Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 122 0117 [Extortion and Nursing Home]

The next day, in the morning.

After finishing a math problem, Chen Yuan put down his pen and asked, "Did the eunuch go down the mountain?"

Zhu Ming walked into the room, sat down and poured water to drink: "I just walked a short distance, but I don't plan to return to Beijing, it seems that I haven't played enough."

Chen Yuan sneered: "It's hard to go out of Beijing. How can you leave without getting enough oil and water? I'm afraid I will find a reason to blackmail."

"As long as you don't hit us." Zhu Ming laughed.

There were few officials in the Song Dynasty who were not greedy. High salaries and honesty only existed in dreams, and being blackmailed by eunuchs was purely dog-eat-dog.

However, it is said that Fu Dexiang was surrounded down the mountain, accompanied by guards from Yangzhou and Xingdao counties, and the team responsible for clearing the road lined up for 20 meters.

Banging gongs and shouting all the way, the battle was so lively.

The officials were going to ask the eunuchs to go to the state office. As they walked, Fu Dexiang suddenly asked: "Last winter, the snow in Bianliang was eight feet thick. Has it ever snowed in Yangzhou?"

Yang Zhizhou replied: "Yangzhou has three feet of snow."

Fu Dexiang also said: "There is an order from the government. From now on, every winter, if there is a snowstorm, the nursing homes in various places must take in the homeless. And there is no limit, as much as there is."

"The government is really a benevolent king," Yang Zhizhou quickly praised the emperor, and said, "This order has not yet been sent, and the Yangzhou officials don't know about it."

Fu Dexiang admonished: "The Jiyangyuan, Anjifang, Louze Garden, Juzicang, and Salesian Bureau are the virtuous government of the official family and the kindness of Cai Xianggong. You should strictly abide by the government's orders, and don't ask for help. One poor person is left out. The young will grow, the old will die, and the widows, widows, lonely, disabled and sick will all be supported. This is the picture of the prosperous Song Dynasty."

"What the nobleman said is very true." Yang Zhizhou echoed.

Fu Dexiang said abruptly, "Go to the nursing home and have a look."

"Let's go now?" Yang Zhizhou was stunned.

"Let's go now." Fu Dexiang said with a smile.

Yang Zhizhou didn't take it seriously either, he raised his hand to call for a subordinate official, and gave a few instructions in a low voice, which scared the subordinate staff into a pale face.

The subordinate staff quickly ran to the front of the team and asked the guards to change their direction.

Then, this fellow slipped away quietly on the way, and returned to the state office as quickly as possible to inform his colleagues.

Not long after, the officials who stayed on duty in the state government called all the remaining servants.They searched the streets for beggars, or arrested gray-haired passers-by, and urged them to hurry to the nursing home to act.

Then he rushed into the street restaurant, grabbed the cook and left, and ordered the handyman to quickly pick up food, meat and vegetables to keep up.

Hundreds of beggars and old people were taken to the nursing home for no reason, making noise like a vegetable market.

A soap official beat them with a stick, and the beating finally made everyone quiet.

Another civil official shouted: "If you continue to make noise, you will be arrested and tortured in prison. Listen to me, you are all homeless poor people, and the government will provide you with food, drink and accommodation. You can make up whatever you want. The words must be made up. If the answer is wrong, the whole family will be exiled to the army!"

Hearing this, the beggar and the old man trembled with fear.

"Take off your clothes and change them for the beggar!" the clerk shouted again.

Officials and servants took off their clothes one after another, and those who did not wear official uniforms took off their coats.Those who wear official uniforms take off their inner linings and throw them all to beggars to replace them.

"I'm coming!"

An officer ran in panic, and the officials and other officers hurried away, and disappeared through the back door in a blink of an eye.

Fu Dexiang quickly stepped into the nursing home, walked up to an old man, and asked with a pleasant face, "Old man is old this year?"

The old man was frightened and dared not speak, for fear that if he said something wrong, the whole family would be exiled.

