Dominate the Country

A mountain somewhere in Zhongshan outside Xuanwu Lake.

In the early morning, the sky was slightly bright, and the lights of the state guesthouse that could be seen across Xuanwu Lake were still bright. Countless sentinels who had been counting the night yawned and looked at the morning star in the sky, hoping that the sky would turn white and the time for changing sentinels would come sooner.

A dozen men wearing single clothes and a backpack tied to their chests had walked from the entrance of the mountain to the edge of Xuanwu Lake.

Before dawn, these people had already divided into several groups, each guarding a place a few hundred meters apart. They hated each other, and the eyes they looked at each other were full of malice and unkindness. If they hadn't known the rules of this generation of free-range farms in Nanjing, they couldn't fight, and the public security punishment was very severe. Looking at the fierce eyes, they might have started fighting long ago.

The mountain in front of them is one of the more than ten professional breeding farms distributed in the mountainous areas around Nanjing.

There are countless chickens, ducks and geese on the mountain because it is close to the water.

On some mountains, different wild animals such as pigs, sheep, rabbits, pheasants, musk deer, and deer are raised. This is entirely because the daily demand for eggs, poultry and meat in Nanjing is increasing, which makes countless people see the profit. Then some of them acted quickly, some of them succeeded, and some failed.

This is a successful example.

In this era, it is difficult to imagine the huge and dense modern breeding farms in the future. When it comes to breeding, it is more about free-range breeding based on geographical advantages.

Let’s not talk about those breeding farms that raise wild boars and other wild animals. For example, the breeding base in front of us that raises chickens, ducks, geese and other poultry, needs a large number of people to search the mountains and pick up eggs, duck eggs, and goose eggs every day.

These people are not considered workers in their breeding farms. They are just like temporary workers in the past, and they get paid according to their work efficiency.

——Everyone wore the pocketless work clothes provided by the farm before going up the mountain, with a basket tied to the chest. Even a water bottle was not allowed. The eggs, duck eggs and goose eggs picked up were put into the basket. Then, at the end of the work, they were paid according to the weight of the eggs they picked up.

According to the regulations of the farm, no one can eat during work, but can only drink water. The water tank is at the entrance. As for the delay of work due to drinking water and less money, you can only blame yourself, not others. So no one deliberately drank raw eggs during the egg picking process. Raw eggs are very fishy, ​​and you can tell as long as you check.

And everyone has a designated work area. If the farm staff finds eggs that have been deliberately smashed, hehe, the farm can also find someone to ask for money.

Unfair, right? There must be loopholes in the entire regulation setting. After all, there are no surveillance cameras in this era. For example, the broken egg has two chicken feathers stuck on it. Who knows if it was man-made or the hen broke it herself? If you don't startle the chickens, ducks, and geese, it will affect the number and speed of their egg production, but who knows if they are really scared?

But the farm has the right to interpret all this. There is not even a "failure rate", and there is no "reward" either, because they are all short-term workers.

So the income of this job is not low, but it is definitely not easy to do. Don't forget that there is still a plum rain season in Nanjing. This job is really hard.

The time for picking eggs came soon. The crowd waiting at the entrance also changed from a dozen to twenty or thirty. These people took advantage of the white sky to go up the mountain, and along the way, they startled the chickens, ducks, and geese.

Sun Wangfu looked at the big goose eggs in the nests in front of him with a happy face. He didn't rush to pick them up, but took out a pair of oilcloth gloves from the basket first. Whether it is chicken eggs, duck eggs, or goose eggs, the smell is very strong. The shells of those eggs are even stained with blood and shit. If you pick them up with your bare hands without gloves, you will smell sick before you pick up half a basket. It's like grabbing a handful of chicken shit, then washing it with water, but your palms are still full of the smell of chicken shit.

The farm produces 6,000 to 7,000 chicken eggs, duck eggs, and goose eggs every day, and there are tens of thousands of them at the peak. At least someone with a little experience can pick up two baskets, each weighing 20 kilograms, and the wages are 1.5 cents per kilogram.

Eggs in the Nanjing market have been sold for 85 cents per kilogram, the same price as pork. Like meat, they are not expensive because of their small number, but because of the shortage of supply, so the price continues to rise. Sun Wangfu remembers that in the early days, eggs in his hometown of Wuxi were only more than 30 wen per kilogram, which is only 50 cents when converted into paper money today. At that time, pork was only 40 to 50 wen per jin, but now it is 85 cents per jin, and 90 cents per jin.

In the past, he could not buy two jin of eggs with a day's wages as a temporary worker, but now he can earn two yuan a day in the farm, which is more than twice as much as before, but the price of eggs has also risen.

During the Chinese New Year, the price can be as high as one yuan per jin. But even so, his family's life is better than before.

