Ang Lee felt that these children who had nothing to do were targets that he could make good use of. Anyway, they had nothing to do all day and didn't need to go to school. In fact, there was no school to go to, no work to go to, and no class to go to. Other than playing, they would even cause trouble from time to time. For example, they would use slingshots to fight with each other and hurt someone's child. Then, it would cause a big fight between the parents of both sides.
The most troublesome people in the countryside were definitely the children. Most of the quarrels and conflicts were caused by the conflicts between the children. Children were naturally mischievous and active. If they were asked to do nothing, it would go against the nature of children. Therefore, the better way was not to scold and reprimand them, but to find something for them to do. As long as the children had something to do, they would not have the energy to mess around.
For example, let the children go to school and give them a lot of homework every day. This would exhaust the children's energy. This way, the children would be more obedient.
However, children in the future did not like to study much. More children were more willing to play games. Once they played games, they would be addicted. Then, they would not be able to extricate themselves. All their energy would be spent on games, and eventually, they would become more obedient.
In this era, the local small village did not have a school. Ang Lee had not taken out the energy to set up a school. He had to wait for the port to be built. After the population increased, it would be easier to set up a school. At the same time, there were no electronic games in this era. It was impossible to divert the children's energy. It seemed that there was nothing to stop the naughty children.
"Come, call all these children over. I have a task for them."
Ang Lee looked at the subordinate behind him and said.
"Yes, I understand."
The subordinate responded and immediately called the children who were playing nearby over.
Ang Lee looked at these children with satisfaction and said to the subordinate, "Tell them that I have a lot of candy here. As long as they can move the remaining branches of the trees to the village entrance, I will give them candy. The more they move, the more candy I will give. In order to show my sincerity, whoever is willing to move the branches, give them a piece of candy now and ask if they are willing."
The subordinate responded and hurriedly conveyed Li An's intentions to these brats.
These children had nothing to do anyway. When they heard that there was candy to eat, they immediately agreed.
Ang Lee said happily, "Hurry up and give them candy. Everyone gets a piece of candy."
The candies were quickly distributed into the hands of these naughty brats. These naughty brats couldn't wait to put the candies into their mouths. Then, they happily ran out of the village. They were going to carry branches in exchange for more candies.
There were also some loyal brats who were not in a hurry to move the branches outside the village. Instead, they went to find other brats in the village and let them go together. This way, everyone would be able to eat the candy.
"Assistant Minister Li's idea is really brilliant. Just some candy can make these brats obedient. It's really worth it."
The subordinate said in admiration.
With so many branches, if the villagers were to transport them back, the price they would have to pay would definitely far exceed the price of giving the devilish brat some candies. The difference in price would be many times greater.
However, the devilish brat didn't care too much about it, because they were just playing. Since they were being rewarded while playing, why wouldn't they do it?
The main weight of a tree was on the trunk. The weight of the side branches was relatively smaller. Moreover, the area of the side branches in contact with the ground was not large. They were all supported by some thin branches, which made it easier to carry and drag them. A brat carrying a large side branch would not feel any pressure at all. In order to surpass others, many brats actually competed with each other. No one was willing to give in to each other.
A person running in front while carrying a side branch would quickly be overtaken by other children. How could this kind of humiliation be tolerated? Therefore, the child who was overtaken would once again exert his strength to surpass the child in front and make an expression that said, "I'm better than you."
These children were completely playing and did not treat transporting the branches as work at all. Therefore, there was no pressure in their hearts at all. Through competing with each other, they felt that it was quite interesting and played very happily. In addition, they could also receive candy as a reward. That feeling was even better.
Because the location of the tree cutting was near the village, these brats quickly returned and placed the branches they dragged at the designated location requested by Ang Lee. Then, they smiled and waited for Ang Lee to give them candy.
Ang Lee's words naturally counted. Since these brats had already transported the branches back, he naturally had to fulfill his promise and give the children candy.
"Quickly give them candy. All the branches that were brought back will be given candy. The branches that were dragged are larger. Give each of them three candies as encouragement."
Ang Lee smiled and gave the order.
His subordinates also immediately told these brats that not only would they be able to get candies by transporting supplies, but the bigger and heavier the branch, the more rewards they would get. If not, some of the crafty brats would choose to target the smaller branch. If there was only a small stick, then Li An would really suffer a loss.
When these naughty brats received the candies, they were extremely happy. Especially the naughty brats who received three pieces of candies, they were extremely proud. When they went to transport the side branches again, they would definitely choose the heaviest and largest side branches to receive more candies as a reward.
When the brats all returned for the first time, they had already brought back a lot of branches. Without two large carriages, they would not be able to carry them. In fact, they would need three large carriages to be able to carry them.
The brats who got the sweetness continued to carry the branches. They were all naughty children from the countryside. Their physiques were stronger, and their endurance was much better than the children in the city. Therefore, they were fully capable of enduring this kind of labor that was not very difficult to carry the branches.
In addition, there were a few children who actually brought their own big yellow dogs and goats. They also prepared ropes. They tied the ropes to the branches and tied the other end to the goats or yellow dogs. They let these two animals help them transport the goods. This way, they could save a lot of effort and also increase the efficiency of transportation.
When the first child used the helper, the rest of the children also learned. Soon, the livestock and watchdogs of each family suffered. Their original task was not to do this, but they had to do it. It was unknown how big the livestock's heart was.
