Go to ancient times and engage in construction

Five or six young people from Maojia Village went to the recruitment office to sign up, and the only ones who passed the medical examination and interview were Mao Boss and Mao Zhuzi.Although Mao Boss and Mao Zhuzi were conscripted into the army, they were not considered regular soldiers, but only reserve soldiers, but the treatment of reserve soldiers without salary still made Boss Mao very satisfied.

After the reserve soldiers enlisted in the army and lived in the barracks in the capital, each was given a set of winter clothes and a pair of thick cloth shoes. They were provided with three meals a day, porridge and noodles in the morning, dry rice and one dish and one soup at noon and evening.Boss Mao is very satisfied with the food, clothing and treatment of the reserve soldiers, but the living conditions are a bit poor. There are too many soldiers in the barracks, and the dormitory is not enough to allocate, and often more than [-] people sleep in a barracks on the ground.

After Boss Mao passed the medical examination at the conscription office and was conscripted, he did not go home that day. He followed Mao Zhuzi into the barracks to report. After receiving new clothes and shoes, he entrusted his old clothes and shoes to the patriarch of the capital. At home, so that my wife can also have winter clothes to keep out the cold when she goes out.

On the second day after the reserve soldiers entered the barracks, supervisors led them to work in various parts of the capital. Every day they worked, the reserve soldiers could receive five catties of corn as rewards. Tian issued a note for a [-]-jin grain coupon, and the reserve soldiers could give the note to their family members, who would take it to the designated grain store in the capital to exchange for grain.

After Zheng Yuming entered the royal capital, he sent people to the royal city and the villages near the royal city to investigate the conditions of the people's homes.I found that whether it is the king's capital or the people in the surrounding villages, life at home is very difficult.This year, the harvest of the fields near the capital is mediocre, and it is not considered a bumper harvest year. The people have paid their taxes as in previous years, and the remaining grain can still guarantee food and clothing.However, after Yi Ji rebelled and came to power, she collected land taxes twice and took away more than half of the surplus grain from the people's homes.According to Zheng Yuming's survey results, 90.00% of the people near the capital are short of food at home. After the Spring Festival, these 90.00% of the people will fall into famine.

In the original feudal history, if the kings and rulers did not want the people to starve to death, they often sent their ministers to open warehouses to distribute food. If the ministers selected by the emperor had a conscience, most of the food would be distributed to the people. If the ministers were greedy and unscrupulous, Then most of the relief food is often embezzled by the courtiers and local tyrants, or the bad food is exchanged for relief food. Those who are particularly greedy simply take out a little bit of meaning.In the final analysis, the errands for distributing food relief were actually fat errands, as long as the imperial envoys wanted to, they could benefit from the food relief.Of course, there are also people who are dedicated to serving the people, such as Bao Qingtian in the classic "Three Heroes and Five Righteousness", who is releasing food in Chenzhou.

However, Zheng Yuming didn't want to be Bao Qingtian, he didn't return the food that Yi Ji scavenged to the common people free of charge, but adopted another method of delivering the food to the common people.That is to recruit a large number of laborers in the capital city and the surrounding farms to carry out capital renovation and water conservancy construction, so that the common people can exchange their labor for food. The daily labor remuneration is the same as that of the reserve soldiers, which can be received after eating and drinking. Five catties of corn are also replaced by food coupons, which are distributed once every ten days.

Zheng Yuming's insistence on distributing food coupons to working people instead of directly distributing food also has intentions.Although Zheng Yuming and Chu Chaohui had mastered the power of the Wu Kingdom, they had too few people available. Some of the literate slaves and civilians drawn from Nanbu and the valley could only serve as petty officials because of their status.Today's administrative management mainly relies on the literate aristocratic class.

In order to prevent corruption in the food distribution process, Zheng Yuming used food coupons to prevent this phenomenon, because the grain store designated to exchange food coupons was completely controlled by Zheng Yuming, as long as there was something wrong with the person who took the food coupons to exchange, the people in the grain store He will write down the report to Huang Zhong, and Huang Zhong will immediately ask the Intelligence Department to investigate.In this way, officials who want to take advantage of the loopholes of using work for relief will immediately show up, so that corruption can be prevented to the greatest extent.

