"strike?"

What the monk said made everyone's hair stand on end. Although most of the workers present were illiterate, they probably learned all their knowledge from the storyteller in the teahouse.

But everyone is not stupid, little people have the wisdom of little people. They also understand what the word strike means.

Xiao Baoyi, a worker digging in Liu Baoquan's mine, seemed to be staring at him, making him unconsciously lower his voice and ask, "Master, what do you mean by this strike?"

His voice was very soft, as if he was talking about some major events that would be punished by people for his treachery. Obviously there are only workers like him around.

Niu Ben glanced at the workers and small workshop owners around him, and said calmly, "It's the kind of strike you think."

Today, these people were specially selected by Niu Ben in Changtan County recently. The criteria for selecting these people is also very simple, that is, he will choose whoever is more oppressed by the Shang Sanhu. He will choose whoever is unable to survive.

Because what he is going to do now must require his followers to have the courage to awaken. What kind of person would have such courage? That is the one who cannot retreat.

Xiao Baoyi stopped talking, and the people around him didn't argue with each other. Instead, they were whispering.

"A strike means not working for the boss?"

"If we don't work, won't we be driven away by the manager?"

"Drive away? It's not just about driving away. If we don't work, I'm afraid the manager will drive those thugs out to beat us."

"Also, my family doesn't have much food. If I don't work, won't my family starve to death?"

The whispering voices of the crowd kept coming into Niu Ben's ears.

Niu Ben looked at Xiao Baoyi and said, "Xiao Baoyi. If I remember correctly, your production failed to meet the standard for three days this month because of your stomach. So the mine deducted half a month's wages from you and asked you to double the production, right? ?”

Although he didn't understand why Niu Ben asked such a question, Xiao Baoyi nodded and said, "Yes."

Niu Ben then asked: "Can you complete this workload?"

Xiao Baoyi stroked his short hair: "Sure, it's ok..." He wasn't very sure.

Niu Ben continued: "If I remember correctly, your stomach upset is probably due to eating Sanhe noodles." The so-called Sanhe noodles refer to flour made by mixing white flour with some sawdust and grass.

In some places, soil is also mixed in. The better three-in-one noodles are mixed with wheat bran and wheat husk.

The reason why there is such a thing as a three-in-one surface is, in the final analysis, because of poverty. Poor people can't afford decent white noodles, so they can only use this kind of thing to cheat their stomachs.

The three-in-one noodles mixed with sawdust and grass can't be shaped, and the steamed buns are loose, and they become mushy when boiled in water. You can't make noodles and you can't make buns.

However, because it is mixed with sawdust, which is difficult for people's stomachs to digest, it is very anti-hunger to eat loose buns made of Sanhe noodles. Of course, this kind of anti-hunger is false, because this kind of steamed bun does not have high calories and cannot meet people's daily calorie needs.

It just makes people lose that heartburning hunger.

The disadvantages of eating this three-in-one noodles are more than the advantages. The most common one is constipation. If you eat it for a long time, you are prone to diseases such as intestinal obstruction.

Some people were even suffocated to death by feces.

Xiao Baoyi had a stomachache for three days because he couldn't get rid of it after eating Sanhe noodles. In the end, a wandering doctor came and prescribed a folk prescription. He found two taels of sesame oil and poured it down for him, which was considered to cure him.

"Your salary in the mine can afford noodles. Why do you eat three-in-one noodles? It makes you unable to untie your hands?" Niu Ben looked at Xiao Baoyi.

Xiao Baoyi lowered his head and murmured in a low voice: "It's not because my mother-in-law fell ill a few days ago, and all the money in the family was used up for medical treatment and medicine for her. I am tired from working in the mine, so I can only eat Sanhe noodles to support my stomach."

What Xiao Baoyi said darkened the faces of the people around him. This was not just a problem that Xiao Baoyi had encountered alone. In fact, most of the workers present have encountered such a thing.

The three families of Liu, Guan and Zhang kept lowering the wages in Changtan County, and now they only earn about 20 to 40 yuan a day working in their three families.

In Changtan County, white noodles cost 15 renminbi a catty, miscellaneous noodles cost 7 renminbi a catty, sanhe noodles cost 4 renminbi a catty, vegetable oil costs 80 renminbi a catty, and mixed oil costs 150 renminbi a catty. Jin, pork ninety dollars a catty.

Twenty dollars a day can buy about three catties of noodles, which sounds like a lot. It seems to make people full.

However, most of the workers in Changtan County do not consume any non-staple food. Not to mention high-calorie foods such as candy and drinks, even fatty meat and lard, which many people on earth avoid, are considered luxury here. .

Lacking high-sugar and high-fat foods, carbohydrates are the only way these workers can fill their stomachs. Especially engaging in heavy physical labor is more likely to make people hungry.

It is normal for a worker in his prime to eat two catties of steamed buns a day.

The wages for the vast majority of workers working hard for a day are just to keep their families from starving to death. If there are a large number of people in the family, then the mother-in-law and children must find a way to get more food.

The children of workers in Changtan County will go down the river to catch fish and shrimp at the age of six or seven.

This is not just for fun, but more importantly, to fill your stomach.

On the other hand, at the age of thirteen or fourteen, they would enter the mines or workshops like their fathers and continue to work in mining or burning charcoal.

Day after day, year after year, generation after generation. There is no future, and there is no way out. It is like this for a day, for a year, for a lifetime, and for generations.

Workers don't have much savings. Resist minor illnesses, and die from major illnesses.

In order to see a doctor for his mother-in-law, Xiao Baoyi can only save money by eating Sanhe noodles by himself. In the end, I almost put myself in it.

This is the normal state of people here, everyone is used to it, and has become numb. Although the heart is unwilling, but in vain?

"Do you have money now? Your wife is sick and needs to be recuperated. Do you have money? What will happen to you in the end?" Niu Ben inserted every word, every word like a knife, every word like an arrow into the hearts of the workers present.

"You end up going back to the old way. You can only eat less in order to save money. But the mine deducted your wages and made you work overtime to top the penalty. You can only eat Sanhe noodles to save money.

But at that time your daughter-in-law will definitely not let you eat it again. So your wife can only feed you on an empty stomach, and her body is broken again. what can you do Borrow money or watch your wife die?

If you go to the mine to borrow money, the money from Liu Da's family is three-point interest, rolling interest. You will find that no matter what you do, you will still not be able to pay back the money from Mr. Liu's family. They find fault with your family every day.

In the end, you can only sell your home. You sold yourself to be a slave in the family of the big family Liu, and your wife went to the family of the big family Liu as a maidservant. You are bullied by the master every day, and your daughter-in-law will be bullied even more because of her good looks.

Let me ask you, what can you do? ! "

It was like a slap in the face, when Xiao Baoyi came back to his senses, his eyes were already filled with tears.

He begged: "Don't say it, Master, don't say it. I can't help it, I can't do anything, nothing..." The tall and thin man in his twenties fell to the ground at this moment, crying like a child.

Crying, crying in Xiao Baoyi's throat, resounding in everyone's heart.

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