In Shu, Kongming had no idea at all that he had become the subject of distant thoughts.
He let out a light breath and looked over the brief record in his hands. A smile he could not suppress crept onto his lips.
Setting everything else aside, just the method of making tofu alone was enough to strengthen the nation. Even pushing that single technique nationwide already felt barely manageable.
And if all those other scattered research projects were added on top, how many things could truly be done?
With Zijing helping, he should have felt encouraged. Yet now, looking at the mountain of work ahead, Kongming instead felt even more pressure.
"The Master said, 'Time passes like a flowing river, never stopping day or night.' I truly feel it myself."
Kongming sighed softly.
"My life is limited. If we wish to understand principle and govern well, we can only rely on selecting worthy talents through examinations, and on building education through the Imperial Academy."
Pang Tong, Fa Zheng, and the others all nodded quietly in agreement.
To them now, defeating Cao Cao was no longer the highest priority. To recreate even a fraction of the prosperity shown from a thousand years later had become the true pursuit of their lives.
At the very least, the scene of nationwide celebration they had just witnessed would likely be etched into their minds for the rest of their lives.
Liu Bei spoke in comfort.
"Kongming, do not rush. Talents from Yong, Liang, Guanzhong, and Hanzhong have all already arrived in Chang'an."
"In ten days, the preliminary examination will begin. The worthy and capable will naturally serve Han."
Kongming also knew he was being anxious. He clasped his hands and said no more.
After pacifying the Three Qins, this examination had been planned for a long time. Originally, July or August would have been the best season, but the devastation in Guanzhong completely disrupted the plan.
There were no proper venues, no sufficient food and clothing, and even the papermaking workshops had not yet fully stabilized. The agricultural officials also needed manpower to teach new farming methods in every county. The common people were busy farming and naturally had no time to travel to Chang'an to take the exams.
In the end, the date was postponed again and again, and only with difficulty was it finally set for early November.
It would be cold, but with Lord Xuande subsidizing part of the food and lodging, young talents from all regions still expressed great interest.
Perhaps to raise everyone's spirits, Liu Bei personally poured a cup of wine. His gaze slowly swept over everyone in the room, and in the end, he raised his cup toward the light screen.
"For the revived Han to harbor ambitions stretching a thousand li, and to begin from what lies beneath our feet, it is thanks to all of you comrades. This cup is for you."
At once, everyone felt a wave of emotion.
Just four or five years ago, Cao's armies had surged south in the hundreds of thousands, fierce and overwhelming, as if he intended to end all opposition in a single strike.
Now, times had completely changed. Even Cao Cao's own ambitions seemed to have faded, leaving everyone with deep feelings.
Everyone raised their cups together, drinking as the grand scene on the light screen slowly dimmed.
Fireworks faded. The figure of the young narrator once again appeared on the light screen.
On the light screen, in the future era, the narrator spoke.
[Lightscreen]
["Generally speaking, after the New Year, ordinary people mostly care about two things.
Students dream about how much New Year's money they will get. Those who have families and careers count how many days of holiday they still have.
We already talked about New Year's money. So now, naturally, we are talking about holidays.
In the Han dynasty, holidays were quite simple. They followed a system called one rest day every five days.
In plain terms, you worked four days and rested one day, so you had time to bathe and recover.
Because Han officials followed a dormitory system, meaning they ate, lived, and worked inside government offices, this one day of rest every five days was also to allow lower officials to return home and reunite with family and friends.
Besides that, there were single-day holidays for La Day, New Year, winter solstice, summer solstice, the hottest summer period, Lantern Festival, and so on. All added up, there were close to eighty holiday days per year, with no long continuous holidays but frequent small breaks.
However, limited by productivity and entertainment at the time, even if you were given a long holiday, there was not much to do. Overall, it was a situation of many small breaks and no true long vacations.
By the Tang dynasty, with improved productivity, officials became busier and the people's demand for entertainment increased. The holiday system also changed.
The Han system of one rest day every five days became one rest day every ten days in Tang. It looked tougher, but Tang had something like golden weeks.
