"What's the matter?" Ma Ye was stunned when he heard Li Xiu's words, then turned his head to look at him and asked.

"That's right. In order to build this cemetery, I estimated the approximate cost and applied to the court. As a result, the court also approved the money. But in the current situation, you and General Qin also know that the money must be spent. What I want to discuss with you is about the remaining money." Li Xiu said again.

Originally, in Li Xiu's plan, he recruited wages, food, tools, etc. for the villagers, as well as various materials for building cemeteries, which were also quite expensive. However, after the news came out, the families of the Sui army soldiers who died in Liaodong also rushed to work and work hard, and they didn't even need wages. They even brought their own tools. Some wealthy families even bought the materials for Li Xiu and sent them. In this way, the cost required for the entire project was naturally greatly reduced, and Li Xiu would probably be able to spend nearly half of it in the end.

"What's there to discuss about this? Isn't it just to return the remaining money to the court?" Before Ma Ye could speak, Qin Qiong next to him frowned and asked. If he wasn't familiar with Li Xiu's character, he would probably think that Li Xiu would have embezzled the money?

"General Qin doesn't know that the amount allocated by the court to us is not only rich, but also some materials, such as wood, stone, tools, etc. for building cemeteries. These things have been shipped to Luoyang, and it is very troublesome to return them. I just happened to have an idea to use these things, so I want to discuss with you two!" Li Xiu explained again at this time.

"If you have something, just say, why are you selling your hands in front of us brothers?" Mr. Ma was also a little anxious at this time, and immediately urged him again. He knew that if Li Xiu had not had something particularly important, he would definitely not have shown such a cautious expression.

"Actually, this incident is related to the two ancestors and grandchildren of the Xu and Liu family. That day, I learned about their grandchildren, and suddenly I thought that the Tang Dynasty was so big that there must be many old and weak people who lived like them, so I wanted to help them." Li Xiu finally expressed his thoughts at this time.

When they heard Li Xiu's words, Ma Ye and Qin Qiong were also stunned. Then they looked at each other, and then Qin Qiong said, "The prince-in-law, the grandparents and grandchildren of the Xu and Liu clan are indeed pitiful, but why should we help them? We can't share the money from the court to them, right?"

"Of course it's not for them to be paid. In fact, the court also has some preferential treatment for them, such as giving them 40 acres of permanent land like the elderly and weak, so that they won't be able to eat. However, Xu Liu's family is old and Chong Chong is a child, and he is unable to cultivate at all. Moreover, as Xu Liu's family grows older, it may take less than two years to have no source of livelihood. Wouldn't they go out to beg for the streets?" Li Xiu said at the end, and could not help but show pity.

"What do you mean? How can we help them?" Mr. Ma tapped his fingers on the table and showed a thoughtful look. After a while, he asked.

"I wonder if I could set up an institution in Luoyang and other places in the name of the court to accommodate people who are unable to support me, such as orphans, elderly people who are unsupported, etc., at least not let them stay on the streets. In fact, there are precedents in this matter. When Emperor Wu of Liang believed in Buddhism, he set up a place called "Lonely Garden" to accommodate these homeless people." Li Xiu immediately expressed his thoughts.

In fact, Li Xiu wanted to build a combination of an orphanage and a nursing home, which was also considered a charity. After all, the national strength of the Tang Dynasty has increased and the people have become rich, but there are inevitably some people who cannot support themselves for various reasons, such as the orphans, elderly people, disabled people, etc. In fact, there are similar institutions in the Tang Dynasty called Betianyuan, but that was established by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang decades later, and Li Xiu just took this charity a little earlier.

"So that's it. The prince-consort means using the remaining materials and money to build a place of compassion for homeless people. This is a good idea!" Qin Qiong nodded in agreement when he heard Li Xiu's plan. Xu Liu was just an old and uncared person they met. Besides her, there must be more people who have no ability to live. Now that the court has destroyed enemies from all directions, there are no more pressure outside the country, it is indeed time to pay attention to the country.

Qin Qiong was just a pure military general and had no idea about government affairs. However, Ma Ye had been in Feinusi for many years, so he naturally had more comprehensive considerations. So he thought for a moment and said again: "This idea is good, and it is easy to build a place to accommodate these old, young, sick and disabled people. But the key is to maintain the operation of this place, it takes a lot of money and energy. This is not a small matter."

