Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 575
Quark came out of the small room with a flushed face. It took a long time before he told Li Luoyou what happened inside: he was semi-forcibly stripped off his pants, and then he was forced to lie on an iron bed. The woman who was covered with a white cloth and only showed her eyes came over and scrubbed him from front to back with a brush dipped in lotion.

Then his cleaned and disinfected part was watched carefully for several minutes, and then fiddled with by something cold like pliers.Quark secretly screamed that it was not good, but the burly man around him made him dare not resist.

He then heard someone commenting that he had too much body hair to see clearly, and then someone discussing whether to shave him.Quark turned pale with fright, he was not a woman, and if people found out that his hair was shaved, he would become a lifelong laughing stock.

He repeatedly begged for mercy in Mandarin and Cantonese vernacular, saying that he was willing to give up everything, and asked them not to do something that would shame him.In the end, I don't know whether his pleading worked or the other party thought it was unnecessary, so he escaped a catastrophe.

"...I still smell of that potion on my body for several days after returning from Lingao." Quark said helplessly, "These Australians are really strange guys!"

But at this moment, with a stern face, he followed Li Luoyou out of the customs without saying a word.

Outside the customs is another square paved with stones.A group of people were looking around when suddenly a man in green clothes and a hat hurried over:

"Excuse me, isn't this Master You who came from Foshan?"

"It's my master." Sao Ye nodded.

"Greetings to Master You." The visitor immediately climbed to the ground and kowtowed, "The young one is under the door of Master Yang Shixiang in Lingao Runshitang, and he came here to greet Master at the order of our master."

"Your housekeeper, please lead the way."

The person who came quickly got up and led the way ahead.On the edge of the square is a wide road, along which there are many signs.It is probably the name of a place written on it.There are several places such as the county seat, Ma Niao, and Bairen.Under each sign, there are some people who look like villagers gathered and wait with their baskets on their backs, and there are also "kun people" wearing the Australian signature short jackets among them.

The crowd watched with interest, and suddenly there was a whistle blowing sound from a row of houses at the end of the road, and a four-wheeled cart pulled by four oxen slowly appeared on the road.The bullock cart is long and box-shaped, very tall, and each wheel is as high as a person's shoulders.Two imperial hands sat on the front of the car, and a sign with the words "Bairen" was hung on the front of the car.

"Passengers please pay attention, passengers please pay attention, the shuttle bus to Bairen is about to enter the station, please retreat to the security line and wait in line to get on the bus."

A man in a blue coat came out and put a funnel made of iron to his mouth and shouted.From time to time, he blew the whistle violently.

The bullock cart slowly came to a stop under the Bairen sign, and the waiting crowd was in a commotion, pushing and rushing towards the bullock cart.The person holding the tin funnel kept shouting: "Don't be crowded, don't be crowded!"

But obviously his shouting didn't work very well, everyone pushed to the front.Squeeze ahead to do what?Could it be that money and rice are being given out on the bullock cart?
At this time, a few people wearing bamboo hats and short sticks around their waists appeared in the square. They waved the sticks in their hands and shouted. The order was slightly restored, and people began to line up gradually.It can be seen that the people here are very afraid of the "policemen" wearing bucket hats and hanging short sticks, probably Lingao's "public servants".

The driver climbed out of the carriage and lowered the folded iron step ladder.The people in line began to board the bullock cart one by one, and sat down along the sides of the carriage.Then the driver set up a simple awning.Those who carry burdens and baskets use the iron rings and ropes installed on the outer wall of the carriage to fix things outside the carriage.This bullock cart turned into a strange appearance full of bugs.

Naturally, Li Luoyou and his party didn't need to ask for advice on public transportation. Runshitang had already prepared two sedan chairs and four or five wheelbarrows waiting for them.At present, the master sits in the sedan chair, and the servants tie the luggage on the car and go with them.

