Wei and Jin cooks

As the saying goes, when the people at the top lead the trend of chatting, the people below will flock to follow the trend; when the people at the top value farming and indulge in farming, the people below will turn to farming and mulberry, and the nobles working in the fields will be like The sky is filled with stars.

When the sober scribe was dragged into the field to dig ditches, he saw many familiar people in the field at a glance.

The scribes were all surprised and were not in a hurry to jump into the ditch. They just held their shovels and looked at the acquaintance in the field wielding a hoe. "Brother Jin, I didn't see you in prison. Why are you being punished?"

Brother Jin raised his head and looked around blankly. After a while, his eyes focused on the scribe. He frowned and said, "Why are you being punished? This land was rented by me and the Yamen. Food is very important. It seems that my time is mediocre." , my knowledge is also limited, it is impossible to help you to pacify the world, so I will work hard at the rear and study the method of farming."

He said: "Zhao Governor said that the weather has been bad in the past two years, and Qin Tianjian said that there may be drought, and the weather will become colder and drier as the weather goes down, so I want to try to see if I can grow a better one." Drought and cold tolerant seeds come.”

He looked at the other person up and down, and saw that he was holding a shovel, and standing next to him was a group of prisoners who had obviously just come out of prison. Not far away, there was a government officer holding a whip and staring at them, his expression a little playful, " Brother Zhou, are you... being punished?"

On the other side, the scribe who also rented the land with the Yamen said loudly: "Brother Jin, don't you know? Brother Zhou has been imprisoned for fighting and he will not be released for another seven days."

Brother Zhou didn't feel ashamed. He flicked his hair and said, "I can't understand the truth. I'm in prison for the sake of heaven. I'm not ashamed."

"Hey, Brother Zhou, if it's just a quarrel, how can the Yamen arrest you? Zhao Shijun doesn't stick to the people's opinions. Even if someone goes to the Yamen to scold her, she will do it. You clearly can't speak to others and hit them. , how can this hands-on argument be considered reasonable?"

"Who did Brother Zhou hit?"

"I beat a scribe from Shu, named Li Fangzhi."

Brother Zhou snorted and said, "Those who are crazy and rebellious should be beaten!"

The officer felt that they had chatted for long enough, so he wandered forward and urged, "It's time to work, it's time to work. You have to clear this section of the ditch. You won't be able to go back to prison until you finish."

Brother Zhou didn't take it seriously and snorted, as if he wanted to go back to prison. It was nice to be outside, with the sky and the ground covered, and you could watch the stars at night. How romantic.

So Brother Zhou was not in a hurry at all. After jumping into the ditch, he slowly shoveled up the soil and weeds inside. It took him a long time to clear out about ten steps.

The yamen servants saw this and cursed, but they had a special status and were not serious criminals, nor were they prisoners of the common people. When the whip was thrown, it could only fall to the ground.

Seeing them struggling like this, he wanted to jump down and do it for them.

As night fell, all the gold and silver brothers carried farm tools and returned to the city. Only this group of prisoners remained.

The yamen officer took a look at the channel they had cleared and gritted his teeth and said: "I have dug out such a section in one day. I don't have the shame to go back. No one is allowed to go back tonight. If the task is not completed in one day, no one is allowed to return to the city!"

Brother Zhou and a group of scribes didn't take it seriously at all. Then they gnawed a piece of dry bean dregs in the cold wind. Finally, a group of people gathered around a fire and shrank their necks feeling the cold wind blowing from all directions.

The government official came over with his neck hunched, and said to the group of romantic scribes: "The county government has posted a notice that it will be cold in spring for the past two days."

Scholars:...

After freezing all night, because I slept in the open, I could still hear the howling of wolves in the distance while lying on the ground. Although it was true that the sky was covered with darkness, and it was true that I could see the stars and the moon when I looked up, the scribes still felt that this Experiencing it once is enough.

So everyone worked hard the next day and the speed was much faster. In the evening, we were finally able to call it a day and return to the prison.

While carrying the shovel, Brother Zhou sniffed and said, "The dredging speed is still too slow. How can it be done by manpower alone?"

The scribe on the side asked, "Don't you still want to use animal power? Now is the critical time for plowing, and the power of cattle and horses has been used for plowing first."

"Instead of using animal power, we should improve the tools and use hoes and shovels to dig out the soil bit by bit and throw it up. It takes too much effort."

In fact, he was so tired that he felt like he couldn't lift his arms.

"How to change it?"

Brother Zhou said: "I have no idea about the hoeing part, but I have an idea about the shoveling part. I heard that the county government is now promoting water mills. I went to see the water mills in Chen County. They use water to turn the levers. , and then drive the water mill, there is a pedal in it, which is prepared to step on when the water power is insufficient, raise the water, enter the water, and then start."

"I think that pedal thing is very labor-saving. We can use it on the shovel. The strength of the legs is always stronger than the strength of the hands, right?"

When other scribes heard this, they thought it was feasible, so they went to the government officials and asked them to provide things, and they would start work tomorrow.

The yamen servant listened to their reports in silence, looked at their expressions carefully, and found that they were serious.

"Gentlemen, you are in prison now, and you eat bean dregs and bean cakes for two meals a day. Do you think the Yamen will give you money to buy these things? There is even iron. Do you know how expensive iron is?"

The scribes were silent for a while and then said: "We will pay for it ourselves."

This is no problem. The yamen servant immediately smiled and said, "If you gentlemen want to buy it, the younger ones can do it for you."

Although there is iron in it, the government officials are not afraid of them escaping from prison. The most among these scribes was only sentenced to ten days in prison. They have been in jail for two or three days before. The longest one will be released from prison in six days. , who would be so unthinkable about jailbreaking at this time?

So as long as they can afford it, the government officials will buy whatever they want.

Back in the prison, the yamen servant brought up another basin. There was bean dregs cake in it, which was still warm.

But the scribes were very disgusted. Yesterday it was because they had no conditions in the wild, and today they had returned to the city. They certainly couldn't bear to be wronged like this, so they all paid the yamen servants, "Go out and buy some steamed buns and bring them back."

"I want a bowl of noodles."

"I want a bowl of rice and two more dishes."

The yamen servant happily took the money and went out to find the cook who cooked for the yamen. After ordering the meal, he was sent to the prison for them in less than two quarters of an hour.

This is extra money for them and the cook. It’s so expensive to buy it from outside. The money won’t go to outsiders.

Since it was discovered that Zhao Hanzhang was very polite to literati and never restricted public opinion, more and more people were willing to come to Chen County, especially aspiring literati and warriors.

Affected by casual conversation, they will still express their views on various issues such as national politics in the streets in the hope of being appreciated by Bole.

Among them, there are always people who can't speak well of others. Among them, those who have a hot temper and are not very literary will take action directly.

As a result, more and more wealthy people stayed in prison for a short period of time, and the government officials were able to earn some extra money from them.

The newly arrived magistrate of Chen County, Gao Sachs, was very interested in this part of the extra money, so he went to Zhao Ming and asked Zhao Ming to allow him to add a new regulation.

Zhao Ming raised his eyebrows, "Redeeming someone with money?"