"Everyone work hard, dig two more pits and finish today's work, I will pay you when you return to the city, and I will invite everyone to drink when it is over!"

"Second Master Hu, please let us drink, let's dig it quickly, finish it early and drink it early!"

In a wasteland at the foot of Yuexiu Mountain, more than 100 people are smiling and digging hard with shovels. Behind them, there were four or five tall mounds. The mound was very large, many times larger than the graves of ordinary people's homes, like small hills, and I don't know how many people were buried under this mound.

Hu Erye's surname is Hu Mingdelong, and he specializes in buying and selling dead people in the city of Guangzhou. The so-called trade of the dead is to tie wreaths, make coffins, dig graves, help people carry corpses out of the funeral, and sometimes pretend to be Taoist priests, monks or something to do practical things, to put it bluntly, it is a matter of borrowing the name of the dead to make money from the living.

Although this kind of person has a low status, because people dare not get close to them because of the relationship of work, no one dares to offend them, because whether you have money or no money, everyone in this family will die. If there is anything to offend these dead people on weekdays, what will they do in the coffin or cemetery when the time comes, and the main family will not be unlucky?

Therefore, no matter who it is, even if you don't want to see these dead people in your heart, you will be polite when you see it, and when you do the funeral, they will also decide how much you want, as long as it is not too excessive.

Hu Delong has eaten the food of the dead all his life, but he has never done anything lacking in virtue, and if he has money, he will ask for more, and if he has no money, he will make a strength money. This time it was a big deal that he had never encountered in his life, and it was also a big deal that he had never thought of.

On the orders of the Taiping Army Marshal Zhou. Wang Zhangjun, the new prefect of Guangzhou, collected the bodies of those little Manchurian Tartars who were killed, and it was naturally impossible for him to come forward in person, and it was impossible for the little officials in the yamen to go outside the city to dig graves for these little Tartars. So the deal fell on Hudron, the man who did the dead.

The prefect's yamen was very generous, and directly set the price of 400 taels of silver, and he didn't want Hu Delong to make any coffins or do any rituals, just drag people to Yuexiu Mountain outside the city, and find a wasteland to bury them.

Excluding the wages given to the people, Hu Delong alone could leave seventy or eighty taels of silver into his pocket. The gang in the yamen can't help but have the money from him, you say, where can I find this good thing?

Hudron couldn't be happier these two days. I also worked very hard, I didn't need to be urged by the people in the yamen, I brought people to work before dawn, and I didn't finish until the sun went down.

Thinking about digging the two pits in front of me. The little Tartar's trade was all over. For this reason, Hu Delong had a rare and generous time, and asked these people to drink. More than 100 people found a small shop, got some snacks, put on a few jars of wine, and didn't spend a few silver, maybe they could hold these people, and the next time there was such a big deal, they could still do it. It saves him from going back and forth to find people and delay time.

All the people are also full of energy. Hu Delong's salary is high, and he is full of food, and he can get paid when he finishes his work, and he will ask for wine and drink after today, which one do you say doesn't work hard!

Everyone was digging with their heads down, and seeing that the sun was still high, and the car that delivered the corpse in the yamen had not yet arrived, someone asked: "Second master, how many little Tartars are there to be buried behind here, you have to say the number, otherwise we don't know how big this pit will have to dig." ”

"There are not many little Tartars left, but some female Tartars have been sent all over the city, and the yamen have confessed, and they are all buried here." Hu Delong thought for a while, and then said, "Don't dig too big, just be like those few." ”

"Okay!"

The questioner smiled and spat in his hand, and continued to dig hard.

Another person looked up suspiciously and asked Hu Delong: "Yesterday, the female Tartar also asked the soldiers of the Taiping Army to be killed?" ”

"You ask me, who do I ask?" Hudron replied angrily.

The man smiled and said casually: "Second master, I heard that Song Laosi in Qianjie just brought back a Manchurian mother-in-law from the yamen yesterday, and people said that it was an assistant mother-in-law." ”

"Co-leader?" The person next to him was very curious when he heard this, "Second Master, how big an official is that?" ”

Hu Delong shook his head: "I don't know, but it has to be much older than the prefect." ”

"Tsk, then Song Lao Si is really a lackey. luck, he was able to bring a prefect's wife home to be a mother-in-law, hey, his Song family is really a great ancestor of great virtue. ”

"What is there to envy, the Manchurian mother-in-law led by Song Laosi doesn't know how many military masters have been tossed, saying that the broken flowers and willows are light, and it is not easy for him to take him home for a few months, can he be served?" Thinking that Song Laosi raised a Manchurian woman but stared dryly and couldn't do anything, Hu Delong had a lewd smile on his face.

"Hehe, that's true." The man who spoke also laughed, and by the way, he also worried about Song Laosi, he smiled: "Song Laosi is so poor that he can't open the pot, how can there be food to feed the Manchurian mother-in-law, don't bring people back and starve to death." ”

"If you don't die of hunger, you can send some in the yamen, saying that there are people who bring the Manchurian mother-in-law back, if the Manchurian mother-in-law is willing to give birth to a life, and if she is pregnant, she can go to get some money and food." A person on the side who knew the situation opened his mouth and said.

As soon as he heard that there was such a good thing, the man suddenly became interested and asked the man, "Then can I go back and get it?" If you don't want the Manchurian woman, you want the yamen to give you some food. ”

"If you want to see that Manchurian woman at home, go and get it, and let it be left at home to serve you as an old mother." The man laughed.

