In late autumn, the ground is covered with a layer of golden fallen leaves, which dance like butterflies in the river wind. The sun has set to the west, and there is a chill in the air.
After the two little guys came ashore, they immediately broke free from Zhao Kuo's hand and ran to the sand mining area by the river. Their eyes were widened and they looked at them curiously.
Ben followed closely behind him with his guards, fearing that the two little ancestors would run into the river.
Zhao Kuo didn't care about the two little guys. Anyway, with Ben watching, nothing could happen. He walked aimlessly along the river embankment. There were some persimmon trees planted on the embankment, and the trees were covered with golden persimmons. Even if these persimmons were ripe, they were still very small. It would take two or three of them added together to make them. It is as big as a persimmon in later generations.
An old man in his fifties or sixties was sitting on the side of the road with two piles of persimmons in front of him. He didn't try hard to drink. He just smiled and looked at the busy people beside the Yellow River and chatted with the women next to him from time to time.
No one will buy persimmons at this time. Only after everyone has finished panning and sold the iron sand will a few people be willing to spend a few pennies to buy some persimmons to take home for their children.
In the distance, two clerks who bought iron sand drove a carriage slowly to the river. Once someone waved, they would stop, take out a scale from the car, and weigh the iron sand for everyone.
When the people who mined sand saw the purchasers coming, they came ashore one after another and happily handed over the iron sand to the clerk.
It can be seen that these two petty officials get along well with everyone, and the common people are not in a state of being afraid of the officials when they see them.
Zhao Kuo walked to the side and frowned when he heard the clerk calculating the price for the sand miners. The price they paid for iron sand was much cheaper than the price stipulated by the court. However, Zhao Kuo did not understand the situation and did not reprimand him. He just spoke. He asked, "Brothers, the price you paid for iron sand seems to be much lower than the price stipulated by the court."
The clerk was not angry, but explained in a pleasant manner: "What this noble man does not know is that the price set by the court is for the purchase of dry iron sand. The price of the wet iron sand we collect now is naturally much lower."
"The place where we wash sand is quite far away from our county seat. The sand miners don't have horse-drawn carriages. Every time they sell iron sand, they can only carry it on their shoulders. It takes more than ten miles to go to the county seat. It's too hard to travel back and forth. The county magistrate felt sorry for everyone and let us go." We go to the river every evening to buy iron sand. If everyone is not satisfied with the price, there is a shed dedicated to buying dry iron sand at the city gate. The price is the same as the court stipulated." Another clerk said.
"I see, I blamed you two wrongly." Zhao Kuo saluted.
"No problem, no problem." The two clerks waved their hands.
Just by looking at their clothes, they knew that Zhao Kuo and others were not ordinary people. Ordinary people did not have such elite guards.
The two children soon lost interest in sand mining and ran over clamoring to eat persimmons.
"Old man, are there any persimmons that have been pruned?" Zhao Kuo said goodbye to the two clerks and walked to the persimmon stall and asked.
"This pile has been astringent, and this pile has not been astringent." The old man pointed at the two piles of persimmons and said.
"Give me two kilograms of persimmons with the astringency removed." Zhao Kuo said.
"Okay." The old man took out the net bag made of straw rope, quickly weighed the persimmons and handed them 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 was not bad, but the seeds were very large. The seeds accounted for more than half of the whole persimmon. In addition, the persimmon itself was relatively small, and there was almost not much left to eat.
However, for people in this era, persimmons are almost one of the few fruits that can be eaten in autumn. If they are stored well, they can even last until winter.
Although caravans have brought other grapes, melons, and other fruits to the Central Plains from the Western Regions, they are only grown around Handan and supplied to the royal family and nobles. There is still a long way to go before they can be spread throughout the country.
Although the Qin State also connected the Western Regions, they did not deliberately look for these things to bring back home, but focused on doing business to make money, so they did not have grapes and other fruits.