The clerk next to him reminded: "Old man, the nobleman asked you how old you are."

The old man said with a trembling voice, "Five...57."

Fu Dexiang asked again: "How many people are there in the family?"

"Seven..." The old man suddenly realized, "I have no home, no one, and I am the only one."

Fu Dexiang asked again: "How much rations can I get every month? Can I have meat to eat?"

The old man didn't know how to answer, so he turned his head and looked at the officials, but no one reminded him, so he could only bite the bullet and answer: "I can eat enough, I can eat enough."

Fu Dexiang sneered: "You know, we were sent by the government to interrogate the emperor. If you tell a lie, it is a crime of deceiving the emperor, and you will be executed. Do you know that you will be executed? Confiscate the family property first, and all family members will beheaded!"

The old man was so frightened that his whole body went limp, and he knelt down with a thud: "Forgive me! Forgive me! It's not that I want to lie, it's the officials of the government who made me lie."

Fu Dexiang glanced at it, and was overjoyed.

The more than 100 "poor people" present all showed fear, and they were probably extras.

The expressions of Yang Zhizhou and Li Tongpan changed drastically. Although they knew that the Ji Nursing Home was tricky, they never expected that a single poor person would not be adopted.

Last winter, they braved the snow to inspect the Nursing Home.

Regardless of whether it is pretending or not, anyway, he looks like he is close to the people and loves the people.

Nothing unusual was found at that time, the nursing home was well organized, and the poor here were also very grateful to the government.

Clearly, they were duped.

Fu Dexiang carried out a surprise inspection today, and the officials below had no time to prepare, so it was full of loopholes.

Fu Dexiang walked up to a beggar again, and asked with a smile, "Why do you wear the lining outside? Are you still unkempt like a beggar?"

The beggar dared not answer.

"Take off your clothes!" Fu Dexiang snapped.

The beggar was so frightened that he knelt down and took off his clothes, revealing the tattered clothes inside.

Fu Dexiang was too lazy to look any further, and went straight to the kitchen. He whispered to his two attendants, "Choose two cooks at random and interrogate them separately. Just ask each other how many years they have been in the nursing home, and how much their monthly salary is."

These two attendants were messengers from the capital, and they were ordered to act immediately.

It took only ten minutes before they came back to report: "The confessions of these two people are not consistent, they are all lying."

Fu Dexiang turned around and asked Zhizhou and Tongju, "What can you two say?"

Yang Zhizhou said: "Invite the nobles to the banquet, and talk while eating."

Fu Dexiang stood on the spot, showing three fingers.

"Tonight." Yang Zhizhou understood what it meant.

Fu Dexiang laughed immediately, and said earnestly, "This nursing home is a virtuous government promoted by the officials and Cai Xianggong, but it must not be ruined by the little ones. The two of you will have to pay more attention in the future."

"must!"

Yang Zhizhou and Li Tongpan quickly bowed to thank each other.

Zhu Ming and his son have racked their brains to seek development. Even if their 300-mu tea mountain is converted to fried tea, they can earn at most a few hundred guan a year due to the advantage of low cost.

And this eunuch easily extorted three thousand coins!
When leaving the Nursing Home, Fu Dexiang also made a request: "The iron money here is too heavy, so all of it should be replaced with money. If there is not enough money, silver money is fine."

How could Yang Zhizhou and Li Tong dare to refuse?

The Jiyangyuan is Song Huizong's face, and it is also Cai Jing's political achievement project. As long as the eunuchs go back and say bad things, they will definitely offend the emperor and powerful officials at the same time.

That night, gold and silver coins worth three thousand guan were quietly delivered to the eunuch.

Li Tongpan was so angry that he scolded the household case official and took the person in charge of the nursing home into prison.

He found Yang Zhizhou for a drink at night: "The eunuch bullied me too much!"

Yang Zhizhou said in relief: "Fortunately, this guy doesn't have a big appetite, so three thousand pens can be spent."

