At this time, Zhao Mengqi happened to be not far away, and he was more than a mile away from the Salesian Bureau of Renhe County.

New Year's gifts can be done by your subordinates, but this kind of thing is to visit orphans and send warmth, whether it is sincere or showy, you still have to come in person.

There were many problems in the Song Dynasty, but there were still many commendable places in civil affairs, such as the social relief, which had made quite good progress compared with previous dynasties.

The disaster relief system is relatively perfect, from the central to the local, with a set of warehousing prevention system composed of regular liquidation, social warehouse, and huicang, which has played a great role in disaster prevention and preparedness.

In addition, for the socially disadvantaged groups, there is a relatively complete relief and assistance system, and the system has also tended to be perfect and mature.

For those who are "elderly, sick, orphaned, and orphaned beggars", they will be adopted by nursing homes, Futian homes, nursing homes, etc.

Those who are sick and helpless are sent to Anjifang for treatment and conditioning, and the imperial court dispatches medical officers, allocates funds, and sets up Huimin pharmacies, often providing medicine to the people at low prices or even free of charge.

Those who are poor and cannot be buried after death are buried by the Leaky Garden, and the person gives nine feet to the ground, and the official gives the coffin, which is engraved on the tablet with its identity and the day of burial.

If there are poor people in the city who do not have a place to live, there are also low-rent houses provided by the store.

In the case of places where there were no specialized institutions, the imperial court regularly distributed rice beans to those who were poor and unable to survive on their own, or who were sick and old.

This kind of thing is generally entrusted to the monks of the monastery, "burying more than 3,000 people" to give a copy of the degree, "curing 100 people within three years", and giving purple clothes and Dharma names.

Confucius said, "A man does not have only one parent, nor one son, so that the old have their end, the strong have their usefulness, the young have their growth, and the widowed, lonely, and sick can all be supported."

Mencius said, "The old and the old, the young and the young."

This was the ideal society of Confucianism, and it was also the benevolent guidance of the ancient Chinese dynasty, as well as the source of thought and spiritual motivation, which enabled the Song Dynasty, which focused on cultural governance, to implement a comprehensive and continuous relief policy.

But then again, these policies need to be supported by a lot of funds, and if the imperial court's finances are not good, it will inevitably become empty slogans and shows.

Again, no matter how perfect the rules and regulations are, they need specific people to operate, and when supervision is not in place, when people are not properly employed, and when politics is corrupt, there will be many drawbacks.

Even though there are many drawbacks, what needs to be done is still to be done.

Whether it was to stabilize their rule, maintain social control, or some other motive, most emperors of the Song Dynasty did take it seriously as a priority in their internal affairs.

Needless to say, Renzong said that this temple number was the greatest affirmation of him, but it was the Daojun Emperor Song Huizong and his eldest daughter and prime minister Cai Jing who pushed the relief cause to the peak.

Even Gaozong Zhao Jiumei, when she had just crossed south and the war was not extinguished, began to rebuild social relief institutions and systems, and frequently issued relevant edicts.

Even today's official Zhao Yun has not forgotten this tradition, for example, the Salesian Bureau, which specializes in the adoption of abandoned babies, was ordered by him eight years ago. Five

For the country at this time, the population is the labor force, the source of taxes, and the source of soldiers, of course, the more the better, and it is usually encouraged to have more children and more children.

However, there were two more prominent problems with newborns in the Song Dynasty.

First, the premature death rate remains high, according to statistics, since the beginning of Song Taizu, there are 181 children in various generations of official families, but 82 people died young, although there may be court struggles involved, but it can also reflect the problem.

The second is the widespread folk custom of abandoning babies and drowning infants, some of which are because they really can't afford to raise, and some are to prevent the family property from being dispersed, because the property inheritance system at this time is divided equally among brothers and halved for daughters.

