"Look, that's the waterwheel built by your father-in-law, which cost tens of thousands of taels of silver!"

Yang Chao pointed to a large waterwheel that was slowly rotating by the river and said.

Around him, Yingying Yanyan surrounded a group of beauties, including his wife Zhu Yujiao, and concubines Dong Xiaowan, Li Xiangjun and Chen Yuanyuan.

Dong Xiaowan and Li Xiangjun can be said to have posted it by themselves, but Chen Yuanyuan is completely Yang Chao's own will.

Chen Yuanyuan's name is too big, and his appearance is amazing, the aura on his body and the name of the first beauty of the daimyo make any man itch, anyway, if he wants to take a concubine, Yang Chao simply asked Dong Xiaowan to talk to Chen Yuanyuan, and she didn't object, so the matter was like this.

It is worth mentioning that Yang Chao fulfilled his promise and carried Li Xiangjun and others into the house in a big sedan chair in broad daylight.

It's not that Yang Chao relied on his identity to destroy the customs of the Ming Dynasty, but that Yang Chao abolished the music book.

Yang Chao issued a decree through the Metropolitan Governor's Office, and all the music books in the Nanzhili area were abolished, and all the music people were registered as citizens, so Chen Yuanyuan and these people were all civilians.

This is Yang Chao's dowry to Dong Xiaowan and others: abolish the music membership!

Yang Chao has been in Qinhuai River for a long time, and he deeply understands what a terrible system the music system is, and people who have never seen it can never understand how terrible this system is to oppress people.

The original intention of the establishment of the so-called Happy Membership was to accept the women and children of those criminal officials, and to use these women as official prostitutes to humiliate the convicted officials, as a punishment system, and the common people who hated the officials might applaud.

But for the descendants of these criminals, it is not the case, after one of their ancestors committed a crime, they were reduced to a happy book, not to mention selling themselves in the government-run Ji Yuan, their descendants still have to make a career out of it, this is the so-called eternal life and eternal man is a thief and a woman is a prostitute, and this is how the term male thief and female prostitute comes from.

With the multiplication of 200 years, Nanjing's population of Lejia is close to 100,000, and they have also formed families like ordinary people. have children, but their children cannot get married and have children like ordinary people, and can only be reduced from generation to generation.

There are many such families in the old courtyard of the Qinhuai River government-run Ji Yuan, such as the Kou family from Kou Baimen, which is a famous family of musicians. Every generation of women in the Kou family is a prostitute, and a man is a duke.

Just imagine how sad it was to be a mother who wanted to send her own daughter out to pick up customers.

The reason why Qinhuai River women like to cling to the powerful. The reason for marrying a woman to a powerful concubine is not necessarily because their parents love vanity, but because only in this way can their daughters get rid of their pleasure and their offspring can become good citizens.

And another bad thing about this system is that not only are the descendants of the criminal officials enslaved and prostitutes forever, but once those women are forced to be trafficked, or sold into the Qinglou themselves, they will also be included in the music register. Since then, it has been burdened with a pathetic identity that has been passed down to future generations.

This is exactly the original intention of Yang Chao to abolish the music book, not completely for his own concubines, if it is for a few concubines, Yang Chao can buy and sell their places of origin through his own status, they give Yang Chao's children, give household officials a hundred guts, and they dare not add to the music book.

But Li Xiangjun and the others decided that Yang Chao did this for them, and people always wanted to add a good background to other people's behaviors. Of course, Yang Chao's original intention to abolish the music book is indeed because of a concept of later generations, but no matter how you say it, Yang Chao is not as beautiful as Yang Chao to abolish the music book for the sake of the concubine, which is about love.

Therefore, Yang Chao abolished the music membership. It is related to love, and it has become a strange story circulating in the streets.

Several concubines were also very moved, although they knew that it couldn't be completely for them, but they decided that Yang Chao's abolition of the music book had something to do with them, and they could let them carry a sedan chair into the door. did not hesitate to abolish the nationality system of the Ming Dynasty, this kind of generosity is enough to make every little girl's eyes burst into stars.

Of course, at the same time as the abolition of the music register, Yang Chao also abolished the craftsman nationality, just like linking the abolition of the music registration with the pampering of concubines, Yang Chao's abolition of the craftsman household system was regarded by the common people as because the Yang family was born in a craftsman household, so Yang Chao wanted to abolish the craftsman household system.

In addition to the abolition of these two nationality systems, and the music and craftsman registrations have become civilian registrations, Yang Chao also intends to abolish the military household system, abolish, and abolish the lowly nationality system.