Hu Delong also smiled and looked at the man who wanted to lead the Manchurian mother-in-law, and quipped: "Those Manchurian mother-in-laws are ugly to death, with yellow teeth and a very stinky mouth, you kid get people back, be careful to smoke you to death." ”

When they heard this, they all laughed, and while they were immersed in their work, they began to talk about it.

"I heard from the people in the yamen that it was because the Manchurian girls were too ugly that they cheapened Song Laosi and their gang of bachelors."

"That's it, I also heard that Zhou Dashuai of the Taiping Army wanted to assign the Manchurian ladies to the people below, but the military masters below didn't appreciate it at all, and Zhou Dashuai had no choice, so he asked the Yamen to find a way to send people to our bachelors in Guangzhou. That's not much, I've heard that I'm going to send people to Xiangshan in two days. ”

"Zhou Dashuai is also a virtue and politics, you don't know, it was really scary to be in the city for three days, I heard that there are many female Tartars who were stripped naked and dragged around the city, and I don't know how many people died. If you divide people, how can you save their lives? An older man was a little soft-hearted, and felt that what the Taiping army was doing in Mancheng was too much, so he shook his head there.

"No matter how miserable it is, can we be miserable?"

Hu Delong glared at the man and pointed at the Wulonggang, "Who are the people buried by Master Zhenxiu in Wulonggang?" It's not us from Guangzhou! There are so many dead people, hundreds of thousands! How much did Zhou Dashuai kill now, and how much did we bury? You are compassionate, what's the matter, your third sister's family died in vain? Your little nephew who isn't yet a full moon is damned! ”

"Me"

The soft-hearted man sighed and didn't dare to speak again. The rest of the people were silent.

There are really a lot of people buried in Wulonggang, and you can't see the end of the grave at a glance, and many dead people's bones are directly in the wasteland, and at night, the ghost fire in that place can scare people to death.

Hu Delong didn't dare to go to Wulonggang at night when he was doing dead business, that place made him panic, the bones of the dead were piled up layer by layer, row after row, and the wild dogs in that place ate people a few years ago. The meat is like crazy. Right now, the great monk Zhenxiu still takes people to pick up bones in Wulonggang every day, but he can't finish picking them up.

"We have so many people killed in Guangzhou, so we are not allowed to kill some of his Tartars? Don't tell you how happy I was when I threw those little tartars sent by the government into the pit! A man with a hateful face shoveled the shovel into the soil.

"Okay, don't talk much, hurry up and get to work, the people from the yamen are here."

Hudron saw several carriages galloping over, hurriedly gave a few words, and led a few people to meet them.

"Who's in the lead?"

Several large carriages stopped on the road not far away, and a dozen or so soldiers jumped out of the carriages, and the officer led by him opened his mouth and asked.

Hu Delong ran forward in three steps and two steps, and said, "Master Jun, the younger one is the leader." ”

The officer, who was a small banner of the Taiping Army, looked at Hu Delong, nodded, and instructed him: "Tell your people to bring down these corpses and bury them." ”

Hu Delong looked at the car, there were little Tartars and female Tartars, lying there one by one, unable to see their faces. He gestured to the people who came with him, and the people hurriedly stepped forward to drag the Tartar corpse down, and then they did not hesitate to carry one of them to the pit that had been dug. Dozens of people came to the other side of the pit to help.

After the corpses in the first few cars were moved, the Taiping Army Xiaoqi pointed to the last carriage and said to Hu Delong: "You dig a pit alone to bury the Tartar women in this car." ”

Hu Delong looked at the carriage curiously and asked, "Master Jun, who is the Tartar woman, who was going to be buried alone yesterday?" ”

"It's a Manchurian Gege, the mother-in-law of the Governor of Liangguang in Tartar."

"Princess!"

Hu Delong was taken aback, but he knew that Gege on the Qing side was the meaning of the princess on the Ming side. In the past, he always heard that there was a Qing princess living in Guangzhou City, but he didn't expect to see it here today.

The little flag laughed and said disdainfully: "What a bullshit princess, is Tartar also worthy of being called a princess!" After speaking, he waved his hand, "Don't be stunned, hurry up and do something, I have to go back to the errand." ”

"Hey, okay, let's go!"

On the carriage was the princess of the Tartars, and the mother-in-law of the Governor, Hu Delong didn't need others to move it, so he ran over by himself, lifted the carriage and saw that the princess of the Tartars on the carriage was naked, and she looked good, but there was blood flowing from the corners of her mouth. He reached out and pinched the princess's mouth, and found that she had killed herself by biting her tongue.

It's a pity.

Hu Delong shook his head, and took the Tartar princess on his shoulder, and he wanted to dig a grave for the princess and bury it himself.

Here, the Taiping Army Xiaoqi took two of his men to remove a stone monument from a car, found a high ground and erected the monument.

Not far away in the forest, a little monk raised his head and asked the old monk beside him, "Master, what is written on that tablet?" ”

"Gege Tomb, Tartar Tomb."

The old monk clasped his hands together and recited the Buddha's name: "Amitabha!" Good and evil will be rewarded in the end, and the way of heaven is good reincarnation. After a long time, he turned around and pulled the little monk towards the mountain.

"Master, aren't we going to Wulonggang to pick up bones?"

"No, let's go tomorrow."

(To be continued.) )