"Ah Sheng, Ah Sheng!" When the familiar local accent reached Chen Asheng's ears, he had an illusion in a trance, as if he was back on the Guangzhou dock again. At that time, his brother Yong Lin, who had been separated, shouted
We want him to assemble on board the Rangoon.
Unfortunately, although Chen Yonglin had repeatedly told Chen Asheng to go to the east side of the pier, Asheng, a silly boy, still got on the wrong boat - he was dizzy and was scattered by the crowd, and ran to the west side of the Guangzhou pier, where there was a ship called "Ocean"
"鏏Hao" is pronounced similarly to "Yangon", but it goes to Annan.
The illiterate Chen Asheng confirmed with others several times and was completely convinced that this was the "Yangon", so he waited for Chen Yonglin on the wrong ship, and was finally pulled to Annan. - Although he did not find Chen Yonglin on the ship at the time,
He thought he was on the right ship, so he could only wait for Brother Yonglin to come to him at the bow of the ship. But Chen Yonglin, who was on the right ship, chose the same thing as him, and the two brothers became separated.
It is very common for cousins like Chen Yonglin and Chen Asheng to be separated in the tide of immigration. Unfortunately, the two brothers were separated very widely - one arrived in Bago and the other in Guangning.
It wasn't until the ship left that Chen Asheng realized that it was not a ship going to Myanmar. He was so anxious that he was about to jump into the sea. Fortunately, a fellow Guizhou fellow on the ship stopped him and said, "What are you afraid of? Guangning is not far from Guangzhou."
Yeah, when you get rich and go home, are you afraid that you won’t be able to see your brother?”
With his fellow villagers, Chen Ah Sang made up his mind and was dragged to Ha Long Port in Annan. Although this place was called a port, it only had a few wooden piers built at the beginning. Chen Ah Sheng followed his fellow villagers as soon as he got off the boat.
The fellow was from the city of Guizhou and was already in his thirties. After he stepped onto the wooden plank road that extended into the sea, he turned to Chen Asheng and said, "Would you rather farm or work? I want to work."
"
Chen Asheng was good at serving rice fields and had also worked part-time in the city. He was afraid that he and this fellow villager would also be separated, so he said with a hint of pleading in his voice: "I have worked as a worker, and I want to follow Uncle Huang."
When the man heard this, he knew what was going on with this big boy. He couldn't help but feel sympathy and said: "Then you follow me. My name is Huang Yisheng. I am the second uncle in the family. You call me second uncle - forget it.
We have different surnames, so you can call me Second Uncle, and it will seem more intimate." Chen Asheng heard the care in his words, and excitedly shouted "Second Uncle!"
When the two "nephews" walked onto the beach from the plank road, they were stunned by the scene on the beach. The place was full of touts with various accents. They seemed to have entered the den of human traffickers:
"Come, come, come! The Annan Governor's Mansion has begun recruiting troops! Han'er has priority, and will be paid for two months before entering the barracks!"
"Look at the big banner - Dingguo Gong's business! Call in the stewards and supervise the work! It doesn't matter if you don't know how to read! A big trading company is guaranteed!"
"Is there anyone who knows how to take care of the rice fields? If you come here, you will be given a hundred acres of good rice fields and two slave laborers! There is no limit on Han people or seedlings. Those from China will be counted!"
"I am the guest of honor in the Jin Prince's family. I hire Shuitianli to be a good figure with a high salary. I don't have to work. I am a supervisor. The monthly salary is two taels, and there will be dividends at the end of the year!"
"Is there anyone who can handle a buffalo? Is there anyone who can handle a buffalo?"
Although Huang Yisheng was twice as old as Chen Asheng, he had never encountered such a posture before. He looked at each other with his cheap nephew, and both of them were a little dazed. Chen Asheng grabbed his second uncle's clothes and made up his mind to never leave this wedding.
The two nephews and uncles walked around in a small circle, and Huang Yisheng even gave up most of the idea of going to work - the demand for paddy field experts in Annan was too strong, and several royal guests even offered a high salary of two taels of silver a month, so that
Huang Yisheng felt that his future might be better if he followed his nephew.
While I was struggling, I heard the sound of a gong in the distance, and people swarmed in that direction. Although my nephew and uncle didn't know what was going on, they followed them resolutely.
I saw seven or eight men holding an unknown flag, standing in an open space with their chests and belly protruding. Under the flag were two large bamboo baskets, and a group of strong men carrying knives and blunderbuss were guarding them.
