Cultivation of chastity

Chapter 158 Zhang Xuansu's Experience
"Meet Zhang Yushi!" Seeing Zhang Yushi's arrival, Ma Zhou greeted Zhang Yushi immediately.

"I've seen Ma Shui Envoy." Zhang Xuansu didn't show any arrogance, and returned the gift to Ma Zhou equally rigorously.

"Ma Shuishi, the reason why the sage asked me to come here this time is because of the severe winter. Zheng Baiqu still let the corvees brave the cold to do the work, so I came here to inspect and see if the corvees in this project are overburdened." Zhang Xuansu said straight to the point.

Ma Zhou heard Zhang Xuansu's straightforward words, but his attitude was quite kind, so he relaxed his mind a little and said,
"It's better to let Zhou accompany Yushi to walk around the Zhengbaiqu project. If Yushi has any doubts, Zhou will try to answer."

"It's so...very good!" Zhang Xuansu didn't reject Ma Zhou's kindness when he heard Ma Zhou's polite words.

To be honest, this has been wandering around the surrounding areas of Zhengguoqu, and Zhang Xuansu already knows that the local people are actually very enthusiastic about participating in the Zhengguoqu project.

Because as long as you come to Zhengguoqu to move bricks, you will take care of the food, so the surrounding people are happy to move bricks.

After all, in this era, being in charge of food itself is enough to make many people actively sell their labor.

However, there are fewer people moving bricks after winter, because most of the local people are temporary workers, not corvees under Wang Zhenru, the official Zhengbaiqu project.

So they don't have cotton clothes, scarves and gloves. Without these things in winter, how can they keep warm and work in the winter.

Therefore, only a small number of people who have warm clothes in winter will come to move bricks.

However, they are willing to work as temporary workers in the winter, not for food, but for coal!

Because Li Tai completed the unification of the coal industry in the entire Guanzhong area, the resource of coal began to be valued.

The briquettes traded in the market, related coal products, and even the entire coal system were slowly built up by Li Tai bit by bit. From coal mining to the production of finished briquettes for sale, the entire one-stop service belonged to Li Tai.

For Li Tai, what he really has to pay is actually labor wages and time costs. In the feudal era, labor wages were enough to give them food and money.

Therefore, if these briquettes are really sold according to the market price, then I will definitely make a lot of money.

But if he directly bypasses the currency and uses a few catties of coal to pay for the people's labor for a day, Li Tai will not lose money anyway.

For many people, after all, the amount of materials they can save to keep out the cold is limited.

Under such circumstances, they are happy to work only one day a week (six days) to collect the amount of coal needed for a week.

But the fact is that many nearby people feel that they are idle in the winter, and they come to Gaoling to move bricks, provide food and shelter, and have money to take, so there is no reason to be unhappy.

Under such circumstances, the people without cotton-padded clothes will borrow the clothes of the people with cotton-padded clothes. At worst, when sending the coal back, give the other party a catty of coal, which is counted as the rental fee.

So Zhang Xuansu knew that although Zheng Guoqu started construction in winter, it was supported by the local people. If anyone cut off this road, they would not be torn apart by the local people.

Ma Zhou stayed at the Zhengguoqu project all day long, but he didn't pay attention to Zhang Xuansu's arrival.

Because the Zhengbaiqu project itself has involved too much energy of Ma Zhou, Ma Zhou has no time to deal with the court's intrigue.

So when Zhang Xuansu came, Ma Zhou also took Zhang Xuansu to see all aspects of the project according to the normal reception.

When Zhang Xuansu came to the real construction site, he saw that the corvee was wearing uniform cotton clothes, and some people were wearing thick brown clothes. There were somewhat distinct tasks at the construction site.

Among them, those corvees in uniform clothes basically work hand in hand, such as moving huge rocks, digging ditches together, and some of them are laying piles together...

As for those people wearing clothes of various styles and colors, they are basically here to carry gravel and dirt, and even shovel snow.

In short, some tasks that required cooperation were entrusted to those corvees in uniform, and those tasks that could basically be done by one person were all done by corvees in colorful and thick clothes.

"These corvees seem to be divided into two groups?" Zhang Xuansu looked at Ma Zhou with some doubts.

Ma Zhou hastily explained:
"Those who wear uniform cotton clothes are the corvees, and the others who wear different clothes are just local people who came to help.