In this era, there were no effective contraceptive and birth control measures, it was more difficult to quit sex than to quit eating, and the child could not or was unwilling to raise it, so the court had to find a way to solve it.

At first, it was to set up a child-raising warehouse and a child-raising bank, "prohibiting the poor from raising children, and giving money to those who cannot have children." Various kinds of financial and food subsidies are provided to help the poor raise their babies and children to a certain age.

Subsequently, the nursing home was asked to include the abandoned baby in the scope of adoption, and the government hired someone to raise it directly, or entrusted it to it

Monastic upbringing.

Later, in order to refine the functions of the relief agency and separate the relief of the old and the poor from the raising of young children, Zhao Yun specially built a new Salesian Bureau, and also allocated 500 acres of official land for this purpose.

This Salesian Bureau is just north of Changping and Zhenchengcang, a little further north is the upper boundary of Million Cang and Provincial Cang, and next door is the nursing home.

About half an hour ago, two brothers and sisters, Zhao Mengqi and Zhao Yun, walked in in civilian clothes with some Lang Zhong and a group of subordinates.

The place looked quite large, and the buildings under the snow-covered buildings looked new and tidy, and twenty or thirty little children, ranging in age from four or five to eleven or twelve, were sweeping the snow from the ground in the compound.

Seeing that so many strangers had come in, the babies just looked up and showed no surprise, and then continued to do what they were doing.

Didn't have the warm welcome you imagined?

Zhao Mengqi was slightly embarrassed, touched his nose, and found that a little girl who looked like she was seven or eight years old was looking down at herself, so she beckoned to her, thinking that she was very kind and said hello.

"Hello, kids, hello......

But the little girl seemed to be frightened, and dodged her gaze.

Am I scary? Can't you......

Zhao Mengqi looked down at what he was wearing, and there seemed to be no problem.

At this time, Zhao Yun beside her trotted over, gently pulled the little girl who wanted to walk away, spread her palm and handed it to the girl, "This candy is sweet and delicious, please eat it."

The little girl looked at the small sugar grains of different colors, with some doubts in her eyes, and Zhao Yun raised her hand and stretched out her hand to her a little closer.

"You taste it, I promise it's the best sugar in the world, my fourth brother made it!"

Perhaps feeling Zhao Yun's sincerity, or maybe she couldn't resist the temptation of candy, the little girl blinked her eyes a few times, swallowed her saliva, and then squatted down and picked up a handful of snow and rubbed her hands carefully.

Then he carefully picked up a grain of candy from Zhao Yun's palm and quickly stuffed it into his mouth.

The sweetness that has never been there bloomed in her mouth, and the little girl seemed to have discovered a new world, her eyes were as round as a full moon, and soon they were bent like a crescent moon, and her thin little face was full of smiles.

She first squatted to Zhao Yun for a blessing, then pointed to the candy in Zhao Yun's palm, and then pointed to herself, her eyes were full of inquiry.

Zhao Yan nodded, "Mmmmmmmm, it's all for you."

The little girl's smile became even stronger, she clasped her hands, and then Zhao Yan put the candy in.

Then, the little girl bowed to Zhao Yun again, and then ran to the tallest male baby, handed him all the sugar in his hand, and waved his hands away.

With curiosity, Zhao Yan also walked over slowly.

At this time, Lu Derun had already returned from the official room and reported to Zhao Mengqi.

"Your Highness, none of the officials such as the Supervision Bureau are there, only a few old people who are sprinkling and sweeping, and they don't know anything."

"Huh!?" Zhao Mengqi scratched his chin and said suspiciously, "Although it is a small year today, I remember that it is not a court holiday, is it a rest day every ten years? But even if you take a break, won't someone in the government office have to be on duty?"

The welfare of officials in the Song Dynasty was really good, the Northern Song Dynasty was a statutory holiday for 76 days, plus 36 days off, that is, 112 days, in addition to other non-fixed reasons for the birth of holidays, after the Nandu was shortened, the statutory holiday is 67 days.

