Great time travel

Chapter 133: No War in Lingnan

In April of the sixth year of Chongzhen, when the snow in the north had not completely melted, Guangzhou in the south of the Lingnan was already a beautiful spring with all things sprouting.

Outside Guangzhou, on the banks of the Pearl River, Li Fugui, a Jiangxi refugee, was sitting on a bench under a large awning, with his neck stretched out, his ears propped up, and one bare foot on the bench, drinking leisurely. While listening to the book with herbal tea, a skinny old man was talking happily on the table, spitting all over the place, and from time to time he picked up the broken fan on the table and gestured, causing the surrounding spectators to burst into applause or laughter from time to time.

Li Fugui, who just turned 20 years old this year, came to Guangzhou in exile from his hometown in the mountainous area of ​​southern Jiangxi last summer to make a living.

As early as the end of the apocalypse, the mountainous areas of western Fujian and southern Jiangxi were already full of thieves.During the reign of Chongzhen, officials were publicly killed and rebelled on a large scale.The heroes from all hilltops first worked together to defeat the government, and then started endless melee fighting with each other.The local people were plundered and slaughtered again and again, and all the fields were abandoned... Li Fugui's family embarked on the road of family migration because they could not bear the disaster of war.But unfortunately, Li Fugui was the only one left in their family when they successfully escaped to Guangzhou after overcoming numerous obstacles.

However, what almost made Li Fugui feel desperate was that he had just fled to Guangzhou when the imperial court issued an order to crusade against the "Australian Kun people" who were entrenched in Qiongzhou.As a result, before the Guangdong government and army had time to mobilize, the big iron boat of the "Australians" had already entered the Pearl River, approaching the city of Guangzhou, the provincial capital!
As a result, the unlucky Li Fugui was also arrested by the Guangzhou government, and he was guarding the city with a sharpened bamboo pole tremblingly, preparing to serve as cannon fodder when the Australians came to kill him.There is a group of local folks from Guangdong around me, all day long they are talking about the awe-inspiring majesty of the Australians sweeping the Pearl River and bombarding the city of Guangzhou in the past. Li Fugui was so frightened that he kept chanting Amitabha, please Bodhisattva, don’t let the Australians Cannonballs kill themselves...

Fortunately, this battle was not fought after all.Because the power of this group of "Australians" is so desperately strong that they are no longer like ordinary people—first, dozens of "flying fairy boats" (airships) came to cover the sky and played a terrifying video. The sound of music weighed on the heads of the people in Guangzhou; and then somehow, even though the gates of the cities were not captured, hundreds of "Australian elite soldiers" poured out from the government offices in the city The door] was directly opened in the Guangzhou Yamen), and all civil and military officials such as the governor, governor, prefect, general soldier, and chief envoy were all wiped out...

In this way, relying on this kind of beheading tactics and psychological deterrence, which is impossible to resist, the city of Guangzhou naturally fell without a fight.After the change of ownership in Guangzhou, Li Fugui was first imprisoned as a prisoner of war for a period of time, doing heavy labor for the Australians to build bridges and pave roads, and then he was released after receiving a little severance pay.However, since it was difficult to find jobs in the market, he came back to serve the job of the Australian lord after going around for a while.

——In the past half a year, Li Fugui got up early every morning as soon as the sky became bright, rushed to the Australian recruitment office outside the east gate, and sent a bamboo card with his name written on it to a five-year-old Australian fake at the door. Kun's hand, and then went to the arbor next to it to wait for the assignment.

When Li Fugui first came to do part-time work, the pergola could only accommodate 80 to [-] people, but it got bigger and bigger, and now it can accommodate [-] people, because these Australian masters seem to have endless work They built bridges and piers one after another, paved wide roads one after another, and even tore down the city wall of Guangzhou for some reason and changed it into a road around the city with coconut trees planted on both sides.He also said that he wanted to build some kind of "factory" on the wasteland beside the Pearl River, and gathered a lot of people to build on that wasteland. Li Fugui and his companions had a good look at the diorama: none of them thought about it. There are so many tricks to build a house. The yellow iron cattle brought by the Australians are bigger than the house and roar like thunder. Hundreds of people can be dug out in one meal. A big hole that can't be seen.In addition, a lot of other strange-looking iron guys were brought in, and the iron used probably weighed more than tens of thousands of catties, which made the Guangzhou people who watched it dumbfounded.