They were just temporary workers of Zheng Guoqu, and they only came to help in this way for lunch and dinner, as well as the coal mine.

So they can only be asked to do some simple but large-scale work. "

"So that's how it is!" Zhang Xuansu stroked his beard and asked in confusion, "Since that's the case, why don't you accept them and become corvees, and then manage them uniformly?"

"The corvee in Gaoling has to pay wages, and it also needs to equip the corvee with a lot of basic equipment, such as cotton clothes, trousers and shoes needed in winter.

Forget about these, in fact, corvettes in Gaoling need to know how to read and write, and to become a corvee, you also need to consider that they will need numerology and planning when they are promoted to stewards in the future.

Therefore, the cost of corvee in Gaoling is very high, and many people will not be able to become in charge in their lifetime.

So unless he is particularly capable of working, wouldn't recruiting in delay the future of others? "

Ma Zhou explained to Zhang Xuansu that, after all, Gaoling corvee is not a free labor of the imperial court, but a profession.

As for the corvee that these people need to bear, Li Tai directly borrowed Zuyong to help them pay for it.

So becoming a corvee in Gaoling, at least for ordinary people, is considered to have had half a mouthful of public food, not to mention how good it is, at least it is considered to have found a backer that they can rely on to some extent.

"I'm afraid I can become a small official, and even have the potential to become an official!" Zhang Xuansu murmured.

Hearing Zhang Xuansu's words, Ma Zhou glanced at Zhang Xuansu in surprise. He didn't expect Zhang Xuansu to be so optimistic about these Gaoling corvees, although Ma Zhou also believed that Zhang Xuansu was right.

To be honest, Ma Zhou didn't know Zhang Xuansu's experience, so he underestimated Zhang Xuansu.

You must know that Zhang Xuansu once mixed with Dou Jiande, because he clearly knows how the people at the bottom went from disorderly people to orderly volunteers, and even became a tyrant in Hebei.

If he hadn't met Li Shimin, a man born from heaven, Dou Jiande would actually be the person most likely to unify the north.

Therefore, Zhang Xuansu is a person who has really seen the bottom of the people compared to the officials in the imperial court who are from aristocratic families or royal nobles.

He understands that the corvee workers in Gaoling are too high to say that they can be officials, but they know how to count and plan, and they are qualified grassroots managers in the internal affairs system anywhere.

It is as if the talent possessed by the talents of basically a county can govern the entire country.

To a certain extent, these people cannot become so-called geniuses, but if they have the opportunity, they can definitely become the backbone of the country through hard work.

Of course, Zhang Xuansu doesn't have much to say about such a model, the most important thing is that it is impossible for Datang to follow this model.

The main reason is that Datang has no money.

That's right, raising a corvee like this is more expensive than raising a soldier.

How could a normal person choose to use corvee in this way? Only Li Tai was rich and powerful, so he used this crazy way to operate.

Although this kind of corvee is actually quite envious of the imperial court in terms of operational efficiency.

After the Weihe River was built at this point, Du Ruhui reported that he wanted to establish a new corvee system following the Gaoling model.

But because after calculating the cost of each corvee on the draft, the whole plan was thrown into the trash.

Because the popularization of this system really hurts money, and it still costs a lot of money every year.

Therefore, Li Tai's arrogant words in the court at the beginning, if no courtier stood up and said, I could do it too.

One of the most important reasons is that Li Tai really doesn't know how to use Gaoling to support an economy that could not have been supported originally.

Zhang Xuansu secretly kept these in mind, after all, when he went back to report to the court, he had to make these clear.

At this time, Zhang Xuansu continued to look, but there was a gate dam on the Jiashui Canal, and he couldn't help being slightly stunned. He had never seen this thing before, which inevitably made Zhang Xuansu feel a little curious, "This is it?"

"This is an idea proposed by the King of Yue to raise the water level in order to make it easier for ships to go upstream, and to build gates and dams in some places where the water level has a large drop.

After the ships drive inside, they store or release water to realize the upstream or downstream of some ships. "

Ma Zhou said, "Because it will be useful in the water transportation plan on the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal in the future!"

"So that's the case, Zhang Xuansu nodded, it is amazing that King Yue can come up with such a technique!" Zhang Xuansu said.

"This technology has actually appeared in the south, but it is rarely used in the waterways in the north!"

