Outside Liangshan Park, nearly ten thousand people were digging hard with hoes in the dry river. People carrying soil continued to transport the soil to the river bank to build embankments. Qinbei Pavilion
"Huang Tuanlian, when will this day end!"
He Tao, who was wearing coarse linen clothes, tanned skin and calluses on his hands, looked at Huang An who was digging in front of him and asked. They have been working as coolies in Liangshan for more than half a year.
"How would I know!"
Huang An said irritably, waving his hoe.
Tuan Lian is a military commander, so he can adapt to this kind of physical work, but the same cannot be said for a pampered arrest envoy like He Tao, who cannot bear the hardship at all.
"The people of Liangshan are cruel, I advise you not to think about running away!"
Huang An suddenly said this, and he knew that He Tao was thinking of running away again.
"A lot of civilians have come here during this period. Let's gather some manpower. There's no chance we won't have a chance!"
He Tao lowered his voice and said, just a few days ago, Liangshanbo hired a large number of victims to help dig river channels and build river embankments. Now the construction sites are all mixed together. The two of them just need to work together, gather some cronies, and blend into the crowd to escape. Difficult matter.
"Where can you go? Jeju? What will you do if the people from Liangshan chase you? It's easy to dodge open guns and hidden arrows. They are very powerful and ruthless. Do you really think Jeju is safe?"
Huang An opened his mouth and said, Liangshan is a bandit's nest, and they must be able to use assassination and sneak attacks. Their escape is no different than seeking death.
"Also, we don't have any cronies! Look at those soldiers. They have long been accustomed to working in Liangshan. They no longer listen to our words. Only those officers are still thinking about escaping. Are you conspiring with them?"
Huang An stopped his hoe and said, "The treatment of Xiang soldiers in the state capital is average. Although the work here in Liangshanbo is hard, ordinary Xiang soldiers don't care about this. They only care about whether they can eat enough, and Liangshanbo keeps them well fed every day. Pay them wages as ransom. In two or three months, the ordinary soldiers will be free. Who will take the risk and escape at this time? ?
"Then let's just keep doing hard work like this?"
He Tao looked at his calloused hands and said helplessly, ordinary soldiers can redeem themselves by doing work, because they are only worth ten coins, but what about officers, big and small? The smallest prison officer was worth 300 guan, and the largest regiment commander Huang An was worth 30,000 guan. If he relied on work to redeem his life, he would not be able to redeem it in ten lifetimes.
"Let's wait until my family comes to redeem me. As long as the money is given, Liang Shanbo will release me."
Huang An opened his mouth and said, in the past six months, apart from the fact that the Jeju government redeemed some disabled people at the beginning, many family members of other military officers also used money to redeem their people privately.
"It's been more than half a year!"
He Tao felt depressed for a while. He was not a man without possessions. He could not afford ten thousand guan, but there was no movement at home, which made him suspect that his wife had misappropriated the family property.
"Huang An, come up here, your family is here to redeem you!"
The nine-tailed turtle Tao Zongwang stood on the river embankment and looked at Huang An below and shouted. Tao Zongwang is now in charge of dredging the river.
Huang An didn't react at first, thinking that there was some dirty work to be arranged for him, but when he heard that his family was coming to redeem someone, he stood there in a daze. Next to him, He Tao and the officers had different expressions, ranging from envy to envy. Jealousy, resentment, anger...all kinds of emotions are mixed in there.
"Great! Great!"
Huang An threw the hoe and clenched his fists excitedly and roared, he finally didn't have to suffer like this anymore.
"Huang Tuanlian!"
He Tao's face was half envious and half resentful. He was envious that Huang An was free and could go back and enjoy the food and fish to his heart's content, but he resented his own family for not saving him.
"Why don't you come up? Don't you want to leave?"
Tao Zongwang looked at Huang An who was motionless and shouted.
"I'm coming!"
Huang An rolled and crawled to the river embankment.
"Supervisor Tao, I want to leave too. I have money. I'll go back and get the money!"
He Tao couldn't bear it anymore. Huang An was gone and he could still stay there. If his family didn't send money, he would go back and get it himself!
When He Tao called out like this, other officers, big and small, rushed up to plead with him. They were all officials. They usually had beautiful wives, beautiful concubines, fine clothes and fine food, so they really enjoyed themselves. Now that we have to work hard every day and it’s miserable, who wouldn’t want to leave? Let alone some money, I am willing to go bankrupt.
"No one has paid to ransom you, so why should you leave?"
Tao Zongwang looked at He Tao and said.
"Supervisor Tao, I have money at home, but no one has taken it. I will go back and get it!"
He Tao said quickly.
"The rules of the world are to pay with one hand and deliver the goods with the other. If you don't have money, just keep working. In nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-three months, you will be free."
Tao Zongwang looked at He Tao and said, after deducting food, accommodation and regular wages for one month, He Qing wanted 10,000 gu to redeem himself. He had only worked for seven months so far.
When He Tao heard that nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-three months, his eyes darkened, and he felt despair in his heart. The officers next to him, big and small, shook their heads when they looked at He Tao. This was too miserable, but he thought that he would also have to spend several hundred. It takes a thousand months to redeem oneself, but it feels bitter.
"Please, Supervisor Tao, I will give you any money you want! There is no benefit in letting me work here. I will go back and get the money, and you can hire a thousand people to do the work for a year!"
He Tao knelt down and begged, and everyone else also begged. No one wanted to spend their whole life at this construction site.
"Why are you so noisy? Are you not working hard? The construction schedule is very tight. It's going to snow recently, and it will be difficult to dig when the river bed is frozen."
Xu Guanzhong walked slowly with a smile.
"Military advisor, these people want to go home and get money to redeem themselves!"
Tao Zongwang looked at Xu Guanzhong and said.
"People who come back this time will send money by themselves? Isn't this a credit account? We in Liangshan never accept credit accounts."
Xu Guanzhong shook his head.
"Hero, I swear to God!"
He Tao had no other choice but to swear to heaven.
"It's not that I don't believe you, it's just that the world is old and people's hearts are evil. Even if you have an IOU, you can default on it, let alone your empty talk."
Xu Guanzhong looked at He Tao and others with a troubled expression.
"Heroes, we are sincere! We will definitely take the money, no matter how much you pay!"
He Tao and others made repeated promises. At this time, they had nothing else but guarantees.
"Looking at how sincere you are, let's do this. You go back one by one. If someone doesn't come with the money, don't blame us."
Xu Guanzhong finally shook his head and said.
"Don't worry, good man, whoever dares to break the promise will be cut into pieces by us!"
He Tao and others assured in unison.
"Remember that you have made an oath, and you can discuss it yourself."
After Xu Guanzhong finished speaking, he and Tao Zongwang left.
"Military advisor, why are you taking advantage of these dog officers? Just let them work as coolies for the rest of their lives and have a taste of being bullied."
Tao Zongwang looked at Xu Guanzhong and said.
"Brother Tao, we have no shortage of labor now. It is said that disaster victims are coming from various places. Look at these people, they are not made to work. Why not exchange money and help the society solve the money and food problem."
Xu Guanzhong pointed to the victims working on the riverbed. These people can endure hardships. Men, women, old and young all work together. These are the people who work.
"Brother is really amazing. Could it be that he had thought of this day a long time ago? Then he kept these people to exchange money at any time?"
Tao Zongwang said with a smile.
"Ha ha!"
Xu Guanzhong also smiled. He was not sure whether Sun Lei was a prophet, but the detention of these people for more than half a year did play a role.
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