On the sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, everything else was exactly as usual except that it was still snowing.

One day and one night passed, and on the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, I finished raising the money in the afternoon of the fifth day. On the sixth day, I continued to go without food for a day. On the seventh day, early in the morning and at dawn, I immediately left the city.

Several cavalrymen rushed out to order.

"Military order! The army is purchasing dustpans. One basket will be exchanged for two kilograms of grain. Two hundred baskets will be collected. You will be here as soon as you have collected them!"

"Military order! The army is purchasing dustpans. One basket will be exchanged for two kilograms of grain. Two hundred baskets will be collected. You will be here as soon as you have collected them!"

…

The cavalrymen were ordered to go in different directions, and they circled the camps outside the city and shuttled among them to shout and shout.

Soon, all the hundreds of thousands of people in the vast camp knew the order.

"What are you talking about?" a farmer, shivering from the cold, standing outside the tent with his manuscript mat on his back, asked others.

The civilian husband, who was also standing outside without his turn to sleep, with his manuscript mat on his head, turned around and said, "I said I was collecting the dustpan."

"Dustpan? What are you doing with this?"

"No matter what he does, as long as he has food, he will take care of it."

"You don't have anything to make up? You don't even have any clue."

…

After hearing that dustpans could be exchanged for food, there was a lively discussion in the camp, and even people who were sleeping in the camp came out to watch after hearing the news.

Because supplies in the army were scarce, even though they had said they wanted to collect dustpans, the ground was covered with snow and there was not even a hair of grass. Some people were thinking about asking if they could be let out. If they were let out, they could go out and see where they could cut some branches.

Vines or something.

Soon, another group of messenger cavalry arrived at the camp. Each of this group of messenger cavalry was holding a long pole. There was a small red pennant on the top of the long pole. There was a long rope tied to the long pole, and the rope fell to the end of the pole.

, a huge dustpan is tied to the end of the pole.

After ordering more than thirty cavalrymen to walk evenly throughout the camp with more than thirty long poles, they dismounted in the middle of the road and stabbed the long poles in their hands on the ground to plant trees.

Looking at the people coming around, he ordered the cavalryman to get back on his horse and shouted loudly to the people in the circle, "See clearly! Such a basket is as big as the average size. It is five feet straight and one hand deep.

The sieve hole should not be larger than a copper coin. In addition, the four edges need to be wrapped with heavy objects, whether it is earth or rocks, you can find them yourself.

These four are five feet in size, one palm deep, as big as a sieve empty coin, and are hemmed, and will not be accepted if they are not correct in one place."

"Come!" the cavalryman called, "take a look and see how we should compile it."

The peasants rushed over and came to the front.

A capable old man picked up the basket on the ground, looked at it for a few times, and said it was a basket, but the basket's eyes were too big to hold grain, not to mention grass.

The old man couldn't understand, so he handed the basket to someone else, "What use can this basket have?"

The person who took the basket shook his head, "No."

As the common people saw, it was not that it was difficult to make such a basket, but that it was too crude, crude, and simple. The simple common people were not sure whether it was enough to make such a broken basket.

A civilian husband tried to ask the messenger, "Master, if there is a shortage of messengers, let's make some arrangements and make them more effective, but this messenger won't work."

The messenger stood high on the horse's back, glanced at the civilian husband who asked the question with a condescending expression, and reprimanded, "Just make up whatever I ask you to do, do your job, why do you want to ask so many questions?"

The civilian husband immediately put on a humble apologetic smile on his face, nodded and bowed, "What Ren said is true, what he said is true!"

After it was confirmed that only broken baskets were accepted, and those who had made well-made baskets did not want them, the villagers began to worry. It would take a while to make a good basket, but if they were asked to make such a broken basket, they could be made in a short time.

In the camp, people crowded around the long red flag poles erected everywhere, and the peasants crowded forward to look at the basket.

It is said that this method of showing standard products to the peasants has a very early origin. As early as two or three months ago, when the first batch of prisoners were captured, they were weaving baskets. Because the size had to be regulated, but speaking by mouth, saying

I was not sure, so I first took some baskets of suitable sizes and passed them around to the prisoners.

But at this time, we encountered some troubles. First of all, there were too many people, and the baskets were just passed around hastily. The passing speed was too slow, and it took a long time to pass through the baskets.

Secondly, in subsequent practice, I found that using the basket as a standard was a good method, but the basket disappeared after being passed around.

I don’t know if it was lost or if some cunning guy hid the basket as his own.

So in the end, Li Mengxi came up with a solution. He came up with the idea of ​​planting some long pole trees everywhere, and then tied them with ropes and tied the baskets to the ropes. In this way, each drop-off point can effectively let the farmers see the baskets.

What is the size? And because it is tied with a rope, the civilians can see it, but they can't take it away.

Although the Rebel Army is a new force, it has already accumulated enough experience in many aspects.

It can be said that the army has a long-standing tradition of collecting simple handicrafts from civilians. From the earliest straw sandals, to later tree baskets, and now to baskets, civilians have been accustomed to making something quickly when the military orders them to exchange for food.

Already.

During this process, the military no longer needed to establish trust or swear to guarantee that it would be exchanged for food, because for a long time, whether it was straw sandals or food, they had all received food in exchange, and no one was missing.

Once your credibility is established, it will be much more convenient.

After a while, the firewood convoy arrived at the camp, and the convoy was full of wheat straw. The wheat straw was tied into small bundles and piled on the car.

