In the Song Dynasty, there was no law or order.

At the end of the second year of the Qingli period, Zhao Zhen held a grand banquet in Bianliang to celebrate the arrival of the new year.

From the morning, the city became very lively.

At Xishuimen Fish Street, when the Chenshi bangzi sounded, Hong Wen walked out of his shabby courtyard. He was still wearing a long gown, but his clothes were new and he walked with a limp.

As soon as he went out, he could smell the fishy smell coming to his face, as if he was soaked in a fish pond.

Across the street was a live fish seller, who used shallow buckets to hold the fish, strung the fish with willow leaves, put them in buckets, soaked them in clean water, or sold them along the street.

Every morning, from Xinzheng Gate, Xishui Gate, and Wansheng Gate on the west side of Tokyo City alone, tens of thousands of live fish like this were transported into the city. In winter, there were guest fish shipped from the Yellow River and other distant places, called "car fish", and the price per catty was less than one hundred coins.

Seeing Hong Wen coming out, the fishmongering neighbor waved and said with a smile: "Master Hong, fresh fish, give your wife two to nourish her body."

Hong Wen is a married man.

In his early years, he came to Bianliang alone to take the imperial examination. Although he passed the examination, he failed the examination twice. He felt ashamed and could not face his family, so he did not go home, but stayed in Bianliang, wanting to wait for two years to fight again.

As a result, when he was setting up a stall on the street to make a living, he offended Liu Kuixi, the leader of the Liangmen West Street Yijie Society, and his leg was broken. This was completely desperate and almost self-destructive.

But fortunately, there is always a way out. The Imperial City Department recruited clerks, and ordinary scholars were unwilling to join. Hong Wen felt that the Imperial City Department had avenged him, and he really needed a livelihood, so he went to the Imperial City Department to try, but he didn't expect to be easily accepted.

Now he has worked in the Imperial City Division for many years. Since he joined earlier and was one of the rare scholars in the division, he was promoted step by step and passed the assessment. He became a 9th-rank official in the Southern Pacification Division from a clerk, and now he has become a 7th-rank official.

Although officials of the Imperial City Division often cannot be transferred to other places and can only move within the division, and the Imperial City Division has been expanding rapidly in recent years, it is easy to be sent to local areas as chief officials after promotion, and be despised and excluded by local officials.

However, Hong Wen has a lame leg, but he has never been transferred out. His salary and benefits are good. After his living conditions have improved, he brought his wife and children to Bianliang and rented a house in the remote Fish Street in the outer city.

Hearing what his neighbor said, Hong Wen smiled and said, "Forget it. I bought some chickens and ducks yesterday. My wife said that it's useless to waste that money. It's more important to save some money for my children to marry wives."

"Look at what you said, I'll give it to you!"

The neighbor said generously.

"No, no, there are regulations in the division."

Hong Wen waved his hand quickly.

In fact, he is now considered to have some power. He certainly can't cover the sky with one hand in Bianliang, but it's probably no problem to bully the market on a street.

However, in recent years, he has seen too many colleagues who were single-minded at the beginning, but later became more and more arrogant. With power in their hands, they turned from dragon slayers to evil dragons. Among them, there are some former victims of Bianliang's evil forces.

They had suffered hardships before, and once they became rich, they returned them to others twice as much, as if these hardships were brought to them by those innocent people.

What's more, if someone looked at them on the street, they felt offended, so they took the person back to the Zhenfusi Yamen and tortured him severely, and punished him privately at will.

So much so that for a while, the Censorate and the Remonstrance Office attacked the Imperial City Office crazily.

The Chief Secretary was furious and ordered a strict internal investigation of the Imperial City Office. More than 100 people were executed and more than 300 people were exiled. This was considered to have restored the discipline within the office.

If Hong Wen had his leg broken when he was 20, he might have been as mentally distorted as his colleagues after he became successful.

But he was almost 40 years old, and he had seen too many ups and downs in the world, so he was more open-minded.

Even if someone on the street looked at his lame leg with strange eyes, Hong Wen had long been accustomed to it, and would even nod and greet people.

"What's a few fish? We are all neighbors, and we want to have fun during the New Year."

