After becoming a widow

291-300

Chapter 290

Lin Zhen, Guan Peng and others stood on the tower of Lizhou, looking at the people who were traveling with the merchants. "With these merchants taking care of them all the way, they should have no worries on the road. As for how many people they can attract to Lizhou, it all depends on their ability."

"It's a business without capital. The more people we attract, the better. Even if there are fewer, it doesn't matter." Guan Peng said.

Lin Zhen nodded: "That's exactly the case. I was just thinking, if the officials of other prefectures knew that we were recruiting people under their noses, how would they look at us."

Lin Zhen, Guan Peng, and Gao Tong touched their noses at the same time.

Judge Jiang Jing looked at the three of them like this, with his hands in the fur cover, and felt a little funny.

This is the fifteenth year since he came to Lizhou. Gu Lin is the third governor of Lizhou he has welcomed. At present, it seems that he is quite curious about Gu Lin, the governor of Lizhou. He hopes that this governor of Lizhou will stay longer and not toss himself away.

This was Kong Zheng's first time to travel far away, and he left Lizhou where he was born and raised, and went to another place. There were

29 other people traveling with him. As they got farther and farther away from Lizhou, they found that the snow was gradually thinning and there were fewer of them.

Soon, they changed their thick winter clothes and put on late autumn clothes.

Everyone looked at the place in front of them where there was no snow and even the sun was out, and felt extra novel.

"Is this place called Yongzhou?" One person looked at the not-so-bustling town and said.

Kong Zheng said: "Yes, the merchants who brought us here said that this is Yongzhou. There was a drought here just two years ago. I wonder if the people here have recovered."

In view of their friendship with Lin Zhen, the merchants did not completely let go of them when they arrived in Yongzhou, but sent two people to lead the way for them, and told them to find him if they had any problems.

This made Kong Zheng and his companions feel relieved. After two days of wandering in a place called Ma'an County in Yongzhou, Kong Zheng, who was the most active, turned his head and said to his companions, "I have seen these two days that the people in Ma'an County are not living well. The streets are dead, there are few people working, and few people selling things. I am afraid we should go to a distant village to have a look."

Kong Zheng and his companions were not unfamiliar with such a county town. The former Lizhou Prefecture was also like this. The people selling things were dead, and the people on the road were also dead. It was the look of people who had no motivation.

In such a place, Kong Zheng felt that they could cut the Gordian knot quickly. He pretended to be the manager of recruiting workers, and others pretended to be workers recruited from other places and passed by Ma'an County.

At the same time, they released the news that they would continue to recruit workers, and tricked people on the road first. When these people arrived in Lizhou and found the good of Lizhou, were they afraid that they would not take their whole family to Lizhou?

As for the conditions of their prefecture, they were also tempted.

As soon as he said it, Kong Zheng took a few people and pretended to pass by, asking for water from a family not far from Ma'an County.

Yongzhou suffered a drought that was rare in a century two years ago. The people here are complex. Some are the original villagers who returned after the drought, and some are others who suffered the same disaster and stayed after hearing that Yongzhou was settling refugees.

But everyone's life is still not easy. Although the court exempted taxes for two years, where would the grain seeds come from, where would the hoes and sickles come from? If you encounter a cold and headache, there is nothing you can do except bear it.

The family that Kong Zheng and his team targeted was in the middle of several families, in a shaky thatched house. In front of the house, there happened to be a man in his thirties turning over the vegetable field.

Seeing them coming, he stood vigilantly with a hoe.

Kong Zheng, the temporary steward, stood in front and said to the man, "Brother, we are passing by from other places. Can we have a bowl of water to drink?"

"Not for free, give me three cents."

Kong Zheng was not a sucker. There was no drought now, and three cents was more than enough to buy a few bowls of water.

There were still people in the hut. The man whispered to them not to come out. He looked at Kong Zheng and his group and the three cents in his hand, and agreed, "Wait, I will go to the house to pour you water."

"Okay, thank you, brother, take the copper coins."

