Chapter 133: All Quiet in Lingnan In April of the sixth year of Chongzhen's reign, when the snow in the north had not completely melted, Guangzhou in Lingnan was already a beautiful spring scene with all things sprouting.
Outside Guangzhou, on the bank of the Pearl River, Li Fugui, a refugee from Jiangxi, was sitting on a bench under a large pergola.
He stretched out his neck, propped his ears, and stepped on the bench with one bare foot, drinking leisurely.
Herbal tea and listening to a book , a skinny old man was talking on the stage with excited expressions and saliva flying around.
From time to time he picked up the broken fan placed on the table and made gestures, which caused the surrounding spectators to burst into applause or laughter from time to time.
Li Fugui, who just turned 20 this year, fled from his hometown in the mountainous area of southern Jiangxi to Guangzhou last summer to make a living.
As early as the last years of Tianqi, swarms of thieves had emerged in the mountainous areas of western Fujian and southern Jiangxi.
During the Chongzhen period, large-scale public killings of officials and rebellions began.
The heroes from various hills first worked together to fight off the government, and then began endless melee fighting with each other.
The local people were plundered and massacred over and over again, and all their fields were abandoned.
Li Fugui's family embarked on the road of migration because they could not bear the disaster of war.
But unfortunately, after overcoming many dangers along the way and successfully escaping to Guangzhou, Li Fugui was the only one left in their family.
However, what almost made Li Fugui despair was that as soon as he fled to Guangzhou, he caught up with the imperial court's order to attack the "Australian Kun people" entrenched in Qiongzhou.
As a result, before the Guangdong official army had time to mobilize, the "Australian" large iron ship had already entered the Pearl River and arrived at the provincial capital Guangzhou City.
As a result, the unlucky Li Fugui was also captured by the Guangzhou government.
He tremblingly guarded the city with a sharpened bamboo pole, preparing to serve as cannon fodder when the Australians came to kill him.
There was also a group of local people from Guangdong who were muttering all day long about the majesty of the Australians in the past when they swept across the Pearl River and bombarded the city of Guangzhou.
Li Fugui was so frightened that he chanted Amitabha Buddha every day for three days and asked the Bodhisattva not to let the Australians.
Kill yourself with a cannonball Fortunately, the battle did not break out after all.
Because the power of this group of "Australians" is so hopelessly strong that they no longer look like mortals.
First, dozens of "Flying Fairy Boats" airships came to cover the sky and the sun, playing terrifying music, overwhelming On the heads of the people in Guangzhou; and then I don’t know Why, even though all the city gates have not fallen, hundreds of "Australian elite soldiers" poured out from the government offices in the city and opened the random doors directly in the Guangzhou government offices. , chief envoys and other civil and military officials all under one roof In this way, relying on such irresistible beheading tactics and psychological deterrence, Guangzhou City naturally fell without a fight.
After the change of ownership in Guangzhou, Li Fugui was first detained as a prisoner of war for a period of time, working hard to build bridges, pave roads, and carry large bags for the Australians.
Then he received a small severance pay and was released.
But because it was hard to find jobs in the market, after going around for a while, he came back to take care of the Australian boss's job.
For more than half a year, every morning, as soon as it gets dark, Li Fugui gets up early and rushes to the Australian recruitment office outside the east gate.
At the door, he delivers a bamboo sign with his name written on it to a tall, tall Australian man. inside, and then went to the pergola next to it to wait for the assignment.
When Li Fugui first came to work as a part-time worker, the pergola could only accommodate a hundred and eighty people, but later it became larger and larger, and now it can accommodate a thousand people, because there always seems to be something that these Australian masters can't do.
After finishing the work, they built bridges and piers one after another, paved spacious roads one after another, and even for some unknown reason removed the city wall of Guangzhou and changed it into a ring road with coconut trees on both sides.
He also talked about building some kind of "factory" on the wasteland next to the Pearl River, and gathered many people to build large-scale construction on the wasteland.
Li Fugui and his companions watched the diorama for a while: no one among them thought about it.
There are so many ways to build a house.
Those yellow iron animals brought by the Australians are bigger than the house, roar like thunder, and can dig out hundreds of people in one meal, even if they work for a month.
A big hole from which to escape.
In addition, many other strange-looking iron objects were also transported.
The iron used may weigh more than tens of thousands of kilograms, which made the onlookers in Guangzhou stunned.
Although these iron animals are indeed extremely powerful, the work is still a bit rough.