New Year's Day, winter solstice, and Qingming each had seven days off. Mid-Autumn and summer solstice had three days. Lantern Festival, Ghost Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Double Ninth Festival, and other small festivals all had one day off.
In addition, depending on how far your parents lived, there were fifteen to thirty-five days of family visit leave. When children came of age, three days off. When children married, nine days off. In May, there was half a month called farming leave. In September, another half month called cold-clothing leave.
Even without counting marriages and adulthood, regular Tang holidays alone were close to one hundred days per year. Very humane."]
In Shu, almost at the same time, Kongming and the others unconsciously turned their heads toward Liu Bei.
No one spoke, but the desire on their faces was perfectly clear.
Ma Chao could not hold back and blurted out, his voice echoing in the quiet hall.
"The tofu method is hard to copy, but this holiday system should be easier to imitate… Ah, my lord, I am just talking nonsense."
Realizing no one else was speaking, Ma Chao hurried to patch things up.
"Why is Mengqi talking nonsense? What you said makes good sense."
Liu Bei comforted him, then explained.
"The Han followed the pre-Qin system, setting up official residences so officials stayed on duty. Over time, the actual practice has become rather chaotic."
Liu Bei shook his head, as if recalling his own past experiences as an official, and sighed lightly.
"Combining rest days so people can celebrate together. Later generations judge this system as not wrong. It is quite close to human feelings."
"Why not try adjusting holidays this year and test it out."
The words adjusting holidays were easy to understand. Pang Tong immediately smiled and praised him.
"My lord truly has the bearing of a sage king."
Such an overly flattering compliment made Liu Bei both amused and slightly embarrassed.
After all, although it was called adjustment, based on later calculations, the total annual rest days of Han and Tang differed by only about ten days. Shortening monthly rest while increasing festival holidays would satisfy the strategists. It was somewhat like the old story of changing morning three and evening four.
But Liu Bei's thoughts drifted further.
That story mocked dishonesty, but what he proposed was not meant that way.
The key point was being closer to human feelings.
On the light screen, the future narrator continued.
[Lightscreen]
["Holidays are also something modern people love to talk about when discussing the Song dynasty.
The most typical example is Song New Year.
New Year's Day and Lantern Festival each had seven days off.
The seventh day of the New Year was Zhao's father's memorial day, and the tenth was Zhao's mother's birthday, each with three days off.
In the Song calendar, winter solstice fell on the twenty-second or twenty-third of the twelfth month, also with seven days off.
Just these connected together already made a full month of holiday. Later, during Emperor Zhenzong's reign, because of celestial book rituals, he added another holiday called Heavenly Celebration on the third day of the New Year, also seven days off.
This made New Year holidays reach a record-breaking thirty-four days.
Besides that, Song inherited almost all Tang holidays, not only keeping them but extending Cold Food Festival to seven days, and extending summer solstice and La Day to three days. Total holidays per year reached about one hundred twenty days. If you counted family visits, weddings, and funerals, it was even more.
Locally, Song was even more straightforward. On the twentieth of the twelfth month, officials could perform the sealing ceremony, sealing their official seals and going home for New Year. That is the original meaning of sealing.
They only needed to return by the twentieth of the first month to unseal and resume work.
As for moving backward, it happened even earlier.
The Yuan dynasty under Mongol rule divided people into four classes. Human rights were not even a thought. Annual holidays dropped sharply to sixteen days. Later they increased somewhat, reaching about seventy-six days by the end of Kublai Khan's reign, but still far behind Tang and Song.
When the Ming overthrew Yuan, many people thought that even if holidays could not match Tang and Song, they should at least not be worse than Yuan.
Unfortunately, the Hongwu Emperor said, I had no job when I was young. You young people now have jobs, so cherish them.
So with one stroke of the brush, annual holidays went from sixteen days to eighteen days. An increase of two days.
Ming holidays were complicated. Because of Hongwu's harsh punishments and later secret police politics, the relationship between ruler and officials was among the worst in history. Welfare was naturally not worth mentioning.
At the beginning, there were only three days for Spring Festival, winter solstice, and Hongwu's birthday. Later, New Year's Day and Lantern Festival were gradually extended, totaling eighteen days.
