Begging in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 258 Light Industry Base

The plan for a year lies in spring. For the agricultural society of the Ming Dynasty, if they were diligent in spring plowing, they would generally be able to eat their stomachs this year and enjoy leisure and hate work?Then you won’t be able to run away if you’re hungry this year. This is the case with Ji Laoniu’s family. The land in Ji’s Village belongs to Ji Xiaofazi’s family. Their family has been farming for the Xiaofazi family for three generations. They have to pay the rent of the little fat man's family. Fortunately, the Xinding Basin irrigated by the Hutuo River is still fertile. Otherwise, with such double oppression, they would have deserted and fled like Shaanxi and the mountain people near Taihang Mountain in Luliang Mountain.

This year is no exception, the ice and snow have just melted, and the teeth of those who are still cold are chattering. Ji Laoniu has already prepared the things for spring plowing. In the early morning, he is arranging the hoes and shovels, and he is not tired of telling them His stupid son.

"I'll send this bit of meat to your sixth uncle later. Last year, it was the cow that Lao Ba used first. This year, no matter what, it's our turn!"

A piece of dried bacon hung pitifully on the wall, and the whole family didn't want to eat it during the Chinese New Year. Watching the meat swallow a few mouthfuls, Ji Laoniu's two silly sons shook their heads with difficulty.

"Father! There are quite a few people giving gifts to the Sixth Uncle's house in the past two days. You may not be interested in such a meaty family. Besides, you used it later in previous years. Didn't something happen? It's really not good, what a fool, we brothers Just give it to you if you are too old, shall we cook this meat?"

"Fart! It's just you two cowards! When did you not rely on your father and me to be the boss?" Angrily threw the hoe aside, Ji Laoniu blew his beard and stared and scolded: "It's late to plant, but to harvest If you don’t even have enough to eat, you two still want to marry a daughter-in-law? Go ahead and dream!”

After all, it was his own son. After scolding a few words, Ji Laoniu sighed sadly again.

"Although this meat is not worth much, at least it can give Lao Liu an impression that you can't use cattle first, and don't be the last one in the row like in previous years. I am saving some money this autumn and go to Renyazi City, north of Yanmen Pass, to give You two brothers begging for a girl to come back!"

There are three kinds of unfilial piety, the greatest of which is to have no heirs. China’s filial piety is the golden rule even for the poorest tenants. This Xinding can still survive. In Datong to the north, there are border soldiers who owe wages all the year round, and the military fields are still occupied by big households. It is even more miserable. It is not a new thing for one's wife to be a prostitute to supplement the family income. Every spring, it is common for poor families who cannot survive to sell their sons and daughters. It is said that Liu Rushi was bought and sold to the south of the Yangtze River by human traffickers. Girls from Beidi were sold to Yangzhou, and then became the popular Yangzhou skinny horse at that time, and even became an industrial chain.

Although the two brothers marry a wife, the temptation is still much greater than a piece of meat, but the premise of all this is to use cattle first, and there must be a good harvest this year!The two silly sons of Ji Laoniu's family immediately burst into laughter again.

"Father, don't worry, even if you kneel down to Uncle Six, we brothers will get the cow back for you!"

It can be regarded as sending out his useless old son, wiping the farm tools and watching the swaying backs of the two brothers, Ji Laoniu snorted sullenly again.

There are more than 100 households in Jijia Village, and there are only a dozen or so cows in total, all of which belong to Ji Xiaofatzi’s family. Ji Lao Liu is in charge of raising and distributing cattle. Every spring, the tenants have to ask grandpa to tell grandma to use the cattle Otherwise, you have to be a cow for a few acres of Susukida, and you have to plow it out with a plow. Idea, we must find a way to borrow the cow first.

After taking care of the farm tools and sitting in their own field smoking a pipe, the two foolish boys came back dejectedly carrying the meat. Seeing how angry Ji Laoniu was, he picked up the pole and went straight up to smoke.

"Two delicious, lazy, useless things, why did I give birth to you two scumbags!"

"No! Dad!"

The one who was whipped screamed, and the two idiots knelt on the ground and kowtowed sadly.

"Sixth uncle, he doesn't want it. He said that this year the owner will not let our family farm! It's useless to borrow cattle! Let's keep it!"

Hearing this, Ji Laoniu almost recited it in one breath, and shivered for a long time while carrying the pole, and once again pulled it over with a pole.

"Okay! How dare you lie to me! I will beat you to death!"

"Father! How wronged! If you don't believe me, go and ask yourself!"

His back was flushed, and he screamed at the two brothers' mournful yells and was busy. Hearing this, Ji Laoniu became even more flustered, so he simply threw his shoulder pole and yelled: "You two wait, I will go to your sixth uncle right now!" Ask at home! If not, I will beat you both to death when I come back tonight!"

Seeing their father dragging their shoulder poles out, the two idiots held their heads and finally heaved a sigh of relief.

They didn't dare to eat lunch, so the two boys sat at the door of the house and waited until the afternoon, when they saw their old man staggering back from a distance, the two foolish boys hurried forward and asked with concern: "Father, what did you say? "

"It's over, it's over!" Ji Laoniu sat down on the ground with a sad face while his eyes were dull.

Like Ji Laoniu whose cultivated land has been taken back, there are still a dozen or so households in Jijia Village, with dozens of people. The peasants have no other way of life except farming. These families still held hope at the beginning. I can't finish it, maybe I can keep them for a while, who knows that when the plowing starts in spring, my boss actually borrowed more than 100 horses at Wutai Mountain, and used them with the cattle in his village. All the land has been plowed, much faster than in previous years.