Many detailed tasks such as laying bricks, building walls, polishing stone slabs, compacting earth mounds, and planting saplings still require manual labor, so This gave Li Fugui and others the opportunity to work part-time and earn a living.
In fact, at the construction site of the Australian master, in addition to the day-labor coolies who are paid on a daily basis, there is also a kind of "employee" who has signed a long-term contract, and the treatment is much better than that of the day-laborers.
Not only is the salary more generous, The boss also took care of a meal and gave out small gifts called "welfare" from time to time, which made Li Fugui envious.
But if you want to be an Australian "employee", you must first go to a "purification camp" to take a bath and shave your head.
This requirement of shaving makes Li Fugui feel really embarrassed, so he still hasn't made up his mind yet. determination The wages paid to them by the Australians were not free money, but pieces of paper.
The kind of paper given to them at first was called circulation coupons, and later it was changed to another piece of paper with more precise patterns called Huayuan.
In fact, To put it bluntly, it is the Ming Dynasty treasure note of the Australians.
However, these Australian banknotes are much better than the waste paper-like deceptions of the Ming Dynasty government.
Next to the pergola of the recruitment office, there is a shop opened by an Australian, which only accepts Chinese dollar banknotes.
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They are all the best-selling Australian products in Guangzhou nowadays: candies, cakes, refined salt, cigarettes, shochu, white paper, steel needles, and many other weird things.
The most eye-catching ones are Australian glass mirrors and cosmetics, but the prices are also ridiculously expensive.
Of course, day laborers like Li Fugui, who work a day and eat a day, naturally cannot afford such expensive luxuries, but this does not trouble them.
Because savvy businessmen have already set up money exchange stalls near the Australian Labor Recruitment Office outside the East Gate to exchange the Chinese dollar notes in the hands of workers into silver and copper coins.
Moreover, as time goes by, Australian banknotes have gradually established credibility in the Guangzhou market, and more and more stores are willing to accept Chinese dollar banknotes.
Nowadays, Li Fugui no longer needs to exchange banknotes and let the dealers peel off a layer of skin.
Today, Li Fugui came extra early, so there were only a dozen people sitting sparsely in the shed.
There was a water point in the corner of the shed, and a row of large tanks were filled with herbal tea at any time.
So Li Fugui quickly took out his I filled the bamboo tube on my back with a full tube of tea, and then while drinking tea, I started chatting about the mountains from east to west with a few coolie men I knew.
After a while, more and more people came to work part-time, and soon the pergola began to become lively.
Hundreds of people gathered together, and the courtyard was filled with laughter and talk with a southern and northern accent.
There is also an old man who loves story-telling in his spare time.
He is spitting and dancing, reciting a new story about the Three Kingdoms that he heard in the teahouse yesterday.
Although the old man's words are very absurd and formal, it still makes life boring and lacks entertainment.
They were very happy to hear it.
On the roof of the Australian Recruitment Office, there is a small clock tower.
After several months of day labor, although Li Fugui was illiterate, he could already understand the purpose of the round plate on the bell tower.
Whenever the thick and short hands pointed to seven and the slender hands pointed to twelve, the clock tower There will be a bell ringing, and a clerk wearing an Australian "uniform" will appear on the steps of the recruitment office on time.
He held a stack of orders in his left hand and a large tin trumpet in his right hand.
With a long and long tone, he shouted at the waiting coolies to distribute various tasks.
For example: "Four hours to dig ditches, two hundred people, six yuan each" "80 square meters of wood transported to the dock, fifty people, three yuan each" "Five hundred bags of coal unloaded at the dock, ten people, eight cents each" "Plant one hundred and twenty coconut trees, twenty people, seven cents each."
Every time the clerk shouted something, there was a buzz of discussion below.
Then, just like the red-haired barbarian captain recruiting sailors in the tavern, the coolies who are willing to go will gather at the registration office under the steps, report their names, and then specialized personnel will lead them to their respective construction sites.
After you finish the work, there will be another half-year-old child wearing an Australian uniform on the construction site.
He will stamp a blue stamp on the back of your hand one by one.
After you come down, you can go back to the pergola to collect your wages.
Someone will check the name and stamp there.
Then use a special potion to erase the blue stamp on the back of your hand.
However, the situation seems to be a little different today.
Although the stubby hand on the round plate on the clock tower has already pointed to seven, the other slender hand has also moved a good distance past twelve, and the bell has also struck. , but the document that distributed the work has still not come out.
This made Li Fugui and his co-workers gradually panic, and the chatter became quieter and quieter.
Finally, it became completely quiet.
Everyone stared at the closed door on the steps while exchanging frightened words with each other.