It's just that the difficulty of the latter two is a geometric multiple of the first two difficulties, the military household is too involved, one-third of the population of the Ming Dynasty, almost all of them are military households, and it is too much work to completely abolish it, and the main population of the military household is not like the music registration is concentrated in the city, and the rural area only accounts for less than one-tenth, and the main population of the military household is in the huge rural area, the number is huge and not concentrated, and it is impossible to complete the conversion at once, so it can only be implemented step by step.

Yang Chao is not in a hurry, the time given to Huangfeng Mansion is three years, and all military households will be converted into civilian households in three years.

The most difficult is the lowly system, which refers to the vast number of lower classes, commonly known as domestic slaves, which big family does not raise a few slaves, so the abolition of the lowly system is equivalent to targeting the entire wealthy class, and the resistance and shocks encountered far exceed the abolition of the music and craftsman registration, which is only related to the interests of the government.

Yang Chao also did not want to really oppose all the wealthy classes, so he planned to promote the system more slowly, giving a three-year grace period, which only encouraged the big families to release their domestic slaves.

But to solve two problems, the first is that it is impossible for the big family to solve the labor problem by themselves, whether it is a wealthy family in the countryside or a big family in the city, it is not their own family to do chores, and the house slaves also rely on their masters for a living, so Yang Chao not only has to find legal labor for the big families, but also to solve the problem of self-reliance of the house slaves after freedom.

The Yang family set an example by burning all the deeds of sale of the maidservants in the family, and then agreed with these maidservants that those who were willing to stay and do the work would be paid on a monthly basis, which was equivalent to hiring workers, that is, Yang Chao planned to change the forced labor system of domestic slaves into wage labor, and promote the contract system, with a contract to protect the rights and interests of both the employee and the employer, and the government to guarantee the contract.

Yang Chao also took out 100,000 taels of silver every year, so that the concubines in the family could use it to redeem the women in the Qinglou, and insisted on cracking down on all kinds of unreasonable feudal dependency relationships.

"10,000 taels of silver, how can the common people use it?"

The topic turned to the windmill, and Dong Xiaowan immediately realized that this was another joke by her father-in-law.

Yang Chao smiled: "Definitely! You look down on the wisdom of the people of the Ming Dynasty too much. ”

But Yang Chao didn't explain immediately, but sold a pass: "You look at the waterwheel, lift the wooden barrel as big as a water tank to a height of 20 zhang, and then introduce it into a wooden trough, and flow into the big water tower through the wooden trough." That water tower has 100,000 cubic meters of water, enough for the entire dock. The father planned to build a total of 100 waterwheels along the river, from the mouth of the new river to the Lion Rock. Build a hundred water towers, and then the entire city of Nanjing will have enough water. ”

Dong Xiaowan sighed: "Then you have to get one million taels of silver, and you will only irrigate these tens of thousands of acres of land." If it is used to build canals, it may be able to benefit the people of a county. ”

Yang Chao shook his head: "Wrong, this is just the cost of the first waterwheel." The second one is now being built. Only two thousand taels. ”

"Two thousand taels is not a lot, this waterwheel can only irrigate 10,000 acres of land, it is still too expensive, repair some overturned cars, two hundred taels of silver is enough."

Dong Xiaowan continued to calculate the accounts, she was delicate and good at managing money, and now the financial power of the Yang family's back house has been handed over to her, and she has never made a mistake in things like paying her subordinates every month, and she is convinced by her from top to bottom.

"It's true that this simple machine is cheap enough. Because she is mature enough, but she has to take a long-term view, and he can drive a series of technological development by engaging in these large machinery, and the social effect of this technology diffusion is incalculable. ”

Yang Chao said.

But the concubines didn't understand his words, and they didn't care, obviously there were cheaper overturns available, and building this kind of big and scary looking big waterwheel was in addition to Yang Chao's personal preferences. They don't see any other reason.

"Let's just say that after the craftsmen used the technology of splicing the masts in the shipyard, they no longer needed a whole piece of material to make the spokes, and the cost of splicing two or three shorter pieces of wood. It is more than ten times cheaper than a large tree that is intact for hundreds of years. You probably don't know that the technology of splicing masts with short timber is only available to us in the Ming Dynasty, and Western Fanzi doesn't know that their masts are all one to the end. And our craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty use wrought iron to link the spliced notches. It can also withstand strong winds and waves, and with a little bareness, the ship of the Ming Dynasty is cheaper than the Western ship by hundreds of taels of silver. ”

Yang Chao continued to emphasize his theory that technology is beneficial.

