Chapter 3061 A Different Childhood
Several people were stunned and speechless.
No one has ever said this, it’s just that everyone is used to thinking so. If you can get the same result at the lowest cost, why should you pay such a high price?
Bai Shan seemed to know what they were thinking and said, "Building roads and water conservancy projects isn't the end result. Making them valuable and benefiting the people is the end result. So our ultimate goal is to benefit the people. Then, in the process of implementation, why should we oppose our 'desired end result'?"
A few people suddenly realized what was going on, but Yin Huo remained calm. "But other counties don't have the ability, or rather, they think these supplies can be used for more purposes instead of relying on conscripts."
Bai Shan gave him an approving look. "So, if we want to unify the military service standards throughout the world, we not only need the consent of all the people and the implementation of laws, but also a lot of resources."
He said, "With limited land and a growing population, there's only one way to get enough resources."
"Increase yields," Bai Shan said, looking at Yin Huo with a deep gaze, then at the fields beyond the official road. "Seeds, tools, farming methods, and fertilizer production can all affect grain production."
Only when there is enough food in the world can they use people to do more things. Bai Shan has realized that people cannot be tied to the land, otherwise they will not be able to do many things.
For example, in building the dock, half of the people who are building the dock in Longchi are selected from long-term workers from other places, and the rest are recruited from local people.
It is the slack season for farmers now, so there are still many people working in Longchi. But by the beginning of next spring, when preparations for spring plowing begin, I am afraid that more than half of the people will be gone.
Because they need to go back to farming.
So he had to find a way to bring people out of the land so that he and officials like him in the world would have people to use.
He couldn't bring up such a thing with Mr. Cui, the county magistrate, so he only mentioned it briefly before changing the subject. He smiled and said to Bai Erlang, "So when we were young, we were very naive and took many things for granted."
"We thought the conscripts worked hard, and they didn't eat much, so if they ate well, they would work more efficiently. We wondered why Magistrate Fu didn't treat them better." Bai Shan laughed self-deprecatingly. "I even swore at the time that when I grew up and had the courage to see His Majesty, I would have a serious talk about this matter."
But after really meeting the emperor, there are always more important things than this. When nothing happens, Bai Shan can think more and know that this matter cannot be solved by "filing a complaint".
Saying it out loud is just to attract attention and make people think that you are too impetuous and naive.
It was not until he became a county magistrate himself that Bai Shan did it himself and obtained the data he wanted. Only then did he have the confidence to submit a memorial to the emperor and mention the good treatment of conscripts.
But this only brought the issue to the forefront. To live up to what they had imagined as children, to make conscripts no longer afraid to serve, that they would not be injured or killed, that they would not starve, freeze, or get tired...
Enough food to eat, warm clothes to wear, reasonable hours and intensity of work, and medical treatment when sick...
There is still a long way to go to achieve these goals. Bai Shan looked up and saw the setting sun reflected in the sky. He couldn't help but smile and said to Bai Erlang Yinhuo: "Although the things I thought when I was a child were indeed naive, and I can't do them now, I still hope that I can keep my original aspirations in mind and keep moving forward."
He reached out and patted Bai Jilang, asking him, "What about you?"
Bai Erlang, who was addicted to reading miscellaneous books and writing storybooks, finally remembered the disastrous experience in his childhood. With tears in his eyes, he said, "Then when Mingda gives birth to a child, Your Majesty and I will become county magistrates?"
Bai Shan looked at his aggrieved face and couldn't help but choke, "If you want to be me, then be me. If you don't want to be me, I won't force you. Why are you so forced?"
Bai Erlang: "I think you're right. We didn't accomplish what we wanted to do when we were little. Even now, I don't think what we wanted to do when we were little was wrong. But, can I be a good county magistrate? And I don't really want to be a county magistrate."
"But if I'm not sent out, how can I achieve those things? I can't help you if I'm just in the Hanlin Academy."
Bai Shan slapped him on the shoulder and said, "Who says you can't help me in the Hanlin Academy? His Majesty asked you to write a storybook, bah, no, it's a collection of immortal notes. Have you finished it?"
He winked and said, "If this journal is well written, it might be more useful than Zhou Man and I going to the countryside every day."
Bai Erlang held back his tears and said, "I've written quite a bit. Do you want to read it? I'll show you the manuscript later."
He paused and said, "But you and Zhou Man are only allowed to read it, not to make any changes. Mingda has read it and said it's excellent."
Bai Shan was so nervous that he looked at him suspiciously, "How did you write it? Did you write about gods?"
Bai Erlang squinted at him and said coldly, "It's Wenquxing and Taibaixing. They were a pair in heaven, and they became a pair when they came down to earth. Isn't that a coincidence?"
Bai Shan felt even worse and was about to drag him into the woods to interrogate him when Yin Huo, who had been silent the entire time, suddenly asked, "Why did you think so much when you were little?"
Bai Shan felt that they were normal. When they met, he thought, "Besides, the teacher has assigned homework. Isn't it normal for students to complete the homework assigned by the teacher?"
Seeing Yin Huo's surprise, he asked, "What were you thinking about when you were little? I think we were pretty normal. This is all homework assigned by the teacher."
Yin Huo fell into deep thought, could it be that he was really abnormal?
Indeed, he was different from other children. Yin Huo nodded and said, "I am surprised by what I have seen so rarely."
He asked Bai Shan and Bai Erlang for forgiveness and explained, "When I was young, I studied with my teacher on my own. It's normal for me to be sick for a month or two and not be able to see my teacher. Perhaps my teacher didn't have time to assign these lessons to me."
He said, "When I was a child, what I thought about most was the relationship between life and death."
County Magistrate Fang and Mr. Cui on the side had become as stiff as two stones, sitting there motionless with blank expressions, but they were happily complaining in their hearts, how could this be normal?
Neither side is normal. Who didn't spend their childhood just thinking about eating, drinking and having fun? The biggest worry should be studying, right?
What about the rights and interests of conscripts, life and death, who would think about such questions when they were young?
Mr. Cui twisted his neck stiffly to look at County Magistrate Fang, so is this the reason why the two of them could never pass the imperial examinations for Jinshi and Mingjing?
County Magistrate Fang turned his eyes away silently, not wanting to be lumped into the same category as Mr. Cui, even though he had also been thinking about eating, drinking, having fun, and worrying about studying when he was a child.
Bai Shan sighed and said, "You think much more profoundly than us. I only think about life and death when I enter the capital."
Yin Huo asked him, "Have you thought it through?
See you at 9pm
(End of this chapter)
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