Chapter 3024 Rules
The man was used to it, and after a "Oh," he said, "Zhu Sanlang, you know the rules, right? Wages are paid every three days. We farmers get twenty cents a day, and the county government provides us with food and drink."
He said, "Don't be lazy just because you think this job is easy. Look over there."
The three of them turned their heads and looked in the direction he was pointing. They saw a group of men digging a ditch with hoes. He said, "Those who are slow are sent there to dig ditches. Their wages are fifteen cents a day. Let me tell you the rules first. This is also set by the county government. Although the county government is short of people, they don't want everyone."
"Those with talent—literacy, math, carpentry—are all considered. They do other jobs and get paid differently than we do." Being literate and talented is something they envy, but they can't even begin to envy. "Most of us make twenty cents a day. If someone's quick and nimble catches the eye of a noble, they can be transferred to other jobs, and the pay is also different."
"Let's not talk about the hardworking ones now, let's talk about those lazy people who are procrastinating and making a lot of trouble. First, reduce your wages and make them dig ditches. If you still can't do it well, you can change jobs. The lowest wage here is ten cents a day. If you don't want to work anymore, you have to return all the money for the clothes and soap you were given." He stretched out three fingers and shook them in front of the three people, and said loudly: "The total is thirty cents!"
The young man's eyes widened. "So expensive?"
The leader also thought it was expensive, but he repeated what County Magistrate Fang said, "If you think about it carefully, it's only a day and a half's wages. In the past, who could buy a set of clothes, shoes, socks, and a piece of medicated soap and cloth with a day and a half's wages?"
Zhu Sanlang thought about it and realized that it was true. So he suppressed his reluctance. What he was more concerned about was, "Will the wages really be paid?"
The person leading them was no stranger to this question. He had been skeptical when he first arrived, but he had been working here for ten days and was indeed paid every three days, so he nodded and said, "You're lucky. We just got paid once yesterday, and it'll be time for another payday in two days. You'll get yours then."
Zhu Sanlang's eyes flickered slightly, "Can I claim it if it's less than three days?"
"These three days start from the day this place was first built, not the day you arrived. Otherwise, people would come in every day, and wouldn't we have to pay them every day? That would be too chaotic. Here we are. This is the bathhouse. We built it ourselves, so everyone can just make do with it. Go over there and get a wooden bucket and a towel. Over there is where they boil water, so go get some water and bathe. Leave your clothes there, and no one is allowed to take them inside. If you're caught, you'll be fined."
"Master Zhou said that there are a lot of bugs on the clothes. Now that we have new clothes, we have to burn them."
Zhu Sanlang: "Only one set..."
"So after you get your wages, you can buy another set from the county government. It's not expensive, only twenty cents, which is just one day's wages."
Zhu Sanlang: "..."
So what did Bai Shan and his men do with all these women? Besides farming and growing vegetables, they also wove cloth and made clothes.
Some people didn't know how to make clothes, so Bai Shan simply sent people to Qingzhou City to invite a few weavers and embroiderers to teach them how to make clothes.
For this purpose, he signed a contract with them to provide for their retirement. Otherwise, how could they teach others how to make a living, especially to so many people?
That's simply stealing jobs.
Bai Shan was not short of money now, so he started to ask people to purchase hemp rope, linen cloth and other items from other counties. Even Yin Huo, who was spending the summer in the mountains, was urged by him to come down the mountain and start helping him collect things.
Bai Erlang had just returned from Qingzhou. As soon as he entered the city, he saw a group of ragged people sitting at the foot of the wall. They looked like beggars, but one could tell from their age that they were refugees.
He couldn't help but stare a few times, then turned to Yin Huo and said, "How strange! There are still refugees in the county town. I thought Bai Shan had plundered them all."
Yin Huo leaned forward slightly to glance out the window, then looked away and said, "You just arrived, right?"
Bai Jilang sighed, "How pitiful! They disappeared in less than two days."
Yin Huo: "...if someone who doesn't know the truth hears what you say, they might think he's a wicked official, wondering what he's going to do with the kidnapped man."
"They may not have been taken captive, but we two were. I'm here for summer vacation, why do I have to travel back and forth like this?"
In comparison, Bai Shan can still stay in Beihai County and seems to be much more comfortable than him.
The two of them went directly to the Beihai County Government Office. They had brought back several carts of cloth for Bai Shan and had also negotiated several deals for him. "We've already negotiated with the shop in Qingzhou City for a total of 500 wooden barrels. They'll deliver them here once they're finished."
Yin Huo said, "We've also ordered a batch of farm tools from Qingzhou City, Linzi, and Qiancheng counties. They all follow the patterns you gave me. I've seen them all. They can make them, and since the quantity is large, they're willing to deliver them."
Bai Erlang scratched his head and said, "We didn't buy much grain. We went to various grain stores and looked around. Although the autumn harvest has come and the price of grain has dropped slightly, it's still very expensive. It's better to go directly to the countryside to buy it."
After all, he made his fortune in the grain business, so he first went to the fields to ask about the prices, and then went to the shop to ask, and found that the prices were quite different.
Bai Shan asked, "How is the harvest in Qingzhou this year?"
Bai Erlang said, "The weather is favorable. Except for some areas in Qiancheng County that experienced a slight drought during the grain filling period, everyone else says this year's harvest is better than last year."
"Then wait a few more days and we'll go directly to the fields to harvest."
Bai Erlang asked, "How much do you want to buy?"
"Let's start with 5,000 koku."
Bai Erlang's eyes widened: "...Why are you buying so much food?"
Bai Shan said, "It's better to be prepared. I currently have over 700 soldiers under my command, not counting the county yamen runners and outside helpers. All in all, there are nearly a thousand people. Now with so many farmhands, they will have to buy all their food from outside before next summer's harvest. 5,000 dan may seem like a lot, but it's actually not much."
It would be strange if Bai Erlang believed him, because he knew how much food a person consumed every day, and he came "first", which meant he would buy more later.
Before he could even begin to think, Yin Huo asked, "Are you worried that the salt field incident will get out of hand and someone will stop the grain from entering Beihai County?"
Bai Shan smiled slightly, "It's better to be prepared. Although I am also forming an alliance now, the benefits are more attractive to people."
Who knows whether the ally he has now made will turn to someone else? The gentleman said that people should be honest, but we must also know that the way of being an official is inevitably "treacherous". We may not be treacherous, but we must guard against the treacherous behavior of others.
(End of this chapter)
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