Looking at this posture, there must be no work today, right?
Obviously, if there is no work today, then naturally there will be no wages for this day.
What's so great about this is that many of them are so poor that "they don't have enough food to live in their homes."
They are waiting to buy rice to cook with their daily wages.
As time passed, just when the day laborers began to become slightly commotion, the door of the labor recruitment office finally opened with a bang.
However, what came out of it was not only the usual "fake Kun" clerk, but also a young Taoist priest with sword-browed eyes and starry eyes.
The clerk looked around, then raised the tin trumpet in his hand and shouted loudly to the coolies in the shed: "Young men, please listen.
The Changliu sect is recruiting handyman disciples and disciples in Guangzhou today.
Outer disciples who want to take part in the assessment should come to this leader to sign up."
He pointed at the young Taoist priest next to him and announced, "This Changliu is the country-protecting sect of the Australian and Song Dynasties.
There is a gold-lettered plaque written by the Supreme Emperor of the Australian and Song Dynasties hanging on the mountain gate.
Being admitted to Changliu is equivalent to eating Don’t miss this opportunity if you get an official salary.”
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This unexpected news immediately made everyone stunned.
What kind of method is this Changliu sect?
But it sounds good.
"Yes, our Changliu sect is a first-class sect that has been officially certified by the Australian and Song Dynasty courts, and our treatment is absolutely generous."
When the clerk holding the tin trumpet finished shouting, the young Taoist priest also nodded and agreed slowly. , "As long as they are willing to abide by the sect rules and obey the instructions of the master, all disciples, regardless of high or low, will be provided with food and accommodation, pocket money and seasonal clothes, and various levels of martial arts will be taught to them."
At this point, he suddenly patted his head as if enlightened, "Oh, by the way, my disciples are not allowed to marry, and of course there is no need to shave their heads."
In an instant, Li Fugui, who had been longing for a stable life for a long time, his eyes lit up.
On the newly built avenue in the south of Guangzhou, a carriage was driving slowly, followed by a small group of short-haired soldiers armed with live ammunition on foot.
A morning star flag and a red background star-ring flag were erected on the top of the carriage, fluttering in the wind. , attracting countless envious and awe-inspiring looks on both sides of the road.
At this moment, Xu Xiake, the most famous "best travel companion in the world" in the history of the late Ming Dynasty, was sitting in this luxurious carriage specially sent by the "Australians" with his traveling companion and clan brother Xu Zhongzhao.
The rhythmic vibration of the seat beneath them made the two people drowsy after a long journey.
This Western-style four-wheeled carriage is a high-end product customized by Guangzhou Zichengji.
It has a solid iron frame and a lightweight rattan carriage.
The inside and outside of the carriage are covered with velvet curtains.
The windows on the side of the carriage are equipped with detachable glass casements.
The double-layer window screen with black inside and white outside fully ensures the privacy of passengers and prevents pedestrians from seeing what is going on in the carriage.
There are various drinks and snacks in the small rattan box under the seat, ranging from herbal tea, sherbet, kvass to rum, all neatly placed in small compartments.
The interior and exterior of the carriage are exquisitely decorated, with extensive use of copper decorative parts and gorgeous relief inlays, as well as the newly launched soft sofas from Lingao Furniture Factory, which greatly improves the comfort of passengers during the journey.
But the biggest advantage of this kind of carriage is the use of rubber pneumatic tires and advanced suspension shock-absorbing system.
Relying on shock-absorbing plates made of bamboo slices and various shock-absorbing springs, it can greatly reduce the risk of uneven road surfaces.
The bumps caused by the Ming Dynasty were used to adapt to the poor road conditions of the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, this kind of carriage caused quite a stir once it was launched in Guangzhou.
Although it was expensive, sales were still booming.
The first batch of twenty trial version carriages were quickly sold out, and orders have been scheduled for half a year. , was regarded as a status symbol under the rule of the "Australians" and a must-have for wealthy dignitaries of the "New Dynasty" when going out.
The relevant departments are also very supportive of the promotion of this kind of carriage.
In any case, as long as it can replace the sedan, which is a slow and serious waste of human resources, it will greatly liberate the labor force.
However, riding in this comfortable carriage that he had never experienced before, Xu Xiake once again set foot on the border of Lingnan and Guangzhou.
Xu Xiake's mood was extremely upset.
He never thought that he would actually embark on the journey in such a wonderful way. the way home Xu Xiake sighed and stared blankly at the glass window.
All the magical experiences in the past year seemed to come to mind again oshow7: