At present, almost all the forces were used to build roads. There were almost no idlers along the planned railway route. If idlers were found, they would immediately be forcibly mobilized, which made many ruffians panic. Many ruffians who had nothing to do were helplessly dragged to build roads. Even the beggars with good hands and legs were forcibly dragged to build roads. These beggars were too much. If they were old and weak, it would be fine. But many of them were young and strong. It was a waste of manpower to beg on the street all day. These people were too lazy and had to be dragged to reform through labor.
This was also an order personally issued by Li An, allowing his subordinates and the people of the clans along the way to capture the ruffians and beggars without any scruples and let these people work on the roads. If anyone was disobedient, they could directly use whips to greet them. This era was not an era where the Virgin Mary ran amok. Even if hundreds of ordinary people died, no one would care. Moreover, the children of the various clans were all working on the roads. Why would these beggars and ruffians be able to escape? Only when these people were dragged to work would the other workers feel comfortable.
Of course, the core children and people with high status of each family naturally did not have to work. This was also to save some face for them. This era was like this. People were not equal. How could ordinary people compare with patriarchs and core children? It was a serious insult to them to let people with high status work with ordinary people. The Tang dynasty also needed the help of these local bullies, so naturally, they had to save some face for these people.
"How is it going? How many beggars and ruffians who can work have been caught?"
Ang Lee asked.
Chen Long smiled and said, "I don't know about other places. Just in this city alone, we caught more than 50 people. However, these guys are not very cooperative! The ruffians act shamelessly and are very rude and unreasonable. The beggars, on the other hand, don't say anything, but they also don't do anything. It's almost as if they dig a piece of soil after being whipped, and then another piece of soil after being whipped.
Obviously, these ruffians and beggars were not qualified laborers. The efficiency of their work was less than 10% of that of ordinary laborers. More than 50 people were only equivalent to five people, at least for now. For these guys, it was necessary to prepare several supervisors for them. If they were not needed, these supervisors would work more than them.
After hearing Chen Long's answer, Li An could only smile bitterly. This situation was within his expectations. After all, these ruffians and beggars didn't work all year round, so they were naturally very unwilling to do manual labor. For this reason, they would naturally resist in all sorts of ways. In addition, their working ability and skills were also lacking. However, as long as they practiced a little, these people would be able to quickly adapt. After all, they were all young people with hands and feet, so they still had the most basic ability to work. They just needed to be properly transformed. Labor could transform a person, and Li An was currently conducting this experiment to see if labor could really change a person, whether it could transform decadent beggars and slippery ruffians into qualified ordinary people.
.............................
.. Ang Lee could not help but laugh.
Chen Long said with a wry smile, "Assistant Minister Li, in order to make these people work well, we have dispatched at least ten supervisors to supervise them. But they are still working very slowly, and they are often whipped. According to the progress of these guys, it is better to let the ten supervisors work by themselves. This is not helping, it is more of a hindrance. "
"Yes, it is a hindrance for the time being, but as long as these guys are reformed, the situation will be greatly improved."
Ang Lee said.
"Assistant Minister Li is so confident in reforming them?"
Chen Long said.
Ang Lee nodded and said, "Of course. There is no one in the world who can't be reformed. Even if these guys are stubborn, I can reform them and make them obedient. I don't believe it. Let's go to the construction site and see for ourselves."
After saying that, Ang Lee led a group of people to the construction site of the railway embankment, ready to see for himself what was going on with these guys.
The first thing to do was to lay the embankment, which was the most basic work and also the simplest work. It only needed enough manpower. As for the materials, there was no need to worry. The material of the embankment was very simple. It was just ordinary compacted soil, which was the largest and most basic material. In addition, some crushed stones and cement were needed, which were relatively easy to obtain, especially soil. It was almost everywhere, so the embankment could be repaired with enough manpower.
In the early stage of the road construction, because most of the important materials had not been delivered, more than ninety percent of the craftsmen were busy repairing the embankment. Some were responsible for digging mud, some were responsible for transportation, and some were responsible for compacting. The more compacted the embankment, the better the quality, and the easier it would be to maintain it in the future.
Ang Lee soon arrived at a construction site and saw the people working. In this area, there were more than five hundred people working, 30 supervisors, and some miscellaneous commanders. The total number of people was no less than six hundred. It looked like a boiling cauldron of voices.
"Assistant Minister Li, you're here!"
A petty official greeted.
Ang Lee frowned and said, "Half of these 30 supervisors are actually taking care of more than fifty ruffians and beggars. It seems that these guys are very difficult to deal with!"
"Yes! Assistant Minister Li, these guys are too lazy. They just do a little work and they say they're tired. There's really no other way. We can only increase supervision so that they can work a little more. But unlike ordinary people, they work quite hard. "
The petty official said helplessly.
Ang Lee nodded and said, "You guys can't work like a swarm of bees! You have to divide into groups, with dozens of people in each group. Whichever group does the most work will be rewarded. Those who do the least work will work an extra hour to make up for the work missed. In addition, these guys also need to be trained well. Didn't they just come? As long as they train well for a few days, I believe they will change. I have confidence in them! In addition, if they make progress, their reduction will be 30% higher than ordinary people, haha! "
For these ordinary people, they still needed to be motivated with benefits. If they didn't do well, a light punishment would be enough. As for these ruffians and beggars who were unwilling to work, more rewards should be promised. Of course, the punishment should also be heavier. Otherwise, it would be difficult to reform these guys.