The weather in Lingao is hot, but it's the end of February, the weather is already hot and dry, so Runshitang prepared bamboo sedan chairs.It is breathable and sightseeing.Li Luoyou sat in the sedan chair, and the road to the county was as flat as a stone, all paved with black dust, extremely compact.The vehicles I saw along the way were smooth and fast, which made Li Luoyou, who was suffering from too many mule carts in the north, secretly sigh—this road is well built, even the Tianjie in the capital is not so smooth.

There is a white line drawn in the middle of the road, and less than a mile away is an arrow marking the direction.There are signs everywhere on the roadside, some with words and some with symbols, which makes Li Luoyou dizzy.

What he appreciates most is that there are obvious signs at each fork, telling you where the intersection is going, not only the name of the end point, but also the name of the place along the way and the length of the distance.It looks clear and clear.

He told the servant of the Yang family that Sao Ye would meet in the future to call.

"What does this sign full of roads mean?"

"They are all traffic signs." The servant of the Yang family explained the meaning of the symbols and words on the sign one by one.

"It's really meticulous." Li Luoyou commented, "Australians did it?"

"Yes, this road was also built according to the Australian method, and it took countless manpower and material resources."

Even a person like Li Luoyou who has no engineering experience knows that the cost of the road will not be small. Although he does not know what the black material of the road surface is and how it is paved, there are drainage ditches with holes on both sides of the roadbed; The trees planted on both sides—the trees are no more than the thickness of a teacup, and they are maintained extremely meticulously. Taiwan... all of them add up, and the cost of this road is at least several times that of ordinary roads.

"With such a large-scale construction project, the people in Lingao may have a hard life."

"Returning to the master, that's not true." The servant laughed, "How many people are there in Lingao? It's not enough to build the road." He pointed to the large pile of gravel and sand on the right side of the road. There are thousands of workers working on the project, all of which are labor brought in by the Australian master himself."

"Where does labor come from?"

"From the mainland, several boats will be transported to Lingao every few days." The servant said.

"Shipping from the mainland? Are they all refugees?"

"Yes. When they are shipped, they don't look like people, and ghosts don't look like ghosts. You have to live in Bopu's big camp for two months before you can use it after recuperating." The servant laughed, "Young people are all Said: This is not like hiring labor and employing people, but it seems to be doing good deeds. Australian gentlemen really have nothing to say to the poor."

It was harsh to hear.Li Luoyou snorted lightly.The servant knew that he was upset, so he said nothing and just followed the sedan chair.

Although the construction site in the river cannot be seen from the road, it can be seen from the continuous stones, yellow sand and excavated soil on the side of the road that this project is very large.Some bullock carts loaded with bricks, stones, wood, bundles of thin bamboo strips and many sacks lined up neatly on the side of the road waiting to be unloaded.Some of the sacks had torn edges, spilling gray powder.The squirrel cage cranes he saw at the port are also here, standing one by one.The strange thing is that no one is running inside, replaced by a black iron guy, wheezing, breathing white water vapor and black smoke.The large and small iron wheels were spinning rapidly, making clanking noises.A few black-covered people smeared by soot wandered around this guy, constantly shoveling coal into it with a shovel

From time to time, workers in blue clothes with rattan hats and tools on their backs pushed the carts past.Their bodies were covered with dirt and dust, but they looked very energetic, one of them was strong, and his complexion was dark.From time to time, he also sang the song "...there is power...".This song made Li Luoyou, who was used to singing softly and softly, sound like howling, but it was indeed very majestic and inspiring.

The laborers are very disciplined. Some people are directing the work with red and green flags, but there are no supervisors wielding whips. Everyone seems to know what they have to do.The whole construction site seems to be in order.

Looking at the construction site along the river, Li Luo couldn't help but click his tongue.How much manpower and material resources will be invested in Lingao to control the river on such a scale?Not to mention building roads and houses... Australians have really spent a lot of money in Lingao!

In this way, the cooperation with the Australians can be discussed.Li Luoyou thinks: no matter where the Australians come from, how good their goods are, and how capable they are, the most basic thing is to be able to protect themselves.If they are unable to protect themselves, sooner or later they will either be expelled by the officers and soldiers or the sea masters, and cooperation will not benefit them much.

