I rely on infrastructure systems to build a prosperous village

Bianjing, Imperial Palace.

"Your Majesty, Minister of Works Xu Zheng is here to see you."

"Xuan."

After a while, the young eunuch came over with Xu Zheng.

"I pay homage to Your Majesty."

"Okay, get up quickly and talk to me."

"Yes, Your Majesty. The ram pump is ready. I've had it tested, and it does indeed draw water from the well."

"Oh, come on, my dear, accompany me to take a look."

Having said that, Emperor Huide stood up and walked out quickly.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

When the group arrived at the Ministry of Works, Emperor Huide saw a large wooden structure in the courtyard. It consisted of a cylindrical barrel about two meters long, with thick walls and a sealed bottom. Above the barrel, a long bamboo tube stretched. At the end of the tube was a wooden valve that controlled the flow of water.

Emperor Huide was surprised at the exquisite design in front of him. He pointed and asked, "Is this it?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. This thing was made according to the blueprint."

Emperor Huide hurriedly took a few steps forward and looked into the barrel. There was a piston inside, and below the piston was a water outlet pipe made of bamboo.

"Take it to the well. I want to see it myself."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

After a while, when Emperor Huide saw the trickling water in front of him, he was stunned for a moment and thought to himself: Wonderful, these mechanisms are really well designed. This girl is really talented.

Thinking of this, he suddenly narrowed his eyes, a fierce look flashed in his eyes, and he sighed softly: Girl, don't let me down.

"Xu Zheng, now that the ram pump has been successfully manufactured, let's issue a notice and report the number of ram pumps that need to be customized in various places. We will uniformly manufacture and distribute them. We can't wait..."

Emperor Huide suddenly paused, his eyes flashing, and said, "Then find a way yourself."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Xu Zheng, come here."

Xu Zheng looked up and saw Emperor Huide waving at him. He quickly bowed and walked over.

"Come closer."

Emperor Huide looked at him with disdain and said in a deep voice.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Seeing Emperor Huide's disdainful look, he quickly took a step forward and leaned over.

"I have another blueprint here. Would you like to try again? Remember to keep it secret. Otherwise..."

Emperor Huide glanced at him from head to toe, his presence intimidating. He shoved the blueprint into his hand and, without waiting for a response, turned and left with Liu Chun.

Xu Zheng glanced at the blueprints in his hand and immediately looked up. Seeing the retreating figure of Emperor Huide, he couldn't help but wipe the sweat from his forehead, thinking to himself, "Your Majesty, is there someone behind the scenes advising you? If you could pull out any of these two blueprints and make them, it would be incredible. The Great Qin Dynasty is about to prosper."

In the evening, Lijia Village.

Li Lan and his friends were sitting around the dinner table, having a rare reunion dinner.

“Friday and Saturday, eat more vegetables.”

"Yes, you two should eat more vegetables. This meat is the wild boar meat that the eldest girl hunted in the mountains a while ago. We pickled some at home. Come and try it."

Zhang took the serving chopsticks from the bowl and picked up two pieces for each person.

"Thank you, madam."

"Thank you, madam."

"Second brother, second brother."

When everyone heard this, they stopped eating immediately. Li Chunping put down his bowl and chopsticks and walked out.

"Big brother, third brother, why are you here?"

"Second brother, we are here to bring you some food."

"Why are you sending it to us? You don't even have enough to eat yourselves."

"My third brother and I each took half a bag of brown rice. Keep it. Big girl, your aunt said she was too embarrassed to come, so she asked me to say thank you on her behalf. Thank you, big girl, and your uncle thanks you too."

"Yes, Third Uncle and Third Aunt also thank you."

Li Lan, who had just walked out, heard what they said and hurried forward and said, "Uncle, Third Uncle, you don't have to be like this. After all, we are family. Even if the tendons are broken, the bones are still connected."

"Yes, the eldest girl is right."

A smile appeared on Uncle Li Chunlei's honest face.

"You guys go eat quickly, my brother and I are going back first." Li Chunsheng thought for a while and shouted into the house: "Mom, my brother and I are going back."

Hearing the word "Mom", Li Chunlei's face, which had just been full of smiles, suddenly froze and became extremely sad. Just as he was about to say something else, he was forcibly pulled away by Li Chunsheng.

Mrs. Wang listened to their conversation outside, raised her eyebrows, and thought to herself: They have a conscience.

