Mythic version of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 6518: Even without money, you can be decent
At this point in time at the end of the Han Dynasty, banning pornography was complete nonsense. What Chen Xi banned more was the trafficking of human beings, and the establishment of brothels and the like. He did not ban them completely, but at most he was trying to change the existing social atmosphere.

The administrative and social control capabilities required for a complete ban are too strong, which is simply beyond Chen Xi's ability to do. So, it is more realistic to guide social trends, reduce the number of brothels as much as possible, and strengthen management.

As for the gambling industry and betting houses, Chen Xi has also imposed restrictions on them, but a complete ban is not realistic. After all, chicken-walking and dog-fighting have existed since ancient times. Even if they are not as complicated as in later generations, various things that stimulate the release of dopamine in the human brain still exist.

Human beings inevitably need some entertainment, and most entertainment is either adventure or gambling. It is difficult for human nature to avoid these two behaviors. Just like what we have complained about before, if we eliminate games, the worst that can happen is that we can raise birds and play cards like in the Qing Dynasty. If we eliminate raising birds and playing cards, the worst that can happen is that we can learn cricket fighting and archery from the Ming Dynasty. If we eliminate cricket fighting and archery, the worst that can happen is that we can learn pitching pots, cockfighting, and dog fighting from the Tang and Song Dynasties.

Anyway, human nature is here. No matter how much you try to eliminate them, you can't change the fact that this group of people just likes entertainment. What's the point of entertainment to death? To put it bluntly, it's human nature to love fun.

Gambling has been popular for a long time. Apart from the so-called mentality of getting rich quickly, it is more of a natural instinct. People always feel that there is something missing in their life if they don’t gamble. Even if they don’t win money, they will gamble just for fun.

In this environment, what Chen Xi can suppress is actually poison. However, there haven't been too many poisons in the Central Plains in recent years. The Five Stones Powder and the like are very different from the stuff in later generations. If we spread the word that eating this stuff will make people stupid and have low combat effectiveness, compared with the current environment, most of the aristocratic families will work hard to eliminate it themselves.

There is no way. Fighting power and brain power are really important these days. The little pleasure brought by Wu Shi San is nothing compared to one's own great ideals!
So the drug industry was strangled before it could even develop, but prostitution and gambling have always existed. However, because Chen Xi's management was relatively formal, although there were some disturbances every year, there was no situation of families being broken up or people being killed.

After all, it's just for fun, especially in something like cockfighting which looks extremely fierce. There is no multiplier or upper limit, so the chances of winning or losing are not that big.

In addition, the gambling industry has been crooked since the Yuanfeng year, with the dealers being black and cheating in the very rules of the game, which results in people with normal brains basically not playing the game. But there are always some idiots who think they are better at cheating than their opponents.

Then, as this type of gambling house developed, it evolved into a situation where they would introduce you to daily-paid jobs after you lost your money, and even developed to the point where they would introduce you to stable jobs. After all, some shameless families had no intention of making money from the gambling house. They just waited for these people to lose and then took them away.

As for your gambling nature, send you to the military camp, where you will be under militarized management and won't have the opportunity to gamble. Ordinary families cannot control the pillar of the family from doing whatever he wants, but large families, haha!
As long as you have the ability, we have a way to make you quit gambling. Besides, we have brought all the people to our territory. If you really have the ability to get out of the military camp, we don’t mind you gambling a few times. Anyway, every gambling house in my territory is opened by me myself, and I wish that all the money you earn from hard work would be used by you to gamble.

Although gamblers are inhumane, they still have to maintain their social reputation and family structure before their credibility collapses completely. In this era that emphasizes loyalty, trustworthiness, benevolence and filial piety, this set of playing methods is very useful, as long as you can hold the gambler's head down.

It's fun, it's really fun. Every time there is a cockfight, a large group of people will gather around, not to watch the cockfight, but to learn the cool skills of the big guys. Another chicken spreads its wings and directly releases a vacuum blade to knock off the head of the chicken on the opposite side. But even so, the headless chicken maintains its own state and continues to fight.

Therefore, up to now, there are two modes of gambling houses. One is the conventional mode, that is, no matter what anyone says, cheating is not allowed. If caught, the person will be expelled and hacked. This type of gambling house will hang a sign in the hall saying "cheating is not allowed", and they will also have to hire a very outstanding veteran to watch over the place.

