There are all kinds of commodities in the market, from fruits and grains to jewelry, jade, and even slaves.
If civilians can still be considered half human beings these days, then slaves are not considered human beings at all. They can be bought and sold freely like commodities. There is even a market dedicated to buying and selling slaves, classified according to strong men, women, children, and the elderly for everyone to choose from.
Moreover, most of these slave markets are government-run.
The main sources of slaves were captives, criminals and their families, or captured barbarians.
Although Zhao Kuo sympathized with these slaves, he had no intention of abolition. Abolition of slaves was unrealistic in this era.
Historically, Zhu Yuanzhang limited the number of noble slaves and prohibited ordinary people from owning slaves. However, there were still a lot of "godfathers" and "godmothers". This is the policy from above and the countermeasures from below.
Moreover, these adopted sons and daughters are more disgusting and oppressive than slaves. On the surface, they are adopted sons and daughters, but in fact they are still slaves, but the relationship has become a father-son relationship. They have lost the opportunity to redeem themselves. They cannot run away even if they want to, and in the end they are worse than slaves.
With the rapid development, Handan City inevitably has some minor flaws.
For example, crowded streets, garbage on the ground, some chaotic management, etc.
When Zhao Kuo saw what could be solved, he made a note of it and went back to ask people to deal with it. There were some things that couldn't be solved temporarily. For example, the streets were too crowded, so he could only put it on hold temporarily.
Handan City is so big that no one can solve this problem unless it is expanded.
However, the expansion will have to wait until Handan College is fully completed before manpower can be allocated.
It is very simple for Zhao Kuo to understand the people's sentiments. He can walk around on the street, or find a family to drink in a restaurant, and listen to the content of everyone's conversation, and he will have an idea.
Whether a policy is beneficial to the people does not depend on oneself, but depends on what the people say, and only the people are the most qualified to say it.
Many policies may seem good on the surface, but they will be completely different when implemented. If you were in the palace, you would never know.
"Guests, what would you like to order?" As soon as Zhao Kuo entered the restaurant, the waiter came forward to greet him.
As a young boy, the most important thing is his sharp eyesight. He knows who can offend and who cannot be offended. Although Zhao Kuo and others are dressed simply, the young boy can tell at a glance that the jade pendant on Zhao Kuo's waist can buy the entire house.
Restaurant.
"Just a jar of wine and a few of your store's signature dishes." Zhao Kuo waved his hand and said, it was his first time to come to this store.
"Okay, sir, wait a moment."
Zhao Kuo chose a seat by the window and looked at the passers-by outside. He always felt that something was missing in Handan, but he couldn't remember it.
"Do you feel that there is something missing in the city?" Zhao Kuo looked at Ben and Gai Nie.
"No."
The two of them shook their heads. You can let them do it, but let them use their brains and forget it.
"Forget it, I don't want to think about it anymore." Zhao Kuo sighed.
"Store, please borrow a hut for a while." At this moment, a man rushed in from outside and said anxiously.
The store owner seemed to be used to this. He pointed in a direction inside and continued to use his calculations to calculate the accounts.
The man thanked him and quickly got in.
"I remembered, there is no toilet! No wonder the city is a bit dirty, and sometimes you can even smell the stench." Zhao Kuo slammed the table and said loudly.
It's fine during the day. No one dares to take off their pants in public. Passers-by can also borrow some store huts to use the toilet. Stores are open for business, so they won't refuse under normal circumstances.
But at night, when everything is quiet and the lights are dark, the situation is different. Some people have to go outside to poop even though there is a toilet at home.
If you pass by a small alley at night and shine a light on it, the scene will be spectacular!
There are also new residential areas outside the city. Because of the chaotic management and lack of city walls, pedestrians who have no time to enter the city will choose to stay outside.
What should I do if there is no toilet when it is convenient at night?
Naturally, it is solved on the roadside.
There is no problem if one or two people do this, and there is no problem if ten or eight people do it. But when thousands or even tens of thousands of people do this, the problem becomes big.
The outside of Handan City will be shrouded in a stinky smell, and it will even be blown into the city under the influence of the wind.
Zhao State originally had a complete management system for this, which would not have caused the current situation. However, Handan expanded too quickly. The people living outside the city caught up with the number of people in the city in a short period of time, but the management system also kept pace with the situation.
It failed, which led to the current result.
"Go and bring Wei Wuji...forget it, let's call Chu Long." Zhao Kuo thought that Wei Wuji was now not only coordinating national government affairs, but also responsible for moving the corpses of soldiers, and was extremely busy every day, so he decided to let him go.
"The king plans to build a toilet in Handan?" Ben asked curiously.
"Not only are toilets built in Handan, but public toilets must be built in all cities in Zhao State." Zhao Kuo said solemnly.
Public toilets can not only improve the environment of the entire city, but also collect feces for fertilization and increase food production.
There are no chemical fertilizers in this era, and fertilizers can greatly increase the yield per mu, sometimes even three or four times.
However, under normal circumstances, there are only five to eight people in a family. Even if they are all equipped with manure-making machines, they will not be able to produce many poop in a year. Fertilizing two or three acres of land is the most, and it will not have a big impact on the total output.
The increased taxes are even less, so except for some farmers who are on the subsistence line, the monarchs and nobles do not pay attention to it.
But if most of the excrement can be collected and used to fertilize public fields cultivated by the state, the increase in yield will be very considerable.
Each household cannot produce much excrement, and all the people in the country combined can produce more. Moreover, all harvests from public fields belong to the state, unlike taxes, which only take one-tenth.
"How much will it cost?" Ben said. Although he was not good at arithmetic and could not calculate the specific figure, he also knew that this was by no means a small sum.
"It doesn't cost much, and besides, when have you ever seen me short of money?" Zhao Kuo said with a smile.
How luxurious does a toilet need to be? It can be built with wood. There are many of them in the mountains. There is no cost for the land. What you have to pay is labor wages. There are also wages for workers who build houses, clean toilets, and defecate. After all, just use
Pay labor wages.
Again, labor wages these days are cabbage prices. In other countries, they may not even be cabbage prices, and everything is done for free.
The capital will be repaid within a year at most, and the rest will be earned.
"That's true." Ben chuckled. Although he didn't understand why Zhao Kuo couldn't spend all his money, he had never seen Zhao Kuo lack money.
When Chulong rushed over, half of the dishes were served. Chulong cupped his hands and said, "I wonder what the king wants to ask for?"
"Sit down, let's talk after eating." Zhao Kuo pointed to the dishes and said.
It was really not the right time to talk about it after eating.
"Nuo." Chulong didn't show any politeness, he sat down directly and picked up the kuaizi.
After eating and drinking, Zhao Kuo recounted what had just happened, and finally said: "The sooner the better, the better. After the public toilets were built, it was stipulated that everyone must go to the toilets to relieve themselves, and violators were fined."
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"I understand." Chulong nodded. He was not a high-ranking official in the Celestial Dynasty who never touched the spring water. After hearing what Zhao Kuo said, he understood the importance of this matter.