As soon as the lofty emperor Chen Shengren had a golden mouth, and as soon as the jade words came out, the whole earth seemed to tremble, and countless peace-loving and peace-loving countries and nations were about to suffer. However, the first to suffer must be the Ming Empire's own people - the ideal of ruling the world is very grand, but the process of realizing the ideal is a handful of snot and tears, not to mention a bitter word!

"It's bitter!"

Liu Sheng dragged his tired steps and walked back to the shack where he rested step by step - that is, digging a pit in the cold and hard ground, then erecting a few logs, and covering them with some rags and mats, as soon as the wind leaked everywhere at night, and it was cold to death. This was the last way for Chen Shengren to provide him and all the lost tenant farmers in Jiangnan.

This is the Cross River Estuary construction site located in Kaifeng Prefecture, Henan Province. The Yellow River and the Grand Canal will meet here, as if it were a crossroads. But now it's not about building roads, it's about building rivers, not just digging rivers and dams. It is also necessary to consider the flow and velocity of the flood season, dry season, and ice season; It is also necessary to consider the height of the terrain and the direction of the water flow; We also have to consider how to divert the flood peak when encountering a once-in-a-century or thousand-year-old tide; It is also necessary to consider the problem of the sediment accumulation of the Yellow River every year, which causes the river bottom to continue to rise......

In short, the renovation of the canal and the harnessing of the Huanghuai River are extremely large and complex comprehensive water conservancy projects. As soon as the high-flying Chen Dexing Chrysostom opened, I don't know how many people below were going to be tired and break their waists and legs.

The first one who was tired enough to choke and lose a few laps of weight was naturally Guo Shoujing, the former chief professor of the Civil Engineering Department of Tiandao Academy in Mingdu, and now the general manager and chief technician of Caoyun Public Bank. A year before the start of the construction of the canal and the Huanghuai comprehensive water conservancy project, he took dozens of students who had just graduated. Busy day and night in various places along the canal and Huanghuai, it is measuring, calculating and drawing. Sometimes you have to make a hydraulic model. It's been a busy year, so busy that I don't even have time to hold Mrs. Guo's hands. Finally, a more or less reliable plan for the canal and the Yellow River water conservancy project was made.

The key to the entire water conservancy project is the Kaifeng Cross River. Since the spring of the second year of Tiandao, more than 100,000 laborers have rushed from Jiangnan to start a large-scale project construction under the guidance of officers of the Army Engineering Department and technicians of Caoyun Gongxing. With the most rudimentary (in fact, it is the most advanced tool of this era), the hand digging shoulder pick, little by little on the old road of the Yellow River (the Yellow River is less than ten miles west of the Cross River construction site and diverted to the south) to build the cross estuary, which is hailed as a miracle of engineering by later generations.

Liu Sheng and his elder brother Liu Dou became coolies of Caoyun Gongxing after the "Grievance Campaign" - Chen Dexing's secret agent agent seemed to have a stereotype, thinking that his hands were full of calluses (Liu Sheng also did farm work at home). It can't be a scholar of the Datong Party. So although there is a lot of evidence to prove that Liu Sheng is Fang Kesi's disciple, the agents of the Secret Agent Bureau still did not arrest him in the end.

However, whether he was arrested or not actually made much difference to Liu Sheng. Because the main offender is not reached, it is not possible to behead him, at most he will be forced to do hard labor or exile. Exile is to go to Heilongjiang in northern Liaobei to farm land for military landlords, in fact, it is a tenant. Hard labor, Liu Sheng seems to be doing it now.

"Second brother, eat quickly, sorghum cake roll beef! It's beef! ”

Liu Sheng's elder brother Liu Dou is a real farmer. He is much better than his brother. I can complete a work and a half every day, so I earn 50% more money than my younger brother, and I can get 75 copper every day, and the food is also increased by 50%. At this moment, I was holding a large sorghum bread roll, where was this beef gnawing? It's so fragrant. With a mouth full of oil and a smirk on his face, he has long forgotten how his father Liu Laosan is gone.

"Second brother. Eat quickly, and you can work again when you're done. Liu Dou pointed to a beef burrito and a bowl of light broth on top of the bed. The foreman said that there will be processing tonight. Half-time work is one job, and it's 50 big boys! ”

Liu Sheng sat on top of his bed, which was actually a wooden plank resting directly on the ground, and some linen-wrapped bedding was spread on top of it -- cotton had already entered China at this time, but the planting area was not widespread, and the price was too high for the poor to use. Linen cloth is the clothing of the toiling masses, and in order to keep out the cold, the clothes and bedding are filled with paper.

He picked up the beef burrito on the bed and took a bite of it, chewing it hard, it was so delicious! Although it was just some ground beef, it didn't add up to half a tael, but it was also beef. When he was in his hometown in Taizhou, he had never eaten beef. At that time, it was illegal to slaughter cattle, that is, it was not illegal, and it was not something that the tenants' families were willing to eat. However, when he worked as a coolie at the mouth of the Cross River, he ate meat every day, pork, mutton, and beef.

If Jiangnan is a paradise for rich businessmen and a hell for the poor. Then the Northland, which had been expelled from Mongolia and had been recuperating for several years, was a peaceful and prosperous time for the poor. There are few people, lots of land, and light taxes, and there are no damned tartars and semu to bully. Therefore, the Han people in the north are now very supportive of the Ming Dynasty.

