Looking at the back of Zhao Youcai's departure, Liu Cheng sat back on the chair and sneered: "If you follow your method, Lao Tzu's reputation in the past business travel will not be stinky, and when the time comes, people will not go from this road, which one will I find to collect taxes?" Suddenly, Liu Cheng jumped up from his chair and called a personal soldier to come in: "You follow the person who came in just now, see what he did, and come back at night to tell me, understand?" ”

"Yes, sir!"

Two days later, Zhao Youcai triumphantly returned to Liu Cheng's residence, where he had thirty or forty ragged and numb men, all of whom had their hands tied with hemp rope and dressed in a large string, like a giant centipede. These people sit or lie on the ground, like clay carvings and wooden sculptures, and their eyes do not move for a long time, and they look very infiltrating.

"What, these are shipbuilders?" Liu Cheng looked at the people in front of him with gray faces and thin figures, which were similar to the starvation on the side of the road, could it be that Zhao Youcai casually found a group of hungry people to deceive himself?

"That's right, sir!" Zhao Youcai took out a contract covered with handprints from his bosom and presented it with both hands: "These are the craftsmen of several shipyards nearby, the older ones are all old-fashioned, these 180-mile ships are all built by them, I have inquired clearly, I can't be wrong!" This is their contract of sale, and they will be your people from now on. ”

"How do I see them as hungry people, and where do they look like boatmen?"

Zhao Youcai laughed: "My lord, since the second year of Chongzhen, the thieves and officers and soldiers here have fought back and forth several times, the ground has been bulldozed, and everyone has too late to eat, who has the money to build ships!" Several shipyards along the river have been closed for more than half a year, and they are all craftsmen who have stopped and stopped, and it is good to be alive until now. You don't look at them like this, just eat two full meals. You can get to work right away! Speaking of this, Zhao Youcai walked to the side of the person in charge, kicked and shouted, "What did the adults ask you?" Can you build a ship? “

"Yes, I can build fast crabs, cao boats, sand boats, and sharp-bottomed boats, even if a large ship of 800 materials needs tools and materials, I can also build it!" The craftsman replied weakly,

Liu Cheng couldn't help but feel a little sad when he saw the appearance of these craftsmen, and hurriedly ordered: "That's it, untie the ropes." Come on, get two large buckets of porridge and cook it thicker! ”

Hearing that there was porridge to eat, the expressions of the people on the ground finally changed a little, and some people struggled to get up and wanted to kowtow to thank them, but they often fell to the ground after being hungry for a long time. After about half an hour, a few soldiers brought porridge up. Liu Cheng ordered porridge to be distributed to the craftsmen, but each person could only eat one bowl, so as not to be too hungry and eat too fiercely at once. Instead, he died. For a while, the courtyard was filled with the sound of hula hula eating porridge. Liu Cheng looked at the craftsman eating porridge, and suddenly felt that something was wrong, and asked Zhao Youcai: "Huh! Why are all these people men, not a single woman, child, or elderly? ”

Zhao Youcai smiled and said, "My lord, aren't you just a craftsman?" Women, children, and the elderly can't work. With only one more mouth to eat, the villain only bought a man! “

"You-" Liu Cheng was almost half killed by Zhao Youcai, but he couldn't do it. After all, the other party was bent on saving money for himself, and he forcibly suppressed the anger in his chest: "Women, children, and the elderly are not around, how can craftsmen work with peace of mind?" They are people, not animals, and you have to get a female donkey to breed him, right? Go and get their families, if you don't have enough money, I'll have it here!" ”

"I don't need it, I don't need it!" Zhao Youcai was a little embarrassed by Liu Cheng's words, and hurriedly smiled: "How much money can women and children use?" It's the villain's negligence, and the villain will do it immediately! With that, he made a long gesture towards Liu Cheng and ran quickly towards the door.

At this time, the craftsmen already had some food in their stomachs, and their faces were a little more angry, not like the living dead when they first came. Hearing Liu Cheng say that he would bring their family members over, many people showed a touched look on their faces, and the craftsman led by knelt on the ground and kowtowed twice: "My lord, the Bodhisattva's heart, will you be rich and glorious, Gonghou Wandai!" “

"That's it!" Liu Cheng sighed: "Get up, you are already hungry, wouldn't it be worse if you were making any symptoms?" You will raise it for a few days, as long as you are good at doing things here, you will always have a stutter in your stable meal. “

Five days later, Pujin crossed.

