This is a noon spring day similar to yesterday, the day before yesterday, and the day before yesterday, with swallows flying, plants and trees sprouting, flowers blooming, and the heaven and earth filled with a warm fragrance.

However, Yao Huan felt that the situation in front of him was very different from the spring scene in Kaifeng City.

After she came to the capital of this era, she did not live a life of not leaving the gate and not stepping out of the second door. What I see every day, from the officials who went to the court in the morning, down to the peddlers, pawns, and merchants, no matter how high or low, all decorate the façade of the imperial capital.

Especially after the weather warms up, from early in the morning, people on the street, even beggars under the porch and by the bridge, seem to have a stretching look on their faces that embrace the good season.

However, today, when Wang Coulter sent the boy he rescued from the forbidden army to this countryside, Yao Huan saw a completely different world.

A gloomy and miserable world. Between the beams and walls is a thatched hut made of bamboo, sticks, and stones.

Due to the difficulty of obtaining materials, each shed is small enough to fit in. At the door, there are no doors, and you can see clay pots, pottery pots, and wattle baskets sporadically.

If the rich and prosperous Kaifeng City dozens of miles away is called

"The dawn of the modern age" is nothing to say about it. However, the sight of this place, even

"The twilight of the Middle Ages" can't be called. It's like the primitive era when human beings drank blood. By the ditch, a man in rags was lighting a fire and carrying water, and a few broken cauldrons gradually came out of the white gas.

Suddenly, some women and children gathered around and poured things into the pot. It was light, but in the sunlight, a fresh green color could be discerned.

"There's elm money." The young man beside Yao Huan said happily. The rescued teenager, surnamed Qian, is called Ah Feng.

The boy with such a rich name is actually the same as the skinny people in front of him, a hungry man from Hebei Road.

The Yellow River was forcibly diverted by the imperial court reformers, and the flood blessed the locust plague and the wind disaster, and swept the mulberry fields in the world.

There is no longer half a bucket of harvest in the fields, and it is impossible to pay two taxes by selling sons and daughters, and even if the officials do not come to collect rent, they will starve to death if they stay in their hometowns.

The hungry people then came to Beijing one after another.

"Ah Feng!" A pair of middle-aged men and women saw Wang Coulter and immediately stumbled over. The woman almost wept with joy.

"Grandpa, Grandpa!" Ah Feng, who escaped the catastrophe and slept peacefully at Wang Liult's house, was calmer than his parents, and said clearly: "The forbidden army came to catch the top bag, I was already caught by them, and I secretly ran away while they were dismounting and drinking, and it was Brother Wang and this lady who saved me halfway." "Ah Feng's father, the eldest man of the Qian family, hurriedly thanked Wang Coulter and Yao Huan vigorously.

There were also a lot of displaced people around. Wang Coulter himself is from a bitter background, and he is also very sympathetic to these honest homeless people after the beginning of spring in the township.

"Those soldiers have been getting more and more fierce recently, and those who go out to forage for food must not be left alone."

"If you give a guilty plea to a big family who has committed a crime, you will get a lot of rewards, can you not be fierce."

"Brother Wang, when will there be any more relief food in the county? Let's go get some later, or think about going back to Hebei. ”

"Go back and do it, and in a few months there will be another flood." In the face of everyone's gossip, Wang Coulter only smiled gently, and handed the two grass carp and a hare in his hand to Qian Dalang: "You can share the food with everyone." Yao Huan quickly took a look at this group of more than 20 people, men, women and children.

Among the adult men, this Qian Dalang behaves steadily and methodically, and it is indeed like

The appearance of the "head wolf". The night before at Wang Lidao's house, Ah Feng talked about his family background, he was originally a homesteader in Hebei, and his father also studied in a private school in the countryside for a few days.

However, it is impossible to tell whether it is a natural disaster or a man-made disaster, and the land-owning yeoman farmers will still have no way to survive and will still be forced to leave their homes.

Even if he is lucky enough to walk to the suburbs of the capital and the feet of the Son of Heaven alive, his only son will still encounter flying disasters and be taken captive by outlaws who look like soldiers and bandits eating imperial food, and may die in prison.

The career is no longer the old mulberry field, and the tile kettle and thorn basket stop at the side of the road. Sunset Yuyuan picks up green pods, pitiful countless Shen Lang money.

When Yao Huan's heart swelled with compassion, this group of displaced people was like a herd of elephants welcoming back their cubs and finding food, and the faces of the members were filled with anticipation.