Ma Zhou pointed to the stone tablet not far from the sluice dam, and said, "So after King Yue came up with the idea, some master craftsmen who knew the southern technology designed it, and a stone tablet was erected here.

The first master craftsman to realize this dam will be able to contract the dam here for daily maintenance.

His name is engraved on this dam! "

Zhang Xuansu nodded, looking knowledgeable, and followed Ma Zhou to continue inspecting the entire project.

Soon, Zhang Xuansu found that there seemed to be too many foreign people here. Although they also wore uniform corvee uniforms, they were uniformly black.

Zhang Xuansu asked Ma Zhou curiously, "There seem to be many alien races here?"

"They are undergoing labor reform!" Ma Zhou said, "Let them work here, while accepting Chinese and characters, while washing their habits on the grassland. Basically, these characters may not be fully recognized, but they can already speak Chinese. A few words."

"Speaking of which, why are there so many aliens?" Zhang Xuansu asked curiously when he heard what Ma Zhou said.

"Isn't it good to give their work to our people as corvee?"

"How should I say it?" Ma Zhou thought for a while and said, "Our officials are responsible for the overall planning of the Zheng Baiqu project.

Next is the corvee and master craftsmen, who are responsible for breaking down our proposed plan into specific projects to complete one by one.

Then some easy and repetitive tasks are handed over to our local people and temporary workers, so that they can earn a little money.

Then there are these aliens. They will be responsible for the hardest and most tiring work, and many of them are even life-threatening.

For example, sometimes they need to touch the water to drive piles, and some places that are prone to landslides need them to reinforce.

Entrusting these tasks to foreigners is better than sacrificing our local people!

For example, the Zhengbaiqu project in winter is advancing. If it is handed over to ordinary people, it would be too cruel.

But leaving these matters to these alien races, at least our people don't have to worry about getting hurt. "

"Are people from different races mainly working here these days?" Zhang Xuansu breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this, "Where are there so many people from different races?"

"The king of Yue entrusted Honglu Temple to buy it from the Turkic nobles in Chang'an." Ma Zhou didn't hide it.

Because this matter is not illegal in Datang, and Datang also has slaves and tooth dealers, and these are legal transactions.

Basically, as long as these people are not abused, even if they die in an accident, the court actually doesn't care.

"Use foreign races to replace common people for labor?" Zhang Xuansu touched his beard when he heard Ma Zhou's words.

To be honest, this kind of thing is not uncommon for Datang, but it is really unprecedented to use these alien races on various infrastructures.

For a while, Zhang Xuansu also felt an eye-opening feeling.

"Yes!" Ma Zhou nodded at this moment, "However, we did not abuse these aliens.

At least they have the same food and clothing as our corvée, at most they have no wages,

Because they are forced to learn Chinese and understand Chinese characters, they can understand the value of our food stamps and buy what they want.

However, in the process, they need to redeem themselves, that is, they must earn at least ten coins for the King of Yue before they will be released.

Every time the food coupons or charcoal coupons are issued, a part of the money is directly withdrawn and paid in installments. "

"In this case, how long will it take for them to pay off their debts? Complete self-redemption?" Zhang Xuansu asked curiously.

"About five years, but if you live frugally, almost three years is enough. If you perform well and become the manager of the foreign race itself, then maybe one year is enough!" Ma Zhou was quite clear about Zhang Xuansu. road.

"Is it just one year? Isn't this time too short!" Zhang Xuansu frowned!

"When they are really free, they will find out where they can go if they are not familiar with the place in Chang'an.

It is safest to continue to work here at Zheng Baiqu, or go to Gaoling to find a job.

As for other places, to be honest, for the vast majority of them, they have no home.

This is their home! Ma Zhou sighed.

Zhang Xuansu was taken aback for a moment, but he also understood what Ma Zhou meant.

Because they were first sold by the nobles of their tribe through the Honglu Temple.

To a certain extent, they belong to the people who were abandoned by their tribe, and they have long been homeless.

Now even if Li Tai gives them freedom, can they return to their hometown?
No, they have nothing left!
After all, people need a reason to live, and it is unrealistic to live without a purpose.

Now these Eastern Turkic survivors can only find a new reason to live in Gaoling if they hug King Yue's thigh and Chinese culture tightly and integrate themselves into Chinese culture.

(End of this chapter)