Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1576 I want to be an official!

Jingren took the lamb leg from his father and started eating it. Then he nodded and said:
"Father, this lamb leg is so delicious!"

"It's delicious, Jingren, just eat more!"

After chatting for a few more sentences, Jingren suddenly asked Ye Mingsheng something.

"Father, I've seen chivalrous knights in novels camping out in the wild and grilling their prey after catching it. So, Father, do you also grill your prey when you're on the march?"

Ye Mingsheng was also a little surprised by Jingren's question, but after a moment's hesitation, Ye Mingsheng said:

"I don't know if the knights made fires and grilled meat, but when they were marching and fighting, they rarely grilled the prey they caught!"

Hearing his father's answer, Jing Renxian asked in surprise and confusion:
"If you don't grill, then how do you cook?"

"Make stews! For example, if we catch wild boars, rabbits, or pheasants, we can make stews out of them! If we come across a river and encounter fish in the river, we can make fish soup directly!"

Jingren was even more puzzled when he heard this:
"Why did Dad make stew? Wouldn't roast meat taste better?"

Facing his son's question, Ye Mingsheng did not give a direct answer, but asked back:

"Jingren, how much game do you think you can hunt while marching and fighting?"

Jingren was a little stunned when he heard this. He had lived in a deep house since he was a child. Although he had gone out with Ye Mingsheng several times, he still lacked sufficient understanding of the military life in Daqian!

After thinking about it, Jingren did not give a random answer, but honestly said to his father:

"Father, I don't know!"

"Jingren, you can guess and see if your guess is correct..."

Seeing his father say this, Jingren also mustered up the courage to speak:
"Ten wild boars?"

Ye Mingsheng smiled and said:

"How much prey you can catch is related to the environment you are in and how many people you have. For example, in my own case, the time I caught the most prey was in Liaoyang. At that time, a team of 1,000 people caught 21 wild boars and more than 200 pheasants, rabbits and roe deer in one month!"

"Wow! You can catch so much game?"

In response to his son's exclamation, Ye Mingsheng smiled and nodded:
"Indeed, there are so many, but this is a special case. The place they went to was an undeveloped area in Liaoyang, where there were many animals. In addition, they went there specifically for hunting, so they hunted a lot!"

"But in most marches and battles, you can't hunt so many. Most of the time, if you hunt a wild boar, a few pheasants or wild ducks, it's considered a very good situation!"

"Especially in the Central Plains, when our army was fighting in Hebei, Henan, Qi and Lu, there wasn't much left of wild boars and rabbits, not even tree bark, so we couldn't catch much prey!"

"A wild boar weighs only about 200 kilograms at most. If you add pheasants and wild ducks, it would weigh at most 300 kilograms of meat. If we take a thousand people as an example, if you want a soldier to maintain basic combat capability, you need to feed him at least 2 taels of rice per meal. A thousand people would need at least 125 kilograms of food per meal!"

"According to the army's two meals a day, even if you are very lucky and finally catch some prey, it is only enough food for a thousand soldiers for a day at most..."

"It is very rare to be able to eat meat in the army. Although barbecue is delicious, it is very wasteful in the process of making it. The meat will produce oil during the roasting process, and the oil will drip onto the ground and be wasted!"

"But if we make stews, the oil will be put to good use and make the leaves taste better!"

"And Jingren, let me tell you, the army has a strict hierarchy. Generals, commanders, and sentinels are given preferential treatment and can enjoy more resources. This means that meat is not distributed evenly. Dozens of them may take up 70% or even more of the meat, while the remaining hundreds or thousands of people may only get less than 30% of the meat!"

"So if you are an ordinary soldier and you catch a prey and make it into barbecue, you may not even get to eat the leftovers. At most, you can only smell the barbecue smell. But if it is made into a stew, it will be different. Even if the generals eat meat, you can still drink some broth and eat some oily vegetable leaves!"

