In the morning, in Xiyang City, in the bleak autumn wind, Kong Yingda walked alone on the street. Many pedestrians hurried by, their faces were tense, which was in sharp contrast to him who was strolling in the garden.

Kong Yingda is a little familiar with this scene. Whenever a war disaster is approaching, people are as anxious as mice crossing the street, looking for safe places to drill everywhere.

Although he was still young at that time, Kong Yingda vaguely remembered what his father said about that year. When the Zhou army invaded Qi, they, as citizens of Qi and their neighbors, were so anxious.

Will the Zhou army massacre the city? Will it forcefully rob the civilians? Will it plunder the civilians and become military forces? Will it recruit the people to follow the army to work as laborers? Will it move the people to Guanzhong?

These things did not happen later. Shortly after the Zhou army vanguard arrived outside the city, the guards opened the door to surrender, because the capital Yecheng was already over. They were neither the military brigade's land nor the loyal ministers of Qi were in charge of the city.

The officials are still those officials, generals are still those generals, and the soldiers are still those soldiers. The people still farm and pay rent. Except for the flags flying above the city that changed from "Qi" to "Zhou", everyone became the people of the Zhou Kingdom, which was no different from the past.

To put it bluntly, the court above everyone's heads has changed. No matter who is the emperor, the people always need to farm, raise silkworms, weave cloth, and pay rent and transfer, right?

Therefore, when wars are everywhere, what the people are most concerned about is whether there will be war disasters in the places where they live. If a small group of enemy troops attack, then everyone will run to the city. After all, there are city walls and defenders, which is safer.

If a large number of enemy troops are attacking, don’t hesitate. Run to the countryside quickly and try to stay away from the city and the road as far as possible, because the enemy will definitely come to siege the city, and it will be a tragedy for several months. No matter whether the city can be defended or not, it will be a tragedy for the people.

So when the war broke out, most people were worried. Now in Xiyang City, everyone seems to be in a hurry and seems to be anxious.

There is no enemy approaching, why is it like this? It's such a strange thing!

However, Kong Yingda probably knew that some of these people who were in a hurry were rushing to "work", just like many poor state students, who went to work for workshop owners everywhere to earn wages.

It is said that after the autumn harvest, there was a slack farming process, but in the end there was a labor shortage in Xiyang City. The reason was that the government army purchased large quantities in Huangzhou, and the workshop owners were too busy to do business.

Because making down jackets requires duck down, goose down, duck raising, and goose farms recruit people to pluck hair; because fried meat floss requires bags, paper shops require manual paper or paper paste bags.

Because we want to make sausages, we need to go to the slaughterhouse to wash pig intestines, help minced meat, dry it, and start the process; because we want to pickle salted eggs, we need to select bad guys.

There are many chicken and duck farms in Huangzhou, and there are also many eggs. There is no shortage of salt in the southern part of Shannan, so salty eggs and salted duck eggs have become a famous product in Huangzhou. However, the salted eggs delivered to the government army this time are very demanding, so there are also many people needed.

On weekdays, the salted eggs are marinated by the farm themselves, but this time they are transported to the city to make them in workshops formulated by the government. First, to ensure that no one uses bad guys, and the smelly eggs are the best, and second, to ensure that the amount of salt is sufficient.

Kong Yingda had a classmate who worked as a short-term worker to pickle eggs. He used hundreds of chickens and duck eggs every day. The work was very boring. He just held the eggs in his ear and shook them. The fresh eggs were rich and there was no sound, the smelly eggs had a sound of residue, and the cracked eggs had a sound of cracked eggs.

Remove the smelly eggs and bad guys, put the good eggs in a jar filled with salt water according to the specified quantity, and marinate them for about 20 days.

The work seems easy, but the orders of the government army are very large, with a large number of salted eggs. He doesn't know if there are so many eggs in the Huangzhou area, but it is not enough to know people.

Pickling salted eggs is only the first half step, and the second half step has to be "basked", that is, wrap the pickled salted eggs in straw and put them in the weaved bamboo basket.

This work is not difficult, it is just tedious, not to mention that there are hundreds of salted eggs handled every day. After a day of hard work, my hands are exhausted. Fortunately, they don’t need to weave the bamboo basket, otherwise I don’t have to ask for the hands.

