In late autumn, a layer of golden leaves is spread on the ground, and the river breeze blows like butterflies. The sun is already in the west, and there is a chill in the air.

After the two little guys came ashore, they immediately broke free of Zhao Kuo's palm and rushed to the sand mining place by the river, their eyes were round, and they looked curiously.

Ben followed closely behind him with his guards, for fear that the two little ancestors would run into the river.

Zhao Kuo didn't care about the two little guys, anyway, there was Ben watching, and there was no accident. He walked aimlessly along the embankment, and some persimmon trees were planted on the embankment, and the trees were full of golden persimmons, which were still small even when they were ripe, and they needed two or three together to be as big as one persimmon in later generations.

A fifty or sixty-year-old man sat on the side of the road, with two piles of persimmons in front of him, and he didn't bother to drink, but just smiled and looked at the busy people by the Yellow River, chatting with the women next to him from time to time.

At this time, no one will buy persimmons, and until everyone finishes panning for sand, the iron sand will be sold, and a few people will be willing to pay a few pennies to buy some persimmons to take home for their children to eat.

In the distance, two small officials who bought iron sand drove the carriage to the river slowly, and as soon as someone beckoned, they would stop, take out the scales from the car, and weigh the iron sand for everyone.

When the sand miners saw that the people who purchased the goods were coming, they also went ashore one after another, and happily handed over the iron sand to the officials.

It can be seen that these two officials get along well with everyone, and the people do not have the state of being afraid of the officials like tigers.

Zhao Kuo walked to the side, and when he heard the little official calculate the price for the sand miners, he immediately frowned, the price they purchased iron sand was much cheaper than the price stipulated by the imperial court, but he didn't understand the situation, and Zhao Kuo didn't reprimand, but just asked, "Two brothers, the price you buy iron sand seems to be much lower than the price stipulated by the imperial court."

The little official was not annoyed, but explained with a pleasant face: "This noble man doesn't know that the price set by the imperial court is to buy dry iron sand. The price of the wet iron sand we collect now is naturally much lower."

"The place where we pan sand is far away from our county, the sand miners have no carriages, and every time they sell iron sand, they can only carry it on their shoulders, and walk more than ten miles to the county seat. If you are not satisfied with the price, there is a special shed at the gate for the purchase of dry iron sand, and the price is the same as that set by the imperial court." Another clerk said.

"I see, I'm wrong." Zhao Kuo said.

"Out of the way, out of the way." The two officials waved their hands one after another.

Judging from the clothes alone, they knew that Zhao Kuo and the others were not ordinary people, and ordinary people did not have such elite guards.

After a while, the two children lost interest in sand mining and ran over and shouted for persimmons.

"Old man, have you ever been to the persimmon?" Zhao Kuo said goodbye to the two little officials, walked to the persimmon stall and asked.

"This pile has been removed, and this pile has not been removed." The old man pointed to the two piles of persimmons and said.

"Give me two catties of astringent persimmons." Zhao Kuo said.

"Okay." The old man took out the net bag made of straw rope, quickly weighed the persimmon and handed it to Zhao Kuo. net

"Old man, did you grow this orchard yourself?" Zhao Kuo picked up a persimmon, and put the rest in Zhao Zheng's hands, letting the two brothers grab it.

Zhao Kuo took a bite of the persimmon, the sweetness is okay, that is, the seeds are very large, a few seeds account for more than half of the entire persimmon, and the persimmon itself is relatively small, and there is hardly much to eat.

However, for people in this era, persimmons are almost a rare fruit that can be eaten in autumn, and if they are stored, they can even be stored until winter.

Although the caravans have been brought into the Central Plains from the Western Regions, they are only planted around Handan for the royal family and nobles, and there is still a long way to go before they are popularized throughout the country.

Although the Qin State also connected to the Western Regions, because they did not deliberately look for these things to bring back to China, but focused on doing business and making money, they did not have grapes and other fruits.

"No, from the government, I'm just taking care of them. old

First, my son died in battle while fighting the Huns. The government compensated some land and money, but the old man, I am old, I can't plant the land, and I don't feel at ease when I buy a minister, after all, I am an old man and a five-year-old grandson at home, and there is nothing I can do if I am bullied. I negotiated with the government to lease the farmland to the government, and the government gave me a little money every year, and when my grandson grew up, I would return the farmland to my grandson. The government was very reasonable, not only agreeing to rent these farmlands, but also giving me 30% of the annual output. In addition, he also found me a job as an orchard keeper, and gave me 200 yuan a month." The old man patted his thighs and looked particularly talkative.

