If it were just one person who said this, Zong Guang might be half-believing and half-doubting. But everyone is like this, so he would not believe it.

At noon, people on the ground blew whistles and sent signals, and everyone underground climbed up to eat along the ramp.

Everyone has to wash their hands by the river, wipe their faces, and then come to the manager one by one for inspection to confirm that there is no dirt on their hands before they can line up to receive food.

The clean vine basket was filled with steamed buns, as big as a fist. The woman responsible for distributing the food was dressed very clean, wearing white aprons and masks. They broke the steamed buns apart and stuffed them into pieces of fried fish and slices of meat, as well as fried vegetables, plus a bowl of fish soup with a thick layer of oil floating on the surface, put them in a pottery bowl and handed them over one by one.

If you don’t eat enough steamed buns, you can take them again, and you can take enough fish soup. The premise is that you cannot waste it. You must finish eating as much as you take. If you find someone secretly throwing it away or leaving it, you must accept severe punishment.

Zong Guang was biting the steamed buns that he had picked up food. He never felt as hungry as he is now. In fact, this meal has more meat, about two to one, but the meat is very large and full of weight.

He worked hard all afternoon, grinding bubbles with his palms. Despite this, he still couldn't dig the predetermined number, only sixty-six baskets.

When the sun was about to set, the manager on the ground blew the whistle again, causing everyone to finish work.

Zong Guang almost dragged his steps back to his room. He felt exhausted and didn't care about the softness and comfort of the bed. He had no idea except for a good sleep.

The two guards dragged him to the next door, took off their clothes forcibly, and carried them into a large wooden barrel filled with hot water.

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

Zong Guang was tired and comfortable, and replied weakly: "...I'm almost exhausted."

"No matter how tired you are, you have to eat." Tianhao didn't plan to let Zong Guang rest like this: "Wash quickly. After the meal, I'll take you out for a walk."

Soaked in the water, Zong Guang let out a desperate wail.

...

A hot bath helps to regain energy.

Dinner is very simple and the quantity is small. Tianhao explained: I didn’t dig enough peat, so I could only eat these.

Zong Guang, who was not full, reluctantly put down his empty bowl and followed Tianhao out of the room. Surrounded by a group of guards holding torches, he crossed the street and came to the shed located on the east side of the city.

This is a semi-open-air building with several fires lit around it not for heating, but for lighting.

As many as hundreds of women were busy in the shed: the peat dug out during the day was concentrated here, and they diluted a viscous mud with water and mixed it with the peat like a dough.

This work was done in a square frame with a side length of thirty meters. The wet peat was crushed with a metal cover plate, and they pressed it into a flat circle with a steel circular cylindrical mold with a radius of 20 cm. Then, a flat handle with a strange shape, welded six thick steel rods and pressed it hard. When pulled up, the flat peat block was regular and complete, with six holes evenly distributed in the middle.

Zong Guang felt very curious. Looking at the neatly stacked pieces of peat like a hill, he asked in confusion: "Isn't it enough to just put the peat directly in the fire? Why are you so troublesome?"

"Large pieces of peat are not easy to burn, this is a problem caused by the structure and shape of the object." Tianhao bent down and picked up a branch from the ground with his hands. His eyes showed a smile beyond this era: "Cooking fire is something that everyone has to do. Usually, we use hay and dead leaves to attract fire, because they are very thin, just a little bit. Add fine branches and pineapple to their burning, and then gradually add large pieces of firewood or peat."

Zong Guang nodded. He knew that this was a normal procedure for barbarians to make fires. But after hearing Tianhao said so much, he felt that it had nothing to do with the hole-punched peat in front of him.

"Why are branches easy to burn? Because they are not large in size and have enough space for the flame to penetrate. Large pieces of firewood are different from peat. Think about it, if such a large piece is put in, the fire that just grew is destroyed in an instant." Tianhao did not mention air, which was simply incomprehensible to the barbarians without scientific concepts. He could only explain it from the perspective of volume, which seemed easy to understand.

Zong Guang thought for a long time and suddenly raised his eyebrows: "It's like a house where only two people can live, but six people are going to squeeze in."

Tianhao patted his shoulder with satisfaction: "That's right, that's the reason."

Only when you understand the root 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 produced. Only when you have a strong curiosity and a strong interest will you develop the desire to uncover the secret.

He felt very good to find the answer himself. He was excited and surged in Zong Guang's body. Looking at the busy women, new questions arose in his eyes.

"Why are all women working here?"

"Good question! This shows that you really think with your brain, rather than just looking at it." Tianhao replied with praise: "Either village or city, there are inevitably problems with population structure. The ratio of men and women, the elderly and children, healthy people and patients... If the labor force standard for the strongest adult men is set at 100, the woman is seventy, and the elderly can reduce it by half as appropriate, about sixty to fifty, with the least children."

"I understand." Zong Guang felt a new door open in front of him. He shouted in surprise: "Let the man with a standard of 100 labor force go down the mine to dig peat, because they are the strongest?"

Tianhao nodded: "Women are responsible for processing peat. The amount of labor is not that large, and they are completely competent. You follow Hei Teeth to go down the mine today and know the specific labor intensity. Men who have been working all day need to rest, mix and match men and women, this is a normal workflow."

After pausing, Tianhao continued: "There are no idle people in Panshi City, so I don't raise lazy people here. Ten people are the most grassroots supervision, and everyone must receive food according to the workload of the day. The division between workers and farmers is very obvious. If you choose to get arable land, you must pay it in full during the harvest season. If you are a worker, you can't make it if you don't work hard. In short, there are many jobs in Panshi City, and only people are short of people."