Sun Wangfu wiped it on the bark on the side, and his nose seemed to be unable to smell the disgusting smell in the basket. He held a bamboo stick in his hand and continued to walk up the mountain.

He was in a good mood. For a poor family, what was this bad smell? What was more important was a good life, and what was more important was the money earned. These were all the emperor's favors. It was the current emperor who made his family live a good life.

After a while, the bamboo basket was full to the top, and Sun Wangfu turned and went down the mountain.

The basket was moved from the chest to the back, and the lid was closed. It seemed that the dew in the forest in the morning had made the outer skin of the bamboo basket a little moist. Carrying a twenty-kilogram bamboo basket on his back, Sun Wangfu's steps were particularly brisk. Thinking that this basket was worth one dollar, no matter how much fatigue he felt, it faded away from him.

At seven o'clock in the morning, thousands of rays of sunshine shine on the earth. After the work was over, Sun Wangfu, who had changed back into his original clothes, had one more yuan note in his pocket than when he arrived, as well as eight dime coins and a pound of eggs.

This pound of eggs was bought at the farm, and it only cost five cents. Who told Sun Wangfu to be an "old man" who collects raw eggs? He still did his duty! The farm gives it cheaply, which is considered a welfare for him.

In only a quarter of an hour, they had arrived at the market outside Xi'an Gate. Sun Wangfu didn't need to enter the city gate, as the market outside had everything he needed. There are those who do acquisitions and those who do sales; there are those who do wholesale and there are those who retail. Sun Wangfu is a frequent visitor here because there are very cheap seafood sold in the morning market here every day.

I don’t know when more and more seafood appeared in the southeast region, ranging from the most basic kelp and seaweed, to sea fish of different sizes, including whale meat that has a rough texture but is cheap. As for sea cucumbers, abalone, squid, Octopus, crabs, shrimps, sea shells, clams, etc., not to mention. Sun Wangfu even saw sea urchins in the small market of Xi'anmen.

When Sun Wangfu arrived here, it was already close to 7:20. It was near the end of the morning market, so seafood would be sold cheaper. When you walk into the market, you are faced with four large sheds. Each shed is more than ten feet long and three feet wide, and the distance between them is no less than three feet. Four-wheeled carriages can easily pass through. Just like now, there are more than a dozen unloaded four-wheeled carriages parked between the greenhouses, and stacks of bamboo baskets, dustpans and bamboo baskets for transporting vegetables, meat, eggs and fishery are stacked against the carriages. basket. The air was filled with a pungent smell caused by the mixture of many futures, and there were still large pools of water stains and garbage such as vegetable leaves, cabbage seeds, and rotten vegetables remaining on the ground.

After the market closes, that is, after ten o'clock in the morning, special people will clean up and clean up. Those messy rotten vegetable leaves will be bought to surrounding farms to feed pigs and chickens.

Sun Wangfu often comes here to buy small fish and shrimps. I don’t know who said that eating fish and shrimps is better than meat, especially for children, who will be smarter after eating them.

"Old Sun, are you going to have a drink?" Several companions who came to the vegetable market quickly finished their shopping and greeted him warmly.

"I'm not going. Go back and go to bed early. I have to do some work in the afternoon." Sun Wangfu refused with a smile. This job of picking up raw eggs was too tiring. He got up early and had to rush home to take a nap. Sleep. And it doesn’t cost money to drink?

You can't ask others to pay for every meal, it has to come in turns. Sun Wangfu thought that if he had that kind of money, he might as well buy more fish balls and meat balls to supplement his children's needs. He has three children, but there is only one boy. The first is a daughter, the youngest is also a daughter, only two years old, and only the middle one is a precious son. It will soon be the age to enter school. Sun Wangfu needs to save more money.

After separating from his companions, Sun Wangfu carried his own eggs, a large piece of tofu and a pack of dried bamboo shoots he had just bought, and headed to the seafood greenhouse.

Each of the four greenhouses is different. One is for fruits and vegetables. The other is for seasonings, miso, salted meat, salted fish, dried bacon, and wild products. The third one is for buying live poultry, pigs, sheep, and beef. One is the one who buys aquatic products and seafood.

Kelp, seaweed, dried fish fillets, dried fish, minced fish meat, fish sauce, oyster sauce, shrimp paste, fish balls, dried shrimp, shrimp, etc. are all packed in coarse paper and oilcloth or small bamboo baskets, straw bags, etc. On the shelf; at the same time, carp, silver carp, black fish, long thin loach, purple thin loach, white carp Fish, soft-shell turtle, large yellow croaker, small yellow croaker, flat fish, pomfret, eel, mackerel, white catfish, grouper, green catfish, blue crab, etc., or aquatic products or seafood, all kinds of common and uncommon, Fresh fish, shrimps and crabs that can’t even be named are jumping around and kept in small pools.

