Great Zhou Empress

The three children were placed in the carriage by her, and Xiao Cui took care of them to eat.

Yuan Jin asked her how she wanted to arrange for the three children. They couldn't take them with them all the way on their business trip.

"Go and see if there's a sales home here."

The Dacheng Dynasty had some government-run welfare institutions. They set up sales homes in the capital and big cities at all levels. The government hired wet nurses to take care of orphans and disabled children. Bureau, Anjifang and other official welfare medical institutions.

As a person who grew up in a modern way of thinking, Xue Zhijing has no concept of taking in orphans to raise them himself. After all, modern social welfare organizations are rich and the laws are perfect. If you want to adopt, you have to overcome many difficulties. It is more in line with the norms to send orphans to orphanages .

So she immediately thought of the Salesian Home.

The prefect of the small town received them.

"A sales home?" The prefect showed a trace of embarrassment on his old face, "This sales home has been overcrowded recently."

The drought was severe. Xue Zhijing thought it might be because of this reason, but it was understandable, so she said, "I want to go and have a look. I wonder if the prefect Xue can send someone to take us there?"

The Dacheng Dynasty was a relatively equal society, and people were not so flattering. The title "Adult" was not used to address officials, but only to address parents at home. For example, when people wrote letters, they would write "Mother, Your Excellency" and the like. .

That's why Xue Zhijing called Xue Zhifu by his surname and position, which is also a more polite way.

Magistrate Xue made a suggestion, "Aunt Xue, we are from the same family, and we are also destined. If you don't mind, I will take these three children in, and I will ensure that they have no worries about food and clothing. It's just that it is really difficult for the sales home to continue. There is a way to take care of more children."

Xue Zhijing frowned. On the contrary, she wanted to see the situation of the Salesian's Home. She had never seen the actual situation of this kind of low-level welfare institution in the imperial city for a long time.

"Thank you Magistrate Xue for your kindness, but I still want to go and see the situation of the sales home. If there is anything I can help with, I can also help."

When it came to this point, it would be tricky if they didn't let them go, so the prefect Xue sent someone to take them there.

The Salesian House is located in a small courtyard in the east corner of the city. As soon as he arrived at the door, Xue Zhijing felt that the place was in disrepair.

The plaque with the three characters of Salesian's Home is a little powdered, and the three gilded characters on it are seriously damaged, with slight cracks appearing.The rammed wall has long been mottled, and there are still some traces of whitewash on it. At this time, the soil layer and weeds inside have been exposed. The gatehouse looks a little crooked, as if it will be overturned at any time.

Xue Zhijing frowned immediately.

Then, when she heard some children's cries and laughter from inside, her face slowly relaxed.

The little official who showed the way smiled dryly, "Aunt Xue, we are not as good as Bianjing here. Many things, including our yamen, have not had money to rest for a long time. Slow down."

When stepping through the threshold, Xue Zhijing almost fell down, because there was a sunken ground inside.

The little official hurried forward to help her, but Xue Zhijing waved to him, indicating that he was fine.

Not only the gate, but the whole yard reveals an extremely old feeling, the same is true in the yard, the rammed earth ground has some potholes, weeds are growing in the corners, and the wood in the rooms around the yard is so old that it is almost pitch black. Even the sunlight from the patio seems to be unable to dispel the darkness here.

It's really worse than the yard of the Shangshi Bureau where she lived when she first crossed here. Isn't this kind of house really a dilapidated house?

The clerk helped to call the staff of the Salesian Home, two wet nurses, two kitchen helpers, and one cleaner.They all looked quite old, dressed in dusty bunt clothes, with weather marks on their faces, they all smiled when they saw Xue Zhijing.

Xue Zhijing greeted them, asked about their daily work, and led them to visit the children in each room.At this time, the children in the Salesian Home are playing in the back yard, which is empty and there are no large interactive facilities.

Moving toys, children are playing with stones in their hands, or chasing each other.

There are only more than 20 children, most of them are from infants to less than ten years old, wearing single clothes, all of them are thin and thin, obviously not well-nourished.

I went to see their lunch again at noon today, a big pot of clear porridge, with pickles and stewed radish as side dishes.

The little official was probably ordered by the magistrate, and complained to Xue Zhijing, "Drought this year, a lot of funds and food have been used for disaster relief, and there is really no extra money for the sales home. That's all, our magistrate and the city We only got some donations from the rich households here, otherwise these children would have a harder life."

Xue Zhijing's complexion was really not good.