Cooperation is only possible if they can guarantee that they will stay in Lingao.Just like his main partner the Portuguese.

It now appears that Australians have invested heavily in Lingao. Since they have invested so much, they must also have the ability and determination to defend their property.With these two points, he, Li Luoyou, can discuss more in-depth cooperation with the Australians.

Li Luoyou and his party soon arrived at the county seat. He had seen enough ugly houses built by Australians along the way.To be ugly is not to say that the house is not strong enough or that the house is not well repaired.Instead, all the houses are built according to standard geometric shapes, with almost no curves to be seen.All the houses have no decoration except painted white, and many houses are exactly the same in shape, proportion and size.The biggest feature of Australian architecture is that it is practical and sturdy. There are many buildings, not only with two floors, but also with three, four, or even five or six floors.Li Luoyou didn't quite understand that there was so much wasteland in Lingao—along the main road, many places, not to mention villages and towns, didn't even have fields, they were all barren grass—why the Australians still use such a method of saving land.

Seeing that the city wall of the county is already in sight, there is a circular fortress-like building not far from the city gate.

There are large farmlands around the castle, some of which have been planted with green seedlings, some are full of golden cauliflower, some are batches of various vegetables, and some are planted with unknown green crops.The growth is excellent, much more regular and prosperous than the farmland along the road.Li Luoyou nodded secretly, this place
When the sedan chair passed by, he took a closer look. The gate of the castle was open, and there were several women sitting there, some of them were mending clothes, some were talking with their children in their arms. The strong man with the spear is on guard.

"What is this place?"

"If you go back to the master, you are learning from the farm."

"Study Grange?"

"Yes, the long-term laborers and their family members who planted the school field lived there." The servant said, "It is surrounded by Lingao school fields."

"This school field is well looked after!"

"This is the world of Australians who contract and plant."

"Australians still farm?!" Li Luoyou was even more surprised.The outside news only said that they are "skilled in skills" and "skilled in craftsman", and they can make many exquisite things. I didn't expect them to be able to farm the land!This is big news.

"That's right," the servant pointed out, "the school fields in this area were originally a place where no one was harvested, but it has become like this since the Tiandihui came to contract seeds. Master, you don't know, it takes a lot of work before planting the fields. Scary enough."

As he talked, he talked about with great interest how the Australians plowed the fields, how they dug ditches, how the Australians used more than a dozen cows to drag iron frames to do farm work in the fields, and how they transported carts of black charcoal and lime In the field... Li Luoyou listened carefully, and felt more and more that Australians came with different intentions from Europeans.Europeans, no matter what country they came from, were most interested in commerce and trade when they came to Ming Dynasty, or simply robbing and looting. I have never heard of anyone being interested in farming.Of course, it was understandable that they were not interested - Daming is not their hometown, nor can it be used as a colony for reclamation.

The Australians recruited exiles here, built roads and cities, dredged rivers, and handled reclamation... Although Li Luoyou has not studied history books, he also knows that this practice far exceeds the needs of maritime merchants-the Portuguese occupied Macau just to seek A place to live and rest the boat, but the Australians are building a "Little Australia"!He suddenly thought: Could it be another Jian slave here?
Thinking about it this way, we should be cautious when cooperating with Australians.

With such a complicated state of mind, Li Luoyou's sedan chair had already arrived at the gate of the city.There are four or five people holding spears standing guard at the gate.It seems that the county seat is still ruled by Ming Dynasty.But when he saw Min Zhuang's short monk-like hair, he knew that the world of Ming Dynasty was just a skin.

"Show the documents!"

Li Luoyou now knew that the brand was called "Certificate", and Sao Ye handed over everyone's ID cards, and then handed over a red envelope that had been prepared for a long time ago: two coins.

"Give the brothers a cup of tea."

"No need." The sentry returned the red envelope very politely.Sao Ye was taken aback: This is two coins!It's a lot of extra money for the four Minzhuang, why is it too little?
The sentry took the documents and checked them one by one, and then checked the luggage on the car.Finally he waved his hand: "Let's go into the city."

(End of this chapter)