If it was just one person who said this, Zong Guang might have half believed it. But everyone is like this, so he can't help but believe it.

At noon, the people on the surface blew their whistles to give a signal, and everyone in the well climbed up the ramp in order to eat.

Everyone had to go to the river to wash their hands, wipe their faces, and then go to the steward one by one to be checked to make sure there was no dirt on their hands before they could line up to receive food.

The clean rattan basket was filled with steamed buns, the size of a fist. The women in charge of distributing the food were cleanly dressed, wearing white aprons and masks, and they broke open the steamed buns one by one, stuffed them into pieces of fried fish and sliced meat, as well as fried vegetables, plus a bowl of fish soup with a thick layer of oil floating on the surface, and handed them over one by one in a clay bowl.

If you don't eat enough steamed buns, you can ask for them again, and you can also have enough fish soup. The premise is that you can't waste it, you must eat as much as you take, and if you find someone secretly throwing it away or leftovers, you must accept severe punishment.

Zongguang took a big bite on the steamed bun with vegetables, he had never felt so hungry as he did now. In fact, this meal has more meat and less meat, about two to one, but the meat is large and the portion is full.

He had been desperately trying all afternoon, grinding blisters in his palms, but despite this, he had not been able to dig up the predetermined number, only sixty-six baskets.

As the sun was about to set, the steward of the ground blew his whistle again and told everyone to call it a day.

Zong Guang almost shuffled back to his room. He felt so tired that he couldn't care about the softness and comfort of the bed, and his numb brain didn't have any thoughts except for a good night's sleep.

Two guards dragged him to the next door, forcibly undressed him, and carried him into a large wooden bucket filled with hot water.

Tianhao walked in and asked with a smile, "How do you feel?" ”

Zong Guang was tired and comfortable, and hummed and chirped weakly: "...... I'm dying of exhaustion. ”

"No matter how tired you are, you have to eat." Tianhao didn't plan to let Zongguang rest like this: "Hurry up." After eating, I'll take you out for a walk. ”

Soaking in the water, Zongguang let out a desperate wail.

……

A hot bath helps to restore energy.

Dinner was simple and small. Tianhao explained: If you don't dig enough peat, you can only eat these.

Zong Guang, who had not eaten enough, reluctantly put down the empty bowl, followed Tianhao out of the room, and surrounded by a group of guards armed with torches, crossed the street and came to the workshop located in the east of the city.

It was a semi-open-air building, with several fires lit around it, not for warmth, but for lighting.

Hundreds of women are busy in the shed: the peat dug up during the day is concentrated here, where they dilute a viscous cement with water and mix it with it like dough.

The work was done in a square frame with a side length of 30 meters. The wet peat was compacted by them with a metal cover, pressed into a flat circle with a steel circular cylindrical mold with a radius of 20 centimeters, and pressed hard with a plane handle with a peculiar shape and welded with six thick steel rods.

Zong Guang felt very curious, looking at the peat cubes stacked neatly like a hill, he asked puzzledly: "Isn't it okay to put the peat directly in the fire and burn it?" Why bother? ”

"Large pieces of peat are not easy to burn, which is a problem caused by the structure and shape of the object." Tianhao bent down and picked up a branch from the ground, with a smile in his eyes that transcended this era: "Cooking on the fire is something that everyone has to do. Usually we use hay and dead leaves to start fires, because they are very thin and can be lit at a point. Add fine twigs and pines to their burning base, then gradually add large pieces of firewood or peat. ”

Zong Guang nodded, he knew that this was the normal procedure for barbarians to make fires. But after listening to Tianhao say so much, I feel that it has nothing to do with the peat punched in front of me.

"Why are the branches so burning? Because they're small, there's plenty of room for the flames to get in. Chunks of firewood and peat are different. If you think about it, if you put such a large piece in it, the fire that had just been lit was extinguished at once. "Tianhao does not mention air, which is simply incomprehensible to barbarians without scientific concepts. He can only explain it in terms of volume, which seems to be easy to understand.