Zheng Yuming uses the method of substituting food for work for construction, which can not only solve the hunger problem of the people, but also concentrate a large number of laborers for infrastructure construction. Moreover, when participating in labor labor, the subjective enthusiasm is very strong. Even if there are not many supervisors on the construction site, There is also very little sabotage.

Zheng Yuming made a rough calculation, as long as one member of a family of five can work in exchange for work, the remaining four can still fill their stomachs with five catties of corn a day, plus some wild vegetables and miscellaneous grains.After the big wheat is harvested in May next year, the farmers' homes will be able to pick up green and yellow.At that time, high-yield crops such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn will be fully promoted throughout the country. After the construction of water conservancy, as long as the farmland after the construction of water conservancy does not encounter the severe drought and flood once seen in a century, the farmers of Wu will be able to welcome them in autumn under intensive cultivation. A bumper harvest is coming, and it is foreseeable that farmers in Wu State will have a rich and bumper harvest year.

At this time, the people, while paying taxes, had to undertake the labor assigned by the ruler. Labor was compulsory, and it was free without any remuneration.As soon as Zheng Yuming's work-for-relief plan came out, many ministers in the royal court felt that Zheng Yuming was too benevolent and righteous, and he paid the people for the obligations they should undertake. He was really a benevolent son.Except for what Yi Ji collected and scraped off, Zheng Yuming's food for payment was stolen from his home, and this plan did not touch the interests of the nobles.During the Wang Tingting discussion, the voice of opposition was weak and not firm.

Boss Mao, who was working in the prince's mansion, was grateful to the kind son Ming in his heart, and he would never realize that Zheng Yuming was driving them to work hard to get back the food that belonged to them.

The people in the prince's mansion were wiped out by Yi Ji, all of them died, but the mansion was not damaged, and the buildings still maintained the magnificence that the heirs of the kingdom should have.In addition to more than 300 houses, the Prince's Mansion also has two gardens and a large martial arts training ground.

Zheng Yuming has already decided to set up a college in Wangdu and Dacheng each in the spring of next year. The college in Wangdu is located in the north of Wu State, so it is called North College, and the college in Dacheng is located in the south of Wu State, so it is named South College. .

The dean of the Northern College is headed by the Taifu. Since Xihou succeeded to the throne, the Taifu has repeatedly stated that he wants to stay away from the royal court. Zheng Yuming is happy to see that this stubborn old man is not pointing fingers at the Wangting. However, the Taifu’s reputation is very famous. , being the dean of the college can increase the reputation of the college.

Letting the Taifu be the dean of the North College does not mean that the college is completely entrusted to the school. The general administration of the North College is Fan Jin. Fan Jin is responsible for the administrative management and concurrently serves as a tutor.

As for the South College in Dacheng, Zheng Yuming hired Wang Jie, a well-known scholar from the Xu Kingdom, as the dean. Wang Jie was always interested in promoting his ideas, and when the paperwork to hire him as the dean of the South College arrived, he readily accepted it.

Since the prince's mansion is going to be converted into a college, the mansion has to be re-arranged. In order to allow the students of the college to have an activity place, in addition to keeping the martial arts field, a small garden has been transplanted, and the ornamental lotus pond has been filled with soil. This place will be a student in the future. Sports playground.

Boss Mao and hundreds of reserve soldiers were doing the work of transplanting flowers and trees in the prince's mansion.After the flowers and trees in the small garden were dug out, Boss Mao loaded the flowers and trees on a trolley, and pushed the trolley to transport them to both sides of a wide street in Wangdu for replanting.

For the five catties of corn every day, Boss Mao worked very hard. While working, he yelled at Mao Zhuzi, not allowing Mao Zhuzi to take a rest, which made Mao Zhuzi's teeth very itchy, but looking at the supervisor in the distance, Mao Zhuzi Zhu Zi had no choice but to swallow the ugly words that came out of his mouth.

