After a tiring day, Zhang Rushen chanted until his mouth was dry. When he returned to the small temple before dark, he was already very tired, but he still had to worry about the 'tail' following him. Liu Fucheng pestered to follow him, and Zhang Rushen couldn't drive him away. Both of them couldn't be seen, and arguing would only cause trouble, so they could only let Liu Fucheng follow.
The capital of the past was very different from the capital of the present. It would be a compliment to say that it was a big village. The place where the rich lived was naturally better, but the small temple where Zhang Rushen hid was relatively remote. It was a place where the poor lived, so the environment was bad.
"Why is it so smelly here?" When Liu Fucheng arrived in front of the temple, he didn't even have time to look at the broken temple door before he smelled a stench. This stench was obviously caused by the fermentation of sewage mixed with feces. It made people want to vomit.
Zhang Rushen said indifferently, "There is a stinky ditch behind the temple. The people living next to the ditch are poor people who work hard and play tricks. This ditch hasn't been cleaned for decades, so naturally it stinks. Endure it, it's better than dying. "
"Brother Zhang, you are also a rich businessman, how can you choose such a stinky place to hide?" Liu Fucheng relied on the shade of his ancestors to become a Jinyi Guard Qianhu. That was the number of generations of officials. He lived a luxurious life since he was young and had never really suffered. Now that he escaped, he also felt that being an odd-job servant was too hard. Seeing Zhang Rushen was like seeing a savior.
Who knew that Zhang Rushen's life was worse than Liu Fucheng's.
Although Zhang Rushen's family was big, he traveled north and south, and even went to the north to do business with Female Zhenren, so his adaptability was stronger. He could endure the stench of the ditch even more. But now it was difficult for Liu Fucheng to turn back, so he could only make do with living in the temple.
The 'Revolutionary Army' occupied the capital too quickly, so quickly that Liu Fucheng didn't have time to think about how to escape. He was a greedy person and really didn't want to give up the family wealth that he had accumulated over the years. But when the security department led a team to catch him, he left his family and escaped alone.
The Liu Mansion was quickly closed down, and the members of the Liu Family were quarantined one by one. Due to Liu Fucheng's special identity, he was one of the key targets of investigation, so the arrest of him had never stopped. The more they couldn't catch him, the more worried the people in the Security Department would be.
Liu Fucheng hid here and there like a mouse. He only felt more at ease when he reached the small temple where Zhang Rushen was staying. That night, he asked Zhang Rushen, "Brother Zhang, what are your plans for the next step?" But Zhang Rushen only sneered and ignored him. The relationship between the two of them was just like that. They were on guard against each other, yet they cooperated with each other.
Half a month had passed since Zhou Qingfeng took over the capital. The most troublesome and thorny tasks were already on track. The Revolutionary Army had gained a lot from the confiscation of the official's property. Not only did they earn a lot of money, but they also got more than 100,000 tons of food for free. There were hundreds of imperial farms, tenancy fields, and private fields outside the city alone. The elite of the North China Plain was controlled by the officials of the capital.
In an era of chaos and war, the price of food was bound to skyrocket. But after the Revolutionary Army entered the city, they forced all grain stores to be included in the state-owned system and sell food at a fair price. Those who didn't obey were immediately charged with the crime of speculating and profiteering without mercy. The price of food in this cold winter immediately fell from three or four taels to five or six taels per stone to less than one tael.
Such a low price of food was unheard of in a hundred years. It directly caused the people at the bottom to buy crazily, but the Revolutionary Army was open to sell. The grain stores were open 24 hours and there was no limit to the purchase.
There were millions of people in the entire capital region. In just a few days, more than 100,000 tons of food were snapped up. The Revolutionary Army even took the initiative to send the food to the countryside by carriage to remote and poor places. They ensured that the people had low-priced food to eat. If someone was really poor, they would simply give them relief. At the same time, a large number of labor was concentrated and placed in the collective farms after the land reform.
The food seized from the officials was not enough to sell. Zhou Qingfeng deliberately flew to North Korea and Goa. He transported more than 100,000 tons of food from the two colonies. The Revolutionary Army completely stabilized the food price while not mobilizing the food reserves in their territory. As long as they controlled the population and stabilized the grassroots, no one could stir up trouble.
Once the two methods of cracking down on the officials and selling food at a fair price were used, the entire capital region immediately became quiet. The common people were satisfied with the benefits and accepted the change of dynasties very calmly. Although the price paid was not small, the image of the Revolutionary Army's benevolent government and love for the people was spread through this incident.
Zhou Qingfeng even personally wrote an article in the newspaper to boast that even if he sold the food at a high price, the harvest would not be more than a million taels of silver. But now that he sold food at a low price and gained millions of people's hearts, the country was set.
"Tsk … this is fake mercy. Plundering the officials was enough for him. Now, he is just using our hard-earned wealth to buy people's hearts. " Liu Fucheng read the article in the newspaper and scolded angrily. "It's not like we're scattering his wealth. Of course, he won't feel bad."
Who would feel good thinking about all their years of accumulation going down the drain?
Liu Fucheng continued to scold and mumble. When he flipped the newspaper again, he saw another news — the municipal renovation project was about to be launched. Currently, they were preparing to recruit laborers. They would be recruited from the vicinity of the project, mainly as work relief.
Before he could read the specific text, Liu Fucheng heard a shout from outside the temple to open the door. The novice monk in the temple went to answer, and all the wanted criminals in the temple became alert, ready to escape at any time. But after a while, the novice monk came back and said, "The neighborhood committee said that the stinky ditch behind our temple needs to be renovated. Tomorrow, everyone will go to work to clean up the silt."
What …? Liu Fucheng and Zhang Rushen both popped their heads out of their respective houses with a dumbfounded look on their faces.
