Chapter 565： Either pay or work hard!

Chapter 565 Either pay or fight!

After hearing this, Li Laoer asked: "Is this why the Marquis came to the palace today?"

Jiayin was afraid that her adoptive father would lose his sense of control because of her, so she quickly said: "Father, don't be angry, I'm not afraid! That little dark room at the edge of the garden is where hoes and shovels are stored. It's not scary at all. Besides, I've only waited half a minute. In an hour, Uncle Huang came to save me."

Master Hou took a deep breath, not wanting this sensible fat girl to worry, so he patted her on the back and said, "My foster father knew better than to teach the Wu family a lesson, not just because you were bullied.

“The Wu family has tried many times to send people to the Marquis Mansion, and forced me to get married through the queen. I shouldn’t have tolerated it at that time, so now they are even more serious!”

Li Laoer advised with some worry: "Master Hou, after all, the Wu family has the support of the queen..."

The Marquis shook his head and sneered, "Not to mention a childless queen, even if there is a prince by her side, for the sake of the military power in my hand, I should be more polite to Fu Niuer. But this family of idiots jumped out to fight on their own. , then don’t blame me for taking action on the Wu family!”

Li Laoer was helpless and knew that he could no longer persuade him, so he said, "Then what are you going to do?"

The Marquis replied: "Soon, the emperor will issue a decree to recruit soldiers. They will not recruit people from the common people, but the children of the noble families and civil and military officials. Two people in a family must have one legitimate son."

Li Laoer's eyes widened immediately upon hearing this, and he had an intuition in his heart that this matter would cause an uproar, and the entire New Capital would be stirred up.

He hesitated and said: "Master Marquis, I am afraid that the nobles of the family and the civil and military officials will object..."

The Marquis nodded and sneered: "Of course, they will definitely not agree. Their children and grandchildren are extremely valuable, and they definitely don't want to send them to the north of the Yangtze River to kill the barbarians. They just want to stay in the south of the Yangtze River and live in a dream. But how can things in this world go as planned? Nothing can be done. How can you enjoy wealth by giving?

“If they don’t want to risk their lives, then give them money! The children and grandchildren of the people can kill the barbarians on their behalf and bleed and sacrifice, but they can’t not even get the pension!”

"Yes, Mr. Hou is right, it should be like this!" Li Laoer's blood boiled when he heard it, and he said in a suppressed voice: "They can buy a famous flower with hundreds of taels without blinking, so naturally they can also take a few. A thousand taels pay for the lives of your children and grandchildren!”

The Marquis' expression softened a bit and he said, "If anyone asks you where you are and wants to make accommodations with me, just mention a few words about the pension."

"Understood!" Li Laoer immediately agreed and picked up the tea bowl, "I will use tea instead of wine, thank you Lord Marquis for seeking justice for the people and bringing peace to Tianwu!"

"I'm coming too!" Jiayin didn't have a tea bowl, so she picked up the rice bowl at hand and stood with her second uncle in a dignified manner, "Fu Niu'er thanks her adoptive father for fighting for the country and the people. His adoptive father is the God of War. He is a great hero!”

The Marquis smiled and brought the teacups together with them, "For Tianwu, let's drink this cup together!"

Li Laoer and Marquis drank tea, while Jiayin stuffed the meatballs in the bowl into his mouth, his cheeks bulging like a greedy squirrel.

Li Laoer and Mr. Hou couldn't help laughing.

Soon after dinner and greetings from the family members, Mr. Hou and Jiayin followed Li Laoer to the relief department.

It has only been a few days, but the previously desolate and dilapidated relief agency has already changed its appearance.

All the weeds in the yard were pulled out, and the ground was compacted. The few square flower beds that were occasionally left were surrounded by worn-out green bricks, and some ordinary but brightly blooming small flowers were planted there.

Most of the houses have been rested and no longer leak.

Although the paint on the doors and windows has peeled off and is still mottled, the window paper has been replaced with new ones.

In every house, the doors and windows are wide open to take advantage of the midday sun and summer wind to drive away the darkness and humidity in the house.

The rotten grass that was previously used as a bed has been cleared away and replaced by a newly built large kang, covered with golden kang mats. One after another, some children and old people came back from outside carrying hay or broken wood. They found them in dilapidated abandoned houses or remote places in the north of the city. They burned them at will at night to make some heat and make a big kang. It will keep you warm all night.

There is no need to burn too much heat in summer, so everyone can have a good sleep.

Everyone's clothes are still old and even a little dirty, but if you look closely, their hands and faces are washed, and their hair is combed as neatly as possible.

The entire relief department seems to have been completely reborn because of a few flower beds, new window paper on the windows, the roof that no longer leaks, and the golden kang mat on the bed.

But it seems that’s not just because of that…

Li Laoer led the Marquis and his niece around, and finally arrived outside the three rooms that served as the large kitchen.

There were two trees not far away that provided good shade, so Zheng Feng and Zheng He placed their chairs here.

The two of them were busy boiling tea and even picked up a box of snacks from somewhere.

Jiayin ate some snacks and thought about what else he could do to support the relief agency.

She could see that the second uncle was very serious and working hard to change the relief department, not only for his career, but also to rescue these poor people from the sea of ​​misery!

Obviously, the Marquis also saw this and asked: "It is not a small matter to feed and clothe so many people. I'm afraid it won't be possible to just rely on the court to allocate money and food. Selling flowers to subsidize it is not a long-term solution."

Li Laoer nodded and said: "I am going to repair some houses, separate them, and rent them out. Although the income is not much, it is enough to maintain all the houses on a daily basis.

"Find a few half-grown men from the village to be teachers and teach the children here simple arithmetic. They can study in the morning and do chores in the afternoon. After a year, these children can go out and become apprentices or boys. You can support yourself.

"For the rest of the people who are slightly disabled but can walk, I plan to let them sweep the streets. It is autumn soon, with fallen leaves flying everywhere, and heavy snow in winter. As long as they clean up, I will give each house along the street a few kilograms of food per month. It shouldn't be difficult.

“As for the elderly and sick, they can only stay at the relief department, weaving baskets and doing small jobs.”

This arrangement sounds very good.

Although there will definitely be many problems encountered during the implementation process, at least a goal of being self-reliant has been set.

Just as the Marquis was about to speak, several people suddenly walked in from outside the gate. They were all in ragged clothes and dirty, but they had smiles on their faces and yellow teeth.

Perhaps smelling the aroma of rice porridge, a few of them squatted down in a sunny place, folding their sleeves, chatting and laughing from time to time, and occasionally took something out of their arms and pinched it...

Jiayin was stupid for a moment and didn't react. He wanted to take a closer look, but was blocked by the Marquis.

Li Laoer looked bad and snorted coldly: "Master Hou, if there are any disabled veterans like Uncle Zhao and others who can walk around, they'd better be more aggressive. Send me about twenty people, over there at Baiyuan Garden. It takes four to look after the home, but I’m afraid we need more than a dozen here.”

The Marquis understood and nodded in response: "Okay, I will select people for you when I get back. There are many disabled soldiers this time, and I am also worried about finding a place for them to resettle. Don't be too angry. There is such support everywhere." Mud that doesn’t go up the wall.”

(End of this chapter)