TN: bonus chapter!💕

There was chaos in Anfeng County, artillery fire was raging outside, countless loud noises seemed to be sounding right next to the ears, soldiers on the city wall were killed and wounded. In the palace Han Lin’er felt like an ant standing on a hot pot, and it was not only him, the same went for the palace servants and officials.

The men in Anfeng City have all climbed the city wall, and there were no more men to draft.

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Han Lin’er looked at Liu Futong with a look of fright: “Uncle, what should I do now?”

Liu Futong frowned and pursed his lips: “Don’t worry, I have asked someone to go out to investigate, but if it really doesn’t work, I will have someone escort you away.”

Only now did Han Lin’er believe in Liu Futong’s loyalty to him, but he knew it too late.

“Report——Your Majesty! The city wall has been breached, the enemy army…..has entered the city gates…..” The soldier was covered in dust, his face was covered in blood, he knelt on the ground, his hands still trembling slightly.

How could they only be called enemies, they were simply evil spirits, each one of them was as desperate as if they wanted to eat human flesh and blood.

Han Lin’er was dazed, his legs became unsteady and he fell to the ground.

On the other hand, Liu Futong was still able to remain steady. He gritted his teeth and said, “I still have three hundred elite soldiers. Let them escort you away!”

Han Lin’er’s eyes widened: “Uncle come with me.”

Liu Futong sighed: “You can only leave with me here.”

Liu Futong provided a delay for Han Lin’er to escape. Only when he was caught, Han Lin’er could leave.

But escape to where? Except for Haozhou, all places were now under the rule of Lin Yuan, and troops were stationed everywhere.

And Sun Deya had already proclaimed himself emperor, even if Han Lin’er escaped to Haozhou, he would inevitably die.

Liu Futong was unwilling to give up.

He had already done everything he could, but why did he still end up with such a result?

Was it because God was not on his side?

“Uncle.” Han Lin’er, “Let’s go together.”

Liu Futong shook his head and said to the guards beside him, “Escort the emperor to leave, and one day we will be able to make a comeback!”

The guards answered and walked to Han Lin’er’s side: “Your Majesty, let’s go.”

Han Lin’er had tears in his eyes: “Uncle, you must take care, I’ll be waiting for you outside.”

His self-reference had changed from Zhen to I.

Han Lin’er was taken away by the guards. Liu Futong sat alone in the hall. Outside, there were the cries of the palace maids and the eunuchs, as well as the sound of heavy footsteps. Everyone was running for their lives and wanted to live.

Liu Futong smiled bitterly, picked up the tea by his hand, and quietly waited for his destiny.

When he followed Han Shantong back then, he was once proud and full of mettle. They made up their minds to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty. At that time, he was the most ambitious in his life. As long as Leader Han was around, he was not afraid of anything.

Later…..Han Shantong died, and he took Han Lin’er to establish another dynasty, and made Han Lin’er the emperor.

The world seemed to be within reach.

He himself didn’t know why the sky suddenly changed, the South Bodhisattva appeared, and he was as fierce as a tiger descending the mountain and roaring in the forest.

At the beginning, he didn’t want to deal with it. After all, the Yuan Dynasty had not yet fallen, and the more powerful the South Bodhisattva was, the more he could attract the attention of all the forces. He was waiting for South Bodhisattva to perish by himself.

But the South Bodhisattva did not perish. On the contrary, he became bigger and bigger, and he held more and more cities in his hands, and raised more and more elite soldiers.

Where did he lose?

Liu Futong was not willing to admit defeat, he was full of doubts and wanted to ask that South Bodhisattva, but he also knew that his doubts would not be able to be voiced.

A eunuch stumbled into the hall: “Prime Minister, the palace gate is broken…..”

Liu Futong nodded, indicating that he knew.

The eunuch knelt in front of Liu Futong, raised his head, his eyes full of despair: “Prime Minister, please run away!”

He hoped that Liu Futong would take him with him when he escaped.

However, Liu Futong smiled: “Escape to where? Running away and be a farmer? Then I might as well die at this moment.”

The eunuch took a few steps on his knees, tears running down his face: “Prime Minister, while the green hills last, there’ll be wood to burn (TN: Where there’s life there’s hope), Prime Minister…..”

Liu Futong: “Are you afraid of death?”

The eunuch didn’t answer, but had a look of fright on his face, who was not afraid of death? It was better to live a bad life than to die a good death. Back then, he would enter the palace as a eunuch because he couldn’t feed himself outside.

Liu Futong smiled, but did not say anything.

The eunuch fell on the ground and sobbed.

He just wanted to live a good life, a day when he could wear warm clothes and eat enough, his parents sent him to the palace with their own hands, and before entering the palace, they said to him: “Son, we have failed you, but if you don’t enter the palace, you can only starve to death, don’t hate your parents, you will be reborn to a good family in your next life…..”

He didn’t hate his parents. Not long after he entered the palace, his parents died, not by starvation, but by a beating from a noble.

Why was it so hard to live a good life?

