Cui Xiaohua and Cui Xiaoshi, siblings, were transferred from the Machine Tool Research Institute to the railway construction site this time to be responsible for technical consultation on railway construction. Before they came, they studied in the railway construction training class run by Teacher Yaoguang for three months.
"Sister, these victims are so pitiful. I almost vomited after eating the egg soup. I eat this for breakfast every day in the school cafeteria. In addition to using some starch to cover the debt, there are only two or three eggs in a large bucket, all filled with wild vegetables and water. You
Look at them licking the bowl clean." Cui Xiaoshi said with some nausea.
"Huh, shut up! You little bastard. When our family fled the famine and came to Zunhua, you were so hungry that you screamed. I secretly gave you all my cakes to eat. You were beaten by your mother a lot. Only then did you eat.
After two years of having enough to eat, you have forgotten your roots. If you keep talking nonsense, I will slap you if you don't think I'm big-hearted." Cui Xiaohua glared at her brother fiercely and cursed.
Cui Xiaoshi shrank his neck and did not dare to say anything.
"You've all eaten. When you're done, get on the carriage and go to the construction site." A man in his fifties came over and said.
"Uncle, where is the construction site?" Han Laowu asked.
"You are all stonemasons here. You go to the quarry and are responsible for digging mountains, blasting stones, and crushing the stones into small pieces of cat's claw stone, which are used to lay railway ballast."
"Uncle, where are my family members? How will they be accommodated?"
"You don't need to worry about it. You will have a house to live in when you arrive. Each family will have a cotton tent, an iron stove, and briquettes. They will buy their own briquettes. They will be paid monthly. If you are in difficulty, you can advance two months' wages in advance."
"Ah! There are also wages. I thought I was in charge of food." Han Laowu said in surprise.
The middle-aged man looked at him with contempt and said: "Who is our master? How can we work without being paid? We cannot afford to lose that man."
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"Uncle, how much does it cost per month?"
"You are a stonemason responsible for splitting big rocks. It is a skilled and heavy manual labor. You can earn one silver coin a month, which is one tael of silver. If the elderly, children, and women in your family are willing to contribute, you can take over the hammering of small rocks.
The work is piece-rate, and the payment is calculated by the ton, and the payment is made every ton, 7 copper coins per ton. The payment is made at that time, and there will never be any arrears."
The rocks are very heavy, and a ton of rocks is not much. You sit down and slowly smash them with a sledgehammer and a small hammer. Women and children can do this job.
The women use sledgehammers to smash the rocks into small pieces, and the children use small hammers to smash them into smaller ballasts. Han Laowu and his family can smash a ton of rocks in two or three days.
"Uncle, I heard that we are in charge of food at the construction site."
"Yes, you have three meals a day. You go to the kitchen and line up to prepare meals. There is an extra meal every ten days. You have braised potatoes, fat pork and big steamed buns. You don't have to spend money to eat. You will be satisfied. You can save all the money you earn."
When Han Laowu and his family heard this, they were so excited that they cried. As long as they had enough to eat, they could do whatever they could.
Smashing rocks is nothing. Just sit on the ground and hit it with a hammer. Sooner or later, it will be smashed. I didn’t expect that the elderly and children also have the opportunity to make money.
Just now they ate steamed cakes and egg soup, which were so delicious, fragrant and sweet. They were very satisfied with the food here.
Is there anywhere in the world where I can eat freely? Even when their family is in the best years, they only get half a year's worth of bran vegetables, and they can only eat half full.
"Sir, what is a train? We came to build the railway and said it was a train. No one has ever seen this train."
The middle-aged man smiled and said: "Don't tell me it's you, I haven't seen it either. But as mentioned above, when the train opens, we railway workers will be allowed to ride on it and run around from Tanggu to Beijing to experience it.
"
The 350-kilometer planned railway line from Tanggu to Zhangjiakou was divided into 35 project sections, one every ten kilometers. A large number of disaster victims were recruited and came to each section. Under the command of the construction workers, roadbed construction began.
Their families are placed in family camps and can do work such as collecting firewood, cooking, and washing clothes.
Workers go to work every day, mainly digging two ditches, building the excavated soil into a terrace-shaped roadbed, and then using huge stone rollers to compact it firmly.
Then, ballast stones are laid on the roadbed. After the ballast is laid, skilled workers will direct the laying of sleepers, and finally the ten-meter-long rails are installed on the sleepers.
This kind of narrow track weighs 22 kilograms per meter. A track is ten meters long and weighs 220 kilograms. It requires ten people to lift it to the sleepers.
Because this is a light rail, the total weight is not large, and a four-wheeled caravan with a load of more than seven tons can be used for long-distance transportation. More than 30 rods can be transported at a time.
These caravans were not only the main force in military transportation, but also played a huge role in the construction of the railway. They could transport seven tons of ballast or a large number of sleepers at a time. However, the speed was a bit slow, and more than a dozen oxen were needed to pull the cars.
The limited number of Sharmas in the army are all used for military transportation and will not be used here.
However, Yang Fan is not short of cattle, and there are plenty of them on the grassland. With some simple training of the calves, even if the land is not good enough, pulling a cart will not be a big problem. Calves are also used to pull carts on the Mongolian grasslands.
Han Laowu and his family settled down in the quarry. In addition to the work of breaking down stones, he would rotate every ten days and follow the caravan to deliver ballast to the construction bid section.
After all, smashing rocks is too monotonous and can easily cause mental problems for people. Therefore, we specially adopt a rotating delivery method to give them the opportunity to go out for some fresh air and relax their mood.
This job is very hard. Every day when Han Laowu comes home at night, he is so tired that he wants to sleep. However, he is happy when he does it.
Because I can really eat enough and eat meat once every ten days. And my wages have never been in arrears.
He had never met a good owner who gave money so readily.
When he was in his hometown, he couldn't have enough to eat all year round with just a few acres of thin farmland in the mountains, let alone save money. With such high wages here, he never wanted to go back to his hometown to farm no matter how tired he was.
My mother and my wife also got excited and took the children to smash small rocks every day. They started working as soon as it was light and could see clearly every day until dark. After they smashed a lot, they let the caravan come to pick up the goods.
Scale and give money.
In the evening, he and his wife discussed privately and heard that after the railway construction was completed, qualified workers could be converted into formal railway construction employees. From now on, they would go to various places to build railways.
You can work until you are 60 years old. When you reach 60 years old, you will be considered retired and you will no longer have to work. You will also receive retirement pay, which will be paid for life. The retirement pay is 80% of the basic salary.
The two of them discussed that it would be great if they could become full-time workers. The family would no longer farm because they could earn a lot of money here. If they worked here until they were sixty years old, they would have the railroad to support them in their old age. What a great thing.
What makes him most excited is that his children can be given priority in recruiting workers and work here.
This job also has a name, it's called a railway construction worker. The nickname of this businessman is Daming Railway Construction. From now on, when I go out, I will say that I am a worker of Daming Railway Construction. Hey, it sounds grand.
"Head of the family, we are not going anywhere, we will just be railway workers from now on." My wife said, wiping her tears.