Yuqian soup already exudes a sweet taste, and the fish and rabbit meat sent by Wang Coulter are boiled to produce a strong fragrance, and the sense of security brought by animal protein to the hungry people is even more distinct.

"Lady, please try it too, right?" Ah Feng's mother, Qian, brought two bowls to Yao Huan. Yao Huan pushed it back to her: "Sister-in-law, I eat a lot of food, and I'm not hungry at all now." Qian was stunned: "Does the lady think this bowl is dirty?" Ah Feng's father was a particular person, saying that everyone escaped from the famine, was weak and weak, and was prone to epidemics, so the cooking utensils were boiled with water from the canal every day and scalded. Lady rest assured. Yao Huan was afraid of hurting their kindness, so he hurriedly took the Yuqian soup bowl and said: "Rabbit meat for Ah Feng to eat, I also have a younger brother at home, I know that male dolls are not short of meat." Yao Huan lowered his head and took a sip of Yuqian soup, and said curiously: "In addition to Yuqian in this soup, there are also wheat lumps?" Qian said: "That's wild millet, it looks like a weed, in fact, the seeds are scooped out of the outer layer of crust, mashed into powder, and then added some water to knead the dough, a little bit of millet can be boiled into gruel." Wang Coulter said on the side: "God is still benevolent, and there are two life-saving things, elm money and wild millet." Qian said: "Yes, yes, all the way to the famine, Ah Feng's father always said to everyone, don't curse and don't complain, save some energy to find wild millet in the field." Fortunately, now this month, the elm pods have also come down. When Yao Huan heard this, he felt sad again.

This is the struggle of ants to survive in the prosperous world. However, before the sadness was burning, the two dolls were arguing by the ditch about why there were no fish and shrimp in the water, which suddenly made Yao Huan's mind flash a thought.

…… Kaifeng County Public Mansion. Liu Zhixian squinted his eyes and listened to Yao Huan's eloquent talk.

"At that time, the rich and the rich were public, and there were two great talents who helped the world, one was good at negotiating with the Liao people, and negotiated a floor price ...... the annual coin paid by our dynasty to the Liao people.

Liu Zhixian and Guo Xiancheng were stunned, and they wanted to ask what this little lady was called

"Floor price", again, this little lady is a trader, probably their jargon slang. Yao Huan continued: "The second great talent of the rich minister is to settle the displaced people to obtain the law. The situation was the same as today, there were many hungry people who fled from Hebei Road, and there were also many barren fields of officials along Jingxi Road, so the rich minister suggested to the imperial court that instead of all kinds of relief or forced return to his hometown, it was better to give a pension money, for the displaced people to build houses, loan grain and farm tools, including land for farming, and tax exemption for one year. When Liu Zhixian heard this, he was even more surprised.

Like Guo Xiancheng, he was also born as a Jinshi, and he is no stranger to the decrees and allusions of the previous dynasty. What surprised him was that the Yao family introduced by Guo Xiancheng and Wang Coulter said that they were coming to rent public land to grow mulberry and shrimp, and sell shrimp to the city.

Liu Zhixian smiled pleasantly, with the easy expression of a leader visiting the poor and asking about the hardships, turned to Qian Dalang, who was standing behind Yao Huan with shrunken shoulders, and asked, "Are you willing to stay in this county and cultivate the wasteland of the public family?" Qian Dalang said: "We are all small people who only seek peace, and drag their families with their mouths, but if they can rely on the fields to eat, who is willing to run around in a panic like a wild dog." Liu Zhixian nodded, and said to Yao Huan again: "You have to ask the public for a few more plots of land, and then hire these homeless people to grow mulberry and shrimp, there is nothing wrong with Yu Fadu." Guo County Cheng said that the two-cent interest loan, the county can also promise you. Due to the shelter of displaced people, it was reported to Kaifeng Prefecture to be exempted from tax for one year, and the county can also try it. However, this county wants to remind you that after this year, the two taxes handed over to the county, the money and goods, can not be less, do you dare to accept it? Yao Huan hurriedly took out his high hat: "The magistrate is so careful, the small people are doing their best, and they also want to ask the wasteland pond to ask for mulberry leaf fat shrimp." Liu Zhixian glanced at Guo Xiancheng, and changed his words: "However, there is not much money in the county's account, and you said that you can't let the public build a house for the homeless." Yao Huan smiled and asked inquiringly: "I heard that the cost of a thatched mud wall house in the Jingxi Forbidden Army is only four times, and the homeless people gathered by Qian Dalang are counted according to the household, and there must be six houses, if I come to give forty pieces to the county, can I replace the thatch with a tile roof for them?" ”