In the palace, he also did the most dirty work. Other servants bullied him. The money he earned every month was to be offered up to the eunuchs above. He didn’t starve to death when he entered the palace, so he could only climb up. Those who died in his hands might not number in the thousands but at least reached the hundreds.

But it hadn’t been long since he climbed up, and he hadn’t eaten a few meals of meat either, but Anfeng was already finished, and so was the emperor.

The eunuch looked at Liu Futong with tears in his eyes: “Prime Minister, aren’t you afraid of death?”

Were there really people in this world who were not afraid of death?

At this moment, Liu Futong actually had the mind to talk to a small servant. He looked at the direction of the palace gate, heard the screams of the killing getting closer, and said with a smile: “I’m different from you, you are satisfied with enough food and warm clothing. No matter how much more you want, it is just to recognize a few more godsons and goddaughters, so that when you get old and leave the palace, there will be people to support your retirement.”

“But I can’t.” Liu Futong, “I might as well die rather than live like that.”

He had tasted power, tasted what it was like to be only below one person and above tens of thousands of others, tasted what it was like to inspire fear with just a look from his eyes. So long as one tasted such a thing, there would not be anyone still willing to go back to living a common life.

He was once the prime minister, he couldn’t bear to let him be a commoner again.

You couldn’t live like that.

Liu Futong closed his eyes.

Han Lin’er was taken out by the guards through the side door. He suddenly thought of something and said to the guards, “I…..Zhen has to take someone along!”

The guards were ruthless: “Your Majesty, the top priority is to see you away.”

Han Lin’er gritted his teeth: “No, no, I can’t abandon her here!”

The guards on both sides looked at each other and grabbed Han Lin’er’s arm: “Your Majesty, forgive or offense.”

Han Lin’er’s eyes widened. He knew the crisis at the moment, but he couldn’t not worry about An Xiu.

If he left, what about An Xiu? Would the enemy let her go?

Surely she would be defiled, right?

She would definitely think, why didn’t he save her and just ran for his own life.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Han Lin’er gritted his teeth and glanced in the direction of the harem. His eyes were red, but he was unable to resist or struggle out from the grip.

Xiu’er, don’t blame Zhen, Zhen can’t even help myself, in the future…..I will definitely burn paper money for you, so that you have money to use in the underworld, reincarnate in the next life, and be Zhen’s woman again.

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TN: bonus chapter!💕

“Are you attending the imperial examination this time?” Zhao Lin asked while sorting out the books. He didn’t work under Zhou Rong originally, but when Zhou Rong told him he was short of people he thought that for the sake of brotherhood he should come. But he was also afraid of his family scolding him, so he avoided going home and went to Zhou Rong’s house to mooch off food and drink.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Zhou Rong’s family was different from other families. His family had suffered poverty, and knew the benefits of making it big. There were children in the family who were willing to sacrifice their lives in exchange for their future, and they were also willing to follow. They were bound together for good or ill, so they were all looking forward to riding on his success.

Zhou Rong was still reading the words. His eyes hurt when he looked at the words recently. He had to think carefully about how to change each word, how to simplify it, so that the illiterate would find it simple, he took a deep breath: “No. “

Zhao Lin: “You really won’t go? But it’s such a great opportunity? The first imperial examinations of the new dynasty, how honorable will it be to pass!”

“I can forget about thinking of being No. 1 or No. 3. It would be nice to have a No. 2 spot or just one of the Jinshi (TN: palace graduates).”

“I heard that His Majesty has added a new one. Shuji Shi (TN: title of the temporary position in the Hanlin Academy, conferred to meritorious candidates until the next examination) will be selected from the Jinshi and are able to enter Hanlin Academy.” Zhao Lin had already inquired clearly.

Zhou Rong waved his hand: “I’m busy, I’m already an official, how can I attend the imperial examination? You’re still a commoner, you can go by yourself, why do you insist on pulling someone with you, it’s not like we are little girls holding hands to go to the toilets.”

Zhao Lin choked: “What are you saying? Who makes comparisons like that?”

“Forget it, I am not chatting with you anymore.” Zhao Lin rolled his eyes and moved the sorted books to the other side, “I’ll pass the exam, and then my official post will be higher than yours, so don’t be envious then.”

Zhou Rong didn’t even look at him: “Then I congratulate Lord Zhao in advance.”

Zhao Lin couldn’t win against him in a verbal fight, so he could only return to the writing desk and continue with his work.

Outside because of the imperial examinations everyone was very busy, but Lin Yuan didn’t care, he was currently looking at the pencils made by the craftsmen.

The craftsmen were still experimenting how to make pens, but they have done a good job on pencils. Don’t underestimate the wisdom of craftsmen in this era. They sometimes have enterprising spirit and pioneering spirit. So long as the policies from above encourage them to be enterprising and pioneering, they would eagerly experiment and research.

There was also the improvement of paper, as the common people could not afford the paper of this era.

Especially fine writing paper.

Lin Yuan also gathered a group of skilled experts to make improvements.