Dong Xiaowan said: "Two thousand taels of silver is still too expensive, when will the people be able to use it." ”

Yang Chao said: "You can use it right away." You see, this second watermill is only halfway built, and someone has already come up with a cheaper solution. It is still not cheap to use logs for splicing with short wood. Some people plan to use bamboo, and if they use bamboo to make spokes, the cost can be compressed to three hundred taels, plus the wage does not exceed five hundred taels. Five hundred taels of silver to irrigate 10,000 acres of land, and it can also send water to various pools, so that everyone can wash clothes without going to the river. In the future, at home, open the pipe, and there will be water flowing out, how convenient it will be. ”

Yang Chao is talking about the modern water delivery system.

"But how can bamboo turn such a big car? Won't it break? ”

Zhu Yujiao deeply doubted that no matter how you look at it, the strength of bamboo cannot be compared to a whole piece of wood.

Yang Chao said with a smile: "Who said that you use a bamboo." ”

Zhu Yujiao: "You can't use two, and you can't use ten." ”

Yang Chao said: "They plan to use a hundred. Split the long bamboo into bamboo strips, and then put these bamboo strips together one by one to make a solid bamboo pillar as thick as a log, even thicker than a log, as thick as you want. Layer by layer, tied with hemp rope, very strong. Although the wage will be higher and the time will be longer, the material cost will be greatly reduced. In the future, a waterwheel will be built in a village, and it will be enough for irrigation and drinking water. ”

"There are also elevated canals to bring water where it's needed."

"You have so many weird ideas there?"

"Strange idea? This is called the talent of the heavens and the earth! ”

"If my father had used you earlier, Beijing would not have been broken by the thieves, and my father would not-"

"Hey, outing, what do you look like, Xiaowan, quickly persuade the princess."

When Yang Chao saw that his wife suddenly thought of his father Chongzhen, when he thought of her father, he would soon think of Queen Zhou, when he thought of Queen Zhou, he would think of the prince who was arrested in Beijing, and when he thought of her father and younger brother, he would cry sadly.

Yang Chao didn't dare to let Zhu Yujiao cry sadly, not because she spoiled her too much, but because she had Yang Chao's seeds in her stomach.

Several concubines immediately surrounded the princess, and began to reassure her without saying a word, so that she would put the fetus first, but she didn't dare to be angry.

Yang Chao was also in no mood to look at the tall water tower and the rotating waterwheel in the distance, and he didn't have time to look at the exchange hall that was close to completion.

"Zhang Dan, Li Liang, is it necessary for the two of you to dare to leave, people are also here for an outing!"

Zhang Dian and Li Liang, the two old soldiers, if they are promoted to the thousand president or even higher according to their qualifications, it is not a problem, but they are unwilling to leave Yang Chao's side and let them become officials, as a result, the two knelt at the door of Yang Chao's house all night, so that Yang Chao had to take back his life.

Taking advantage of the autumn breeze and smooth, Yang Chao took his family to Xinjiangkou for an outing, here because of the construction of a large waterwheel and a large water tower, it seems to be already a famous spot, many people like to come here to see the excitement, but Yang Chao came, Zhang Dian and Li Liang with their own soldiers, and simply dispersed the people within a hundred steps.

According to them, if someone has bad intentions, a bird can kill someone.

But Yang Chao said: "Even if you drive people a mile away, the cannon can kill them!" ”

These two pro-soldiers completely shattered Yang Chao's mood of enjoying with the people.

"Uncle Yang, Uncle Yang. Get out of the way! ”

A female voice suddenly sounded, and hurried from the barracks, with a sad and indignant face, but was stopped by her own soldiers.

Yang Chao saw that he couldn't dodge, so he waved his hand: "Let her come over." ”

I really don't want to see this woman, Wei Shuzhen, the daughter of the late Huaiyang Governor Wei Yinwen.

This woman has now turned into a workaholic, since she was brought back to Nanjing by Yang Chao, Yang Chao gave her another task, let her take the group of thin horses rescued from Yangzhou and teach the head of the soldier to read and write in the barracks.

Yang Chao now stipulates that starting from next year, officers above the general level will not be promoted if they are illiterate, forcing officers of all sizes to be frantically learning to read and write, but sometimes Yang Chao will suspect that this group of rough learning enthusiasm comes from those beautiful thin horses.

This is also the reason why Wei Shuzhen has been making trouble with Yang Chao recently.

"Your soldiers kidnapped ten of my girls this month, ten girls!"

Just broke free from the obstruction of her own soldiers, Wei Shuzhen was like a red-card girl who was pried away by a bustard in a green building, and shouted at Yang Chao in pain! (To be continued.) )