Lu Ming

Chapter 360 Going to Zhoushan

With a gloomy mood, Zuo Baoliu slowly walked into the small courtyard of the rented inn.

People are coming and going in the small courtyard that has actually become the village committee, and the farmers' hoarse voices can be heard from far away.

From this point of view, Zuo Baoliu has no complaints about the new owner - being able to speak in a loud and full of spirit is a symbol of good nutrition.

After Zuojia Village was reintegrated, nearly one-third of the left-behind farmers changed their identities and started working as salaried workers.

The new owner's family spends a lot of money, and every male laborer is given a monthly salary of one tael or five dollars, and women can also receive one tael of silver.According to the accountant, the salary is actually paid according to one tael or eight qian, and the three qian deducted is used to pay off the old debt before.

You don't have to worry about droughts and floods, and you don't have to worry about the government servants who press taxes and grains. This kind of life compares the previous days when the villagers get the white money.

Later, considering the rise in food prices, it was discovered that the villagers only saved money without spending it, and some people were still malnourished, so the owner brought back brown rice from outside, opened a canteen, and converted part of the wages into meals.

In this way, it is tantamount to compulsively increasing nutrition.The effect appeared quickly: the sumptuous meals made the villagers ruddy, strong, and full of energy in their speech.

Zuo Baoliu is also the beneficiary.He, his wife, and three sons are no longer working together. They go to the "public stove" every day to fill their stomachs and get their wages.So in terms of life and evaluation of the new club, Zuo Baoliu can't say anything bad.

The reason why he was full of frustration was because of the loss of the mulberry garden.

Walking into the room, Zuo Baoliu waited until the person in front went out, then silently took a step forward, lowered his head, and just stood there silently.

The village accountant with a gray beard and wearing a pair of tortoise-shell reading glasses is from the neighborhood, but he has been working under Hangzhou Station all year round to make a living.Recently, I heard that this place is engaged in development, so I applied for a transfer, which can be regarded as returning to the roots.

After burying his head in the account book, the old accountant looked up and saw that it was Zuo Baoliu, and asked him kindly, "Have you cleared all the mulberry trees?"

Zuo Baoliu nodded.

"Well, that's it: the construction site by the river is short of people right now, so if you want to go to Baoliu, you can register to work tomorrow. The monthly money by the river is very high, two taels of silver per month, and you can even take care of the food."

After a pause, the old accountant continued, "If you want to stay in the village to farm, that's fine. Just the day before yesterday, Zuo Dou was hit by a bull and broke his leg, so you can take over his job."

After Zuo Baoliu heard the two arrangements, half a day passed, but he still stood there without saying a word.

The old accountant smiled: He has seen too many farmers who are so dull and inarticulate.Feeling Zuo Baoliu's dissatisfaction, the old accountant cleared his throat and changed the subject: "Baoliu, do you know about Zhoushan Island?"

Of course Zuo Baoliu of Zhoushan Island knew.Although he has never been to sea, people in the village know that Zhoushan is just outside the Qiantang River, because people often go fishing in that area.

Seeing Zuo Baoliu nod his head, the old accountant continued: "Baoliu, to tell you the truth, the mulberry trees in the mulberry garden were transported to Zhoushan Island by the owner. There is now a large mulberry garden with a thousand acres of land on the island. There is also the silkworm house. If you still want to use your old business, you might as well go to the island to live your life."

Zuo Baoliu suddenly raised his head.He didn't expect it to be like this at all. Those trees were all transported to Zhoushan?

Seeing Zuo Baoliu's reaction, the old accountant seemed to know what he was thinking, and added empathetically: "The monthly money on the other side is even more, and it is also given to the house, and there is a public stove. With your ability, go You can be a long-term foreman if you don't say much. Take the family to go, you must know what kind of person the boss is, and you will never be wronged."

After Zuo Baoliu went back in a daze, he only thought about it for a day before making a decision: the whole family went to Zhoushan.

Yeah, why not go?When I went there, I could not only work in the mulberry garden, but also receive money every month, and have good meals.Besides, Zhoushan is not far from Zuojia Village, if it is really impossible, it will not be too late to go back home.

After thinking it over, Zuo Baoliu immediately went to the village committee, and signed a lease agreement with the old accountant: Zuo Baoliu rented the director of his house to the village committee.

After signing the agreement, he packed up his belongings, waited patiently for the notification, and then took the woman, three cubs, and two small bundles to Zhangsutan Wharf—the accountant told him that he didn’t need to bring anything, the owner Haokuo, there is everything in the land, and the family of five only needs to go to the pier and wait for the boat.

On May 1629, 5, a very commemorative day: Zhangsutan Wharf welcomed the first batch of overseas visitors.Three Chinese-style galleons with a bit of a weird style parked near the newly built trestle, taking turns to unload.

These ships are the 500-ton new lock ships that have been finalized.The standard new ship with shallow draft, dual purpose of passenger and cargo, and sail/gas auxiliary power is gradually replacing other original transport ship types.

