Feng Jian pointed to the dirty residential area behind him and said, "This is where the artisan families of Pingdu City live, why is it so deserted?" ”

The middle-aged beggar glanced at Feng Jian slightly, and said with a numb expression: "Presumably, the old man is not from this Pingdu City!" ”

Seeing Feng Jian stunned, he sighed, and continued: "This is indeed the place where the artisan households of Pingdu City live, why is it deserted, because most of the young and strong people here are begging in the city like villains for a living, and the people begging around the master are all artisans in this city. ”

Feng Jian was stunned and didn't understand, and asked repeatedly: "I know a little bit about the situation of the craftsmen and others, why did they fall into such a situation, please tell me in detail!" ”

The middle-aged beggar looked at Feng Jian a little strangely, and when he saw his look of asking for advice, he sighed and said: "Our Ming Dynasty craftsmen are divided into military craftsmen and civilian craftsmen, and the craftsmen in our Pingdu City belong to the people's craftsmen. Our folk craftsmen implement a shift system, and the work of shift craftsmen is unpaid, and they only rely on the meager money issued by the imperial court to live, and even the money of this Weibo is subject to the control and exploitation of the work officer. Therefore, the craftsmen rebelled by means of sabotage, concealment, and fleeing. Therefore, during the Jiajing period, the imperial court ordered all shift craftsmen to levy silver for OEM, and the government hired workers with silver. In other words, not only did we, the artisan households, not work, but had to pay the government every year to offset the work of the artisan households, and then the government used the paid silver taels to hire craftsmen to work. ”

Feng Jian sighed and said, "Understood! It turns out that you are a group of unemployed people, who are not only unemployed, but also have to pay a part of the silver to the government every year to offset your labor. ”

The middle-aged beggar nodded sadly: "What this old man said is good!" Our group of people have been craftsmen from generation to generation, and without the work of craftsmen, we no longer have a skill. In order to support his family, he had to beg for a living. Everyone went out to beg, so the area was largely deserted during the day. Now I can't even eat, what mood is there for the New Year! ”

Feng Jian figured out the reason for the matter, it seems that the Ming Dynasty is not just an ordinary farmer who has a hard time surviving. All the people living at the bottom are struggling under all kinds of exploitation!

Looking at the middle-aged beggar, he asked, "May I ask your surname, are you a craftsman who makes that kind of instrument?" In addition, the imperial court allows craftsmen to make their own finished products for sale, why are you still living in such poverty? ”

The middle-aged beggar sighed: "The villain Liang Yuanhao is good, his ancestors have always made firearms and firearms for the imperial court, and prepared gunpowder......"

Feng Jian was shocked, he was so lucky, he casually asked and found a craftsman who specialized in making bird guns, and interrupted the middle-aged beggar in a hurry: "You specialize in the production of firearms and firearms, can you make bird guns?" ”

Speaking of his old business, Liang Yuanhao was very conceited: "What's so difficult about this." When the bird was trained by Qi Jiguang from the Jiajing Dynasty, the imperial court began to customize in batches. As long as there are enough materials, you can make a finished bird gun in three days, and it is guaranteed to be qualified. ”

Feng Jian tried his best to suppress the joy in his heart, and said, "Now I understand why the imperial court allows homemade finished products to be sold, but you still have to beg, is it a craftsman like you who makes firearms." The imperial court does not allow you to make firearms for sale privately, and you are all craftsmen who make firearms? ”

Liang Yuanhao nodded with a wry smile, pointed to the beggars around him and said, "You might as well tell this master that most of the remaining residents in this artisan residential area are firearms craftsmen. The government implements the policy of leviing silver on behalf of the workers, and a group of us who have no other skills are forced to go out to beg because of life. Today's master's retinue is a reward for a large piece of broken silver, not to mention us beggars. Even normal ordinary people will rush to the top! If the master is useful to the villain and other craftsmen, we are willing to rely on the master's guidance. There is only one request, and the master will reward me with a bite of food, so that I and my family will no longer beg everywhere. After the craftsman named Liang Yuanhao finished speaking, he looked at Feng Jian with anticipation.

Feng Jian shook his head secretly. People are poor and short-minded, this sentence is not false at all. This group of people would have been sought-after technologists in later generations, but in this era they have been reduced to begging on the streets!

Feng Jian sensed from their words and deeds that although the living conditions were bad, how to say that Liang Yuanhao and these people left the place where their ancestors lived was not as simple as they imagined.

Feng Jian didn't answer Liang Yuan's good words, but pretended to be puzzled and asked: "Since it is difficult to survive in this city, why don't you find another good place, why do you have to rely on this place to defend it?" ”

Liang Yuanhao's face darkened, and he said: "What this master said lightly, the court has laws, and the free flow of our craftsmen is not allowed by the court." The key is that our craftsmen have no skills except for their own craftsmanship, and they still can't make a living if they move elsewhere, so it's better to stay in their ancestral hometown and die in their homeland! ”

Feng Jian looked at the middle-aged craftsman named Liang Yuanhao and said: "If there is a place where all the firearms craftsmen can continue to engage in the ancestral business, there will be a salary every quarter, and there will be rewards for daily labor, and there will be an increase at the end of the year, I don't know if everyone would like to work here!" ”

Liang Yuanhao looked at Feng Jian in a daze, and said in his mouth: "Where is there such a good place, this old man is making fun of our group of people!"

