The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

Chapter 351 The emotion of hard laborer Chen Zilong

After hearing Hou Tongzeng's explanation, Xia Yunyi still couldn't let go.

However, if he was still a little hesitant about becoming an official before, now he is suddenly determined to become an official.

Because he believes that with the military strength and momentum displayed by Damei now, it is highly possible to replace the Ming Dynasty and unify the world.

In other words, Liu Sheng must become the founding king of a unified new dynasty.

Previously, his concerns about being an official were mainly because it would harm his personal reputation - after all, he had been an official in the Ming Dynasty before. Even if he was just a magistrate, if he became an official, he would have to bear the bad reputation of a second official.

The Xia family is also considered a wealthy family in Songjiang. He and his descendants have no worries about food and clothing. In this case, there is no need to bear the name of two ministers in order to serve as an official in the new dynasty.

But thinking that because of some wrong ideas of Liu Sheng, Da'ei might have become a dynasty like the Qin and Sui Dynasties in history that were strong for a while in the early days of their founding, but ended up dying after two generations and triggering a new chaos, he felt that he could not stay out of it.

Compared with the common people in the world, a little infamy for an individual is indeed nothing.

Thinking of this, Xia Yunyi's eyes showed determination and he said: "Brother Hou, please tell the man in Nanjing that I am willing to serve as an official and I am willing to persuade Chen Zilong and Shen Gong to surrender!"

Hou Tong was slightly startled at first, and then looked at Xia Yunyi's expression as if he had some realization.

Although he felt that Xia Yunyi's idea that Da Wei might die in his second life was mostly unfounded, he was still happy that Xia Yunyi agreed to serve as an official.

He smiled and said: "Okay, since Yi Zhong is willing to serve as an official, he might as well make preparations in these two days and follow me to Zhejiang to persuade Chen Zilong."

Xia Yunyi nodded.

···

Shaoxing Prefecture, Xiaoshan County.

Chen Zilong was braving the scorching sun and leading a group of hard laborers to dredge the canal in the south of Xiaoshan County.

After all, Chen Zilong was also the general judge of Shaoxing Prefecture when he was captured, and he was a very talented person. Even though he was unwilling to surrender and was punished with hard labor, the Wei army made full use of their talents and made him the captain of the brigade, leading more than [-] people to work.

After being captured in Shaoxing Prefecture (Kuiji, Shanyin) in June, Chen Zilong and thousands of prisoners were supervised by the Yi army in cleaning up the canal silt.

It has been working for more than a month now.

When Xia Yunyi saw Chen Zilong again, he almost didn't recognize him.

Chen Zilong is now in his thirties. He was born in a wealthy family of officials and gentry in Songjiang. He was well-dressed and well-fed since he was a child, so his face is like a crown jewel. Even though he is in his thirties, has a family, and has grown a beard, he still feels elegant and suave.

But now, the person has become tanned, his body has become leaner, his skin has become rough, and there are even some sunburn marks on his arms.

At first glance, he looks like a forty-year-old man.

However, compared with the past, Chen Zilong's eyes were sharper and he looked more capable. He was not like a scholar, but like a hard worker running around in the world.

Seeing that Chen Zilong was leading people to remove the silt from the dredging boat, Xia Yunyi did not interrupt rashly.

When Chen Zilong finished his work and called a large number of his slave laborers to drink water and rest, he stepped forward and shouted: "Maozhong (Chen Zilong's character)."

When Chen Zilong heard this, he looked over and saw Xia Yunyi, and couldn't help but feel dazed for a moment.

Then, he spoke to the Yijun officer who was supervising the work nearby, and after receiving permission, he came to Xia Yunyi's side.

Seeing Xia Yunyi, Chen Zilong was inexplicably happy and grinned: "Brother Xia, why did you come to Shaoxing? You didn't come just to see me, right?"

Xia Yunyi looked at Chen Zilong again, and when he smelled the smell of sweat all over his body, he couldn't help asking: "Maozhong is working hard here, does it feel bitter?"

"Of course it's painful." Chen Zilong sighed, "I really couldn't bear it at first - Brother Xia knows that I come from a wealthy family, and although I have practiced martial arts, I have never done anything like work since I was a child.

In the past, when I saw servants, tenants, and farmers working, I felt that they were hard and tiring, but without experiencing it myself, I never knew how hard and tiring it really was. Now that I have become a hard laborer in this group, I can truly understand the hardships of the poor people. "

Chen Zilong didn't know why, but he had a strong desire to talk at this time, and he couldn't stop talking about it.

"I'm not afraid of Brother Xia's jokes. Not long after I became a prisoner of the Yi army, I was assigned to clean up the mud in this canal.

After only working for two days at first, I felt my arms were exhausted and couldn't lift them up. I couldn't get used to the food in the hard labor camp. I was tired and had no appetite for several days.