Mainly because there was no machine, it all depended on manual labor, manual labor was also included in the overall cost, and the price of course could not go down.

Lin Yuan looked at the pencil.

It was thicker than modern ones, as thick as a finger of an adult man.

Lin Yuan asked: “Can it be thinner?”

The craftsman was very frightened and did not dare to raise his head: “As, as long as more time is spent…..it will definitely be possible.”

Lin Yuan smiled: “Well done.”

The craftsman breathed a sigh of relief.

The people would not be rewarded by him in person, they would be rewarded after they were dismissed.

It was a father and son who produce the pencil. They were both attentive people. They had tried countless times before they managed to produce the pencil.

When they returned to the workshop, the emperor’s reward arrived.

Four pieces of cloth, ten taels of gold, two jade rings and a piece of silk, as well as gold and silver jewelry for the women in the family.

These rewards were sent by the eunuchs, and the eyes of the craftsmen all widened.

Although His Majesty said that there was a reward for doing well, no one expected such a reward.

Twelve taels of gold…..So long as they didn’t spend it randomly, it was enough for a lifetime.

Not to mention the other rewards.

The other craftsmen were jealous, and they worked harder on their own work. So long as they did well, they might get a bigger reward.

Wasn’t it just making a small measly pen? They could make even more amazing things!

For a while, the heart of competition between craftsmen had grown.

But this kind of competition was benign, and Lin Yuan didn’t bother to mind it.

In addition to pencils and paper, the spinning jenny was also drawn out by Lin Yuan. He remembered the rough design and operations, and the rest could only be perfected by craftsmen.

The spinning jenny could only be regarded as a beginning, after all, the spinning jenny still relied on human power.

Lin Yuan remembered that after the spinning jenny, there was the hydraulic spinning machine. Although it was hydraulic, the factory needed to be built near water, and hundreds of workers needed to work together. It was not until the appearance of the steam engine providing new power that phased out the water based factory limitations.

The principle of steam was very clear to modern people. It was nothing more than the conversion of steam energy into mechanical reciprocating power.

Lin Yuan was impatient. He didn’t know if he could produce a steam engine, but if he had this idea, he would try it. If he didn’t succeed, he would lose some money, but not a lot. If he succeeded, then the impact on the development of society and industry would be huge.

And his greatest advantage was that he knew these principles and the approximate structure of a steam engine.

As long as a basic version was made, it could keep being revised and improved.

And the original steam engine was not difficult to manufacture.

Almost all the craftsmen in Beijing were brought together by Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan was not worried about these basic industrial equipment.

His worry was electricity.

It was impossible to develop electricity without basic industries.

The sources of electricity include thermal power, hydropower, wind power, nuclear power plants, solar power, and hydrogen power.

These all require industrial infrastructure support.

Lin Yuan thought about it, and finally decided to slow down.

At least basic industrial equipment was required to consider these.

And it was already very good that he could lay the foundation for industrial equipment in his lifetime.

The spinning jenny came out very quickly. The craftsmen used to make spinning wheels, all of which were used for spinning cloth. After having the blueprints, they learned by analogy. Aside from the spinning jenny there was the flying shuttle.

The flying shuttle could speed up the spinning thread, and the spinning jenny could speed up weaving cloth, and the efficiency was more than three times higher than that of the traditional textile industry.

But while the flying shuttle could still be called the flying shuttle, the spinning jenny had to change its name. Lin Yuan chose a simple and easy-to-understand one, which was the spinning machine.

These were not considered to be complete industries, but only handicrafts.

The power origin was still manpower.

The thing was made, but how to let the common people use it had become a problem.

In the end, Lin Yuan called Yang Shaowei and had him print out the drawings. Everywhere must have them, they must all  produce spinning machines, and they must promote and spread its use.

Yang Shaowei had been idle for these days, and his whole person had become uncomfortable since he was idle for a long time. With work, his whole person was much more energetic.

Although he didn’t marry, he still had a lot of close lady friends.

He didn’t know how to spin and weave, so he took the blueprints to ask his lady friend.

When his lady friend learned that this spinning machine and shuttle could increase the efficiency of weaving by more than three times, her whole person was dumbstruck.

Weaving was hard work, and spinning was the same. Many people wear out their eyes, and they couldn’t see clearly during dark hours once their age advanced.

However, most of the female members of small households rely on spinning cloth to supplement their households.

With something like this, they didn’t have to suffer like they used to.

The lady friend burst into tears: “I knew earlier that His Majesty loves the people, but now this slave finally has a better understanding.”

Yang Shaowei sent people to various places, and they distributed tasks non-stop. The carpenters in various places had work to do, and the imperial court provided food and shelter, and gave them monthly wages.

The spinning machines that were produced could be assigned to each village, and the same was true for the shuttle.

The drawings were also hung on the public announcement boards, and people could copy it down at will.

Gaoyou’s Lizi Village was the first village in the area to get their allotted spinning machine.

The villagers in Lizi Village did not have the surname Li. It was because the plums in their village have grown well every year, so they were called this name.

