Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 256: Spring and Autumn Dream
There was silence in the hall...
My Lord, what does this mean?
Could it be... that in order to promote this spirit, he decided to marry Huang Jijiu personally to correct the trend?
And... Huang Jijiu, you are too ignorant to answer directly that you are not married yet? You can go home and ask your parents!
It seems that the lord’s long-standing problem is about to be solved so soon?
Bai Tu has traveled through time for five years and is already an older young man. Lu Kang and others have had headaches about his marriage. After all, without marriage, there can be no children... "Young ruler and suspicious country" is always safer than "the ruler has no descendants", right?
Even Lu Bu was secretly looking for candidates, but... after discussing it with Diao Chan again, he was turned away at his own home for several days for no reason, which delayed him.
Lu Lingqi: ...
Lu Lingqi looked at the veiled Huang Yueying with dead eyes - well, she roughly understood why Huang Yueying said that, but... it still sounded like she wanted to hit someone.
"My lord, you are right! If a man doesn't have this tolerance, isn't he worse than an ordinary woman? I would be willing to marry her if I were her!" Ni Heng noticed that Bai Tu's face looked different, and realized that it was not what everyone thought, so he immediately stepped forward to save the situation.
"Your tone is full of jealousy, and you can't tolerate a female official. Why bother to bow down and bend over backwards? You might as well ask the eunuchs for your support! Oh!"
After saying this, he made a series of sharp words - it was great to speak freely in the central hall of the general's mansion, just like when he was in the prime minister's mansion, he could get multiple "rewards" at once.
Ni Heng: Mental power +10!
At this moment, Ni Heng felt that he was the most popular star!
Huang Yueying: ???
Huang Yueying looked at the guy who stretched his neck in disbelief. Just now, she felt that there seemed to be a flatterer who had sneaked into the general's mansion, and now... she was even more certain that this guy had flattered to the extreme!
So when I said I was unmarried and not to your master's taste, you took the initiative to come and say "you are willing to marry"... to satisfy the general's good wife, right? You licked more than the Ten Eunuchs, didn't you?
There is actually such a weirdo. The General's Mansion is really a scary place...
"Haha, I don't like long necks. They remind me of my beloved turtle that drowned in the pond in the backyard." Huang Yueying said with disgust.
Ni Heng: ??? Mental Power -10; Huang Yueying: Mental Power +10!
Ni Heng's face turned red from holding back his anger, and he immediately gave away all the spiritual energy he had just harvested...
"My lord and Zhengping are both gentlemen, but not everyone in the world is a gentleman. As far as I know... every workshop that employs female workers has also been disturbed by vagrants, right?" Wei Teng said at this time.
The Wei family is a very conservative one, even... they still stick to their principles until now, and would never employ female workers or give those ruffians any opportunity to take advantage of them!
You could say he is old-fashioned, but he also has a "lovable" side to him - if it were a modern capitalist, he wouldn't have such a high bottom line.
It’s just… Wei Teng felt a little uncomfortable when he saw other people hiring cheap female workers.
"Hmm? Director Wang, are things like this... rampant recently?" Bai Tu looked at Wang Lang.
"Well... not many people report this kind of things to the police. However, there are many cases of murder in some workshops, especially in Jinling..." Wang Lang said while looking at a few people. The people who were being looked at pretended not to notice his gaze.
White picture: ...
Well, few people would take this kind of harassment against women to the authorities.
These people who harass women are usually found in the countryside and beaten to death by the clan elders and children. If they are found in a workshop, they will be beaten to death by the workshop itself - especially those outside Jinling... Do you really think that anyone can open a workshop?
Do I need to report a female worker who is harassing me if I am caught?
Of course, due to the habit of not reporting crimes, more second-rate people have not been punished...
"If someone gets killed in the workshop, we must take action. If female workers are harassed, we must take even more action!" Bai Tu said sternly.
Wang Lang was also helpless. If someone didn’t report the case, could it be my fault?
Although he didn't say it explicitly, Bai Tu seemed to understand his eyes and said directly: "Blame the Ministry of Justice for not giving the victims confidence! In the future, the Ministry of Justice must strengthen the popularization of the law in the workshop!"
Wang Lang: ...
Okay, what else can Wang Lang say?
Go back and coach the legal education personnel on their “speech skills”!