"My lord, this should be the site of the pontoon bridge in the Tang Kaiyuan period!" Du Gu, who was covered in dust, pointed to the two iron oxen exposed in the sand under the river embankment and said: "I heard from the master of the county that there should be four iron oxen on each side of the river, and the four iron men should have been washed downstream. ”

"Good!" Liu Cheng nodded: "The soldiers who found the iron ox will each be rewarded with two taels of silver and five woolen wool!" ”

"Thank you, Lord for your favor!" Du Gu hurriedly bowed down and bowed. Liu Cheng jumped off the embankment and walked to the two iron oxen, only to see that the two iron oxen were more than one meter high only when the dirt was exposed, and more than three meters from head to tail, strong and vigorous, lifelike, and there was a horizontal axis on the tail of the ox that should have been used to tie the iron chain rope at that time. Liu Cheng pushed the iron ox violently, only to feel as if he was pushing a hill, not moving at all, and couldn't help but smack his tongue secretly, the power of the Yellow River flow is really extraordinary, and it can push this iron ox weighing at least dozens of tons away without a trace.

"Mu Yao! If the iron bulls are found, how long will it take to make the chains needed for the pontoon? Liu Cheng asked Tang Muyao, who was following behind.

Tang Muyao roughly estimated the manpower and workload at hand, and replied cautiously: "Tell your lord, the two banks of the river are more than a mile apart, if you stop all the other work on your hands, it will take at least a month according to the calculation of four iron chains." “

Liu Cheng nodded, Tang Muyao's answer was in his expectation: "Well, you go back first to prepare iron, charcoal, and charcoal, and start work when I give the order!" ”

"Yes, sir!"

"Master Liu, how are you doing these days?" Liu Cheng suddenly turned around and smiled at the person next to him.

"Okay, good, I can eat every day, and I have been given clothes to wear, and I invite the doctor to treat the elderly and children, you are really a living Bodhisattva!" The "Master Liu" in Liu Cheng's mouth was the one headed by the group of hungry half-dead shipwrights a few days ago. Maybe it's because of a few days of full food, his face looks a lot better than that day, I saw that his skeleton is thick, his hands and feet are big, and he looks like he is more than half a head taller than Liu Cheng, who is 178 cm tall, but he always bends his back on weekdays, and no matter who he sees, he has a flattering smile on his face. At this time, he was wearing an ill-fitting fat jacket (a common costume worn by soldiers in the Ming Dynasty), and most of his hands and feet were exposed, which looked quite funny. I saw him smile a little twisted: "My lord, I am a craftsman." Where can you afford to be an adult, you say the word master, fold your life, fold your life. ”

"What's wrong with the craftsman!" Liu Cheng laughed: "I'm not afraid of your jokes, I was also a craftsman before I joined the army, but I didn't build ships, I built houses." “

"That's a good idea!" Master Liu smiled: "But looking at your appearance, you have big ears, you look like an official!" ”

Liu Cheng saw that Master Liu was no longer as nervous as he was just now, so he asked a few more words about his life and family history. Only then did I know that his surname was Liu Mingzude, who was originally from Lantian, Shaanxi, because there were many people in the family and little land, so he followed his elders out to do work at the age of thirteen or fourteen to find food. I have done it in several local shipyards, carpentry, pay-off, hemp work, lime work, and iron work are all done well, and I can mix a round belly in normal times, but since the second year of Chongzhen. The shipyard's business is not as good as day by day, and last year a pole tied up the owner together, and the owner went bankrupt before he came back with a life. After coming back, he immediately closed his doors and left, as did several other shipyards. These craftsmen are all doing a day to eat, and they don't have any savings in their hands, if it weren't for Liu Cheng's containment, I'm afraid it would be a matter of the past few days.

"Then why don't you go somewhere else? For example, in Henan or Shanxi, it is not difficult to have the skills to eat, right? ”

"Hey, my lord, you don't know the difficulties of our craftsmen!" Speaking of this, Liu Zude was also emotional, wiped the corners of his eyes and sighed: "At the moment, the roads are not very smooth everywhere, and we have no road guide for our families, and whoever on the road sees that we are not pleasing to the eye can use a bundle of ropes to send to the official, not to mention that dozens of boards will go down, and if there is no silver, they will be thrown into the cell and wait for death." People are cheap when they leave their hometowns! It's not that they can't live, who is willing to leave the graves of their ancestors and go somewhere else! ”

In the face of Liu Zude's confession, Liu Cheng did not answer but nodded silently, for the vast majority of Shaanxi peasants in the late Ming Dynasty, there was actually no right choice - staying at home is death, going out to escape the famine is death, rebellion is death, not rebellion or death. Life is so cruel to these hard-working and simple people, although Liu Cheng's heart has long been tempered by this harsh era, he can't help but feel a burst of sourness in his heart at this time.

