The smoke was curling, and it was time for dinner, Sima Guang and his party in the village by the river walked on the road against the mountain, turned a mountain pass, and a farmhouse house appeared in front of everyone.

"This is the three families. Seeing that everyone was looking at the farmhouse with great interest, the old man even smiled and introduced, "Li San gave birth to three babies and was warned by the government and fined a lot of money. ”

"Fined?" Sima Guang, Cheng Yi, and Lu Gong raised their eyebrows, the most annoying thing about governing the country in the past dynasties was that the officials disturbed the people, and the officials above collected harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes from the people in various names and reasons, which made the rulers the most troubled and the most unable to govern cleanly.

"Under the rule of Lingnan, it seems that there is a lot of singing and dancing, as if it is very prosperous, but I didn't expect it to be able to escape the general trend, and there are also dirty places. Sima Guang and the others glanced at each other. Han Zhongyan asked with a smile: "Old man, what's the matter with this fine, why do you want to be fined?"

"What else can I do, the three families want to have a boy. The old man sighed lowly, "I don't know if the ancestral tomb of the Li family is not buried well or what's going on, and three girls have been born in a row. ”

Han Zhongyan raised his eyebrows: "Old man, do you mean that the Li family will also be fined for giving birth to a child?"

"Yes, the Li Sanjia is punished quite little now, if 'Sister-in-law Liu' is pregnant with a fourth, then the punishment will be too much. The old man's face was full of emotion, "I don't know what's going on with this Li family, Li San is a good person, easy to help, and the old man Li is also a loyal and kind family, how can he ...... it"

Han Zhongyan, Wen Yanbo, Sima Guang, Cheng Yi and others glanced at each other, they had also heard the news that Lingnan would be fined for giving birth to a child, but they didn't believe it very much, but now.

"Even if you give birth to a child, you have to take care of the official. It seems that this Lingnan is under the rule of ......" Han Zhongyan's eyes narrowed, and he asked the old man with a smile: "Old man, even the birth of a baby has to be fined, it seems that it is still good under the rule of the Great Song Dynasty back then!"

"Hmph, what's so good about Da Song?" the old man glared at Han Zhongyan strangely, "You look like a well-informed person. Why are you so ignorant?"

Han Zhongyan was stunned, and Sima Guang, Cheng Yi and others were also stunned.

"The old man's life, under the rule of the Great Song Dynasty for decades, through Renzong, Yingzong, Shenzong, Zhezong, and then under the rule of Chairman Qin, under the rule of the first four emperors, the people only the landlords, local tyrants, gentlemen, and officials slept with laughter, and everyone else slept crying, now. Your Majesty Chairman Qin, which family didn't wake up smiling?" the old man said.

Han Zhongyan frowned: "But old man, didn't you say that they even had to fine you for giving birth to a baby, don't you resent it?"

"When it comes to giving birth to a baby, even if Village Chief Zhu is here, the old man dares to speak out. The old man's voice was loud, "Some of you still understand the government about this matter, but some of you do have opinions. The government's implementation of family planning is for the good of everyone, but this is the case with Li Sanjia. It's a bit impersonal to punish like this...... "The old man gushed endlessly.

On the side, Village Chief Zhu was sweating on his forehead, and glanced at Su Shi from time to time, Su Shi was expressionless, as if he didn't care about everything.

At this time, everyone came to the three farmhouses in Nali, which was a house built of mud and bricks covering an area of about seven points, and a yellow dog was lazily basking in the sun in front of the house. And when the people came, they did not bark.

At this moment, a peasant woman came out of the house with a pottery bowl.

"Uncle Wang, Village Chief Zhu ......," the peasant woman greeted with a smile. "Sister-in-law Liu, feed the dog!" the old man smiled. The peasant woman nodded, placed the pottery bowl under the eaves on the left side of the door in front of the door, and turned and went into the house. Immediately, the yellow dog wagged his tail and ate the food in the clay bowl.

"Huh?"

Sima Guang, Cheng Yi, Wang Anshi and others looked at the dog food one by one, just like "Travels to the Immortal Country", and the living conditions of this family can be seen from the dog food of ordinary people.

"A bowl full of white rice, not chaff, and this rice is ...... inside."

Different from the black and yellow dog food eaten by ordinary people's dogs in the Great Song Dynasty, this is a bowl of real white rice, with some green leaves in the rice, and a piece of yellow that looks like boiled sweet potatoes.

Sima Guang, Cheng Yi, Lu Gong, and even Wang Anshi, their eyes swelled slightly, after all, they were all masters, although they were far away, they could all see it clearly, this bowl of rice was poured with vegetable soup, so the oil was shiny.

"There is a lot of oil and water, which is only available in the Great Song Dynasty to people with very good family backgrounds, but this family is ......"

Sima Guang's eyes narrowed, and he asked the old man with a smile: "Old man, didn't you say that his family was fined from above for giving birth to a baby, but I think his family's life is not bad, this vegetable oil is very sufficient, and the dogs are all miscellaneous grains." ”

"Great official, you don't understand this. The old man said with a smile, "Li San and his mother-in-law are very capable, and diligent, this year they are fined is a warning punishment, the punishment is not much, although it has an impact on them, but the impact is not very big, their family is poor mainly because they have more mouths, and they have three girls, and they have to eat and dress...... Evil!"

