I

"Dang Dang Dang Dang!!!"

"Hey! Hey! Hey!"

Under the Niu Ridge, hammering and trumpets sounded one after another.

A total of more than ten people are chiseling and grinding stones and carrying them to the river for stacking. When the rocky beach on the other side is leveled out, the collected stones will be shipped over.

These masons are all semi-amateur.

How can there be so many professional jobs in a small town?

They usually make a living by farming, and working as stonemasons is purely a part-time job to earn extra money.

Even amateur stonemasons are relatively powerful and not as easy to bully as ordinary tenants.

Therefore, Mr. Huang was very kind, as long as they went to the mountains to quarry, each of them would be paid ten Wen a day, and he would provide a dry meal and a meal of porridge.

"Dinner is served, dinner is served!" cried the foreman.

Meal time is around ten o'clock in the morning every day and around four o'clock in the afternoon every day. Eating only two meals a day is a common practice in remote villages, but it is no different than eating three meals on Lead Mountain.

More than a dozen masons sat together, and when they picked up their rice bowls, they immediately exploded.

A stonemason named Huang Shun shouted: "Didn't you say you can see meat once every five days? Why are they all pickles!"

The foreman sneered: "It's good to have dry rice, but you want to eat meat?"

The last time there was a commotion at the inn, Huang Zunde was also a little scared. It's not that the tenants are afraid of rebellion, but that the tenants will make trouble again, not to mention delaying Zhao Xianggong's construction period, and even losing face with Zhao Xianggong.

Therefore, the tenants who leveled the rocky beach only had one person to work, and the rest of the family could go to busy spring plowing.

The workers who go into the mountains to quarry and log, not only have the treatment of ordinary tenants, but also can eat meat every five days.

On the first day when the order was issued, everyone saw the meat, although the portion was very scarce.

It happened to be the sixth day, and they were supposed to eat meat, but they didn't even have any oily smell, so they were asked to eat pickles!

Master Huang said that if you eat meat, you will eat meat?

The house slave in charge of logistics and food, the foreman in charge of supervision, didn't they take the opportunity to make money?

Layers of skimping, only pickles are left.

The masons were eating brown rice and nibbling pickles, their faces full of anger.

Going into the mountains to quarry rocks is heavy work, one meal is dry, one meal is thin, and you can only eat pickles, how can you be full? It is equivalent to working hungry every day.

Moreover, they are all strong laborers in the family, without them, the spring plowing will definitely be delayed.

"Uncle Yao, have you heard? Mr. Zhao, who is from other places, pays more than ten Wen a day." A stonemason whispered.

Uncle Yao's name is Huang Yao, and he is quite old, in fact, he is only in his twenties.

Huang Yao had seen the world, and was sent to the county town every year to hold grain, that is, to send the village's land tax to the county government. One year, he was retained by the magistrate to help repair the city wall for half a year.

In the past six months, I didn't earn a lot of wages, but my father at home starved to death, and my mother chose to hang herself to save food.

Huang Yao asked: "How much salary does Master Zhao give you?"

The stonemason said: "Master Zhao gave 1,000 taels of silver, and 800 taels of silver to buy the rocky beach. Master Huang was responsible for leveling the river beach. The other two hundred taels were for the wages of stone quarrymen and woodcutters. Master Zhao bought stone materials. , The cost of the timber is calculated separately."

The stonemasons were shocked, Mr. Zhao is really rich!

A stonemason said: "Our stone quarryers and those who fell trees paid two hundred taels for their wages?"

"Isn't it?" said the stonemason before, "Master Zhao's wages at the beginning were 80 yuan a day for the quarryman, 60 yuan a day for the woodcutter, and 50 yuan a day for the rocky beach. Now it's good, we only pay 10 yuan a day for quarrying." Wen, 5 Wen a day for cutting down trees, not even wages at the rocky beach!"

Another stonemason said: "I also heard people say that Mr. Zhao didn't press for the construction period, and advised Mr. Huang to start work after the spring plowing."

"Then why is Master Huang so anxious?"

"I'm in a hurry to get the money. The warehouse has not been built yet, so Mr. Zhao took out a thousand taels. The rest of the money must be several thousand taels?"

"Yellow skin like a dog!"

"This Mr. Zhao is really a good man. I heard that he sent money to the wounded tenant overnight to make amends. He is a foreigner, how dare he bully us locals? It's all Mr. Huang who is playing tricks!"

"Oh, don't talk about it, this is fate. We are born with cheap lives!"

"..."

Before the meal was finished, the foreman began to urge again, and everyone could only dig it into their mouths.

In the afternoon, a stone rolled down suddenly, and a mason couldn't dodge it, and his calf and tibia were broken.

This is a very common work injury in quarries.

The foreman took his time and only asked Huang Yao to carry the wounded to the river and wait for the boat to come before taking the wounded home.

The rest of the masons continued to work.

While waiting for the boat, Huang Yao asked: "Li Si is injured, how about the decoction fee?"

The foreman asked back: "He was injured himself, and he paid for the soup and medicine himself. What's the matter with Mr. Huang?"

Huang Yao stopped talking and just clenched his fists tightly.

...

Inn.

Huang Zunde even changed his address, and asked angrily: "Brother Zhao, why did you go to make amends in the middle of the night and talk nonsense about fixing the wages?"

Zhao Han looked confused: "What salary? I didn't mention salary."

"Then did you apologize to the tenant in the middle of the night?" Huang Zunde asked.

"Yes," Zhao Han explained, "I'm a foreigner, and I'm going to do business in Huangjia Town in the future. I can't offend all those tenants. My father often said that doing business with peace makes money. What kindness is there? In the future, if the local people make trouble every day when the warehouse is built, how will my Zhao family's business be done?"

