Chapter 715: Not Worrying About Scarcity, But Worrying About Inequality

After the ceremony was completed, nearly 500 Dao Foundations were added to the Dao soldiers, and they immediately returned to the Northern Shanmen. However, they only wore a single garment when they came, but on the return trip, they were fully armored, each carrying four flying sword guns, and sitting on dozens of shells under their butts.

At this time, someone suddenly reported that Li Chengfeng from Zhao Guo was visiting and was already waiting at the Zhike Town on the border.

Regarding Li Chengfeng, Wei Yuan's attitude was quite good. After all, he had sold millions of bolts of cloth through him during this period, and collected tens of millions of catties of silk. Then 100,000 sets of medicinal materials for refining small Peiyuan pills were collected, and nearly 200,000 refugees were obtained.

Wei Yuan flew to Zhike Town and saw Li Chengfeng had changed into casual clothes, bringing only two followers, walking around and looking at Zhike Town.

The current Zhike Town was no longer just a town, but a city of considerable scale.

It undertook increasingly diverse functions. The first stop for foreign refugees was to register and screen in Zhike Town, and then distribute them to different cities in Qingming.

New merchant teams also had to report and register in Zhike Town first. In most cases, they would unload their goods here. The materials Qingming publicly sold to the outside world would also be stored in Zhike Town. These merchant teams didn't need to go anywhere else and could directly pull the goods they needed and return.

If strange teams entered Qingming without passing through Zhike Town, they would be attacked once discovered. Qingming had a Peerless Dao Domain, and it was basically impossible for teams of more than ten people to sneak in.

So over time, the scale of Zhike Town became larger and larger, and it became more and more prosperous.

The Zhike Town that Li Chengfeng saw now already had 10,000 permanent residents, and there were tens of thousands of temporary refugees and merchant teams. Hundreds of firms were opened in the town, restaurants and eateries were lined up, various goods were dazzling, and pedestrians would block the road whenever any immortal goods appeared.

Li Chengfeng took two confidant aides and disguised himself as ordinary merchants, walking through the streets and alleys, looking around constantly. Later, Li Chengfeng intentionally left the prosperous commercial street and walked along the small roads.

But even if it was a back alley, it was paved with bluestone, with dark ditches on the side.

Every household lived in small buildings of four or five stories, facing the courtyard, and strange plants were planted in the courtyard. People coming and going on the road were in a hurry, but everyone was full of spring breeze and full of energy.

A group of children ran past Li Chengfeng, giggling and making trouble, each holding some fruits and food in their hands.

Li Chengfeng stopped a few children and said kindly: "What are you holding? Can you give it to me? I will buy it from you for one or two immortal silver."

The children looked at each other, clearly knowing the value of immortal silver, so they handed the snacks in their hands to Li Chengfeng, took the immortal silver and ran away.

Li Chengfeng received fruits fried with flour and sugar oil, sugar figures boiled with syrup, and roasted meat sausages the size of fingers, and so on.

Li Chengfeng showed these to the two aides and asked: "Did you see anything?"

The older aide was thoughtful, but shook his head.

The younger one had no such scruples and said: "I have always heard that everyone in Qingming can eat enough. Now it seems that not only can they eat enough, but they also eat very well?"

The elderly advisor, however, gave a huff and said slowly, "The Sage said, 'Do not worry about scarcity, worry about inequality.' In this world, has there ever truly been a shortage of grain? If there is no shortage of grain, then why are there still so many refugees? Therefore, the strong preying on the weak and the clever seizing from the dull is the norm; inequality is the eternal, unchanging landscape of the human world."

No matter how much food there is, it can't withstand the hoarding of the rich and powerful. Although Qingming is famous for its grain, it can't break this principle. No matter how much food there is, it will only be in the hands of a few. How can there be a reason for everyone not to be hungry?"

Li Chengfeng was thoughtful, looked around, and said: "The place where mortals live in this town is almost catching up with the King's Capital. It seems that Wei Yuan knows that this is the facade, so he gathered the wealth of Qingming and specially built such a place?"

The older aide said: "It should be so. How can there be a place where everyone is not hungry?"

The younger aide was unconvinced and said: "Then what if Wei Yuan holds the idea of loving all living beings and everyone is equal? Just distribute the grain to every household, wouldn't that be fine?"

The older aide sneered: "Distribute grain for free? You might as well think about what the consequences will be. If you can eat enough without doing anything, then who is willing to work? Where does the grain come from? Did it fall from the sky?

And distributing grain to every household, how to distribute it, how much to distribute? Do sixteen-year-old strong men and five-year-old children eat the same amount? If the grain is distributed equally per head, then doing more or less is the same. Who is willing to do more? In the end, everyone will compare who is lazier and more slippery, and then everyone will be hungry!"

The younger aide was very unconvinced, but thinking about it carefully, the more he thought, the more frightened he became, and for a while, he didn't know how to refute it.

