Cui Xiaohua and Cui Xiaoshi, siblings, were transferred from the Machine Tool Research Institute to the railway construction site this time to be responsible for technical consultation on railway construction. Before they came, they studied for three months in a railway construction training class run by Teacher Yaoguang.
"Sister, these victims are so pitiful. I almost vomited after eating the egg soup. I eat this for breakfast every day in the school cafeteria. In addition to using some starch to cover the debt, there are only two or three eggs in a large bucket, all filled with wild vegetables and water. You Look at them licking the bowl clean." Cui Xiaoshi said with some nausea.
"Hmph, shut up! You little bastard. When our family fled the famine and came to Zunhua, you were so hungry that you screamed. I secretly gave you all my cakes to eat. You were beaten by your mother a lot. Only then did you eat. After two years of having enough food, you have forgotten your roots. If you keep talking nonsense, I will slap you if you don't think I'm a bigot." Cui Xiaohua glared at her brother fiercely and cursed.
Cui Xiaoshi shrank his neck and didn't dare to say anything.
"You've all eaten. When you're done, get on the carriage and go to the construction site." A man in his fifties came over and said.
"Uncle, where is the construction site?" Han Laowu asked.
"You are all stonemasons here. You go to the quarry and are responsible for digging mountains, blasting stones, and crushing the stones into small pieces of cat's claw stone, which are used to lay railway ballast."
"Uncle, where are my family members? How should they be accommodated?"
"You don't have to worry about it. There will be a house to live in when you arrive. Each family has a cotton tent, an iron stove, and briquettes. They buy their own briquettes. They are paid monthly. If you are in difficulty, you can advance two months' wages in advance."
"Ah! There are also wages. I thought I was in charge of food." Han Laowu said in surprise.
The middle-aged man looked at him with contempt and said, "Who is our master? How can we work without being paid? We cannot afford to disgrace that man."
】
"Uncle, how much does it cost per month?"
"You are a stonemason responsible for splitting big rocks. It is a skilled and heavy manual labor. You can earn one silver coin a month, which is one tael of silver. If the elderly, children, and women in your family are willing to contribute, you can use the hammer to break small stones. The work is piece-rate, and the payment is calculated by the ton, and the payment is made every ton, 7 copper coins per ton. The payment is made at that time, and there will never be any arrears."
The rocks are very heavy, and a ton of rocks is not much. You sit down and slowly smash them with a sledgehammer and a small hammer. Women and children can do this job.
That is, women use sledgehammers to break stones into small pieces, and children use small hammers to break them into smaller ballast. Han Laowu and his family can smash a ton of rocks in two or three days.
"Uncle, I heard that we are in charge of food at the construction site."
"Yes, you have three meals a day. You go to the kitchen and line up to prepare meals. There is an extra meal every ten days, and you eat braised potatoes, fat pork and big steamed buns. You don't have to spend money to eat. You will be satisfied. You can save all the money you earn."
Han Laowu and his family were so excited that they cried when they heard this. As long as they have enough to eat, they can do whatever they can.
Smashing rocks is nothing. Just sit on the ground and hit it with a hammer. Sooner or later it will be smashed. I didn’t expect that the elderly and children also have opportunities to make money.
They had rice cakes and egg soup just now. They were so delicious, fragrant and sweet. They are very satisfied with the food here.
Is there anywhere in the world where I can eat freely? Even when their family was in the best years, they only had half a year's worth of bran vegetables, and they could only eat half full.
"Master, what is a train? We came to build the railway and said it was a train. No one has ever seen this train."
The middle-aged man smiled and said: "Don't tell me it's you, I haven't seen it either. But as mentioned above, when it opens to traffic, we railway workers will be allowed to ride on it and run around from Tanggu to Beijing. Experience it. "
The 350-kilometer planned railway line from Tanggu to Zhangjiakou is divided into 35 project sections. One every ten kilometers. A large number of disaster victims were recruited and came to various bidding sections. Under the command of the construction crew, construction of the roadbed began.
Their families are placed in family camps and can do work such as collecting firewood, cooking, and washing clothes.
Workers go to work every day, mainly digging two ditches, building the excavated soil into a terrace-shaped roadbed, and then using huge stone rollers to crush it firmly.
Then, ballast stones are laid on the roadbed. After the ballast is laid, skilled workers will direct the laying of sleepers, and finally the ten-meter-long rails are installed on the sleepers.
This narrow track weighs 22 kilograms per meter, and a track is ten meters long and weighs 220 kilograms. It took ten people to carry it to the sleepers.
Because this is a light rail, the total weight is not large, and a four-wheel caravan with a load of more than seven tons can be used for long-distance transportation. More than thirty rods can be transported at one time.
These caravans were not only the main force in military transportation, but also played a huge role in the construction of the railway this time. It can transport seven tons of ballast at a time, or a large number of sleepers. It's just that the speed is a bit slow, and a dozen oxen are needed to pull the cart.
The limited number of Sharmas in the army are all used for military transportation and will not be used here.
However, Yang Fan is not short of cattle, there are plenty of them on the grassland. After some simple training on Mavericks, even if it can't plow the land, it won't be a big problem to pull a cart. Calves are also used to pull carts on the Mongolian grasslands.
Han Laowu and his family settled down in the quarry. In addition to the work of breaking down stones, he will be rotated every ten days to follow the caravan to deliver ballast to the construction bid section.
After all, smashing rocks is too monotonous and can easily cause mental problems. Therefore, we specially adopt the method of rotating delivery to give them the opportunity to go out and get some fresh air. Relax your mind.
This job is very hard. Every day when Han Laowu comes home at night, he is so tired that he wants to sleep. However, he felt happy doing it.
Because rice is really filling, and meat is eaten once every ten days. And wages were never in arrears.
He has never met a good owner who gave money so readily.
When I was in my hometown, I couldn't have enough to eat all year round with just a few acres of thin farmland in the mountains, let alone save money. With such high wages here, he never wants to go back to his hometown to farm no matter how tired he is.
My mother and my wife also got excited and took the children to smash small rocks every day. They started working as soon as they could see clearly at dawn every day until dark. Once you've smashed a lot, let a caravan come to pick up the goods, weigh them on the spot, and give you money.
In the evening, he and his wife discussed privately and heard that the railway construction was completed and qualified workers could be converted into formal railway construction employees. From now on, we will go to various places to build railways.
You can work until you are 60 years old. When you reach 60 years old, you will be considered retired and you will no longer have to work. You will also receive retirement pay, which will be paid for life. The retirement pay is 80% of the basic salary.
The two of them discussed that it would be great if they could become a regular employee. The family will no longer go farming because they can make a lot of money here. If you work here until you are sixty, you will have a railroad to support you in your retirement years. What a great thing.
What makes him most excited is that his children can be given priority in recruiting workers and work here.
This job also has a name, called railway construction worker. The big name of this businessman is Daming Railway Construction. From now on, when I go out, I will say that I am a worker of Daming Railway Construction. Hey, it sounds very grand.
"Head of the family, we are not going anywhere, we will just be railway workers from now on." My wife said, wiping her tears.