In Ang Lee's impression, these ruffians and beggars didn't fall into this state because they couldn't find a way to make a living. They could work like ordinary people to support their families, but they just didn't want to change. Then, they muddled along and became ruffians and beggars. As long as they were reformed with labor, Ang Lee believed that they could succeed. If a few of them failed, it would be fine if they were beaten to death. It was impossible for people to pursue Ang Lee. Besides, Ang Lee wouldn't do it himself. It was all done by his subordinates. Ang Lee just gave an order.
Ang Lee's order was to let the petty officials reform these ruffians and beggars. They could be punished slightly, but he never let the petty officials beat them to death. No matter how you looked at it, Ang Lee didn't do anything wrong. The only ones who were at fault were the petty officials or the ruffians and beggars themselves.
"I'm so tired, so tired. Let me rest for a while!"
A ruffian lay on the ground, looking like a dead pig that wasn't afraid of boiling water. Anyway, he just didn't want to work.
"Get up, get up. You've only been working for a while, and you're already tired. Get up quickly."
A supervisor next to him picked up a whip and whipped the ruffian who was lying on the ground.
"Ouch, ouch, it hurts."
The ruffian rolled on the ground in pain and kept avoiding the whip, but he just refused to get up. This kind of rascal behavior seemed to be contagious. The rest of the ruffians and beggars all followed suit. They all lay on the ground like ruffians and pretended to be dead. More than 50 people all lay on the ground and refused to work. They resisted in this rascal way, resisting the tyranny of the Tang dynasty and Ang Lee's decision.
"Get up, all of you get up."
The 15 supervisors whipped the ruffians at the same time, looking very angry.
In the whole team, only the supervisors who were in charge of supervising the ruffians and beggars were prepared with whips. The rest of the supervisors who were in charge of the common people were only responsible for supervision and guidance. They didn't need to prepare whips, let alone whip the common people. The common people were more self-aware. When they were tired, they didn't have much time to rest. They just rested for a while occasionally.
Even though he'd expected such a situation, Li An was still slightly surprised when he saw these ruffians and beggars acting so shamelessly with his own eyes. These 50 people were really too lazy. They'd actually rather be whipped and roll on the ground than put in the effort to work.
If they didn't have the strength to work, it would be fine. But they obviously had the strength, but they just refused to work. This made the petty officials and supervisors feel very helpless. If it weren't for the law of the Tang dynasty, they would have already killed these people.
"Assistant Minister Li, these guys are too …"
Chen Long shook his head. He didn't know how to describe it.
Ang Lee looked sideways. The common people who were working next to him were all looking at him as they worked. More than half of the common people who were working had a mocking look on their faces. They seemed to be very happy. They didn't have much energy to work, but when they saw these guys being whipped and rolling on the ground, they couldn't help laughing. They worked even harder. A small number of common people who didn't sleep well immediately woke up when they saw the lively scene next to them.
"Haha! This Wu Erchuan, he also has a day like this. "
A middle-aged common person said to his companion who was working next to him with a smile.
"This guy stole two of our eggs last time and refused to admit it. I saw it, but he still refused to admit it. This kind of rascal should be punished like this."
The man next to him said with a smile.
Although they were laughing and chatting, the rhythm of their work was not affected in the slightest. They were working at the same speed as before. There was no change at all.
These common people had been used to working. Even if they closed their eyes, they could do the work well. They wouldn't be affected by the work they were doing. They didn't need to use their brains to do this kind of physical work.
"Assistant Minister Li, are we going to keep beating them like this?"
Chen Long said helplessly.
Ang Lee sighed and said, "Add meat to the common people's food. It must be fragrant. But these guys only have salted vegetables, steamed buns, and water. Don't give them anything else. Let's see how it goes first."
Obviously, Ang Lee intended to use delicious food to motivate these ruffians and rascals. He wanted to see if it would work. If it didn't work, he would use other methods.
In the process of building the railway, the common people along the way were doing voluntary work. They didn't get paid, but they didn't need to solve the problem of food by themselves. The Tang dynasty would prepare delicious and nutritious meals for them to ensure that they had enough strength when working. They wouldn't be unable to work because of poor food.
In fact, the food prepared by the Great Tang was much better than the food that ordinary people usually ate at home. It was to the point that those children who were not old enough also clamored to join in when they heard that there was good food to be had. In this situation, it depended on whether these children could really do the work. Those who couldn't or were too young would definitely be rejected. Those who could work could stay, but they had to be at least half an ordinary laborer.
Therefore, on the construction site, many children about ten years old could be seen. Although they were young, they could barely work half as hard as adults. Although they were still at a disadvantage, Ang Lee didn't care about the food as long as it could increase the progress of the road construction. The consumption of food for laborers was the least, accounting for less than 10% of the total cost of road construction. The biggest cost of road construction was the rails and various rare materials. The consumption of food for the common people was not large, and it was even more insignificant to add more children.
When eating, the common people who were working were all happy when they saw so much delicious meat in the food. Even the tired children were quite happy. Although they were very tired, they couldn't eat so much good food at home. However, they could eat such delicious food here. For this reason, they had to work harder. They felt that it was very worthwhile. For the sake of delicious food, they were willing to work hard.
At the same time, the families of these children were also very proud of their children. Looking at the ruffians and beggars rolling on the ground and the excellent performance of their young children, they felt a strong sense of pride in their hearts. They felt that their children were very good and strong. They were worthy of being their children and didn't let them down. They deeply despised those lazy guys and even spat at those ruffians and beggars from time to time. If it weren't for the Tang dynasty supervisors controlling the situation, these common people would have put down their work and taught those ruffians and beggars a lesson in person. In the hearts of these simple people, these lazy guys deserved a beating. The supervisors of the Tang dynasty had beaten them too lightly. If they were allowed to do it, they would definitely be able to cure these ruffians and make them work obediently.
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