1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 23 Labor Camp ([-])

When it was just dawn, Luo Shengdong woke up.Although he hardly slept that night, Luo Shengdong still struggled to sit up.The air was still filled with an unpleasant, pungent smell, which Luo Shengdong knew was the smell of livestock, and that was the smell in the shed of the second uncle's house in Yazhou City.Yesterday, Luo Shengdong had seen a cow and horses locked in a barn from a distance on the dock. It must have been transported here by such a flat iron ship.But why these short-haired pirates would go to great lengths to transport livestock across the sea to this uninhabited place, Luo Shengdong really couldn't understand.And how this iron ship without sails and oars came across the sea also made him very puzzled.

After a night, Luo Shengdong's mood has basically calmed down. Looking back on the process of his team being captured yesterday, he has no luck.And the strength displayed by the other party has also shown that they are not the "South Sea pirates" that Luo Shengdong thought before. Just this big iron ship requires more than ten thousand kilograms of refined iron, and presumably even the court's shipyard has Can't make it.And the gray-white giant ship docked on the dock seems to be made of fine iron. Its volume is at least ten times the size of this flat iron ship. Luo Shengdong can't imagine the value of the giant ship.As for their self-proclaimed "overseas Chinese", Luo Shengdong thinks it is somewhat credible, otherwise, why explain the similarity of physical appearance and language commonality?Maybe this is the real reason why the other party left their own lives?

Luo Shengdong looked around, everyone else was still asleep, and some people were even snoring with peace of mind.Although the cabin for imprisoning them is not big, it is fortunate that the top is an iron mesh, and the ventilation is not bad, and the shorthairs did not use shackles or other things to trap them, even the white soft cloth that tied their wrists before. The belts were also removed, but the cloth and leather armor worn by all were confiscated.There was a commode in the cabin, another bucket filled with water, and a bamboo-cut cup for them to drink water.Yesterday's dinner was just gruel, but the fragrant and glutinous rice was by no means comparable to the inferior japonica rice usually eaten in the military camp. It could be seen that these short-haired people were not lacking in food and grass, and there was even enough to give them to the prisoners.Based on these signs, Luo Shengdong believes that at least for now, these shorthairs have no plans to kill prisoners.

But neither kill nor let go, what does this mean?If it is said that these short hairs are going to fight Yazhou City, it does not seem to make sense.There is not much production in Yazhou. Even if they are beaten, they will just grab money and food. Will these shorthairs who eat better than the old men in the city go to grab food?I'm afraid they may not be able to see that Chen Guzi!As for the silver, the silver in the city of Yazhou may not be enough to buy the fine iron needed to build a short-haired giant ship. It feels like a rich man is going to rob a beggar.Luo Shengdong thought about it until his head hurt, but he still couldn't come up with a clue.Of course, Luo Shengdong could never have imagined that last night those mysterious shorthairs were fighting so hard about how to allocate their labor force, almost tearing their faces.And their fate was already decided the moment they were captured.

At seven o'clock in the morning, a majestic "Soviet March" sounded from the speakers on the roof, and Base No. [-] slowly woke up from the silence.Cross-passengers held washbasins, towels, toothbrushes, facial cleansers, and began to line up in front of the temporary water supply facilities.The sentries of the Military and Police Department completed their first changing of the guard today. The sentries on duty at night returned to the station, yawned and sat at the door of the barracks, waiting for the cooking team to announce the meal.A few curious children slipped quietly outside the livestock barn, looking at the tall horses through the fence, perhaps still fantasizing that one day they would become a general commanding battle on horseback.

Of course, the dozens of prisoners held in the flat-bottomed barges were not forgotten. At the same time that Chuanzhong had dinner at Base No. [-], they also got their first meal of the day, a bowl of white rice porridge with pickles that was exactly the same as last night. .After Luo Shengdong acted as the highest commander among the prisoners, the others took their bowls and started eating.

Luo Shengdong had just eaten two bites of rice when he heard someone whispering next to him: "This is much better than what we usually eat." "The porridge today is thicker than last night. Are these shorthairs pirates or good people?" "Really It seems good to have two meals of white rice porridge every day..."

"Silence!" Luo Shengdong scolded in a low voice: "Don't make rash comments!"

After breakfast, someone took away the tableware with a bucket above the cabin.Soon another group of people came, dressed like the short-haired group who fought yesterday, also holding a strange burst of firearms in their hands, with a long, bright spear point attached to the front.The leading shorthair said a word, and a fisherman's child translated it next to him.Luo Shengdong knew that this was the local fisherman who had been mixed with the shorthair, and cursed in his heart, "Shit", but his ears perked up quietly, lest he missed a word.

Soon Luo Shengdong understood Shorthair's intentions - Shorthair wanted them to obey the command honestly, because they were going to be released from the ship to do things next.But before that, the shorthairs have to explain some rules to them. Those who follow these rules will have a day of freedom, and those who violate these rules will only have a dead end.

As soon as they heard that they had a chance to regain their freedom, the captives immediately shouted, but they were greeted by a basin of cold water—a large basin of real sea water was poured over their heads, and the captives who were just a little excited immediately quieted down. .

