Huo Guang was about to applaud Liu Tan's idea, but then he thought of a very vexing problem: "Your Highness's idea is indeed good, but the problem is... we still lack manpower."
It is no exaggeration to say that the number of people used in the construction of Shuofang City's walls is much greater than that used in the construction of previous cities. There is nothing that can be done about it. Everyone knows that Shuofang City's walls are of paramount importance, so they would rather take their time and do a good job.
But the problem is that we can't be slow now, so in order to be more meticulous we have to hire more people.
Liu Tan leaned against the table and lowered his eyes and said, "We are short of people, but we are not short of people either."
Huo Guang narrowed his eyes slightly: "Is Little Kunmi going to send someone to His Highness again?"
Liu Tan was stunned for a moment, then looked up at him: "What does this have to do with Lu Xuan?"
Huo Guang was a little surprised: "If he doesn't send someone to Your Highness, where will Your Highness find someone?"
Liu Tan pondered for a long time before speaking: "In fact, we have always ignored some people."
Huo Guang frowned: "Who is it?"
He thought he was familiar with the situation in the Northern Border Kingdom and could not imagine that there were people who were ignored as Liu Tan said. If it was other counties, it was a strategy they had decided on from the beginning and they would not use it if they could avoid it.
Where does it get ignored in this case?
Liu Tan didn't look at him, but his voice was firm: "Woman!"
Huo Guang was stunned: "What?"
Liu Tan clasped his hands tightly together where Huo Guang couldn't see, but spoke in a measured tone: "Before, when we considered the problem, we only considered the men and ignored the women. We have never utilized this part of the population, which can be regarded as a waste of manpower."
Huo Guang subconsciously said: "Women don't have enough physical strength, how can they do it..."
Huo Guang suddenly stopped talking halfway, and he suddenly understood what Liu Tan meant.
Liu Tan, unaware of his own reflections, began to explain, "Women are certainly not as good as men at physical labor like building a city, and their efficiency isn't as high. But for manual labor like this, women might not be inferior to men. Furthermore, women are naturally meticulous, and these things require delicate manipulation. Perhaps they can do it better than men."
In fact, Liu Tan wanted to refute what Huo Guang said about women's lack of physical strength, but if you think about it, women are indeed at a disadvantage in terms of physical fitness. Even if there are some physically strong women, the overall situation is not good enough.
Moreover, their physiology also dictates that they will not work as long as men. You can't prevent women from having menstrual periods and having children, right?
Liu Tan came from later generations, so of course he didn't think that a woman's value lay in giving birth to children. But it had to be said that the Han Dynasty needed population, and the policy formulated by Emperor Hui of Han that women over the age of 15 had to pay more taxes still existed. Even Liu Tan couldn't go against the mainstream thinking.
So he had no choice but to follow Huo Guang's wishes.
Huo Guang looked thoughtful: "Your Highness, do you really think this is possible?"
Liu Tan directly took out a stack of documents and said, "Prime Minister, please take a look. This is the situation in my area."
Huo Guang subconsciously didn't want to look at it at first, because those were Liu Tan's private property and he didn't want to interfere too much. However, he soon realized that since Liu Tan asked him to look at it, it meant that there must be something he wanted to tell him.
After he flipped through the documents and took a look, he found that they recorded the personnel information of the workers employed in the mine.
Huo Guang was puzzled at first, but as he read on, he began to understand the situation. Finally, he put down his paperwork and said carefully, "Your Highness, most of the people you employ here are good people, and they have not stopped working during the spring plowing period."
Liu Tan breathed a sigh of relief. He knew Huo Guang would definitely see through it, so he smiled and said, "That's right. My mines are basically all male workers. Most of these men have land at home, but they have been working for me and have never returned to farm. Some families even have fathers, sons, and grandchildren all working here. As far as I know, the existing cultivated land doesn't seem to have been delayed because of this incident. So, in fact, it has always been women who have been farming."
Even if Liu Tan did not take the initiative to suggest that women do things, ordinary people had actually already started doing so.
There is no concept nowadays that women cannot show their faces in public. It is true that women have a low status, but it is also true that they are less restricted than in later generations.
Liu Tan felt that if he didn't block this road now, it would be too difficult to open it again in the future.
He is not a feminist pioneer, it's just that his views are different because of his different status.
When the population is small, everyone has to take the lead, and the men have things to do, so they don't care whether the women also take the lead.
But once the prosperous and stable period comes, the population grows, but the number of jobs does not increase. In fact, during the economic depression, the job opportunities decrease. Then, in the eyes of men, women are competitors.
They will try their best to suppress women's living space and try their best to make women return to the family.
In fact, the opposite may also be true. In essence, it is a struggle for living space.
It's just that the Han Dynasty is in a period of rapid development now, so there is no need to consider other things for the time being. In Liu Tan's eyes, men and women are all his subjects. How could he divide them into different levels? He would just use all of them.
Huo Guang pondered for a moment and said, "Although it is feasible, after the spring plowing, the fields still need to be tended every day. Your Highness may not be able to recruit many people."
Liu Tan folded his hands on the table, shook his head, and said, "We'll know after we try it. Prime Minister, do you want to make a bet with me?"
Huo Guang was intrigued by him: "What are you betting on?"
Liu Tan said, "You say you can't recruit anyone, and I say I can. So let's make a bet. The bet is... a meal. How about that?"
Huo Guang raised an eyebrow: "A meal?"
Liu Tan nodded: "Whoever loses will cook."
Huo Guang was silent for a long moment before he asked, "Does the winner eat? Is Your Highness going to punish the winner? Or does Your Highness also think he can't win?"
Liu Tan's expression froze. Only then did he remember that Huo Guang was also born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He was originally the son of an official family. Even if he was not brought to Chang'an by Huo Qubing, he would not have to cook for himself.
As for Liu Tan, his cooking skills are pretty good, but he can use tools such as electric rice cookers, gas stoves, microwave ovens, etc. As for the current earthen stoves... the probability of the food produced being edible is about 50-50.
Liu Tan also felt that this bet didn't seem very good. If this bet was made, everyone would be a winner and everyone would be a loser.
Liu Tan lay there thinking for a moment and said, "I do have quite a few rare jades, but they're not very suitable for betting."
Those things were given to him by Liu Che and Chen Ajiao, and could be considered as imperial court supplies. If he had really given them to Huo Guang, Huo Guang would probably have suspected that Liu Tan disliked him and wanted to kill him.
Huo Guang looked at Liu Tan steadily and said, "Why not make a bet on a promise? The loser owes the winner a promise."
Liu Tan's eyes lit up: "Is this possible? Anything is possible?"
Seeing his confident expression, Huo Guang raised his eyebrows and said, "It's all right."
He didn't need to say anything about not violating the law or principles. As for the law... as long as it wasn't treason, as long as their class could afford it, they could do anything without any problems.
As for principles, they are quite flexible.
Liu Tan suddenly wanted to be naughty: "Then... is it okay to let the Prime Minister wear women's clothes?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
