Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 176: What the court borrowed must be returned! (First update)
The next day.

Beijing is cool in late autumn.

A few miles away from the city of Beiping, Xia Zhibai, Zheng Yuanqing and a group of people came to the construction site of the "Zunhua Iron Smelting". This place had been completely closed and abandoned in the past, but traces of past private mining could still be vaguely seen.

Some time ago.

Xia Zhibai came here several times.

Some of the rocks piled outside the Zunhua Iron Smelter were moved away, and a path was barely cleared to pass through. Some rotten wooden houses were also tidied up to facilitate the construction of houses during subsequent mining.

There were nearly two hundred people in the group.

The front is empty, but also filled with weeds and rocks.

Zheng Yuanqing turned around and looked at Xia Zhibai, and said in a deep voice: "Zhuangyuanlang, I have come to see the situation here in the past few days. There have been mining operations in the past, but the scale was not large. Generally speaking, they basically need to be rebuilt from scratch, and the workload is not small. Moreover, the 'Zunhua Iron Smelter' you want to build is unprecedented in scale."

"Manpower." Zheng Yuanqing turned his head and looked at the dozen or so young men behind Xia Zhibai. He then looked at Zhang Yu, who represented the King of Yan, and said with a strange look in his eyes, "The demand is very high."

Xia Zhibai smiled.

I still agree with what Zheng Yuanqing said.

To build such a large factory covering hundreds of acres, it would naturally require hundreds or even thousands of people. If there was an order from the imperial court, it would be simple and tens of thousands of people could be recruited. However, he did not have such authority now, so he had to recruit all of them himself.

Xia Zhibai said: "Don't worry, Mr.

“My people are on the way.”

Mei Jiu's mouth twitched slightly, and after thinking for a while, he reminded: "Xia Jinshi, if you think that His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan will send people to help you, you may have made a wrong idea. The Prince of Yan is now reorganizing his army and cannot spare any manpower in the short term. You have to find a way to get the manpower yourself."

"Besides, there are hundreds of us here. If we delay for one more day, we will have to prepare one more day of food."

"The Zunhua Railway must also start construction as soon as possible."

Xia Zhibai smiled and said, "Don't worry, my people will come, and there will be no shortage of them."

"As for the manpower of Prince Yan's Mansion, I did have high hopes for it before, but I naturally know that there is no trivial matter in the army. Now that Prince Yan is unable to spare manpower, I will not force it. Besides, the manpower of Prince Yan's Mansion is just icing on the cake for me."

Hearing Xia Zhibai's confident words, Zhang Yu showed a hint of suspicion in his eyes.

He came on behalf of King Yan.

Of course, he also brought dozens of people with him.

Since the King of Yan has agreed, it is impossible for him to just ignore everything. He still has to consider his face. However, Zhang Yu has been in the city and knows Xia Zhibai's situation very well. It is impossible for Xia Zhibai to recruit so many people.

If it was before.

Xia Zhibai is indeed possible.

After all, there were many beggars and refugees in Peking.

But after distributing land during this period, most of the beggars and refugees in the city were allocated land and settled down in Bei'an. Without beggars and refugees to help, the only people Xia Zhibai could turn to were the Semites, Mongols, and Jurchens. However, most of these people also had families. Why would they come here to perform "forced labor" for nothing?
He stared at Xia Zhibai closely, then looked behind him, but did not see any figure.

A hint of coldness appeared at the corner of his mouth.

He would like to see it.

How can Xia Zhibai recruit enough people!
Zheng Yuanqing had no doubts and did not ask any more questions. He nodded and said, "Since you are so sure, that's great."

“The project cannot be delayed.”

soon.

Zheng Yuanqing took out the blueprints and began to give instructions. Under his arrangement, the engineers began to go down to the mine one after another, conduct on-site exploration, and formulate the corresponding mining plan.

the other side.

Xia Zhibai looked at Zheng Yuanqing's blueprint and took the initiative to say, "Mr. Yuanwailang, in the first few days, I suggest that we build simple living houses first, and also build some public toilets around to solve the workers' defecation and urination problems."

Zheng Yuanqing had no objection to building a house.

Just the toilet?

He was a little suspicious.

Xia Zhibai smiled and said, "The Zunhua Iron Smelting Project cannot be completed in a short time. It will take at least half a month, or even a month. During such a long period of time, we have to consider the food, drink, defecation, urination and sleep of hundreds of people. We can't all use the sky as blankets and the ground as beds, right?"