"My lord, those rural vagrants who commit crimes are indeed a cancer, but if it were not for the existence of the women's workshop, which gave them the opportunity, they would rarely harass women in the countryside. Some vagrants even become restless because they see an opportunity." Wei Teng said at this time.
If you go to the countryside to harass women...if you are discovered by the villagers, you will be killed without being buried!
This is also a manifestation of the clan's protective nature. There is really no benefit at all, and the concept of "clan" will not appear...
Even in times of chaos, there are more bandits who rob women than looters who harass them... because most of them are buried in mass graves!
"That makes sense. When Dong Zhuo was doing evil in the court, as long as you don't work as an official, don't cause trouble, and just go back to your hometown and hide, you won't be in danger... Why doesn't old Captain Yuan understand Zhou Lin's logic?" Bai Tu said to Wei Teng.
This was quite heartbreaking. Wei Teng felt his scalp tingling after hearing it. Who was Yuan Lao Taiwei? Yuan Feng! The uncle of Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, the pillar of the government who opposed Dong Zhuo and supported the emperor during the chaos of Dong Zhuo's rule, and was later killed by the thief Dong!
Even though Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao were defined as traitors by the imperial court, Yuan Feng's reputation after his death remained unaffected. He can be said to be a model for officials.
Upon hearing this, Ni Heng's eyes lit up - what a master! Can they even argue with this?
Write it down, write it down...
"This, this... Old General Yuan stood up for the greater good. What I mean is... those female workers went to the workshop, not for the greater good... Of course, I'm not saying that they are unjust, it's just..." Wei Teng hurriedly explained.
"Is it a righteous cause for farmers to till the fields?" Bai Tu interrupted.
Wei Teng did not dare to answer. It was indeed not the same kind of "righteousness", but... if he said it was not righteousness, Bai Tu would definitely ask him, what would everyone eat if they didn't farm?
"Well, working in a workshop is naturally beneficial...but isn't it the same to weave at home, take care of your husband and children?" Wei Teng said aggrievedly.
After all, the crux of the matter lies here: men farm and women weave, a phrase that the Han people are obsessed with.
"I know what you are worried about. It's nothing more than men farming and women weaving. But have you ever thought about it? Let alone the army of the General's Mansion, the workshops outside the city, the shipyards at the port, the salt fields by the sea, the miners in the mountains... where do these people come from? Will we rely on refugees and disaster victims in the future? Are the technologies and projects of the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Civil Affairs prepared for refugees and disaster victims?"
Bai Tu simply acted as if he was going to have a good talk today.
Men farm and women weave, this saying touches everyone's heart.
Anyone who has been to junior high school knows what the small peasant economy in ancient my country was like: men farmed and women wove!
In order to invest productivity in industrialization, the small peasant economy must be "destroyed". Of course, the "destruction" in Baitu cannot be "sheep eating people", that is, the labor force cannot be forcibly pulled out of small peasant production when basic needs cannot be met, otherwise the consequence will be starvation everywhere...
"Although everything you do, my lord, is benevolent, it is indeed quite... difficult and dangerous. After all, 'having enough food and clothing' is the foundation of the people." Zhang Zhao said after hesitating for a moment.
Although the aristocratic families have reaped a lot of benefits from the workshops that cooperated with the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Industry, it does not mean that they will forget their "roots".
Although conservatives like Zhang Zhao present here do not understand what "sheep eating people" means, they have an instinctive resistance and fear towards the impact of the model of men farming and women weaving.
In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, as long as Bai Tu did not mess things up to his death, it would be difficult for the situation of "sheep eating people" to occur. After all, the wealthy and powerful families who had the ability to "sheep eat people" all had a passion for "farming" that was engraved in their blood from generation to generation.
Therefore, when Bai Tu heard Zhang Zhao's words, instead of being annoyed, he looked at him with great satisfaction.
If we finally suppress the noble families from making the leap to the aristocratic families, but the scholar-official class is collectively capitalized, that would be a disaster...
But it’s okay... Even though they are both oppressive classes, there is still an essential difference between the aristocratic families in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and the capitalists after the fifteenth century.
To some extent, aristocratic families are much safer than capitalists. If capitalists are personified capital, then aristocratic families are personified bloodline continuation. A true aristocratic family would not even consider going to the gallows even if it were given a hundred times the profit.
On the contrary, "continuation of bloodline" is the core interest, and this "core interest" can curb ambitions in other areas!