"So the prey the army hunted was basically made into stews, such as pork and cabbage, pork and potatoes, chicken stewed with mushrooms, etc. This way, everyone gets a share of the spoils!"

After hearing Ye Mingsheng's introduction, Jing Ren was somewhat shocked and asked back:
"Father, are the conditions in the army so harsh?"

Ye Mingsheng smiled and said:

"The conditions in the army were not very good. There was a saying among the common people at that time: good men don't join the army, and good iron doesn't make nails!"

“But Jingren, you must remember that the conditions of the army in all dynasties were definitely not the worst. The army’s wage arrears happened from time to time in all dynasties. This is not a rare thing, but basically all dynasties would guarantee the army’s food supply. Even if they squeezed the people, they would not cut off the army’s food supply…”

"And even if the worst happens, the army still has weapons in their hands and can be robbed. There was a saying in Liaoyang back then: if you have money to buy steamed buns, they will be gone one day, but if you buy a knife, you will have steamed buns every day!"

Hearing this, Jingren looked at his father and suddenly asked:

"Father, have you ever robbed anyone else?"

As soon as Jingren said this, before Ye Mingsheng could speak, An Miaoyi on the side scolded him:

"Jingren, how can you talk like that!"

Jingren, who was scolded by his mother, looked a little sullen, but he still looked at Ye Mingsheng, as if he was looking forward to how his father would answer his question.

Although his son's question was a little sensitive, Ye Mingsheng did not refuse to answer his son's question. He hesitated for a moment and replied:
"Whether I have robbed others or not depends on how you define the word rob, Jingren!"

"I prefer the word distribute to the word grab!"

"The struggle for supremacy in the Central Plains is, in my opinion, a redistribution of the world's wealth!"

"As the winner, I have gained the power to distribute wealth. To those who have been allocated the wealth, I am naturally a good character. But to those to whom the wealth has been distributed, there is no doubt that in their hearts, I, Ye Mingsheng, am a shameless robber!"

Jingren nodded, not quite understanding. An Miaoyi seemed to be worried that Jingren would ask some sensitive questions again, so she changed the subject. The family of three continued to focus on the meal. After an incense stick of time, when they finished their meal, Ye Mingsheng started to test Jingren's homework.

"Jingren, what has Mr. Gu taught you recently?"

"Mr. Gu taught me your Three Rice Theory, and the Hengqu Four Sentences that I learned recently..."

Hearing this, Ye Mingsheng became interested and asked immediately:
"Mr. Gu has taught you the theory of the three meals. Then I want to ask you what the three meals refer to?" "The three meals refer to eating a meal, eating enough food, and eating a good meal!"

Seeing that Jingren really answered, Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly and then asked:
"Since Mr. Gu has explained these three theories to you, Jingren, have you gained any insights from them? Do you have any thoughts in your mind?"

Jingren nodded seriously upon hearing this and said:

"After learning the theory of the three kinds of food, I was deeply moved. I think there are still many people in this world who cannot get enough food, so food is very precious. We must cherish the food for every meal and not waste it!"

Hearing Jingren say this, Ye Mingsheng turned his head intentionally or unintentionally to glance at An Miaoyi beside him. Facing Ye Mingsheng's eyes, An Miaoyi was speechless.

After affirming Jingren's idea of ​​frugality and not wasting, Ye Mingsheng asked again:
"Besides not wasting food, do you have any other ideas, Jingren?"

Jingren hesitated for a while after hearing this, then shook his head and said:

"Father, I just feel that food should not be wasted. As for other insights, I don't have any..."

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly and taught:

"Jingren, it's good that you don't waste food and think thrifty, but I also hope you can realize that Daqian's development is unbalanced. The development of Yijing and Lin'an and their surrounding areas is obviously beyond other places!"

"Although the development of these two cities is also part of Daqian's development, the development of these two cities cannot reflect the actual development of Daqian!"

"The living standards of the people are very different from each other. The living standards of the people in Yijing and Lin'an are much higher than those of the people in many remote small towns!"

