On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, most of the people on the street put on new clothes, and the shops have already decorated the colorful building Huanmen, and all kinds of goods are dazzling, allowing the people to buy; Huanzhou is a border city, although the Song and Xia wars continued, but the border smuggling trade has never been affected by the war and stopped, Yang Yi has not deliberately cracked down on the smuggling trade before, the market has flowed into many Western Xia goods, mainland merchants will come here to sell, so the trade of Huanzhou is still quite prosperous.

In fact, the foreign trade of the Great Song Dynasty has always been a surplus, closing the border and prohibiting trade with the Western Xia, which can be said to be a double-edged sword, hurting the Western Xia, but also hurting the Great Song Dynasty itself, Yang Yi personally believes that in the case of military and trade advantages, the trade blockade of the Western Xia is not much necessary.

The imperial court closed the field in order to show an attitude. Let him fight smuggling again, Yang Yi will not bother to do it, which will only make Huanzhou more depressed.

Su Dongpo was drinking and discussing poetry with some celebrities and gentry in Huanzhou, and after hearing that Yang Yi took things to visit the orphans in the Salesian Bureau, he didn't know what he thought, so he brought more than a dozen gentry over and brought a lot of items.

The Salesian Bureau is located in Duck Lane, south of the city, with a large, but dilapidated yard, and as soon as I approached the gate, I heard the laughter of children and, of course, crying.

The purpose of the Salesian Bureau is: if the poor people are unable to raise their children, they are allowed to be carried to the Salesian Bureau, write the date of birth, and the bureau has a full-time nurse to take care of. Other families who have no children can come to the bureau for adoption. Therefore, in the disaster year of the Great Song Dynasty, the children of the poor people were mostly embraced into the Salesian Bureau, and most of the adults were recruited into the Xiang Army.

This kind of children's charity was not in the dynasties before the Great Song Dynasty, and after the fall of the Song Dynasty, the Yuan and Ming dynasties were not rebuilt, and this measure can very well represent the humanization and perfection of the Song Dynasty in social management.

At the time of the festival, the chief officials of the state came to the Salesian Bureau together, this was the first time, the director Qu Fan hurriedly greeted him, Yang Yi waved his hand to let him be exempted, and asked: "This official has never been to the Salesian Bureau before, Director Qu will first introduce the situation in the bureau to this official!" ”

Qu Fan probably also felt that the opportunity was rare, and hurriedly said: "My lord, there are currently two hundred and twelve children in the bureau, from newborn babies to eleven or twelve-year-old children, including thirty-nine males and one hundred and seventy-three females, and it takes at least seventy yuan per month to ensure the normal operation of the bureau, but it is just ......"

"Just what? If you have something to say, you might as well say it! ”

"Don't hide it from adults, now the bureau can get up to 30 yuan of funding every month, the children are not full of food and clothing, the house in the bureau is in tatters, and it has not been repaired, as soon as it rains on this day, it leaks everywhere, and the children don't even have a place to sleep at night.

Su Dongpo frowned and said, "In that case, why didn't you report it before?" It has been nearly two months since the official came to Huanzhou, and he has not seen any documents related to the Salesian Bureau. ”

Qu Fan shouted injusticely: "How could it be, the lower officials report it every year, every month, but this amount has never been allocated!" ”

Yang Yi looked at Cao Taiping, who had joined the army in Sihu, with an inquiry in his eyes, Cao Taiping hurriedly explained: "My lord, the documents of the Salesian Bureau have indeed been received, but the financial situation of the state should also know that there has been a deficit for many years before, how can there be so much money allocated to the Salesian Bureau, and now the adults know that Huanzhou, after opening the salt well, the treasury has just made some inputs, and it will be used to build forts immediately, and there is no money left, and the lower officials can only press the documents of the Salesian Bureau first, and plan to wait for the treasury to enter next month, and then allocate the same amount." ”

Yang Yi nodded, didn't say anything, he walked inside, while thinking, Huanzhou is located in the frontier, often have to fight, once the war starts, it is natural to put military funds first, counting on the treasury, the Salesian Bureau's appropriation will be difficult to guarantee.

Yang Yi entered the bureau and saw that most of the children inside were indeed yellow and thin, the bedding and tables in the room were dilapidated, the tiles were leaky, the sunlight came in through the holes, forming pillars of light, and the ground was also pitted, leaving many small pits made by rainwater.

Su Dongpo looked at it and sighed: "This official's money this month will be donated to the Salesian Bureau for repairing the house!" ”

As soon as Su Dongpo exited, the gentry who came with him donated generously one after another, and donated more than 300 yuan at once. Yang Yi understands that it is not enough to expect long-term donations from these people, and that the Salesian Bureau must have its own financial resources to ensure that there is no shortage of future expenditures.

There is a huge difference in the number of children in the bureau between men and women, which attracted Yang Yi's attention, and he asked Qu Fan: "Nearly eighty percent of the baby girls in the bureau, what's going on?" ”

"Back to adults, the people are reluctant to abandon male babies, most of them only abandon female babies, and most of the people who come to adopt orphans are only willing to adopt male babies, so most of the bureau's female babies are abandoned."

Yang Yi sighed secretly, the concept of patriarchy is a common phenomenon these days, it is impossible to change it all at once, boys can undertake incense, girls have become money-losers, this problem Yang Yi can't think about for a while.

