Transmigrated into a female county magistrate during a famine, leading her country to prosperity

This yard was Mo Qingwan's resting place before, so it had all the daily necessities.

Oil lamps for lighting? No.

In Mo Qingwan's words, the oil lamplight was so weak that it was blinding. Then she took out four or five candles from a small box and pretended to light them all.

Seeing this, even Wei Que's hand holding the chopsticks froze, and he asked, "Little girl, there are so many candles, do you want to light them all?"

An ordinary candle costs a few dozen coins, while a good candle costs dozens of coins. The candles in the girl's hand cost hundreds of coins.

Merchants live a pretty good life.

Mo Qingwan hummed softly and looked at Shen Zheng in the candlelight.

Wei Que was delighted when he saw this, and while picking up some food, he asked her, "What's the matter? Are you afraid that your Lord Shen will feed the food up his nose?"

"Cough cough cough-"

When Shen Zheng heard the word "nose", she thought of "her love of rubbing her nose for fun". As luck would have it, a grain of rice happened to choke her nasal cavity, causing her to cough violently.

Seeing this, Mo Qingwan quickly poured her some water. Wei Que was silent and said awkwardly, "It's better to order all of them. If something really happens to Lord Shen, I can't bear the consequences."

If something happens to this person, there is nothing I, who eats with her, have to do except wait here for His Majesty's people to come and take him back.

Shen Zheng's mind was brightened by Wei Que's words, and he quickly said to Mo Qingwan: "I'm fine, just one cigarette is enough. You quickly sit down and eat together, and then we'll go to the dock to take a look."

Mo Qingwan put away the worried look in his eyes and sat down to eat obediently.

Compared with Shen Zheng, she looked much more attractive while eating, chewing slowly, taking small bites at a time, which made Shen Zheng slow down her movements.

After the three of them had eaten, Mo Qingwan led the way towards the dock, holding a night light.

Unlike the silence of the past, the dock tonight was filled with all kinds of sounds.

The workers' enthusiastic cheers and singing, the muffled sound of goods being unloaded and loaded onto trucks, and the sound of the wheels of the carriages turning make the dock lively tonight.

Mo Qingwan looked at this long-lost scene and sighed, "In the past, when the dock business was good and there were many ships, the lights were on at night, and cargo was loaded and unloaded all night long."

Shen Zheng suddenly realized that some jobs require work day and night.

When there was work, the laborers had to do it. If there was work the next day and there were not enough workers, they had to do it too.

This phenomenon is still common in the past and today, and often occurs at docks, that is, the express delivery industry, and workshops, that is, factories.

Coincidentally, Tongan County is involved in both of these industries.

So...what should she do?

Is this "night shift" worth working?

Regardless of whether it is worth it or not, Shen Zheng first looked at the "Purpose of Night Shift".

The purpose of the night shift is just one word - competition.

Fighting for manpower, time, equipment operating costs, or depreciation costs.

Piers and workshops are not hospitals, and there is no rigid factor of "the God of Hell wants you to die at midnight", so "manpower" and "time" also have leverage. More "manpower" means less "time", so these two can be left aside for now.

So in Tongan County, the first thing she had to consider was the cost of the equipment.

As for the cloth shop and the dock, are there any high-end equipment that cannot be closed at will once opened? Obviously, no.

Then things will be easier to handle.

The competition for "manpower" and "time" all comes down to one word - "volume", right?

Using the workers' work efficiency to "take away" the company's deserved benefits, it is self-evident who the final beneficiary is.

After thinking it through, Shen Zheng pursed her lips and said to Mo Qingwan as they walked, "Let me tell you first, the workers at Tongan Wharf will not work the night shift, so you have to plan in this regard."

Working too many night shifts would make her lose touch with society and make her depressed. She couldn't do such a bad thing as exchanging the happiness of the people for the benefits of the company.

"Night shift?" Mo Qingwan was stunned for a moment, "You mean the dock doesn't open at night?"

Shen Zheng nodded: "There is no end to the work. Just do it during the day and rest at night."

Wei Que, who was standing nearby, was also stunned when he heard this. He said in a loud voice, "How can the dock be so busy if you only work during the day and don't load or unload goods at night? Your dock is not an ordinary dock. The whole Zhou Dynasty is looking forward to the cotton cloth flowing out from there."

Looking at the entire Da Zhou, how many docks are not open at night?

Shen Zheng sighed: "It's not just the time factor that makes us too busy. We should think about whether there is a problem with the manpower ratio. If we have enough manpower during the day to ensure the speed of loading and unloading, why should we leave it until the evening?"

"Furthermore, in addition to time and manpower, can we also do something about the speed of loading and unloading? It is more practical to find a way to use tools to increase the speed than to exploit the labor."

Wei Que admitted that what she said later made a lot of sense. He deeply understood the benefits brought by the tools.

But the previous sentence...

He couldn't understand why twenty people had to do a job that ten people could do.

"You also said they were human beings." Shen Zheng's eyes were bright under the light: "If we use ten people as twenty, we can pay them less, but why should we, as officials, be so jealous of the people doing well?"

Wei Que looked into her eyes and suddenly felt as if his heart was hit by a heavy hammer.

Shen Zheng added: "Let them rest a little longer and earn a little more, what's wrong with that? It's in the hands of the people after all, and it's not thrown into the sea. Must the interests of the superiors and the interests of the people not coexist? You want to use ten people to replace twenty people, so is there someone more evil-minded who wants to use five people to replace twenty people?"

Wei Que felt his throat dry and astringent and didn't dare to look at her again.

Shen Zheng's voice continued: "Even we only think about saving money and don't think about how to increase revenue. How can the people survive? Is life only about 'living'?"

"boom--"

In the distance, heavy cargo fell to the ground with a dull sound, and Wei Que trembled for no reason.

Shen Zheng realized that her words were a little stiff, so she walked over and stood side by side with Wei Que, looking at the dark river surface reflected with dots of fire.

"Master Wei, I understand what you are thinking. It can be said that most people have the same idea as you. Your original intention is to use the smallest possible investment in exchange for the greatest possible benefits. But there are many kinds of investment, and the most special one is people, people with vibrant lives."

The dock was crowded with people. The light couldn't clearly illuminate their faces, but it could clearly illuminate their shadows.

Shen Zheng pointed at a thin and small figure and said, "That child is Wu Xiaozhu, and he is fourteen years old. At the same age, some children may be studying, some have already learned to live a life of debauchery, and some have high hopes from their elders and dare not slack off."

"But he is moving goods at the dock." Wei Que's eyes were moved.

This child has indeed suffered a lot.

"That's not what I meant." Shen Zheng shook her head. "It's said that everyone has only one life, but people are born to adapt to various environments. We officials are temporarily unable to change the current environment, let alone them?"