Although these iron animals are indeed extremely powerful, their work is still a bit rough. Many delicate tasks such as laying bricks, building walls, polishing stone slabs, compacting earth and planting saplings still need to be done manually, so This gave Li Fugui and the others the opportunity to work part-time to make ends meet.

In fact, on the construction site of the Australian masters, in addition to these day-to-day coolies who settle their wages by the day, there is also a kind of "worker" who signed a long-term contract. The treatment is much better than these day-to-day workers. The boss also took care of a meal, and gave out some small gifts called "welfare" from time to time, which made Li Fugui very envious.But if you want to be an Australian "employee", the first thing is to go to the "purification camp" to take a shower and shave your head. Li Fugui felt really embarrassed by this request, so he hesitated until now and still hasn't made up his mind. determination……

The wages that the Australians gave them were not white money, but some pieces of paper. The paper that was given at first was called circulation coupons, and later it was changed to another kind of paper with more precise patterns called Huayuan. To put it bluntly, it is the big Ming treasure of the Australians.However, the Australian banknotes are much better than the waste paper-like deceits of the Ming Dynasty government. They sell the best-selling Australian goods in Guangzhou at the moment: candies, pastries, refined salt, cigarettes, shochu, white paper, steel needles, and many other strange things.The most eye-catching thing is the glass mirror and cosmetics in Australia, but the price is also ridiculously expensive.

Of course, day laborers like Li Fugui who work for a day and eat for a day naturally cannot afford such expensive luxury goods, but this is not a problem for them.Because shrewd businessmen have already set up currency exchange booths near the Australian labor recruitment office outside the east gate, and exchanged the Chinese yuan banknotes in the hands of the workers for silver and copper coins.Moreover, with the passage of time, Australian banknotes have gradually established credibility in the Guangzhou market, and more and more shops are willing to accept Chinese yuan banknotes.Today's Li Fugui no longer needs to exchange banknotes for second-hand dealers to peel off a layer of skin.

Today, Li Fugui came very early, so there were only a dozen people sitting sparsely in the shed. There was a water intake in a corner of the shed, and a row of large vats were always filled with herbal tea. The bamboo tube on his back was filled with a full tube of tea, and while drinking tea, he and a few coolie men he knew started chatting about the mountains.

After a while, more and more people came to do part-time work, and soon the arbor became lively, hundreds of people gathered together, and the courtyard was filled with chattering and laughing in different accents.There is also an old man who is a hobby storyteller, spitting and dancing, retelling the new jokes of "Three Kingdoms" he heard in the teahouse yesterday... Although the old man's words are very ridiculous, it still makes life boring. The coolies who lacked entertainment were delighted to hear this.

On the roof of the Australian Recruitment Office, there is a small clock tower.After a few months of part-time work, although Li Fugui is illiterate, he can already understand the purpose of the round plate on the clock tower—when the short and thick pointer points to seven and the long and thin pointer points to twelve Every day, the bell will be ringing in the bell tower, and a clerk wearing an Australian "uniform" will appear on the steps of the gate of the recruitment office on time.He held a stack of bills in his left hand, and a big iron horn in his right hand. With a long and long sound, he yelled at the eagerly awaited coolies to distribute various jobs.For example: "...Digging ditches for four hours, 200 people, 50 cents per person..." "... 120 square meters of timber transported by the wharf, 20 people, [-] yuan per person..." "... five unloading coal at the pier One hundred bags, ten people, eight anise per person..." "...plant [-] coconut trees, [-] people, seven anise per person..."

Every time the clerk yelled, there was a buzz of discussion below.Then, just like the captain of the Red Hair Yi went to the tavern to recruit sailors, the coolies who were willing to go would gather at the registration office under the steps, report their names, and then special personnel would lead them to their respective construction sites.

After the work is done, there will be another half-grown child in an Australian uniform on the construction site, who will put a blue stamp on the back of your hand one by one, and then you can go back to the arbor to collect wages, and someone will check the name and stamp there. Then use a special potion to paint off the blue stamp on the back of your hand.