"Daqian has millions, even tens of millions, of ordinary people who are still living on the poverty line!"

"So even though Daqian has achieved some small successes now, we still can't be complacent and think we are great. We must deeply realize what the lives of most people are like. We must work hard instead of talking big for some false reputation!"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng say this, An Miaoyi looked at Ye Mingsheng with some surprise, while Jingren nodded seriously and said:
"Father! I have memorized it all!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly when he heard this, and then asked again:

"You just said that Mr. Gu taught you the Four Lines of Hengqu? Jingren, can you recite them?"

Facing Ye Mingsheng's question, Jingren recited without hesitation:
"Establish a heart for heaven and earth, establish a destiny for the living and the people, carry forward the unique teachings of the past saints, and create peace for all generations!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng asked again:
"What does it mean to establish a mind for heaven and earth? What mind should we establish for heaven and earth?"

Jingren, who had just been reciting very smoothly, seemed a little slow when faced with Ye Mingsheng's question.

After thinking for a while, Jingren said slowly:

"Mr. Gu once said that the world has no mind, but people have mind. Therefore, to establish a mind for the world means that we hope people can have a benevolent heart of loving and helping others!"

After getting the answer, Ye Mingsheng asked a few more questions. Although Jingren answered a little slowly, he answered them all. Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng asked the last question.

"Jingren, if you were asked to summarize these four lines of Hengqu in one sentence, what would you say?"

Facing Ye Mingsheng's somewhat unreasonable question, Jingren blinked and pondered for a long time, but finally under Ye Mingsheng's gaze, he shook his head in disappointment and said:
"Father! I don't know! I don't know how to sum it up!"

Looking at the somewhat depressed Jingren, Ye Mingsheng touched his little head and said with a smile:

"From the perspective of power, the four Hengqu Bureaus can be summed up in four words!"

Ye Mingsheng paused for a moment, then under his wife's gaze, he spoke word by word:

"I want to be an official!"

After hearing Ye Mingsheng's answer, An Miaoyi and Jing Ren were stunned for a moment, as if they had not expected Ye Mingsheng to say that.

Ye Mingsheng also continued:
"Jingren, Miaoyi, think about it, how powerful the four sentences of Hengqu are. They establish a mind for heaven and earth, a destiny for the people, a continuation of the lost knowledge of the past sages, and a beginning of peace for all eternity!"

"If you want to accomplish this, can ordinary people do it?"

“That’s simply impossible…”

"If you want to do these things, you must have power in your hands. Without power, don't even think about establishing a heart for the world or for the people. You can't even take care of yourself!"

"In all dynasties, the GL has been the ruling class, but the GL Group is different. If you want to do something, you must become a G. Only you can have power!"

After hearing his father's explanation, Jingren nodded seriously and said:

"Father, what you said makes sense!"

An Miaoyi on the side said:
"Your Majesty, although there is some truth in what you said, the original intention of Hengqu's four sentences is still good. It is to educate the people and make them understand etiquette and benevolence!"

Ye Mingsheng said with a smile;

"Miaoyi, I didn't say it's bad! But times are changing. Although Confucius is revered as a saint, times are changing and progressing. We can learn from Confucius' ideas and concepts, but we can't just follow his example!"

"Were there firearms 2,000 years ago? Were there textile machines like today? Were there matchsticks and kerosene lamps?"

"Science and technology are progressing. We cannot be obsessed with things from thousands of years ago. We must look up and focus on the future. Embrace the future. Science and technology are the primary productive forces!"

"Compared to Confucius's theories, I believe that science and technology are the future direction of Daqian's development. The advancement of science and technology will greatly improve the living standards of the people. Do you remember what I told you before, about buildings hundreds of feet high and people riding machines that can fly in the sky?"

“This is all completely possible. The power of science and technology is stronger than we imagined. We need to embrace science and technology. Only in this way can we stand out in the world and not be abandoned by the times…”

(End of this chapter)