"No, it's from the government. I'm just looking after it for them. Lao
My son died in the battle against the Huns. The government compensated me with some land and money, but I am too old to farm anymore, and Mai Lichen is worried. After all, I am the only old man and my five-year-old grandson in the family, so there is nothing I can do if I am bullied. So I negotiated with the government and rented the farmland to the government. The government would give me a little money every year, and then return the farmland to my grandson when he grows up. The government was very reasonable. Not only did they agree to rent these farmlands, but they also gave me 30% of the output every year. In addition, he also found me a job as an orchard caretaker and gave me two hundred cash per month. "The old man patted his thigh and looked particularly talkative.
"Where is your daughter-in-law?" An Ning asked strangely.
"The baby died during childbirth." The old man sighed.
"It must be very difficult for you to raise your grandson," Zhao Kuo said.
When a Zhao State soldier died in battle, there was no land included in the compensation. It should have been the reward that the old man's son received after his meritorious service and promotion. It was paid together with the pension, which led to the old man getting mixed up.
"It's not easy to have enough to eat. I couldn't have enough to eat before." The old man shook his head. "Old man, I'm living a good life. I sit on the roadside every day and don't have to do anything. Our neighbor also served as a soldier and got a knighthood. Later, his arm was chopped off on the battlefield and I couldn't continue to serve as a soldier. , he had no choice but to go home to farm, and received a large reward. Logically speaking, even if he did nothing, the family's money would not be spent all in his lifetime. As a result, he went to the casino to gamble every day when he had nothing to do, and within two years he lost all his money. He was completely ruined, and even his wife was sold to someone else to pay off his debts. If he hadn’t still had a title, his children wouldn’t have to pay for schooling, and the two children would have been ruined to death sooner or later.”
Having said this, the old man showed a look of great regret on his face.
"Sell your wife to someone else to pay off your debt? Hasn't our Zhao State banned 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 generations and suddenly gained a If you don’t know how to spend a large sum of money, it’s easy to go into evil ways, but I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly.
You know, after Zhao's reform, apart from supporting Zhou, he has not experienced any war. The neighbor mentioned by the old man must have been injured in the three wars: the Battle of Changping, the Five Kingdoms' Conquest of Zhao, and the Battle of Zhao-Hungary.
At that time, although Zhao Kuo provided additional 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 soldiers receive more rewards, won't there be more cases where families are ruined or even wives and children are sold?
'It seems necessary to think of some ways to curb this situation. Zhao Kuo thought in his heart.
All this money was made by soldiers who risked their lives with swords and guns. Although it is mainly the soldiers' own problem, if the monarch knows and does nothing, then it is the monarch's problem.
"I don't know about the old man. Ever since I found out that he went out to gamble every day, I rarely interacted with their family. However, their two children are both good children and very sensible. It's a pity that such a thing has happened. Dad." The old man patted his thigh repeatedly and said sadly.
"His wife should not be sold directly for money, but to pay off debts. Although countries prohibit the sale of people, paying off debts... is not prohibited." Liu Ping whispered.
This kind of thing is not uncommon in various countries. It can even be said that the ban on the sale of people is only in name. In an era when the king's power did not extend to the county, it was impossible to truly control the country.
Except for the three kingdoms of Qin, Zhao and Wei, officials in other countries were only appointed at the county level. Zhao State has only gradually taken root in rural areas in recent years, while Wei State did it during the period of Wei Wenhou. However, 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 should not punish the officials. After a long time, it was better to do less than to do more, so it was acquiesced.
"Uncle Liu, do you think this kind of thing is reasonable?" Zhao Kuo looked at Liu Ping aside.
"This should be...reasonable, otherwise he wouldn't be able to pay back the money." Liu Ping hesitated and said. Others didn't force him to borrow money, so wouldn't it be natural to pay back the debt?
"That is to say, if the wife owes money, she can use her husband to pay off the debt.
reasonable? Zhao Kuo asked rhetorically.
Liu Ping was stunned. Since ancient times, there have been husbands who used their wives to pay off debts, but how has there ever been a wife who used her husband to pay off debts? If Zhao Kuo's words were spread, they would definitely cause an uproar in the world.