Everything she encountered today was a strong blow to her values.

In the feudal era, human life was as cheap as a dog. Even in the Dacheng Dynasty, where the economy and culture were relatively developed and there were no slaves, the life of the people at the bottom was still difficult.

Almost [-]% of the population of the Dacheng Dynasty were farmers. In this era, when encountering drought, floods, locust plagues, and military disasters, it was easy to lose their crops. They often had no savings and no ability to withstand these risks.The official welfare in this era can reach a level that makes people starve to death. During disaster relief, each person has a bowl of porridge every day.In a place like a sales home, there are very few children that can be taken care of, not to mention education, which cannot reach them at all.

For Xue Zhijing, these people are not numbers recorded in history books, but real people who appeared in her life, and she could not ignore their pain.

Xue Zhijing asked someone to buy a pig in the city, and asked the nursery to cook meat for the children.

She also took out a sum of money and told the prefect that she hoped to improve the living conditions of the children.

In fact, she knows very well that finances are tight everywhere, and it is really uncertain how much of this money can be used for these children, but there is only so much she can do now.

If in the future?

She slowly had some plans in her mind, such as improving agricultural technology and producing more food on limited land; such as expanding food imports from Vietnam through commercial forms; such as supporting The fleet took risks to see if they could go to America to obtain high-yield food crops.

These ideas are not beyond the times and require the industrial revolution. Before going out, she has studied the exchanges between the south and overseas countries. The Dacheng Dynasty imported Champa rice from Vietnam. Among the overseas countries, the western countries include some countries on the east coast of Africa. Some blacks even live in Fanfang in Guangzhou, which means that the current ship technology has reached the point where they can reach Africa along the coastline.

Never underestimate the ancients.

After leaving the small town, Xue Zhijing's mood was both a little depressed and a little hot.

Traveling to this point, she has become a member of the power center of the dynasty. She is capable of promoting the development of a part of the dynasty. She should not just be satisfied with transforming the cabinet into a bank and becoming a banker with a long history. More blessings can be left for this era.

So that even the people living at the bottom can live well and enjoy the world well.

Going further north, the speed increased a bit, and she also had some enthusiasm for the task given by Queen Yuan Hanzhang. After all, to do so many things, she must first ensure that there is sufficient financial support. Then, let Customs will pay the money first.

We are approaching the border city of Xiongzhou.

I met a group of food delivery teams on the wide road, and met again at the resting shop.

Xue Zhijing chatted with the person in charge of the other party, a middle-aged red-faced man.

The other party said that they were going to deliver grain and grass to the frontier army in Xiongzhou. When they transported the grain and grass to the frontier army, the generals of the frontier army would give them a certain reward. Merchants can go to the southeast region to exchange for tea with the exchange, and they can also go to the eastern coastal area to exchange for salt.

Generally speaking, the amount of "transfer" given exceeds the value of the grain transported, and the excess amount is the profit of the merchants.

In this way, the imperial court can guarantee that the frontier army has several 10 soldiers

The supply of food and grass also saves manpower expenditure. After all, the transportation in this era is too inconvenient. There is no river at the border to come directly, so it is necessary to use manpower, which is laborious.

Even this part is operated by market-oriented business, how is the business of the Dacheng Dynasty underdeveloped.

However, as soon as this kind of thing was mentioned, Xue Zhijing, who has a sensitive sense of finance, immediately thought that there is too much room for maneuvering. Could some problems at the border have something to do with this?

But I can't talk about anything with this guy, after all, his information is one-sided.

Yuan Jin said, "My family also opened a Jiaoyin shop in Bianjing."

"???"

"That is, look at these merchants, some have large funds and some have small funds. There are risks in transporting food, so after they get the referral, some of them may not want to go further afield. Changing the tea leaves and selling them for salt, so they will sell Jiaoyin in the capital, and then sell it to Jiaoyinpu.”

"Then you sell it to tea merchants and salt merchants at a high price." Xue Zhijing naturally understood the operation method of this set of securities, so he said it immediately.

"It's not a high price, it's a normal price. After all, when the other party sells it to us, we have to lower the price. The profit from the imperial court is very rich, so the merchant who transports the grain sells it to us at a low price and makes a profit. We sell it to us at a normal price. Tea merchants and salt merchants also make a lot of money. But recently, cross-references are also depreciating, probably because the frontier army has sent too much."

Too much hair?devaluation?

It seems that the commander of the army here is a fat job.