Seeing that Ji Lao Ba's family is also mobilizing and busy planting rice seedlings, and from time to time gleefully straightened up and looked at himself, Ji Lao Niu almost cried on the ground.

It is said that the land is vast and rich, but in fact, with the increase of population and the merger of land, in the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese people gradually entered the era of intensive farming, and every little bit of land was carefully served like a father. The place has been turned into arable land, and the meat of the Chinese people has changed from the original sheep to pigs that can be raised in captivity.

This time Song Qingshu’s horse cannibalism and British sheep cannibalism have different meanings, but the effect is the same. Anyway, raising more than 1 war horses usually wastes food in vain. Song Qingshu simply rents it out to various villages during spring plowing. The efficiency of horse plowing is much higher than that of oxen plowing and human plowing, and the rent is less than half of that of raising more than a dozen tenants. The poor Ji Laoniu's family belonged to the part of people whose job opportunities were eaten by horses.

Different from the sheep cannibalism campaign in the UK, the effect of horse cannibalism is a little bit worse, and a village can only eat about one-tenth of the population. Fortunately, these people have already considered Song Qingshu's light industry plan. enough.

Seeing his neighbor planting seedlings and plowing the fields for several days, Ji Laoniu gritted his teeth and took out the money that he had saved for more than ten years to buy a wife for his son. , In the middle of the night, he sneaked to Ji Laoliu's house again, stayed there for half an hour, and then came back with straight eyes, and slapped each of his two stupid sons.

"Follow your father and me tomorrow to work in the factory in the town. This is what your father begged with all our shame. If you two little bastards dare to cause trouble, your father will beat you to death!"

"But Dad! What are you going to work for?" Holding their red cheeks, the two asked sadly. Ji Laoniu couldn't help but blushed when he heard it. Where did he know what he was doing?But in front of his son, how could he lose face of Lao Tzu, this time Lao Niu went up and slapped him twice.

"You can do whatever you are asked to do. Why are you talking so much nonsense? Go to bed early! If you don't have energy tomorrow, I will beat you to death!"

…………

The towns of this era are different from the administrative units of later generations. Towns do not belong to regular towns. Only one or two days a month are designated as places for market gatherings. The development of the commodity economy in the late Ming Dynasty was a lot in the south of the Yangtze River. In other places, this kind of town has become a regular town, which will be good. The history of urban development in Dai County has been abruptly overstated by Song Qingshu.

With the funds from renting horses, Song Qingshu opened six more spinning mills and four spare parts factories with local landlords in the six towns of the county, absorbing all the population of the villages that were eaten up by horses. Going in, more than 5000 workers were added.

Ji Laoniu knows how to go to work. In a large workshop, more than 500 gentlemen form four groups and work in a row. They move in various iron guys from the outside, and then they are responsible for assembly. The production team has its own production team leader, and he taught him that if he pretended to be wrong, his salary would be deducted. Ji Laoniu was so scared that he was trained to be as rigid as a grandson and dare not make any mistakes. It took only one day to complete the whole process. sewing machine.

On the other side, his two stupid sons were even more flustered. They were so stupid that they hadn't assembled a bicycle all day. Their production team leader was so angry that they had a dozen whips on their faces. The salary of the day It's gone.

Fortunately, this place is managed by the public for both morning and evening meals, and they work until the sun goes down, which is the end of the first day of work.

Crowded in the cramped factory dormitory that still smells like feet, Ji Laoniu scolded the two stupid sons again, threatening to kick them out of the house if they didn't do well.

Almost didn't sleep well all night, the third son clumsily gathered together to study, what kind of automatic donkey and sewing machine, how to spell it right?
In the blink of an eye, a month has passed, and being forced to a dead end by life, the three members of the Ji family have been forced to become technical backbones. Now Ji Laoniu can put together ten sewing machines in one day with his proficiency. The two brothers of the Ji family One person can also assemble five bicycles. At the end of the month, the production team leader who has been cold for a month can be considered to have a good face. According to piecework wages, food and accommodation are deducted, and one person is paid about [-] copper coins. For the copper coins, the three Ji family masters almost cried out without being moved.

Just as the three of Ji's family were gratefully counting the money over and over again, they suddenly didn't know that they were so grateful to Ji Xiaofa, who introduced them to the job, and he walked away with his face full of pain while muttering.

"Marshal, it's good enough to feed these poor bastards, why do you need to give them money?"

Picking up a brand new bicycle that had just been assembled, Song Qingshu kicked the pedals twice with a smile, and said casually.

"What do you know, this is called mobilizing production enthusiasm!"

"What the handsome said is very true!"

Still didn't understand what production enthusiasm was, Fatty Ji still had a face of sudden realization, nodding and bowing his promise.

Ignoring this product any more, Song Qingshu looked out in satisfaction. Not far away, in his newly opened spinning factory, thousands of male workers clumsily pulled out threads from cotton with spinning wheels, and at the other end, weaving Amidst the creaking sound of the loom, the workers were busy loading the newly woven cotton cloth into the car and transporting it to the mountains.

There are also bicycles, sewing machines, new spinning wheels, and looms that are continuously produced here. The light industry base in the impression, with the first batch of proletarian workers, is basically taking shape!
(End of this chapter)