Li Tongpan said: "You still don't have much appetite for three thousand guan? The state's public money for a year is gone. You don't care about money and food, of course you don't feel bad!"

"What can I do if I don't give money?" Yang Zhizhou was also depressed.

Song Huizong wanted to highlight the prosperous age, and Cai Jing followed suit and formulated a series of welfare policies.

From the birth of the baby to the burial of old age and death, there are all supporting benefits.

Take the Nursing Home as an example, every county in Kaifeng Prefecture must establish one.Expanded to the whole country, poor areas are only set up in state capitals, and rich areas are also required to be in every county.

In the prosperous state capital in the south of the Yangtze River, the nursing home accommodates more than a thousand poor people and provides each person with daily necessities worth 4 ounces per month.

In remote and poor states, the minimum quota is 40 people, and the average quota is 100 people. According to local prices, the monthly payment ranges from several hundred yuan to one or two yuan.

Welfare funds are all allocated by the central government on the surface, but in fact they are allocated by various Changping departments.

Let’s say that Yangzhou’s nursing home has a quota of 120 people, and each person is provided with a consistent amount of money every month. The annual expenditure of the nursing home alone reaches 1400 yuan.In addition, there are Louzeyuan, Juzicang, Salesian Bureau, etc. These welfare institutions all cost money.

Where can local finance afford it?
Officials in the Changping Division wanted to be greedy for a sum, and officials in the state government were also greedy for a sum. The remaining money could not be distributed to the poor, and most of it was falsely claimed by related households.

This is not smearing out of thin air, "Song Huiyao Collection" is clearly written.

For example, during the Northern Song Dynasty, the Ministry of Household Affairs once suggested that it requires a thorough investigation of the nursing homes in various prefectures and counties, and offered rewards to encourage the people to report false claims and embezzlers.

Another example is Lin'an Prefecture in the Southern Song Dynasty, which spent more than [-] yuan a year to adopt homeless people.Officials, however, were "lost at what to do" (messing around), "should be harvested and discarded" (should be harvested or not), and "weak people who were strong" (adopted rich people as poor ones).

This is actually nothing, the actual operation is even more showy.

Due to financial difficulties in the Southern Song Dynasty, the central government was unable to allocate funds, and the main source of funds for the nursing home was land income.The officials took the severely depreciated Huizi (Southern Song Dynasty banknotes) and forcibly purchased the land of the people, forcing many people to go bankrupt, and then allocated the land to the nursing home to help the poor.

The eunuch had fun for several days, and even had enough money for his entourage, so he left Yangzhou happily.

Li Hanzhang came to the VIP dormitory of the Academy and sighed: "Da Lang, my father asks you to be admitted to Juren this year. As long as you go to the exam, you don't have to worry about anything. He will arrange the exam ticket and guarantor. I will go to Tokyo next year. It’s best to be a Jinshi, and don’t come back if you don’t, I’ll give you two hundred guan a year for your stay in Beijing.”

Zhu Ming smiled and asked, "Why is your father so angry?"

"The eunuch extorted three thousand coins," Li Hanzhang shook his head with emotion, "adding to his entourage, board and lodging and gifts, the four thousand coins disappeared in smoke."

Zhu Ming suppressed his smile, and said with a serious face: "My personal affairs have caused your father to suffer."

Li Hanzhang also said: "You resigned once this year, and the reason is very good. Before the provincial examination (national examination) next year, you will definitely not come to enlist again. But if you fail to pass the Jinshi examination and return to Yangzhou, the officials must Then send someone over. At that time, maybe someone with a bigger appetite will come, and three or four thousand guns will be hard to pass."

"I will try my best to pass the exam." Zhu Ming avoided talking about whether he would return to his hometown.

Ju Ming can only be thankful that the matter of fried tea has not been exposed.

If Min Wenwei lost his mind and offered fried tea to the eunuch, in case Song Huizong was happy to drink it, it would be terrible to directly list the fried tea as a tribute.

When the time comes, Zhu Ming will either run away or rebel ahead of time.

(End of this chapter)