He pondered for a while and said, "What the official means is that in the future, not only should these children be fed and clothed, but also let them read some books and teach them some handicrafts such as hand embroidery, so that when they become self-reliant, they can at least support themselves on their own......

"Your Excellency!" Cao Taiping called out hesitantly.

Yang Yi knew what he was thinking, so he said: "I'll figure out a way to solve the problem of money, these orphan girls have no father and mother, they are poor people, if they don't teach them to read and learn some crafts, they will probably only be able to advocate as prostitutes after they leave society in the future." ”

What else can the crowd say? Even Su Dongpo didn't speak out again, and he didn't support or oppose it.

In these years, it is already very good that the imperial court can be responsible for feeding people, and now Yang Yi has to teach these girls to read and write, and this additional expense is naturally unacceptable to them. It's just that in view of Yang Yi's prestige, Cao Taiping and they don't dare to object.

Yang Yi didn't bother to care what they thought, and muttered: "In this way, this official donated 500 yuan to set up a shop in the city and hire someone to operate it, and Lord Cao only needs to send someone to supervise the store's finances, and must not interfere with the daily operation of the shop." The profits of the shops will be used for the various expenses of the Salesian Bureau, and the shortfall will be borne by the treasury, so be it! ”

Yang Yi's tone is unquestionable, of course, since I am paying for it myself, I don't have to say anything nonsense.

After distributing the food he brought, Yang Yi told Qu Fan to ask the embroiderer and Mr. to do these things, and then left. At once, he got more than 300 yuan, which is equivalent to the allocation of the whole year in previous years, and the future funds have also been settled, Qu Fan is very happy, and has been sending a long way.

Yang Yi returned to the back office, the pavilion in the courtyard was like a bead, splashing like a mist, Thirteen Niang and a few people sat in the stop to enjoy the coolness of midsummer, there were some chilled fresh melons and fruits on the stone table, when Yang Yi entered the pavilion, Thirteen Niang's slender jade fingers were pinching a sour plum and putting it in the mouth.

"Yikes! The lady loves to eat sour, and it seems that she is pregnant with a boy. ”

Thirteen Niang pursed her lips and smiled: "Official, what if it's a girl?" Won't you be upset? ”

Yang Yi walked behind her, hugged her slender waist, and Thirteen Niang leaned her head on her chest, smiling and waiting for his answer.

"Probably every woman asks her husband this question when she is pregnant, and this kind of question is too vulgar for me to answer."

Qing Niang smiled on the side: "That's it, Sister Qing'er, Brother Yang stands up to the sky, how can he dislike you because you gave birth to a boy and a girl, Sister Qing'er, you can rest assured!" ”

Thirteen Niang glanced at Lang with deep meaning, hugged Qing Niang's little head and smiled: "Qing Niang, you believe him so much?" What if he dislikes you in the future? ”

"I ......" Qing Niang's whole little face turned red, Thirteen Niang's words clearly regarded her as Yang Yi's wife and concubine, she glanced at Yang Yi shyly, lowered her head and said in a delicate manner, "Qing Niang's father and mother unfortunately died, and it was all up to Brother Yang to take care of me and relieve my ......"

"Qingniang, don't say it!" Yang Yi didn't hear it well, for fear that Qingniang would be sad after mentioning his parents, so he hurriedly said: "By the way, I went to the Salesian Bureau today to take a look, most of the orphans in it are girls, Qingniang, if you like it, you can take some time to teach them to read and write in the future, don't ask for all of them to become talented girls like you, just teach them to be able to read and break." ”

"Let me be a gentleman?"

"Don't like it?"

"Like! Like! Hee-hee......"

"Is that a lack of confidence in your own knowledge?"

"It's a bit ......"

"Yes, they can become students of Yi'an Jushi, I don't know if it is a blessing that they have cultivated for several lifetimes, you, don't worry, with your heart, anyway, they will not be admitted to Jinshi in the future, and you don't have to worry about misleading people's children."

"Hee-hee! When can that person go? Qing Niang's eyes became very bright, with a clear light between the flashes, and her graceful demeanor gave people an unusually clean feeling.

Thirteen Niang couldn't help pinching her face and said, "You! Your big brother Yang spoils you to the limit, and you are just messing around! Official, you are really, Qingniang is a little girl's family, you let her be a husband, and you are not afraid of people's irresponsible opinions. ”

"Afraid of what? As long as Qingniang is happy! Lady cares about him! On this one-third of an acre of land in Huanzhou, who dares to say nonsense, see if I don't destroy his whole family! ”

"Official, you ......" Seeing that the man was crazy, Thirteen Niang was really speechless.

Qing Niang looked at her with sparkling eyes and said, "Sister Qing'er, don't be angry, if you don't agree, people won't go." ”

"My sister didn't say she disagreed, today is the Dragon Boat Festival, and if you want to go, you won't go today, look at your impatient look! What a little girl! ”

"Hehe, Sister Qing'er, you agreed, thank you, Sister Qing'er!"

Qing Niang's mouth is called a sweet! Thirteen Niang stretched out her hand again and twisted her face and smiled: "Sister likes to eat sour food now, your mouth is sweet like this, sister, I can't stand it!" ”

"Hee-hee......."

(To be continued)