“And we also need to pay attention to the iron smelting environment.”

"The past situation where people urinate and defecate anywhere must be changed."

"At least it has to be changed in my case."

"I don't want to spend so much manpower to build an ironworks surrounded by stinking odors and flies. Besides, human feces are also a kind of fertilizer. If we collect them together, we can also plant some vegetable gardens nearby, which can also reduce some court expenses."

"It doesn't take much time or manpower."

"If the official doesn't allow it, then I will do it myself. This public toilet must be built."

Xia Zhibai's attitude is very tough.

When Xia Zhibai came to the Ming Dynasty, what he found most difficult to accept was that people urinated and defecated everywhere. People could be seen urinating and defecating under various stones, next to weeds, under trees, etc. This situation had been repeatedly banned in all dynasties and even spawned an industry in the city.

But this is only for people in the city.

Many people from outside the city still urinate and defecate anywhere.

Zheng Yuanqing hesitated for a moment, but nodded and said, "You are the one who recruited these people, so you have the final say. However, you cannot disrupt the original plan, nor slow down the progress of the project. After all, the imperial court is providing food and fodder for your Zunhua Iron Smelter, and the imperial court cannot provide them endlessly."

Xia Zhibai nodded.

Three poles in the sun.

Zheng Yuanqing still hadn't waited for anyone to come.

He frowned, looking somewhat unhappy, and asked coldly: "Xia Zhibai, where are your men?"

"Are we counting on the engineers sent by the court to do it?"

Xia Zhibai smiled and said calmly: "The autumn harvest has just passed, so it's not a big deal to let these people take a little more time off. If no one comes, I will do it myself. As the saying goes, if you do it yourself, you will have enough food and clothing."

As he spoke, Xia Zhibai picked up a shovel, weighed it in his hand, and went straight down to the mine.

While digging the soil with a shovel, he smiled and said, "Before you guys came, this place was actually even dirtier than it is now. I took the time to clean it up myself."

"I've seen the situation here. There should have been people using crucibles to smelt iron in the past, and there were quite a few of them. But later the imperial court closed the mines and blew up many of the mines. If we really want to restart, we only need to clean up the rubble to barely meet the conditions for opening the furnace."

"Take it one step at a time."

"I actually don't agree with Yuanwailang."

"I didn't think about building the entire iron smelting plant in one go. Instead, I thought about smelting the iron ore first, even if it was open-air and could only produce a few dozen kilograms of pig iron. But as long as it started running, it would prove that we were on the right track."

"and"

“Steelmaking is very dangerous.”

"Many workers are not very skilled and are prone to accidents when they start working right away."

"So we should first find some skilled ones to smelt iron through some small furnaces, so that others can learn and accumulate experience. When the subsequent large furnaces are completed, workers with a certain level of skills will be assigned to these large furnaces. These workers will get started faster, be more efficient, and have fewer accidents." Zheng Yuanqing's eyes sank slightly as he listened to Xia Zhibai's words.

He naturally knows these.

But what does it have to do with him? They are responsible for starting the construction. As for other things, they have no control over them and don't care. It is feasible to put the steel into production ahead of schedule, but it will affect the normal construction. Moreover, there will be noise and movement around all the time, which not all engineers like.

Engineers are engineers, and workers are workers.

There is a huge difference in identities between the two.

Xia Zhibai ignored the expressions of the engineers around him, and just focused on clearing the weeds and rubble around him, trying to open a way in and out here.

Seeing that Xia Zhibai was really working hard, officials such as Zhang Yu and Mei Jiu looked at each other in surprise.

Zheng Yuanqing looked at Xia Zhibai deeply and finally understood why Xia Zhibai was so unpopular, because this person was a heretic, he didn't want to highlight himself, but wanted to pull others down and make them together with the lower class people, how could this make others happy?
Scholars all over the world regard labor as a scourge. They all try to avoid it and hate it deeply.

But Xia Zhibai didn't.

And now Xia Zhibai wants to pull Baigong down again.

This is not a pleasing thing either way.

There was also a lot of resentment in Mei Jiu's eyes.

He was becoming increasingly unhappy with this number one scholar.

He didn't choose a good official position. Even if he had entered the Hanlin Academy, he would have had a bright future now. But he became a commercial official, which cut off the financial resources of countless people and made him envied by countless people. Now he comes to meddle in the "iron" business, and wants to make his own decisions, letting the engineers and workers "work together".

Engineers are responsible for directing and arranging the work of the workers. They do do some things, but more often it is in the form of supervision.

