Chapter 22: The Significance of Industry and Education
Fang Yizhi felt very fruitful during the visit to the breeding farm.
I learned new words that are easy to understand, such as ‘nutrition’, ‘dystocia rate’, ‘strong country and strong breeding’.
So after a sumptuous reception dinner.
Lying on the big bed in the reception room, Fang Yizhi tossed and turned and couldn't sleep. There were a lot of new things in his head, as well as some immature new theories, and inspirations of this kind, which made people excited and confused.
, people feel fear, but also see infinite light.
Some of the traditional education he had received in the past ten years, such as the Confucian values of valuing the people over the king, sacrificing one's life for righteousness, and family, country and world, were realized in Xujiazhuang, while some saw the completely opposite side, and some found new ways to achieve the same purpose.
wonderful.
In short, it brought a very big ideological impact to him.
Because he really couldn't sleep, he actually became interested in the energy-saving lamp in the room. He turned it on and off hundreds of times, but he really didn't understand how the lamp turned on? Why was it so bright?
…
The next morning.
Looking at Fang Yizhi with his pair of panda eyes and messy hair, you can tell he didn't sleep well.
Xu Yuan said in surprise: "Brother Mi, what's wrong with you, because you're not used to sleeping on the bed in the reception room?"
"Master Xu, Mr. Xu."
Fang Yizhi bowed deeply to him and said, "You don't have to call me Mi's brother. The so-called master is a teacher and the elder is a teacher. Fang gained a lot from yesterday's visit and gained a lot of insights. I would like to pay my respects to Xu Zhuang."
I am my teacher. I wonder if you, sir, would be willing to teach me? To clear up the doubts in my mind, I am willing to hold the disciple ceremony and serve you by your side."
Fang Yizhi decided to take Master Xu as his disciple after a sleepless night.
He has too many questions, too many things he wants to know, and hopes to get answers and find new directions.
Because he is keenly aware that Xujiazhuang contains many different things, such as the "Yaojiang School" and the "Taizhou School" established under the influence of Mr. Yangming, which are quite different from traditional Confucianism and have many innovations.
.
But this Xujiazhuang may be a different set of things, more shocking, and contains some potential to subvert everything. The other party's intelligence has a strong attraction, making him want to learn and understand it, and get a closer look.
Therefore, I had the urge to become a disciple of Master Xu.
"My dear brother, you don't have to be like this."
Xu Yuan shook his head and said: "I am only a few years older than you. I cannot be your teacher. We can treat each other as brothers. As for any doubts you have, I will take you to see more and discuss things with each other.
You can find many answers on your own, there is no need to seek help from a teacher."
"Okay, thank you Brother Xu."
So after breakfast, Xu Yuan continued to take Fang Yizhi to inspect various places in the manor. This time, Fang Chengxiu did not follow him. His daughter Fang Qingyan was entertaining him.
This time I went to the workshop area.
We visited and inspected more than ten workshops and facilities including brick kilns, furniture factories, iron mills, rice mills, canneries, textile factories, and non-staple food factories (noodles, vermicelli and biscuits).
Xu Yuan explained and introduced:
"The main purpose of establishing a workshop is to use mechanical equipment to improve production efficiency, bring more daily necessities to people, and increase the utilization rate and added value of agricultural products. Generally speaking, the output value created by the workshop is basically the same as that of agriculture.
Quite, but a developed workshop system can bring three, five or even ten times the output value of agriculture, creating a situation where there is no stability in agriculture, no strength in the absence of industry, and no wealth in the absence of commerce.”
"Industry is the key to a strong country and an intuitive reflection of national strength and national destiny."
"For example, this large brick kiln in Xujiazhuang uses the most advanced rotary kiln brick-burning method. It can open a kiln every day and bake 150,000 green and red bricks, 500 stones of cement, and several tiles.
It is enough to build ten houses. In one year, it can meet the housing construction needs of 3,600 households, allowing all residents of Xujiazhuang to live in comfortable, safe, bright and beautiful brick and wood buildings with a building life of at least fifty years."
"Our furniture factory adopts a standard customization and assembly line production model. It does not require a carpenter to complete all processing links. It uses a high-speed electric saw to cut wooden boards, which is a hundred times more efficient than a manual saw. Hundreds of pieces can be cut per hour.
Wooden boards are joined together with iron nails, replacing the time-consuming and demanding process of mortising and tenoning, and ensuring a stronger fit. With sufficient raw materials, hundreds of workers in this furniture factory can make thousands of pieces of various types of furniture every day.
Furniture-like.”
"The large-scale rice mills in rice mills can process tens of thousands of kilograms of rice a day. The efficiency of wheat shelling is ten thousand times that of human rice pounding, a thousand times that of livestock pulling grinding stones, and hundreds of times that of hydraulic machinery.
It frees countless women from the heavy and inefficient work of pounding rice, saving at least an hour every day, which can be used for rest or other labor activities, significantly improving the economic benefits created by women."
"The cannery is of greater significance. It can process the fruits, meat, fish, vegetables, etc. produced by farmers that cannot be consumed in time, and seal them in cans, and then undergo high-temperature sterilization to ensure a short shelf life.
One year, sometimes more than three years, there are canned food, fruits growing on the mountains, pigs, cattle, sheep and poultry in the farms, fish in the river, and vegetables in the fields. Even if it is impossible to eat them all in a short period of time, there is
Additional preservation means, on the one hand, reduce food waste; second, canned food can be sold to bring more income; third, it is easy to transport and preserve, and can be eaten after opening, which not only brings convenience, but also improves food utilization, and is an energy-saving food.
It will bring many positive effects to the industry.”