Especially for the aristocratic families, the more glorious and ancient they were, the more they feared the abandonment of agriculture. In this land where the saying "Are kings, dukes, generals, and ministers of different races born from different species" was once heard, don't expect anyone to be willing to starve...
While others were farming, I would read and watch others help with farming - farming and studying to pass on the family tradition is the safest way.
Of course, on the basis of “insurance”, it would be even better if I could have more land and more people to farm for me!
"Food and clothing... Well said! So whether it's the Ministry of Civil Affairs or the Ministry of Works, in addition to the necessary measures to deal with those rebels who stir up trouble, isn't the main focus on food and clothing? Five years ago, only three or four farmers in Jiangdong could support a person without working after meeting their own needs... This person could be a scholar, a worker, a businessman, or a general."
Of course, in reality it’s not just “one person”, because in the world of Chengji, a part of the manpower has also been conscripted!
"Now, basically every two households can support one person...what's the reason for this?" Bai Tu asked.
"Of course it's our wise lord, he is the living Shennong!" Ni Heng said eagerly.
"Well, there are reasons for this, but there are more reasons, such as the water conservancy project of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the breeding plan of the Ministry of Industry. If we want to make it more efficient... we can only rely on more convenient tools, better crops, and more fertile land! All of these... require 'people' to complete!
Therefore, compared with other princes, the manpower invested in the army of the General's Office is very low, which should be the lowest, just like Yizhou. However, in terms of labor service, we have the highest proportion of conscription, and it will only be higher in the future, so that "food and clothing" can be more secure.
In other words... the overflowing human resources that can provide for the basic needs of 'food and clothing' are the most valuable." Bai Tu said.
The "destruction" that Bai Tu wants is to allow the labor force to "overflow" from the small peasant economy.
Preparing water conservancy projects everywhere, encouraging land reclamation, encouraging scientific farming, encouraging efficient collective spinning and hemp spinning, and so on... all of these were to improve the efficiency of "farming" and "weaving".
No matter how advanced Bai Tu's technology is in other areas, the labor force he can utilize will always be limited to the "overflowing" part after satisfying "farming" and "weaving"!
That's why Bai Tu was so eager for the crops in Golden State - high-yield staple crops and cotton suitable for textile machines. The labor force that could be exchanged for these crops was probably equivalent to the total of all the water conservancy projects that Bai Tu had planned and the official farms that were about to be opened in Jiangdong and Huainan...
Not to mention conservatives like Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong, even Lu Su and Lu Xun took a while to figure out the logic of Bai Tu's words - in short, Bai Tu was going around in circles to make one point: in order to be more efficient in "farming" and "weaving", more people need to get away from "farming" and "weaving"!
"Then...what happens next? If in the future...one household can still support one or even two people, then what?" Zhang Zhao asked without reacting for a moment.
More people are leaving farming, is it to make more people leave farming? Then what do people do when they have nothing better to do? Is it an endless cycle?
"After that, you can do something happy." Bai Tu said as a matter of course.
"Happy?" Zhang Zhao smacked his lips. This word was not difficult to understand.
"What do you think makes you happiest?" Bai Tu asked back.
"Of course it's reading! If every household can have one person who can read in the future, the prosperous age that the saints expect will come true! If everyone can read, there will be no greater happiness in the world than this!" Governor Guan said immediately.
Well, Guan Ning’s expression was very honest—how could there be anything happier than reading?
Bai Tu smiled and nodded when he heard this: "That makes sense, but not every household has 'one person'. The manpower saved from farming and weaving may not be in units of 'people'... As far as I know, the difficulty in promoting county schools now is that after the basic township schools, children aged twelve or thirteen are already indispensable labor. If there is no shortage of people in the future, everyone can study until they reach the age of 15 or 18! Is there anything else to be happy about?"
"If tens of millions of Han people are freed from their land, we can conquer all directions and prevent the Hu people from grazing their horses southward," said Lu Bu, who was born in Bingzhou.
"Well, godfather is right... Not only can we prevent the Hu people from coming, but we can also go north to herd horses! What's more... we can also herd cattle and sheep. Of course, if the Hu people are willing to herd for us, that's also fine." Bai Tu added.
“And Zi Bu said one household supporting one person. Actually… I think we can be bolder. If it’s just one household and one person, I estimate that we will be able to do it in a few years. Even if we can’t see more, it doesn’t mean we can’t do it in the future!