There is also a small waterwheel beside the small pond, which is connected to the equipment outside through wheels, belts, and levers. The waterwheel is continuously driven by animal power, and it is constantly rotating. The waterwheels in each pond are constantly turning. splash of water.

It is said that this can ensure that the fish in the pond live longer.

Ice cubes can often be seen here. If there are dead fish in the pool, they have either just died, or they have been piled on the ice cubes and covered with crushed ice to keep them fresh. Although they are dead fish, they are just like buying them home to eat. It's delicious. The key point is that the price of the chilled fish is only half of the fresh fish. If you go later, the discount will be only 20 to 30% of the original price.

This is not the first time for Sun Wangfu to come here. He has been dealing with fish for twenty years in the past. His family is on the coast of Zhejiang Province, and he has followed his father into the sea since he was a child. But when he first came here, it was really dazzling for him.

Ocean fishing companies are really powerful. Big ships and big nets are better than small fishing boats. It is said that one net can catch several thousand kilograms.

Nowadays, the imperial court no longer restricts the size of ships on the seaside. Whether they are merchant ships or fishing boats, they are all built in Dali. Sun Wangfu secretly sighed in his heart. If his family could have a medium-sized fishing boat, he would not be here. He has already lived a good life.

In recent years, under the severe punishments and laws imposed by the court, the former fishing tyrants have either changed their profession and run away, or have been sent to prison, or have been targeted. The world is so good.

Today Sun Wangfu bought half a pound of dried shrimp, a pound of fish balls, and a pound of meatballs. Not pork, mutton, or beef, but whale meat.

This is cheaper.

Add tofu, dried bamboo shoots, and a pound of eggs, and Sun Wangfu spent a dollar. There was only one dollar bill, three dimes, and one nickel left in his pocket.

Holding a straw bag in his hand, Sun Wangfu walked to Xi'anmen Station, not far from the inner market. He got on a public carriage with familiarity, handed the monthly ticket in his hand to the quality inspector for inspection, and then went straight to the top floor. He knew that he had a faint bad smell on him, so he never sat on the bottom floor, but always got on the top of the carriage.

The carriage could take Sun Wangfu back to his home. His home was not in Nanjing, but outside the Nanjing city wall, four or five miles west of the Qinhuai River.

This is not a rural area, it can only be said that this is a rural-urban junction.

Nanjing is a first-class metropolis in China. According to the current situation in the world, Nanjing is also one of the top metropolises. In such a city, the area four or five miles outside the city wall is not a "rural area" in the usual sense. But don't forget the area of ​​Nanjing. The city wall of more than 100 miles surrounds a metropolis that is the largest in the world today.

The statistical population of Nanjing City has just reached one million people as of the end of last year. Perhaps after four or five months, this number will increase, but compared with the huge area of ​​Nanjing, it is obviously not enough to let the population spread outward at this time.

The villages outside Nanjing have developed greatly. Although there are still many farmlands, there seems to be no vacant land in the village. All of them have been covered with houses or turned into warehouses.

Even though Xi'anmen is located in the southwest of Nanjing City, close to Zhongshan Mountain and farthest from the Yangtze River Wharf, there are still many places here that have become warehouses. No matter day or night, there will be public carriages passing by on the avenue. During the day, there is a quarter-hour bus, and after eight o'clock in the evening, it will become a half-hour bus.

Sun Wangfu didn't come into contact with the public carriage until he came to Nanjing. It must be said that this thing is really convenient. Otherwise, it would take half an hour to walk from Sun Wangfu's home to Xi'an Gate, and then turn to the farm in the south, which would take another quarter of an hour. The round trip would take less than an hour, and Sun Wangfu's physical consumption would increase a lot.

But now there is a public carriage, the time on the road is shortened to about an hour, and Sun Wangfu can take a break after working in the farm.

Even if it costs one dollar a month. But a monthly ticket is not limited to one person, it can be said to be very cost-effective.

Blowing the cool wind, Sun Wangfu looked at the neatly divided vegetable fields and orchards on both sides of the road, yes, vegetable fields and orchards. No farmers around Nanjing City grow rice anymore. With Nanjing City behind them, growing some seasonal vegetables is the most profitable way to maximize profits, and planting fruit trees is also very profitable.

Even if the farmers and the village heads don't remember this, the head of the village head can remember it.

How many fruits and vegetables are consumed every day in the whole city of Nanjing? In this era when transportation is far from convenient, "proximity" is the biggest advantage.

"It would be great if I had a piece of land here..." Sun Wangfu, who was thinking about having a medium-sized fishing boat not long ago, now thinks about having a piece of land near Nanjing.

Dreams are human desires, and dreams are the source of motivation for many people to work hard. Even if their income and life are much better than in the past, humans will still expect to live better.

This is called "greed", also called "never satisfied". Many times it will become a further disaster, and many times it will become a ladder for the development and progress of human society.