Chapter 679: Habits and Civilization

Winter is slowly coming to an end; now, when it snows, it is a mix of rain and snow. The snow lands on the ground and melts within half a day. Everyone knows that the temperature is gradually rising, their winter break is about to end, and they will soon have to start moving their somewhat rusted bodies, preparing to go all out.

Baifeng's family has also grown accustomed to Zhi's presence, and Zhi has successfully integrated into this household. Although to Zhi, the rules in this home are perhaps a bit too many, this feeling is even better for her. She feels that she has now become one of the most noble and civilized people in this world, and those rules are precisely the mark of civilization.

However, Baifeng does not feel that his home has many rules; it is nothing more than not tapping the bowls and chopsticks, not sticking chopsticks into the rice, not speaking loudly at the dinner table with spittle flying, as well as the order of seating, the order of picking up chopsticks, and washing hands frequently. These are things engraved in Baifeng's bones. Although many of these customs have absolutely no basis in this era, Baifeng feels that such rules are good, so the family has always kept them.

Changle and his wife live in their own small courtyard, but they still come over for meals, and they also come over when they have free time. Aside from the time spent working and sleeping, they basically spend their time accompanying Baifeng.

Zhi also follows Sui and the others, but Zhi also has her own work, which she has not set aside now. Baifeng feels that the status of women in Huaxia today can be said to be unprecedentedly high. Even if other tribes were to pass another few thousand years, they would not be like them. After all, having just transitioned from a matriarchal society to a patriarchal society, women ruled the world for perhaps ten thousand years; it had been this way since the birth of humanity. Now that men have finally grasped power, would it not be a regression to divide that power with women again?

The reason Baifeng does this is not for gender equality; after all, shouting this slogan would not only fail to stabilize his rule but would also affect the stability of his rule. He does this only for the sake of talent. From the very beginning, Huaxia has lacked population; regardless of gender, there are never enough. Among the young people, the ratio of men to women is about the same; men can be cultivated, and of course, women can too.

Therefore, Baifeng allows Huaxia to receive education regardless of gender, to obtain power equally, and to possess the same opportunities for advancement. However, in Huaxia, because there is no consideration for the issue of raising children, women basically become pregnant again right after giving birth, which greatly affects their work. Even though the women of this era are all tough and physically strong, Baifeng has no choice but to give them pregnancy leave and maternity leave; after all, children are the future of Huaxia.

This leads to the fact that women in Huaxia, after getting married, are not valued in the workplace, and advancement is somewhat difficult because important work cannot be entrusted to them—who knows when she might go off to have a baby.

Zhi has not yet felt the limitations in this regard and is still conscientiously doing her work, with even more motivation. However, Qinyang, who was already married last year, is now almost resigned to her fate. She is now heavily pregnant, and her due date is near. Ever since she became pregnant a few months ago and had obvious reactions, her training has stopped; Shaoyin cannot bear it, and Xiong is also worried.

In the end, Qinyang was transferred to the logistics department. She was unwilling under any circumstances to retire and transfer to another department. Some of the female soldiers from the same period have already retired for such reasons, and the Ministry of War has had to reconsider whether women are truly suitable for being soldiers.

The answer is unquestionable: women can certainly be soldiers, but the limitations are too great, so the scale cannot be large, and the scope of tasks is limited to those few. The proposal by the Ministry of War to disband the female soldiers was rejected, but Baifeng added a regulation for them: after entering the barracks, they may marry within two years but cannot give birth; once pregnant, they must retire immediately.

Such a clause can dispel the thoughts of most women wanting to be soldiers. In this era, regardless of gender, people place great importance on breeding offspring; it is not just men who are like this, women are the same.

If a woman is willing to accept such restrictions, is still willing to come to be a soldier, and can pass the review and successfully complete the new recruit training, she will definitely be a qualified female soldier. If Huaxia could produce a capable female general, that would also be a good thing. It is not as if this era has not produced any; Nvba was one, but the final outcome was very miserable, and her image is not a positive one either.

Legend has it that Nvba is the daughter of Xuanyuan, but Baifeng really does not know. To this day, Baifeng is almost completely in the dark regarding the family composition of Xuanyuan. It is mainly because he has quite a few wives and quite a few children. There are only a few famous ones in history, but Baifeng has not seen them yet.

Jingwei is also one of the most famous women, or rather girls, of this era. It is just that he does not know if she has turned into a bird yet. The mythological color of this era is too thick, so much so that Baifeng holds a skeptical attitude toward everything. The people might truly exist, but the deeds are unclear.

He has not met Xingtian yet either. Perhaps he can ask Xuanyuan sometime to see if they know each other. If the two of them are ever going to start a fight, he would also like to go and watch the battle to see if, after Xingtian takes a Sword strike from Xuanyuan, he dies on the spot, or if he still stubbornly holds up his bald neck to seek revenge on Xuanyuan.

Sigh, Baifeng thinks again: Xingtian did not die even after being beheaded and lived on to seek revenge on Xuanyuan, yet Xuanyuan died after living for over a hundred years. Whether he ascended on a yellow dragon or was buried at Qiaoshan, it seems he did not outlive Xingtian. So, who won? Does it count as Xingtian outlasting Xuanyuan with his own tenacious vitality?

After the start of this year, the construction of Xiao Town cannot be delayed any longer. The construction of the few new towns does not need to be rushed too much this year; they can all be built to a decent state. The construction volume of the Xuanyuan Tribe is not considered large, and it is still fine for that same Engineering Team to go, so manpower must be spared to continue building Xiao Town.

Otherwise, dragging it on year after year, he does not know when it will be finished. Moreover, Baifeng also wants to build a third city. Now that the Jiangshui Tribe has perished, in the northwest where they have already explored, only the Wulenge Tribe remains.

Considering the impact of the earthquake, if the Jiangshui Tribe could be wiped out, then the Wulenge Tribe should also have suffered no small losses. With the addition of the Cavalry, it is not a difficult task for Baifeng to want to conquer the Wulenge Tribe.

But regarding the manpower, Baifeng feels restricted again. There is enough labor; even if his own people are not enough, he can still hire those from the Xuanyuan Tribe. It is just that there is still a shortage of professional Artisans.