The man saw that they were polite and did not look like evil people. He walked over to take the copper coins, nodded and went to the house to pour water.

In the house, the man's wife and two children surrounded him, a little scared.

After experiencing drought and losing their loved ones, they were very wary of people. If it were not for the three cents, the man would not agree to give them water.

"Dad, who are those people? Why are they standing outside our house?"

The man handed the three coins in his hand to his wife, "They are passers-by, asking for a bowl of water."

"Are they bad people?"

"They don't look like them."

The man's wife held the three coins, feeling sympathetic.

She quietly looked out the window, and the two children, about twelve or thirteen years old, also looked at Kong Zheng and his friends.

Only to hear voices coming from outside: "When can we return to Lizhou? One day later means seven cents in wages. I'm so anxious!"

"Why are you anxious? Manager Kong is not anxious either. Manager Kong's wages are higher. If he hadn't come to pick us up, it would be so comfortable to eat that greasy meal in the factory every day."

Kong Zheng, who deliberately let them find a topic to talk about, missed the food in the cement factory sincerely when he heard it. He said with a bit of manager style: "The food in our factory is excellent. This," he gave a thumbs up, "every day there are three stir-fried dishes and a soup, and two meals of sorghum rice are enough. If you are still hungry after eating, you can go for more. Even the factory director eats the same as us."

The others also swallowed their saliva and pretended to be the one entering the factory for the first time and said: "Can newcomers like me eat meals? Do I have to pay for it?"

Kong Zheng said loudly: "Our boss said that this is called workers' meals. Anyone who works there can eat it, and there is no deduction in wages."

"We only have one meal here in the factory. The powder factory, soap factory, perfumed soap factory, and vanishing cream factory in the state capital can eat in the workshop in the afternoon when they work the night shift, and they can get an extra six coins, which is more than two hundred coins a month."

They deliberately raised their voices so that not only the people in the house but also the neighbors at home could hear them.

The two children who were peeking at them swallowed their saliva. Although it was only two months after the autumn harvest, the harvest was poor this year, and the family still had to tighten their belts and eat a thin meal a day. However, the two brothers heard from their father and mother that it was still not enough to eat until the next year's grain harvest, and they would go to cut wild vegetables tomorrow, with a bowl of grain and a pot of wild vegetables.

The two brothers stared at the manager who looked very stylish, and heard him say with a smile: "Hey, let me tell you, there are many people who want to join our factory. If it weren't for the fact that the factory has expanded and we need to recruit more people, and we can't use up all the local strong laborers, and we need to keep some people so as not to delay farming, why would we recruit people from outside?"

"There are many people who want to go to our factory for lunch, which must have meat."

The two brothers looked at each other, and the hands that were pulling at the doors and windows were more powerful than at the beginning.

There was nothing better than being able to eat, get money, and have meat.

The woman and the man also heard what Kong Zheng and his friends said. The couple looked at each other, and their hearts tightened for a moment, and they became wary of Kong Zheng and his friends.

Maybe these people were really just passing by, but it's not wrong to be more careful.

The man went out with two bowls of water. Kong Zheng took the bowl and gulped down a few gulps, urging the others: "Drink up and go. I still need to go see how the others are doing. I'm worried sick that we haven't recruited enough people this time."

"Manager Kong, don't worry.

If you can't recruit any more, there's nothing you can do." Kong Zheng nodded seriously, "That's right. If I hadn't worked there myself, I would have thought someone was lying if they told me that I could have food and money."

Kong Zheng glanced at the man's face and accidentally saw the two teenagers who were lying on the window and listening.

The two teenagers were afraid that he would miss something, so they put their hands next to their ears.

Kong Zheng's mind turned and he felt that this matter had a chance. He had planned to go to other villages if this method didn't work. Yongzhou was so big that he didn't believe that there would be no fish to take the bait.

After drinking the water, several people were about to leave. Seeing that the man did not talk to them, except Kong Zheng, the others were a little discouraged. When they walked out of the village, Kong Zheng said, "Walk slower."

