Chapter 590 Business, Academic and Policy Questions
On the autumn day of Qiuci Town, in front of the gate of the old city examination hall, there was a sea of people, filled with candidates of different races, languages and origins.
Xu Fanghai, who had previously served as the director of Fanyang Taichang Temple, looked at the grand occasion in front of him and felt a little emotional for a moment.
Xu Fanghai, who has been living in Fanyang City, once heard someone say that every time there is a test day in Luoyang, Chang'an, tens of thousands of people gather in the city and all the nations come to watch.
In the past, Xu Fanghai thought he would have a chance to visit, but unexpectedly, he saw such a prosperous time in Qiuci Town.
While he was thinking about it, a young man's voice came from behind Xu Fanghai: "This Ah Lang, dare I ask where to get admitted for the business exam?"
When Xu Fanghai heard this, he turned around and saw a young man about sixteen or seventeen years old, wearing a green Confucian robe and sweating profusely, standing in the crowd. He looked over anxiously.
Xu Fanghai: "Business studies? Do you have any recommendation books and household introductions?"
The young man nodded and said, "Yes, they are all here."
Xu Fanghai: "The entrance to the Business Department is in the Sixth Gate, right next to the Junshi Department. You can come with me."
Hearing this, the young man breathed a sigh of relief as if he had heard of the amnesty, and hurriedly followed him.
Xu Fanghai took the young man and pushed forward along with the crowd.
On the way, Xu Fanghai asked the young man his name, and the latter replied Lu Ensheng, saying that he was from Jiaxing and that his family had been in the grain business for generations.
Xu Fanghai was a little surprised: "Jiaxing is located in the south of the Yangtze River, thousands of miles away from Anxi. It is really not easy for you to come here to take the exam."
Lu Ensheng smiled and said: "The Lu Family Trading Company has a branch in Chang'an City. I am a commoner and have grown up in Guanzhong since I was a child. This time, I heard that Anxi Qiuwei allowed the entrance examination for business and miscellaneous majors, so I said goodbye to my family and planned to take the exam.
Try your luck."
Xu Fanghai: "I see. Since you have come all the way, why should you apply for business studies?"
Lu Ensheng: "Business and Object Studies are newly established subjects. I think other candidates don't know the details and dare not apply. The competition is always smaller. In addition, Lu has grown up in a grain store since he was a child, and he has been influenced by it.
Under the circumstances, I naturally know a little bit about business."
Xu Fanghai nodded, couldn't help but glance at Lu Ensheng, and said in his heart, this young man is young and has a lot of thoughts.
The two of them arrived at the entrance of the examination hall.
Xu Fanghai looked carefully for a while and found that there were indeed very few candidates rushing to take the business exam. He couldn't help but admire Lu Ensheng again.
Lu Ensheng said goodbye to Xu Fanghai and entered the examination courtyard. He saw a post every three steps and a sentry every five steps. Among the hospital supervisors coming and going, there were not only officials but also sergeants, which made him a little nervous.
Entering the examination room inside, we saw that the room was divided into several rooms with low walls.
After entering the room, Lu Ensheng spread out the four treasures of the study and daily utensils, and accepted the last inspection from the hospital supervisor.
Not long after, I heard the sound of a gong and the door of the examination room slowly closed.
The test questions began to be distributed to each candidate by the supervisor. Lu Ensheng picked up the test questions and read them one after another. When he saw the final policy question, he couldn't help but froze on the spot.
Emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce, emphasizing commerce and suppressing agriculture, which route is more beneficial to the country?
But he never expected that the examiner would come up with such a policy question.
Throughout the dynasties, it has always been believed that farming is the right way, but businessmen do not care about production and only make profits by reselling goods, which is almost like a beetle.
There is another saying that if everyone in the world is greedy for short-term profits and goes to business instead of farming, then the country will perish.
On the surface, this policy question is asking which is more important to the country, agriculture or commerce, but in fact it is asking how to prevent the competition between commerce and agriculture from shaking the foundation of the country.
After thinking hard for a long time, Lu Ensheng began to write.
This young man did not start with a long speech about how important business was, but wrote a set of data.
In the early Warring States period, one acre of land could produce one and a half stone of millet in an ordinary year, four times for upper ripeness, three times for medium maturity, and one time for lower maturity; one stone for small crops, seven bushels for medium crops, and only one bushel for large crops.
It can collect three buckets.
In the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, one acre of land could produce three and a half shi of millet. During the Tianbao period of the Tang Dynasty, one acre of land could produce three and a half shi of millet.
On the other hand, in the early Warring States period, most of the agricultural tools used to manage an acre of land were made of bronze, and the farming method was mostly two-person farming.
From the late Warring States period to the Tang Dynasty, the advent of agricultural tools such as iron plows and oxen plows, columbuses, windmills, stone mills, water tillers, etc., coupled with the emergence of polders, coated fields, sand fields, shelf fields, terraced fields and other fields, made farming every day.
The amount of manpower occupied per acre of land has decreased, but the output has greatly increased.
Lu Ensheng wrote on the examination paper that based on this assumption, as time goes by and technology advances, the manpower consumed in farming will gradually decrease, while food production will gradually increase.
In other words, on the premise of reducing the number of farm workers, one acre of land can feed more people.
Then, these redundant people released from agriculture will inevitably find a new industry to make a living on their own.
And the countless industries under the jurisdiction of commerce have become the destination for these people.
Lu Ensheng used his own business as an example.
After purchasing the grain, the Lu Family Trading Company does not simply resell the grain, but also operates many grain-related ancillary industries.
For example, wineries that use grain to make wine, such as Luxing, which processes grain grains into horse food; and broken rice can be made into rice flour or rice starch, and the latter can be processed into maltose in sugar mills.
After writing thousands of eloquent words, Lu Ensheng ended with this paragraph.
Food is the life of the people, and agriculture is the foundation of a country.
However, with the advancement of technology, agriculture will consume less and less manpower and produce higher and higher yields.
More and more people working in agriculture will leave farming and find new jobs in business and miscellaneous studies.
In order to gain an advantage in business competition, merchants who have sufficient population, financial resources and raw materials will try their best to research and improve business techniques, so as to obtain more profits at a lower cost.
This kind of move seems to be just for personal gain, but in fact it promotes the progress of the entire industry and even feeds back into agriculture.
After writing this, Lu Ensheng blew the ink with satisfaction and nodded.
At this moment, a gong suddenly sounded in the examination room.
An examiner shouted on the spot: "The time has come, candidates are leaving!"
Lu Ensheng was stunned for a moment, looking at the test paper in his hand, and suddenly remembered an important thing - the arithmetic and accounting questions at the front of the test paper were not written!
For a moment, Lu Ensheng turned pale with fright. He was at a loss and wanted to write more.
The patrolling hospital supervisor noticed his behavior, looked over coldly, and drank again.
Lu Ensheng was helpless and could only put down his pen and left the examination room dejectedly.
At the gate outside the examination hall, Xu Fanghai clasped his hands behind his back and looked at the market in the distance, thinking about finding some food.
Seeing Lu Ensheng come out, Xu Fanghai came over and asked, "How is it?"
Lu Ensheng's expression could only be described as mourning for his concubine. He looked at Xu Fanghai, cupped his hands, and left quickly without saying a word.
Seeing this, Xu Fanghai shook his head and said: "It's normal for the imperial examinations to be exhaustive and without success... Young people should have more experience."