Zong Guang thought for a long time, and suddenly raised his eyebrows: "It's like a room that can only accommodate two people, but six people have to be squeezed in." ”

Tianhao patted him on the shoulder with satisfaction: "That's right, that's the truth." ”

Only when you understand the root cause of the problem will you think of solving it. As for the real reason, more curious people need to explore in this direction. This is how science is born, with a strong curiosity and a strong interest, it will produce the unraveling of secrets.

It felt very good to find the answer by himself, excitement surged in Zongguang's body, and looking at the women who were busy, new questions arose in his eyes again.

"Why are all women working here?"

"That's a good question! This shows that you really think with your brain, not just look at it. Tianhao replied approvingly: "Whether it is a village or a city, there is inevitably a problem of population structure. Ratio of men to women, the elderly and children, the healthy and the sick...... If the standard of labor for the strongest adult male is set at one hundred, the woman is seventy, and the elderly are halved at discretion, about sixty to fifty, with the least number of children. ”

"I see." Zong Guang felt that a new door had suddenly opened in front of him, and he exclaimed in surprise: "Let men with a labor standard of one hundred go down to the mine to dig peat, because they are the strongest?" ”

Tianhao nodded: "Women are responsible for processing peat, and the amount of labor is not so large, they can do it." You follow the black tooth to mine today, you are very clear about the specific labor intensity, the man who has done the whole day of work needs to rest, men and women mix and match, this is a normal cycle of workflow. ”

After a pause, Tianhao continued: "There are no idlers in Rock City, and I don't raise lazy people here. The head of the ten is the most basic supervision, and each person must receive food according to the workload of the day. The division between workers and peasants is clear, and if they choose to acquire arable land, they must pay the full amount during the harvest season. If you are a worker, you will not be able to mix up if you don't work hard. In a word, there are many jobs in Rock City, but there is only a shortage of people. ”

Zong Guang suddenly thought of another possibility, and he lowered his voice: "Ah Hao, if the ten people in charge of supervision are deceived and concealed...... So what to do? ”

"One kills one, two kills a pair." Tianhao's voice was calm, with a chilling coldness: "Rock City implements a joint sitting system, and if one person has a problem, everyone related to him will be punished together. At least 20 lashes per person, or at worst, the family will die together, and the corpses will be divided, and the heads will be cut off to make bone bowls. Anyone who is not afraid of death can try it, anyway, there is only one head, and if you cut it off, it will be gone. ”

Zong Guang's heart was awe-inspiring, but he was amazed by Tianhao's approach, this is the real combination of grace and power.

"What can the elderly and children do with low labor standards?" This is a new problem for Zongguang.

"A lot." Tianhao's dark eyes seemed to be able to see through everything: "You followed Hei Yan down the mine today, and the clothes you wore and the basket containing peat were all from the hands of the old man and the child. Cutting and sewing, collecting linen, rolling rope, and weaving all kinds of tools, these things can be done sitting at home. Not to mention the elderly and children, even if they are sick and disabled, they can also do it. ”

His tone was flat, but Zong Guang couldn't help but shudder.

He began to truly understand the meaning of Tianhao's previous remark that "there are no slackers in Rock City".

"There's a place for everybody." The young Zong Guang didn't know how to hide in front of Tianhao, and many thoughts could be seen through his expression. Tianhao smiled faintly: "This has nothing to do with cruelty, let alone an atrocity without mercy. In fact, ruling a city, or even a people, is not as difficult as you think, as long as you meet the demands of the people, they will support you, cheer your name in public, throw flowers at you, and be proud of you at all times. ”

"Meet them?" Zong Guang felt that he had grasped the core of the problem: "Let them eat enough?" Let them have clothes to wear? ”