Just like this thing, the Qi machine... Five years ago, a strong crossbow could not penetrate Lu silk if it was more than 60 or 70 steps away, but now it can penetrate iron armor at 300 steps away! What if the Qi machine can be used to cultivate land in the future? What if a few hundred laborers can use the Qi machine to cultivate thousands of hectares of land and get millions of grains?" Bai Tu said with some exaggeration.
"How can there be so many gilded generals..." Gan Ning couldn't help but take the lead in disrupting the plan.
Bai Tu glared at him and said, "What do you know? When the Pangsi tribe first made the Qi machine, only General Jinyu's liquid Qi could be stored... Isn't it optimized now? Moreover, Mr. Hua of the Medical College is still improving and promoting the 'Five Animal Exercises'. How do you know that ordinary people will not be able to use the Qi machine in the future?"
Gan Ning rolled his eyes when he heard this: Okay, okay, you are right.
Seeing what Bai Tu and Gan Ning did, everyone relaxed a little, and the atmosphere was no longer as tense and sharp as before.
"If this is really possible, there will be countless laborers available to open mountains and dig rivers, turning natural barriers into thoroughfares." Lu Su said after pondering for a moment.
As a director of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the first thing that came to Lu Su’s mind was those things that seemed “very good”, but… were simply impossible to achieve due to manpower issues.
"That makes sense." Bai Tu didn't correct anything, just nodded.
“If we can really support so many people, then every township, no, every pavilion must have a team of constables and quick hands, and they must learn for ten years before taking up their posts!” Wang Lang said bitterly.
The names of the original position of "Buyi" and "Kuai Shou" were expanded after the establishment of the Ministry of Justice, and combined into "Bukuai".
Recently, due to the contradiction between "prohibition of torture" and "difficulty in obtaining evidence for conviction", Wang Lang's hair has become increasingly thinner. No wonder he is so resentful.
"That makes sense, that makes sense." Bai Tu looked at Wang Lang's hairstyle that could hardly hold a hairpin and hurriedly comforted him.
"There will be more doctors like Dr. Hua and Dr. Zhang in the future, right? Maybe after that, seventy won't be considered rare anymore." Lu Kang said with emotion.
Lately his health has begun to fail him, and he has been going to medical school quite frequently.
"That makes sense...Mr. Lu should also take care of his health." Bai Tu said.
"That is to say... once I make a Qi machine that can plow the land, I can have more people specializing in making pastries?" Huang Yueying said with a very clear train of thought.
"Ahem... Not only that, there can be people, a lot of people, who specialize in designing pastries. That's many times more people than all the people who were distracted by inventing pastries in the past combined." Bai Tu tempted.
After all, Huang Yueying has made great efforts in this matter, so we cannot discourage her enthusiasm.
"Then is it possible for someone to specialize in making clothes, or even designing more beautiful tattoos and clothes?" Gan Ning said after thinking about it.
White picture: ...
Are you really my Admiral of the Navy? Can you tell me something about your profession?
"Humph! If the general's painstaking support is only to help a few actors, then what's the point?" Hua Xin immediately attacked.
Ever since Gan Ning returned safely, Hua Xin was so angry that he had to eat two more bowls of rice at every meal, and he has become more and more "fat" recently.
"Old man, the lord has already told you that a few hundred people can get tens of thousands of grains. Don't you know how to count? Do you know how many times more people will be freed from work than now? Do you know that after the year-on-year increase..."
"Don't quarrel, that's enough, that's enough... Since it's a happy thing, just speak freely." Bai Tu advised.
The more people talked about it, the more ideas they came up with. Some people had very unrealistic ideas. For example, Bing Yuan thought that in the future everyone could farm for a year, be an official for a year, serve as a soldier for a year, do labor for a year, and take a year off... and so on.
Bing Yuan's sympathy for the poor was rekindled. Perhaps he felt that it was unfair that so many people had studied but never became officials. In short, this idea was quite self-indulgent.
Naturally, following this idea, many people are nervous. If this is really the case in the future, then in the future... won’t the advantages of being a child of aristocratic family be even smaller?
So someone secretly pointed out that maybe some people think that rebellion is the happiest thing...
However, Bai Tu simply asked a question in return: Were the Yellow Turbans caused by hunger or bloating?