When the spinning machine was delivered, the whole village showed up, men, women and children gathered together and looked at the spinning machine as tgey were looking at an odd creature.

“So big…..”

“Just don’t know how to use it.”

“Is it used the same as the one at home?”

Fortunately, the imperial court also sent someone down to teach them how to use it.

There were many women who could weave in the village. After all, Gaoyou was richer than other places. The female members bought spinning wheels early on and weaved more cloth. Although they didn’t know if the current tax could be paid with cloth, so long as they could weave, no matter what it would still help them earn money.

“Aiya! So many! So fast!”

“That spinning thread thing is also amazing! Why are there so many!”

The villagers of Lizi Village were lively for the whole day, and the women all got a chance to try it, and they didn’t want to stop when their hands started to move.

But this was the only one in the village. If they want one of their own they have to go to the city to copy the drawing and then find a carpenter to make it.

But the carpenters were all in the government office now.

At this time, the ability of the businessmen was shown.

They found that there was profit to be made, so they quickly made copies of the blueprints and rushed to produce it overnight. As soon as the court’s spinning machines were handed out, the merchants began to sell spinning machines as well. They also asked the Merchants’ Guild. Now the Merchants’ Guild and the court were linked together, and the Merchants’ Guild also knew what the court intended, so they did not prohibit them from selling.

A spinning machine cost twenty taels of silver.

For ordinary people, it was simply unaffordable.

But Gaoyou people were rich.

Gaoyou produced salt, not only salt production, but also had a very developed commerce. Taizhou was rich, and Gaoyou was the richest place in all areas of Taizhou.

The merchants’ first batch were quickly sold out.

The merchants didn’t have enough carpenters, so they started looking for out-of-town carpenters, but the out-of-town carpenters were also recruited by the local government, so the merchants went to find the carpenters’ apprentices and sons.

Carpentry suddenly became a sought after profession.

Many families were preparing to send their sons to learn the craftsmanship of carpentry in the future, maybe they could lead the whole family to make a fortune.

Now, a carpenter who could make a spinning machine could earn two taels a month, which was not even the highest.

If one could be a master carpenter, one could even earn five taels a month.

There was also a merchant who found people to make spinning machines by, then build a workshop, and then hired female workers to do the work.

Why didn’t they hire men? Because the requirements for using the spinning machine were not very different between men and women, and women workers were cheaper than men, so of course women were selected.

When the merchants who were still selling sewing machines realized it, this surnamed Dan merchant had already taken the lead. He had his own shops that sold cloth and workshops to weave cloth. Monopolizing the whole process naturally earned him a lot of money.

The common people were very adaptable. Although the world had only been stable for a few years, they were already full of vitality.

The poor were still poor, but there were very few cases of starvation. The lands were open up for farming, and potatoes and sweet potatoes filled the belly of the poor.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

The people’s goal had changed from not starving to living a better life.

The weaving factories were built one by one, and Lin Yuan let it develop.

The domestic market would definitely be saturated.

He just wondered if it could be sold to Korea or Japan.

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Capturing Anfeng was the first priority. Anfeng was now a mess. Both the common people and the court have lost their backbone. The people had fled, and the officials were still embezzling money. Although Han Lin’er had chopped off a number of heads, he was not strong enough. Even now with Liu Futong standing by his side, the officials only stopped for a while, and soon they went back to their old ways.

They used to take more money in order to help them climb up the ladder, but now even if they couldn’t go up, once the opening was opened, no one could control it.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Anfeng gradually turned into the former Yuan Dynasty, and the people were struggling to live.

Especially with the people under Lin Yuan’s rule living better and better lives. The common people of Anfeng became envious, and many of them sneaked to Lin Yuan’s land.

Even if they were caught and beheaded, they still ran away.

The most fearful thing in fighting wars was when the ruler and his ministers were of a single mind, the monarch was wise, the civil ministers were devoted to their duties, and the generals fought bravely.

The current situation in Anfeng was dark and murky and had nothing to do with the monarch and ministers being of a single mind.

When Lin Yuan sent Chen Baisong off, he warned: “It’s still the old rule, the common people can’t be touched, the officials you can do whatever you want.”

Chen Baisong nodded. He still felt dazed when he saw Lin Yuan, but he was not as restrained as before. Since that night, Lin Yuan had not called Chen Baisong to enter the palace, so Chen Baisong could only stay in the military camp.

Lin Yuan also didn’t want to push Chen Baisong too closely. This time Chen Baisong went on the expedition to give both parties a cooling-off period.

He believed that Chen Baisong would figure it out.

“Han Lin’er…..” Lin Yuan sighed, “Give him a whole corpse and bury him well.”

Burying him well meant that it could not be discarded at will, and at least a coffin must be prepared.

Chen Baisong nodded: “I understand.”

Lin Yuan handed the tiger tally to Chen Baisong: “Go, take care.”

Before leaving, Chen Baisong took a deep look at Lin Yuan, and then he whipped his horse and left with a mighty army of tens of thousands.

After Chen Baisong was gone, Lin Yuan returned to the study to read through the memorials.