Lu Derun didn't know what was going on for a while, "Let people check it immediately."

"Well, let's have someone pull things in first."

Zhao Mengqi shook his head slightly, he was a little dissatisfied with this kind of undisciplined officialdom, but he didn't plan to investigate it for the time being, after all, freezing three feet is not a day's cold, and if you want to change it, you have to start from the root.

Not long after, eight ox carts loaded with supplies entered the courtyard.

At this time, Zhao Yan also took the little girl's hand and walked back, and five or six babies followed behind, but they didn't dare to get too close.

"Fourth brother, her hands are so cold." Zhao Yan raised the hand he was holding and shook it.

Zhao Mengqi looked at this little girl in a trance

It's like seeing Zhao Yun when I saw "first meeting".

He slowly squatted down and laughed softly, "Hello, my name is Zhao Mengqi, what's your name?"

The little girl's eyes flashed a little gloomy and she shook her head.

Zhao Yan spoke, "Fourth brother, she can't speak, others call her a big girl, she is the biggest girl here."

Mute?

Zhao Mengqi was stunned for a moment, and then seemed to understand something.

In the Song Dynasty, the inhabitants of the city, especially the middle and lower families, usually "did not give birth to a boy, but gave birth to a girl who loved and cared for her", so there were fewer abandoned babies and daughters, and adopters preferred daughters.

So there are not a few girls over the age of five in this Salesian Bureau, and this big girl doesn't look ugly, most of them are because they are mute, so no one wants to adopt.

Hey, that's the reality......

Zhao Mengqi was helpless, and then looked at the clothes on the eldest girl's body and felt a little weird, and couldn't help but reach out and grab the corner of the clothes and touch them.

It's very thin, but there are four or five pieces of it inside, all of which are single clothes, of different lengths and sizes, which look very messy, and it feels like they are all other people's clothes.

Zhao Mengqi frowned, but he didn't think much about it, he just thought that it was donated by the people, which is the so-called Baijiayi.

Judging from the behavior of the children when he came in, there are usually a lot of people who do good deeds here, so they don't feel strange, but their coldness also makes Zhao Mengqi feel strange.

It stands to reason that when someone comes to visit them, they will give them some food and money, and isn't that something to be happy about?

Now he didn't think much about it, Zhao Mengqi planned to let people unload the materials and send them to the little babies.

At this moment, a cow pulling a cart waged its tail and discharged a large pile of hot cow dung.

As soon as the cow dung landed, a boy ran over with a dustpan, directly used his hands to quickly get the cow dung into the dustpan, and then ran quickly to the house deep in the yard.

What the heck? Could it be that this cow pulls gold?

Even if cow dung can be used as fuel, it has to be dry, so eager to roar, is it while it's hot!?

Zhao Mengqi was confused, gave Geng Zhi a look, and followed to take a look.

He had already vaguely sensed that something was wrong by this time, because he could see that all the children's faces were full of frostbite, and there was a salallow color.

According to the regulations, the imperial court gave each child two monthly payments and one bucket of rice, even if it was not a donation from a kind-hearted person, it was enough for each child to eat.

Zhao Mengqi's face gradually darkened, and he also suspended his plan to unload the supplies, and asked the accompanying Lang Zhong to see the children in the hospital first.

Under Zhao Yan's communication and coordination, the little babies cooperated with Lang Zhong and went to a big room to check their bodies.

It didn't take long for Geng Zhi to fall back, and his face was also very ugly, "Your Highness, I... I don't know what to say, so you might as well see for yourself."

Zhao Mengqi led people, followed Geng Zhi, bypassed several houses, and came to a row of relatively low houses.

Generally speaking, such a place is used to store miscellaneous firewood and grass.

Outside the door, there were already many babies crying, but they all seemed to be weak.

Lowered his head and entered the room, and after his eyes adjusted to the dim light, Zhao Mengqi was shocked by everything in front of him.