Unlike Boss Mao, Mao Zhuzi was very disappointed when he knew that he was only a reserve soldier and not a regular soldier. However, the supplementary regulations that he could gradually become a regular soldier after half a year made Mao Zhuzi full of hope.Mao Zhuzi used to be not as diligent as Boss Mao when he was doing farm work in the village. Now he is aiming at the fact that advanced elements can be the first to become regulars. Mao Zhuzi works harder than usual, but when the supervisor walks away, Mao Zhuzi will try to be lazy, but With a hard-headed fellow villager like himself, Mao Zhuzi didn't even have the chance to be lazy behind the supervisor's back.

"Boss Mao, you have brute force, you can bear it, but I, with thin arms and legs, can't compare to you!" Mao Zhuzi complained in a low voice.

"Thin arms and thin legs?" Boss Mao wiped the sweat from his head, and swept Mao Zhuzi's whole body. He didn't see how thin Mao Zhuzi was. If he was really thin, the recruitment office would not recruit Mao Zhuzi. army. "You didn't say that when you signed up."

"Isn't that inferior to you and more than others!" Mao Zhuzi gritted his teeth. If he didn't bravely recommend himself to the recruiter, he would be screened out like other young people in the village, and he would have to return to the village to build water conservancy projects.

"Wait for me to pull the cart, you can push it behind." Seeing that Mao Zhuzi looked pitiful, Boss Mao wanted to take care of him.The cart loaded with flowers and trees has two wooden wheels. It is very heavy when it is full. One person needs to pull it in front and one person pushes it in the back.

"Oh, this is good!" Mao Zhuzi was happy. Half of the way to deliver the flowers and trees did not require the force of the people pushing the carts. It was much less labor intensive than digging the soil in the Prince's mansion. Moreover, during the process of transporting the flowers and trees, you could watch the excitement along the way.

After Wu Guo and Zhao Guo reached a peace agreement, the tension in Kangcheng, the capital of the king, eased.The topic of discussion among the people gathered in the street was no longer whether to fight or not, but the several king lists posted on the walls of the palace.

"It seems that a new king's list has been posted again." Mao Zhuzi was most interested in the king's list. It turned out that the news of the recruitment of recruits was to inform the people through the king's list.

"Everything posted on the Wang Bang is a good thing." Boss Mao, who bowed his back and pulled the cart, smiled foolishly.

When other young people in the village were defeated by the conscription office, Boss Mao still felt very sorry for the villagers, because he knew that the situation of every family in a village was similar. Serving as a soldier means not having access to food.

Three days after Boss Mao joined the army, the palace wall posted a list of relief with work. In addition to explaining what relief with work is, the list also posted the place where the capital was going to start construction. Water conservancy was planned to be built outside the capital. The address of the people who want to use work for relief can choose to sign up at the project closest to home.

A river near Maojia Village is a water conservancy project construction site. According to the scale of that water conservancy project, the labor force of several villages near Maojia Village can sell their labor in exchange for food. Boss Mao can imagine that people in his own village heard the news How happy I will be in the future, winter is the slack season, anyone can dispatch all the labor force, even strong women can sign up.

"I don't know what it is this time, Mao Da, I'll go and have a look." Mao Zhuzi glanced around and found that there were no other reserve soldiers around.

The supervisor is not on the road to supervise. Generally, there will be an approximate time to transport the flowers and trees. As long as the reserve soldiers transported come and go at about the same time, the supervisor will not question the reserve soldiers.

"Okay, but you have to go faster, find out and catch up quickly." The next section of the road is relatively smooth, and it's okay for Boss Mao to tow the car by himself.

As soon as Boss Mao finished speaking, Mao Zhuzi ran to the Wang Bang, ran to the gathering place of the crowd, and disappeared into the crowd.

Boss Mao was pulling the cart alone, and he was a little worried all the way, fearing that Mao Zhuzi would be caught when he deserted halfway. Mao Zhuzi, who was so anxious and hurried to his destination, hadn't caught up with him, and he didn't sweat while pulling the cart. When the supervisor saw it, he was sweating profusely.

"Hoo hoo! Mao, what are you doing driving so fast by yourself?" Mao Zhuzi finally caught up, panting and complaining to his fellow countrymen.

