Longevity starts with learning

An afternoon seemed to pass in a flash for Chu Mu, who was concentrating on the book.

The inspectors who came to replace the shift had arrived, and the inspectors who had been on duty for a day left with shouts.

Chu Mu silently put the book in his arms, looked up at the dim sky, and a gust of evening breeze blew, but he couldn't help but tighten his armor.

"It should be a change in the weather..."

Chu Mu pursed his lips. The seasonal division of this era was no different from that of his previous life.

Spring, summer, autumn and winter, the four seasons cycle.

The current season is the end of autumn, the cold winter is coming, the sun is about to set, and the evening breeze has become a little colder.

Chu Mu glanced at the corvées who were still working not far away. They were all ragged and dressed in thin summer clothes.

After just one glance, Chu Mu retracted his gaze, tidied his clothes, and then walked out of the mine with the inspector who was off duty.

Nanshan Town is located at the foot of the mountain. From the No. A Mine, you only need to go straight down the mountain road and pass the ironworks on the mountainside to reach Nanshan Town.

It was dusk at this time. On the mountain road, apart from the inspectors on duty and patrol duty, there were only corvées carrying baskets to and from the mine and the ironworks.

The ironworks is located on the mountainside between the A and B mines. From a distance, you can clearly see the billowing black smoke from the ironworks.

The ironworks is not far away, and Chu Mu slowed down his pace.

As a newcomer, Chu Mu had too many puzzles about this era, and the ironworks in front of him was the most confusing one for Chu Mu.

Normally, a mine with thousands of people and an ironworks would undoubtedly drive the development of a large area around it.

Apart from other things, as the location of mines and smelting, even the most basic iron tools would definitely be much cheaper than other places, not to mention all the other aspects driven by the mines and ironworks.

But in Nanshan Town, in Chu Mu's opinion, it seems to be the opposite.

The Nanshan Iron Mine and the ironworks in front of him not only did not benefit the surrounding people, but instead pressed down on the people of Qinghe County like two mountains, becoming an almost unbearable burden.

The reason is also very simple.

The mine is government-run, that's all.

The mine is government-run, Qinghe County levied corvée to mine the ore, and the ironworks smelted the ore. As far as Chu Mu knows, in the ironworks, except for a very small number of craftsmen employed by the Qinghe County Government, the vast majority of the rest are also corvée.

It is not difficult to see that this is almost a completely cost-free business.

Qinghe County Government took everything without paying anything, and the price was almost entirely passed on to the people of Qinghe County in the form of an order to levy corvée.

If that were the case, it would not be difficult to understand that it was nothing more than oppression and being oppressed.

This kind of thing has been going on for thousands of years in the world of Chu Mu's previous life!

But the problem lies here. In this, Qinghe County Government, or "officials", seem to be completely taking advantage of all the benefits.

But as far as Chu Mu knows... Qinghe County Government is just one of these links.

All the ore mined in the mine is transported to this iron smelting plant to smelt the ore into crude iron, and then stored in the warehouse of Nanshan Town.

Every three months, Qinghe County sends inspectors to escort it to the county.

And this is exactly where Chu Mu's doubts lie.

Supply and demand, there is demand only when there is supply, and similarly, there is supply only when there is demand.

Qinghe County mines ore and then smelts it into crude iron, which is the supply side. Every three months, the stored crude iron is transported to the county town, which is the demand side.

But the problem is... the county town needs ore materials, which are nothing more than forging weapons and tools.

But the county town is at least hundreds of miles away from Qinghe County. With the transportation conditions of this era, it is unknown how much manpower and material resources are consumed in the process of transporting ore materials.

In this case, why not generate demand directly in Qinghe County?

Mines mine ore, iron smelting plants smelt, process, and directly transport the finished products required. Isn't it much better than the current distorted supply and demand relationship?

Chu Mu knows that every time ore materials are transported to the county town, Qinghe County has to make a big move, consuming countless manpower and material resources!

Chu Mu estimated that if calculated in terms of money, the manpower and material resources for transporting ore materials to the county town are definitely much higher than the value of the ore materials themselves, not to mention the terrible cost of mining and smelting.

If we sort out the links one by one, it seems that all the people involved are doing a loss-making business!

The people of Qinghe County are carrying an unbearable burden of corvée labor, with almost no rewards, and there is a great possibility that they will pay the price of their lives.

The Qinghe County Government is also struggling to maintain order and suppress the boiling public grievances, but the minerals mined and smelted in the end have nothing to do with Qinghe County.

Over in the county city, countless manpower and material resources are mobilized just to get the minerals that will inevitably lose all their money?

Even if there are benefits that Chu Mu cannot see now, no matter how Chu Mu looks at it, the hidden benefits cannot compare to the countless manpower and material resources consumed in the open!

Chu Mu stopped where he was, staring for a long time, and then slowly retracted his gaze.

Perhaps... he is not necessarily ignorant.

After all, the original owner's knowledge of this era was limited to a very small area due to his lonely personality and age. In fact, if the original owner's father had not been transferred from Qinghe County to Nanshan Town, the original owner would have rarely left Qinghe County.

And his own knowledge of this era, in a large part, only came from the original owner's memory.

It has been less than half a month since he truly knew this era.

Chu Mu let out a long breath, as usual, suppressed his doubts in his heart again, took a step, and went down the mountain road towards Nanshan Town.

The afterglow of the sunset was still there, and Chu Mu had already stepped into Nanshan Town. Perhaps because of the continuous conscription of corvée labor, the streets were obviously much emptier, but it did not seem to affect the popularity of Nanshan Town.

After all, there are more than 500 patrols in the Nanshan Inspection Office alone. Counting the patrols' families, this is at least a thousand permanent residents.

Moreover, according to the county's standards for conscripting corvée labor, relatives of patrol inspectors can be exempted from corvée labor, and the condition for exemption is just to pay some money.

Compared to being conscripted for corvée labor, which is precarious and even life-threatening, some money is obviously insignificant.

In memory, the original owner was conscripted for corvée labor when he just turned fourteen, but his father spent money to avoid disaster.

Later, the original owner's father also went around to get an official position for the original owner to keep him safe, but he never succeeded.

Who would have thought that this official position would eventually fall on the original owner in the form of the original owner's father's death in the line of duty.

But in the end, it was a bargain for him, a person from another time and space.

"Keep him safe..."

Chu Mu touched the patrol armor on his body and muttered to himself...

...