The neighbor enthusiastically strung two big grass carps through the gills with a rope, and came over to hand them to Hong Wen.

"Oh, it's not easy for everyone to do business."

Hong Wen couldn't refuse, so he had to pay from his pocket.

"It's just about these two fish, don't be polite."

The neighbor didn't want it either.

The two people pulled for a while, and the neighbor was a little more stubborn than him. He didn't pay, so he turned back and went home to deliver the fish before going out again.

After leaving the Fish Street, it was Wanshengmen Inner Street, and the street was crowded with people at this time.

There were street vendors, people carrying loads or pushing carts, and people selling medicine, fortune-telling, and books, all wearing hats and belts, and dressed neatly. The shop assistants who wrapped incense shouted incense-selling folk songs, and those who ate snacks raised their plates and boxes and shouted loudly.

Merchants wearing silk and satin walked through the crowd, and farmers carrying shoulder poles and wearing slightly thin cotton clothes came into the city to sell side dishes and grains. There were also street beggars who kept their positions in place and did not dare to slack off, lest they be rejected by the crowd.

There were signs in the streets and alleys, and there were endless sounds of hawking, shouting, shouting, and collisions. The smell of fish, medicine, food, and sweat was mixed with the smell of sweat.

Hong Wen crossed the Wanshengmen Inner Street and walked south for more than a hundred steps. He saw that the Shifang Jingyin Temple located in the Shuntian Gate of the Outer City was serving vegetarian meals. Many refugee beggars went there to find a bowl of vegetarian noodles. He used to eat there often, but he missed it very much.

Continue south from the crossroads to Hongqiaozi Street. A textile factory opened on the right side of the street two years ago. Many female workers were hired there, but he knew that these female workers were actually victims of Wuyou Cave and Guifan Tower.

Many women were abducted and sold as prostitutes. Zhisi rescued many of them. Some dared not go home, some had lost their families, and some were even worse. They were finally found but were rejected and driven away by their families.

At the beginning, Zhisi set up a charity bureau to support some homeless children and women, but as more and more people were rescued, the expenses became larger and larger. Obviously, this was not a solution.

So Zhisi opened a textile factory, which could make money and support them.

The spinning machine used was also improved and much stronger than the previous spinning machine. At first, it was used to spin linen cloth, and later it was used to spin yarn cloth. In the past two years, as Guangzhou included cotton in the tax, more people planted cotton, and began to spin cotton.

In addition, a lot of sheep were imported from Liao and Xixia, although the sheep in ancient times were not the white sheep in the West in later generations, and the amount of cotton produced was not as much as in later generations.

However, Western white sheep are also crossbred from generation to generation, and they have not always produced so much wool since ancient times.

Therefore, the Ministry of Knowledge established the Animal Husbandry Department in Shaanxi, which specializes in raising sheep in the now relatively deserted wilderness grasslands in Shaanxi, and guides cross-breeding. Most of the sheep wool produced is transported to Bianliang to be processed into cotton clothes, which are warm and comfortable.

Hong Wen continued to walk south for more than half an hour. He limped past Qumai Bridge and saw the silk ribbons of the brothel swaying in the wind. The courtesan waved her sleeves and sang loudly, "I am old and want to be as wild as a young man. I hold Huang on my left and Qing on my right. I wear a brocade hat and a sable coat, and ride thousands of horses on the plain. To repay the governor's love, I will shoot the tiger myself and see Sun Lang."

The red building on the other side of the river was not to be outdone and responded with a song: "The flowers faded and the green apricots became small. When the swallows fly, the green water surrounds the houses. The willow fluff on the branches is blown away. There is no place in the world without fragrant grass. There are swings inside the wall and roads outside the wall. There are pedestrians outside the wall, and the beauties inside the wall are laughing. The laughter gradually fades and the sound gradually becomes quieter. The affectionate is annoyed by the heartless."

In recent years, Zhou Shuren, who has never been seen before, has created many poems. Some people say that he is from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and his name is Lu Xun, a person from a place called Zhoushu in Zhejiang. Others say that his name is Zhou Shuren, with the courtesy name Lu Xun, who was born by the West Lake and has a lot of literary talent.

