After making an appointment with Cao Zikang, Lin Fu returned to the Chao Tian Yi ferry terminal with Zhou Pu and Wu Qi. This ferry terminal is the main ferry terminal for crossing south to Jiangning City, and the Shiliang River also flows into the Chao Tian Tang from here. There are also north-south and east-west post roads intersecting and passing through, making it a bustling scene even without the refugees from Nanjing. Lin Fu and his two companions bought some meat pies at the ferry terminal to fill their stomachs, waiting for Lin Jingzhong to entertain Chen Shu and two yamen runners from Youling County before leading them over.
"I just saw the Prefectural family's people at the wine tower," Lin Jingzhong came over and said to Lin Fu, "They are selecting people on the road ahead, I heard from Chen Shuban that the Prefectural family has several large estates in Shangyuan County. They hire farmhands from among the refugees, saying they're looking for farmhands, but it's more like they're looking for martial artists. A hundred or so catty stone lock is placed by the side of the road, and with both hands carrying one each, walking over a hundred steps without getting out of breath... immediately they'll be given a dou of rice..."
"Let them go," Lin Xie said, "they have nothing to do with us."
The hereditary fief of Yongchang Hou is located in Yongchang County, Jiangxi. In this dynasty, the restrictions on hereditary princes and marquises are very strict. The mansion and the fief are separated, and the rent silver for the fief is collected by the local government, strictly prohibiting the descendants of the enfeoffed family from intervening. Apart from this, there are many other restrictive conditions. However, at this time, the law has been relaxed and abolished, and very few people still observe their duties. It can be said that even if the members of the Yongchang Hou household had bought land, fields, and farms to raise tenants, it would have been a taboo thing to do, but no one would have bothered to investigate these trivial matters anymore. Moreover, it's not just Jiyun Society and Fanlou who came to the north shore to recruit people.
"Magistrate Lin, can we start selecting people now? Should I ask them to help shout a couple of times?" asked Chen Shuban, the head of the household registration office in Miling County, hoping that the yamen runners he brought along could also lend a hand.
"Let's just do the rough work, we'll be fine." Lin Tie looked at Cao Zi'ang and the others as they appeared on the dock in the distance, smiling as he spoke to Chen Shuban, the county clerk of Xunling. "We select people, Chen Shuban records their names and hometowns, and tomorrow you'll have to take them across the river... it's a bother for you, Chen Shuban, and the two bailiffs won't be able to return to Xunling County tonight..."
"Governor Lin is really courteous, you have urgent matters to attend to here, if possible, I'd still like to serve under Governor Lin for a few days - it's nothing to delay for two or three days. However, this can't be said to County Magistrate Chen!" Chen Shuban laughed and said, originally the tasks assigned by County Magistrate Chen Yuanliang were not to be taken lightly by him and the two bailiffs, earlier at the wine house, Lin Jingzhong gave each of them a silver ingot as a reward for the next two days' work, which made them even more pleased.
They found a teahouse by the dock and paid a few silver coins to take over its business for the afternoon. Lin Xie and his men had already written more than a dozen recruitment notices on Prison Island, asking the teahouse staff to help post them at the dock. In just one cup of tea's time, the entrance of the teahouse was packed with muscular men who came to apply, fortunately, Lin Xie brought four guard soldiers and two bailiffs from Yunling County to maintain order, otherwise, the teahouse would have been squeezed out by these strong men.
To the docks, ferry terminals doing hard labor, there are local people, but more are migrants who have flooded south in this migration wave. The canal is impassable, and in the southern region of fish and rice, one dan of rice costs only three or four copper coins, while in the northern disaster-stricken areas, one dan of rice costs three to four times, or even ten times as much, driving people to death. This year's harvest looks bleak again, and the government has increased its efforts to catch bandits, so they can only bring their families south to find a way to survive and avoid starving to death, only to discover that it's not easy to make a living here either.