Zong Guang suddenly thought of another possibility, and he lowered his voice: "Ahao, what if the ten people in charge of supervision bully their superiors and hide their subordinates... what should I do?"

"One kills one, two kills one pair." Tianhao's voice was very calm, with a chilling coldness: "Panshi City implements a joint seat system. If one person has problems, everyone related to him will be punished together. At the least, each person will be twenty whipped, and at the worst, the whole family will die together, and the head will be cut off and made into bone bowls. Anyone who is not afraid of death can try it. Anyway, there is only one head, and it will be gone if it is cut off."

Zong Guang felt awe-inspiring in his heart, but he was amazed at Tian Hao's actions. This was the true kindness and power.

"What can the elderly and children do when their labor standards are low?" This is Zong Guang's new question.

"A lot." Tianhao's dark eyes seemed to see through everything: "You are following the mine today, the clothes you wear and the backpacks containing peat are all from the hands of the elderly and children. Cut and sew, collect mahjong, rope, weave various tools, and sit at home. These things can be done. Not to mention the elderly and children, even patients and disabled people can do it."

His tone was plain, but Zong Guang couldn't help but shivered.

He began to truly understand the meaning of Tianhao's previous saying "There are no lazy people in Panshi City".

"Everyone has his place." The young Zong Guang didn't know how to cover up in front of Tianhao, and many thoughts could be seen through his expression. Tianhao smiled faintly: "This has nothing to do with cruelty, nor is it atrocity without mercy. In fact, ruling a city or even a ethnic group is not as difficult as you imagined. As long as the people's requirements are met, they will support you, cheer your name in public, throw flowers at you, and be proud of you at all times."

"Satisfied 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 level of domination. You have to understand that the desires deep in human beings will never be satisfied. When you are hungry, you want to eat well after eating. With rich food, you will pursue the ultimate in taste and taste the rarest things in the world. No matter whether this will cause a series of disasters and problems, you will be indifferent, purely to satisfy your own desires and curiosity. The same is true for clothes. Initially picking leaves to wear them.

It is for shame on your body, and hunting wild animals to make robes to spend the winter. When everyone is wearing linen clothes, everyone thinks it is normal, but as long as one person wears breathable and soft cotton clothes, others think it is an amazing luxury. If it continues in this order, I think there is a possibility of extremely terrible and extreme changes at some point in the future, such as peeling off the skin from a living person and making it into clothes will become a fashion that many people are chasing wildly."

"This is really terrible." Zong Guang's eyes twitched when he heard it: "Their desires must be suppressed, as long as they reach the minimum level."

"If you do this, you will find that it is a very difficult thing." Tianhao sighed long: "The calls from the people for change cannot be suppressed forever. A large number of vested interests become dominant in it. They will force you to change your mind from all aspects and become one of them. This process is silent and even without you notice. When you react, it is too late to do anything. Whether it is the patriarch or the king, blindly strong rule will only make you eliminated earlier. You must know how to compromise at the right time, otherwise the group of opponents will expand and the comprehensive strength exceeds the army under your control. Those fools and madmen who clamor for "freedom" will drive you off the stage, and even cut off your head and make a bone bowl to worship in front of the new king."

Zong Guang was frightened: "Will such a terrible thing really happen?"

Tianhao nodded meaningfully: "They think you are hindering the path to seeking freedom and light, and think you are the cruel demon king who kills everything. In the face of impulse and anger, they will choose to forget that it was you who dispelled hunger, you let them wear clothes, and did not freeze to death in winter. Haha... it's funny, right? No one will remember your kindness and compassion, they only know that you are a cruel and cruel king of the tribe. Just because you refuse some doctrines that are not suitable for the majority, and because you let some guys who are quite powerful but have absolutely no advantage in numbers suffer losses, they feel that you are not worthy of the throne under your butt, and must kill you. Their means are gentle and will choose to continue to deal with you and replace it with a puppet that is obedient and easy to be controlled."

Fear and shock flowed in Zong Guang's eyes. He subconsciously tightened his clothes with his hands. The cold came from his heart, as if the Winter God was parasitizing there, occupying everything, desperately releasing an endless terrible chill.

"Ahao... Have you experienced all these things?" Zong Guang asked tentatively after thinking for a while.

Around him was Tianhao's absolutely trustworthy confidant, his plain smile spread on his face, and his handsome face shone slightly under the firelight in the distance, just like the dawn that was constantly expanding from the depths of the darkness: "I witnessed everything and experienced everything. It was because of anger and dissatisfaction that I by chance became the leader of Panshi Village. It was not my credit alone, but the will of all the supporters of my group."

Zong Guang's expression suddenly became nervous and his breathing became rapid. He lowered his voice and asked, "Why do you want to tell me this? This... is your secret?"

The fire illuminated Zong Guang's face, with anxiety and urgency, as well as the impulse of young people. Under the combination of many components, it showed clear identity and worship. They were encapsulated by powerful closeness and became his expression at the moment in a complex and changeable form.

"You look like me in the past." He raised his hand and pressed Zong Guang's left shoulder hard. Tianhao said with emotion: "When you are branded, you are afraid of pain, your personality seems cowardly, but at critical moments, you will show a strong side. You will succumb to your father's orders, because of your son's responsibilities, even if you don't agree with it in your heart. Try to do better in some aspects to prove that you are not a waste in other people's impressions. Want to be recognized, but feel confused when facing actual difficulties and don't know what to do."

Zong Guang's face turned red. He lowered his head several times, and raised it again unwillingly. The deep eyes were filled with gratitude, surprise, doubt, relief, and the warmth and closeness that everyone was of the same kind, and naturally revealed without reservation.
Chapter completed!