Anyway, after so many years, the people of Bianliang only heard of his words, not the person. Sometimes you can see him criticizing current affairs in newspapers. He has written many articles, which can be said to be brilliant. He often shouts to make the Song people work hard. He is a popular fighter for war.

Not far from the Imperial College is the Nancheng Grain Market. The government stipulates that bulk grain is not sold here. The people who come here to sell are farmers outside the city, and only a small stall fee is charged.

Because the price here is fresh and slightly cheaper than the Bianliang Rice Shop, many Bianliang citizens come here to buy.

Hong Wen looked around and saw that the grain market was crowded with people. There were farmers with smiling faces, but there were also farmers with unhappy faces. Some sighed and shook their heads and said, "The grain price is low again." But some people smiled and said, "It's more money than last year."

The agricultural tax in the Song Dynasty was 10% on the surface, but in fact it was basically around 3-4% of 10. Now a large number of miscellaneous taxes have been abolished, and only the basic agricultural tax and the population tax are retained, with the tax rate maintained between 1 in 10 and 1.5 in 10.

That is to say, if a self-cultivating farmer grows 30 mu of land this year, 25 mu of grain and 5 mu of hemp, the rice output is 3470 Songjin, which is equivalent to 37.5 shi; the linen output is 500 feet, which is equivalent to 12.5 pieces.

In the past, more than 10 shi of grain and about four pieces of linen would have to be paid to make up for the large amount of taxes such as land tax, population tax, transfer tax, foot money, exchange, and head tax.

But now only 4 shi of grain and 1.5 pieces of cloth are needed to meet the tax demand.

In this way, the property available to farmers will be much more.

The problem is that the market is like this, if the supply is insufficient, the price will rise, and if the supply is excessive, the price will fall.

From 1038 to 1040, during the two years of war with Xixia and Liao, prices in Bianliang soared. At the peak, the price of grain could rise to 600 wen per stone. After paying taxes, the remaining 20 dan of grain could be sold for 15-18 guan.

Now that the war is over, after two years of recuperation, under the situation of oversupply, the price of grain has fallen below the market price of 350 wen per stone in normal years, and is only more than 200 wen per stone.

It seems to be a good thing, but if you calculate carefully, even if the exorbitant taxes are abolished, the grain in hand can only be sold for less than 10 guan.

Of course.

The account is not calculated in this way.

Farmers also have to eat and drink for themselves, and most of the grain can only be used for living expenses, and the surplus grain can be sold.

So from a practical point of view, the drop in grain prices is a good thing.

For example, with more than 20 dan of grain, a family of five eats 800 jin of grain a year, and also has to bear the cost of firewood, rice, oil, salt, and meat, which costs at least 1,500 jin.

The most that could be sold was 300-500 Song jin, which is about 384 to 640 jin in later times.

If sold at 600 wen per shi, you can get about 2000-3000 coins.

Now the available grain has increased by more than 6 shi, and the grain that can be sold is about 10 shi. According to the current market price of 260 wen, the income is actually about the same as the period of 600 wen per shi, which is about 3000 coins.

But don't forget that if the price of grain increases significantly, the price of firewood, rice, oil, salt, etc. will also increase, and the cost of living will become particularly high.

And the highest price was during the war. From the second half of the first year of Kangding to the first year of Qingli last year, as the war ended, the price of grain also tended to stabilize, and it has dropped from 600 coins to more than 400 coins.

So after all these things, after the abolition of a large number of exorbitant taxes this year, the disposable income of farmers will naturally be much higher than last year.

For example, last year, grain could only be sold for 1,900 coins, but this year it can be sold for 2,800 coins.

The cost of living has also dropped a lot.

After deducting all expenses, a few guan can be saved in a year to buy something else.

It’s just that it’s best to maintain it at more than 200 coins per stone.

If it’s lower, the income of farmers will plummet. The saying "cheap grain hurts farmers" is not empty talk.

Hong Wen walked through the group of farmers who were selling grain, and walked east for more than ten minutes. He entered Chongmingmenwai Street and arrived at the Nanzhenfusi where he was on duty.

In fact, he didn’t go to work today.