The dockworkers have been reduced to the point where they can only earn two liters of rice per day, even if they work themselves to death. If they could earn two liters of rice every day, that would be fine, at least they could make a living and support their families. The problem is that there are so many people on the dock, and when the workload is divided among them, it's already good if they can get one job in three or four days.
Don't mention getting into the county's yellow book, even having a long-term job is better than struggling to make ends meet. Even if it means taking the whole family across the river and begging for food, it's still much better than being stuck on the north bank of the river with so many people fighting for a mouthful of food.
The Baojia village is recruiting farm workers, thousands of people gathered around, some weak ones carried over 200 kilograms and walked a hundred steps before almost vomiting blood. They still pretended to be fine in front of the person in charge of recruiting farm workers, but there were too many people struggling to make a living. It's said that this side is also recruiting laborers, so they all rushed over to see if there's any hope here.
Looking at the crowded heads outside the gate, Lin Xie felt a sense of sadness. In this chaotic world, human life was cheap and labor was even cheaper. The notice posted offered only two hundred coins per month for food and work, which was equivalent to two sheng of rice per day. With some chaff and wild vegetables added, it could barely sustain a family from starving. This wage was more than half lower than that in the suburbs of Jiangning City, yet the tea house still managed to squeeze out every last bit of profit from the laborers who came to apply. Lin Xie ordered Zhou Pu and Wu Qi to go to the entrance to maintain order, also ensuring that Cao Zi'ang's arranged people could come in to sign up.
"Take ten taels of silver to exchange for copper coins," Lin Fu ordered Lin Jingzhong to take the silver and go out the back door to get the copper coins. "Later, recruit workers, regardless of whether they are hired or not, as long as they come into the tea house, give each one a catty of rice money..."
"Alright!" Lin Jingzhong replied, and hastily pulled someone to accompany him out to exchange the copper coins. Ten taels of silver were stuffed in his bosom without feeling anything; even if exchanged for ten one-tael Tongbao coins, they would weigh eighty or ninety catties.
Ten taels of silver, the cost of a banquet in a luxurious building, can buy thirty piculs of rice, mixed with wild vegetables, enough to support three thousand families for one day.
Lin Jingzhong exchanged his copper coins, and Lin Fu had the tea house's servant bring several iron basins filled with shallow river sand to the table. He wanted to test whether people could recognize characters or not. He took a branch and let them draw two strokes on the sand. After everything was ready, Lin Fu allowed the people outside to enter. A yamen runner inspected the identity cards of the migrant workers at the door, while Lin Fu and Lin Jingzhong asked each of the strong men who followed a few questions, then looked at their physical condition, whether they were robust or not, whether they had strength, and whether their eyes were lively. Those who could recognize characters were allowed to write several words on the sand basin, and those who did not qualify were given three copper coins and released from the back door. Those who qualified went to the Chen Shu banquet table in front of the Huiling County household registration office to register their names, receive three copper coins, and receive a specially made bamboo sign. They were told to bring their families to the tea house the next morning to prepare for crossing the river.
Huifang County's Chen Shuban thought that recruiting over a hundred people would take at least three days, but unexpectedly Lin Xie and others acted quickly in the tea house, and the recruitment was like flowing water. In just two hours, nearly 500 people were let in to take a look, and this side remained neat and tidy, not chaotic at all.
It is said that one should observe people in detail, Chen Shu thought to himself, Lin Xie has been in Jiangning for only a few months and has already earned such a reputation, it seems that he is not just a mere name.
Lin Jie ordered the outside to temporarily stop letting people in, and had the tea shop assistants bring over tea and snacks. He let Lin Jingzhong and the others rest for a while, then took out the name list that Chen Shuban had recorded and looked at it, saying: "It seems like we still need to work hard for another two hours before we can finish everything..." Although the nominal recruitment was only for 100 laborers, he and Lin Jingzhong had both used their brains, recruiting people who either had brothers or fathers who were all strong and able-bodied. Moreover, in poor families, which one didn't have women who worked outside? Those diligent and healthy rural women, working hard and efficiently, were no worse than men. After recruiting 100 people, the actual number of usable laborers was over 300.