Huang Zunde reluctantly believed it, and said heartbrokenly: "You are confused. Are you afraid of these bastards? If you dare to make trouble, you will be beaten!"

Zhao Han sneered: "Of course you, Mr. Huang, dare to fight. How dare I, a foreigner? I offended the local people so much, and burned my warehouse in the middle of the night. I was afraid that I would not cry, and I couldn't even find out who it was. Do it."

Huang Zunde could not refute.

Zhao Han said again: "Brother Huang, you have never traveled far to do business. You don't know how difficult it is here. Why do I give you so much money? Don't you just want to make friends with the local gentry? You really think I am Are you a prodigal son?"

"Brother Zhao was joking. I didn't cheat you for money. How could I have been taken advantage of?" Huang Zunde was a little embarrassed and accepted the statement.

Zhao Han continued: "My Zhao family also has a warehouse in Quanzhou. It is because I offended the local gangsters in Quanzhou that tens of thousands of taels of goods were burned."

Huang Zunde's heart hurts when he heard it, and tens of thousands of taels of goods were burned.

Zhao Han sighed: "Brother Huang, you beat people during the day, and I will give money to you at night, little brother. Is it easy for me? It's the middle of the night, can't you sleep with your maid in your arms?"

Huang Zunde asked doubtfully, "Is there really no mention of wages?"

"Why should I raise wages? I'm full." Zhao Han said depressedly.

Huang Zunde said goodbye and left, always feeling that something was wrong, but he couldn't figure it out.

Even if Zhao Han secretly incited the tenants, there must be some kind of conspiracy.

But Zhao Han gave all the thousand taels of silver, so what can he do by inciting the tenants? No profit!

After thinking about it, Huang Zunde still chose to believe it, because Zhao Han had no reason to talk about wages.

It must be that the tenants delayed the spring plowing. With resentment in their hearts, someone was deliberately spreading rumors!

After Huang Zunde returned home, he immediately sent more domestic slaves to work as supervisors. Even when eating, workers are not allowed to sit together, and must be separated by more than three steps to eat.

Huang Zunde couldn't eat this silver alone.

The land acquisition involved three large households, all of whom were members of the Huang family. Hundreds of slaves were dispatched that day, and the three families made up the numbers together. Huang Zunde himself could only send out more than sixty.

In Mr. Huang's house, counting the maids and cooking women, the number of slaves is barely over a hundred.

...

The eighth day of work on the river beach.

The resentment and anger have reached a critical point. Since private communication is not allowed on the construction site, it can be described as the road.

Moreover, the treatment of workers in Luanshitan has become worse and worse.

There are a few more supervisors, and more deductions are made. The porridge provided every day is like clear water. The workers couldn't get enough to eat, and when they returned home at night, they had to cook for themselves.

"boom!"

A tenant carrying gravel suddenly fainted to the ground.

"Why are you dizzy again?" the foreman frowned.

Another supervisor said, "I'm afraid I'm being lazy."

The foreman was amused: "Steal lazy, you eat so little every day, and you will feel dizzy even if you do heavy work every day."

Several supervisors were laughing, hoping that they would die from exhaustion.

These tenants are strong laborers in the family. Once they are exhausted on the construction site, they will definitely not be able to pay the rent this year.

The supervisors are all master Huang's confidantes, and they can persuade the master to seize the land and transfer it to his family for farming. There is only so little land in the whole town, and the more tenants die, the more cultivated land will be vacated.

Tired and dizzy, the tenant was carried to the side to lie down for a while.

Just woke up, and was about to drink water, when the supervisor whipped him away: "Still lazy, go to work!"

Just want to fight, just want to rush, it is best to be exhausted.

One of the paddy fields that this person cultivated was not bad. If this person is exhausted, he will wait for rent arrears this year, and if he takes the opportunity to tease him, he will definitely be robbed of his tenant next year.

The environment is dangerous, and if the same kind is dead, they can be divided and eaten!

All the workers stopped their work and glared at the supervisor one after another, but they did not dare to rebel.

"What are you looking at? Ask for a beating!" the foreman shouted.

The accumulated anger was suppressed again, and everyone could only concentrate on their work.

Suddenly, Zhao Han took Xiao Hong and Xiao Cui and walked slowly towards the construction site, followed by two inn clerks.

The foreman rushed to meet him, nodded and bowed, and said, "Mr. Zhao, why are you here?"

Zhao Han said with a smile, "I'll take a look at the progress."

The foreman patted his chest and said: "Don't worry, Mr. Zhao, I promise to work quickly. Anyone who dares to be disobedient will beat him to death!"

The overseers echoed.

Zhao Han persuaded loudly: "People in the village, look down and see, it's better not to hit people. I am in business, and I pay attention to harmony and make money. If you beat people up, what is there to be kind? Everyone hates me. "

Many nearby tenants heard this, and thought that Mr. Zhao was reasonable, but Mr. Huang in this town was very bad.

Zhao Han asked two inn clerks to put down the wooden barrels they had picked up, and shouted, "Come here, folks. You have worked hard, and I have prepared some tea as a reward for you all."

The foreman didn't dare to stop him, so he quickly flattered: "Mr. Zhao is really benevolent." Then he shouted at everyone, "Hurry up and have tea!"

The tenants gathered around one after another, fetching bowls and waiting to drink tea.

With a warm smile on his face, Zhao Han expressed concern and condolences: "How are you doing? Don't worry, you will work for me, and I promise not to let you suffer."

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay.

Suddenly, a tenant knelt down and cried bitterly: "Master Zhao, help me!"