"What's wrong?"

Kong Zheng said, "See if the two children from that family can catch up."

"If the children come, we can't take them away, otherwise we will be human traffickers."

Kong Zheng explained, "We want to send the children back and let that family believe that we are not bad people. As long as one person believes it, many people in this village will follow us."

Kong Zheng's family had lived the same life as the other people in the village. Faced with the temptation of being able to get wages and have a meal, not many people could resist the temptation.

After they left, some noises came from that family.

It was the couple's two sons who were talking to the man and the woman: "Dad, Mom, did you hear what those uncles said just now? They are hiring workers in Lizhou. They will get 221 coins a month, and they can also have a meal, which is enough!"

The man sat on a stool, braiding the straw he collected from the mountain into braids, preparing to make straw stools and take them to the county to sell.

The man said: "I heard it, they are doing their own work, it is none of our business."

"Dad, we can go with them to work. Our family does not have enough food this year. We will starve after the New Year. My brother and I are scared."

The man paused while braiding the straw, and still said: "Those people suddenly came to our village. Who knows who they are? Lizhou is so far away. What should we do if something happens on the way?"

The young man was anxious: "But our family is not originally from here. We also fled here. What difference does it make where we are?"

"Okay, go collect firewood with your brother, don't think about it." The man didn't want to say more, and drove his two sons to the mountain to work.

The two brothers obviously didn't understand why such a good thing should be pushed out, but they still obediently carried their backpacks to the mountain to collect firewood.

The woman looked at her husband weaving straw stools and her two sons going to the mountain to collect firewood, sighed and said nothing.

In the past, when the years were good, the straw stools her husband wove could still be sold, but now it's hard for everyone to fill their stomachs, who would buy this thing? There are already seven or eight straw stools in the house that have been woven but not sold.

But she knew that her husband was also holding on to a glimmer of hope, and he would be more panicked if he had nothing to do.

During the escape, all the elderly in the family died, and the couple's youngest daughter also starved to death. No one was more afraid of hunger than them.

The woman turned around, put on her basket, and went to the river to pick hemp willow leaves, ready to take them back and mix them with food.

There were many people who thought the same as her. There were seven or eight husbands and women standing under the hemp willow trees by the river.

One of them was her neighbor. When he saw her coming, he asked, "Who was that person standing outside your house just now, Yang Gui? He looked strong and healthy. I'm sure his family doesn't have to worry about food?"

"I heard them talking about working for more than 200 coins a month. Are you here to work for your Yang Gui?"

As soon as the woman spoke, all the women and husbands on the river bank looked at Yang Gui's wife.

Yang Gui's wife said, "A few passers-by came to ask for a few bowls of water. The child's father and I didn't hear it clearly. Those people left quickly."

Every household was having a hard time. If there was something good, they would want to find out and drink a bowl of soup. When they heard what Yang Gui's wife said, they all stopped talking.

Yang Gui's wife picked a full basket of hemp willow leaves and walked towards home with two or three neighbors.

As soon as they reached the door of their house, her husband Yang Gui came out and said, "Mother of the child, didn't Da Shuang and Er Shuang come to find you?!"

"No." Yang Gui's wife was full of confusion.

Yang Gui was anxious: "Oh no, something must have happened to Dashuang and Ershuang, maybe they were kidnapped by those people!"

Yang Gui's wife dropped the basket in her hand and hurriedly followed Yang Gui to the entrance of the village.

Although they were not old neighbors who had lived together for decades, the neighbors still followed to see if they could help.

Suddenly, when seven or eight people ran to the entrance of the village, they saw a few people who were asking for water and their two sons walking here. Yang Gui and his wife hurried over, pulled the children over, hid them behind them, and looked at Kong Zheng and others in surprise.

The two boys who ran to find Kong Zheng and his friends, but were persuaded by Kong Zheng to come back, quickly said to their parents: "Dad, Mom, it's none of Uncle Kong's business. I took my brother to find Uncle Kong and his friends to ask if they would still accept people to do the work. Uncle Kong said that you would worry about us, so he sent us back."

