Song Dynasty Iron Armored Army

Chapter 176
This Tao Zongwang is really miserable. It seems that he has encountered a problem. The final payment for the bridge building has not yet been paid. The dry contractor is afraid of this. Well, hard-earned money will not be given to others who will work hard with you, but the foreman can't get the money, and there is nothing he can do. It's really hard to be caught in the middle and suffer.

Chai Lin and Chai Meng went back and forth for five or six miles. In a small village by the main road, there was a butcher who sold meat. There were two pieces of pork hanging on the meat rack, and there were many cabbages, green onions, peppers, spices, fragrant leaves and cinnamon piled up next to them.

Chai Lin checked the quality of the meat. The fat meat was four fingers thick, and the lean meat was rosy in color. The pork was not filled with water.

The boss said: "Don't worry, this pig was slaughtered in the morning, it is absolutely fresh."

Chai Lin asked: "Boss, how do you sell this pork? I plan to take both of them and use them on the bridge construction site ahead."

When the boss heard that he wanted so much, his face was full of fat and he smiled happily.

"The retail sale is fifteen yuan a catty, and you want thirteen yuan for the bulk. I will drive the car to deliver it to you, so that you don't have to take it." The butcher said.

If you weigh it, the weight is not light, 220 catties of meat, at least it must be a big pig of [-] catties.The butcher's family had a donkey cart, and after pulling the pork, Chai Lin bought more than a dozen Chinese cabbage, green onions, peppercorns, and aniseed ingredients.

Seeing that Chai Lin came back, Tao Zongwang was a little surprised and said, "Brother is going to buy some cooked food, why did you ask the butcher to bring a donkey cart?"

Chai Lin said with a smile: "Let's eat together, we can't let the dozens of workers look at us. We are all brothers who work on a construction site, so I bought two fans of pork, a dozen cabbage and green onions, and we all eat together." It’s good to work well.”

Tao Zongwang yelled and said, "Brothers, work hard. There is meat for lunch today. Pork stewed with cabbage is delicious."

The workers were happy and worked harder.

Life on the construction site is hard, radish, cabbage, rice, it is good to be full, which foreman is willing to give you meat, the workers are very happy to hear that there is delicious food.

Tao Zongwang's eyes became sour, tears came down, and he said: "Master Chai came all the way to come to me. I should be the one who treats you. This will cost you money."

Jiang Jing said: "Our Tao has been miserable for the past few years. It's okay if we don't work well outside. When we go back, our wife will give me shoes. The bridge has been working for three months, and only half of the wages have been paid, and there are not enough materials. Money, the wages of the workers have not been settled yet.”

Tao Zongwang wiped away his tears, and said, "Old Jiang, what are you talking about, go home and bring your jars of good wine. Ou Peng, you cook delicious food, ask some workers to help you stew the meat. "

"Okay, I'll get the wine." Jiang Jing went home.

Ou Peng came over to take a look, and said, "This much meat weighs two to three hundred catties. There are more than 60 people, and each person weighs several catties. I'll cook, so just watch."

Chai Lin said, "Okay, when you're done, let's have a drink together."

Don't look at Ou Pengsheng's nonsense, he is actually good at cooking. He arranged for workers to fetch clean well water and wash the tables.The butcher was very nice and helped to divide the big piece of meat before leaving.

The meat is cut into large pieces of about two or three liang, served with aniseed prickly ash, and stewed together in four large pots.

Chai Lin chatted with Tao Zongwang. It turned out that Tao Zongwang was penniless and fell ill in this commercial town, and almost died. Fortunately, he met a big local family named Huang Laifu. He saved Tao Zongwang by paying for medical treatment. , and then arranged for Tao Zongwang to do long-term work in Huang's house.

Huang Laifu saw that Tao Zongwang had great strength and good craftsmanship, he was good at farming and building, and he had only one daughter named Huang Ying, so he recruited Tao Zongwang as his son-in-law.The first one or two years were good, the husband and wife were harmonious, and the family was happy, but there was no child.

