Follow Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the country

Chapter 220 Liu Bowen bows to Zhang Cheng and thanks Mr. Zhang for saving the people of the world!

Liu Bowen had an incredible feeling after hearing what Yang Xian said.

In his knowledge, there has never been a situation where manpower was wasted because he was worried that there would be a serious surplus of food and cloth and the people needed to rest.

"The area governed by Datong Society is actually so rich?"

Therefore, Liu Bowen couldn't help but asked Yang Xian again.

Yang Xian smiled and said: "It is still far from the governance goal recently established by Datong Society."

"Much worse?"

"Then what is the goal of your Datong Club?"

Liu Bowen was even more shocked after hearing this.

Yang Xianze replied: "According to the goals established by the superiors and Mr. Zhang, in the initial stage, Datong Society will strive to achieve adequate food and clothing for the people of Jiuzhou within the first ten years; within the second decade, it will achieve the goal of ensuring that the people under its rule have enough food and clothing." The literacy rate for those over 10 years old should reach 60%; within the third decade, every household should have a brick-and-mortar house, and every household’s non-clothing and food expenditure should be more than 50% of the family’s income.”

Liu Bowen felt that this was simply impossible to achieve.

Although the current price of grain and rice has been falling, which makes the wealthy gentry no longer want to hoard grain and cloth, but for the people who have been poor for thousands of years, every plant and tree is a treasure.

In fact, as long as these workers make progress in their studies, they will be rewarded with a liter of rice or a piece of cloth by the teachings coming from the swimming pool.

"too frightening!"

"Today, the students just have to go to the event to celebrate the first Cuju competition. Teacher, you can go with the students to see what the people under our Datong Society do in their spare time."

He found that there were indeed many young and strong people participating in the Cuju competition, and he also found that the government even prepared prizes for this purpose. Cloth coins worth tens of thousands of taels of silver were used as the first prize.

Moreover, outside of the Cuju competition, Liu Bowen really saw that workers on vacation would be organized by instructors to take classes, learn literacy, and even learn various knowledge, and even be taught how to think.

Liu Bowen actually came to the Cuju competition with Yang Xian.

In his opinion, as long as there are no hungry people in the world, it will be a prosperous age, and it is also the goal that many scholar-bureaucrats strive for.

"Aren't you worried that people will not make full use of people's power so that people have free time and will not cause all kinds of troubles? They will even be keen on making troubles and lawsuits, and even gather together to bewitched by evil cults and do things that destroy families and destroy relationships. What happened?"

Therefore, Liu Bowen saw with his own eyes many workers who were really seriously learning to read and think, and actively discussing the country, policies and culture.

Liu Bowen couldn't help but sigh.

But now, this Datong Society actually wants the people to have enough food and clothing in ten years, the literacy rate to reach 60% in twenty years, and every brick and tile house to be the same as the rich family's home in thirty years.

"Don't worry about that. When they are resting, we will organize them to take classes, study, even watch operas and listen to music, and even organize them to participate in some competitive activities, such as Cuju, riding, racing, etc."

After all, the uneasiness of resource scarcity and inadequacy has long been engraved in the genes of the people, just like many people in later generations still picked up cardboard boxes and sold them to fight over a few cardboard boxes even after their children became rich and lived in luxury housing estates. People will study hard for a liter of rice or a piece of cloth.

After Yang Xian said this, Liu Bowen no longer knew what to say.

This made Liu Bowen have to sigh, these Datong societies really know how to have fun with the people. In order to let the people have a rest and focus on things like Cuju, they even gave out generous prizes, even the dignified prefect Yang Xian They will all attend the event and speak in person.

But Liu Bowen couldn't refute it openly, so he continued to ask Yang Xian:

He truly felt that if this continued, the status of scholar-bureaucrats would continue to decline.

"In short, benefiting people's livelihood and developing people's intelligence should be carried out at the same time."

As Yang Xian spoke, he picked up his official hat and said to Liu Bowen:

Because there will be more and more people who can analyze current affairs and deal with problems, then these cultural people will become less and less valuable.

Liu Bowen, like Li Shanchang and Hu Weiyong, began to realize that Zhang Cheng's great improvement in productivity would have a huge impact on their bureaucratic scholar-bureaucrat class.

"I really looked down on Mr. Zhang too much before."

"The biggest mistake of my life was ignoring this person!"

"The appearance of this person is a disaster for the scholar-bureaucrats, but a blessing for the head of Guizhou."

Liu Bowen told Liu Lian his true feelings.

Liu Lian asked: "Father, since it is a disaster, do we still need to go see Zhang Cheng?"

Liu Bowen had no choice but to smile bitterly and said: "Not only do I have to go to see you, I have to go to see you in a more humble way!" "If I don't see it with my own eyes, I don't know how worthless my father, the so-called Dayuan Jinshi, will be in the future because of the enlightenment of the people. No matter how proficient in conspiracy and power are, I am afraid that there will be no shortage of people like this in the future!"

"If this continues, I'm afraid I will be worse than Song Qianxi as a father! At least he has outstanding literary talent and profound knowledge. Whether it is writing articles or compiling history and classics, he will be useful."

Liu Lian was unconvinced and said: "Why should my father belittle himself? Is it possible that these common people can catch up with my father's knowledge so quickly just because of their studies?"

"Don't underestimate them!"

