Xu Ping stood in the courtyard for a while, he didn't have anything to do, he was bored, and when he remembered his father's words, he went to find Panpan. I searched inside and out, but I couldn't find her shadow, and I wanted to ask Cui'er who took her, but I couldn't even see Cui'er.

The little girl began to recognize Xu Ping's life at the beginning, and slowly became familiar with it, and felt that Xu Ping had not been by her side for many years, and she was a little indulgent out of guilt, and she became lawless in front of Xu Ping. Lin Suniang is strict with her children, and as soon as Panpan hit a wall with her mother, she came to Xu Ping to entangle her, and she tried again and again. But the relationship between the father and daughter has slowly become intimate.

found Lin Suniang sitting in the study, Xu Ping asked and learned that Cui'er went to the Bianhe River with Panpan early in the morning, it was said that she went to see the ice. Lin Suniang didn't agree, but she couldn't bear to pester, so she had to let them out.

Xu Ping had nothing to do, so he went out of the house and walked not far to the Bianhe River.

At this time, the Bianhe River is no longer sparkling in the past, and there are no boats coming and going on the river, and it is smooth and flat like a big mirror.

The usual flow of the Bianhe River is more rapid, and some people fall into the water and wash away every year, Kaifeng Mansion has a low wall on both sides of the river, and it is forbidden for people to approach the river bank to prevent falling into the water. However, this low wall is not well managed, and some areas have collapsed, so some families have built houses for rent by the way, and they have been repeatedly banned.

With this low wall, the people of the government are also very strict, and there are no idlers playing on the ice. However, at this time, there are many coolies who are picking ice on the river.

Many of the big families in Kaifeng City have built ice cellars, taking advantage of the cold winter season to pick up the ice on the Bianhe River and hide it, and enjoy the coolness in summer. However, not every household can afford to have someone in the family collect ice, but coolies collect ice from the river and send it to their homes to ask for some wages to buy rice and salt.

Now is the first large-scale freezing on the Bianhe River, the ice mining is all dependent on this coolie to make a living, the really powerful families are not in a hurry at this time, always have to wait until the deep winter before picking.

With the current identity of Xu Ping Junhou, there is an ice cellar at home normally, but his residence is too small, where is there a place to build an ice cellar? I had to pick some ice from the Jinshui River in Zhongmu Manor, and then transport it to the city in the summer to enjoy.

Seeing that there was no Panpan and Cui'er by the river, Xu Ping slowly searched along the bank, and looked at the tired people on the river by the way.

Most of these are floating people in Kaifeng City, who come to the capital from all directions to beg for a living, as long as they have a bite to eat, they are willing to do any work. Although it is just winter, ice is not easy to sell, and it is always a livelihood that can be mixed with strength.

Walking not far, there is a big willow tree under the bridge of Xingguo Temple, the tree is near the water's edge, and a bunch of people gather at this time.

Xu Ping took a closer look and saw Cui'er standing under the tree with Panpan, and couldn't help but be annoyed.

Although there is thick ice on the river, and ice pickers walk around it, who can be sure of this kind of thing? This accidentally got a hole in the ice, and the child fell and still died?

Hurriedly stepped forward, and when he was still dozens of steps away, he understood the situation over there, Xu Ping couldn't help but stop and stood behind the low wall on the shore to watch quietly.

Pan Pan was surrounded by a few children surrounded by maid servants, all of whom were dressed in brocade, and they all came from rich and noble families.

And in the middle of these people and the river was a group of coolies, most of them half-grown children, tired and frozen from carrying ice back and forth, their faces and hands were red, and they looked at a few children standing in front of them with a smile.

Most of these children are passing a hand stove, and the charcoal fire is in full swing, revealing the warm color of red.

Xu Ping recognized that this was the hand stove that his father talked about in the morning, which was specially made by a master craftsman, and the price was very expensive.

The hand stove passed in the hands of these half-grown children who were collecting ice, warming their hands that were frozen and stiff. Panpan on the shore took Cui'er by the hand, looked at these people, and clapped her hands happily and smiled.

There was no sun in the sky, and the north blew through the big willow trees, shaking the bare branches of the trees, tearing off the dead leaves on the willow branches from time to time, and rolling around on the frozen Bianhe River.

Xu Ping had 10,000 reasons to go down and let Cui'er go home immediately with Panpan, these ice pickers were unemployed vagrants, who might rob the valuable hand stoves, or abduct and sell their beloved's women and children.

But Xu Ping finally resisted his impulse, and just watched quietly from behind the low wall. He would rather use another reason tomorrow to let Panpan not go out again, rather than bring the child home at this time, the child's childhood should have good memories.

This is the most prosperous city in the world, the most luxurious restaurant in the singing and dancing every day, silk and bamboo, heavy makeup and prostitutes dancing in front of the guests, soft and glutinous singing is intoxicating.

But behind this prosperity is the hard struggle of these people at the bottom, who have to fight for their lives for a full meal.

This was not the world that Xu Ping was willing to fight for, but looking at his daughter's happy smile and watching her hide her grandfather's hand stove for these poor people, something in the deepest part of Xu Ping's heart was moved.

called a half-grown child running on the avenue, Xu Ping gave him two pennies and asked him to come to his house to call the little maid over, and promised to give him three pennies after calling someone to come.

