Under Niu Ridge, hammering and trumpets sounded one after another.
A total of more than ten people are chiseling and grinding stones, and carrying them to the river for stacking. When the rocky beach on the other side is leveled out, the collected stones will be shipped over.
These masons are all semi-amateur.
In a small town, how can there be so many professional jobs to do?
They usually make a living by farming, and working as stonemasons is purely a part-time job to earn extra money.
Even amateur stonemasons are relatively powerful and not as easy to bully as ordinary tenants.
Therefore, Mr. Huang is very kind, as long as they go to the mountains to quarry, each will be paid ten Wen a day, and they will be provided with a dry meal and a meal of porridge.
"Dinner is served, dinner is served!" shouted the foreman.
The meal time is around ten o'clock in the morning every day and around four o'clock in the afternoon every day. Eating only two meals a day is a common practice in remote villages, but it is no different than eating three meals on Lead Mountain.
More than a dozen masons sat together, and when they picked up their rice bowls, they exploded immediately.
A stonemason named Huang Shun shouted: "Didn't you say that you can see meat once every five days? Why are they all pickles!"
The foreman sneered: "It's good to have dry rice, but you want to eat meat?"
Huang Zunde was also a little scared when he made a fuss at the inn last time. It's not that the tenants are afraid of rebellion, but that the tenants will make trouble again, not to mention delaying Zhao Xianggong's construction period, and even losing face with Zhao Xianggong.
As a result, the tenants who leveled the rocky beach only had one worker from each family, and the rest of the family could go to busy spring plowing.
And the workers who go into the mountains to quarry and log, not only have the treatment of ordinary tenants, but also can eat meat every five days.
On the first day when the order was issued, everyone really saw the meat, although the portion was very scarce.
At this time, it happened to be the sixth day, and they were supposed to eat meat, but they didn't even have any oily smell, so they were asked to eat pickles!
Master Huang said that if you eat meat, you will eat meat?
The domestic slaves in charge of logistics and food, the foremen in charge of supervision, didn't they take the opportunity to make money?
Layers of deductions, only pickles left.
The masons were eating brown rice and nibbling pickles, their faces full of anger.
Going into the mountains to quarry rocks is heavy work, one meal is dry, the other meal is thin, and you can only eat pickles, how can you be full? It is equivalent to working hungry every day.
Moreover, they are all strong laborers in the family, without them, spring plowing will definitely be delayed.
"Uncle Yao, have you heard? Mr. Zhao, who is from other places, pays more than ten Wen a day." A stonemason whispered.
Uncle Yao's name is Huang Yao, and he is quite old, in fact, he is only in his twenties.
Huang Yao had seen the world, and was sent to the county town every year to hold grain, that is, to send the village's land tax to the county government. One year, he was retained by the magistrate to help repair the city wall for half a year.
In the past six months, I didn't earn a lot of wages, but my father at home starved to death, and my mother chose to hang herself in order to save food.
Huang Yao asked: "How much does Master Zhao pay?"
The stonemason said: "Master Zhao gave 1,000 taels of silver, and 800 taels to buy the rocky beach. Master Huang is responsible for leveling the river beach. The other two hundred miles are all for the wages of stone quarrymen and woodcutters. Master Zhao buys stone materials. , The cost of the timber is calculated separately."
The stonemasons were shocked, Mr. Zhao is really rich!
A stonemason said: "Our stone quarryers and those who fell trees paid two hundred taels for their wages?"
"Isn't it?" said the stonemason before, "Master Zhao's wages at the beginning were 80 yuan a day for the quarryman, 60 yuan a day for the woodcutter, and 50 yuan a day for the rocky beach. Now it's good, we only pay 10 yuan a day for quarrying." Wen, 5 Wen a day for cutting down trees, not even wages at the rocky beach!"
Another stonemason said: "I also heard people say that Mr. Zhao didn't press for the construction period, and advised Mr. Huang to start work after the spring plowing."
"Then why is Mr. Huang so anxious?"
"I'm in a hurry to get the money. The warehouse has not been built yet, so Mr. Zhao took out a thousand taels. The remaining money must be several thousand taels?"
"Yellow skin like a dog!"
"This Mr. Zhao is really a good man. I heard that the tenant who was injured, he went to send money overnight to make amends. He is a foreigner, how dare he bully us locals? It's all Mr. Huang who is playing tricks!"
"Oh, don't talk about it, this is fate. We are born with low fate!"
""
Before the meal was finished, the foreman began to urge again, and everyone could only dig into their mouths.
In the afternoon, suddenly a stone rolled down, and a stonemason could not avoid it.sp; Just woke up and was about to drink water, but was whipped away by the supervisor: "Still lazy, go to work!"
Just want to fight, just want to rush, it is best to be exhausted.
One of the paddy fields that this person cultivated was not bad. If this person is exhausted, he will wait for rent arrears this year, and if he takes the opportunity to tease him, he will definitely be robbed of his tenant next year.
The environment is dangerous, and if the same kind is dead, they can be divided and eaten!
All the workers stopped their work and glared at the supervisor one after another, but they did not dare to rebel.
"What are you looking at? Ask for a beating!" the foreman shouted.
The accumulated anger was suppressed again, and everyone could only bury their heads in their work.
Suddenly, Zhao Han took Xiaohong and Xiaocui and walked slowly towards the construction site, followed by two inn clerks.
The foreman rushed to meet him, nodded and said, "Mr. Zhao, why are you here?"
Zhao Han smiled and said, "I'll check the progress."
The foreman patted his chest and said: "Don't worry, Mr. Zhao, I promise to work quickly. Anyone who dares to be disobedient will beat him to death!"
The supervisors echoed one after another.
Zhao Han persuaded loudly: "People in the village, look down and see, it's better not to hit people. I'm in business, and I pay attention to harmony to make money. If you beat people up, what kind of peace is there? Everyone hates me. "
Many nearby tenants heard this and thought that Mr. Zhao was reasonable, but Mr. Huang in this town was very bad.
Zhao Han asked two inn clerks to put down the wooden barrels they had picked up, and shouted loudly: "Come here, folks. You have worked hard, and I have prepared some tea as a reward for you all."
The foreman didn't dare to stop him, so he quickly flattered: "Mr. Zhao is really benevolent." Then he shouted at everyone, "Hurry up and have tea!"
The tenants gathered around one after another, fetching bowls and waiting to drink tea.
Zhao Han smiled warmly and expressed concern and condolences: "How are you doing? Don't worry, you will work for me, and I promise not to let you suffer."
Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay.
Suddenly, a tenant knelt down and cried bitterly: "Master Zhao, help me! ?