Transmigrated into a female county magistrate during a famine, leading her country to prosperity

Chapter 356: Shen Zheng and Shen Xingjian have a dispute

County school.

The houses of the people working in the county government and the teachers in the county school were located in the same courtyard.

At this time, the courtyard gate was wide open. Fang Ziyan, Pei Zhaoqi and a group of students from the county school were peeking at the door of the house.

"Master Shen had a quarrel with Master Shen..."

"It can't be a quarrel, right? Lord Shen has such a good temper, how could he quarrel with others?"

"Which Lord Shen are you talking about?"

"Then which Lord Shen are you talking about?"

"It must be our Lord Shen!"

"That's what I said. If Lord Shen quarrels with Lord Shen, it must be Lord Shen's problem. Lord Shen would never do anything wrong."

"I think so too."

Pei Zhaoqi had a dazed look on his face as he listened to the entire conversation between Fang Ziyan and his classmate.

There is clearly no difference between the "Lord Shen" and "Lord Shen" mentioned by the two people, but he just knows which Lord Shen is which Lord Shen.

"Zi Yan, the teacher is going to give a lecture, we have to go over there." Pei Zhaoqi said helplessly.

Fang Ziyan clung to the door frame and refused to leave. "Will Lord Shen bully Lord Shen? No, Zhao Qi, we can't leave. We have to stay and support Lord Shen."

Pei Zhaoqi sighed, stretched out his hand, one in each hand, and led the two out of the house.

In the courtyard——

Shen Zheng held the booklet in his hand, looking helpless.

"Sir Shen, it would be better if the printing house is built around the county school, so that it will be convenient for Principal Li to do things. And the printing house needs people who can read and write. It may not be difficult to find people who can read in the future, but for now, it is better for the printing house to be built around the county school."

Shen Xingjian had no objection to the matter, and the disagreement between the two of them just now was not because of the location of the printing house.

His fingers unconsciously rubbed the stone table with dust, and he said:

"Sir Shen, I have no problem with the printing house, but I would like you to consider the monthly salary of the workers in the cloth shop."

"Nothing to think about."

Shen Zheng refused outright, as if trying to escape and not want to argue.

Shen Xingjian sighed softly and consoled him, "Don't worry. Lord Shen, I am not hoping for the well-being of the people of Tongan County, but..."

"I know."

For some reason, Shen Zheng felt a little impatient today.

"I know what you mean. You think the cloth shop treats the county residents too well and you are afraid that the county residents will not remember it. You are also afraid that the good treatment for workers in Tong'an County will spread out and ruin the market, causing the people outside to make trouble."

Shen Xingjian pursed his lips, looked into Shen Zheng's eyes, and whispered:

"I am mainly considering the latter. Lord Shen, the overall business performance of our Great Zhou has been low in the past two years, and the monthly wages of the people have also been gradually reduced. This is not set by the emperor or us, but is based on the people's sentiments."

"What public sentiment?" Shen Zheng laughed unceremoniously.

She asked back: "Do you think that the monthly salary of one tael of silver is too high? Or do you think that it is unreasonable to have four days off a month? Or do you think that it is unreasonable to receive a piece of cotton cloth every quarter? Or do you think that it is unreasonable to give workers some rice and flour as welfare during festivals?"

Shen Zheng asked a series of questions, which made Shen Xingjian stand up and leave.

Even when he disagreed with others in the court, he did not feel such great pressure.

But he still planned to explain the situation to Shen Zheng first.

"Sir Shen, would you... listen to me, please?"

Shen Zheng nodded slightly.

"In fact, at first glance, one tael of silver a month is not too high. If the common people are willing to work hard, they can get one or two taels of silver a month."

As soon as he finished saying this, Shen Zheng knew there was a "but".

"But the laborers' efforts and rewards should be proportional. Not only did you give them one or two taels of silver per month, but you also asked them to start work at 7:00 pm and finish work at 10:00 pm. This long working time is too short no matter where you put it. And you also gave them four days off. In my Great Zhou... only officials and students have days off."

Shen Zheng was pulling his hair frantically in her mind.

Shen Xingjian is such a good guy. He does hard labor from seven in the morning to five in the afternoon, and he still thinks it’s too short?

Five whole hours, ten hours!

Shen Zheng took a pen and paper and drew a "cake" on it.

"Master Shen, what is proportional? Let's compare a day to this cake, and you will see."

"The workers work five hours a day, plus the journey back and forth, that should be six hours, right? That takes up half of the day."

Shen Xingjian nodded.

Shen Zheng cut out another small piece of cake.

"Workers have to have breakfast at home and dinner when they get home, right? They have to wash clothes and clean the house when they have nothing to do. Let's count this as one hour."

Shen Xingjian's expression was a little stiff, but he still nodded.

Shen Zheng marked another area, "Those who are chosen to work are basically strong men, and women are the same, either strong, or have good eyesight, or are dexterous. No matter which family they are placed in, they should be the pillars of the family, right?"

Shen Xingjian already knew what she was going to say next.

"The pillar of a family must be the backbone of the family. Then let me ask, do they have daughters and sons? If so, do they study? Do they discuss marriage or not?"

Shen Xingjian was speechless, and Shen Zheng took advantage of the situation to pursue him.

"Since there are children below them, there must be old people above them, don't you think?"

Shen Xingjian pinched his fingertips and nodded again.

"Since there are elderly people, if they are in good health, then it's not a big deal, they can help take care of the house. But you also know that once people get older, their health will deteriorate day by day. Which elderly person doesn't have some minor problems and doesn't need someone to take care of them? Then who will take care of them? Will the children take care of them?"

Shen Xingjian was somewhat shaken by what she said, but his inherent thinking still made it difficult for him to accept it.

Shen Zheng sighed and said sincerely:

"You are not married yet, you don't have a wife or children, and there shouldn't be any elderly people in your family in the capital who need your care. Even if you need them, you can hire eight or ten servants to look after them, and you don't have to worry about anything at all. But Lord Shen, the common people are different from us."

"What do people eat every day, how much money do they have in their savings, what is broken in the house that needs to be repaired, whose clothes are so patched that they really need to buy cloth to make clothes, these are all things that people need to consider."

This was the first time Shen Xingjian faced this issue.

Only then did he realize that he and Shen Zheng had completely different perspectives when looking at things.

From his perspective, he is still the Ministry of Revenue and still focuses on officials and dignitaries, rather than ordinary people.

So in all his life, he never felt that eating, dressing, and repairing the house were things a person had to worry about in order to survive.

But Shen Zheng told him that if ordinary people want to make ends meet, they must take these things into account.

Shen Zheng lowered her head, as if she was talking about her past self, or about the millions of people of the Great Zhou.