Huang Laifu died of illness, Tao Zongwang worked on the construction site all year round, Huang Ying was in charge of the house, and treated Tao Zongwang like a servant, so Tao Zongwang had a miserable life these past few years, let alone mention it.

The big pot stewed the meat until noon, and the smell of the meat wafted for several miles. Ou Peng said: "Brothers, the meat is ready. Let's prepare it and eat."

Ma Lin said: "Why hasn't that kid Jiang Jing come back? It can't be that he is reluctant to drink a good bar."

I heard someone say: "Who is talking about me behind that, I am not carrying a burden and walking slowly."

Jiang Jing came over with a dozen wine jars, five catties a jar, and a total of dozens of catties of good wine.

Ma Lin said with a smile: "I said it was too much, so I went to help."

Tao Zongwang said: "Today, I have been honored by the owner of Chai Zhuang. Let the brothers have a good meal, let's start."

"Okay, let's eat."

Tao Zongwang first set up a table with two bowls of meat and two bowls of wine. This is to respect the gods of the earth and mountains. It is actually a kind of ritual or culture.

There was also a table in the tent, Chai Lin, Chai Meng, Tao Zongwang, Ou Peng, Ma Lin, and Jiang Jing shared a table for six people. The other workers were not treated so well, and each sat by the fire with a bowl of meat. Eat and chat.

Chai Lin asked: "Zong Wang, I think the scale of this bridge is not small. It is tens of feet long. The river under the bridge is turbulent. The cost of repairing the bridge is not low."

"Brother doesn't know. Although the river is full of water now, rice is mainly grown here. In summer, the river water is irrigated to the fields, but there is no water. But this bridge is indeed very troublesome. It took five months. It was built with the help of hundreds of people from Liujiazhuang," said Tao Zongwang.

Chai Lin believed that it was a very painful thing to do engineering in the age without machinery. One day's work by a hundred people was not as fast as half a day's work by an excavator.

"Brother Zongwang has worked hard, but why is the final payment in arrears?" Chailin asked.

Tao Zongwang put down his wine glass and said: "The owner of Liujiazhuang is a good man, and it was not intentional that he couldn't pay the final payment. This Liujiazhuang is a huge area, covering more than ten miles. It owns tens of thousands of mu of tea mountains and produces millions of catties of tea every year. The big merchants in Chang’an sell to countries like Xixia, Tubo, and the Western Regions. However, from last year to this year, the war between Xixia and Song Dynasty broke out again, and small frictions continued. dead, so the final payment of 1000 duo has been delayed."

As he was talking, he suddenly heard the workers outside talking.

Five or six people came here, and a middle-aged man in silk came with several Zhuang Ding.

"Master Liu is here."

"Hello, Master Liu."

The workers greeted the middle-aged man one after another.

Tao Zongwang said: "This is Zhuang Zhuang Master Liu, I guess he came here for something."

Tao Zongwang came out and said, "Master Liu, have you eaten yet? I just cooked some meat, let's come and eat some together."

Owner Liu said with a smile: "I just came here to smell the aroma, but I just ate it, and I really can't eat it."

Owner Liu's eyes were sharp, seeing Chai Lin and Chai Meng's strange eyes, he asked, "Zong Wang, are you here?"

Tao Zongwang said: "My brother from my hometown is the owner of Chaijiazhuang in Cangzhou."

"Oh, that's how it is. Hello, Mr. Chai." Mr. Liu said.

"Hello, Master Liu."

The two didn't have much contact with each other, and Liu Zhuangzhu was not from the Jianghu, so he didn't know Chaijiazhuang in Cangzhou.After saying hello to owner Liu, he said: "Zong Wang, some time ago there were some problems in the sales of tea in my farm, and the final payment has not been settled for a long time. I am really sorry."

(End of this chapter)