Feng Jian Zhengse said: "I don't hide it from you, we are all from Daze Mountain's Huluyan......

Before Feng Jian finished speaking, Liang Yuanhao and the others who were standing in front of him immediately changed their faces, and the thieves at the peaks of Daze Mountain were rampant, and everyone in the Pingdu radius knew about it.

Now that they heard that someone from Daze Mountain was standing in front of them, Liang Yuanhao and the others were suddenly frightened, and some begging people were so frightened that they turned around and wanted to flee.

Feng Jian hurriedly said: "You don't need to be afraid, although we are from Daze Mountain, we have just met Lord Chen of Zhizhou, and we will soon accept the imperial court's recruitment and become the people of the Ming court again." ”

"Buzz"

After Feng Jian finished speaking, the nervous and panicked craftsmen began to exchange ears, their eyes were in awe and puzzled, in their minds the bandits were all extremely vicious.

But the few people standing in front of him were very different from what they had imagined, and the young thief even promised a reward for everyone!

Liang Yuan was stunned for a while, and suddenly asked Feng Jian excitedly: "What this old man said at the beginning is true!" Where is it located? ”

Feng Jian smiled and said: "I don't need to deceive everyone, that place is in Huluyan in Daze Mountain, and I myself am the leader of Huluyan!"

As soon as Liang Yuanhao and the other craftsmen heard that Feng Jian said that the place was in Daze Mountain, their faces fell.

Liang Yuan smiled bitterly and said: "This old man also said that he didn't deceive us, Daze Mountain is a place where bandits are rampant, even if your gourd rock returns to the official mansion, but there are still many peaks where there are bandits, if we go rashly, and accidentally fall into the hands of thieves, the gains outweigh the losses!" Besides, it is also against the laws of the imperial court for us to leave the place where we live without permission, and when the Lord Zhizhou learns that not only will he be punished, but also his family will be affected. ”

Feng Jian shook his head and said: "I can tell you that the main peaks such as Mocone Mountain, Tea Mountain, and Sow Ridge near the Huluyan of Daze Mountain are all attached to the Hulu Rock, and now the security in the Hulu Rock area is safer than this Pingdu City." I am the commander of Huluyan, and I can call the shots in all matters of Huluyan. I can guarantee that if you and your families move to Huluyan with me, the government will never pursue it. In addition, after you and your family move to Huluyan, Huluyan Cottage will divide a part of each field into your personal ownership! If you work as a craftsman in Huluyan, you will not only get paid, but you will also receive subsidies such as food and meat at the end of each quarter according to your personal contributions. ”

Feng Jian threw out several sweet dates at once, he didn't believe that this group of craftsmen who were struggling to eat and drink were not moved.

Buzz, buzz, buzz

The craftsmen were indeed moved by the conditions set by Feng Jian, but they were still skeptical of the authenticity of the matter.

Liang Yuanhao turned to the begging craftsmen around him and said, "Those who haven't begged for food and silver should continue to beg, otherwise they will be hungry today." ”

On weekdays, Liang Yuanhao told most people to obey, but today, none of the begging people left, and they all stared at Feng Jian!

These people are not stupid, there is Feng Jian, a rich man, here, and if he wants to beg, he is looking for this beggar. Moreover, the rich man may have an impact on his future life, so no one left the scene.

Feng Jian couldn't cry or laugh, it seems that in the face of this group of craftsmen with a flattering face, he can only pay out of his own pocket to be a big boss today!

He had a lot of silver taels and silver tickets on him, but with Fan Li and Bao Feng guarding him, he was not worried about these people becoming wealthy, so he smiled and waved his hand and said: "You don't have to beg today, I still have some silver taels here, and I will send someone to buy some food back and distribute it to you later!" Let's let everyone in our craftsman village spend the New Year comfortably! ”

All the begging craftsmen cheered when they heard this, and many of them shed tears of excitement, and they refused to leave half a step around Feng Jian.

Liang Yuanhao's wrinkled face began to gradually stretch, he threw the broken bowl in his hand to the ground, and said loudly: If this old man doesn't dislike it, please go to the villain's house to talk about it! ”

Feng Jian didn't hesitate, and said directly: "Lead the way in front of the head!"

Fan Li and Bao Feng also guarded Feng Jian with their waist knives in their hands, and walked towards the dirty and deserted residential area in front.

As soon as he walked a few steps, he saw Cheng Yousheng muttering and walking out of this residence, and when he raised his eyes, he found that many ragged people surrounded the commander and the three of them towards the residence.

Cheng Yousheng suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, he thought that the three commanders had been kidnapped, so he pulled out his waist knife and rushed towards Feng Jian with an angry expression.

Feng Jian shouted loudly: "Cheng Zi, don't be impulsive, these people are all craftsmen, and this commander will go with them to the residence to discuss things." ”

Cheng Zi put down the waist knife in his hand in confusion when he heard this, and said in his mouth: "I said why is there no one in this village, it turns out that I went out to be a beggar collectively!" ”

As he spoke, he pretended to be innocent and glanced at the craftsmen around him who were glaring at him. Wave the knife in his hand as if demonstrating.!! (To be continued......)