"Jingyang Merchant Gang is recruiting! I heard that not only can you eat it, but you can also earn wages! ”

This explosive news spread throughout Jingyang County, and within a day it had spread to all villages in the county.

Since Sun Chuanting issued the order to exempt him from forced labor, Zhu Youzhen can finally implement his next plan, which is to recruit workers. Before, he had to hide in the name of "cash-for-work", but now he can finally raise the banner in a bright and bright way.

This is also one of the reasons why Zhu Youzhen must be exempted from forced labor. In his view, the common people of this era had two major constraints, one was to be bound to their own land by the household registration system and low productivity, and the other was to be bound to the countryside by heavy forced labor. Only when he was exempted from forced labor could the common people have the time and energy to come out and work, and many of his plans could be realized.

Of course, this is only the first step, and the second step is that Zhu Youzhen will also reform the household registration and land system. But such a reform can be much more complex than the abolition of forced labor, and it needs to be designed holistically, not too hastily.

The previous porridge factory had gathered six or seven hundred people, including two or three hundred middle-aged laborers. As soon as the job poster was posted, many villagers from nearby villages were attracted to it again. Anyway, for the common people, there is a spring famine now, and being idle is also idle, since there is a place to eat and earn wages, why not do it?

Now Zhu Youzhen is very busy all day. Because the Huanghai Merchant Gang has been established, the banner of the "Jingyang Merchant Gang" has been inherited by him. But the biggest problem he faces now is the lack of manpower, especially the lack of people with management skills, so he has to do a lot of things himself.

Fortunately, there are not too many ordinary people who have seen King Qin's honorable face, and Zhu Youzhen is always dressed in civilian clothes, although he shows up all day at this time, no one can see who he is, and they think that he is just a small housekeeper of the Jingyang Business Gang.

Villagers who came to sign up for work came one after another, and funds suddenly became tight. Since he has separated from the Huanghai Merchant Gang, Zhu Youzhen can only ask Rui'er for silver now. Rui'er said distressedly: "Lord Wang, don't you want Rui'er to be in charge of the expenditure of the whole house, no matter who comes to pay attention?" Recently, the palace has not been able to enter and exit, and even the antique calligraphy and paintings you stored have been taken out and sold a few days ago, so it is terrible to go on like this! ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled and said: "Don't worry, princess, the income of the Jingyang Business Gang will come soon!" ”

"Whether it's a porridge factory, a primary school, a medical center or a few projects, they all take money from outside, I don't know where this income comes from?" Rui'er asked, confused.

"Isn't Jingyang County going to rebuild the river and dig the diversion canal?" Zhu You said, "Sun Chuanting has contracted the entire project to the Jingyang Business Gang!" ”

Rui'er still asked suspiciously: "But Rui'er heard that Jingyang County has always been poor, and in some years, she can't even pay the land endowment, so how can she have the spare money to pay the Jingyang merchant gang?" ”

While he was talking, Sun Chuanting had already led dozens of officials and escorted two carts to Qinwangzhuang. After seeing Zhu Youzhen and Rui'er, Sun Chuanting immediately ordered the officials to unload the car, and it turned out that the car was full of white flowers and silver, and there were as many as 10,000 taels!

Rui'er was overjoyed and said, "Mr. Sun, where did you get all this silver?" ”

Sun Chuanting smiled slightly, and whispered: "Princess Niangniang, the day before yesterday, the mansion of the county Cheng and the chief bookkeeper and others was raided, and 50,000 taels of stolen silver were copied and detected. The lower officials wanted to hand over the silver to the imperial court, but His Royal Highness secretly told the lower officials not to play according to the facts. In the end, Xia Guan only reported 5,000 taels. ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled wickedly: "Mr. Sun has done a good job!" Even if this silver is handed over, it is nothing more than to make other officials more greedy, and how many taels can be used on the people? It's better for us to intercept it and use it where it should be used! I wonder how the planning of the aqueduct route is going? ”

"Your Highness, it's all agreed." Sun Chuanting hurriedly replied, "Since His Highness left, Xiaguan has summoned all the villages in the county to discuss the route of digging the canal overnight. In the past, due to the lack of government leadership, although each village wanted to divert water from its own fields, it was always impossible to negotiate. Questions such as where the canal passes through, how the water should be distributed among the villages, and how the materials and labor should be divided have been arguing for many years.

"Now this is not the case, the county government takes the lead in designing the route, the county government is responsible for even the work and materials, and the compensation for the cultivated land occupied by the canal is also paid by the county government. As a result, all the obstacles to the construction of the canal were gone, and the road map was finalized after only two hours of discussion. ”

After that, Sun Chuanting handed the drawings to Zhu Youzhen, and said with a smile: "Since it has been exempted from forced labor, the county government naturally can't forcibly recruit people, so it has to contract the project to the Jingyang merchant gang." This 10,000 taels of silver is the first batch of project funds, if it is not enough, His Royal Highness can open his mouth, and the lower officials will add it. ”

"That's pretty much enough!" Zhu Youzhen said with a smile, "It's not easy for you, the affairs in the county are complicated, and many places have to use silver, so you still have to save some flowers." It's a pity that there is only one Liu County, if there are ten or eight, as long as the silver they embezzled is pulled out, we will not have to worry about eating and drinking for a few years, hehehehehe! ”

After sending Sun Chuanting away, Zhu Youzhen immediately asked for recruitment. At this time, nearly 1,000 villagers had come to apply for the draft, and they all gathered in the open space outside the porridge factory. They are all gearing up, and they all plan to rely on their own strength to earn a few more copper plates and a few more buckets of food for their families.