"You know, the current leader of the Datong Society, he had the same background as these people before the uprising! But he didn't learn from Mr. Zhang for long, and now his strategic skills are no less than Mr. Zhang's. He even thought of his father's observation. A little stronger than Mr. Zhang, he and Mr. Zhang can’t tell who is taking advantage of whom!”

Liu Bowen said with insight.

But Liu Lian didn't quite understand Liu Bowen's words.

Only Liu Bowen suddenly sighed.

When Liu Lian saw this, he asked Liu Bowen: "Why are you sighing, father?"

"I'm wondering why Mr. Zhang would rather enlighten the common people than the kings and ministers of the court. If he could become an official in the Yuan Dynasty and serve as kings of Yao and Shun, he would let the court of the Yuan Dynasty master these high-yield new grains and new weaving techniques, which would bring great benefits to the people of the Yuan Dynasty. Father doesn’t have to sacrifice his integrity for the people of the world like he does now.”

Liu Bowen expressed the hatred and resentment in his heart.

He really still couldn't understand why someone like Zhang Cheng, who had a lot of advanced knowledge, didn't join the Yuan court to help the Yuan court master these advanced skills, let the Yuan court know the global geography, and then realize the prosperity of the people.

In this case, he would not have to betray the court or violate etiquette.

Liu Lian nodded: "Maybe Mr. Zhang is really disappointed with the court."

"Perhaps he is not just disappointed with the court, but also disappointed with the imperial system that has lasted for thousands of years. Otherwise, he would not have established this Datong Society."

"In any case, according to the current situation, we can only respect Mr. Zhang and treat him with courtesy. We cannot wait for him to respect us and treat us with courtesy. After all, it is estimated that all the gentlemen in the world now regard him as a saint, and the people in the world also respect him. He respects him, and we cannot but follow righteousness.”

Not long after Liu Bowen said that, he asked Yang Xian to help him apply for an interview with Zhang Cheng.

"Liu Bowen?"

Zhang Cheng had already known about Liu Bowen's visit to Jiqing through the Archguard Bureau.

But Zhang Cheng did not take the initiative to welcome Liu Bowen just because he came to Jiqing.

It's not that Zhang Cheng is pretending to be cold, it's because he is too busy now and has many more important things to do than Liu Bowen.

As Liu Bowen himself said, due to the great progress in social productivity in Datong, the value of traditional scholar-bureaucrats like Liu Bowen has shrunk too seriously. It is so serious that Zhang Cheng does not need to take the initiative to welcome it. It is so serious that Zhang Cheng will not care about Liu Bowen. A technical federation who would not serve Yuan Ting but who was more concerned about the development process of steam spinning machines would not betray Datong Society.

For example, when Wang Zhen, a famous agronomist and mechanist in Chinese history, was invited by the Imperial Guard to celebrate, Zhang Cheng, Zhu Yuanzhang, and Guo Tianxu all went out of the city to ceremoniously greet this man who was determined to assist Zhang Cheng in the fertilizer industry. Technical geniuses who work on things.

On the contrary, Liu Bowen, a well-known scholar like Liu Bowen, Zhang Cheng, Zhu Yuanzhang, etc. did not come out to welcome him.

But now when Liu Bowen took the initiative to apply to see Zhang Cheng, Zhang Cheng still chose to see him.

He was mainly curious about what this so-called man in history was like, who was as clever and calculating as Zhuge Liang.

Of course, Zhang Cheng was not surprised that Liu Bowen took the initiative to join.

Because of the current situation, anyone with any brains, unless they really value the traditional Confucian integrity, would choose to serve as an official under the rule of Datong Society with their eyes closed.

After all, the strength lies here.

Militarily, the mixed infantry and cavalry regiment composed of flintlocks and heavy matchlocks defeated all surrounding military forces.

Economically, the high yield of food and cloth, the policy of allocating land to the people, and the explosion of productivity brought about by various technological innovations gave the Chinese army in Datong Society the strongest logistical supply capabilities, surpassing Yuan Ting. After all, Yuan Ting now lost Jiangnan, the main food supply area.

Culturally, let alone large-scale literacy and education activities, the literacy rate of the people under the rule of Datong Society has been greatly improved, and the number of technical and management talents has also been greatly increased. Even though Datong Society has not recruited Confucian scholars on a large scale , but the number of literate and educated people in Datong Society now exceeds that of forces such as Yuan Ting and Zhang Shicheng.

Therefore, it is impossible for a smart man like Liu Bowen not to put aside his dignity and airs to come to Datong Club at this time.

However, Liu Bowen naturally did not feel that he had to come to Datong Society because he had no other better choice. He felt that he was willing to sacrifice the so-called etiquette and ethics because the people's hearts belonged to Datong Society and Datong Society truly loved the people. People all over the world can find peace as soon as possible before taking the initiative to join the Datong Society.

Liu Bowen said the same thing after meeting Zhang Cheng, and took the initiative to bow to Zhang Cheng: "Mr. Zhang has lived in the world and countless people deserve bow from Bowen! Bowen is stupid and regrets not coming to follow him earlier." !”

Zhang Cheng was also shocked by Liu Bowen's very humble behavior, because he always thought that even if Liu Bowen understood the general trend of the world, he would still be a little arrogant. After all, literati have looked down upon each other since ancient times, but he did not expect that Liu Bowen was not so Arrogant and conceited.

(End of this chapter)