“The purpose of establishing a non-staple food factory is to enrich the variety of food through deep processing, and to process potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn that are produced in large quantities in the field but cannot be stored long enough into dry vermicelli, corn flour, etc. The excess soybeans and black beans are
After processing, it becomes dried tofu, tofu skin, yuba, soy sauce, spicy strips and other snacks. After various grains are deeply processed, not only the shelf life is extended, but the taste is also very good, which greatly enriches people's dining tables."
Fang Yizhi felt something in his heart. He thought the cannery was very good.
Because people in many parts of the Ming Dynasty are experiencing natural and man-made disasters and facing serious hunger problems, but it does not mean that the Ming Dynasty lacks food and will not encounter food surplus problems.
For example, due to constant transportation, some people living in mountainous areas have wild fruits all over the mountains and plains in autumn, and all kinds of prey and wild products obtained in the mountains. Sometimes they can't eat them all, and they don't have good preservation methods. They put them away after a long time.
Not only does it cause a lot of waste, it also cannot bring economic benefits.
Another example is the fishermen who live by the sea. The seafood they pick up from the sea and the fish and shrimp they catch from the sea will rot and become smelly in just a few hours after they land out of the sea, making them inedible.
Few fishermen at the seaside can make a fortune by selling fish, and most of them are in abject poverty.
If we could solve the problem of long-term preservation of seafood, fish and shrimp, seal them in cans, and sell them in large quantities to areas where food is scarce, wouldn't it be possible to save a lot of hungry people?
The sea is boundless, and the fish in the sea are endless. Even if you only catch a very small part, you don't know how many people you can feed.
Think of this.
Fang Yizhi was moved and came up with the idea of importing equipment from Xujiazhuang and opening a cannery. He was not interested in making money, but just wanted to help the hungry people as much as possible.
"Brother Mi, if you open a cannery, you won't be able to save many people. Even if you open ten or a hundred cans and increase the food supply, you won't be able to save many people. Those poor people at the bottom are mostly penniless and have no money to buy cans.
Money, besides helping the urgent but not the poor, those hungry people have no land, no jobs, and no security. You can help them for a while, but you cannot help them forever. You have to solve their problems at the source."
Xu Yuan shook his head and said noncommittally.
"Then how to solve the problem from the source?" Fang Yizhi asked.
"Simple, either give them a piece of land that is enough to support a family, and the court taxes must be within an affordable range; or join a collective estate like Xujiazhuang, where they can have a stable income that can support a family every month, and use collective labor
, use the method of teamwork and cooperation to fight against the destruction of natural disasters, reject the abuse of corrupt officials and subordinates, and learn all cultural knowledge to avoid being controlled and deceived by the clan gentry. Then master the most advanced and efficient industrial productivity, and when it occupies most of the
When they have access to resources, I believe that they can not only change their own destiny, but also become their own masters, and no one can oppress them."
Xu Yuan expressed his own point of view.
Fang Yizhi listened half-understanding, and felt that it was beyond his scope of understanding. The hungry people were just hungry people, and the people were just people. As long as they abide by the law, how could they be their own masters? As long as there are wise kings and wise ministers,
They will be able to live a good life with great peace in the world.
Seeing Fang Yizhi's confused look, Xu Yuan did not explain too much, nor did he fully elaborate on his thoughts.
Just after visiting the finished workshop area.
He also took Fang Yizhi to the Xujiazhuang Academy in Bastion, and gave him permission to be an auditor, allowing him to attend classes freely in the Xujiazhuang Academy and study with the primary school students in Xujiazhuang's highly confidential education system.
Two days.
Just two days.
In Xujiazhuang School, in the textbooks for primary school students, Fang Yizhi did not see the subtle words of Confucius, nor did he learn to sacrifice one's life for righteousness, let alone traditional cultural thoughts such as family, country and world, heaven and earth, king, relatives and teachers. Only the "Workers and Peasants Are Very Important" in the Chinese textbook
"Greatness", "Workers Create the World", "People's History", as well as various ghost symbols and theorem formulas in mathematics textbooks, but they can calculate many complex problems.
Something's wrong.
Something is very wrong.
Fang Yizhi felt that everything in this magical and weird Xujiazhuang was becoming more and more wrong and incompatible with the inherent thinking in his mind.
It was very absurd and weird. Everything here seemed to negate and destroy everything he had built in his mind over the past twenty years, giving him an extremely frightening feeling. The more he understood it, the more he wanted to run away.
However, he couldn't find many flaws and loopholes, and he saw many advantages with his own eyes, which proved that Xujiazhuang's approach was correct.
At least the primary school students in Xujiazhuang School gave him a very different feeling. They all regarded themselves as little masters of the manor. They were very confident, lively and free, with advanced ideas and were not restrained and suppressed by traditional ethics, especially the female students.
Their performance simply opened his eyes to a whole new world.
…
The third day.
The visit is over and we have to go back.
"Brother Xu."
Before leaving, Fang Yizhi gave another deep bow and said to Xu Yuan: "These past few days have opened my eyes and I have gained a lot. I am just busy with mundane affairs and have to go to the capital to do something... However, Brother Xu's Xujiazhuang
, when I come back, can you allow Fang to continue visiting? If it is really difficult, I would like to join Xujiazhuang and become a part of it, learn practical skills, and do more things for the people of the world."
"Xujiazhuang is not a place you can join casually."
Xu Yuan shook his head: "To join Xujiazhuang, you have to shave your head and change clothes. You have to completely abandon the old ideas and embrace the new knowledge and new ideas here. These must be difficult for you to do. You should think about it carefully and wait until you come back next time.
Xujiazhuang still welcomes you."
"Okay, thank you Brother Xu!"
Fang Yizhi saluted deeply, then turned around and left with a complicated mood.