Kong Yingda's family is quite good. He doesn't have to worry about his livelihood when studying in Huangzhou. However, many students cannot compare, so the state school also provides opportunities to allow these students to "work and study".

'This is to let students become short-term workers in disguise!' Kong Yingda thought so, but he was not Emperor Hui of Jin who "why not eat meat minced", and he could understand the difficulties of poor students.

Thinking of this, he looked around. In many private yards, three or two women sat together to make bamboo baskets, which were used to hold non-staple foods such as salted eggs, sausages, etc.

The smallest unit is ten people, each basket has salted eggs, ten sausages, and several packs of meat floss and ham slices. When the official army was fighting outside, the team buried the pot to make rice, put the basket on the steamer and steamed it. The soldiers lined up to get the food and could bring it to eat.

Or send it directly to soldiers. Anyway, a basket of ten servings is very convenient to use, and it is also very convenient to count the quartermaster.

The number of meat products purchased by the government army is large, so there are many bamboo baskets needed. A large number of people are recruited in the workshop to weave bamboo baskets according to standard sizes. Of course, you can also get the bamboo strips home and take the time to weave them yourself. If you hand them in time, you can count the pieces and get the money.

As a result, many women who take care of their children and do housework at home also have the opportunity to make money, so women weaving bamboo baskets can be seen everywhere in Xiyang City, and all the idle people are taken to do short-term work by various workshops.

Everyone rushed to do short-term work. The bustling streets in the past now seem very deserted. Kong Yingda walked alone on the street and was particularly conspicuous. When he reached the intersection, he suddenly remembered something.

During the break, the students talked about interesting stories in the city in private, saying that the workshop was short of people, and the guys went to the street to recruit people, which was considered "forced recruitment", so don't go shopping alone, so you won't be misunderstood that you are looking for a job.

Kong Yingda thought of this cleverness: No wonder so many pedestrians were in a hurry, it turned out that they were afraid of being stuck with the recruits!

He finally came to his senses, but it was too late. Kong Yingda, who was at the intersection, rushed towards him, front, back, left and right, and ran and shouted: "Recruitment! The treatment is better!"

There are shortages of people in the workshops in Xiyang City. The guys are recruiting workers in the city. Several gates must be guarded. Then there are people arranged on the street. As long as they are alone and seem to be doing nothing, they are the targets of their recruitment. As the saying goes, there are too many monks and less porridge, and they can do everything they can to grab people.

Kong Yingda was surrounded by various guys, facing the "comfort" and couldn't help but explain that he had no intention of "working".

If he had some knowledge, he should keep silent at this time, waved his hand and just walked forward. After all, it was not to arrest people, and the guys would not dare to do anything to you, for fear that you would not speak. This opening was like poking a hornet's nest.

Are you worried that we are human traffickers? Don’t be afraid! The workshop is in the city. If you are not at ease, go to the government office to ask the officials to make a contract, and there is no deed tax.

Are you worried about not getting your wages? Don’t panic, the wages are paid every half a day. If you don’t want to do it, you won’t stop you even if you leave.

Afraid of not having a place to live? It doesn’t matter. You can only care about food and accommodation. Of course, you just need to have enough food. If you have a place to sleep, it’s better to do it for a day first. It’s not too late to leave if you don’t fit!

Kong Yingda opened his mouth and could not withstand the "siege" of so many people. He was a good at debating in the state, but he was just blind when he was just talking to these people on the street.

He was not yet an adult, and he was thin-skinned in human relations and was not easy to pull off his face and brush his sleeves. He did not bring a servant on this trip. Kong Yingda, who was alone and alone, had to explain.

The more the explanation was, the more the guys were pestering him. It was when the patrol soldiers passed by and relieved Kong Yingda.

"Didn't the yamen say that it's not allowed to recruit workers! This little brother doesn't want to, what else do you want!"

The guys scattered aloofly and suddenly saw two people walking towards the streets. They looked "idle" in cloth clothes, and they surrounded them without saying a word: "Recruitment! The salary is better, and the wages are paid every day!"

Kong Yingda thanked the soldiers and looked at the scene not far away, so he dared not go shopping. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and quickly turned around and walked to the place where he lived. No, he ran away and was in a hurry.
Chapter completed!