Zhu Youzhen was the first to announce: "Anyone who wants to be recruited as a worker must attend a night school and learn to read and write after the end of each day's work!" You have to learn at least two words a day, otherwise you won't be paid! ”

The crowd blew up the camp, and some people retreated at that time. A shirtless, muscular young man shouted, "I have lived for decades and I don't know a word." Now I have to learn literacy, but how can I learn it? Besides, after a day's work, they are in a hurry to go home, who has the time to study? ”

Zhu Youzhen also smiled: "Why don't you have kung fu?" Are you in a hurry to go home and go to bed with your daughter-in-law? ”

There was a burst of laughter, and the young man scratched his head embarrassedly when he was told the matter.

"Whose daughter-in-law doesn't want her man to be well-read?" Zhu Youzhen tilted his head and said with a wicked smile, "When the time comes, everyone else will participate in night school, and they will not only earn money but also learn to read and write, and in the future, children will be able to go to primary school, middle school and even university, and even gain fame." If you are greedy for hot kang and refuse to read, not only will you not be able to earn a penny, but you will have to make your daughter-in-law laugh at you for being a fool! ”

"Who's stupid!" In the laughter of everyone, the young man's face couldn't hold back, and he roared urgently, "If you can read, you can read, what are you afraid of!" I still don't believe it, others can learn, but I can't learn it? ”

"That's right!" Zhu Youzhen laughed and said, "But your name is really indecent, don't you have a big name?" ”

The young man said with an embarrassed face: "My surname is Jie, my family is very poor, and I have never gone to a private school. My father and mother heard the old man say that it is easy to give the child a cheap name, so I kept calling the dog leftover. ”

When Zhu Youjian asked, he found that many people did not have big names, and there were dozens of nicknames such as "Dog Leftover", "Dog Egg", and "Erwa".

"That's not going to work!" Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but smile and said, "When the time comes to pay the salary, dozens of dogs will come up at once, who do you say I will send it to?" Well, I'll give you all great names, will you? ”

"Yes!" The young man surnamed Xie shouted excitedly, "My father and mother are illiterate, and they don't even know how to choose a name." I want to ask Mr. Jiaoshu to choose a name, but people refuse to take it for nothing, and they have to charge a few copper plates for naming money, and my father and mother are reluctant to give it. If this little shopkeeper can help me choose a name, of course, it would be good, but I can only take it for nothing, and I can't ask for money! I'm here to make money, not to spend money! ”

"Good, good!" Zhu Youzhen was also amused by this young man, "Since your nickname is Gouyu, your name is Xie Sheng!" This victory is not the leftover of the leftovers, but the victory of victory! ”

"That's a good name!" The young man said excitedly, "Thank you for the name of the little shopkeeper, from now on, I will be called Xie Sheng!" Whoever calls me a dog leftover, I'm in a hurry! ”

Everyone burst into laughter again, and Zhu Youzhen also laughed: "If you go to night school tonight, you must first learn the word 'Xie Sheng'." If you can't even write your own name, what if your daughter-in-law looks down on you one day and runs away with someone else? ”

Next, there were many village names that asked Zhu Youzhen to help choose the name, and Zhu Youzhen had to satisfy them one by one. In the end, in this moment's effort, he took more than 200 names, and he was so busy that he was very busy.

At this time, Catherine and Bao Yulian happened to pass by. Seeing this, Catherine also ran over excitedly and begged Zhu Youzhen to give her a Han name. Zhu Youzhen couldn't resist her, so he had to smile and say: "Your name is indeed enough to twist your mouth, take one and take one!" Catherine is your first name, so what's your last name? ”

"Our family's surname is 'Augusta.'"

"Our Han people's names are all surnames first, and names last." Zhu Youzhen groaned, "Augusta, this pronunciation is somewhat like the English august, that is, August. August is the golden autumn season, so your surname is autumn! As for the name, don't be so long, just take the last two words 'Linna'. Qiulina, how about the name, like it or not? ”

"Qiulina, this name is so beautiful!" Catherine clapped her hands and exclaimed, "From now on I will be called Tyulena!" ”

Seeing Qiu Lina bouncing away, Bao Yu smiled and said, "I didn't expect the prince to be quite good at choosing a name!" ”

"What words!" Zhu Youzhen pretended to be angry and said, "Is your husband an illiterate person in your eyes?" ”

"I didn't mean that!" Bao Yulian hurriedly blushed and waved her hand, "People are thinking, you will also give our children such a nice name in the future!" ”

"That's a must!" Zhu Youzhen's heart fluttered, and he grabbed Bao Yulian's plain hand and said, "Let's hurry up and create people tonight!" ”