Chapter 81 Teaching
The system searched for a moment and said, "Historically, there was a rule that silver could be used in lieu of military service. As long as you have the money, you don't have to go."
Manbao's eyes lit up and she told her parents this good idea.
Old Zhou and Mrs. Qian didn't understand how she knew all this after just one sleep.
However, Old Zhou thought the child was always clever and assumed she had come up with it on her own. He said, "We don't have that much silver at home. How can a family like ours afford to pay silver in lieu of military service? Even the village chief's family has to serve."
Qian was even more attentive to Manbao, explaining in detail, "I heard that the money earned from one military service is enough to marry a wife. For a family like ours, it would take at least four or five years to earn enough money to marry a wife. And that's only if there are many people in the family to save up that kind of money. In your grandfather's generation, marrying your father a wife would have cost them half their life savings."
Manbao's attention was instantly diverted, and he laughed, "Dad, it turns out that you spent all of grandpa and grandma's money on marrying mom."
Manbao has never seen her grandparents, but during festivals, especially during the Qingming Festival, her parents often mention them to them. In her father's words, this is remembering ancestors. Only by remembering their ancestors can people not forget their roots.
Koko said that this is called ancestor worship.
Wealthy families recorded their ancestors' deeds in family trees, so that descendants could trace them by simply looking through the tree. However, the vast majority of families passed down their ancestors' deeds through word of mouth.
Not many families are able to record their deeds in their family tree or genealogy.
When Manbao heard this, she secretly made up her mind that when she learned more characters, she would record her parents' deeds in the family tree, so that her parents would be the first generation of ancestors in their family with achievements.
Manbao loves listening to stories about ancestors the most, so she held up her little face and looked at her parents eagerly.
As soon as Qian saw her shining eyes, she knew what she was thinking. She couldn't help but tap her nose and said with a smile: "Yes, even if we spend all the money, the betrothal gift won't be much. Your mother will have to live a hard life as soon as she gets married."
Old Zhou turned around and smiled at her ingratiatingly.
Looking at Qianshi with Manbao's sparkling eyes, some memories were brought back to her. She said with a wistful look, "Actually, life was good at the beginning, but we were unlucky. A few months after I became pregnant with your eldest brother, our family was drafted. Your grandfather went first, but he fell ill, so your father took over. The day chosen by the county magistrate was even worse, as it was the busy spring season. Your grandfather was ill, and your father was not at home. I went to the fields with your grandmother, pregnant as I was, and we managed to plant all our land."
Old Zhou couldn't help but say, "Most of the people who served at that time had to spend half their lives. That county magistrate...ah~"
Manbao was very curious, "Dad, what do you do in the military service?"
"Dig the earth, build water conservancy projects, and strengthen dams."
She was a little puzzled. "Is it more tiring than farm work?"
"How is that the same?" Old Zhou said, "When you work at home, you rest when you're tired, go home to eat when you're hungry, and when the sun is strong, you rest under the shade of a tree until the sun is not so scorching before going back to the fields. At home, no matter how poor you are, at least you have water to drink and bread to eat. But in the military, you can't do whatever you want."
Old Zhou said, "We have to go to work early in the morning, so we can't be too stingy. If we slack off, the officials will whip us."
"Breakfast is basically just a small piece of bread. Not to mention adults like us who do hard labor, even a child like you wouldn't be able to eat enough. Everyone has to bring their own dry food and eat it all together. But some families are poor, and the dry food they bring isn't thick enough, so they have to save it. Many people have ended up on the dike because of this."
According to Old Zhou, the reason why people kept dying during military service was that the work was exhausting, but everyone also did a lot of hard work. Not to mention, during spring planting and autumn harvest, everyone was also exhausted in order to compete with God for good weather.
Ultimately, it comes down to not being able to rest and not having enough to eat.
When they were fighting for weather, they avoided the time when the sun was at its hottest, and they had enough water, and they tried their best to share the food at home with those who worked in the fields.
After Old Zhou finished speaking, he looked down at his daughter with clear eyes. He felt that he had said things to the child that he shouldn't have said.
So he patted her little head and said, "This is a matter for adults. You should go to school."
Manbao felt a little depressed when she carried her small school box to school. She felt that the county magistrate was very mean. How could he work without feeding his children?
In the past, when her brothers went to build houses for the villagers, they were provided with enough food.
Bai Shanbao had a whole day off yesterday, so he was very happy. His mother also made him some delicious snacks, and he specially left two pieces for Manbao.
He gave the snack to Manbao and said, "Your candy is delicious too."
Then he looked at her eagerly.
Manbao took the snack and ate it. Because she was preoccupied, she didn't hear the hidden meaning in his words and nodded perfunctorily.
Bai Shanbao was unhappy when he saw this, but he couldn't ask Manbao to give him candy, so he asked, "What are you thinking about? Is Xiumu unhappy?"
Manbao sighed like a little adult and said, "My third brother is going to serve in the army."
Even though Bai Shanbao knows more and has read more books than Manbao, he really doesn't know what military service is.
So he asked, and when he learned that military service was an obligation for all families, he scratched his head and said, "Does my family have to serve, too?"
Manbao said as a matter of course: "Of course, how many boys are there in your family?"
Bai Shanbao said, "It's just me."
Manbao looked at him sympathetically and said, "You are so pitiful. You have to serve in the army too."
Bai Shanbao was a little anxious and excited, feeling like an adult, but also feeling that the unknown was frightening.
Bai Shanbao said, "I have to go back and ask my grandmother."
Manbao said disdainfully, "That will take a long time. Let's ask the master. He knows a lot of things."
So the two children went to ask Mr. Zhuang.
Mr. Zhuang hadn't expected the children's attention span to be so wide-ranging, even to the point of focusing on labor. After some thought, he sent the children back to school, deciding to give them the answer at noon.
The two children ran back to study.
At noon, Mr. Zhuang took the two children to the yard and cooked for them while they ate.
If we talk about labor service, we have to talk about taxes, national construction, and the performance evaluation of county magistrates, etc.
Of course, the two children were still young, so Mr. Zhuang didn't just read from a script. Instead, he gave them an example, saying, "The country is like a big family, and you are also part of it. You eat, drink, wear clothes, and live in a house. Doesn't it take someone to work to help you make the rice, water, clothes, and houses you will eat, drink, wear, and live in?"
This was very simple and easy to understand, and the two children nodded repeatedly.
Mr. Zhuang stroked his beard and smiled, "Should we pay these workers?"
The two children continued to nod, they also understood this principle.
Mr. Zhuang said, "That's right. The country is the same. If it wants people to work, it has to pay them. To pay them, it has to have money first, so we have to pay taxes. It also adjusts resources. For example, if the eldest son's family suffers a disaster, but the second son's family has plenty of grain and a full granary, then as a mother, she will take some grain from the second son's family and give it to the eldest son to help his family get through this difficult time first..."
Mr. Zhuang started with a brief talk about the state's institutions, which he briefly touched upon before going into more detail when discussing the position of county magistrate. He then talked about taxes and labor service.
Manbao and Bai Shanbao listened with great interest and soon forgot the time.
(End of this chapter)
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