Sima Guang blinked, glanced at Wang Anshi, and his face was very solemn.

Sister-in-law Liu, who came out to feed the dog just now, although she is a little thin, but this thinness is a healthy thinness, although it is dark, but her complexion is absolutely good, and her clothes are not good, but in terms of farmers' families, it is okay, such a family background in the Great Song Dynasty should be considered good, but in the mouth of the old man, he became a poor man who 'did evil', as if he was pitiful.

"Old man, who is the poorest in your village?" asked Wang Anshi with a smile.

The old man glanced at Wang Anshi and smiled: "It's hard to say. ”

"It's hard to say, is it not allowed from above?" Han Zhongyan glanced at Village Chief Zhu on the side.

"That's not it, it's an old man, and it's hard for me to say who is the poorest. The old man said.

"It's hard to say?" Everyone was stunned, Wang Anshi smiled and asked: "Old man, then who can't eat, and is worried about the next meal?"

"Officials, it seems that you really don't understand. The old man's eyes were strange, and he even had some contempt, "Aren't you from Lingnan? Why don't you even understand this? ”

"Old Imperial Calendar?"

"It was many years ago that under the rule of the Great Song Emperor Lao'er, I had a meal and a worrying meal. The old man said with emotion, "Don't say, the old man and I were running around all day long, digging birds' nests on the mountains, fishing in the water, catching toads in the fields, and getting everything that can be eaten to eat, I remember the ...... of Renzong's period" nagged for a long time, Sima Guang, Wang Anshi, Lu Gongzhu, Wen Yanbo, etc. all looked embarrassed, and the old man said that the difficult time was the scene when the Great Song Dynasty was under the rule.

"Old man......" Wang Anshi interjected when the old man stopped talking, "Can you take us to your poorer people's homes here, any one of them." ”

That is the Li family, the three male babies of his family have grown up, it is the period when they are half the eldest and eat Lao Tzu to death, and his family's life is much more cold than that of the Li three families. ”

"Oh, how many of them are more humble than the Li Si family?" asked Sima Guanglian.

"This ......," the old man hesitated slightly, "it's hard to say. ”

"Why can't you say it?" Han Zhongyan asked, "Could it be that this Village Chief Zhu is here, you don't dare to tell us the truth?"

"You person, it's so unreasonable, what if Village Chief Zhu is here? What do I want to say, old man, he Zhu Zhi can't take care of it, Zhu Zhi, do you say?" The old man glared at Village Chief Zhu on the side, and Village Chief Zhu smiled bitterly: "Uncle Wang, your old man said casually, under the rule of Chairman Qin, everything must be said to others." He looked at Han Zhongyan again, "This lord, Uncle Wang can't say it because everyone is about the same." ”

"It's all the same?" they all looked at Village Chief Zhu.

"In the early days, we were completely collective-owned, a planned economy, and now we are in a transitional period, implementing a semi-collective, semi-private, semi-planned, and semi-contracted system. Village Chief Zhu Lian said, "There are some poor households in the village, such as widowed elderly people who have no children, and elderly people who have lost their independence, all of which are collectively supported by the village. ”

"Collective offerings?"

Cheng Yi, Sima Guang, and Wang Anshi frowned.

"They eat and wear similar clothes to everyone, so you have to find the poorest, there are some, but these people are mainly because they are lazy, but if you want to say how poor they are, it may not be, in short, the gap between everyone is not very big, at most some eat better, some eat and dress poorly, if you want to say how hungry, there is no for the time being, what will happen in the future, it is difficult to say, because Chairman Qin said that the appropriate gap between the rich and the poor will be allowed in the future, so it is not easy to say, you have to find the poorest now, Uncle Wang naturally has a headache. ”

"As for the fines you mentioned for giving birth, Uncle Wang didn't make it clear, we are here to implement the policy of 'one is too little, two is just right, three is more' for childbirth, and the three families gave birth to three in a row, so they warned about the fine, if they only give birth to two, the government will not punish them, as for giving birth to four, five, the further they are born, the heavier the punishment will be......

Village Chief Zhu introduced, his face solemn.

Everyone who is not a well-informed and experienced wise man, this time he went south to Lingnan and randomly chose a place to stop the boat for shore inspection, just because he was afraid that Qin Xianao would do image engineering in front of them, after all, most of them were officials, and in the past, when they went to various places in the Great Song Dynasty to investigate, some local officials used various means to create false prosperity and deceive their superiors.

But this time.

How could everyone not see that the surface of this village in front of them was the original ordinary rural life of Lingnan.

But in terms of this authentic rural life, the tip of the iceberg has been seen, and the abundance and well-being in it are even more than the false prosperity of those fake productions when they 'investigated' in the past.

Cheng Yi, Sima Guang, and Wang Anshi, under the leadership of Su Shi, stayed in Niujia Village for one night, and then in order to learn more about the real situation, to prevent this Niujia Village from being just an individual, or the illusion created by Qin Xianao for them, everyone went all the way through the village, and sometimes even did not go south, but fired a horse gun, returned to the village that had been inspected, and re-observed.

Half a month passed, and on this day, Cheng Yi, Sima Guang, Wang Anshi and others re-boarded the big ship by the river. (To be continued.) )