In general, everyone can still think of a lot of happy things. Of course... there are a lot of happy things that everyone doesn't want to share with Bai Tu.
For example, many people must be thinking now, if this is the case, then the servants and concubines in the family can also increase several times?
Smarter ones would think that by then human life would be much more valuable, and it would be even harder to have servants and concubines. Is this a blessing or a curse?
But the smarter ones thought that now they could only buy children from poor families, and in the future there would be a lot of educated people waiting to sell themselves...
Bai Tu didn't care what they were thinking. When the atmosphere got more heated, he suddenly clapped his hands, interrupting everyone 's dream.
"It seems that there are still many happy things, but this happiness is both far away and within reach! I think the proportion of farmers who want to develop into small farm owners is often the lowest, while the proportion of small farm owners to large farm owners is much higher.
Most farmers have two hectares of land, but the third hectare is the most difficult... Because the first two hectares, in addition to feeding us, are only enough for them to have food and clothing, but with the third hectare, there is more room for maneuver. Now we want to "overflow" people from the land, isn't it the same? "
Everyone understands what Bai Tu said. According to what he just said, the "overflowing" people who no longer need to farm can go to repair bridges and roads, repair rivers and canals, develop new tools, and breed crops, thereby increasing efficiency and allowing more people to come out of the land!
"So... now 'farming' has reached a bottleneck. Although the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Civil Affairs are working hard, by comparison, 'weaving' has greater potential. Even part of the potential that is within reach has not been developed! There are also some of you who have opened spinning and hemp workshops at home, right? How much more efficient is it than ordinary people weaving by themselves?
Just for these solvable problems, just because of gender, are you going to tie these people who can leave farming and weaving at any time to farming and weaving?" Bai Tu asked in return.
Seeing that no one spoke, Bai Tu immediately said before anyone else could react:
"There is no need to discuss this matter again in the future... Now we are facing unprecedented challenges, so we naturally cannot just follow the rules. Heroines like Zhong Wuyan and Fu Hao are what we should encourage! As for some people in the society who are harassing female workers in workshops, they should be severely punished... At least they should be tried by the county-level criminal court." Bai Tu said after considering it.
Although there will be progress in "farming" from time to time, it will be difficult to make any substantial progress before the Golden State is found. Therefore, "weaving" and female labor force are the potential in the short term.
Of course, what Zhang Zhao said was not without reason. At least it reminded Bai Tu that women should be encouraged to "take labor as the most glorious" and at least they should have no worries.
In terms of changing customs and habits, it was not that difficult during the Eastern Han Dynasty, but... if some scoundrels caused trouble at this time, Bai Tu would not mind severely punishing them.
There is no need to add any special clauses. The sentence "must be transferred to the county criminal court for trial" is enough to demonstrate the strength and prevent the breeding of bad practices due to cover-ups at the grassroots level.
The entire General's Mansion, including Jiangxia County which had not yet been completely conquered, and Yiyang County which had only four counties and was temporarily established, had only eleven counties in total. If there was a problem with the County Criminal Court, Bai Tu would have to hold Wang Lang accountable...
"Will it be an overreaction?" Bai Tu asked after a moment of hesitation.
After a brief silence, Gan Ning was the first to speak: "No! Such criminals should be cut into pieces!" as if it was them who prevented him from having more beautiful clothes to wear.
"The crime is extremely heinous, no different from a pig or dog! My lord, you must not be lenient."
"Do you want me to find some time to invent some special torture instruments? What if they delay the pastries... well, it would be bad if they delay the important matters of the General's Mansion!"
"Such a shameless person should be beaten to death by the workshop..."
"It's not that they are shameless... In my opinion, this is an attempt to overthrow the General's Mansion. They are most likely spies of those traitors!"
Seeing that everyone was getting a little out of control, Bai Tu immediately withdrew his magical power and said, "No! The Ministry of Justice has repeatedly prohibited the abuse of private punishment. Don't talk nonsense..."
Bai Tu also breathed a sigh of relief...
Finally, the "bluff" worked - from now on, the status and benefits of "female workers" have been established! Although it may be a little bit short of officially including women in the scope of official selection, it is natural to specially employ some female officials and female clerks after the status of "female workers" is established.
As for people like Huang Yueying, who have made significant contributions to everyone's "Spring and Autumn Dream", they are praised by both men and women...