"It's better now," Liu Dou muttered as he chewed the meatloaf, "Eating meat every day doesn't count, and the wage is not low." At least 75 wen a day, and 125 wen if you want to process it...... If it is processed every day, it is a month, and it is ...... How much? ”

"3750 texts, a little more than four and a half runs." Liu Sheng studied arithmetic in Wangjiang Academy, and he had the answer after mental arithmetic.

Working hard like Liu Dou, he has at least four wages a month, and there is no additional deduction for food on the construction site. If you don't buy clothes, these four coins can be exchanged for four small silver coins newly issued by Tiandaozhuang - the face value of these small silver coins is the same, the weight is about three and a half coins, and the silver content is sixty percent seven, which is about half lighter than the silver dollars in circulation in history, and corresponds to the value of the consistent copper coins.

If the Cross River project had to be done for another year, Liu Dou would have been able to save 48 yuan. This money can buy 24 stone of white rice in Jiangnan, which is twice the annual income of the whole family when the old Liu family farmed!

"Daddy died in vain!" Liu Dou's words were a little more bitter, "If he doesn't die, he can do the same as me." With me and my father doing it, I can save hundreds of times a year. In this way, you can go to study for the second brother......"

Hearing this, Liu Sheng's nose was counted, and tears immediately flowed down, "Reading? What is the use of reading? Can you still count on the imperial examination? ”

"How could it be useless?" Liu Dou said regretfully, "The officials from Jiupin are also officials...... Although there are only 40 annual salaries, but the work is not tiring, and there is no need to leave the hometown, sometimes there is a little oil and water, it is better than farming, right? ”

Now the sesame mung bean official of the Ming Dynasty is a little cheap, and the rich man who meets the gentry card is half short, let alone the sergeant. However, it is still much better than the hard-working people who farm. 40 guan a year is the annual salary of the lowest-level official, if you are an official in a different place, there is an official house to live in, and a free meal is provided in the yamen. Of course, there are many opportunities to receive a small bribe......

"I won't be an official of the Ming Dynasty," Liu Sheng shook his head, gritted his teeth and said: "Daddy and Mr. Fang were both killed by the Ming Dynasty, and I, Liu Sheng, and the Ming Dynasty are not in the same place!" ”

"You, you, you ......" Hearing this, Liu Dou immediately became anxious, glaring at his younger brother and yelling, "You nerd, do you really want to kill our whole family?" What are you? Isn't it just that I've read a few broken books, and I've read a half-baked book, and I can't pass the exam, and I still want to, and I still want to go against the sky? If you want to talk nonsense again, I'll go to the army, go to Nanfan! Save yourself from going to the Dharma field! ”

"To Nanfan?" Liu Sheng snorted coldly, and suddenly said in a low voice, "Haven't you heard anyone sing "Song of the Death of the Waves Without South"? It is a journey of thousands of miles, the wind and waves on the sea are endless, the soldiers are like tigers and jackals, the steel knife and sword shatter my body, my life is only in a moment, the successful general will be rewarded, I am the only one to die in a foreign land! ”

"Be quiet, be quiet......" Liu Dou stood up suddenly, pierced the roof of a shack at once, and found that something was wrong, he hurriedly squatted down again, and looked at his younger brother viciously, "You crazy person!" I didn't catch you last time to cut off your skull, so I didn't know how to remember it? Why do you still sing this kind of song of the Datong Party? ”

The revolutionary activities of the Datong Party did not stop because of Chen Dexing's butcher's knife, but they did not dare to organize a second "redress of grievances" and turned to propaganda. What is the compilation of "Dead Song of the Waves of the Western Regions", "Dead Song of the Waves of the South of the Wild", "Dead Song of the Waves of the Mingzhou Waves", and "The Dead Song of the Waves of the Heavenly Waves" are sung everywhere.

"I don't care about you! If you want to die, die, I'll go to the army...... Whether it is dead Nanfan, dead Western Regions, dead Mingzhou or dead Tianzhu, it is better than being dragged to death by you! Liu Dou seemed to have made a lot of determination, gritted his teeth and said as he packed his luggage. When he finished packing, he took out a small bag from his bosom and threw it to his younger brother. "I have saved this these days, and I originally wanted to keep it to marry my daughter-in-law, but now forget it...... You take it back to your hometown and take it back to your hometown to support your mother. ”

"Big brother, what are you ......" Liu Sheng took the money bag with body temperature, and was also a little anxious. Where are you going? ”

"Go to the army!" Liu Dou said, "I heard that there are people in Kaifeng City who recruit soldiers, not military household soldiers, but full-paid mercenaries, and have 5 yuan a month." ”

"Big brother, stop making trouble!" Liu Sheng shook his head, "You are a farmer, you don't know martial arts, how can you be a soldier?" Who would pay a soldier who doesn't know martial arts for 5 yuan? ”

Liu Doudao: "I heard that he is a general surnamed Guo, so he needs to be a farmer who doesn't know martial arts, and he has the strength to do it, so he can be an auxiliary soldier." ”

Liu Sheng's head shook like a rattle, "Will there be 5 auxiliary soldiers?" Brother, don't let people deceive! ”

"What a lie? I have no money, and I have no color, what is there to deceive? Liu Dou had already packed his luggage, got out of the shack, looked back at his younger brother who was drilling outside the shack, and then took a step and walked away without looking back. (To be continued......)