After the New Year, it is the first year of Guangming, and the first month of the first year of Guangming is a cold winter.

Just after the end of the Chinese New Year, groups of displaced people sprung up from the ground like mushrooms after the rain, and poured into the territory of Shandong, Hebei, and Beiping provinces of the Qin domain in all directions along the Yellow River, Huai River, and North-South Canal.

Outside the triumphal arch of the south gate of Yanjing City, the bank of the canal has become a refugee camp, and there are tents set up by the displaced people gathered everywhere, as well as the nests dug in the ground, from the river bank to the city wall, a family, a nest of broken sheds, rotten grass houses, and the meaning of the siege of the city by the displaced people.

If it had been two or three years ago, when so many displaced people had poured into the country, Li Zhen, Li Rang and others would definitely be happy to close their mouths. At that time, it was the Qin Domain's large-scale development of the Northeast and the construction of infrastructure, and the workshops and mines in Dengzhou, Dalian and other places were also the busiest time, and people were needed everywhere. As long as it is a person, whether it is young or old, male or female, can find a job and make a living here. Even those merchants, workers, and mine owners had to offer a lot of money to find those tooth people and recruit workers from all over the Central Plains.

It's just that now, it's the first year of Guangming.

Half of the workshop mines in the Qin Domain were shut down without orders, and half were seriously under-operated. The market in the Tang Empire was lost almost overnight, and now it is almost supported by overseas markets.

In recent years, the territory of the Qin Domain has almost doubled, and the population has exceeded the 10 million mark. The wars and turmoil in various places, natural and man-made disasters continued, and a large influx of displaced people made all parts of the Qin Domain full of displaced people, plus many unemployed workshop and mine workers. It's a mess.

Fortunately, Qin Fan's life was not easy. But life in other parts of the world is even worse.

comparatively. Although life is not as prosperous as before, at least, tightening the belt can barely hold on, and at least, the government will have a minimum guaranteed food supply. Even those displaced people from other places can at least drink a little life-saving gruel every day, even if the porridge is getting thinner and thinner, at least they can still hang their lives.

At the beginning, it was a work-for-relief. It's not going to work anymore. In order to work for almsgiving, first of all, there must be enough food, and the people will eat more when they work. However, the biggest trouble now is the shortage of food, the Qin army has just sent 150,000 soldiers and horses of the three-way army to the battle, and people eat horses and chew horses, which is a huge number. In addition, in the provinces, the Qin army still has a garrison of 210,000 troops, and the food of these garrisons must also be guaranteed. And tens of millions of people. Li Rang and other household officials were almost worried about the food problem.

The Qin army had just defeated Sha Tuo a few years ago, driving away Li Quanzhong's joy of victory. The shadow that has long been diluted.

Li Jing ordered again and again to divert the influx of displaced people from the state and county governments, so that the important cities of Yanjing and Dengzhou were not overwhelmed by the displaced people. But in the face of more and more displaced people, they are still in turmoil. If the displaced people make trouble after the most trouble, and there is civil unrest in the territory of the Qin army, it will be a disaster.

Most of the displaced people who poured into Hebei and Yanjing were people from the Yiding area, and there were also many Zahu people with Daibei accents, and even people from Yanmen, Chengde, Weibo, and even Henan. They wore ragged clothes, wore straw ropes around their waists, and brought their children and daughters all the way with broken bowls.

In the two states of Yiding, two general battles broke out in one year last year, with Qin, Jin, Zhao, and Yiwu and other armies fighting in turn, and Li Keyong wantonly slaughtered and plundered the people in order to avenge his father. Most of the young and strong population in Erzhou were taken away by Li Keyong, Wang Jingchong, and Li Quanzhong, and in this winter, only the remaining population became homeless.

In the land of Daibei, Yanmen Town and Datong Town, last year was also a large and small war, especially Shatuo last year has been a large-scale war four or five times, and several defeats, the result is that last year's harvest is very small, in order to survive this winter, Li Siyuan is extremely cruel to let the Shatuo army forcibly requisition grain, the only remaining grain in the people's homes to requisition the military. Especially for those generations of northern zahu, it is even more ruthless.

