Zhang Rushen was tired for a day, chanting the scriptures until his mouth was dry. When he returned to the temple before dark, he was already tired, but he was still worried about a 'tail' behind him. Liu Fucheng wanted to follow him in vain, and Zhang Rushen couldn't drive the other party away. Both of them couldn't see the light, and noisy and noisy would only cause trouble, so they had to let Liu Fucheng follow.

The capital of the past is very different from the current capital, and it is a compliment to say that it is a big rural village. The natural conditions of the place where the rich and noble live are better, but the small temple where Zhang Rushen is hiding is more remote and is a place where the poor live, so the environment is poor.

"Why do you stink so much here?" When Liu Fucheng arrived in front of the temple, he didn't have time to look at the broken temple gate when he smelled a foul smell. The stench is obviously caused by the fermentation of domestic sewage mixed with feces, which makes people smell sick.

Zhang Rushen said indifferently: "There is a stinky ditch behind the temple, and the people living next to this ditch are poor people who work hard and play tricks. This ditch has not been cleaned and dredged for decades, and it naturally stinks. It's better to endure than to die. ”

"Brother Zhang, you are also a wealthy businessman, how can you choose such a stinky place to hide?" Liu Fucheng relied on the shadow of his ancestors to become a brocade guard for thousands of households, which was the official N generation. He has never really been sinned against since he was a child. Now that he has fled, he also feels that it is too hard to be a handyman, and seeing Zhang Rushen is like seeing a savior.

Who knew that Zhang Rushen's life was worse than Liu Fucheng's.

Although Zhang Rushen has a big family and a big business, he has to go south and north and even go to the north to do business with the Jurchens, and his adaptability is stronger. He was more tolerant of the stench in the ditch. And now it is difficult for Liu Fucheng to turn back, so he can only make do with living in the temple first.

The 'revolutionary army' occupied the capital so quickly that Liu Fucheng couldn't think much about how to escape. He is greedy and heavy, and he really can't bear the wealth he has accumulated over the years. But when the people from the Ministry of Security led a team to arrest him, he left his family and fled alone.

Liu's mansion was soon sealed, and the people of the Liu family were also isolated and resettled one by one. Because Liu Fucheng has a special identity and belongs to the key targets of investigation, the arrest of him has never stopped. The more he couldn't be caught, the more he made the people in the security department feel uneasy.

Liu Fucheng hid in Tibet like a mouse, and only felt at ease when he arrived at the small temple where Zhang Rushen settled. He asked at night, 'Brother Zhang, what are you going to do next?', but Zhang Rushen just sneered but didn't bother to take care of it. The relationship between the two is so cold, guarding against each other and cooperating with each other.

Half a month passed soon after Zhou Qingfeng took the capital, and the most troublesome and tricky series of work was already on the right track. The seizure of the official gentry's wealth made the 'revolutionary army' reap a huge gain, not only in terms of silver taels, but also in more than 100,000 tons of grain for nothing—there were hundreds of imperial villages, tenant fields, and private fields outside the city alone. The entire essence of the North China Plain was controlled by the gentry of the capital.

In the era of war and chaos, food prices were bound to skyrocket. However, after the 'revolutionary army' entered the city, it forced all grain stores to be included in the state-run system, and they had to sell grain at a reasonable price. The price of grain in this cold winter has dropped from three or four taels or even five or six taels of one stone in the past to less than one tael.

Such a low price of grain was unheard of in a hundred years, which directly triggered the frenzied rush of the people at the bottom, but the 'revolutionary army' was open to sale. The grain store is not closed 24 hours a day, and there is no restriction on purchases.

The entire Gyeonggi region, with a population of several million, snapped up more than 100,000 tons of grain in just a few days – and the 'revolutionary army' even took the initiative to send grain to the countryside in horse-drawn carts, to remote and poor places. Make sure that the people have low-cost food to eat, and if someone is really poor, they will simply give relief. At the same time, a large number of laborers were concentrated and resettled in collective farms after the land reform.