After Zhu Yuanzhang died, after much struggle, monthly holidays were increased by three days, reaching about fifty days per year.
Of course, all of this applied to officials. Ordinary people had no holidays. It was basically stop working and you stop eating.
In good years without disasters, saving some surplus and resting for ten days or half a month during New Year was already impressive.
From Han to Song, economy and culture generally grew more prosperous. Ming had developed culture, but whether it was truly advanced and prosperous is debatable.
From this perspective, the length of holidays may be a measure of how relaxed and prosperous a dynasty's economy and culture are.
As for modern times, it is more complicated. Legally, we work five days and rest two. Total annual holidays are about 115 days.
Even if adjustments mean people do not always get the full amount, it is still better than ordinary people in ancient times."]
In Chang'an, within the Tang court, Li Shimin felt a bit envious of Song.
Why did you fail to unify the realm, yet celebrate for a full month?
I, with unmatched military merit and famed civil governance, must hold grand court and conduct sacrifices on New Year's Day, working through the night without rest.
Is this what it means to be born in hardship and die in comfort?
No, Li Shimin shook his head. Even ignoring Yuan, Ming's holidays were only half of Tang's, yet Ming still had endless problems.
Thinking of Ming, Li Shimin asked naturally.
"Is this skinning and stuffing grass a Ming New Year ritual?"
This question made the Zhenguan ministers look at each other. No one could answer.
Li Shimin had his own guesses, but they seemed too absurd. Ming had emperors captured, but a beggar founding a dynasty was unheard of. With such cultural prosperity, how could such things be done?
No one answered, so he let it go.
Studying Song holidays again, Li Shimin shook his head. There was little reference value.
He could not imitate Song. He could not use his parents' memorials to justify national celebration, nor invent a holiday just to give officials extra rest.
Wei Zheng spoke up in line with his thoughts.
"The later generations' Tang holiday system was not yet complete in Zhenguan. We can revise it based on this."
"If Your Majesty wishes to add celebratory rest days, you could name them after victories over the Turks or Tuyuhun, or after successful campaigns in the Western Regions, so that the people rest and celebrate together."
A smile appeared on Li Shimin's face.
"This is an excellent suggestion."
Wei Zheng then sat back down with a straight face.
He could tell that later Tang holidays were likely finalized during Kaiyuan or later reigns.
At present, Zhenguan New Year still had ten days, more than the later seven.
But Qingming did not yet have seven days, and family visit leave did not exist. What they saw now was a good reference.
After settling this, Li Shimin reread the record, skipping over Ming court relations for now, and focused on the last part.
"This later law says work five, rest two. What does that mean?"
At first glance it seemed simple, but Tang holidays were also written into law and edicts. What was different?
Du Ruhui guessed.
"It may mean that the entire realm, top to bottom, all enjoy this rest system."
That answer gave Li Shimin some clarity. He fell silent, then sighed.
"If this could be upheld without fail, it would truly be a blessing for the people and a foundation for centuries."
"I do not know how Tang could implement such a thing."
Fang Xuanling quietly let out a breath. He had nearly feared His Majesty would want to copy even this.
Such a system was good, but impossible for current Tang.
Future farmland yields and Tang farmland yields were simply incomparable.
And those iron boxes that ran without horses were even more unimaginable.
Seeing a trace of disappointment on the emperor's face, Fang Xuanling chose another path.
"If Your Majesty wishes to show grace and relax the people's burdens, perhaps begin with official slaves and servants."
Li Shimin nodded thoughtfully.
From watching the light screen, it was clear that craftsmen were vital in all eras.
The fall of Southern Song, on the surface, was not it due to siege engines made by craftsmen?
In Tang, most craftsmen were either in small official workshops or were convicts, household slaves, and servants.
Convicts could eventually return to commoner status.
But official households, mixed households, slaves, and maids were truly low-status and difficult to promote.
Even Yan Liben, though already a high official, still had painting considered a lowly trade.
If Tang wished to whip across the Western Regions, split waves toward Jiaozhou, and gain profits even from Japan, it would require countless craftsmen.
How to achieve that depended on what he chose to do.