After all, it’s the end of the year, and he’s on annual leave, so he has little time to work.

However, the government is currently organizing activities to care for the poor, widowed, and disabled.

Kaifeng Prefecture and Imperial City Division are responsible for investigating and registering the poor population in Bianliang. The government will allocate funds from the treasury to send oil, salt, rice, and flour to every household, so they need to work overtime temporarily.

When Hong Wen came over, most of the materials in the courtyard of the Southern Zhenfu Division, which were piled up like a small mountain yesterday, had been distributed.

But it happened that the people from the Meng Family Business House sent another batch of grain and oil.

The Meng family used to be just a middle-class merchant family selling grain, but the second son of the family, Meng Chengqi, flattered the Zhiyuan and actually got a certain amount of state-owned business, and rose from then on.

This activity was also a batch of materials purchased at a low price by the government from various public-private joint ventures, and handed over to Kaifeng Prefecture and Imperial City Division for distribution.

The clerks of the Imperial City Division registered the shipped goods at the door, and the clerks loaded the goods onto the car and sent them to the designated people’s homes.

When they come back, the clerk will register again, and the list will be counted. Once the official visits and finds that the items have not been delivered to the designated people, no one can escape.

So everyone is dedicated to their duties. Six clerks at the door are writing furiously, and dozens of clerks are carrying goods onto carriages and horses, and set off according to the family address.

Seeing Hong Wen coming to work, a subordinate who was registering there early in the morning complained: "The boss is leisurely, we have been busy all morning."

"No way, walk slowly."

Hong Wen came to work on time, patted his thigh and said self-deprecatingly, he has a good relationship with his subordinates, as close as friends.

"The boss came at the right time, I have to go to the toilet, please help me take over."

Another subordinate waved his hand.

Hong Wen walked over, took the brush and began to register, writing as he asked, "How is it going?"

The subordinate ran to the toilet and said, "Today, more than 500 shi have been distributed, and another 1,200 shi have been delivered."

The Imperial City Division and Kaifeng Prefecture each have their own duties. The Southern Pacification Division mainly distributes to the poor population in the southern city, and not only in the city, but also outside the city, and more than 1,000 shi are distributed every day.

Including the Northern Pacification Division and Kaifeng Prefecture, almost 4,000 shi of grain, hundreds of oil, salt and firewood are distributed every day, totaling more than 1,400 guan a day.

What's funny is that Zhao Jun has invested in many overseas trading companies in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and all this money has been put into the treasury, so now Zhao Zhen's treasury has more than 20 million guan of money. He gave 100,000 guan at a time, which is almost enough to be distributed until March next year.

That is to say, there are indeed many poor people in Bianliang, and most of them live outside the city. Many people have to go to the city to work in the case of land annexation, and they can't afford the high rent, so they can only build a wooden house outside the city.

These people, as well as the lonely elderly, beggars, and poor people in the city, are the main targets for the distribution of supplies.

Hong Wen sat down and began to register.

After about ten minutes, his subordinates came back and continued to take over from him.

Just when Hong Wen thought he could be the chief official who supervised everyone, Liu Zhubu, who was wiping his sweat, ran in and shouted, "Is there anyone else? Come on, some people."

Hong Wen was puzzled, so he went over and asked, "What's wrong?"

"The director asked us to distribute all the people on the list before the Lantern Festival. How can we distribute them all? Everyone is going crazy."

Liu Zhubu saw Hong Wen, his eyes lit up, and he pulled him over and said, "Come on, come on, Lao Hong, you come and help too."

Hong Wen often slacked off due to his leg disease, and now he had to follow him out with a wry smile.

He couldn't move anything, so he went over to help hold the sack.

After a while, another car was loaded. He knew how to read, so he took the list to be distributed and slowly left with the car.

The carriage carrying goods was running very fast. The driver seemed to have learned the skills from Zhao Guangyi. He drove through the busy streets and went out from Guangli Gate in the south.

A large number of houses were built on both sides of the Cai River.

This is outside the outer city. It should be a wilderness.

But it seems to be a new urban area.

Wooden houses were built by the river. Some were brick and tile structures, and most were ordinary wooden houses.