When he was reading through the memorials, there was only Er Liang by his side. He had followed him for many years and knew what kind of tea he liked to drink and what temperature he liked it to be. Observing words and expressions was a matter of skill. While Er Liang was not naturally talented, he made up for it with hard work.

The first memorial he picked up was from Zhou Rong, which mainly said: “I have already done what Your Majesty has entrusted, the schools in each district have been completely set up, the children of the common people have also been sent in to study, and the written text has also been mostly simplified. I have come up with a general outline, and they are all attached in the booklet, please take a look. I ask Your Majesty to be sympathetic, and find some more people for this official, the previous scholars have left halfway, and there is no one left in my hands.”

Lin Yuan took a sip of tea, but couldn’t hold back his anger, he took a deep breath: “Er Liang.”

Er Liang said quickly, “The servant is here.”

Lin Yuan: “Go, get Song Lian and Song Shizhao for me!”

Er Liang didn’t know what was going on, so he quickly relayed the order.

He was Lin Yuan’s close attendant, and he would not leave the palace easily. This kind of trivial matter of finding someone only needed to be instructed to the internal officials.

The eunuchs rarely have errands, so they gathered around Er Liang and said, “Good brother, give us some hints, what is His Majesty’s mood? We will have a general understanding in our hearts, which will help us talk when we go out.”

Er Liang: “You just tell them to be obedient before His Majesty.”

The eunuchs understood, these two lords made His Majesty angry.

The eunuchs depended on this to live. Towards the people the emperor liked, when they go to call them over, they must flatter and say good things.

Those the emperor disliked, they would put on the appropriate attitude accordingly.

There was the intention of holding up and stepping down, but the most important thing was to remind the other party what the situation was now, the other party would remember this favor, for the possibility when they would need to ask for help in the future.

Song Shizhao walked beside the eunuch: “Zhao Gonggong, has His Majesty said anything?”

Zhao Gonggong was a young man with a face shaped like a melon. He was not favored in the previous dynasty. He had always been a eunuch relegated to manual labor, such as being in charge of the sweeping. Later, the imperial city changed hands, and he was lucky enough to be assigned to the Yanchun Pavilion as a sweeping eunuch. He then tried his best to have a good relationship with Er Liang, finally allowing him to have today’s dignity.

They were eunuchs, rootless people, and the only thing left to care about in this life was face and dignity.

Only by being loyal to His Majesty could they maintain their dignity.

Zhao Gonggong glanced at Song Shizhao, knowing Song Shizhao’s status his tone softened a lot: “My lord, why not think over it some more?”

Song Shizhao really couldn’t think of anything. He had been busy with the imperial examinations recently. Whether it was the test questions or the system, he was still discussing and negotiating.

Song Lian didn’t know either, he had been preoccupied revising books recently.

Mainly revising the dictionary, this was a job given to him by Lin Yuan, cooperating with Zhou Rong to get the dictionary in simplified Chinese characters. Song Lian’s head almost went bald during this period.

Every morning when he woke up, the pillow was covered with clumps of hair.

He was always afraid that his teacher and the sages would climb out of the underworld and give him a good beating.

Simplifying the orthodox characters, Song Lian didn’t even dare to think about it. Those were texts that had evolved from ancient Chinese characters, and changing even a single stroke was like killing him.

But he also knew that he could not persuade Lin Yuan, because this was a good thing.

This showed that knowledge was no longer monopolized by a small group of people.

Reading was difficult, and the difficulty lay in recognizing words.

Children’s enlightenment began by learning to memorize characters first, and then match the words on books, one by one, the smart learned quickly, but the dense were hard to say.

Not to mention the children of common people, the whole family was illiterate, they have no enlightenment, and they wouldn’t be able to keep up even after being sent to school.

Oh, the word illiteracy was said by His Majesty, Song Lian thought it was quite appropriate.

So Song Lian toughened his scalp and continued and his work without shirking his duties.

This was a good thing, but it would lead to infamy, and it might take decades and hundreds of years for his name to be corrected.

For this reason, he was now editing books at the Hanlin Academy, and he did not have contact with anyone except his colleagues.

He didn’t want to hear how the outside world scolded him.

Song Shizhao and Song Lian met each other at the entrance of the Yude Hall. Seeing that the other party also had a confused expression, they knew that neither of them knew what made Lin Yuan unhappy.

But no matter what it was, if the emperor was unhappy, then it must be the fault of the official, don’t care who was in the wrong, just admit their wrong first.

As soon as the two entered, they saw Lin Yuan sitting behind the desk with a dark face, the tea by his hand still steaming.

Song Shizhao and Song Lian wanted to make greetings, but Lin Yuan’s tone was cold and hard: “No need, come here.”

Lin Yuan threw the memorial to them: “Take a good look at it, what do you see?”

Song Shizhao and Song Lian didn’t dare to dally, they read the memorial together, and they were shocked after reading it.