Tianhao shook his head: "It's not that simple, this is just the most basic ruling level. You have to understand that deep down in the human heart is never satisfied. When you are hungry, you want to be full, when you are full, you want to eat well, and when you have rich food, you will pursue the ultimate in taste, you want to taste the rarest things in the world, and you will not care whether this will lead to a series of disasters and problems, just to satisfy your appetite and curiosity. It's the same with clothes. Originally, leaves were harvested and worn to cover their shame, and wild animals were hunted and skinned to make robes to survive the winter. When everybody wears linen, everyone thinks it's normal, but if one person wears breathable and soft cotton clothes, everyone else thinks it's a great luxury. If this sequence continues, I think there may be some time in the future when there will be extremely terrible and extreme changes, such as peeling off the skin from a living person and making clothes, which will become a fashion that many people are crazy about. ”

"It's horrible." The corners of Zong Guang's eyes twitched when he heard this: "They must be suppressed, as long as they reach the minimum." ”

"If you do that, it's very difficult." Tianhao let out a long sigh: "The call for change from the people cannot be suppressed forever. A large number of vested interests are in the lead, and they will force you to change your mind and become one of them. This process takes place silently, even without you noticing. By the time you react, it's too late to do anything. Whether it is the patriarch or the king, blindly ruling by a tough rule will only make you out earlier, and you must know how to compromise at the right time, otherwise the group of opponents will expand, and the combined force will outweigh the army under your control, and the fools and madmen who shout the slogan of "freedom" will oust you from power, or even cut off your head and make a bone bowl to worship in front of the new king. ”

Zong Guang was shocked when he heard this: "Is there really such a terrible thing? ”

Tianhao nodded slightly meaningfully: "They think that you are hindering the path of seeking freedom and light, and they think that you are the brutal demon king who strangles everything. In the face of impulsiveness and anger, they will selectively forget that it was you who dispelled hunger, that you gave them clothes to wear, and that they did not freeze to death in winter. Hehe...... Funny, isn't it? No one will remember your kindness and mercy, they only know that you are a ruthless and cruel king of the race. Just because you refuse to enforce certain rules that are not suitable for the majority, because you have caused some powerful but definitely not numerical guys to suffer, so they feel that you are not worthy of the throne under the ass and must kill you, and the mild ones will choose to take you down and replace you with an obedient and easily controlled puppet. ”

Fear and shock flowed in Zongguang's eyes, and he subconsciously tightened the clothes on his body with his hands, the cold came from his heart, as if the winter god was parasitic there, occupying everything, desperately releasing an endless terrifying chill.

"Ah Hao...... Have you experienced any of these things? After thinking for a moment, Zong Guang asked tentatively.

Surrounded by Tianhao's absolutely credible henchmen, a bland smile spread across his face, and his handsome face shone slightly under the distant firelight, like the dawn that was expanding from the depths of darkness: "I have witnessed everything, experienced everything. It was because of my anger and dissatisfaction that I coincidentally became the leader of the Rock Village. That is not the work of me alone, but the will of all the supporters of my community. ”

Zong Guang's expression suddenly became nervous, and his breathing became short. He lowered his voice and asked, "Why are you telling me this?" This...... Is this your secret? ”

The firelight illuminated Zongguang's face, there was anxiety and urgency, as well as the impulse peculiar to young people, and under the combination of many ingredients, it showed a clear identification and worship, which were encapsulated by a strong closeness force, and became his expression at the moment in a complex and changeable form.

"You're a lot like me used to be." Raising his hand and pressing Zong Guang's left shoulder hard, Tianhao said with emotion: "I am afraid of pain when I am branded, and my personality seems to be cowardly, but I will show a strong side when it is critical." He will submit to his father's commands, and that is because of his duty as a son, even if he does not agree with it in his heart. Strive to be better at something in order to prove that you are not the crap that others think you are. I want to be recognized, but I feel hesitant in the face of practical difficulties and don't know what to do. ”

Zong Guang's face turned red. He lowered his head several times, and then reluctantly lifted it again. The depths of his eyes are mixed with gratitude, surprise, doubt, and relief, and there is also the warmth and closeness of everyone who are the same kind, and the kindness and frankness that are naturally revealed without reservation.

"When I first saw you in Pointe-Noire, I thought our relationship should be family." Tianhao said seriously and gently: "I have always regarded you as a brother...... My brother. ”