Get out of the coal tooth shop of the horse shopkeeper and walk down the street. It was getting late at this time, and the north wind was blowing like a knife.

Those outsiders with luggage were reluctant to stay in the hotel, so they found a wall everywhere, spread out the quilt and prepared to curl up to keep warm.

Coal is a labor-intensive industry, and this is especially true in this era. There is a demand for manpower, and naturally there are well-known poor people who come to make money. Boss Sun told He Zhiyuan: "There are all kinds of miners here, including criminals from the government, homeless homeless, military households who have fled from the guards, peasants who have lost their land for various reasons, and some fools and madmen who have been caught out of nowhere. ”

Looking at the poor peasants huddled in the corners, He Zhiyuan couldn't imagine what those with lower status would be like.

In fact, from the beginning of the sixteenth century, Eurasia was showing signs of entering a long Xiaoice period. Abnormal climates such as severe droughts and floods, extreme cold and extreme heat have appeared one after another, and crops have failed or even failed in various places, forcing farmers to abandon their land and flee in large numbers.

Speaking of which, the peasants in the Central Plains are so unhappy, and the reason why the Tartars in the bitter cold land in the north frequently invade is also related to the large number of cattle and sheep dying in extreme weather.

And all this is just the curtain of this Xiaoice period that lasted for nearly two hundred years, and it is not even an appetizer.

Of course, this kind of catastrophe is not useless, because at such a time there will be two beneficial advances for mankind: one is the great burst of ideas; The second is the improvement of technology. For example, the European Renaissance in the 16th century occurred after the Black Death. The budding of capitalism in the middle of the Ming Dynasty in China was also the most serious period of the Xiaoice Age.

And from the point of view of ruthless capital, the large number of displaced people generated by the cooling climate is the cheap labor needed for industrial production.

It is precisely because of the existence of these low-level miners and unemployed people that some industries in this town have flourished, one is the kiln, and the other is the manpower tooth shop. In this small town of more than 10,000 people, there are as many as four or five human tooth shops.

While thinking wildly, He Zhiyuan heard a gong ringing on the street, and several people with gongs shouted while beating the gong, driving these homeless people with luggage on the street into the shop of a human tooth shop like a duck.

He Zhiyuan also followed these people to this store with great interest.

At this time, the shop was full of homeless people who came from the street, and a man stood on a low table with a gong and struck the bell, and everyone fell silent, and then a neatly dressed agent shouted loudly: "Yangjiayao recruits thirty coal diggers, thirty coal workers, and pays well." ”

"Dare to ask, how much is a day?"

"The money in the kiln is not calculated by day, but by the burden, the coal diggers in the underground dig a load of ten yuan, and the coal workers carry the coal to the coal yard for a load of twenty yuan." The agent replied in a loud voice.

As soon as the agent finished speaking, a tall and thin man sighed: "The Yang family is so generous? Last year, I was in someone else's house, and I was only paid half of my salary. ”

"yes, it's hard to find such an owner. I heard that in the Yang family's cauldron, they are full of food, and they can still eat meat every once in a while. Another pock-faced man chimed in.

When the rest of the homeless people heard this, their eyes lit up, as if they were seeing a bowl of vegetable soup with meat.

"These people are old kilns when they hear it

Know the ropes! The agent smiled and nodded.

"How long will it last?" The tall and thin man asked again.

"I will work until May next year, and those who are willing to do it should press their handprints quickly, and there will be no such shop in this village after that." The broker waved his hand and asked his men to take out a stack of written contracts.

"It's good now, I don't have to worry about running out of work for half a year, I have to hurry up and press my handprint." The tall and thin man immediately squeezed to the front, gave his name, and then put his handprint on a contract.

"Count me in!" The pock-faced man also pressed his handprint.

As soon as the rest of the people saw that someone was taking the lead, they no longer hesitated, and rushed to sign up and press their handprints.

He Zhiyuan also came to the front, and saw that the contract was full of harsh conditions, and there was even a bastard clause such as "during the work period, if you are injured or sick and die, you will take care of yourself...... But these displaced people are illiterate, and no one can understand them.

Yes, He Zhiyuan quietly withdrew from the crowd and waited to see how the steps developed.

At this time, Boss Sun whispered to him: "That tall thin man and numb face are hired by Yaxing. ”

He Zhiyuan nodded, this kind of thing has existed since ancient times, and in later generations, this industry has flourished. Even the live broadcast some time ago had childcare, there are really too many leeks and not enough sickles.

Boss Sun then said: "It's good that these people can get half of the salary promised by this broker. ”

When the broker put away the stack of contracts, the foreman who was waiting for Yang Jiayao prepared a carriage and threw all the luggage of those people onto the car. Then the men were driven by the foreman like cattle, and left the town after the wagon, and in a moment they disappeared into the darkening night. Looking at these departing homeless people, He Zhiyuan's heart was very uncomfortable, these poor peasants who had never seen the world were too easy to deceive.

When He Zhiyuan looked back, he saw the tall, thin and numb-faced man again, and flashed into another dental shop......

