I, Liu Bian, Sanxing Han Dynasty

Chapter 614: Impotence
People can pay household taxes with cloth, silk or money, but in practice, the clerk only needs to say that this year's taxes must be paid in cloth. Then most people dare not ask the clerk if they can pay with money.

It’s not that they don’t have anger in their hearts, but most of the people and officials are in completely unequal positions, so they don’t have the confidence to raise this question.

No matter how strict the regulations are, they still have to be enforced by people.

In June of the ninth year of the Guangxi reign, the Emperor and the Empress Dowager went to Emperor Guangwu's old residence to pay homage to him. The next day, he visited the Mausoleum of Emperor Zhang in Nanyang and toured the old residence.

He summoned all officials here and gave them instructions on the affairs of Yiyang.

He said: "Rectifying the administration of officials is not a matter of a moment, but a matter of years!"

Within ten days, the officials of Yiyang were tried for their crimes, and less than half of them were retained.

Money can move people's hearts. There are always some people who never feel the pain until the big stick really hits them.

But at this time, Wei Yan's mother, aunt and others did not know that all this was closely related to Wei Yan.

"Sister-in-law, I will help you farm the land that Ayan bought. I won't be polite with you and will keep 30% of the money I earn. What do you think? If you don't want the 40% I really don't have the face to farm these lands."

When Wei Yan's aunt Sun found out about this, she immediately came and took Wei's mother away. After learning that Wei's mother planned to leave the land for her family to farm, she found Wei's mother and told her so.

Wei's mother had already learned about her son's plan from Wei Yan, but she thought it would be best if she could convince Sun in advance: "Before, A Yan saved money to buy land in his hometown, thinking about having a foundation in the family in the future... A Yan said that the fox will die in the first hill, I don't know what it means, anyway, he will always come back in the end."

"Ayan and I won't be able to use the output of this land in Luoyang in the future, and it's not worth sending it to Luoyang... We are one family, why should we divide it so much? If it were up to me, let alone keep a portion of it, we should use the output of this land to build up some assets first! We have been tenant farmers for so many years, and you haven't done enough!"

"Life as a tenant farmer is much better now than before, but it's still not as good as having your own land. Even if you don't consider yourself, don't you consider your children? Even a few acres of land is better than nothing!"

Sun fell silent after hearing this.

After a while, she said to Wei's mother with red eyes: "Just listen to my sister-in-law."

Mother Wei held her sister-in-law's hand and said, "As a family, we should support each other!"

After a long time, Sun wiped away her tears and continued, "I don't know if it was A Yan or his friend who came to pick up my sister-in-law this time. Now that my sister-in-law has left, I don't know when we will meet again."

Speaking of this, Wei's mother felt both expectant and reluctant.

"If you count the days, it should be within these two days."

Just then, she suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves again.

"Did you hear it?" Mother Wei hurried out, but she felt that the sound this time was different from before. Not long after, she finally understood the reason -

Wei Yan was not the only one who came on horseback.

Wei Yan didn't need to introduce much, Wei's mother noticed a young man who followed Wei Yan and was the center of attention.

"Ayan, is this noble man the Shangguan who you once mentioned to me was very kind to you?" In Wei's mother's opinion, there was no one else who could come with Wei Yan.

Wei's mother didn't expect that Wei Yan's superior was so young, and looked only a few years younger than her son. But even as a mother, she had to admit that the other party was much better looking than her son, and it was obvious that he had a good family background. "That's right!" Before Wei Yan could speak, Liu Bian, who heard what Wei Yan's mother said, was the first to agree.

After learning about Wei Yan's change of identity, Liu Bian became very interested in Wei Yan's living environment. The people here were real proletarians, and even many slaves lived better than them.

When Wei's mother found out that the visitor was Wei Yan's superior, she became a little reserved. However, for the sake of Wei Yan's future, she saw that Liu Bian was very interested in the past and present lives of the tenants living in the village. Since she herself was not good at speaking, she specially brought in Wei Yan's aunt Sun, who was good at speaking.

"Actually, if you want to know how people in a place are living, just look at how many people there are who are impotent..." As Sun was talking, she suddenly mentioned impotence.

Liu Bian was also somewhat puzzled and asked, "What does it mean to be unable to have children? Is it someone who is infertile?"

"My dear, you don't know this?" Sun was a little surprised.

But Liu Bian was sure that he had never heard of it.

Sun didn't notice that Wei Yan wanted to dissuade her but didn't dare to speak out. Instead, she explained in a strange and amusing tone, "My dear, you should know that impotence is not because you can't have children, but because you have too many children and can't raise them, or you are unwilling to raise them."

As for those babies who were born but no one wanted to raise them...

Liu Bian immediately connected it with the drowning of an infant - he suddenly understood the other side of Sun's tone just now - it was a kind of sadness.

"I saw that you are so kind to our A-Yan, so I didn't hide it from you. Since the emperor ascended the throne, he rarely collected taxes. Now, he only collects household taxes. The problem of impotence has improved a little bit... In recent years, it has become less and less."

"So, there is more?" Liu Bian asked.

"Of course there are! Especially baby girls." Sun said this with some indignation, "If it was before when I wanted to raise a child but couldn't, it would be fine, but now even if I rent the land from the landlord, I can support a family. When the child is eight or nine years old, he or she can help with the work... You still don't want to raise a child, how cruel!"

After hearing this, Liu Bian felt mixed emotions.

He clearly remembered that drowning an infant - regardless of whether it was a boy or a girl - was a crime against Han law.

Wei Yan finally couldn't help but interrupt at this time and said, "Sir, if a child is not reported in the village, the government will not investigate. And some families have two children in three years, and they really can't support them..."

Liu Bian was silent for a moment.

He could comfort himself that these were chronic diseases from the feudal era, problems that had existed for a long time, and his appearance had made the problem better.

But he wasn't doing well enough, and it wasn't time for him to let his guard down.

If he saw with his own eyes the old and the weak struggling for a living when he went to Kaifeng County at the end of last year, then today, he did not see it with his own eyes, but only heard about it, and the shock he felt was no less than at the end of last year.

In addition to respecting the elderly, national policy also requires loving the young.

After Yiyang arrived, Liu Bian summoned all the ministers and issued an edict, requiring all counties to set up orphanages to adopt abandoned babies. He also issued an edict: "For those who have children who are difficult to raise, childless people are allowed to adopt them as their own children. They are not allowed to treat them as slaves or hand them over to orphanages. Those who drown them will be punished without pardon!"

Some things must be done.

(End of this chapter)