Song Shizhao secretly scolded those scholars for being stupid, not only were they stupid they were poisonous. What did they mean to act this way? Was this slapping Zhou Rong in the face? It was slapping His Majesty’s face! To say it lightly, this was great disrespect, and to say it seriously this was duping one’s sovereign! This was a death penalty whether light or serious!

They were just relying on the fact that there was no one in His Majesty’s hands, it was just to use the so-called literati style to force His Majesty. No wonder His Majesty had displayed such anger.

Even if His Majesty had ordered those men to be arrested and killed, Song Shizhao would still feel that it was entirely appropriate.

When the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty were on the throne, why didn’t they have such a noble spirit?

Song Lian’s expression also changed, Song Shizhao was angry, he was frightened.

What he was afraid of was that Lin Yuan would get angry and kill people, and the court, which had finally stabilized, would be thrown into turmoil again.

After all, apart from those who resigned on their own, there were still a lot of sons from well-behaved families doing practical things. He was afraid that killing those disobedient ones would result in chilling the hearts of the obedient.

“Your Majesty.” Song Shizhao was about to speak, but Song Lian interrupted him at this moment, “Your Majesty, according to this official, it’s better to send them home and ask them to discipline themselves.”

Lin Yuan sneered: “They slapped Zhen in the face and you say to send them home to enjoy themselves?”

Song Lian: “Your Majesty can punish one person, but if you punish as many as ten people, I’m afraid that rumors will spread wildly and chill the hearts of more people.”

Lin Yuan couldn’t swallow his anger, he had a cold face, his gaze causing Song Lian and Song Shizhao to tremble with fear.

Lin Yuan was now more imposing, even just curving the corners of his mouth down, he could scare the people who were serving him.

“Fine, then bestow a plaque to every household!” Lin Yuan, “Bestow them with the words “stubbornly sticking to old ways”!”

Song Lian lowered his head a little lower. So long as he didn’t kill people, it would be fine. With these words used to label them publicly, those families would not be able to get up again for generations.

Song Shizhao said: “These words are good.”

The plaques were ready very quickly.

When the master artisan was making the plaque, the apprentice asked, “Master, what does this mean?”

The old master artisan was illiterate and did not know: “Making it into a plaque, it must be a compliment, right? Those families are blessed!”

When they heard that His Majesty bestowed a plaque to them, the several families rejoiced.

It must be that His Majesty saw their benefits, so he gave them a plaque to recruit them.

But the result was, when the plaque was hung up, the red silk was pulled down, and four large characters appeared in front of their eyes, the family patriarch was unable to stand the impact, eyes rolling back and fainting.

Everyone in the family was silent, only the sound of a child reciting: “stubbornly sticking to old ways.”

His mother covered his mouth, and the entire family could no longer make a smile.

This was the plaque given by His Majesty, they couldn’t put it down, everyone who came and went could see it, and those literate would laugh at them.

These words came from “Self-litigation” written by Liu Shu of the Song Dynasty.

“Stubbornly sticking to old ways, not changing with the times, becoming stagnant and broken, toiling but accomplishing little.”

This was to say that their family was stagnating and conservative, ignorant of progress, and advocating old-fashioned laws.

It was only then that the matter of the younger generation in the family was revealed. The one who was chosen by Zhou Rong had already gone home, and even his parents only thought that their son had a falling out with Zhou Rong.

The old patriarch fell ill from anger, lying on the bed gasping for breath.

As tree bark to a tree, keeping up appearance is important to a person, their family’s face was lost completely, no matter who walked past this house, they could point fingers at them.

How could the ignorant family personally pointed out by the emperor not be seen with contempt?

The other families were in a similar situation.

There were ten families who received this plaque in the capital. They used to be wealthy affluent families, but now their faces have been trampled on the ground.

Even other aristocratic families didn’t pity them.

Aristocratic families have the wisdom of aristocratic families, and they felt that these families were short-sighted.

If you have the guts, go to persuade the emperor, kowtow your head, kowtow your life away, that way at least you would have a good reputation from using your life to persuade.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

But in contrast, you only dared to show your attitude to the unimportant Zhou Rong and slap Zhou Rong in the face? Standing behind Zhou Rong was the emperor!

Such stupidity caused people to be unable to develop even a speck of pity.

It just made others feel that such stupid people were better off going back to their hometowns and be a farmer.

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“Someone is beating the drum at the entrance of the village!” The village woman excitedly pushed her man, “Go, go and listen.”

The man was exasperated: “You also have shoes to wear now. There are more than one pair of shoes at home. Let’s go together.”

The village woman touched the back of her head: “Ai, I forgot about this.”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Now was no longer the time when the family only had one set of presentable clothes and one pair of shoes.

Seeing that all the people were almost here, the village head shouted loudly, “Someone from above has come! They said they want to build roads and bridges! They also want to build water wheels!”

The faces of the people below changed instantly. This was a draft. There was no monetary payment and you may not be able to even eat a full meal. If you die, there is no place to even cry.

At this time, the village head said again: “The above said, they will take care of three meals a day! All solid food! Full meals! There is also monthly wages! The harder the work, the more monthly wages!”