At that time, I thought that other prisoners must be as miserable as me and could not bear the pain of hard work, so I tested several hard labor captains privately to see if they could lead them to resist together. If not, they could flee into the mountains and no longer be part of the Yi army. Hard labor.

Who would have thought that after these people understood my thoughts, they looked at me like I was an idiot.

After talking with them, I realized that most of them did not feel miserable and were even satisfied with the life of hard labor.

It turns out that many poor people in Zhejiang did not have enough to eat before. Most of them did not have enough to eat. Many people even died of starvation during several major disasters.

After becoming a hard laborer in the Yi army, although he was assigned to work every day, he was guaranteed three meals a day. Although I am not full, I am not hungry either. As for hard labor, it is not much more tiring than farming and other work that poor people do on a daily basis.

If they fled deep into the mountains, without food and clothing, and no medicine if they got sick, they might die of illness and starvation in the mountains soon.

Although the hard labor in the Wei tribe was tiring, they had no worries about food and drink. Even when the Wei army was sick, they would ask doctors to treat them. Even when they were officers and soldiers, they may not have lived as well as they do now.

After I learned this, I felt deeply and reflected on myself. Only then did I realize that I had never really put myself in the shoes of the poor people before.

This may be the case for most officials in the Ming Dynasty. Even if they have the reputation of loving the people, what they do is mostly superficial, and they cannot think about what the people are thinking or worry about their concerns.

Perhaps this is why as soon as the Yi army arrived, many places immediately surrendered and the people rejoiced. "

At this point, Chen Zilong suddenly stopped, with a lonely look on his face.

Because he thought that when he gathered troops to fight against Wei in Shaoxing Prefecture, there was not much support from the people, and some people even communicated with the Wei army, which made his gathering troops to fight against Wei become a joke from beginning to end.

At this moment, Xia Yunyi suddenly felt that perhaps the task of persuading Chen Zilong to surrender would be much easier than he expected.

He asked: "If Maozhong is given another chance to you, will you still gather troops to fight against Wei?"

Chen Zilong was silent for a moment, and then said with emotion: "Maybe not."

Xia Yunyi smiled slightly and said: "They say there is no regret medicine in this world, but now, a chance to regret is right in front of you.

Maozhong, let me tell you the truth. I am here to persuade you to surrender. Are you willing to serve? "

Chen Zilong was stunned after hearing this, and subconsciously asked: "Isn't it just the last chance to surrender? If you are unwilling to surrender like me, you will be punished with three years of hard labor. Even if you perform meritorious service during the period, your sentence will be reduced to one year at most."

Although Chen Zilong is now accustomed to the life of hard labor, it would be absolutely false to say that he does not want to get rid of the life of hard labor.

Being accustomed to hardship does not mean that you are willing to endure hardship all the time.

In fact, not long after Chen Zilong became a hard laborer, his family heard the news and came here, bringing a lot of money with them, hoping to save him and make him live a better life in the hard labor camp no matter what. days.

As a result, something happened that shocked Chen Zilong's family.

The Yi army in charge of supervising the work actually refused to accept bribes, and even refused to receive oil or salt. Not only that, because the family tried to bribe the Yijun officers many times, they were eventually arrested and sentenced to hard labor, working alongside Chen Zilong.

Zhijiao people can't laugh or cry.

Fortunately, more than one of the Chen family came.

The others learned the lesson and stopped bribing Wei Jun. Instead, they wanted to improve Chen Zilong's life by sending things to the hard labor camp.

As a result, most items were prohibited from being brought in. Only food, drink, medicine, and clothing could be brought in.

But the number of times is also strictly limited.

Fortunately, Chen Zilong himself finally "awoke" and began to work hard and develop his talents. Only then did he become the captain of the brigade, and received better treatment in the hard labor camp through normal channels.

Of course, the better treatment is just more food than other hard laborers and a separate tent.

His life as a master in the past was still very different.

Therefore, he still wanted to get rid of his status as a slave laborer, and even vaguely regretted not surrendering.

Because in the past month or so, no one had asked him if he was willing to serve, and he was too embarrassed to take the initiative, so he thought he had no chance.

Now that I heard Xia Yunyi say that there is still a chance, I was pleasantly surprised.

Under Chen Zilong's nervous and expectant gaze, Xia Yunyi said with a smile: "Obviously, ordinary merits will not make you exempt from hard labor, but if you can make great contributions, let alone being exempted from hard labor, you will be awarded the title of Great Eunuch. It’s not impossible.”

After hearing this, Chen Zilong suddenly understood something and asked, "Brother Xia has lost his official position?"

"That's right." Xia Yunyi nodded, and without waiting for Chen Zilong to say anything, he continued: "I didn't originally want to be an official, and was ready to live in seclusion in the countryside, but I was persuaded by Hou Tongzeng.

By the way, I brought you two letters this time, one from Hou Tongzeng and one from Zhang Kuang. "

With that said, Xia Yunyi took out two letters and handed them to Chen Zilong.

　Second more.

　　Good night~

　　

　

(End of this chapter)