"Fortunately, with the blessing of our ancestors, I finally met you!" Liu Zude laughed: "Give him food, clothes, and bring back the old people and children, although we sufferers are not illiterate, but we are also people with hearts, and we don't work hard, even if you tolerate him, the ancestors in the field can't tolerate him!" ”

"That's good, as long as I'm willing to work, I don't have to worry about starving!" Liu Cheng said with a smile: "Although you signed a deed of sale, it is not a deed of death, as long as you work for seven years, the official will return your free body!" “

"That's a good idea!" Liu Zude laughed, and then he put away his smile, afraid that Liu Cheng would think that they wanted to escape: "Actually, there is nothing wrong with working for a lifetime for such a kind owner as an adult, at least there is no need to be oppressed by big families and gentry, and there is no need to serve hard labor." It's just that the boys are still young, and they always want to live their own life, and they don't know that the world is difficult, so please forgive me! ”

"What's there to forgive me for this!" Liu Cheng laughed: "As long as it is a human being, who is willing to stoop to others to be a slave?" It's a good thing for young people to be ambitious! In fact, I don't do this all for the sake of kindness, if a person becomes a slave, even if he is a first-class hero, he has also become seven or eight years old, and he is no different from the ordinary mediocrity! What's the use of coming? ”

"That's what your lord said!" Liu Zude listened to Liu Cheng's words, and suddenly said: "I had a cousin when I was a child, and he was a good man, but his family was poor and had no way to be a house slave for Wu Ju's family, and he completely changed a person in three years, and he couldn't recognize it." ”

Liu Cheng and Liu Zude were talking about entering the alley, but Min Min, who was standing on the embankment, couldn't bear it anymore, and said coquettishly: "Liu Cheng, have you finished talking to the boatwright, if there is nothing else, hurry back to the house, and see if there is any mistake in yesterday's homework for me!" “

"It's almost over, it's almost over!" Liu Cheng hurriedly smiled and said: "I have something to do with the shipwright, or you go back first and wait, and I will go back as soon as the matter is over." “

"Humph! Do you have any plans in the dark? Min Min sneered, rushed down from the river embankment more than a zhang high, circled around Liu Cheng and Liu Zude twice, and suddenly slashed the horsewhip: "You don't want to leave me, I will go wherever you go!" ”

"Okay, okay, you can go wherever I go!" Liu Cheng couldn't help but smile bitterly, he had already noticed the strange smiles on the faces of the soldiers on the embankment, but there was nothing he could do about this beautiful and willful Mongolian girl. He turned his head to Liu Zude and said, "If you start building ships, what do you need?" “

"Tell you, if it's just for the pontoon, it's very simple!" Liu Zude turned around and pointed to a large river beach next to Tie Niu: "Just build a few thatched huts here to store tools and materials, and then build two stoves to boil water and eat." “

"So easy?" Liu Cheng was stunned when he heard this: "Don't you need to repair the dock?" “

"If only to build a pontoon bridge, it would be nice to make dozens of wooden lattices, where do you need a dock!" Liu Zude explained with a smile that it turned out that at that time, the people on both sides of the Yellow River had a special tool for crossing the river - wooden poppy, that is, dozens of clay pots with small mouths and large bottoms were placed in the wooden lattice, fixed with ropes, and the mouth of the clay pot was tightly closed. Compared to ordinary rafts, poppies are much more buoyant and do not require coarse wood. Legend has it that during the Chu-Han War, Han Xin wanted to attack Wei Wangbao, which was located in the east of the river, and Wei Wangbao held the Pujin ferry with heavy troops and concentrated all the ships on the opposite bank. When Han Xin learned of this, he bluffed on the Shaanxi side of Pujindu, and at the same time led a heavy army to cross the Yellow River from the upper Xiayang with a wooden poppy, and broke through Anyi and the Wei army. Although the wooden poppy is inferior to the ship in terms of maneuverability, speed, and resistance to wind and waves, it is very suitable as the base of the pontoon, which is inexpensive, buoyant, and not easy to be damaged, and is easy to replace even if a few clay pots are damaged. (To be continued.) )