How can they be confused with workers?
What is Xia Zhibai doing now? If the news of him robbing workers gets out, what will people think? I'm afraid that more people will laugh at him, and more people will feel disdain and disgust, which will be a disgrace to the reputation of scholars!

Xia Zhibai was still busy cleaning.

He didn't want to persuade.

It's unlikely to persuade him.

The world has always been a hierarchical society, but this class division, from the upper-class aristocratic families in the past to the later gentry, has been gradually weakened, hollowed out, and sinking. However, as the threshold for becoming a scholar has been lowered, this hierarchy has spread and taken root in the middle and lower classes.

Anyone who has read a little bit of education thinks that he is different from other farmers, that he is a cultured person, a scholar, and that he is superior to others.

The same goes for craftsmen, who feel that they have some skills and are different from those workers who can only follow instructions.

The lower you go, the stronger the sense of hierarchy is, and the more people care.

Many differences are forcibly drawn by people, which also creates conflicts.

He is very disdainful of today's scholars.

The scholars in the past would at least work for themselves and would not despise work. But now, after the knowledge has been drained away, the scholars have been replaced by farmers dressed in the garb of "culture". Such scholars cannot be called "scholars" at all.

He's going to do it.

It is to trample on the arrogance of scholars.

The so-called arrogance and self-importance of the soldiers were wiped out.

Let them return to their original position.

Heiwa and the others saw the cold eyes of the crowd on the sidelines, and they couldn't help but secretly clench their fists and weed faster.

Just as Zheng Yuanqing and others were watching with cold eyes, a rustling sound suddenly came from all around.

Everyone hurriedly followed the sound.

I saw a group of people in rags, carrying their own tools, walking towards this side.

See this.

Everyone around was shocked.

Especially Zhang Yu, he wiped his eyes hard, somewhat incredulous.

Did Xia Zhibai really call so many people?
He stood on tiptoe and tried to look back, but there was no end in sight. It seemed as if there were hundreds or thousands of people, but how was that possible?

How could Xia Zhibai possibly call so many people?
Zhang Yu was a little confused.

When he came, he just wanted to laugh at Xia Zhibai's joke, because he was sure that Xia Zhibai would not be able to find anyone this time. All the ways for Xia Zhibai to find helpers were blocked. Unless Xia Zhibai really spent a lot of money to invite someone over, it would be impossible.

But the court will not pay this money.

How much money can Xia Zhibai afford to hire him?

This is a dead end.

But now, the huge crowd in front of him slapped Zhang Yu hard.

Zheng Yuanqing also looked solemn.

He looked at the stunned Zhang Yu, then at Xia Zhibai who was still working hard, and felt heavy in his heart. They all underestimated this top scholar. His abilities were greater than they thought, and much greater.

Right under the nose of King Yan, he quietly and covertly recruited so many people.

Even the people in Prince Yan's Mansion didn't notice it.

What a means this is.

Zhang Yu stared at the crowd coming towards him, and finally saw a familiar figure among them.

Tian Jing.

He knew this man.

They are refugees who escaped from Daningwei.

But some time ago, the imperial court allocated land to Tian Jing, so why would Tian Jing come here?
This was not an order from the imperial court for them to serve.

Zhang Yu walked over quickly, stretched out his hand to stop Tian Jing, and said coldly: "Why did you come here? Did someone use the imperial order to lure you here to serve as laborers?"

Tian Jing shook her head.

Zhang Yu was still unwilling to give up, and continued to ask: "Then why did you come here? The intensity of work here is not low. You used to be a refugee, and your health is already very poor. How can you afford such hardship?"

Tian Jing looked at Zhang Yu blankly: "Food is provided here."

"Free meals?" Zhang Yu was stunned, a little incredulous: "Is it that simple? Just because of the free meals? Didn't the court give you land? And the court also gave you a lot of food, enough for you to use until next autumn harvest. Why do you still come here?"

Tian Jing scratched his head, not daring to hide anything, and smiled bitterly: "Sir, the court did give us land and did lend us grain."

"But my Lord, it was borrowed."

"You have to pay it back!"

"Someone here is advertising that as long as you come here, you will be provided with food, and it will last for more than a month, and salt will also be provided. In this month, how much food and salt can be saved? This is all hard-earned money. If this money is saved, it will be used to pay off the taxes and grain owed by the court. Isn't it good?"

"Why not come?"

　I stayed up late to write this, please read it tomorrow morning
　　
　
(End of this chapter)