Although Wang Jingchong of Chengde Town was in a slightly better situation, he also increased the collection of grain, grass and money, and made every effort to prepare for the war. And in the face of the displaced people in the territory, they refused to give relief, and the villain army drove them into the Qin territory.

God is still biased to do the opposite, just after the fifth day of the first month, and it snowed heavily, the whole Hebei fell heavy snow, three days and three nights in a row, Yanjing City was covered with three feet of snow, dripping into ice, every household closed their doors, and the streets were sparsely populated.

The sea is frozen, and the mountains are covered with snow!

You can't even hunt and fish!

For countless displaced people, this winter they will have to fight not only hunger, but also bitter cold.

Every morning, the city management team and the security team patrolling the city in Yanjing City, together with the teachers and students of the military academy and various academies, used a cart to pull the bodies of dozens or hundreds of hungry and frozen people who had fallen in the snow to the crematorium outside the city for cremation, and then sent them to the cemetery.

In Daxing Street, west of Yanjing City, there is a Zhuangyuanlou Hotel. The hotel has hundreds of guest houses, as well as a new restaurant, which has just been built. The name of the owner is Zhuangyuan Building, which is intended to be used exclusively for the students who come to Yanjing City to participate in the 'national examination' when they take the exam.

The imperial court has a imperial examination, which is an examination once a year, but if the children go to Chengdu today, there is no way to talk about this imperial examination. However, Qin Fan is going to hold a 'national examination' in the first month of this year. This national examination was not a imperial examination of the imperial court, but a civil service examination of the Qin State. In the territory of the Qin Domain, there were two categories of examinations, the clerk examination and the civil service examination. Clerks are recruited from the local grass-roots clerks. The civil service examination admits local officials.

And this year, Li Jing ordered that the national examination should be held, and in the civil service examination, it is subdivided into county examination, provincial examination, and national examination. Those who are admitted in the county examination can be officials, and they can also continue to participate in the provincial level examinations, and those who are recruited can be outsiders, or they can continue to participate in the national examination.

In general, the national examination is actually a disguised imperial examination implemented by the Qin Domain, and its function is the same as that of the imperial examination, recruiting talents, attracting scholars from the scholar clan, and gathering people's hearts. However, on the surface, the name is a little different, and some changes have been made in the content, but the essence is the imperial examination.

It's very close to the Department right now. Although there are many homeless people outside. But business is booming here.

Qin Domain's National Examination. It is a vague name to read the papers, not to ask about the background, only to ask about the talent. The Tang Dynasty's system of requiring official recommendations and direct opening and reading of the papers was abolished. This new regulation, as well as the continuous strengthening of the Qin Domain, coupled with the fact that the prestige of the imperial court is no longer there, the Son of Heaven hunts in the west, and the imperial examination is interrupted. Therefore, countless scholars traveled thousands of miles to come to the Qin Domain. They first registered in the provinces of the Qin Domain, and then took the county examination, the provincial examination, and the most outstanding came to participate in the national examination.

In the civil service examination, those who pass the county examination are called Xiucai, and those who pass the provincial examination are called lifters. Most of those who can pass the provincial examination all the way to Yanjing for the examination are from the homes of official eunuchs, or the families of nobles, or small landlords and merchants. After all, it produces a successful reader. It's not simple, it costs a lot. These movers rushed to the capital. Those who can live in the champion building are all from good families. In the early morning of the eighth day of the first lunar month, the store had just taken off the door panel, only to hear a gong, a team of blue-clothed security teams passed by, shouting loudly: "King Qin has an order, all shops go to gather outside the Arc de Triomphe." ”

The shopkeeper heard the shout and hurriedly ran to the street, "Team Zhang, what's the matter?" ”

