Minister Yu Qian's Visit

  In such a noisy environment, I can still calm down and read books, this feeling is pretty good.

  Just as Yu Qian was about to approach and strike up a conversation, he saw the young man suddenly put down the book in his hand, pointed with the branch of the tree in his right hand towards the distance: "You big guy over there, are you from that village?" After shouting, he quickly took a few steps forward and shouted again: "What's wrong with you running around like a madman with a stone on your back, you idiot."

  "I work hard, what's wrong with that."

  "You have three major mistakes. The first mistake, this is collective labor, do you know what collective labor is? It's about coordination and rhythm. You disrupted the rhythm of others, that's the first mistake. The second mistake, you carried stones alone by yourself, if you did more, wouldn't it seem like others did less? That's called showing off. If I were to give you an extra bun as a reward, it would cause many people to follow your example and completely disrupt the work rhythm. I've said before, collective labor is different from individual piecework, so you're wrong."

  Was I wrong? Yu Qian quietly listened behind.

  But then Bai Minghe continued, "Your third mistake is being impulsive. This is quarrying and logging. Once the rhythm is disrupted, someone will get hurt. You'll get hurt yourself, and you'll also let others get hurt. If you don't understand, stop work and go down the mountain to bring lunch over."

  "I'll move the stones and carry the food, it's a woman's job, I just listen." The strong man roared twice and returned to the team.

  After shouting, Bai Minghe returned to the rattan chair and sat down, took a sip of water, and continued reading and practicing calligraphy.

  Is this a triple use of one mind? Yu Qian became even more curious.

  Yu Qian was standing less than a hundred meters away from Bai Minghe, and it would be false to say that Bai Minghe hadn't seen him. In his heart, Bai Minghe was also analyzing this person, whose attire, even if not from a wealthy family, was that of an official with status. The posture he stood in was absolutely that of someone with connections, and the air about him was not something a merchant could learn.

  Temperament is something that can't be pretended.

  Bai Menghe won't take the initiative to greet anyone, no matter who it is. Unless someone takes the initiative to come over, Bai Menghe will ignore them.

  Yu Qian had no past, silently observing the construction site. The organization here has a militarized management feel, but not entirely. Especially that collective labor, it requires coordination and rhythm, which made Yu Qian want to observe carefully.

  Bai Menghua's thoughts sank into the book again, in his mind, those Four Books and Five Classics seemed to exist, yet seemed not to exist.

  Living in this era, as a holder of the imperial examination degree, evading this trial does not mean you can evade the next one. The exam is difficult, but after experiencing the high school entrance exams which are like a tour of hell, those who struggle hard in the business world do not feel that studying is particularly arduous, and classical Chinese was not unlearned during high school days.

  Bai Minghe is seriously reading books, not pretending.

  The feeling of reading books is also something that can't be faked.

  Yu Qian also firmly believed that Bai Minghe was truly calm. He had observed the situation on the construction site and walked a few steps to Bai Minghe's side, immediately asking: "What is the people's livelihood?"

  People's Livelihood!

  Bai Minghe was startled for a moment, then immediately reacted, that big shot is coming.

  After a moment's thought, he also read some editorials about people's livelihood. Adding his own understanding, he replied: "People's livelihood is diligent, and diligence will not be in short supply!" After Bai Minghe answered, Yu Qian did not interrupt, this opening was unexpected, but it didn't have any new ideas either.

  "What you do not wish for yourself, do not impose on others; benefit the people by following what they benefit from; benevolent ones love people!"

  Yu Qian's reading of the book, at least relatively speaking compared to the Four Books and Five Classics, is more than Bai Menghuo. These few sentences come from the Analects, only the last sentence, "Ren Zhe Ai Ren", should be Bai Menghuo's own theory.

  Bai Minghe continued to say, "Actually, the Tao is great, heaven is great, earth is great, and man is also great. Among the four greatnesses in the universe, man occupies one of them. This is the ultimate principle for the survival of the people!"

  Yu Qian was taken aback, having just discussed Confucian theory, and suddenly they were onto the theories of Laozi and Zhuangzi.

  But these two points were actually combined by Bai Minghe, and there was no feeling of inappropriateness.

  It was as if Bai Minghe would continue speaking, but it seemed that he had already finished speaking.

  Pulling, this is a behind-the-scenes book. Yu Qian knew that Bai Minghe could grasp the key points of this topic and put it in the imperial examination, at least he would not be eliminated.

  But someone who won't fall behind can't come up with such a big deal to save the people.

  "So Yu Qian asked again: 'Then what's your idea?'"

  "This is too long to talk about, and it's hard to make it clear with just a few thousand words. There are four major theories: moral theory, dignity theory, people's livelihood guarantee theory, and civil rights and responsibilities theory. Then under these, they can be further divided. Under the moral theory, there are three sub-theories: legal system, rational system, and moral system. Under the legal system theory, there are two sub-theories: national law and family law. Under the national law theory, there are several sub-theories: universal education on the rule of law, upholding rights through the law, people's litigation and self-defense, as well as a comprehensive part on the relationship between national law and family law, and conflicts between national law and family law."

  Bai Menghua was just talking nonsense. He simply wanted to use his modern perspective to curry favor.

