Chapter 254: Eat and Drink to Your Heart's Content
"ton?"
Xie Yuchuan, who was building a wall with other exiles, suddenly heard the question from the family god and stood there in a daze.
Zhang Dayi, who was standing beside him, had painstakingly piled a stone mixed with weeds and mud to fill the gap. Turning around, he noticed that Xie Yuchuan's expression had changed, and couldn't help but ask, "General, what's wrong?"
He asked casually and continued to bend over to move the stones. When he stood up, a pair of hands held the weight in his hands and helped him pile it against the wall.
Zhang Dayi looked at him and asked, "What's bothering you? Tell me about it."
The two of them were talking, attracting the attention of the guards not far away. A voice shouted, "Stop talking! Finish this job before dark!"
Zhang Dayi glanced back, pulled Xie Yuchuan around, and whispered, "Let's talk while we do it, so that we won't be caught by the guards."
After lunch, Xiong Jiushan thought about it again and again. Although Tian Su'e suggested that the fort would take care of all the food and accommodation for the next few days, the people he was escorting were fugitives after all. Even if they were wearing shackles and shackles in the fort, it was not foolproof. In order to prevent these people from living here for too long and causing trouble when they were idle, the escorts found some work for the fugitives after lunch to keep them busy.
The convicts complained bitterly. They had originally thought that the team would not move and they could rest more in the fort. But what happened was that a group of officials with consciences gone astray did not want to let them have an easy time. They forced them to work after just three or two days.
They were all so hurried that they were staggering from side to side, barely hanging on by a thread. How could they have the energy to get up and work?!
Unfortunately, the order of the escort is like an imperial decree on the way to exile. Do you want to disobey it?
Why don’t you try saying it again?
As soon as the officials spoke their threatening tone, there were fewer people who were still delaying. They stood up reluctantly and followed the officials to the assigned place to work.
You will have enough food and accommodation, but you won’t be left idle either.
When Xiong Jiushan made this request, Tian Su'e was also stunned. "Sir, I am sincerely willing to give money and food to thank you. Why bother to work so hard..."
Xiong Jiushan's expression remained unchanged. "Miss Tian, the people I'm escorting are all fugitives. Being lazy and disobedient is a taboo during escort. Miss, just find some chores for the fortress. I'll take care of the rest."
Since the officer had said so, Tian Su'e naturally would not disobey, so she asked her subordinate Tian the shopkeeper to go outside to find someone and ask if there were any chores that could be arranged for the convicts to do in the fort.
So after lunch, all the prisoners, except the old and weak, the other young and strong and female prisoners, went to work together. The men did the heavy work, and the women did the light work such as washing and carrying.
Wulibao hadn't seen such a lively scene for a long time. All of a sudden, everyone in the fort couldn't stay lazy in their houses. Some came out to watch the prisoners work, and some wanted to work together.
The eldest lady and the shopkeeper Tian came back. The people in the fortress always received corresponding wages for their work. Even if it was not much, it was good to come out and move around and see something new and exciting. Besides, there were so many good-looking people in the group of exiles.
Xiong Jiushan and other main escorting officers were watching over people from the highest position. No matter whether they were in the fort or fugitives, no one caused trouble and the situation was relatively peaceful.
Life can be big or small, difficult or easy, and even in windy, snowy or cold weather, you can choose to live it.
The yamen runners were very happy when they suddenly got this job. They liked this little difference that allowed them to feel the joy of holding a little power.
Making a small profit can avoid harder work. Some people privately curry favor with the officials. They cannot avoid work, but they can choose easy labor.
All the escorts knew that the Xie family was "rich" and there were many members of the Xie family in the team. When the leading bailiff came to assign tasks, his expression was almost as if he was asking for benefits.
Many exiles also looked at the attitude of the Xie family. Xie Yuchuan glanced at the female family members and did not want to be a chaste person. The men of the Xie family did not care, but women were always more delicate. He did not want the female family members to suffer too much.
Just as she was about to signal Xie Wenjie to take something and follow the officer's wishes, she was stopped by her second sister Xie Zhen.
"Sixth brother, grandma said that since we are all working together, what others do, we in the Xie family can also do."
Xie Yuchuan frowned: "It's cold outside..."
"That's all right, my grandmother and my aunts think."
Therefore, the Xie family rejected the "good intentions" of the officials and were all assigned to work in the most difficult places.
The men were dragged to build the outer wall of Wulibao to defend against the enemy, while the women were taken to carry sand and mud, fetch water for washing. The various tasks of cutting grass, collecting firewood, sweeping, drying clothes, etc. were "distributed according to need".
Almost all the work that could be found in the fort was found. Tian Su'e looked at a group of ragged convicts who were not well fed or well clothed and had to work in such weather. She could not bear to watch any longer, so she used the excuse of preparing dinner for the group to temporarily take her leave from Xiong Jiushan.
Xiong Jiushan didn't stay or explain, just nodded.
With the officials guarding the fort, there was no need to worry about the safety of the fort. Tian Su'e took Manager Tian back to the Tian family's old house to prepare for other important matters.
"I never thought that the life of the exile convicts would be like this." It was also the first time that Tian Su'e got a close look at the situation of the exiles.
Shopkeeper Tian was well-informed and not particularly moved. "My young lady is kind-hearted. It's a rare blessing for a fugitive to be able to stay in a fort like ours for a few more days. Besides, you'll have to provide carriages, money, food, and labor in the future, so it's not bad at all."
"In today's world, there are many natural disasters, food is scarce, and there are countless pitiful people. We can't sympathize with them all. After seeing the escort, I have a clear idea of what Mr. Xiong is thinking. This move must have a reason."
In the house, the master and servant talked about their sympathy for the exiles, and about how Shopkeeper Tian had met Xie Yuchuan, the former general of the Northwest Army who was a person of influence in the Xie family. Then, they wondered whether the bandits in the mountains would really come down to cause trouble in the past few days. Tian Su'e waited anxiously, pretending to be calm, until she received an emergency letter from the general store in Yucheng.
Xie Yuchuan and more than forty other convicts followed the person in charge of Wulibao and worked along the northwest stone wall while drinking hot water.
The people of the Tian family were much more humane than the escorting officials. When they learned that the escorts made the prisoners work, they boiled several large pots of hot water, carried them to the place, and kept firewood burning under the stove to prevent it from getting cold too quickly outside.
Unfortunately, the officials stared at them with ferocious looks, and few people dared to scoop up water to drink.
There were also those who didn't care, like the Xie family, the Chai family father and son, and Fan Wu and the others. They had a lot of things to rob and snatch, so their work was easy. There was nothing to sweep on the ground in winter anyway, so they worked for a while, rested for a while, and watched a group of fools building the wall.
People from the Chai and Xie families took the lead. Gradually, those who were too cold and too tired could not help but muster up the courage to move closer to the fire. One followed another. As they worked, they found that people from the Xie family did the most work and worked the fastest, and they were all puzzled.
What are they doing?
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