Team Zhang of the security team is thirty years old, black and strong, but unfortunately one hand is only half a palm, he is a veteran, and after being injured, he was discharged from the army and transferred to the security team. When he saw that it was the owner of the Zhuangyuan Building, Wang Daguan, he said with a white breath: "No, there are more and more displaced people, but the weather is getting colder and colder, and dozens or hundreds of people are freezing to death every day." The King of Qin was merciful and ordered the shops and workshops in the city to temporarily employ some homeless people. ”

"This?" Wang Daguan was a little surprised, he was originally a businessman in Guanzhong, and he came to Hebei because of Huangchao's entry into the customs. After arriving in Hebei, he felt that the king of Qin loved the people and treated the businessmen very well, not only did he not exploit them, but the children of the merchants could also take the exam, and they could also be officials. It's just that now I didn't expect that King Qin would forcibly let the shops hire homeless people. It's not easy to live right now.

"Don't worry, King Qin doesn't want to cause you trouble, but for now, disaster relief will be done. The king of Qin said, according to the size of the shop, hire these homeless people. You have hired them only to give these displaced people a warm temporary place to live, so that they can escape this winter. The merchants have hired them, and they have taken care of their food, clothing, and shelter, and they have also worked for you. However, don't worry, every time you hire a homeless, the government will reduce some of your taxes, and basically, the tax reduction is equivalent to the cost of providing the homeless, and you will not suffer. The king of Qin doesn't want your money, he doesn't burden you, all he needs is to temporarily borrow your place to resettle the victims. ”

Boss Wang was relieved now, but he didn't expect that King Qin really loved the people like a son, and other feudal towns did not drive away the homeless people, but also turned a blind eye. But King Qin has not only been releasing grain for disaster relief, but now he is bothering to help with the resettlement, which is really merciful.

Suddenly, someone behind shouted loudly, "Good! ”

When everyone looked back, they saw a group of young scholars in the store, but they were the gentlemen who were taking the exam in the champion building.

Boss Wang has always respected scholars, not to mention that these people are all lifters, and if they are selected, they will be officials. Even if you don't win, you can be a foreign official. Although the status of merchants in the Qin Domain has improved a lot, businessmen are still consciously three points shorter than scholars. He smiled and said, "Your sons, I'm very sorry to disturb your sons' tranquility." ”

"Don't bother, don't bother." The one who came out of the crowd said with a smile, "I just heard the shopkeeper and this official talk about King Qin's edict, and they are also very impressed." A group of scholars who are powerless, but they are also willing to contribute to the victims outside Yanjing City. ”

"What does Childe mean?" Team Zhang looked at this group of lifters with a smile, a little surprised. In his impression, scholars have always been proud, and some ignore mundane things, to put it bluntly, most of the scholars are from some wealthy families, how can they care about the life and death of ordinary people.

"There are one hundred and thirteen of our champions in the same year, and I want to discuss it, and I plan to ask Boss Wang to hire some homeless people on our behalf."

At this time, even Boss Wang was a little surprised.

"If we can, it would be best if we could hire a homeless family for each of us, and when we were in Yanjing, they would come with us, and we would pay for food and housing, and we would also pay them for their wages. After the exam is over, if they are willing to go back to their hometown with us, they can also do it together. ”

Boss Wang and Team Zhang glanced at each other, their eyes full of surprise and admiration. Boss Zhang knows best that these movers all have scribes and servants around them, and they don't need to hire people. But now they are offering to hire them, or to hire homeless people, and they are specifically willing to hire a whole family. This is hiring, this is simply to help the homeless.

If it's just a gesture, it's still normal. But at present, more than 110 people in the entire champion building are willing to help in this way, which is really unexpected.

"That's right, a certain favorite person, your brothers are really worthy of reading the books of sages, no wonder you can become a lifter, such a character, let a certain admire the five-body body, God bless the King of Qin, God bless the Qin country, go, let's go to the Arc de Triomphe together!"

"Together!" All the lifters responded in unison. (To be continued......)