The grain collected from the gentry was not enough to sell, and Zhou Qingfeng also flew to North Korea and Goa. He brought over another hundred thousand tons of grain from the two colonies. At the same time, the 'revolutionary army' completely stabilized the price of grain and kept it there - as long as the population was controlled and the grassroots were stabilized, no one would be able to make waves.

As soon as the two measures of cracking down on the gentry and selling grain at a low price came out, the entire Gyeonggi area immediately ceased to have any trouble. The common people were satisfied with the benefits and accepted the change of dynasty very calmly. Although the price paid was not small, just through such an incident, the image of the 'revolutionary army' as benevolent and loving the people was spread.

Zhou Qingfeng even boasted in the newspaper in person, saying that even if he sold grain at a high price, the harvest would be less than one million taels of silver. But now selling grain at a low price and harvesting the hearts of millions of people is determined by the country.

"Sneer...... this is false compassion. Looting the gentry has made him full, and now he is just using the hard-earned wealth of our and others to buy people's hearts. Liu Fucheng read the article in the newspaper and scolded angrily, "It's not to scatter his wealth, of course he doesn't feel distressed." ”

Think about the fact that all your years of accumulation have become empty, who can feel good?

Liu Fucheng muttered so scolding, and when he flipped through the newspaper again, he saw another piece of news - the municipal renovation project was about to be rolled out. Preparations are underway to recruit workers. It is mainly raised in the vicinity of the project, and the work is mainly for relief.

Before he could read the specific text carefully, Liu Fucheng heard a shout from outside the temple and opened the door. The novices in the temple responded, and all the wanted criminals in the temple were alert and ready to flee at any time. After a while, Shami came back and said, "The people from the neighborhood committee said that the stinky ditch behind our temple needs to be renovated, and everyone will go to work to clean up the silt. ”

What......? Liu Fucheng and Zhang Rushen both poked their heads out of their respective rooms, looking confused.

Don't talk about living in this stinky place, do you have to clean up this stinky place?

"I'm not going." Liu Fucheng was annoyed. He closed the door, and a voice came from behind the door, "What a joke! This stinky ditch is so dirty, how can anyone dig it? No one went to give money. ”

Zhang Rushen also frowned, he has suffered a lot in business, but it doesn't mean that he is willing to endure hardships. I live in this place for seclusion, not here to dig a stinky ditch. It's just that he was more steady, and asked the host of the temple a few more questions.

The host said that in the past, the Ming court government also had to dig this stinky ditch many times, after all, this ditch was blocked and affected the official master. But every time, 'the thunder is loud, the rain is small', and there are few people who can go to the light. The previous Li Zheng at most shouted a few lonely and poor people to make a show, and when the money was spent, the matter would naturally be stopped.

"It's okay, it's okay, that stinky ditch has been like that for decades, and it can't be dug." The host himself was not happy to dig a ditch, so he didn't take it seriously.

Listening to the host say that it was okay, Liu Zhang and the others were more relieved. But when they slept until dawn the next day, the two heard someone outside the temple slamming the door and shouting: "Come to work, go to work." You wild monks, don't want to be lazy, come out for me. Otherwise, you won't be able to buy affordable rations next month. ”

In the middle of winter, several monks ran out in a panic wearing monk's robes. They were busy opening the temple door, and they had to curry favor with the petty officials who came outside to smash the door. After the incident, they came to mobilize Liu and Zhang again, and asked them to hurry to the construction site of the dredging of the ditch.

"Didn't you say it's okay?" Zhang Rushen was quite annoyed.

"Oh, the people from the neighborhood committee said that if you don't work, you can't buy food at a low price. Now we are all registered people, and the grain stores sell grain on a per capita basis. If we don't get food stamps, we'll be hungry next month. The host is also angry, but there is nothing he can do about it.