The next morning, a major event took place in Lijia Village: the first selection of village committee members. The location was the open space at the end of the village.

At this time, a temporary platform, capable of seating about ten people, had been erected at the front of the clearing. Beneath the platform stood three long tables, upon which were placed squares of paper and charcoal pencils. Six people sat behind the tables: the village chiefs of Lijia Village, Liujia Village, Wangjia Village, and Chenjia Village, along with Li Xiucai and Li Lan.

The three village heads who had just received the invitation yesterday were truly astonished. They even asked the person who had been notified for a long time before they finally found out what the reason was. At that time, they all thought that if it worked, they would set up a village committee in their own village.

So, early this morning, several people came to Lijia Village, saw Li Lan, and asked him about it again. Li Lan saw how interested they were, and the smile on his face never faded. He thought to himself: It's a sure thing.

The men and women who had come to compete for the position had all changed into their best clothes and shoes. Their hair was meticulously combed, and they were all in high spirits. They sat on the benches on the right side of the open space, their hands clenched, looking a little nervous.

All the remaining villagers sat in an orderly manner behind Li Lan and the others, chatting happily and waiting for the show to begin.

After a while, Li Jianping walked up to the platform holding a yellowed piece of paper.

"Fellow villagers, hello. I'm today's host, Li Jianping. I'm honored to be the host of Lijia Village's first village committee selection. I'm very grateful to the village for this opportunity. Now, let me solemnly introduce the judges for this village committee selection... Okay, now please welcome Li Feng, who is running for the village committee's finance department."

When Li Jianping was leaving the stage, he secretly glanced at Li Lan and saw her thumbs up. Li Jianping scratched his head with an embarrassed smile and thought to himself: Fortunately, I asked Lan to help me write the manuscript.

Everyone in the audience was shocked when they heard Li Feng's name.

"Oh my goodness, this old scholar even called back his son who was a shopkeeper in the county town."

"Yeah, why would you leave such a good job in the county and come back to run for this?"

"Can't you?"

……

At this time, a tall and thin man came up from the high platform. He was wearing a blue cotton robe, his hair was tied with a jade hairpin, he had a square face, and his narrow and long phoenix eyes were full of smiles.

"Dear judges, fellow villagers, everyone, my name is Li Feng."

"Okay, Li Feng. Please tell us about your work experience."

……

"Last question, Li Feng, please tell us about your dream?"

Hearing Li Lan mention the word "dream," Li Hongwu (the head of Lijia Village) immediately perked up. He looked at Li Feng on the stage with curiosity, thinking, "Come on, tell me, boy. Let me hear what you dream about."

Seeing Li Feng standing on the stage in a daze for a moment, Li Lan thought to himself: Oh, I forgot that the word "dream" seemed to be not popular among ancient people today.

He coughed lightly and said quickly, "Dream means lofty ambitions. I want to hear what your ambitions are."

Everyone suddenly realized.

Li Hongwu: ...thinking to himself: So it means ambition. Okay, let's listen to ambition.

Li Feng thought for a moment and said, "When I was very young, my ambition was to become a butcher, because that way I wouldn't have to go hungry and I could have meat to eat."

Everyone in the audience burst into laughter when they heard this. Li Feng paused for a moment and smiled embarrassedly. Then he said:

"When I grew up a little, my ambition was to become a landlord, so I could have enough to eat. When I was older, my ambition was to become a businessman, so I could have money and go to school. After I got married, my ambition was to become a shopkeeper, so that my wife and children could have enough food and clothing, and my parents could have someone to rely on in their old age. Yesterday, when my father called me back and talked with me all night, I realized that my ambitions were all about my small self. Now I want to fulfill my big self. I want to become the head of the village committee's finance department, do my part for the place where I grew up, do my part for the uncles and aunts who watched me grow up, and do my part to ensure that our younger generations have enough food and clothing and can have some education. This is my ambition now."

There was a moment of silence, and the field was quiet.

"Okay, okay, Li Feng, you are a good kid."

A man in the audience suddenly stood up and shouted, clapping his hands vigorously. Soon, thunderous applause became one and echoed through the sky.

A moment later, Li Feng's campaign speech ended.

"Alright, Li Feng's score will be announced after the next contestant finishes his speech. Now, please welcome the next contestant, Li Laizi."