The house was open, a large paved shop made of adobe bricks, five feet wide and three or four feet long, crowded with children, large and small, all shivering, and they were piled up with some tattered bedding, which seemed to be kept warm mainly by each other's body temperatures.

Looking at some of the exposed places, it can be seen that many of them are not wearing any clothes.

Zhao Mengqi walked along the side of the shop, and then saw more than 20 babies lying densely in the middle of the shop, with a lot of clothes and fabrics under them, only their faces exposed.

The howls that came out of their mouths made Zhao Mengqi numb all over, and he continued to walk mechanically stiffly, and then he saw the child who "snatched" cow dung, and he was applying cow dung to a five or six-year-old child.

"While it's still hot, apply it quickly, so it won't be so cold, than."

I wore two clothes and I was warm......

Then Zhao Mengqi saw four "black people" on the side, and one of them trembled and said, "Brother Gazi didn't lie, it's really much warmer......

Suddenly, Qin Duan, who was following behind Zhao Mengqi, shouted in shock, "It's not good, there are two babies who seem to be out of gas!"

Zhao Mengqi's heart froze, he woke up, and hurriedly turned back, "Rescue!"

At this time, Qin Duan and Geng Zhi were already doing it, they clumsily untied the very rough swaddling clothes, and touched and pinched the two breathless babies for a long time, their faces were full of anxiety and solemnity.

After a while, Qin Duan let go of the baby in a dejected manner, "No, it's not saved, it's been dead for at least half an hour......

Geng Zhi stammered even more, "It's all hard, it's stiff, and I can't move my joints."

Zhao Mengqi's mind was buzzing, and he raised his eyes to look at the other children, there seemed to be a little sadness in their eyes, but they seemed to be used to it.

The feeling of suffocation hit, Zhao Mengqi felt breathless, staggered out of the room, and then took a big breath.

Even on the battlefield, even if he was hit by five thunderbolts, that is, pierced by convenient arrows, he had never felt so powerless and painful as he did at this time.

"Your Highness! Your Highness!"

Zhao Mengqi heard the call in a daze, and slowly came back to his senses, and saw Lu Derun with a few subordinates, holding a fat woman in front of him, "This is?"

"Your Highness, this woman is the nurse, the head mother, and the head cook of the courtyard, and she was found in the kitchen with the door open, where there was not only a fire burning in the stove, but also seven or eight charcoal basins, and she was sleeping on a warm couch beside her, and beside it there was a large pile of leftover sheep bones, fish bones, and so on, and a few empty wine jars......

Listening to this, as well as the crying from the room, a flame of anger burned in Zhao Mengqi's heart, and cold words oozed from between his teeth.

"Give me a careful trial! I want to know all! All!"

"Yes!"

Lu Derun knew that King Yan was completely angry at this time, and he didn't dare to delay the slightest, so he let his subordinates drag the fat pig-like woman and find the ground for interrogation.

"Qin Duan, go and call Lang Zhong here first, and immediately send food, clothing, and hot water to the children in the room to warm the room!"

"Zhao Heyun, take someone to find out all the account books of the Salesian Bureau and check them immediately!"

"The Salesian Bureau is like this, presumably the nursing home is not much better, Wu Qiong, lead someone to seal the nursing home for me, if there is an abnormal situation, deal with it decisively!"

"Mo Chunfeng, immediately arrest all the officials, stewards and related personnel in the bureau! Including their families!"

The people assigned to the task did not dare to delay, and they all agreed.

At this moment, two panting soldiers of the Eastern Guard came running and reported loudly, "Your Highness, something is wrong! Men were fighting, one was killed, and life and death are unknown......

Zhao Mengqi's face was already blue at this time, and he didn't change after listening to it, he just sneered, "Heh, it's really a hurry, today's little year is really too big!"

When I looked up, it seemed to be blood-colored in the sunlight......