So-called leading by example—when upper-class people lead the trend of refined conversation, people below follow suit in droves. When upper-class people value agriculture and become absorbed in farming, people below turn to immerse themselves in agriculture, with gentry working the fields like stars filling the sky.

When scholars who had gotten into fights during refined debates and ended up in prison to sober up were pulled out to dig irrigation ditches, they looked around and saw many familiar faces in the fields.

The scholars were all quite surprised. They weren’t in a hurry to jump into the ditches but leaned on their shovels watching familiar people wielding hoes in the fields. “Brother Jin, I didn’t see you in prison. Why were you punished?”

Brother Jin raised his head, looking around in confusion. After a while, his gaze focused on the scholar. He frowned. “What punishment? I rented this plot of land from the government office. Grain is critically important. For people like us with mediocre skills and limited knowledge, helping the Governor pacify the realm is impossible. We can only make an effort in the rear, researching farming methods.”

He continued, “Governor Zhao says the climate hasn’t been good these past two years. The Imperial Observatory says there may be drought, and as time goes on, the weather will become increasingly cold and dry. So I want to try to see if I can grow a strain of seed that’s relatively drought-resistant and cold-resistant.”

He looked the other person up and down, seeing him holding a shovel with a group of people who had obviously just come from prison standing beside him, with a yamen runner holding a whip watching them nearby. His expression became somewhat playful. “Brother Zhou, you were… punished?”

On the other side, another scholar who had also rented land from the government office called out loudly, “Didn’t Brother Jin know? Brother Zhou got imprisoned for brawling. He still has seven days before he can get out.”

Brother Zhou didn’t consider it shameful. He tossed his hair. “Truth becomes clearer through debate. I was imprisoned for the sake of heavenly principle—there’s no shame in it.”

“Heh, Brother Zhou, if it were just verbal debate, why would the authorities arrest you? Governor Zhao doesn’t restrict people’s speech. Even if someone went to the government office to curse her, she would just endure it. You clearly couldn’t win the argument and started hitting people. How can hitting people in debate be considered reasoning?”

“Who did Brother Zhou hit?”

“He hit a scholar from Shu, named Li Fangzhi.”

Brother Zhou snorted. “An arrogant, insolent person who deserved it!”

The yamen runner felt they had chatted long enough and sauntered forward to urge them. “Get to work, get to work. You all need to clear this section of the ditch. You can’t return to prison until you’re done.”

Brother Zhou didn’t care. He snorted again. He spoke as if he really wanted to return to prison. Being outside wasn’t bad either—using the sky as a curtain and the earth as a mat, he could even observe the stars at night. How romantic!

So Brother Zhou wasn’t in any hurry at all. After jumping into the ditch, he slowly shoveled the mud and weeds inside up onto the bank, clearing out only about ten paces in half a day.

The yamen runner watching cursed loudly, but their status was special—they weren’t serious criminals or commoner prisoners. The whip could only crack on the ground, not on them.

Seeing them dawdle like this, he almost wanted to jump down and do it for them.

Night fell. All those Brother Jins and Brother Silvers shouldered their farming tools and returned to the city, but only this section’s prisoners remained.

The yamen runner looked at the ditch they had cleared and gritted his teeth. “You’ve only dug out this much in one day. I’m too ashamed to return. Tonight no one is allowed to go back. Until you complete your daily task, you’re not permitted to return to the city!”

Brother Zhou and the group of scholars didn’t take it to heart at all. Then they gnawed on a piece of dry, hard bean dregs in the cold wind, and finally a group of people huddled around a single fire pit, feeling the cold wind blowing from all directions as they hunched their shoulders.

The yamen runner hunched his shoulders and walked over, telling this group of romantic scholars, “The county office posted a notice. These next two days will have a cold snap.”

The scholars fell silent.

After freezing for one night and lying on the ground where they could even hear wolf howls from a distance, although they did indeed use the sky as a curtain and the earth as a mat, and could indeed look up to see stars and the moon, the scholars still felt once was enough for this kind of experience.

So the next day everyone worked hard, and their speed increased considerably. By evening, they finally could knock off work and return to prison.

Brother Zhou shouldered his shovel while sniffling. “Clearing silt this way is still too slow. How can we rely solely on human power?”

A nearby scholar asked, “Do you want to use animal power instead? Right now is the critical time for plowing. Oxen, horses, and other animals are all being used for cultivation first.”

“Not animal power. We should also improve the tools. Using hoes and shovels to dig up mud bit by bit and throw it up is too laborious.”

Actually, it was too tiring. He felt his arms couldn’t lift anymore.

“How would you improve them?”

Brother Zhou said, “I don’t have ideas for the hoeing part yet, but for the shoveling part, I have a concept. I heard the county office is heavily promoting water-powered mills. I went to see the water mill in Chen County. They use water power to turn levers, which then drive the millstone. There’s also a foot-pedal device there, prepared for when water power is insufficient. You step on it to raise water, which then enters and starts the mechanism.”

“I think that foot-pedal device is very labor-saving. We could completely apply it to shovels. The strength in legs is always greater than in hands, right?”

The other scholars listened and felt it was feasible. So they went to find the yamen runner, wanting him to provide materials so they could start work tomorrow.

The yamen runner silently listened to them report the materials, carefully observing their expressions, and discovered they were actually serious.

“Gentlemen, you’re currently imprisoned. You eat bean dregs and bean cakes for two meals a day. Do you think the government office will pay for these things? There’s even iron among them. Do you know how expensive iron is?”

The scholars fell silent for a moment, then said, “We’ll pay for it ourselves.”

This was no problem. The yamen runner immediately smiled broadly. “If the gentlemen want to buy things, this humble one can purchase them on your behalf.”

Although there was iron involved, the yamen runner wasn’t worried they would try to escape or anything. These scholars had been sentenced to at most ten days’ imprisonment. Most had already spent two or three days in prison. The longest sentence had only six days left. Who would be foolish enough to try to escape now?

So as long as they could pay, the yamen runner would buy them whatever they wanted.

Returning to the prison, the yamen runner brought over a basin containing bean dregs cakes, still warm.

But the scholars were very disdainful. Yesterday they had no choice because they were out in the wilderness, but today they had already returned to the city. They certainly couldn’t wrong themselves like this. So they all took out money for the yamen runner. “Go out and buy a few buns.”

“I want a bowl of noodles.”

“I want a bowl of rice and two dishes.”

The yamen runner happily took the money. He went out and found the cook who prepared meals for the government office. After ordering the food and dishes, they were delivered into the prison in less than two quarters of an hour.

This was extra income for him and the cook. Buying from outside would be so expensive—better to keep the benefit within the family.

Ever since discovering that Zhao Hanzhang treated scholars very courteously and never restricted public speech, more and more people were willing to come to Chen County, especially ambitious scholars and warriors.

Influenced by refined conversation, they would still express their views on national politics and various issues in the streets and alleys, hoping to gain recognition from a patron.

Among them, there were always those who couldn’t win arguments. Some with more explosive tempers and less scholarly integrity would resort to physical violence.

So the prison had more short-term wealthy inmates, and the yamen runners could earn some extra income from them.

The newly appointed Chen County Magistrate, Gao Sheng, was very interested in this portion of extra income, so he went to find Zhao Ming to request that Zhao Ming allow him to add a new regulation.

Zhao Ming raised his eyebrows. “Redemption with money?”