When the porters nearby heard Liu Shen mention this, they looked at each other and shook their heads...
Hu Dahai glanced back and said softly: "Recently I heard that a martial artist from the Qingsha Gang died on the territory of the Chishui Gang. Now the two gangs are still arguing. Maybe the leader wants to recruit us to be strong men."
Chishui Gang and Qingsha Gang are the two major Jianghu gangs in Heyang County.
Because they are close to the canal, although the two Jianghu gangs are affiliated with the Caogang group, they are two tigers in the same mountain and are fellow travelers, so conflicts of interest cannot be avoided.
With conflicts of interest, the relationship between the Chishui Gang and the Qingsha Gang is naturally on the same level, and frictions often occur...
Originally, the underground situation in Heyang County was dominated by the Chishui Gang, which occupied 60% of the brothels, gambling stalls, escort agencies, docks and other businesses.
Other small gangs have joined forces to occupy the remaining 30 to 40%, and have to rely on the Chishui Gang to survive.
But in the past few years, the Qingsha Gang, through a long-planned merger, eliminated some of those small gangs, absorbed some, and controlled nearly half of the brothels, gambling stalls, escort agencies, docks and other businesses in Heyang County. .
The underground situation in Heyang County also turned around, with the Chishui Gang and the Qingsha Gang fighting against each other.
A few years ago.
The Chishui Gang and the Qingsha Gang often fought each other, resulting in the loss of many men. Later, the Anqing government came forward to control the situation, and the Cao Gang above also sent people to appease them, and the two gangs finally stopped.
There have been very few conflicts in the past two years. Even if there are occasional minor frictions, the two sides have a tacit understanding to gather some people and meet in secret to compare their momentum.
This is also the origin of 'La Zhuangding'...
Liu Shen also acted as a "strong man" several times, that is, he tied a red cloth strip on his shoulders, carried a machete, and shouted in the crowd pretending to be fierce to build up his momentum.
Another older porter sneered and murmured softly: "The strong men will not leave us porters alone. I think it is probably Team Leader Xu who has taken over the private work."
"That's true."
Hu Dahai nodded in agreement. Before he could speak, he saw Team Leader Xu walking into the dining hall, and he shut up and said no more.
Captain Xu nodded with satisfaction when he saw that long-term workers such as trackers and sailors had left early after dinner, and the remaining ones were porters.
He pulled a bench and sat down, put the whip aside, then waved with a smile and said, "Come over and sit down."
"..."
The porters looked at each other subconsciously. Although they didn't know what kind of medicine was sold in the gourd, they didn't dare to disobey, so they all came over.
Liu Shen is inconspicuous among the crowd...
Captain Xu glanced around and asked with a smile: "Is today's braised pork delicious?"
All the porters nodded, only a few boldly agreed with "Yummy".
"As long as it's delicious."
Captain Xu also knew that he usually established too much power and was not popular, so he didn't pay much attention to it and said bluntly: "I won't beat around the bush anymore. I'll leave you here to explain something."
"Today I took on a private job. There is a stone statue from the Song Dynasty member's family in the south of the city that needs to be carried outside the city. The stone statue is relatively heavy. It is estimated to weigh one or two thousand kilograms, so eight strong porters are needed."
"I am your squad leader, and this is my private job. I can't let you waste your efforts."
"Well, whoever is willing to take this job will get two silver beans per person!"
"..."
The dining hall fell silent for a moment.
Team Leader Xu's greed for money and lust is not something that only happens in a day or two. Taking advantage of his position to take on private work is commonplace, but private work that pays extra wages is really rare.
And it’s still two coins of silver beans!
A group of porters can only earn seven taels of silver a month, and they have to pay a "tax" of two taels to the Caobang, so only five taels of silver can actually fall into their hands.
If you can earn two cents from this private job, how can all the porters not be tempted?
How can you not be afraid while being excited?
"The squad leader might as well speak more clearly."
The older porter laughed innocently and said: "We have no other skills, we just have a lot of strength, but the team leader also knows that we are all rough people. If the stone statue is valuable, what if it bumps into something?" How's the damage? Even if we sell our lives, we can't afford to pay for it..."
"It's not something expensive."
Captain Xu smiled nonchalantly and said, "Besides, the stone statue was going to be smashed when it was carried out of the city, so I'm not afraid of bumps."
"..."
The porters felt relieved when they heard this, and there were a few porters who wanted to take over the job.
"But I have to explain..."
Captain Xu said with slightly moved eyes: "That stone statue is quite special. It is a statue of Bodhisattva. And the owner's family has requirements that it must be carried out without touching the ground. It must be carried all the way out of the city. Song Yuan's wife's house is one mile outside the city. Multiple paths.”
"..."
When they heard that the object being carried was a Bodhisattva statue, and that it had to be carried out of the city without touching the ground, all the porters were stunned and froze on the spot.
After coming back to his senses, everyone shook their heads like a rattle, not caring about the gloomy face of Captain Xu.
People at that time believed in ghosts and gods...
The private job that Captain Xu took on was to carry a Bodhisattva statue out of the city and smash it. This kind of thing would be disrespectful to anyone!
Who dares to take it?
Just now they thought the two coins were a sufficient reward, but now they just want to plug their ears and pretend they didn't hear it.
Team leader Xu obviously knew the problem, otherwise he would not be able to pay as much as a hundred taels of silver for this private work, so he comforted him: "Don't worry, no one will see this work at night."
All the porters still shook their heads, no one wanted to take this job.
Xu Bantou knew very well that these low-level mud-legged people were all bad-tempered. As long as one person spoke first, the rest would be easy to talk about, so he was not in a hurry.
"Three coins..."
