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0044 Craftsman? Slave!

After coming out of the palace, Chen Jingke went directly back to the Taoist Temple. In fact, he really wanted to walk around Chang'an City and see with his own eyes what the largest and most prosperous city of this era looked like.

But Zixiaoguan Chuangchuang has a lot of things going on right now, so it’s really not the time to hang around. Let’s talk about it after a while.

When he returned to the temple, he did not go back to his courtyard to rest. Instead, he went straight to Yang Tianlu and said, "Come with me to the outer courtyard to have a look."

On the way, he said to a passing Taoist boy: "Ask Zhang Ruiguang, the head of the warehouse, to go to the outer courtyard to find me."

Zixiao Temple is divided into a front yard and a back yard. The front yard is a place where gods are worshiped, and the back yard is where they live.

But there is a separate courtyard behind the backyard, called the outer courtyard. It is a place specially set aside to build schools and workshops, and it can also be used for family members of Taoist priests in the temple.

Let me mention here that Taoist priests do not prohibit marriage and childbirth. Only the Quanzhen lineage prohibits marriage and childbirth.

The outer courtyard and the backyard are separated by a high wall, leaving only one door for passage, and no casual passage is allowed unless necessary.

After passing through this door, the two came to the outer courtyard. Chen Jingke looked around and found a house in the corner and said:

"Tomorrow the Supervisory Committee will send ten craftsmen and their families to clean up this place. The front will be used as a workshop and the back will be used as their residence."

Yang Tianlu asked a little strangely: "I wonder what kind of workshop Zhenren plans to build? I can make preparations in advance."

Chen Jingke didn't hide anything from him and told him about the printing workshop.

Yang Tianlu was very shocked and praised: "Master, the merits of this method are immeasurable. Scholars all over the world will be grateful for your kindness."

Chen Jingke smiled and said: "It doesn't matter whether they are grateful or not. It is serious to build a workshop and print more Taoist scriptures."

Yang Tianlu shook his head secretly. He felt that Xiaozhenren was still too young and was putting the cart before the horse. Accumulating reputation among scholars was far more important than spreading a few Taoist scriptures.

But he didn't say much. After the printing technology spreads and scholars benefit, Chen Jingke will also gain fame. It's just a matter of sooner or later.

The two discussed how to set up and operate the workshop and how to settle their families.

Yang Tianlu said: "There are too many Taoist boys in the temple, and they cannot do many things. We might as well let some of the family members of the craftsmen go to the temple to do some chores."

"It can not only alleviate the shortage of manpower in the temple, but also provide them with an additional source of livelihood. I wonder what you think?"

Naturally, Chen Jingke would not object: "Your method is good, I agree. But you must carefully choose who to let in, and you can't let bad people get in."

Yang Tianlu smiled and said: "Don't worry, real man, I will keep an eye on this matter personally. Moreover, these craftsmen are all registered craftsmen. Since the empress has sent them here, she will definitely transfer their household registrations as well."

"At that time, their children and grandchildren will all be members of our Taoist temple. As long as they are not crazy, they will not dare to cause trouble."

Chen Jingke said in surprise: "Wait a minute, what household registration? Why are all your descendants from Taoism? Aren't they craftsmen?"

Yang Tianlu knew that he didn't know much about the situation in the Tang Dynasty, so he introduced the craftsmanship in detail.

After hearing this, Chen Jingke was surprised at first, and then fell silent. He knew that there were craftsmen in ancient times, and he also knew that the status of craftsmen was not high, but he never expected that the situation would be so bad.

In a word, they are slaves.

The craftsman registration does not allow for farming, doing business, working as an official, practicing medicine... and even does not allow learning other skills except the crafts specified in the household registration. The descendants of carpenters can only learn carpentry, and blacksmiths can only learn blacksmithing.

Their household registration is usually affiliated with the Ministry of Industry, and they work under state agencies such as supervision, weapons supervision, and water supervision, and receive wages for working for the state.