Liu Zhang and the others could only get up and set off. Halfway through, Liu Fucheng asked the host: "Isn't it okay to buy grain on the black market?" I'd rather pay more than dig that stinky ditch." ”

The host snorted and sneered: "Don't you think it's too ostentatious to take food stamps but you have food to eat?" The People's Home Committee is staring. Even if you call yourself sick, people will come to see you in person. I've worked a lot hard to cover up for the two of you, so if you come here, don't blame me for driving you away. ”

A few real monks rushed to the scene of the so-called 'ditch clean-up mobilization meeting' with a vote of fake monks. A few newly-run 'revolutionary army' civil servants shouted a few times on the stage, but they could assign tasks according to different streets, and demanded that the responsibility be assigned to the individual.

The monks such as the presiding monk had never done such work, and they went and begged, 'I am an outsider.' Jumping out of the Three Realms, not in the Five Elements', but the official cadres glared at them and scolded back, 'A bunch of gods, there is a kind of you don't eat and be a god'.

Boom ......, I don't have to run now.

Liu Zhang, who wore monk's robes, each with his own tools, one holding a shovel and the other carrying a basket. The two looked at each other face to face, and finally sighed and could only resign themselves to digging up the silt in the stinky ditch.

The stinky ditch behind this small temple is more than a kilometer long, and thousands of households live on both sides of the river. No less than 10,000 young men and women have been mobilized. At the scene, there were also officials from the original Ming Court Ministry of Industry who came out to plan and command, and some of the houses built haphazardly even had to be demolished to make way for the river. Naturally, some of them wept and splashed, and even some women lay on the ground and wailed.

But that didn't stop the project from starting, and anyone who messed around had to whip a few whips before relocating. The civil servants of the 'revolutionary army' obviously have a lot of knowledge of this kind of thing, and it is very simple to deal with it - the project is to be done anyway, and it is the enemy of the people who obstructs and is lazy. That won't be polite to you.

I don't know how many years of silt in the stinky ditch have accumulated, Zhang Rushen dug it down with a spade, and the mud that was turned up stinked was unpleasant. Liu Fucheng was even more dizzy from being smoked, and he wanted to pick his son and leave. Only the presiding officer of the temple shouted: "Come on, don't be hypocritical." When you look at it in this way, you are not a monk, but a rich and noble family. Beware of the stuffing! ”

It's so miserable!

Although Liu Fucheng's cultivation is not high, he is still a monk, and his strength and endurance are far stronger than ordinary people. But he picked up the mud twice and put it on the carriage for transportation, and the whole person seemed to collapse. It's just that he sees that the poor people around him are in full swing, and he can only continue to do it.

Zhang Rushen kept digging people, and the whole person had to stand in the stinky ditch. In that ditch, there are all kinds of nonsense. If only there is mud, it's just mud, even feces and urine. You can even get a water snake or something out of it, that's really damning!

When someone picked a basket, Zhang Rushen had to endure the nausea and say, 'hard work'. Most of the mobilized residents laughed, feeling that this old monk was quite kind, and said again and again that it was not hard. Some people are happy: "What's this hard work for? After noon, there is still a meal to eat. I just went to see it, and there was enough white rice with fish and meat. Everyone has a share, spray incense! ”

Some people also shouted: "After finishing work in the afternoon, you can get another five cents of wages, this work is a little dirty and not tired, not hard." This stinky ditch has plagued us for many years, and it is better to dig it up for a month. In the future, there will be living water from here, and we will also benefit from it. ”

You poor men say a good thing, but we don't want to do it—Liu and Zhang were tired all day, and they stinked all over, and they only earned one meal and five cents. The two of them looked at the copper coins in their hands and wanted to cry without tears, because this work would continue for a long, long time. Liu Fucheng muttered bitterly: "I knew this was the case, I shouldn't have gone with you yesterday." ”

Zhang Rushen was also upset, glared at Liu Fucheng, and scolded: "You deserve it!" ”