Li Chengfeng was looking at the small buildings of four stories, quite interested, secretly using his spiritual sense to constantly scan the internal structure. He felt that the argument between the two aides was more of a dispute of spirit and nothing worth listening to.

For him, no matter how much food there is, as long as the stored grain in his hand is enough to support the army's expedition, and as long as it is enough to resist natural and man-made disasters, that is enough. As for how people outside distribute grain and whether they hoard it, it doesn't matter. At most, it's just setting up porridge sheds to provide relief in disaster years, that's all.

These are things that small officials and clerks need to consider. For Li Chengfeng, who aspires to the throne, he cares more about how to defeat strong enemies in the battlefield.

While thinking, Wei Yuan's voice suddenly sounded beside the three: "This gentleman has a clear insight into human nature, which is truly admirable. I have a few doubts that I have never been able to grasp. I don't know if this gentleman can solve them for me."

The three turned around and saw Wei Yuan standing at the alley entrance, wearing dark casual clothes, stepping on dark-patterned soap boots, with clear eyebrows and a slight smile. Seeing the three, he walked over steadily.

The older aide saw that Wei Yuan was looking at himself. At this time, he also recognized Wei Yuan's identity, so he didn't dare to neglect, hurriedly bowed, and said: "If Wei my lord has a question, Shi will definitely know everything and say everything."

Wei Yuan said: "If the amount of grain distributed is determined according to the different situations of each household, it is inevitable that there will be disputes, just as the gentleman said, do not worry about scarcity, but worry about inequality;

But if everyone is the same, it is not fair, and in the end, it will become a situation of working without effort. Can the gentleman teach me a two-pronged approach?"

The older aide stroked his beard and said: "I only have a little clumsy opinion, and there is no perfect method."

Wei Yuan said sternly: "Please speak, sir."

"I heard that the fields in Qingming belong to the Domain Lord, and individuals do not own fields, but rely on the distribution of grain. In my humble opinion, the distributed grain can be divided into three parts. The first part is for everyone, rain and dew are evenly distributed, but the quantity cannot be large, just enough not to starve to death, and cannot make people full.

The second part is the remuneration and salary for various affairs and even positions. This part is for those who do more, and those who are capable get more. This is to reward diligence and encourage ability.

The third part is to check for omissions and fill gaps, and handle them flexibly. It can be used to provide relief to the disabled, reward the descendants of meritorious officials, etc. In this way, the three parts of grain complement each other, and a framework that is not bad can be built.

Its core point is that you cannot let lazy people eat their fill, otherwise it will inevitably chill the hearts of capable scholars and meritorious officials, and in the end, everyone will be lazy and no one will be willing to do more."

Wei Yuan bowed and said: "Sir has great talent!"

The distribution method mentioned by this aide was actually analyzed and demonstrated many times by Wei Yuan in the mortal fireworks, and the final result was a tendency towards equality for everyone.

Wei Yuan originally felt that the mortal fireworks plan was quite reasonable and extremely moral, but he didn't think of the last layer mentioned by the older aide.

At this moment, Wei Yuan thought about it carefully and found that it was almost inevitable that it would be the ending mentioned by the older aide: everyone is lazy and no one is willing to work. Even if they are forced to work, many people will work without effort.

Currently, the main force of Qingming's work is Body Forging cultivators and template Dao Foundations. At present, Body Forging cultivators are fighting hard for the Dao path. After all, there is a full 10% chance of advancing to Dao Foundation, and everyone thinks they will be in that 10%.

And template Dao Foundations are also afraid of being slack for the sake of consolidating the foundation, and everyone holds the dream of impacting the middle stage.

But there is no problem right now, which does not mean there will be no problems in the future. In fact, when the first batch of template Dao Foundations completes the foundation consolidation, they will face the problem of distributing remuneration.

If it is fast, this is just a matter of four or five years later. Looking further ahead, the blood oaths of the cultivators who first pledged to serve Qingming will expire in seven or eight years. How to keep them is also a difficult problem.

Wei Yuan looked at this older aide and had the idea of digging people.

Li Chengfeng saw this and immediately said: "Shi Mr. has known me for twenty years and has the grace of teaching. This is absolutely not to be given up."

Wei Yuan was also a little regretful and said: "Naturally, I cannot take away the favorite of the Fourth Prince."

Li Chengfeng smiled slightly and said: "Qingming is flourishing. What kind of talent is not there? Wei my lord only needs to call out, and scholars in the world will flock to it."

Wei Yuan said with a wry smile: "The Western Regions are a place of poor mountains and bad waters. Who is willing to come! The Fourth Prince is joking."

At this time, the older aide's face was a little strange, and he couldn't help but think that he had only been under Li Chengfeng for half a year, so where did he have so many entanglements?

After the pleasantries, Wei Yuan asked straight to the point: "What is the Fourth Prince here for?"

Li Chengfeng didn't say it directly, but asked: "What does Wei my lord think of the Jin King, and what about the Zhao King?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 716 =====