When the crowd gathered, a man in Chinese clothes took out a metal trumpet and shouted to the crowd: "Gentlemen, I am the steward of Prince Lu's family, and the person next to me is from Marshal Deng's family who was stationed in Myanmar.
! Take a good look at the flag first. This is the character 'Lu', and this is the prince's flag!"
"You just came to this place, so you may not know it. Let me tell you, anyone who dares to raise a flag here is true! Otherwise, it will be a crime of beheading!"
"Quotes aside - the day before yesterday, a large open-pit coal mine was discovered twenty miles away from here! There was coal under three feet of soil. Our trading company is calling for stewards and supervisors! Those who can read more than 2,000 yuan will get five taels a month, and those who can't read will receive five taels a month.
Three taels per month, cash! After signing the contract, I will give you two months’ salary first! I will give you a house and a female slave to serve! It doesn’t matter whether you are Han or Miao, as long as you are from China!”
After saying these words, the man bent down and grabbed a handful of silver beans from the bamboo basket, spread his palms and said, "Look, here are half a pair of silver beans! At least twelve will be given after signing the contract!" See you!
The silver beans fell from his hand into the basket with a clatter. The crowd roared and exploded.
This thing is so attractive that it is much more persuasive than those who just moved their mouths on the beach before. One by one of the more than 300 people who got off the boat, they all shouted, I am willing to go!
When the steward saw this, he smiled proudly and shouted with a tin trumpet: "Those who can read 2,000 words stand on my left, those who can read 1,000 words stand in the middle, and those who can't read stand on the right! We don't dare to interview people here.
Lying!"
However, except for a few people who looked at each other and stood up, a large crowd of people at the scene stood on the right hand side of the steward.
It was easy for the stewards of Prince Lu's Mansion to tell. Those who stood up didn't look confident. It was estimated that these guys would only know a few hundred words. They were here to try their luck - once the interview questions were simple.
Huang Yisheng almost regretted it at this time. The sales channel of "Nanjing Daily" has been spread in Guizhou for several years. When he was working, he especially liked to listen to literate co-workers reading serial novels and so on. At that time, he was indeed tempted to become literate. But Cheng
Literacy classes here charge tuition fees, but Erjiu Huang had an idea at that time!
Most of the people at the scene must have thought this way. Especially the few guys who stood up stumbled, read a short paragraph without guessing, and then signed the contract with the silver beans, which was like a hot pot.
The soldering iron left a deep mark on the hearts of everyone present.
After the literate person signed and fingerprinted, the manager put the contract away and said, "These are the ones in charge. Let's start calling for supervisors! They need to be strong and young bachelors!"
After hearing this, Huang Yisheng looked at Chen Asheng and said: "Asheng, hurry up and squeeze forward!" Chen Asheng used his strength, swayed his arms, and quickly squeezed to the front of the team with his second uncle. Huang Yisheng bent down and pushed forward.
, while ruthlessly pulling off the sparse beard above his lips.
Although there were some blood on his upper lip after pulling off his beard, the Deng family manager in charge of recruitment seemed to recognize Huang Yisheng's ruthlessness and gave him a contract. In this way, the two nephews had joined the "Guangning Coal Industry"
", became two overseers holding whips.
...
The training time was very short. As General Gong Xian continued to transport prisoners of the Ruan Dynasty to the rear, the Guangning Coal Industry was soon opened. The steward of the Nalu Palace did not lie. These slave workers who had their big toes cut off were used
When the shovel dug down three feet, he saw black and shiny coal.
Chen Asheng's job is very simple. He and nine other supervisors are responsible for 150 slave workers. The fate of these people is in their hands.
Behind the supervisors, there were thugs hired by King Lu—actually Deng Zilong’s former servants who were responsible for security work. These people had Wanli 14-type bird guns in their hands.
When he swung the first whip, the honest Chen Asheng felt that the stimulation was mixed with more fear. When he swung the second whip, the prisoner cried in pain, which made him almost throw away the whip, turned around and ran out of here.
.
When he wielded the tenth lash, he had almost no sympathy for these slave workers. After all, these people spoke words he did not understand, and looked at him with a fierce look in their eyes.
When he couldn't remember how many times he had whipped the slave workers, Chen Asheng and the people who were whipped were completely numb.
For Chen Asheng, whipping slave labor is a job; for the suffering slave labor, being whipped is a fate. Both parties have completely accurate positioning of their lives, and thus both have found the fulcrum of their souls and no longer struggle for
This feels painful.
Only when he heard Uncle Huang's shouts full of local accents, Chen Asheng's iron heart softened, and he used the whip to make a crisp sound in the air instead of hitting a lazy guy on the back - which is Chen Asheng's biggest