He took out a money bag from his body, casually grabbed a handful of bean-sized silver beans, played with them in his hand, and said: "Anyone who is willing to accept them can come to me now to receive three coins of silver beans."
"..."
When the porters saw the silver beans, their Adam's apples rolled up and down, but they restrained their greed when they thought of the disrespectful work.
Although Liu Shen in the crowd was a little moved, he was not in a hurry to speak...
Four years ago, the flood disaster caused many people to lose their homes. At that time, there were many people who wanted to eat Caobang rice, and a group of people were like wild dogs fighting for food.
So the Chishui Gang took advantage of the situation and offered a condition that "you can only eat from the Caobang by signing a selling contract."
It is easy to sell oneself, but it is difficult to redeem oneself.
You need real money.
He is short of money.
Very lacking…
"Four dollars!"
Captain Xu's eyes moved slightly and he snorted coldly, and said: "If you are willing to take it, you can come to me now to get four coins of silver beans. After the private work is completed, I will give him three days' leave without deducting monthly payment!"
"..."
Captain Xu's eyes swept across the crowd, and all the porters turned their gazes elsewhere, not daring to look at him.
Just when he was about to threaten or induce, a voice suddenly came from the crowd: "The Song family that the class leader mentioned was the Song family that built a porridge shed to provide porridge during the flood four years ago?"
Although Captain Xu didn't know who was speaking, he still responded: "Song Yuanwai is one of the top gentry in Heyang County. He did build a porridge shed to provide porridge during the flood."
The voice from the crowd came out again: "Five coins of silver beans, I'll go."
Captain Xu secretly smiled when he heard this, but pretended to be calm and asked: "Who said you wanted to pick it up just now?"
Hearing this, Liu Shen squeezed out of the crowd and stood in front of Team Leader Xu, "Board Leader, it's me."
Captain Xu looked up and down at the person in front of him, as if recalling his name, "I remember that you have a big appetite, you're screaming..."
"Liu Shen."
"Yes, yes, Liu Shen!"
Captain Xu slapped his forehead and said with a smile: "If I remember correctly, you were sold here to eat in Caobang when you were still a boy, right?"
"yes."
Liu Shen nodded and responded: "My hometown was hit by a flood and I fled here. If I didn't have this food from Caobang, I might have starved to death on the streets when I was thirteen years old."
"Yes, he is quite strong now."
Captain Xu didn't want to dwell on his life experience for too long, and asked casually: "You just said you would take this job for five cents of silver beans?"
"yes!"
"Aren't you afraid?"
"What are you afraid of?"
Liu Shen curled his lips indifferently and said: "I drank the porridge provided by the Song family for disaster relief. This was to repay my kindness. What should I be afraid of? Besides, people are poor and have short ambitions. Now I am not even afraid of poverty, but I am afraid of a stone statue?"
"Hahahaha, well said!!"
Captain Xu laughed heartily when he heard this, and immediately took out a larger piece of broken silver from his hand, and said with a smile: "Don't you want five-cent silver beans? You are to my liking, I'll give you a tael of silver!"
"Thank you very much, class leader..."
Liu Shen also knew that he was "buying horse bones for a thousand gold" in disguise. If someone else came to speak, he would just give him more money by making some "appetizing" excuse.
Therefore, he was not too polite. He cupped his hands to express his gratitude and then stepped forward to take the one tael of broken silver.
Liu Shen put the broken silver into his pocket, then sat back to his original position with lowered eyebrows.
The porters who saw him putting a tael of silver into his pocket couldn't sit still and spoke one after another, for fear of slowing down others.
"Team leader, I'm also willing to take this job."
"Board leader, count me in!"
"I'll take it too!"
"..."
As long as they are creatures that live in groups, whether they are humans or animals, they have more or less the attribute of 'herding' in their bones.
For the low-level mud-legged people, it is disrespectful to give two taels of silver for this job, but if you give one tael of silver, it means that the Bodhisattva has mercy on me...
"Stop, stop, stop..."
When Captain Xu saw this, he sneered in his heart, looked at the dozen or so people who had spoken, and said: "Liu Shen's words suit my taste, so I will give him a tael of silver. As for you..."
He knocked on the table: "Five dollars per person."
"..."
When they heard that the wages were not one tael of silver, the porters who had just been scrambling to take over the work became silent.
Captain Xu said to himself: "It's just picking something. Five dollars is a lot. Counting Liu Shen as one, I still need seven more people."
"Five dollars is fine!"
Wei Dafu gritted his teeth and stepped forward and said, "My wife gave birth to a son for me. I need to make more money to go back and see my wife and my son!"
"good…"
Captain Xu nodded, pinched a few silver beans from his money bag, and said, "I'll give you seven dollars, and the extra two dollars will be considered a red envelope for your son."
"Thank you, class leader!"
Wei Dafu took the silver beans with a smile.
Captain Xu didn't look at him again, but focused on the remaining people, knocked on the table, and muttered: "Now there are only six people."
"Board leader, count me in!"
"Count me in!"
"Count me in too!"
"..."
Soon, the remaining six people received five coins of silver beans.
When Team Leader Xu saw that the person who would take over the private job had been finalized, he nodded with satisfaction. He thought to himself that the mud-legged person was the mud-legged person. He could get more than ninety taels of silver into his pocket just by talking. It was very satisfying~
Seeing that it was getting dark, he picked up his whip and glanced around with a sinister expression, and said sternly: "I won't make it difficult for you if you don't take the job, but you have to be careful with your mouth. If I hear the slightest bit of news, I will weigh the consequences myself." !”
After that, he stood up and changed his face: "The person who took over the work will go back and rest for a while. After an hour, follow me to work."
"..."
