation for himself, Li Shimin will never refuse.

The construction of the cemetery is the responsibility of Li Xiu, Ma Ye and Qin Qiong, so the use of the remaining money and materials naturally needs their consent, and now both of them nodded, Li Xiu also immediately wrote a letter to Li Shimin, and reported the proposal to build a nursing home to him, it is estimated that it will not be long before Li Shimin will have a reply.

The grave pit on the east side of the cemetery has been dug, but a ceremony is also required to bury the bones of the Sui soldiers, and according to custom, the bones are generally held in the morning, so Li Xiu asked people to prepare, and the next morning, he held a simple and solemn ceremony for these soldiers.

There is not so much attention in the army, and there will be no time to ask monks and Taoists to do things on the battlefield, so when the soldiers die in battle, they are all played in the army, and then the soldiers are dressed neatly and send off the dead brothers for burial.

As early as when excavating the bones, Li Xiu asked to put the bones together as much as possible, and then put them in the bone bag and send them back, and after arriving in Luoyang, Li Xiu and others built some simple coffins, saying that they were coffins, but in fact, they were some small boxes, after all, a corpse could not occupy much space, and if they were really all made into coffins, it would take too much time for 300,000 coffins.

The first grave pit was quickly filled with the bones of the soldiers, and then under Li Xiu's order, the surrounding people who had been preparing for a long time also filled the grave together, most of these people were relatives of the Sui army soldiers, and some people came from outside, at this time, many people cried loudly, and even old people like Xu Liu also crowded to the front to add a handful of soil for their relatives, which was also a wish.

300,000 bones is really not a small number, in order to bury these bones, Li Xiu built nine tombs alone, arranged together just in the shape of a crescent, with the completion of one tomb after another, the remaining bones are getting fewer and fewer, Li Xiu is also waiting for Chang'an's reply about the nursing home, but ten days later, Chang'an sent a person who surprised Li Xiu, and brought Li Shimin's reply.