"Where's your daughter-in-law?" An Ning asked strangely.

"When I gave birth to a child, I had a difficult birth and left." The old man sighed.

"It must be very difficult for your old man to bring his grandson." Zhao Kuo said.

The soldiers of Zhao died in battle, and there was no land in the compensation, which should be the reward that the old man's son received after his meritorious service and promotion, and the pension was issued together, causing the old man to be mixed.

"What's not easy about being able to eat enough, I didn't have enough to eat before." The old man shook his head. "I'm doing a good job, old man, sitting on the side of the road every day, and I don't have to do anything. Our neighbor was also a soldier, and he had a knighthood. Later, his arm was cut off on the battlefield, and he had no choice but to go home and farm the land, and he was rewarded with a large sum. It stands to reason that even if he doesn't do anything, his family's money will not be able to be spent for the rest of his life. As a result, he went to the casino to gamble every day, and within two years, his family was ruined, and even his wife was sold to pay off his debts. If it weren't for the fact that he still had a knighthood, the children would not need money to go to school, and the two children would be ruined to death sooner or later."

Speaking of this, the old man showed an extremely regretful look on his face.

"My wife sells to pay off debts? Didn't I, Zhao Guo, ban human trafficking a long time ago?" Zhao Kuo frowned, and sighed deeply in his heart, he had long known that some soldiers had been poor for several generations, and they suddenly got a large amount of money, and they didn't know how to spend it, and it was easy to go down the crooked path, but he didn't expect it to be so fast.

You must know that since the Zhao State changed the law, except for supporting the Zhou State, it has not experienced any war. The neighbor in the old man's mouth must have been injured in the three wars of the Battle of Changping, the Five Kingdoms Invasion of Zhao, and the Battle of Zhao-Hungary.

At that time, although Zhao Kuo made up another compensation to the soldiers on the original basis, there was still a gap compared with the current benefits.

When there are more wars in the future and the soldiers receive more rewards, won't there be more things that will ruin their families and even sell their wives and children?

It seems necessary to find some way to curb this. Zhao Kuo thought in his heart.

All this money was killed by the soldiers at the risk of their lives, although it was mainly the problem of the soldiers themselves, but if the monarch knew and did nothing, it was the monarch's problem.

"I don't know about the old man, since I knew he went out every day to gamble, I rarely interacted with their family. However, the two children in their family are good children and very sensible, but it's a pity that they have such a father." The old man patted his thigh again and again and lamented.

"His wife should not be selling directly for money, but paying off debts. Although countries prohibit the sale of human beings, if they pay off their debts...... It is not forbidden." Liu Ping whispered.

This kind of thing is not uncommon in various countries, and it can even be said that the prohibition of human trafficking is only nominal, and it is impossible to really control the whole country in an era when the royal power is not lower than the county.

Except for the three kingdoms of Qin, Zhao and Wei, officials in other countries were only appointed at the county level. It was only in recent years that the state of Zhao gradually took root in Xiangheli, while the state of Wei did it during the reign of Wei Wenhou, but after the death of Wei Wenhou Li Kui, the system gradually collapsed.

Today's Wei State is no longer comparable to Zhao State and Qin State in terms of local control.

In addition, the principle of the government has always been that the people do not raise officials and do not hold officials accountable, and after a long time, it is better to have more than one less, so they acquiesced.

"Does Uncle Liu think this kind of thing is reasonable?" Zhao Kuo looked at Liu Ping on the side.

"This should ...... Reasonable, otherwise he wouldn't be able to pay it back." Liu Ping hesitated for a moment and said, and others didn't force him to borrow money, so isn't it natural to repay the debt.

"That is to say, if the wife owes money, so is the husband who pays the debt

Reasonable?" Zhao Kuo asked rhetorically.

Liu Ping was stunned for a moment, since ancient times, there have been husbands who use their wives to pay off their debts, how can there ever be wives who use their husbands to pay off their debts? If Zhao Kuo's words are spread, it will inevitably cause an uproar in the world.

"Paying Debts with Husbands...... Someone has to ask for it......" Ben next to him muttered in a low voice, don't talk about men, women don't have a bit of beauty, and no one wants to pay off debts, what are you going to do? Do you work? How can there be so much work for you?