  When Bai Mengchu finished a paragraph, Yu Qian said: "The moral theory of this statement is reasonable. If we add the conflict and complementary theory of reason, virtue and law, as well as the hierarchical theory of reason and law, and the theory that morality cannot be governed by law, it would be a masterpiece!"

  Ah!

  Bai Minghe was really shocked. He had thought that his modern knowledge and insights would surprise this big shot, but who would have thought that this big shot actually had something to add.

  Of course, under the Confucian education, when moral education reaches its peak, there is naturally no need for legal constraints on the people. This is an idealized idea, but also the mainstream thought of the Ming Dynasty's legal system.

  "Guān Zhōng bái míng hé, xiāng shì dào shǔ dì èr míng zhòng jǔ. què shì méi yǒu xiǎng dào zài cè lùn yī xiàng, què shì yǒu dú chū de jiàn jiě. shèn hǎo, shèn hǎo!" Yú Qiān dào chū le bái míng hé de dǐ xì.

  Yu Qian knew that the ranking of the imperial examination used eight-legged essays and would never use policy questions. So he didn't look down on Bai Ninghe either.

  "Old man, Yu Qian!" Yu Qian reported his own name at the door.

  Bai Minghe was stunned.

  He doesn't quite understand history, and it's impossible for him to know what famous ministers there were in the Ming Dynasty or what famous historical events took place. His understanding of this era mostly comes from TV dramas of later generations, as well as some newspapers and online content.

  Yu Qian is an exception. Yu Qian was later known as one of the Three Heroes of Hangzhou, also known as the Ming Dynasty's Yue Fei and Wu Mu.

  Bai Minghe had heard of this name, his understanding of historical figures was actually two people, one was Bai Qi of Qin and the other was Yue Fei of Song. Yu Qian was also known as the Wu Mu of the Ming Dynasty, so Bai Minghe had some knowledge of him too.

  At this time, such a historical celebrity stood in front of him, how could Bai Menghu not be surprised.

  Yu Qian seemed to have no great surprise, after all, as a second-grade official, he came to visit a jinshi in person, wasn't this enough to shock people?

  Looking at Bai Minghe's dazed expression, Yu Qian was very harmonious: "Bai Minghe, you can accomplish what all the former magistrates cannot do, indeed, you have some talent."

  "Everyone can do it, but no one does!"

  "What does it mean?" Yu Qian immediately became interested: "What is meant by 'everyone can do it, but no one does'? What does this sentence mean?"

  Bai Minghe had come back to his senses. If someone else asked him, he definitely wouldn't answer, but since it was Yu Qian asking, no matter whether Yu Qian was just passing by or had some other reason for being here, as long as it was Yu Qian who spoke up, Bai Minghe couldn't possibly not respond.

  "Actually, this problem is very simple, it's just a matter of input-output ratio!"

  What is input-output ratio, Bai Menghe just said two simple sentences.

  Then it's the current situation explained:

  "In these eight li and thirty-two villages, the upper fields only have 103 mu, the middle fields are less than 1,000 mu, but the lower fields have as many as 40,000 mu. Moreover, relying on the mountains, the scattered and miscellaneous fields among the mountains add up to more than 20,000 mu. The younger generation has read the county annals, these fields, with a high yield of one hundred mu collecting five shi of land tax, and those with low yields collecting less than one shi, while the more than 20,000 mu of miscellaneous fields only collect nearly ten shi of land tax. Therefore, the fields in the eight li and thirty-two villages only collect more than 100 shi per year, adding up to no more than 200 shi."

  Yu Qian nodded, and even if he hadn't read the county annals, he knew that this data was roughly the same.

  "How much silver is worth 200 dan of grain, and how much silver will it take to settle this matter."

  Bai Minghe said so, and Yu Qian also agreed.

  The tens of thousands of yuan you invested, the decades-long land rent can't even cover the cost, such an investment, no one dares to invest lightly.

  "Moreover, mobilizing the manpower and resources of these 32 villages in eight miles. It's equivalent to letting the common people pay out money and labor. If there is no good result, can this official position still be held?"

  Bai Minghe was another rhetorical question, and Yu Qian smiled. This joint he could understand, and his understanding was even clearer than Bai Minghe's.

  Doing less is better, this is the way many officials govern.

  "The last one, and also the most crucial one." Upon hearing Bai Menghu speak to this point, Yu Qian became even more serious. But then he saw Bai Menghu raise his head: "As for me, Bai Menghu from Guanzhong, I have extensively read poetry and books, with a loyal heart and righteous gallbladder, and the most important thing for me is the word 'broad'. Because I've read many miscellaneous books, so I'm smarter than them. I can spend the least amount of money to accomplish the greatest things."

  With a hearty and refreshing laughter, what a crazy young man.

  Kuang's return was crazy, but he didn't pretend, and it turned out that he was also a talented person. Yu Qian's good impression of Bai Minghe increased by several points.

  Wrapped in a veil, Sun Yuankun listened from afar. Yesterday, Bai Minghe said that being a person and doing things requires wearing a 'xin' (faith) character, but today it's changed to 'bo' (diversity). I don't know what it will change to tomorrow.

  This husband of mine!

  At this time, Bai Minghe had already noticed Sun Yuangong and signaled him to come over immediately.

  Sun Yuanjun lightly shook her head, but under Bai Minghe's persistence, she had no choice but to hold the tray closer to Bai Minghe.