After a short rest, they had some tea and snacks to fill their stomachs. Lin Xie asked the tea house staff to help light up the wind lamps inside and outside the door. They continued working, rushing to complete the recruitment of 100 people before midnight. At this time, there were still many refugees gathered outside the tea house who wanted to sign up, but Lin Xie couldn't do anything about it. On the surface, the Ji Yun Society could only recruit 100 people, and he didn't have the qualifications to blatantly disregard those superficial rules in Jiangning. In fact, he had personally come across the river to participate in the recruitment process just to ensure that Cao Zi'ang and others could smoothly bring people in. The county's household registration officer, Chen Shu Ban, and the yamen runners couldn't see any suspicious points from today's recruitment process; to be honest, even if there were any suspicious points, they would likely turn a blind eye after receiving their silver reward. They only followed County Magistrate Chen Yuanliang's orders and didn't dare say anything extra.
Lin Jie let Lin Jingzhong stay in the tea house to distribute the remaining few thousand copper coins and then close the scene. He first accompanied Chen Shuban, the county magistrate of Yunling County, and two yamen runners to the post station for a meal and rest.
Lin tied them out of the back door of the tea house, turned to the front head of the official road, and the tea building was still surrounded by people. The official road leading to Chaotian Station had sheds built by refugees on both sides, which were very simple. Tree stumps and bamboo poles served as pillars, with thatched roofs and walls made of rammed earth if conditions permitted; otherwise, branches and thatch were used to weave a fence to block the wind and rain.
The sky was moonless, but the starlight was bright. Lin Xie found a high place and looked down. The thatched cottages stretched from the official road to the edge of the Chao Tian Tang River, densely packed under the starry night sky, looking like thousands of wild graves, desolate. Compared with the scene seen here last winter, the change in less than three months was too great.
When the spring water rises, most of the shoals along the official road going down will be flooded, but these refugees do not care about these. Only the shoal area from the official road south to Chao Tian Tang is a masterless land where they can temporarily stay.
It was late at night, and the streets should have been quiet, but Lin Xie and his group encountered several batches of government soldiers capturing vagrants on their way back to Chaotian Inn. Jiangning Prefecture and counties north of the Yangtze River also strengthened their defenses, and there were still many patrolmen on the road when Lin Xie's group returned at midnight.
Chen Shubao, the county magistrate of Youling, watched as the government soldiers arrested people passing by and jokingly said to Lin Xian: "Magistrate Lin, I'm afraid that Jiang Island Prison will be more lively than usual this year..."
"Hey!" The chaotic world, the prison is always overcrowded, refugees want to make a living by robbery and theft. Those who are sturdy and have nothing to lose can even withstand a beating from the government, and some even actively look for trouble to get into jail to eat prisoner's rations. Lin Xie only feels a little desolate in his heart, but he has to put on a smiling face and talk to people, "Each department binds people and sends them over, we are only responsible for receiving them. The prisoner's rations are also allocated by the Proclamation Office, I don't need to pay out of my own pocket to raise prisoners. What does it have to do with me? Tomorrow I'll cross the river, out of sight, out of mind."
Lin tied them up as they walked to the front of the post house, where several dark figures darted out from the side of the road and blocked their way.
"Eat leopard gallbladder and rob the way, roll away!" Zhou Pu immediately drew out his knife and rushed to the front of the crowd, while Lin also untied the knife at his waist from behind.
"We little people have no ill intentions, we only ask the great masters to take us in and give us some food to eat! We have nothing else but a pair of hands to serve. Several dark shadows emerged, with no other movement, they knelt down and begged for mercy."
Under the illumination of the wind lanterns on the flagpole in front of the inn, five people knelt in the middle of the road. The first two were a pale and thin young man and a little girl wearing a tattered jacket. The other three were robust men who, despite wearing thick and worn-out winter clothes, showed off their strong physiques with broad shoulders and waists.