Only a very small number of people like King Wei would be interested in men.

"Childe is planning to ......," Liu Ping asked cautiously.

Zhao Kuo didn't answer, but bowed to the old man and asked, "Old man, which city is the nearest city, and how to get there?"

"Changcheng, go all the way from here, don't go down the road to get there." The old man pointed to the official road under the dam and said.

"Thank you, old man." Zhao Kuo slowly walked towards the dam, now there is still a while before the sun sets, there is no need to worry, besides, even if the sun sets, he has a way to enter the city.

"Send someone to send a letter to my uncle, and ask him to count how many cases of wives' debts have been used to pay off debts across the country, as long as the approximate number is enough." Zhao Kuo said after walking away.

It is very difficult for the government to count this kind of thing, but it is very easy to count the township schools, and the big and small things that happen in each township will definitely not escape the investigation of the intelligence organization at the entrance of the village.

"No." Liu Ping nodded.

"Let's make another count, how many casinos are there in the country, which ones are the largest, and who is behind them?" Zhao Kuo said.

If you want to reduce the occurrence of this kind of thing, you must start from two aspects, on the one hand, the external environment, such as gambling, prostitution, business and so on.

The reason why business is also counted is not because business is crooked, but because business is the same as gambling, if you are not careful, you will lose money and bankrupt.

Especially for these veterans who don't know a single word, they honestly go home to farm and eat and drink all their lives, but if they run to do business, there is a chance that they will lose their pants.

However, most people will not run to business without a door, so there is no need to worry too much.

Gambling and piao prostitution were both legal in ancient times, and if piao prostitution had to find a high-grade one, it was possible to lose all the money, but under normal circumstances, they would not owe money.

After all, it's impossible for bustards and girls to let you piao on credit.

Therefore, Zhao Kuo planned to start with gambling, close all casinos in Zhao State, and prohibit gambling.

The other is the problem of the veteran himself, who has received more money than he can handle, and the excess money will be lost on his own.

What Zhao Kuo has to do is to improve the soldiers' ability and knowledge, as well as their sense of vigilance, and reduce the probability of them being pitted.

If nothing else, you just lost all your money in business, at least you can buy a lesson.

But when it is used for gambling, you can't even buy a lesson, and it will become more and more addictive.

"No." Liu Ping said. He had already guessed Zhao Kuo's plan, although the people standing behind the casino were all big families, but they no longer posed any threat to the current Zhao Kuo.

Zhao Kuo only needs one order, and these people can only obediently obey.

"Go and ask, is the neighbor you said the old man talking about still gambling now, and if he still gambles, don't worry about it. If he no longer gambles, help him replace the money he owes. Let's go and see how his wife is doing now, and if she is doing well, leave it alone. If you don't have a good life, you can redeem them and let the local government arrange a job for them."

Zhao Kuo instructed, there must be more than one case of this kind of thing in Zhao Guo, but since he has encountered it, he can't ignore it, after all, he is a veteran who has fought for the country.

However, Zhao Kuo did not directly redeem the wife who was sold and sent it to her husband, which was unfair to the wife.

If she is willing to go back, she will naturally go back after being redeemed. If you don't want to, you can also remarry, and there is no discrimination against women in this era.

"What about the children?" Gagne asked.

"If the man is still gambling, and his wife is not redeemed, then he sends for the two children

Handan, there will be someone to take care of it." Zhao Kuo said.

Zhao State has a special institution responsible for raising children whose parents have died or have been abandoned until the age of fourteen, and there will be special care for the children of soldiers.

"No." Gai Nie clenched his fists and walked towards the old man behind him with a few guards, this kind of thing, you must ask the old man who knows more first.

"Staying in the palace, I always thought that the Zhao Kingdom was peaceful and prosperous, and when I came out to take a look, I realized that there were problems everywhere." Zhao Kuo said helplessly.

If the monarch did not go to the place to see it himself, most things would never be on the table of the royal palace.

But just because it's not on the desk doesn't mean things don't exist.

The accumulation of small things eventually causes public resentment.

"The Changcheng County Order is good." Liu Ping said.

"That's right." Zhao Kuo nodded, and it can be seen from the special dispatch of small officials to the river to collect iron sand that the Changcheng County Order knows how to sympathize with the people, and the sand miners also praise it.

But this is just one thing, Zhao Kuo has to look at it more to judge whether the Changcheng County Order is really capable.