“Those who will build roads depends on which part of the road to be built!”

The village head spoke until his mouth was dry, and it was his wife who brought him a bowl of water to moisten his throat, so he could continue to speak: “At least 50 big banknotes a month!”

The people below started chattering.

“Building roads is a bit harder, but with money being paid, it earns much more than farming, and it’s also not farming season, so the wife at home can take care of the house and children.”

“That’s right, if it’s me, I won’t make fifty big banknotes. I will earn at least one hundred big banknotes. Maybe I’ll even be able to rebuild the house when I come back after work.”

The crowd of people put their heads together to discuss.

The village head said again: “Not everyone can go. You need to have a healthy physique. Anyone over the age of 15 and under 40, whoever signs up first, I’ll report you first, so you all go back and discuss with your family.”

“Move along. Come and find me before it gets dark. The registration time is three days, and after three days, there will be no chance left.”

Someone shouted from below, “Village head, will your family go?”

The village head gulped down a bowl of water: “Go, my three sons, all three! After earning money to build a house, and then marry and bring my daughter-in-laws back home!”

“Even the village head’s family will go, so I will go too!”

“I am going too!”

“Village head! Are girls allowed?”

The person who asked the question was an orphan girl who had no land. She made money by weaving rattan baskets in the village. Sometimes she also worked in the laundromats in the town. If any farmer in the village needed help she would also go, she only asked for some corn or beans or the like. The living conditions were very impoverished.

She lived in a thatched hut and adopted an orphan boy a few days ago. The orphan boy was only four or five years old. His parents died while fleeing, and he had survived until now with the help of others.

The orphan girl saw that he was pitiful, so she let him live with her.

Although the people in the village laughed at her saying she had found a child husband for herself, they all knew that she did not have it easy supporting herself and the boy.

Someone next to her said to her: “You little girl, are you even fighting men for food?”

The orphan girl looked at him: “Men have to eat, women also have to eat, everyone is grabbing food from the hands of God.”

Someone laughed: “Er Zhuzi, you can’t win against her in a verbal fight.”

The village head coughed: “Girls are allowed, but girls don’t get as much wages as men, unless the foreman decides that you have worked harder, then your monthly wages will be raised.”

Orphan girl: “Then I’ll go, village head, write down my name.”

Village head sighed, “Don’t you need to watch your child?”

The orphan girl shook her head: “He won’t starve to death. He survived before without me. I will earn more money and send him to the town to study at school.”

The people around said: “Such treatment is even better than that between two blood siblings. You’re not afraid that after he grows up he’ll ignore you?”

The orphan girl said firmly: “My father and mother are gone, and his father and mother are gone. We are both lone orphans. I treat him as family not because I want him to repay me in the future.”

“Then I’ll go too! I’m a grown man, yet I’m not as brave as a little girl? If others hear this they will laugh!”

“Go, I’ll go too!”

The village head recorded the names one by one, but still said: “Go back and discuss with your family, lest the wife disagrees.”

“My wife just listens to me, I say one and she doesn’t dare to say two!”

“Zhao San, you sure know how to talk big, who was kicked out of the house by the wife in the middle of the night last month and went to sit on the field ridge for an entire night?”

Zhao San blushed: “Don’t talk nonsense! I just felt that it was too hot in the house!”

The crowd burst into laughter.

Zhao San glared at them one by one, but couldn’t manage to glare at all as there were too many.

He managed to marry a wife with much difficulty, she had a round face and red cheeks, a sweet and soft voice, was not finicky but a good and hard worker.

How could he be willing to say a heavy word to her?

He just wanted to hold her in his arms every day.

Before, he never dared to think that he could marry a wife.

At that time, the village was so poor. Every family, whenever they gave birth to a girl they either abandoned or drowned the baby.

Ten miles and eight townships were all men. If anyone had a daughter, even if she was still a breastfeeding baby, someone would already want to engage their son to her.

Even in the village head’s family, there were three sons, the oldest was over thirty, the youngest was twenty, all three were bachelors.

It was Zhao San who was lucky. He went to the town to go to the market and met his wife who was setting up a stall. Although the two did not say it out loud, they both developed feelings towards each other after several meetings. Zhao San was afraid that he was too poor and the girl’s family would not agree, so he worked as hard as he could. After earning some money, buying a few acres of land, and preparing proposal gifts, only then did he ask the matchmaker to propose marriage on his behalf.

He was the first of those his age to marry in the village.

When the orphan girl first came to the village, the matchmakers almost wore out the door threshold of her thatched hut. If it wasn’t for her lack of interest, the men in the whole village were all for her to pick and choose from.

There was also a pair of brothers who were willing to share a wife. Anyway, they were blood brothers, and the children born would all have the blood of their family.

Even so, the orphan girl didn’t agree.

Fortunately, the village was now under strict lawful order, otherwise who knew what those old bachelors could do.

Zhao San thought of this, and started to worry again. If he left, leaving just his wife and old parents at home, if someone had evil intentions, what would happen without an able bodied man at home?

He went home and told his wife about this.