Generally speaking, these gambling houses are all legitimate ones, with limits, blacklists, and they can afford to lose as well as win, and they all have legitimate backers behind them.

And if the aristocratic families can really do it, then these gamblers will really be useful to them.

If Chen Xi hadn't been pressuring them, the first Central Asian family to discover this logic might have set up a trap to trap these retired veterans. After all, this was indeed a very easy plan to implement.

As for the other one, it is even wilder. Black dealers and cheating are inevitable rules of the game. This is the most significant impact that Yuan Shu and Liu Zhang have had on the entire world's gambling industry. In fact, because this impact is so significant, Chen Xi sees some so-called gambling, but in fact it is a real game of combat effectiveness between the two sides, and thinks, can this also be considered gambling?
However, this is really considered gambling, and there are many people who like to participate in this kind of gambling. After all, everyone has a gambling nature, and this kind of gambling is more interesting.

Take Sun Qian's cockfighting as an example. In the former kind of cockfighting, one can only watch, let the chickens fight, and then place one's own bets. But in the latter kind, people stand outside the circle and can use all kinds of means, but they cannot use weapons. As long as they place a bet, they can participate.

It’s just a penny. I won’t eat the fish cakes today. I’m going to let this rooster use its ultimate move to open the eyes of the guys on the opposite side!
This is roughly the outrageous mentality, so every ten days after catching a rooster from the mountain, the leaders of the construction team would gather around and start betting. It didn't matter whether they won or not, they had to use their skills. It even evolved to the point that later on, the fighting cocks had their heads knocked off, but they could still fight with their claws, breaking all the rules of the game.

In this case, we will take good care of your family, and when it is time to go to the battlefield and fight hard, I will see whether you fight hard enough or not. The total money I spend is less than poaching a top centurion's family, but I can gain loyalty and more benefits.

In short, even if it is not for winning money, and you don't know the size of the rooster on the opposite side, and it is purely blind pressure, there are still a large group of people who bet a penny to open the talent to give the opponent the entire ultimate move.

There are many more people involved in this outrageous stuff than the one above. There are even indestructible wild roosters, phantom wild roosters, the essence of heaven and earth condensing into shape, a rooster's crowing forming a visible sound wave vibration attack, a rooster spreading its wings and releasing magical slashing attacks, and so on.

Whenever Sun Qian has nothing to do, he will go and watch this kind of outrageous stuff. You know what, it's really interesting and exciting. It's so awesome.

So when Liu Bei talked about the gambling industry, Sun Qian thought that this thing was actually quite good. As for the question of whether to ban it or not, let's put it aside for now. Just tell me whether this thing is fun or not. Of course it is fun. As long as there is a betting limit and a monthly winning and losing limit, this thing is actually quite entertaining.

Anyway, Sun Qian had seen a guy who had five levels of smelting. He started by betting big, then bet smaller and smaller towards the end of the month when he was about to reach the upper limit, and finally started betting one cent. In Sun Qian's opinion, this was pure entertainment, not gambling, just fun.

"There are some gambling houses in Chengdu, but the gambling houses here generally do not gamble directly for money, but for cockfighting and dog fighting." Chen Deng explained. There was no other way. The gambling houses that gambled directly for money had already been destroyed. The group of people under Sun Qian had been engaging in cockfighting and dog fighting without any bottom line in Sichuan for so many years, and had led the atmosphere of the gambling industry in Sichuan astray.

Compared to the speed of winning or losing in normal gambling, the speed of winning or losing in cockfighting and dogfighting is slower, and it is easy to shift people's interest from gambling to watching cockfighting and dogfighting. As a result, after many casinos opened these stalls, some people who did not gamble but wanted to watch cockfighting and dogfighting would come and watch with a few cents, and they would treat it as the ticket money, and they were very happy.

Therefore, Chen Deng never thought of cracking down on this kind of thing. In his opinion, it is also a kind of entertainment. Although it has some unproductive meaning, it is not serious to that extent. It is just a kind of fun.

"The old soldier in Guanzhong lost so much that he has become a beggar. He has lost his wife and children." Liu Bei said to Sun Qian with a dark face.