Kong Zheng smiled slightly and said: "Your two children are a bit brave. They dared to run with us at such a young age. Don't blame them, brother. They just want to share the worries for you and your sister-in-law."

After hearing what their son said, Yang Gui and his wife's expression eased. After hearing what Kong Zheng said, they felt a little embarrassed.

They had wrongly accused the wrong person.

Yang Gui looked at Kong Zheng and others who had gone and returned, and looked at the darkening sky, and said to Kong Zheng and others: "It's getting late, you can rest at my house for a night before going back to the county."

Kong Zheng looked at the people behind him and nodded: "Thank you, brother."

"We husband and wife should thank you, brothers. These two children have caused you trouble."

"It's not a big deal."

Kong Zheng followed Yang Gui's family back to the village. The neighbors who came with them to find the children saw that the children were safe and sound, and they breathed a sigh of relief for Yang Gui's family. Then they turned their eyes to Kong Zheng and others.

The mental outlook of a person who is well fed and one who is not is very different. Seeing the strong and healthy appearance of Kong Zheng and his companions, someone could not help asking, "Brothers, where are you from? Your accent is different from ours."

Kong Zheng smiled and said, "I'm from Lizhou. I went to other places to recruit workers. I happened to pass by Yongzhou. They are my workers."

"Lizhou? I heard

it's very far away." "I heard it snows there all year round and crops can't be grown."

Kong Zheng chuckled, "I, a native of Lizhou, have to set the record straight for our Lizhou. Our winter is indeed longer and the farming time starts in May, but the crops are ripe in August."

The villagers exclaimed, "Can the crops be ripe in such a short time?"

"Yes," Kong Zheng said firmly, "Our new governor is very capable. He has invented the method of composting and manure water. One acre of land used to produce only 80 kilograms of grain, but now it can produce more than 200 kilograms."

"The prefect's uncle is also a very capable man. He has set up many workshops. I am here to recruit workers for him."

This time, Yang Gui, his wife, and the neighbors in the village did not say anything to spoil the mood. If Kong Zheng and his friends were bad people, they could just kidnap the two children and sell them. Two teenagers of twelve or thirteen could also be sold for some money.

Yang Gui's eldest son patted his chest and said anxiously, "Uncle Kong, can I do this? I also want to go to work and earn money."

Kong Zheng touched his head and shook his head: "Our boss said that children under the age of fifteen are still growing and cannot do heavy work, otherwise they will not grow tall and have bad health. Only those over the age of fifteen are accepted."

"And teenagers can only go to the gouache workshop, soap workshop, perfumed soap workshop, and vanishing cream workshop. The work in these workshops can be done by girls and boys."

Yang Gui's wife paused: "Is there any work that girls and boys can do?"

Kong Zheng answered her: "Yes, one hundred and fifty coins a month, and if you work night shifts, you can get an extra six coins a day. In addition to the lunch, you also eat the afternoon meal in the workshop."

...

The next day, Kong Zheng and his friends were leaving the village. They did not sleep all night. The door of Yang Gui's house was knocked on again and again by the villagers, all of whom came to ask about this matter.

After a night of struggle and thinking, Yang Gui's family finally decided to go to Lizhou to find a way to make a living, and some of them had decided last night.

Kong Zheng made a simple registration for these people, and told them that he had not recruited all the workers yet, and he would continue to recruit. If they were interested in going to Lizhou, they could help him advertise and find more people for him. When they had enough people, they would set off immediately.

So in the next few days, all the surrounding villages knew that there was a manager from Lizhou who wanted to recruit workers, with a good salary and a meal.

Except for some people who really didn't want to move, many people wanted to go and take a look.

However, families like Yang Gui rarely went, and most of them sent one or two strong laborers to take a look and make a living outside.

After more than half a month, Kong Zheng set off on his return journey with more than 400 people.

In other places, there were many people like Kong Zheng who tried their best to bring people to Lizhou.