Kaifeng Prefecture also replanned the area outside the city. The streets were lined up one after another. Although not as good as those in the city, at least there was some order.

The carriage stopped at Xinmin Street. It was called a street, but in fact it was about a dozen wooden houses along the river. Children ran around barefoot on the rammed earth street. People with patches on their bodies and pale faces came out from time to time. Some went to fetch water, some went to work in the city, and some sat on the corner doing handicrafts.

"Zhang's House, Room 13"

Hongwen got off the carriage and limped to a dilapidated wooden house. There was an old man making bamboo products in front of the house. He asked, "Is it Zhang Sijia?"

The old man raised his head. It was not until then that Hongwen noticed that the old man was skinny and his pants under his right leg were cut off in half, leaving nothing inside. There was also a crutch on the wooden wall next to him.

"Yes, you are?"

The old man asked.

Hongwen hurriedly said, "We are from the Imperial City Department to deliver rice and oil. The government has instructed that rice and flour should be distributed this year."

He waved his hand and signaled the clerk behind him to take the things.

The clerk dragged a sack of grain from the carriage, and another clerk took a small bag of oil and salt, as well as a large bag of firewood.

The old man's puzzled face showed joy when he saw this situation, and he thanked repeatedly, "Thank you, thank you."

"A Zhong, A Zhong."

He shouted a few words to the outside, and a child hurried over.

The old man hurriedly said, "Hurry up and make tea for the guests."

"No, no."

Hong Wen signaled the clerk to put the things at home, and helped the old man open the sack. After pouring the rice into the rice jar, he waved his hand a little awkwardly and said, "We still have to send it to the next family."

At the end, he said, "The New Year is coming, have a good New Year."

He did not ask where the old man's family had gone. According to the information, the old man was an old soldier during the Battle of Chanzhou and had a leg broken on the battlefield.

His wife died of illness a few years ago, and his eldest son was not a good student. He joined some gangs in Bianliang, was brave and fierce all day, and died in a gang conflict.

The second son also died four years ago, died in the battle with Xixia, one daughter-in-law died of illness, and the other remarried. Now there are only three grandchildren.

Hong Wen found that compared with the old man, perhaps he was still lucky.

At least he had lived a hard life before, but he had read books and could still make some money on the street to warm a bowl of wine and a plate of broad beans at the hotel.

After sending it to this family, he went to the next one without stopping.

The situation of this family is similar to that of the Zhang family. Their fate is naturally different, but they are equally poor and struggling on the brink of starvation.

The head of the household is a dying woman. Originally, their family had a few acres of land, but later the man in the family broke his leg. In order to pay for medical expenses, they had to borrow money from others. This loan was not nine out of 13, but nine out of 20.

As a result, the leg was healed, but there was a disaster in the county that year, and there was no grain harvest. The man was forced to sell the land to the landlord, but he was still insolvent, so he had to flee to Bianliang with his wife overnight to work.

Unexpectedly, he was discovered by the creditor in Bianliang a few years ago, and brought people to beat the man to death, leaving only his wife and children. For this reason, the woman had to become a secret prostitute to support him.

She barely raised the child, but eventually contracted some unspeakable terminal illnesses, lying on the bed dying, on the verge of death.

This time, Hong Wen didn't even dare to say "The New Year is coming, have a good year", but just took out another string of money from his arms, about one string, and put it under the woman's pillow, and then quietly withdrew.

When he came out, there was only a complex emotion on his face.

It is foreseeable that at the end of this year, the children of this family may only spend the New Year crying. The only lucky thing is that the eldest son is already fifteen years old and can barely support the family.

"The boss is kind-hearted. This woman has a terminal illness and I'm afraid she won't live for too long. Even if you give her money, she won't be able to save her life."

An official who saw Hong Wen giving money sighed.

"It's a good thing to help a little bit. This is also what the government and the governor hope for."

Hong Wen also sighed.

There is no end to the poor in this world.

But just like the boy saving fish by the sea, this fish cares, and that fish also cares.

If you don't save them, who will care about them?

He turned around, looked at the dilapidated wooden house, and just whispered: "The New Year is coming, have a good year."