"Using your husband to pay debts...someone has to ask for it..." Ben next to him muttered in a low voice, not to mention men, women are not very pretty, and no one wants to pay off debts, so what are you doing here? Work? How can there be so much work for you?
Only a handful of people like King Wei are interested in men.
"Master, are you planning to..." Liu Ping asked cautiously.
Zhao Kuo did not answer, but bowed to the old man and asked, "Old man, which city is the nearest city and how to get there?"
"Changcheng, go straight ahead from here, don't go down the road." The old man pointed to the official road under the dam and said.
"Thank you, old man." Zhao Kuo walked slowly towards the foot of the dam. It was still a while before the sun set, so there was no need to worry. Besides, even if the sun set, he would still have a way to enter the city.
"Send someone to deliver a letter to my uncle and ask him to count how many cases of wives being used to pay debts across the country. Just a rough number will be enough." Zhao Kuo said after walking away.
It is difficult for the government to keep statistics on this kind of thing, but it is very easy for rural schools to do so. All the big and small things that happen in each township cannot escape the investigation of the village intelligence organization.
"No." Liu Ping nodded.
"Let's take another look at how many casinos there are 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, it is the external environment, such as gambling, prostitution, business, etc.
The reason why I include doing business is not because doing business is a crooked way, but because doing business is like gambling. If you are not careful, you will lose everything.
Especially for these illiterate veterans, if they go home and farm the land, they will have nothing to worry about for the rest of their lives, but if they run into business rashly, they will most likely lose their pants.
However, most people will not go into business without a source, so there is no need to worry too much.
Gambling and prostitution were both legal in ancient times. If you had to find a high-end prostitute, you might lose your family fortune, but under normal circumstances you would not owe money.
After all, it is impossible for the madam and the girls to let you pay on credit.
Therefore, Zhao Kuo planned to start with gambling, close all casinos in Zhao State, and ban gambling.
The other problem is the veteran's own problem. The money he has received has exceeded his ability, so the extra money will be lost by his own strength.
What Zhao Kuo has to do is to improve the soldiers' abilities, knowledge, and vigilance, so as to reduce the probability of them being cheated.
If nothing else, you just lost all your money in business. At least you can learn a lesson.
But if you use it for gambling, you won’t even learn 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 behind the casino were all wealthy families, they no longer posed any threat to Zhao Kuo.
Zhao Kuo only needs one order, and these people can only obey obediently.
"Go and find out if the neighbor the old man mentioned just now still gambles. If he still gambles, leave it alone. If he no longer gambles, help him replace the money he owes. Then go and see his wife, who is living now How about it, if your life is good, don't worry about it. If your life is not good, redeem the person and let the local government arrange a job."
Zhao Kuo ordered that there must be more than one such thing in Zhao State, but since he encountered it, he could not ignore it. After all, he was a veteran who had fought for the country.
However, Zhao Kuo did not directly redeem the sold wife and send it to her husband. This 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 remarry. In this era, there is no discrimination against women remarrying.
"Where is the child?" Genie asked.
“If the man still gambles and the wife is not redeemed, send someone to take the two children away.
In Handan, there will be someone to take care of you. "Zhao Kuo said.
The State of Zhao has a special institution responsible for raising children whose parents have died or been abandoned until they are fourteen years old. Special care will be given to the children of soldiers.
"No." Gai Nie cupped his fists and walked towards the old man behind with a few guards. For this kind of thing, you must first ask the old man who knows better.
"When I stay in the palace, I always think that the Zhao country is peaceful and prosperous. When I come out, I realize that there are problems everywhere." Zhao Kuo said helplessly.
If the monarch does not go to the place to see for himself, most things will never be put on the desk of the palace.
But just because it's not on the table doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Small things accumulate together and eventually cause public dissatisfaction.
"The Changcheng County Magistrate is quite good," Liu Ping said.
"That's true." Zhao Kuo nodded. It can be seen from the fact that he sent small officials to the river to collect iron sand. The Changcheng County Magistrate knew how to be considerate of the people, and the sand collectors also praised him.
But this is just one thing. Zhao Kuo needs to see more to judge whether the Changcheng County Magistrate is really capable.