At this time, the agent just now shouted from behind: "I see that the three of you have been here for a long time, but they are here to recruit workers?" ”

It was obvious that the agent didn't know Boss Sun, He Zhiyuan turned around, smiled at the agent and said, "Let's take a look today, and then recruit workers later." ”

"Then you have to hurry, there won't be many homeless people looking for work in a few days." The agent saw that he was really a customer, and hurriedly greeted him with a smile, beckoned the three of them to sit down, and ordered people to serve tea.

After a few conversations, He Zhiyuan learned that this person's surname was Luo, a local, and he was the boss of this tooth shop. He has been working for more than 20 years and is very familiar with the coal bosses in the town.

After Boss Luo poured tea for the three of them personally, he said to He Zhiyuan: "The three of them looked a little dumbfounded, and dared to ask where is He Gongzi's coal kiln?" ”

He Zhiyuan smiled and said: "My coal kiln has not opened yet, so Boss Luo naturally hasn't seen me." ”

At this time, Boss Sun interjected: "Does Boss Luo know the shopkeeper of the West Street Coal Tooth Shop?" We just came over there. I used to work in the coal tooth shop, and in the past few years, I have gone home to dump coal to make a living, and I am also very familiar with the coal boss here. Now this He Gongzi is my owner, he is going to buy a few coal kilns here, and he will come over today to see the market. ”

Boss Luo said to Boss Sun: "Oh, so that's the case. Of course, the shopkeeper knows each other, and they are all very familiar with the same village, so we are all our own people. ”

Then he turned his face to He Zhiyuan and said, "Then how many workers is He Gongzi going to recruit?" ”

He Zhiyuan shook his head, did not answer Boss Luo, but asked rhetorically: "The wages you promise to the workers here are too high, I don't think there is much benefit?" Are the wages in coal kilns so high now? ”

Boss Luo smiled and said mysteriously: "In fact, the salary is the same as other families, and there is no improvement. ”

"I obviously heard what you just said that the coal digger has ten yuan a load and the coal worker has twenty yuan, isn't this just twice as high as other families?" He Zhiyuan asked suspiciously.

Boss Luo took a blank contract and said, "Let's not say secret words in front of our own people, the mystery is in this contract." ”

He Zhiyuan took the contract, and after a cursory look at it, he found that it was greasy, and it was clearly written in this contract that it was ten yuan for every stone of coal dug and twenty yuan for each stone of coal transported.

He Zhiyuan put the contract back on the table, and secretly scolded Boss Luo in front of him for having a black conscience. But Boss Luo said triumphantly: "This load and stone is homophone, but the catty is not the same, there is an unwritten rule in the coal mine, a load of coal is a hundred catties, but a stone of coal is one hundred and fifty catties, if the coal boss makes the hu a little bigger, and then uses the amount of dendrum, a stone of coal 200 catties is only a lot more." Isn't that exactly two quintals equal to one stone? ”

"Wouldn't the workers make trouble?" He Zhiyuan asked.

"Trouble? They have all put their fingerprints on this contract, how can they be allowed to make trouble? If you want to blame yourself, you can only blame yourself for not looking at the contract! Boss Luo said arrogantly: "Even if they dare to sue the yamen, they are not afraid, it is written in black and white, and I also made it clear at the time." The official will naturally sentence them to lose, and they may have to be beaten up. ”

Listening to what Boss Luo said, He Zhiyuan understood that the three of manpower, the coal boss, and the government colluded to pit these poor miners, and it was strange that the miners were not killed if they were not killed.

Next, He Zhiyuan asked again: "How much do you charge for recruiting people?" ”

Boss Luo explained enthusiastically: "It depends on whether you are recruiting short-term workers or long-term workers." Short-term workers are a one-time fee, and each short-term worker who recruits less than half a year is generally charged five taels of silver, and if it is a long-term worker, it is an annual management fee, and each person is ten taels of silver a year. ”

"This fee is not low, a miner's salary for a year is only how much, you need so much silver." He Zhiyuan shook his head again.

"The fee is high, and we have a lot of things to do. All the people we are looking for, we are a package to the end, the contract is signed by us and the miners, if there are things such as work injury and death, miners make trouble and other situations are also solved by our dental shop. The coal boss only needs to employ people, you save worry and effort, especially some outsiders who come here to open mines, are not familiar with the local situation, and are willing to come to me to recruit workers. Because I can settle all these things. ”

It seems that this Boss Luo is an out-and-out head snake, and there are acquaintances in the official yamen, so he dares to take care of everything.

He Zhiyuan asked again: "Then what if you don't have to take care of these things?" ”

Boss Luo sat on the chair and leaned back, and said, "That's much cheaper, no matter how long or short the job is, each person is one or two silver." We are only responsible for recruitment, and we don't care about anything else. ”

Boss Luo smiled weirdly and said, "But I advise Gongzi He not to save these taels of silver." ”

(End of chapter)

The little people of the Ming Dynasty

The little people of the Ming Dynasty

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