Zhu Youzhen quietly stood behind the hungry people waiting to eat porridge, listening to Li Zicheng's speech and observing the reactions of the people.

Li Zicheng's set of words, of course, was also instructed by Zhu Youzhen. But as a brilliant businessman, his eloquence is extraordinary. Moreover, he is a native of Shaanxi, and he has a strong charm when he speaks the local dialect, which is more acceptable to the people. If Zhu Youjian is replaced, I am afraid it may not have this effect.

I only heard Li Zicheng shouting loudly: "Folks! This year, God didn't open his eyes, and everyone suffered from famine. Although our Jingyang Merchant Gang has just been established and is not wealthy, our gang owner is kind-hearted and can never bear to watch the villagers starve, so we opened this porridge factory. No matter which village it is, whether it is a man, a woman or a child, as long as the family can't afford to buy rice and can't open the pot, you can come to the porridge factory to eat, three meals a day, to ensure that it is served on time! ”

The hungry crowd immediately erupted in cheers, and some of the common people shouted with tears in their eyes: "The helper is a great good man!" May the Bodhisattva bless his old man with a hundred years of life! ”

"Folks, be quiet!" Li Zicheng smiled, and then said: "My words are not finished yet!" There's an old saying that 'business is business', what does it mean? Even if we are businessmen, we have to make money, and we will never do a business that loses money. It's the same with this porridge factory, our Jingyang business gang is a small business, and we can't afford to lose money. You can see, there are hundreds of people waiting for dinner now, and there will be more in two days. Eat like this every day, can't you eat our business gang? ”

As soon as Li Zicheng said this, some ordinary people stopped doing it. A young man asked loudly: "Aren't you opening a porridge factory just to help the people, do you still want to sell porridge?" We don't have any money! ”

"Don't worry, who said it was sold!" Li Zicheng smiled slightly, "I know that everyone has no money, who will come here if they have money?" It's just that this porridge can't just be eaten in vain. ”

"It's not selling, it's not eating for free, so what do you want?" The young man asked, still with a blank face.

"In fact, it's very simple, it's the words 'work for relief'!" Li Zicheng said.

"None of us have ever studied, and we can't understand the words of Wen Crepe, so you better keep it simple!" The young man shouted.

"Okay, to put it simply, it's to work for our Jingyang Merchant Gang!" Li Zicheng said with a smile, "If you eat a meal, you have to do a job; On the other hand, for one job, there is one meal to eat. Did you understand this time? ”

At this time, the common people bombed the camp, and most of them shouted in a disorderly manner, expressing their dissatisfaction with this condition.

Li Zicheng saw the people shouting and screaming with their arms raised, and he was also a little scared in his heart, and involuntarily turned his eyes to Zhu Youzhen at the back of the crowd.

Zhu Youzhen didn't care at all, just smiled and nodded to Li Zicheng, signaling him to continue to explain according to the originally arranged rhetoric.

Regarding the reaction of the people, Zhu Youzhen has long been mentally prepared. He knew that opening a porridge factory had always been a charity in the past, and since it was charity, it must have been eaten for nothing, and no conditions could be attached. This practice has been practiced for hundreds of years, and the recipients have long been accustomed to it. Now that I have to make some changes, it is certainly not easy for the people to accept.

In order to prevent accidents, Zhu Youzhen had secretly transferred more than a dozen Qin Wangwei to monitor the movement of the crowd from afar. As soon as someone took the opportunity to smash the field, Qin Wangwei immediately took action to take down the troublemakers. Therefore, Zhu Youzhen had a bottom in his heart and was not panicked at all.

Li Zicheng saw that Zhu Youzhen was so calm, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and shout according to the plan prepared in advance: "If you have any questions and dissatisfactions, just raise them!" As long as it makes sense, you can do what everyone wants! Just don't shout all at once, say them one by one! ”

As soon as the words fell, the young man just now rushed to say: "The villagers are all responsible for the conscription, and the work sent by the government can't be completed, and they can't even take care of their own land to cultivate well, so how can they still have the strength to work for you!" ”

"yes, we don't have any energy left!" A lot of people chimed in.

"Please rest assured of this!" Li Zicheng saw that the people's problems were really guessed by Zhu Youzhen, so he put his mind at ease and said with a smile: "The villagers may not know that this year, the government will exempt all conscription, and it will take effect as soon as the new magistrate takes office!" Without these servitudes, you will have the energy to do other work! ”

The crowd was in a commotion again, and everyone couldn't believe Li Zicheng's words.

Li Zicheng laughed loudly: "You can not believe me, but you can't not believe His Royal Highness King Qin!" It was His Royal Highness the King of Qin who personally asked the magistrate to be exempted from forced labor, he was a dignified prince, how could it be unreasonable to speak? ”

"The prince is really a living bodhisattva in the world!" I don't know who shouted in the crowd first, and then everyone was moved and sighed, chanting in unison!