"The first rule is that you must raise your hand and shout a report before you speak, and only speak after you have permission."

After listening to this, no one dared to speak out indiscriminately. Just now, Shorthair said, "Breaching the rules will lead to death." If you die on the battlefield, you will be recognized as a soldier.

"Report!" A shrewd person quickly grasped the spirit and raised his hand tremblingly.

"Speak." The short-haired leader seemed very satisfied with this performance, and pointed at the man who raised his hand.

"This leader, dare to ask how we can regain our freedom?"

The answer to this question is undoubtedly what the prisoners are eager to know. Everyone looks up at the short-haired leader standing on the top of the cabin, hoping that he can give them a reassuring answer.However, the short-haired leader was not in a hurry to answer this question, but released them from the cabin, lined up in the open space beside the dock, and then began to announce the plan for them.However, because some people did not understand the language, the entire solution was repeated three times in several different dialects before the prisoners basically understood what was going on.

After listening to it, Luo Shengdong realized that this plan was not simple, and after pondering for a while, he slowly figured it out.According to Shorthair's arrangement, a total of 47 captives in Yazhou Shuizhai will be organized into "labor reform camps". Simply put, they will use hard labor instead of captivity.And this kind of labor system is different from what Luo Shengdong knows about military labor, civilian labor, and prison labor, because the short hair has added something called "point system".

Every day, Shorthair will arrange tasks with a certain workload for the prisoners. If they can complete the task, each person will receive two points. Those who fail to complete the task in full will only receive one point. If the task is exceeded, it is possible to obtain bonus points.Such points can be redeemed for better meals, better living conditions, access to medical treatment for illnesses, and even precious days off.For example, the current prisoner's food treatment is two meals a day in the morning and evening. With one point a day, they can eat an extra meal at noon, and three meals a day have fish and meat to eat.

Of course, these points are not just added or subtracted. Points will be deducted for evading labor, not obeying orders, and points will be deducted for fights between prisoners... There are more than ten points deduction items alone, which makes everyone dizzy.But everyone understands the last one - minus [-] points is the equivalent of running away, kill!

The personal points of each prisoner are only counted by the shorthair, and cannot be traded or transferred between prisoners. The same is true for the items or treatments that are exchanged for points. Participate in labor, otherwise not only will you not be able to get points, but you will also be deducted for evading labor.

As for the freedom issue that the captives are most concerned about, they can also be exchanged with points, but the value of the points required is a bit larger - a thousand points can be exchanged for regaining freedom.When they heard this, the prisoners were excited again, but no one dared to speak out again, but secretly clenched their fists.[-] points doesn't sound like it's too difficult, two points a day, if it goes well, you can get it in a little more than a year. Anyway, it seems that as long as you follow the rules and work hard, the shorthairs will not kill people, so you can survive at the same time. It seems that there is nothing wrong with eating white rice for the past year?

Of course, there are more savvy people like Luo Shengdong who have faintly realized that this so-called "points system" is not so simple, but limited to seeing them for a while, they can't understand the meaning of the short-haired people doing this. Obediently obey the arrangement of the short hair first, and then make plans after seeing the limelight.

After the plan was announced, the ten sailors were first taken away directly. Their places of labor reform will be the planned shipyard and the captured Haicang ship. The specific arrangements will be taken over by the Ministry of Shipping.Then Luo Shengdong was named out of the queue, and he was appointed as the head of the labor camp, responsible for managing the 36 prisoners under him.The 36 captives will be divided into four groups equally, and each group will be appointed by Luo Shengdong as the group leader.For the team with the worst daily workload, all team members in this group cannot use their points to exchange for anything within two days, and the team leader’s points will be deducted at the same time.If two or more teams are unable to complete the day's work, not only the team leader's points will be deducted, but Luo Shengdong's points will also be deducted accordingly.

The team leader and the boss must also take the responsibility of supervising their subordinates and implement a joint system.If someone in a certain group escapes, then everyone in the group will be deducted points, and the entire group will be directly connected to the leader if they escape.

In addition, the team leader and the leader are temporary positions. On the first day of each month, the team members vote to elect the leader, and the newly elected leader votes to decide whether to re-elect a new leader.If there is a majority in favor, Luo Shengdong will immediately step down, and all the prisoners will jointly elect a new leader of the labor camp.

As soon as these rules came out, Luo Shengdong really began to realize the wonderful use of the short-haired point system.Although he was assigned the title of a big boss by Shorthair, what he did was actually the work of a foreman, and whether the people below him did well or not had a fairly direct impact on him.If the person below does not do well, then in seven or eight days at most, he may be dragged out and beheaded because the points are deducted to the lower limit.But if you squeeze the people below too hard in order to complete the task, then after a month, you may be demoted to a civilian because of public opinion, and then I am afraid that the former subordinates will retaliate more severely.

And the team leaders of these four groups are not just nepotism. If the leader of the team is not competent enough and the team led by them cannot complete the tasks assigned by the short hair, it will also affect Luo Shengdong's own interests.But if the ability is too strong, maybe after a month, he will be pryed off from the position of the boss, which is also a dilemma.

(End of this chapter)