After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times-Chapter 764 - 754: A New Trend

It is said that when those at the top lead the trend of clear talk, those below will all follow suit; when those at the top value farming and indulge in agriculture, those below will turn to agriculture and mulberry farming, and the aristocrats working in the fields will be as numerous as stars in the sky.

When scholars who couldn’t keep up with clear talk ended up waking up in prison, they were dragged to the fields to dig canals, and at a glance, they saw many familiar faces in the fields.

The scholars were quite surprised. Instead of rushing to jump into the ditch, they leaned on their spades and looked at familiar faces waving hoes in the fields, "Brother Jin, I didn’t see you in prison. Why were you punished?"

Brother Jin raised his head, looked around blankly, and after a moment focused his gaze on the scholar, frowned, and said, "Punished? This land is rented by me and the government office. Grain is essential, and for people like us with mediocre skills and limited insight, it’s impossible to help Lord Zhao unify the world. So we make an effort on the rear front, researching farming methods."

He said, "Governor Zhao mentioned that the climate has been bad these past couple of years, and the Astronomical Observatory says it might be a drought, and the further down you go, the colder and drier the weather gets. So I thought to give it a try and see if I could grow a seed that’s more drought and cold-resistant."

He looked the other up and down, noticing the spade in his hand and the group of prisoners who had just been released standing nearby, and government officials watching them with whips not far away, his expression turned somewhat playful, "Brother Zhou, have you been... punished?"

On the other side, a scholar who also rented land with the government office shouted, "Doesn’t Brother Jin know? Brother Zhou was detained for brawling and will be out in seven days."

Brother Zhou wasn’t ashamed at all. He flipped his hair and said, "Truth can’t be clarified without reasoning. I’m imprisoned for defending heaven’s principles, not a disgrace."

"Heh, Brother Zhou, if it were just a verbal argument, how could the government office arrest you? Lord Zhao doesn’t restrain public opinion, even if someone goes to the government office to curse her, she just lets it slide. Obviously, you were speechless and resorted to violence. How can engaging in reasoning with force be considered rational?"

"Who did Brother Zhou hit?"

"He hit a scholar from Shu, named Li Fangzhi."

Brother Zhou just snorted, "Such an arrogant person deserved to be hit!"

The government official thought they’d been chatting long enough, swaggered over to urge them, "Get to work, get to work, this section of the canal needs you to clean up, you can’t return to prison until it’s done."

Brother Zhou was indifferent, even snorted, as if he hardly wanted to return to prison. Being outside was fine too, sleeping under the sky, and watching the stars at night, how romantic!

So Brother Zhou wasn’t in a hurry at all. After jumping into the canal, he slowly shoveled the dirt and weeds out, clearing barely a few steps in half a day.

The government official cursed loudly, but their status was special, they weren’t serious criminals nor common offenders, so the whip only landed on the ground.

Seeing them drag their feet like this, he wished he could jump down and do it himself.

As night fell, all the Brother Jin and Brother Yin carrying farming tools headed back to the city, leaving only this section of prisoners.

The government official glanced at the cleared canal section, gritted his teeth, and said, "All you’ve done in a day is clear this length. I have no face to go back, none of you are allowed to return today, as long as the task isn’t completed, you can’t go back to the city!"

Brother Zhou and the scholars didn’t take it to heart at all, then they gnawed on a piece of dry tofu residue in the cold wind, finally gathering around a fire, shivering in the cold wind blowing from all sides.

The government official walked over with his neck shrunk, saying to this group of romantic scholars, "The county government posted an announcement, it’s the late spring chill these days."

The scholars: ...

Frozen for a whole night, sleeping on the ground in the open air, they could still hear the distant howls of wolves, though indeed under the sky and earth, they could indeed see stars and the moon with a raised head, yet the scholars felt that this experience once was enough.

So the next day everyone worked hard, sped up quite a bit, and by evening, they were finally able to return to prison.

Brother Zhou carried the spade on one shoulder, sniffed and said, "This sluice clearance speed is still too slow, how can it work relying on human power alone?"

A scholar next to him asked, "Do you want to use animal power? It’s the crucial time for farming now, cattle and horses are used for plowing first."

"Without animal power, improvements should be made to the tools; using hoes and spades to dig soil and throw it up bit by bit is too laborious."

Actually, it was too exhausting; he felt his arms were about to give out.

"How to improve?"

Brother Zhou said, "I have no clue about the part with the hoe, but I have an idea for the spade. I’ve heard the county government is now promoting water mills. I visited the water mill in Chen County, they’re using water power to rotate levers, then driving the mill, there’s also a foot pedal inside, prepared for when water power is insufficient, used for stepping on and lifting water, then entering water flow to start."

"I think that foot pedal is quite labor-saving, we can totally use it on the spade, leg strength is surely greater than arm strength, isn’t it?"

The other scholars listened and thought it was feasible, then went to find the government official, asking for materials, promising to start tomorrow.

The government official listened quietly to their material reports, carefully looked at their expressions, and realized they were indeed serious.

"Gentlemen, you’re now in prison, eating bean residue and bean cakes twice a day. Do you think the government office would spend money to buy these things? There’s even iron, do you know how expensive iron is?"

After a moment of silence, the scholars said, "We’ll pay ourselves."

This was no problem; the government official immediately smiled brightly, "If gentlemen want to buy, I can handle the purchasing."

Although there was iron involved, the government official wasn’t worried about escape; these scholars, the longest sentence was ten days of imprisonment, they’d already spent two or three days in prison, the longest someone had was six days left before release, who would be so rash as to escape now?

As long as they could afford it, they could buy whatever they wanted, and the government official would buy it for them.

Back in prison, the government official brought up a basin with bean residue cakes, still warm.

But the scholars were dismissive, yesterday they endured because of wild conditions, today they were back in the city, they certainly wouldn’t stoop to this, so they all took out money for the government official, "Go out and buy some buns."

"I want a bowl of noodles."

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

The government official gladly accepted the money, went out to find the cook for the government, ordered meals, and it wasn’t long before they were delivered inside the prison.

This was their sideline with the cook; outside it would be much more expensive, better to keep it within the family.

Since discovering Zhao Hanzhang treated scholars kindly, never restricting folk speech, more and more people were willing to come to Chen County, especially ambitious scholars and samurais.

Influenced by clear talk, they still expressed their views on national politics and various issues in the streets, hoping to attract the appreciation of a discerning individual.

Among them, there were always those who couldn’t win verbal arguments, and those with fiery tempers lacking scholarly demeanor simply resorted to violence.

So there was an increase in short-term imprisoned wealthy people, allowing government officials to earn some sideline income.

Gao Sheng, the newly appointed County Magistrate of Chen County, was very tempted by this part of the sideline income, so he went to seek Zhao Ming, requesting a new provision.

Zhao Ming raised an eyebrow, "You want financial ransom for release?"