"Well, how should I put it, Commander? It's impossible for someone to become a beggar because of his own problems. In the current environment, even beggars in Zichuan are taken away for training. How can there be beggars?" Sun Qian sighed and said, "Beggars on the street, as long as they are not disabled, will be taken away for skills training. If that doesn't work, they can be registered as civilians and help them reclaim wasteland."

It is not a good idea to directly register vagrants and beggars as citizens and reclaim wasteland. This means that some people can become heroes again in other places. However, considering that it is not a major case, even if these vagrants and beggars have committed some illegal acts in the past, as long as they live a stable life in the future, they can provide certain output to the society. Considering the overall population size, Chen Xi accepted this reality.

Therefore, in the practice of incorporating refugees and beggars into the population, the fields given to them need to be reclaimed, increasing the early investment in refugees and beggars to prevent them from having illegal thoughts again, thinking that even if they have committed a crime, they can live again in another place as long as they escape successfully.

After all, the sunk costs are high, so it’s inevitable to feel sad when you run away.

Generally speaking, such continuous household registration has indeed completely eliminated beggars and vagrants. Even though reclaiming wasteland is relatively difficult and troublesome, having a place to live and fields is already a turn of events for beggars and vagrants. All that is left is to work.

So up to now, you can hardly see beggars and vagrants on the roads. Even the yamen runners in various places are still actively arresting beggars and vagrants. After all, this can be considered a credit, just not much.

"So, General, the beggars you see are all very capable beggars. To be honest, they are all strong people who have special skills and can run and jump. Even the local yamen runners can't catch them. Their abilities determine that if they want to live a decent life, they can find a job anywhere to survive." Sun Qian said in a comforting tone.

According to Sun Qian's experience, a beggar with all his limbs intact who could lie down in a place like Guanzhong must have at least three levels of smelting, and the three levels of smelting must be biased towards speed. According to Liu Bei's description, this was an old soldier who had participated in the Battle of Northern Frontier and had a title. Liu Bei could recognize him, even if he had only four or five levels of smelting.

This veteran with all his limbs has ended up as a beggar...

If people like this can end up becoming beggars, then the whole world will rebel. It is obvious that this old soldier has suffered a blow and is getting too obsessed with it. Otherwise, with his level of ability, he can live a decent life whether he works as a plasterer in a state-owned construction team, or lives on a ranch in Northern Xinjiang, or even works as a janitor in the Fisheries Department or the Agricultural and Grain Bureau.

The entire Han Dynasty may have only 20,000 people in the fourth level of smelting. Now that they have been cursed by the world consciousness, it is a question whether there are still so many people. In the end, they are in such a mess? Is this a social problem? No, this is purely the old soldier's own problem.

In addition to the above-mentioned jobs to get by, veterans of the fourth and fifth levels of smelting can also receive a lot of strange things, such as helping some evil families capture test subjects, which pays well and also provides subsidies. If they are lucky, they may even pick up some usable technology; another example is helping some families lead a team to blockade areas where certain thieves are located, etc., and the money varies depending on the time.

This kind of strange work can be found in Chang'an with the strength of fourth or fifth level smelting. Strength is a harder currency than money.

After all, if the money is gone, it is all gone. As long as the person is still alive and the strength is still there, even if he has a broken arm or a leg, he can still be a teacher. The major families don't mind spending an extra 1,000 or 2,000 coins per month to hire a disabled person who has been a fourth or fifth level smelter to help them train their own new recruits.

So in Sun Qian's opinion, the thing Liu Bei encountered was purely a problem of his own, and had nothing to do with society or the gambling house. If he ran out of money, he could just continue to earn it. As long as he didn't gamble too big, he would be an old soldier who had been tempered by the fourth or fifth level, and no matter how poor he was, he would never be in such a state.

The worst thing is to sell yourself to a wealthy family and have them provide you with food and lodging. If you go to the authorities for this, they can help you negotiate it. It's called selling yourself, but in fact it's just a contract that's too long to be true.

At that time, just add a clause in the text that all the money should be used to buy food, drinks, and entertainment. Don't ask for a penny, and don't lend him any money.

After all, there will come a time when gamblers want to quit gambling. If you sign a contract at that time, you can still be decent even if you have no money!

　Uh, I got up too late this time.
　　(End of this chapter)