PFC Chapter 327 Sense of dissonance
Chapter 327 Sense of dissonance
Jia Hu laughed and said:
"It seems the treatment here is very good; everyone is tall and big."
Hearing this, the manager broke out in a cold sweat and laughed exaggeratedly:
"Even if you do hard labor, you still need to eat your fill. We never criticize or mistreat our workers; we always make sure they eat and sleep well."
The steward was worried that the young master would ask something else, and he was very anxious.
Jia Hu asked how other places diverted seawater.
The manager breathed a sigh of relief at the question, thankfully he didn't ask any further. He explained carefully, hoping to satisfy the young master quickly and get him to leave.
Just as he was beginning to feel a little relieved, Jia Daishan asked:
Where do all the laborers here come from?
The person in charge was on edge again.
"Your Excellency, we all live on this estate. This estate was built specifically to support this salt field, and the laborers are paid by the day."
Jia Daishan asked casually, and it was true that working as a laborer in the salt fields and earning wages was much better than farming.
After his grandfather finished asking his questions, Jia Hu continued to ask many questions about salt production.
Having passed this hurdle, the manager perked up and listened attentively to the young master's questions. The manager was quite surprised; how did this young master know so much about salt production? There were many questions he wouldn't have been able to answer if he hadn't been working at the saltworks all this time.
The steward originally thought it was two or three dukes coming to visit, but all the way there, it was this young master who walked ahead and kept watch.
The manager dared not be careless and racked his brains to answer.
“Our salt field is small and relies on manual labor, while the large salt fields have waterwheels.”
Upon hearing about the waterwheel, Jia Hu asked:
"what does it look like?"
With the steward's explanation and drawings, Jia Hu understood that the waterwheels they were using were still simple, not the final form they would later develop. So, this trip had still been worthwhile.
Having figured things out, Jia Hu thanked the steward.
The manager was flattered and quickly said that he dared not accept such an honor.
They went around again, and Jia Hu saw that there was nothing else to do, so he felt more confident about what to do.
It's windy here, and Jia Hu touched his younger brother's face; it was a little cold. He said:
"Grandfather, great-uncle, let's go back."
Seeing that their grandson had found the right child, the group headed back home.
The manager felt relaxed, but was also completely bewildered. He had come and gone in a hurry, looked around, asked a few questions, and left without anyone knowing what he meant.
After respectfully seeing the person off, he immediately sent someone to his master's residence.
Once seated in the carriage, Jia Hu began to ponder the waterwheel.
Looking at the drawing by the steward, Jia Hu was certain that the current waterwheel was the most basic one. Historically, the waterwheel was used by the magistrate of Ninghe County to teach the saltworkers how to use it to fetch water from the salt flats, replacing the previous method of two people using willow buckets to draw water, increasing the water-lifting capacity tenfold. Later, in the Hangu salt area, eight-canopy windmills were used, utilizing wind power to drive the waterwheels, increasing the water-lifting capacity threefold.
Jia Hu had a general idea in mind; he wanted to make the windmill and waterwheel.
With this matter resolved, Jia Hu reflected on the events at the saltworks and felt that something was amiss.
Seeing that Jia Hu was deep in thought, Jia Daishan and the others hadn't disturbed him. Now, noticing Jia Hu's furrowed brow and troubled expression, Jia Daishan asked softly:
"Hu'er, is there something you don't understand? If this place doesn't work, we can go and look elsewhere."
Jia Hu shook his head.
“The matter is settled, and there’s no need to go anywhere else. But Grandfather, I always feel that there’s something wrong with this salt field. It feels very strange, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.”
"Is there anything off-putting?"
Jia Daishan and Jia Daihua, along with young Jia Zhen, also began to ponder carefully.
When Jia Daishan and Jia Daihua came last time, they were with the Emperor and many ministers. There were many people there, and the salt field was small, so they only took a quick look and left.
At the time, the focus was on places like the large salt fields. When asked to explain the differences between these areas and the large salt fields, they couldn't really say.
“When I came here with my great-uncle last time, I didn’t look around carefully, so I can’t really say what’s different this time.”
Jia Hu shook his head.
“Grandfather didn’t think there was anything different about this time compared to last time. I didn’t come last time either, but I always felt that the people here were out of place in this salt field. I felt that they were not compatible with this salt field.”
As Jia Hu finished speaking, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he abruptly sat up straight.
"I see!"
"what?"
“Grandfather, you should have noticed as well. Didn’t you ask them where they were from back then?”
Jia Hu understood what that sense of incongruity was. The reason this salt field seemed out of place was that the people who did hard labor there wouldn't have such strong physiques.
Jia Hu thought about it more and more and felt that it made sense!
“Grandfather, great-uncle, you’d be exposed to the wind and sun all day at the salt field, and your skin would be dark and rough. But the people we just saw working there had dark skin, but it wasn’t that rough, reddish kind of black.”
They were supposed to be doing hard labor, and they were all tall and strong. Such robust physiques must mean they were very well-nourished, but where did they get that much nutrition working in the salt fields?
Jia Daishan recalled the steward's words and the steward's explanation. After hearing what Hu'er said and thinking back carefully about the people there, he realized that something was indeed amiss.
“Hu’er is right. Something is definitely not right. I only noticed that they were physically strong and assumed they were paid and were eating much better than ordinary laborers.”
Jia Daishan pondered.
"They are indeed much more robust than the people we visited at the salt fields before."
Jia Daihua also said.
“Grandfather, great-uncle, what are the other salt fields like? I heard my master say that there are three hardships in life: salt production, blacksmithing, and tofu making.”
Is it possible to develop such a robust physique under such harsh conditions?