Every family had more than one child, but there was usually only one watchdog in the family. This inevitably caused a fight. In addition, livestock was an important wealth of a family. Being used as a means of transportation was naturally not tolerated by the adults in the family. As a result, it naturally caused chaos. Some children were beaten by the adults, and some were disobedient and secretly stole the livestock in the family.
In short, these brats were too rebellious. In order to get some candy as a reward, they turned the family upside down and made the adults worry.
Looking at these naughty children and the yellow dogs that were treated like cattle and horses, Li An smiled. All of this was caused by him. If he hadn't used candy to lure these naughty children, all of this wouldn't have happened.
However, this was not a big deal. The yellow dogs had a strong vitality. Anyway, they would not die of exhaustion, and the livestock would not die of exhaustion either.
The more people there were, the more strength there was. These brats carried a large number of branches one by one, occupying a large area of the village entrance. It was almost full.
However, soon, 200 people of the Tang dynasty's transport team arrived. They had just transported the tree trunks. This time, Ang Lee planned to let them transport the branches directly to the brick kiln factory to increase the fuel reserves of the brick kiln factory.
"You transport these branches directly to the brick kiln factory first. If there are any empty carts, then transport the tree trunks."
Ang Lee ordered.
"This subordinate understands."
The transport team received the order and immediately began to load these loose branches into the carts. They pressed them little by little so that a large cart could transport more branches.
The children's ability was still limited. 30 carts were enough to load all the branches, and the remaining 26 carts continued to load the tree trunks.
After all the carts were loaded, the transport team divided into two groups. One group returned to the port, and the other went directly to the brick kiln factory to transport the branches as fuel. At the same time, the newly produced bricks of the brick kiln factory were transported to the port to build the port.
After all the transport carts left, the open space at the village entrance suddenly became large again. The wood cut by the villagers and the branches carried by the brats were still being transported, making the open space smaller and smaller. However, the transport team would come back. When the open space at the village entrance was not used up, the transport team would appear. Therefore, there was no need to worry that there was not enough space.
Furthermore, Li An could tell that some of the children with weaker physiques had already stopped moving the branches. They sat at the village entrance and watched others busy themselves with candy in their mouths.
"These brats can't hold on after working for two hours."
The subordinate scolded with a smile.
Ang Lee said, "It was this official who fed them. Look at their hands, there are still a lot of candies. If the candies are finished, they will continue to carry the branches no matter how tired they are. "
"Yes, yes, these brats have not finished their candies. When they finish, they will continue to carry the branches."
The subordinate said.
Ang Lee smiled. However, the situation was not very optimistic. The purpose of these brats using the dogs and livestock was to save their own strength and complete the task of carrying the branches faster. However, livestock and dogs would also be tired. When tired, these guys would not only not be labor-saving tools, but they would also become a big burden.
As a matter of fact, Ang Lee saw a brat kicking a goat. The goat might be tired. It stood outside the village and did not want to move. No matter how violently you beat it, it would not move. It would even retreat. This angered the brat who was driving the goat. He sat on the ground and began to have a cold war with the goat.
The goat's temper was also contagious. Since the first goat was disobedient, the remaining few goats also became disobedient. No matter how you ordered them, they were not willing to work hard.
Of course, animals like goats were not made for hard labor. For a long time, pulling and plowing were the world of cows, horses, donkeys, and mules. It had never been heard that goats and dogs could do this work well. After all, the physical strength of goats and dogs was far worse than that of cows and horses. Moreover, because they had never done hard labor, they would naturally not adapt.
For example, it was very easy for people who did manual labor to work for eight hours a day. Even if they worked overtime for more than ten hours, it would be a piece of cake. However, if a person who worked in a chair did this, it was estimated that he would lie down in half an hour and would not be willing to do it again.
After the cold war, these brats saw that they could not persuade the goats and dogs. They had to untie the ropes on the branches and take these guys back alone. If they lost them, their butts would be smashed.
However, when they returned, the branches they had temporarily abandoned had long been taken away by other children. This made them very depressed, but there was nothing they could do.
When the transport team came for the third time, all the trunks and branches were easily transported away. There were even two empty trucks.
After this trip, they did not have to come again to transport today. They could come again tomorrow.
Ang Lee handed a lot of candies to his subordinates and said, "These candies are for you. It will be the same tomorrow. Let the children carry the branches. As long as there are candies to eat, they will definitely work. Carry as much as they can."
"Yes, your subordinate understands."
His subordinate replied.
At this time, there were still some children working hard to carry the branches. However, as night fell, they were bound to stop. This was because the children were younger and would definitely be afraid of the dark. They would not dare to transport the branches at night. Their parents would not agree to it either.
"Assistant Minister Li, good news! The nine arrow towers are all completed. "
The lieutenant in charge of guarding the village said.
Ang Lee looked around and said happily, "Not bad, not bad at all. These guys are really too enthusiastic. They finished one day earlier than expected. This saved us a lot of money!"
"Assistant Minister Li, they did not rest after receiving the money. They immediately prepared their tools and prepared to go out to cut down trees. They even asked me how much wood we wanted to buy."
The subordinate said with a smile.
Ang Lee laughed and told his subordinate, "Then you tell them that we can buy as many trees as they can cut down. Let them feel free to cut down trees."
He was confident to say this. The Tang Dynasty wanted to build a harbor on a large scale, so the demand for wood was huge. Even if these people in the village cut down trees day and night, it was not enough to meet the needs of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, they could continue to cut down trees without worrying that the Tang Dynasty could not buy them.
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