"What did Wang Bang say?" Seeing Mao Zhuzi rushing back, Mao heaved a sigh of relief.

"Two things were released this time."

"Which two?"

"One is that our king will get married on the eighth day of the first lunar month next year, and the other is that a national exam will be held on February [-] next year." Mao Zhuzi was illiterate, and he only figured it out when he went to the crowd and listened to the singer's explanation.Because there are very few people who can read, there will often be a notice issued by the government, and none of the onlookers can understand the content.In order to release the information accurately, every time Zheng Yuming releases the Wang Bang, he will specially assign an interpreter in front of the Wang Bang to explain to the common people. Leaders.

"Your Majesty is going to get married within a hundred days."

"That's right, the Wang Bang said that when the king was dying, he most wanted to see the king get married." The daughter of the Tian family, whom Xihou helped his son set up, originally planned to get married after this year's harvest festival, but he didn't want Yi Ji to mess up and disrupt the wedding date.After the king's capital was pacified, Tian's family followed Xihou to the north and entered the king's capital. Because Wu Guo was at war with the Tang army, Xihou's health was not good, and the wedding date could not be fixed.

After Xihou passed away, Chu Chaohui bluffed Zhao Xuan. After the peace agreement between the two countries was exchanged, Chu Chaohui proposed to hold an early wedding for Wu Wangsheng at the court meeting, that is, to get married within a hundred days of Xihou's death.

In ancient times, filial sons treated the dead as if they were alive within a hundred days.Judging from the sacrifices made on the hundredth day, it is clear that after the hundredth day, the family members will no longer send filial piety meals every day, and the deceased will do the "cooking" by himself.This is because they believe that although people die and go to another world (underworld), they still have to eat in the underworld, just like in the world. up.Therefore, within a hundred days, it is called, auspicious, and can be married.Outside the [-]th day is the tail of filial piety, which is unlucky and cannot be married.

Wu Wangsheng is 22 years old this year. If he doesn't get married within a hundred days, he will have to wait three years before starting a family.Males in Daqin basically negotiated with each other and started a family around the age of 20. If Wu Wangsheng waited another three years and got married at the age of 25, it would be too late.Therefore, as soon as Chu Chaohui's proposal came out, all the ministers of the royal court seconded it. Since Yiji's rebellion, the Wu royal court passed a proposal unanimously for the first time without objection.And the people in the royal capital are also very happy that their king is getting married, because the king's marriage means that the royal family will have an heir, and the royal family's inheritance is orderly, so that the country can be stable.

"What is an exam?" Boss Mao pulled the car to the destination, unloaded the flowers and trees, and asked Mao Zhuzi about the content of another king list.

Mao Zhuzi scratched his head, he didn't quite understand the meaning of the new word "examination". "The person who sings the list says that the prime minister and the officials of the royal court will set the questions, and those who can read will answer the questions."

"What are the benefits of the exam?" Mao boss lost interest when he heard that only literate people could take part.

"The benefits of the exam are great. If you do well in the exam, you will be appointed as a magistrate." Mao Zhuzi inquired carefully.

"Magistrate?" Another word Boss Mao didn't understand.

"It's the same as the lord, well, it should be about the same." Mao Zhuzi couldn't understand, but it didn't hinder his imagination.

"Anyone who can read and write can take part?" Boss Mao opened his mouth in surprise. He didn't expect the exam rewards to be so heavy.

"Of course, Wang Bang also specifically pointed out that even if you are a pariah, as long as you can do well in the exam, you will be appointed." Mao Zhuzi looked envious. try your luck.

"Hey, let's not think about it." Boss Mao shook his head. Only the patriarch in Maojia Village knows a few hundred characters, and he can barely add names to the genealogy. The other villagers are all illiterate, and the exam on February [-] has nothing to do with them. Only nobles can participate in things.

Boss Mao and Mao Zhuzi both felt that the two announcements on the king's list, only Wu Wang's wedding had something to do with them, and the other had nothing to do with ordinary people like them.

Many years later, when people looked back suddenly, the fate of the people of Wu State changed precisely from that king list.