Eating national food, doesn’t it sound great?

However, in fact, they are slaves. Except for the tasks assigned by the state, officials of the department can use them at any time.

Not only the department, but also the powerful families in Beijing can call them away to work for free with just one word if they need it. Dare you not go? Just put a charge on them and your family will be ruined.

There is endless work to do, and money and food are not even enough to fill the stomach. When encountering greedy bosses, it is common for them to go without food rations for several months.

To say that they are slaves is absolutely correct.

The eldest grandson Wugou transferred the household registrations of these ten craftsmen to the name of Zixiaoguan, so they have been slaves of Zixiaoguan for generations.

No wonder Yang Tianlu said that these people don't dare to cause trouble because their lives are in the hands of others. It's true that they don't dare.

This cruel reality once again made Chen Jingke realize what class is. At the same time, he was deeply grateful that he met Sun Simiao, otherwise he would not dare to imagine the end.

The status of craftsmen is low, and technological breakthroughs are not taken seriously, which is extremely detrimental to the long-term development of a country. Chen Jingke secretly made up his mind that if possible, he must find a way to improve the living conditions of craftsmen.

While he was talking, Zhang Ruiguang, the head of the warehouse, came over.

The warehouse head is not only in charge of the warehouse, but also in charge of the procurement of some materials. Chen Jingke asked him to come here just to purchase the materials needed for printing.

"Paper, ink, carving knife, wood...I will buy all these things this afternoon. I will use them tomorrow morning."

Zhang Ruiguang did not dare to neglect and said: "Here, I will arrange for someone to buy it."

After arranging everything, Chen Jingke was free. After running back and forth for a long time, he was a little tired, so he returned to the side yard where he lived to rest.

As soon as he opened the door and entered the courtyard, he heard Yuzhu's voice cheering. He walked over in confusion and found that it was Yi Nu dancing the sword.

The sword is only about a foot long, but it fits her petite body surprisingly well. Her exquisite figure moves around in a small space, and the dagger is played with flowers.

Chen Jingke didn't understand martial arts and couldn't judge the quality of her swordsmanship, but he was sure of one thing. Her movements were very graceful, more like dancing than sword dancing.

"Okay." When the dance was exciting, he couldn't help but applaud along with it.

Only then did the two women notice that he was back, and they quickly saluted and said, "Master, you are back."

Chen Jingke nodded as a greeting, and then asked Yi Nu: "Have you ever practiced martial arts?"

Having just experienced exercise, Yi Nu's pretty face was rosy and she was breathing slightly, with a layer of sweat on her nose: "This is not a sword technique for killing people, but a sword dance for viewing. I learned it from my grandmother in the palace. Do you really think it looks good?"

"

Chen Jingke praised: "It's beautiful. Even if Gongsun Auntie comes in person, it's nothing more than that."

Yi Nu asked curiously: "Is Aunt Gongsun also an expert in sword dancing?"

Only then did Chen Jingke realize that he had made an mistake, and quickly made amends: "I have never seen a famous sword dance master that I have heard of before."

Then he changed the subject and said, "Sword dance should have special clothing, right?"

Seeing that he didn't want to say anything and didn't dare to ask, Yi Nu replied, "Yes, I have a special set of clothes in the palace, but I didn't bring them out."

Chen Jingke said: "What kind of clothes? Can't we just have someone make a few more sets?"

Yi Nu glanced at him, then lowered his head and said, "Do you really like to watch it? If you like it, I will let someone do it and dance for you every day."

Chen Jingke always felt that something was wrong with her, but he couldn't find the reason. He could only attribute it to himself overthinking, and said: "Okay, let others do it."

After chatting with the two maids for a while, he stood up and told the two women: "Don't let anyone come near my study."

After that, he entered the study and locked the door from the inside, then took out his travel bag from the cabinet.

He is going to make an inventory of all his belongings.

This chapter has been completed!
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