The convoy drove to the center of the camp. The centurion at the head stood on the car and looked around, "Captains of each team! Come here!"

The one who is calling is captain. Look at the people around you, you are not the captain.

After the captains who were scattered around squeezed in one after another, and seeing that almost everyone had arrived, the centurion ordered, "Each of your captains will receive five bundles of wheat straw and go back and distribute them to those who want to make dustpans."

Remember to make it clear that whoever wants to make it up can make it up himself, and no one else is allowed to interfere."

After the explanation was made clear, wheat straw was distributed, and the captain of the team took five bundles of wheat straw back.

Letting the team leaders receive the wheat straw and specifically instructing each person to do it alone were the final steps that Liu Bei perfected.

The reason why it is not distributed directly to the peasants but to the captains of each team is that, first, it is more orderly, and second, there is not enough wheat straw and there are too many peasants, so it is not appropriate to give it to anyone but not everyone. The distribution rights will be

After it is handed over to each squad leader, it is the captain's own business to decide how to distribute the materials. With the decision-making power of material distribution, he also has the opportunity to improve the prestige of each squad leader.

The last point is that Liu Bei specifically told him to work alone without others interfering. Liu Bei considered that someone might receive wheat straw and prepare to weave baskets. Then someone else asked him if he wanted two handfuls of wheat straw and wanted to make baskets. There would be someone who couldn't bear to give up a few handfuls to others.

Just giving it once is not enough.

The wheat straw that was originally weighed was just enough to weave a basket, but one cent was not enough for anyone to weave.

This point is a subtle humanistic sophistication. Li Mengxi failed to take it into consideration, but Liu Bei did.

The team captains who had received the wheat straw returned to their respective camps and distributed the wheat straw, showing various differences among the different captains.

Some captains, relying on an official, were so tyrannical that they swallowed five bundles of wheat straw themselves, preparing to weave their own baskets and exchange them for food.

People in the same team dare to be angry but dare not speak out.

It had only been a short time before there were already signs of corruption. It was just a few bundles of wheat straw, and someone started to be corrupt.

Although there are supervisory sergeants in the army, the supervisory sergeants are mainly responsible for fighting soldiers and supervising hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

Other team leaders are kinder. Some team leaders will give bundles of wheat straw to whoever in the team has not received food and who is the most pitiful.

While handing out the bundles of wheat straw, I warned you, "Be more nimble with your hands and weave it faster, and you can collect two hundred pieces. If you are slower, you won't be able to exchange for food."

The lame old woman who took the bundle of wheat straw, her eyes lit up while holding the bundle of wheat straw, and she said many touching words.

It is said that sending goose feathers from thousands of miles away is a light gift but a heavy gift.

At this time when the weather is freezing and food is gone, it would be unkind to give someone a bundle of wheat straw.

If there is a kind captain, there will naturally be a fair captain. Some fair captains, no matter who is pitiful or not, just call the whole team together to draw lots, and whoever catches it belongs to whom.

This distribution method is high-level and fair, and no one has any objections.

There is also the squad leader who neglects his duties. This kind of person is neither greedy, kind, nor fair. He is simply careless in doing things. When the wheat straw was distributed, everyone in the Zizhong team told them, and they specifically told each person to bundle it.

You can't separate the wheat straw randomly, but some people didn't pay attention and didn't understand how to separate the wheat straw.

So after carrying the wheat straw back, the team leader who didn't know the order interpreted it according to his own understanding, and threw the wheat straw on the ground, "Who wants to make a dustpan?"

Most people said they wanted to make it up, but the team leader saw that there were too many people, so he randomly distributed the wheat straw.

Just because it is distributed casually and not carelessly, those who receive wheat straw may or may not be grateful. In the same way, those who do not receive wheat straw will feel resentful.

There is also a small formation that divides people into groups far and near, and only distributes wheat straw to people who are familiar with them.

There are also some team captains. Contrary to the kind-hearted people who take care of the old and the weak, these people do not consider the old and the weak, but specially select some people who look capable and capable to distribute the straw. These team leaders consider the capable.

People who edit quickly can go to exchange food earlier. This is also correct.

Since the founding of the Rebel Army, all kinds of talents have been in short supply. However, although there is a shortage of people, there may be many talents available.

As for the matter of dividing wheat straw, if the army can establish a good supervision and review system now, then by dividing the wheat straw today, a large number of excellent captains can be selected.

If there is a good supervision system, then selfish captains who swallow all the wheat straw for themselves will be discovered by the supervisory sergeants, and then these unqualified captains will be eliminated.

Distributing wheat straw to the old and weak squad leaders will make you an excellent squad leader.

The team leader who distributes wheat straw to capable members is sensible and serious and can be selected for use in the army.

The squad leader who draws lots to divide the wheat straw is well-behaved and abides by justice. He is also an excellent squad leader. It is good to be a squad leader, and it is also good to go to the military camp. Wherever he goes, he is a qualified low-level talent.

As for the squad leader who failed to listen to the order and handed out the wheat straw at will, such people are not that qualified. They cannot be considered outstanding, but they are not hateful either. They can only be considered derelict in their duties.

Furthermore, in today's era, in the classical era of the late Han Dynasty, those small captains who only distributed wheat straw to their cronies knew how to win over people's hearts and used nepotism. Is this an advantage or a disadvantage?

Although it is fair to draw lots and divide the straw, it is really fair and the interests are not tilted to any one person, so a fair team leader will not get any extra closeness from others.
To be continued...