Especially the young man, who slapped his chest and said enthusiastically: "If anyone has a face and skin, who wants to eat white rice!" Everyone is also too tired of the government to rectify! As long as I am really exempt from forced labor, I, Hao Daming, will be the first to work hard! ”

Zhu Youzhen hurriedly hid behind a big tree to avoid being discovered by everyone, and at the same time sighed in his heart: There has long been a saying that "harsh government is fiercer than a tiger", and an important embodiment of this "harsh government" is this kind of endless and indiscriminate "voluntary labor". The vast majority of conscription was merely to satisfy the extravagance of the rulers, depleting the precious power of the people and seriously hindering economic development.

Now his ability is limited, and he can only temporarily reduce the forced labor of a county, and he is still sneaky; If he can really become an emperor in the future, he must be exempted from servitude in the world, and then he can greatly liberate the productive forces and stimulate the people's enthusiasm for labor!

"What else is the problem?"

As Li Zicheng asked, a young woman said timidly: "Men have the strength to work, but we women can't do heavy work!" There are also old people and children, who can't work..."

When she said this, everyone also woke up and said, "That's right! If the old, the young, the women and the children can't work, should they be allowed to work? ”

Li Zicheng was already confident at this time, and immediately replied: "Don't worry! Our work is not all manual work, but also suitable for women and the elderly. As for the children, they can eat for nothing for the time being. After two days, our helper will also make arrangements for the children to do what they can, and everyone will know when the time comes. But if you have hands and feet but refuse to work, then I'm sorry, this porridge can't be eaten! Our helper said that everyone should support themselves and not raise a lazy man! ”

"I'm sick with tuberculosis and I can't do anything, but what can I do?" A gray-haired, skinny old man asked tremblingly.

"Our helper said that only the elderly over 70 years old, children under the age of 3 and the sick can eat completely for nothing." Li Zicheng said, "But the patient is a different stove, and he can't eat with everyone, everything else is exactly the same." Do you understand? If you agree, sign up! ”

"I'm registering!" Hao Daming was the first to jump out and said, "Say, what's the job?" I'll finish it first and then eat porridge! ”

"Young man, don't worry, how can you work if you don't have enough to eat!" Li Zicheng said with a smile, "As long as we agree with the charter of our business gang, and register our name and age, let's eat well this meal first, and then distribute the work when we are full!" ”

At this point, the common people finally stopped hesitating and rushed up to register, keeping Li Zicheng and his men busy.

Zhu Youzhen saw it in his eyes, was happy in his heart, and secretly thought that his "work for relief" had made a good start, and the next thing to see was the effect of the implementation!

At this time, the smell of rice came, and Zhu Youzhen remembered that he hadn't eaten breakfast yet, so he hurriedly returned to the palace, planning to eat casually, and then came out to observe.

Seeing Zhu Youzhen coming back, Rui'er hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Lord Wang, breakfast is ready, please eat!" ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled and said: "Rui'er, let's change the name in the future, don't call it 'meal', just call it 'meal'." ”

"But why?" Rui'er said in surprise, "Lord Wang, you have a noble status, so you can use the word 'meal'." If you change to ordinary officials or ordinary people, you can't use this word, otherwise it will be arrogance! ”

"It doesn't matter what it's called, isn't it all about eating? I don't want to do that specialization either! Zhu Youzhen said with a smile, "And when I say 'meal', I always think of geldings and pigs, which is really unlucky!" ”

"What nonsense are you talking about, lord!" Rui'er was also amused by Zhu Youzhen, "Okay, please have breakfast!" ”

Zhu Youzhen didn't eat it yet, looked at the dishes on the table and asked with a smile: "I eat so many dishes alone?" Where's everyone? ”

Rui'er hurriedly said: "The prince's morning... meals, since different from others. The rest of the people had to wait for the prince to use it before they could eat in their respective rooms. Wasn't it like this when I was in Beijing in the past? ”

Zhu Youzhen waved his hand and said, "Rui'er, let's change this article too!" In the future, the people of our palace, from the prince to the concierge, will all eat together and eat the same meal. ”

"This..."Rui'er looked hesitant, and couldn't turn this corner for a while. In fact, she was originally from the people, and she was also very friendly to the palace maids and guards. It's just that people in this era have become accustomed to a hierarchical life, and Zhu Youzhen said that he would change it, and Rui'er was still a little uncomfortable.

"It's nothing like this, that, isn't it just a meal!" Zhu Youzhen hurriedly hugged Rui'er in his arms, and Wen Yan said with relief, "I just think that everyone eats together, and they can say whatever they want, how lively and family atmosphere it is!" ”

"But other people will feel uncomfortable dining with you!" Rui'er was still worried, "Haven't you heard of 'a companion is like a tiger'?" ”

"Once raw and twice cooked, I slowly got used to it, and I'm not a tiger!" Zhu Youzhen smiled evilly, "Even if it's a tiger, I only eat your little rabbit!" ”