Not only did they live in this stinky place, but they also had to clean up this stinky place?
"I'm not going." Liu Fucheng was annoyed. He closed the door, and a voice came from behind the door. "What a joke! This stinky ditch is so dirty, how could anyone dig it? No one would go even if they offered money. "
Zhang Rushen also frowned. He had suffered a lot in doing business, but it didn't mean that he was willing to suffer. He lived in this shabby place to hide, not to dig a stinky ditch. But he was more mature, so he asked the abbot a few more questions.
The abbot said that in the past, the Ming government had tried to dig this stinky ditch many times. After all, if the ditch was blocked, it would affect the officials. But every time, the thunder was loud, but the rain was small. Only a few people would go to do the digging. Previously, the most they could do was to call a few poor people to do the digging. When the money was spent, the matter would naturally be over.
"It's okay, it's okay. That stinky ditch has been like this for decades. It can't be dug." The abbot himself didn't want to dig the ditch, so he didn't take it seriously.
Hearing that the abbot said it was okay, Liu Fucheng and Zhang Rushen felt more at ease. But when they slept until dawn the next day, they heard someone outside the temple banging on the door and shouting, "Time to work, time to work. You wild monks, don't think of slacking off. Come out. Otherwise, you won't be able to buy cheap rations next month. "
In the middle of winter, a few monks ran out of the temple in their monk robes. They hurriedly opened the temple door, and even had to please the small officials who came to knock on the door. After that, they came to persuade Liu Fucheng and Zhang Rushen to go to the construction site to do the digging.
"Didn't they say it's okay?" Zhang Rushen was quite annoyed.
"Aiya, the people from the neighborhood committee said that if we don't go to work, we won't be able to buy the rations. Now we are all registered people, and the grain store sells the rations according to the number of people and the tickets. If they don't give us the tickets, we will have to starve next month. "The abbot was also flustered, but there was nothing he could do.
Liu Fucheng and Zhang Rushen could only get up and leave. On the way, Liu Fucheng asked the abbot, "Can't I buy rations from the black market? I would rather pay more than to dig that stinky ditch. "
The abbot sneered, "Don't you think it's too ostentatious for you to have rations without the tickets? The neighborhood committee is watching. Even if you claim to be sick, they will come to see you in person. I have spent a lot of effort to cover up for you two. If you two mess around, don't blame me for kicking you out. "
A few real monks brought a group of fake monks and rushed to the site of the so-called 'river ditch cleaning assembly'. A few new 'revolutionary army' civil servants shouted a few times on the stage and assigned tasks according to different streets. They asked for a piece of land and assigned responsibility to each individual.
The abbot and the other monks had never done this kind of work before. They went to beg and said, 'We are outside of the three realms and not in the five elements.' However, the civil servants glared at them and scolded, 'A bunch of swindlers, if you have the guts, don't eat and pretend to be a god.'
'Bah … I can't run now.'
Liu Fucheng and Zhang Rushen, who were wearing monk robes, each took their tools. One of them held a shovel, and the other carried a basket. They looked at each other face to face, and finally sighed. They could only resign themselves to their fate and dig the mud in the stinky ditch.
The stinky ditch behind the temple was more than one kilometer long, and there were thousands of families living on both sides. There were no less than ten thousand young men and women who were mobilized. There were also officials from the Ministry of Works of the Ming Dynasty who came out to plan and command. Some houses that were built randomly even had to be demolished to make way for the river. Naturally, there were some people who cried and made a scene, and some women even lay on the ground and wailed.
However, this didn't stop the start of the project. Anyone who made a scene was first whipped and then settled down. The civil servants of the 'revolutionary army' had obviously seen this kind of thing a lot, and it was very easy to deal with it. Anyway, the project had to be done, and those who obstructed and slacked off were the enemies of the people. Then they wouldn't be polite.
The mud in the stinky ditch had accumulated for many years. When Zhang Rushen dug it with the shovel, the mud that was turned over was unbearably stinky. Liu Fucheng was even more dizzy from the smoke, and he wanted to just up and leave. Only the abbot of the temple shouted, "Come on, don't be unreasonable. Just by looking at you, I can tell that you're not monks, but people from rich families. Be careful! "
This was really bitter!
Although Liu Fucheng's cultivation wasn't high, he was still a cultivator, and his strength and endurance were far stronger than ordinary people. However, he carried the mud to the carriage twice, and his whole body seemed to collapse. However, when he saw the poor people around him working in full swing, he could only continue to do it.
Zhang Rushen kept digging mud for people, and his whole body had to stand in the stinky ditch. In that ditch, there were all kinds of messy things. If there was only mud, it would be fine, but there was even feces and urine. It was even possible for a water snake or something to jump out of it. That would really be fatal!
When someone came to carry a basket, Zhang Rushen had to endure the nausea and say, "It's been hard." Most of the mobilized people laughed, feeling that this old monk was very kind, and repeatedly said that it was not hard. Someone said happily, "What's hard about it? After lunch, there's still a meal to eat. I just went to take a look, and there's enough white rice with fish and meat. Everyone will have a share, and it's delicious! "
Someone also shouted, "After finishing the work in the afternoon, we can get another five cents. This work is a bit dirty, but it's not tiring and not hard. This stinky ditch has been a scourge for us for so many years, and it's good to work for a month to dig it. In the future, when there's running water passing through here, every family will benefit. "
You poor people make it sound good, but we don't want to do it — Liu and Zhang worked hard for a day, and their bodies stunk, but they only earned a meal and five cents. The two looked at the copper coins in their hands and wanted to cry, because this work would last for a long time. Liu Fucheng muttered in pain, "If I knew this, I wouldn't have gone with you yesterday."
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