"Uncle Ma said it well, so I plan to report this matter to the court first. If the court agrees, we will use the remaining money to build a nursing home in Luoyang to accommodate these homeless people. As for the future expenses of the nursing home, it is best if the court is willing to allocate funds. If the court does not want to, then ask the court to distribute some land for them. In this way, if there is too much land, people can also be invited to farm, and the nursing home should be able to maintain the operation of the nursing home!" Li Xiu once again expressed his thoughts.

Originally, the nursing home established by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang was called Betianyuan, but the word Betian came from Buddhism. His adoptive parents were for the land of grace, offering Buddha as a respectful land, and giving poverty as a filial land. However, Buddhism has been greatly destroyed by Li Xiu. If he used the name of Buddhism now, it would only make people laugh, so he simply changed it to "residence and nursing home". This was a charity institution established by the Song Dynasty in later generations, and Li Xiu borrowed the name directly and used it.

It is also worth mentioning that the nursing homes in the Song Dynasty were also the most complete adoption institutions in ancient times. Nursing homes were set up across the country to adopt elderly people and orphans who had no fixed place. It is said that they can reach the county level, which is also the lowest level that ancient ruling institutions can reach. In other words, as long as there are places where the imperial court dispatched officials, there will be nursing homes. This coverage rate was extremely rare in ancient times, and even the Ming and Qing dynasties did not reach the scale of the Song Dynasty.

Li Xiu borrowed the name of Jukaiyuan, and also hoped that the Tang Dynasty could reach the scale of the Song Dynasty in later history. In fact, under his influence, especially the introduction of high-yield crops, the Tang Dynasty had basically solved the problem of food and clothing. After all, the Tang Dynasty had only tens of millions of people's population, and there were too many lands that could be cultivated. After the solution to food and clothing, we should pay more attention to people's livelihood issues. Nowadays, nursing homes are only one of them, and there are also issues such as education and medical care. As long as there are opportunities in the future, Li Xiu will start to promote it. Of course, he was just giving advice behind the scenes. As for the real thing, it depends on others.

"The name of Jukaiyuan is good. With my understanding of Your Majesty, he will definitely agree with this matter. As for whether the court will directly allocate funds to Jukaiyuan, or will it be allocated to Jukaiyuan for their own management? These two methods have their pros and cons, and it depends on Your Majesty's choice at that time." Ma Ye couldn't help but laugh when he heard Li Xiu's words.

Li Xiu and Qin Qiong laughed at each other when they heard Ma Ye's words. Li Shimin was extremely proud and very conceited. He always wanted to be a wise ruler for all ages. Especially as he was older, the more obvious his idea was. So he had just personally led the Goguryeo to leave a strong mark for his martial arts. Therefore, Li Shimin would never refuse things like setting up a nursing home that can win the hearts of the people and earn reputation for himself.

Li Xiu, Ma Ye and Qin Qiong were responsible for the construction of the cemetery, so the use of the remaining money and materials naturally required their consent. Now both of them nodded, and Li Xiu immediately wrote a memorial to Li Shimin himself and reported the suggestion of building a nursing home to him. It is estimated that it will not take long before Li Shimin will reply.

The tomb pit on the east side of the cemetery has been dug, but a ceremony is required to bury the corpses of Sui army soldiers. According to custom, the corpses are usually held in the morning, so Li Xiu asked someone to prepare for it. The next morning, he held a simple and solemn ceremony for these soldiers.

There is not so much attention in the army, and there is no time to invite monks and Taoists to do rituals on the battlefield. Therefore, when soldiers die in battle, they play music in the army, and then the soldiers are dressed neatly to see off and bury the dead brothers. The troops brought by Li Xiu were also useful at this time. The coffins with corpses placed one by one were neatly placed in the tomb pit.

As early as when excavating the corpse, Li Xiu asked to try his best to put the corpse intact and then put it in the corpse bag and send it back. After arriving in Luoyang, Li Xiu created some simple coffins, saying they were coffins, but in fact they were small boxes. After all, a corpse could not occupy much space. And if they were really made into coffins, it would take too much time to 300,000 coffins.

The first tomb pit was soon filled with the corpses of the soldiers. Then, under the order of Li Xiu, the civilians around who had been preparing for a long time also filled the soil into the tomb pit. Most of these people were relatives of the Sui army soldiers, and some people came from outside. At this time, many people burst into tears, and even old people like Xu Liu squeezed in front to add a handful of soil to their relatives, which was a wish.
Chapter completed!