The wife asked, “Did the village head say how long it will take?”

Zhao San thought for a while: “He said, if you work near home, the money will be less, but every seven days there will be a day off, so you can go home and have a look.”

“If you go to a farther place, you have to work for half a year, but the money will be more.”

The wife said: “Our family has land, and the daily expenses are not large. You work near home. It’s safer.”

Zhao San grinned: “Sure, I’ll listen to you.”

The wife also smiled at him: “I also learned to weave the rattan baskets, and I can take them to the town to sell when we go to the market. Let’s work together, and life will definitely get better and better.”

Zhao San kept nodding, not pausing even as he spoke: “Then you have to follow the people in the village when going to the market.”

The wife laughed at him: “I’m not a toddler. Now, when the market is open in the town, there are soldiers watching. They are even equipped with weapons. No one dares to make trouble.”

Zhao San buried his head in his wife’s arms: “No, I’m worried.”

The wife kicked him: “Go and wash up for dinner, we are eating your favorite sweet potato rice today.”

Sweet potatoes mixed white rice was filling and not as expensive as plain white rice.

Zhao San drooled as soon as he heard it: “What kind of dishes are there?”

“Edible fern fronds, cold vegetables dressed with sauce.” The wife said, “There is also a big fish. I just cooked fish soup which is good for helping mother-in-law and father-in-law recuperate their health. Having suffered a few years ago, both mother-in-law and father-in-law’s legs always hurt these days.”

Zhao San’s eyes reddened, he hugged his wife and kissed her fiercely, unable to say another word.

For the sake of his parents and such a good wife, he had to work hard to earn money.

After half a month, someone came to lead the people away, and the three sons of the village head’s family were also among them. But they did not go to work near the village, but went farther away, saying that they were going to build bridges so that they could get more money, but it was also dangerous.

The eldest son said, “I heard that a bridge builder can earn 500 coins a month.”

“And two sets of clothes.”

“After working for six months, one will be able to build a house and buy two acres of land.”

“It’s dangerous, but the three of us go together and will take care of each other. We’re all strong men, and nothing bad will happen.”

The orphan girl went to build a road nearby.

Every seven days, she could go back to the village to see her brother. She just wanted to build a brick house, even a smaller one was fine. It was enough to have two rooms.

Always living in a thatched hut was uncomfortable.

The group of people said goodbye to their family members and left with their luggage.

While walking on the road, they even began to sing songs.

Lin Yuan looked at the memorials. Everywhere under his rule had begun vigorous infrastructure construction.

The top priority was to build roads. If you want to be rich, build roads first. All modern people knew this truth.

Bridges and water conservancy were among this, bridges were also roads, and water conservancy was the foundation of agriculture.

As for the wages, it was all from treasuries of local governments, and it must be reported to the top uniformly.

Lin Yuan knew how much money there was in the treasuries of these local governments. He would subsidize the poor places, and local officials would send up the money from the rich places.

For example, in Taizhou, Jiang Gui was in charge, and Jiang Gui had sent the tribute silver taels at the beginning of the year.

The same was with Ru Ning.

In affluent places, officials also knew that they couldn’t hide it. The account book was there, and the market had regulations made by merchants. There was also a set of account books on the merchant’s side. So it was easy to discover tampering just by comparing the account books.

What was more, the household registrations had also increased. How many people were in a city and what was everyone’s income, it all added up to a general number.

Officials also have places where they could embezzle some money, as the above was not too strict.

But everyone knew the meaning and bottom line from the above.

No one wanted to use the head on their neck to see if they could embezzle more than was allowed.

Song Shizhao said to Lin Yuan: “There aren’t any with particularly great daring. You have chopped off a lot of heads a few years ago, and their daring has become less.”

Lin Yuan put the memorial aside: “It’s a blessing that those heads that were cut last time could manage to intimidate them for as long as ten years.”

The modern Internet was so developed, but the fall of so many corrupt officials relied on the proof provided by their mistresses in the end.

So it was conceivable that in ancient times when information and transportation were so underdeveloped, there would only be more corrupt officials, not less.

Lin Yuan smiled and said, “Mister, don’t put on a bitter face. Zhen knows in my heart that there are no fish when the water is clear. Zhen has already given them space. If they still do not know what is good for them, then it can not be blamed on Zhen.”

Song Shizhao: “Your Majesty has considered much for them, we shall see what kind of measures they have.”

Lin Yuan took a sip of tea.

Song Shizhao said again: “Last time you said to open the imperial examinations, it is now the autumn, and the weather is neither cold nor hot, which is the most suitable.”

Lin Yuan nodded: “Then I’ll leave this to you.”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Song Shizhao breathed a sigh of relief. It was the first time the imperial examination was held in the new dynasty. If he did not supervise it, then he would really cry.

Lin Yuan: “I’m afraid it will exhaust you.”

Song Shizhao widened his eyes: “Definitely won’t be tired, definitely not! This official is still robust enough!”

If anyone tried to fight him for this job, he would bite off a piece of meat from the other party.

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