However, today's situation seems to be a little different. Although the short and thick pointer on the round plate on the bell tower has already pointed to seven, the other thin and long pointer has also moved a good distance past twelve, and the bell has also struck. It was done, but the paperwork for the job assignment still hasn't come out.This made Li Fugui and his fellow workers gradually flustered, and the chatter became quieter and quieter. Everyone was staring at the closed door on the steps while exchanging terrified messages. Eyes——Looking at this posture, it could be that... there is no work today, right?
Obviously, if there is no work today, then naturally there will be no wages for this day.How amazing!Many of them are so poor that "there is no food for the house", and the old and the young are waiting to rely on their daily wages to buy rice and go back to the pot!
As time went by, just as the day laborers started to feel a little commotion, the door of the recruiting office finally opened with a loud bang.However, what came out of it was not only the usual "false Kun" clerk, but also a young Taoist priest with sword eyebrows and starry eyes.The clerk looked around, then raised the tin trumpet in his hand, and shouted at the coolies in the shed: "...Little ones! Listen up! The Changliu faction is recruiting in Guangzhou today." Handyman disciples and outer disciples, if you want to participate in the assessment, please come to this chief to sign up!"

Pointing to the young Taoist priest beside him, he announced, "...this Changliu is the sect of defending the country of the Australian Song Dynasty. There is a gold plaque written by the emperor of the Australian Song Dynasty on the mountain gate! He was admitted to Changliu It's like eating an official salary! Everyone, don't miss this opportunity!"

Everyone was stunned by this unexpected news—what kind of route is this Changliu faction?But it sounds good...

"...Yes, my Changliu sect is a first-class sect officially certified by the Australian Song Dynasty, and the treatment is absolutely generous!" After the clerk with the tin horn finished shouting, the young Taoist also nodded, slowly Di echoed, "...as long as you are willing to abide by the school rules and obey the instructions of the master, all disciples, regardless of high or low, will be provided with food and shelter, pocket money and seasonal clothes, and will teach various levels of martial arts!"

Speaking of this, he suddenly patted his head as if suddenly enlightened, "...Oh, yes, disciples of this sect can't help but marry, and of course there is no need to shave their hair..."

In an instant, Li Fugui, who longed for a stable life for a long time, suddenly lit up his eyes...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

On the newly built avenue in the south of Guangzhou, a carriage was slowly driving, followed by a small group of short-haired soldiers armed with live ammunition on foot. A Venus flag and a star-ring flag with a red background were erected on the top of the carriage, fluttering in the wind. , attracting countless envious and awe-inspiring eyes on both sides of the road.

At this moment, Xu Xiake, the most famous "No. [-] donkey friend in the world" in the history of the late Ming Dynasty, was sitting in this luxury carriage specially sent by the "Australian" with his traveling companion and clan brother Xu Zhongzhao.The rhythmic tremor of the seat under them made the two of them drowsy after a long journey.

——This western-style four-wheeled carriage is a high-end product custom-made by Guangzhou Zichengji. It has a solid iron frame and a lightweight rattan carriage. Both inside and outside are wrapped with velvet curtains. The windows on the side of the carriage are equipped with detachable glass. The window casement and the double-layer window screen with black inside and white outside fully guarantee the privacy of passengers, so that pedestrians cannot see the situation in the compartment.In the small rattan box under the seat are all kinds of drinks and snacks, ranging from herbal tea, sherbet, kvass to rum, all neatly placed in small compartments.The interior and exterior of the carriages are exquisitely decorated, with extensive use of copper decorative parts and gorgeous embossed inlays, coupled with the newly launched soft sofas from Lingao Furniture Factory, which greatly improves the comfort of passengers during the journey.

But the biggest advantage of this kind of carriage is that it uses rubber pneumatic tires and an advanced suspension damping system. It relies on damping plates made of bamboo chips and various damping springs, which can greatly reduce the impact caused by uneven road surfaces on the vehicle body. In order to adapt to the poor road conditions in the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, once this carriage was launched in Guangzhou, it caused quite a stir. Although the price is high, the sales are still booming. The first batch of [-] prototype carriages were sold out quickly, and the order has been lined up for half a year. , is regarded as a status symbol under the "Australian" rule, and a must-have for the wealthy and dignitaries of the "New Dynasty".The relevant departments are also very much in favor of the promotion of this kind of carriage - in any case, as long as it can replace the sedan chair, which is a slow and wasteful means of transportation, it will greatly liberate the labor force.

However, riding this comfortable carriage that he had never experienced before, and once again setting foot on the border of Guangzhou in the south of Lingnan, Xu Xiake was in a very disturbed mood—he never thought that he would actually be in such a wonderful form, On your way home!
Xu Xiake sighed, staring blankly at the glass window, all kinds of miraculous experiences in the past year seemed to appear before his eyes again...