After a while, the little guy arrived at the Bianhe River.

Xu Ping instructed the little servant to take his post to the nearby Kaifeng Mansion and invite Wang Ke from the mansion to come over.

Although it belongs to Xiangyi County in terms of division, the city is not under the jurisdiction of the county, but belongs to each compartment. Originally, there were also officials in the chamber who were in charge of civil litigation affairs, but the literati doctor thought that this was a matter for officials and was ashamed to be this official. In fact, most of the officials in the chamber are military ministers, and the management is a little sloppy, which is not as reliable as Kaifeng Mansion.

Not long after Xu Ping stood on the shore, Wang Ke hurried over.

After saluting Xu Parallel, Wang Ke said, "What do you have to tell the marquis to come down?" ”

Xu Ping pointed to the group of people gathered by the bridge below, and said to Wang Ke: "Most of these ice pickers are unemployed vagrants in the city, and it is inappropriate to mix with the children of these official eunuchs. I'm not saying that they are bad people, but when there are too many people, it is inevitable that some people will have other thoughts, and Kaifeng Mansion is still strictly guarded to avoid accidents. ”

"This is easy, I'll send a few officials to drive people away."

Xu Ping said: "This is not good, after all, they are all good citizens, and they are hated by people." It's better to send a few trustworthy errand officers over, change into civilian clothes, and watch from the side. As long as there are no accidents, this is not a bad thing. ”

Wang Ke said respectfully: "The county marquis is right, in front of Kaifeng Mansion here, the royal road is not far away, and no one dares to make trouble openly. After a while, I will go back and find a few old men to patrol the road by the Bianhe River. ”

Xu Ping nodded, still a little uneasy in his heart, remembering that the Imperial City Division was in charge of spying on the people, and he still had to find the people there, they were the ones who were mixed in professional casual clothes among the people. This is not only for the sake of his own daughter, but also for the children of other rich and noble families gathered here.

It is not that the children of the rich are more expensive than the poor people's money, but the children of the rich are more likely to be targeted, and at the feet of the Son of Heaven, we must always try to avoid the occurrence of those vicious incidents.

After saying this, Xu Ping asked Wang Ke again: "I haven't been to Sansi in the past few days, I heard that the price of charcoal has risen sharply recently, I don't know what's going on?" Kaifeng Mansion sells charcoal, has the price of charcoal come down? ”

Wang Ke sighed: "This heavy snowfall came suddenly, the road was impassable, the Bianhe River was closed again, and the boats could not pass. The charcoal in the surrounding counties and towns can't reach the capital, and the merchants of the charcoal shop sit on the ground and start the price, and the price of charcoal will skyrocket. Two days ago, the prince of the palace urgently entered the palace, and happened to enter the pair with Fan Siji, and the charcoal in the Shengshangfa Palace was sold at half price, and there were three places in the city. However, the merchants of the charcoal store do not know what medicine they have taken wrong, or keep the price of charcoal not falling, and now it has been two days, and there is not much charcoal left in the field, so how to worry about the future. ”

There is a sentence that Wang Ke did not say, the current prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture, Zhang Guan, is filial piety, studious and courteous, and is really a gentleman of the ancients. However, Zhang Guanguan is mediocre and does not know how to be flexible, so he will only follow the rules. Now, according to the story of the previous dynasty, the emperor sent charcoal out of the palace, but the merchants did not follow the rules to reduce the price, so he was helpless.

Xu Ping listened and asked Wang Ke: "If the merchants don't reduce the price, can their charcoal still be sold?" ”

"Naturally, it can't be sold, and now there are so many people in the charcoal store that there are not even pedestrians. But there will always be a time when the charcoal in officialdom will be sold out, so what should it be then? It's not as much as they start! ”

Xu Ping said: "This thing was done recklessly. ”

"But no, now that it's just winter, the charcoal is sold out, and the same thing happens later, there is no room for maneuver. And not only that, the price of 300 wen in officialdom is still very expensive, where can ordinary households afford it? Not all of them have been bought by the rich families in the city, and once they are sold out, the people in the city are really worried. ”

The palace sent charcoal out to sell, set at half of the market price, one is not to lose the capital, and the other main purpose is to force the charcoal to reduce the price. And the charcoal line broke the rules and fought for a few days not to do business, just if the price was not reduced, things would be in trouble.

With 300 yuan of charcoal, how many people in Kaifeng City can afford it? In addition to the merchant households, there are only the forbidden soldiers who have just been rewarded with a large amount of money. When these charcoal stores are sold out, it is the time to really test the people of the capital.

Officials will only stick to the old ways, and they will not be flexible, and if they are not careful, they will turn natural disasters into man-made disasters.

Xu Ping looked at Panpan, who was clapping his hands and smiling happily by the bridge, and suddenly remembered a sentence that he often said in Chinese class in his previous life, lamenting the difficulties of people's livelihood. The difficulties of people's livelihood have never been less in all dynasties, and the so-called governance of the world is only to reduce these people.

When he came to this world, Xu Ping just wanted to be safe and rich for a lifetime, and deliberately didn't understand these things, just take care of himself.

But even her ignorant daughter knows how to warm the hands of the poor with her grandfather's hand stove, how can she ignore it? (To be continued.) )