The newly developed Shanghai Port has greatly improved the cargo environment on the Ming side and saved the precarious Hangzhou Tangzhuang Wharf.

If the Qiantang River’s tides are turbulent, the water level is shallow, and there are many sediments, these problems can be survived before, then with the increasing trade volume between Hangzhou and Taiwan, Fujian, the small Tangzhuang Wharf has long been overwhelmed .

It's all right now, once the Shanghai port opened, the pressure on Hangzhou's side was greatly reduced.In fact, there were four cargo ships in the fleet going north this time. Three of the new lock ships carrying building materials all came to Shanghai, and only one general cargo ship with a shallow draft turned into the mouth of the Qiantang River.

Since the Yangtze River estuary has sufficient water and sufficient water depth, the fleet easily stopped outside Zhangsu Beach without considering the tide situation.

The Zhangsutan Wharf, which took thousands of workers nearly two months to build, came in handy as soon as it was completed.This wide wooden high-piled wharf reaches as much as 60 meters deep into the water, and it can completely moor more than three cargo ships at the same time.

But today is a bit special.This is the first official operation of the port area, so for the time being, only one boat is moored to run the port team.

The run-in effect is still good.The commander who was blowing the whistle kept waving the small red flag in his hand, and the team pushing the carts divided into left and right sides on the trestle bridge, going up and down neatly without interfering with each other.

Even without power machinery, the loading and unloading speed on the dock is far faster than that of the natives.The use of chain hoists and small hand-operated booms allows the cargo in the ship to be transported out quickly.

There is no need for the kind of bag bearers that were common in ancient times.After the vat of cement was hoisted out of the cabin, it fell directly onto the trolley waiting under the boat.The workers pushed the trolleys and easily stored the goods in the newly built warehouse at the wharf.

When Zuo Baoliu's family arrived at the pier, the second cargo was already being unloaded.Zuo Baoliu, who was holding the "letter of introduction", was quickly placed in a temporary work shed at the pier.In the next few days, many bald-headed immigrants arrived by boat from Hangzhou.

When the number of people was enough, nearly 900 people waiting for the ship, together with some iron materials, saltpeter, raw silk and other miscellaneous goods, were all loaded into the cabin.Zuo Baoliu's family was no exception. Because they had three children, they were able to reunite as a family and were assigned to a separate cabin.

"Renren is coming, and Zhoushan is not far away." After living in the dark and cramped cabin, Zuo Baoliu fed some pastries to the children, and then said comfortingly.

As a result, this patience lasted for a full ten days.

In fact, on the third day, Zuo Baoliu, who kept vomiting in the shaking cabin, knew that he had been cheated.

Although he has never been to sea, he still has the experience of selling raw silk in Suzhou and Hangzhou in a small boat in the past.So when the boat left for three days, Zuo Baoliu was very sure: the boat had already passed Zhoushan. What Zuo Baoliu didn't know was that when he shifted to the deck two days ago to let wind and fetch water, he saw the man passing by the side of the boat. The big island is actually Zhoushan Island.

Knowing that he was cheated, there was nothing he could do about it, but he couldn’t help himself when he boarded someone else’s pirate ship—although water was provided on time on the ship, and sick patients could be taken care of by doctors, but the vicious stewards and sailors were no joke. All dishonest boaters were helped to "whiten their skin" on the mast.

So even if Zuo Baoliu was full of doubts, he could only hide in the cabin and silently pray for the blessing of Buddha.

Thankfully, prayers do work.After wandering around on the ship for more than ten days, finally on a scorching afternoon, the fleet returned to Dayuan Port.At this time, Zuo Baoliu's family realized that they had been dragged thousands of miles away to the island of Lao Shizi, Taiwan.

And after arriving at the grotesque base camp of the thieves, the Zuo family has no time to think about whether they have been deceived—the bustling and noisy Taijiang River, beautiful and strange buildings, strange machines, red-haired and blue-eyed barbarians, all these Everything makes them dizzy.

Before the peep show had time to finish, the Zuo family members were dragged into a bath in fear, had their hair cut, had their chrysanthemums broken, and checked their bodies.

When everything was over, the bald Zuobao Liumu sat blankly on the head of the bed in the quarantine camp, looking at the three bald boys foolishly playing in front of the door, his thoughts actually drifted to a very strange place: now he finally understands Why are Zhang Sutan's foremen bald?

The teachers in the quarantine camp were very enthusiastic, so Zuo Baoliu finally figured out everything after the Zuo family spent the time of "learning the rules" in the quarantine camp.

The next step is to assign work and housing.Zuo Baoliu and his wife, one who can plant trees and the other who can raise silkworms, are the kind of skilled workers that the Ministry of Agriculture prefers, so the couple were directly assigned to the mulberry field and the adjacent silkworm farm.

Standing in the endless mulberry garden, Zuo Baoliu was full of joy.On the first day of work, after looking around, he quickly found among the newly planted mulberry trees the batch of tree species he had carried—every scar on these trees, every knot He knows everything.

Zuo Baoliu put his hands on his hips and laughed loudly.

(End of this chapter)