Troubled times: Start practicing spiritual practice by taking care of your sister-in-law

Chapter 137
Two days later.

Sunset slanted west.

South of the city.

Wu Shan led a team of detectives, carrying a basket of copper coins and a dozen buckets of gruel and placed them outside the arsenal.

Wu Shan took the gong and started ringing "dang dang dang" outside.

There was an uproar in the arsenal.

"It's time to get off work, it's time to get off work."

The workers who were building the arsenal immediately put down their work and lined up to walk out of it.

They looked at the steaming porridge bucket, and their stomachs began to growl after being hungry for more than two hours, and they all swallowed their saliva.

They first came to the government servant who was responsible for paying wages and received today's wages, which was ten cents.

Although ten cents is not much, and cannot even buy a pound of corn, it can save the family from starving to death. In today's world, it is not bad, and if you save it, you can have three hundred cents a month. .

Especially for those who come to work, the county also provides lunch and dinner. Although it is just gruel, it still attracts many refugees and poor people who have no food to eat.

Liu Er is one of them. The difference is that he is not a homeless refugee. He is from Qingting County and from the county town.

Because Qingting County is backed by the Salt Lake, people in the city live a pretty good life, and the people at the bottom can barely eat a bite of food.

But since the Tianshi Army came, everything has changed.

After breaking the city, this group of thieves burned, killed and looted, and Liu Er's family was also looted.

For three consecutive days, Qingting County was in a state of tragedy.

Countless families were broken up and perished. Some people took their families away from their hometown where they had lived for most of their lives and became refugees. Some people were forced to join the Tianshi Army.

The last group of people are the outright "honest people". They are reluctant to leave home. Even if they are angry in their hearts, facing the powerful Tianshi Army, they can only swallow their anger and rely on the Tianshi Army to speed up. Leave so they can resume their old lives.

What surprised them was that they heard that the Heavenly Master Army, which used to move from city to city, stopped in Qingting County and refused to leave.

Although large-scale robberies like before no longer occur, the turmoil has never stopped, and petty thefts often occur. Even if the Tianshi Army issued an order to calm the people, it was just a big thunder and a small rain. Just grab it face to face.

They also give me a meal of porridge every day, but the porridge is just like drinking water. There are not ten grains of rice in a bowl of porridge.

At this moment, Liu Er heard that Chen Mo, the magistrate of Pingting County next door, treated people well and that the people in the city lived and worked in peace and contentment. The most important thing was that the city also provided aid to refugees. As long as they worked, they would be paid.

At first, Liu Er didn't believe it. After all, he heard that County Magistrate Chen was also a member of the Tianshi Army. They were all in the same group. How could it be any better?

Well, due to the previous blockade of the entire city in Pingting and Qingting counties, information was blocked and it was difficult for the people at the bottom to know what was happening outside. In addition, the Qingting County magistrate deliberately blocked the information about Chen Mo to avoid causing unrest, so in addition to People outside the city and people in the city don't know much about Chen Mo.

But because he couldn't live any longer, Liu Er could not rest at ease due to the constant riots in the city.

So he planned to come and see for himself.

After arriving in Pingting County, he was shocked by everything in the city.

The city is so lively. The shops on both sides of the street are open one by one. People are coming and going on the street. There are police officers patrolling back and forth. Once anyone is found making trouble, they will be arrested immediately. Even fights caused by quarrels will be taken care of by the police officers.

Many stores have also posted recruitment notices. Unfortunately, they are only recruiting people from Pingting County.

Only the arsenal in the south of the city recruits workers without any restrictions on who they are from. As long as they are men over ten and under 60 years old, they can recruit workers.

As a result, Liu Er became a worker in the construction arsenal.

"Hey, who are you? Why are you standing there, you don't want to be paid?" Wu Shan looked at Liu Er and didn't understand, and the people behind him kept urging him, and he suddenly shouted loudly.

Liu Er reacted and quickly said sorry.

He stepped forward and took ten cents of wages from Wu Shan.

Looking at the ten copper coins in his hand, Liu Er seemed to be dreaming again. He really gave it to him if he had money.

After that, he queued up for another bowl of porridge and half a spoonful of pickles.

Although the porridge is thin, there are at least hundreds of grains of rice in one bite, and there are shredded pork in the porridge.

The most important thing is that this half spoon of pickles makes Liu Er feel like he has eaten the most delicious food in the world.

He did not eat the half spoonful of pickles with the porridge, but carefully wrapped them in a cloth and put them away, ready to take them home.

Although there is a salt lake in Qingting County, it does not mean that every household can afford salt. Especially after the Tianshi Army occupied Qingting County, they blocked the entire salt lake. In the past, they could steal some, but now You can't even steal anymore.

After coming out of Pingting County, Liu Er was still dizzy and felt unreal until he touched the copper coins in his arms again. The cold touch told him that everything was real.

"One two, one two three four."

"One two, one two three four."

At this time, hundreds of shirtless men, shouting the same slogans, ran all the way from a short distance away. When people outside the city heard the movement, they all looked over, their eyes full of envy.

And these hundreds of men, feeling the envious eyes from outside the city, became energetic every one of them, raised their heads involuntarily, and made their movements more orderly.Liu Er asked others, who are these people?
From the mouth next to him, he knew that these people were the Warrior Guards, and the Warrior Guards were the envied existence of everyone in Pingting County, because each of the Warrior Guards could receive a monthly salary of [-] Wen, and those team leaders , The captain’s monthly salary is higher.

In addition to the monthly salary, there are three dry meals a day, one of which is meat.

The most important thing is that the first batch of brave guards still have fields at home.

A matchmaker told Liu Er that if any family in the county has a relative of Shenyongwei, the other daughters or sons in the family will not have to worry about not being able to go out or get a wife.

These brave guards are the prize in the eyes of the matchmaker.

After learning this, Liu Er was also full of envy, and asked the Shen Yong Guard if they were recruiting anyone, but the answer he got was no, which made him a little disappointed.

When I got home, it was getting dark.

At this moment, more than a dozen men came to Liu Er's home. These people were all Liu Er's friends and neighbors. They came to ask Liu Er whether the things in Pingting County were true.

When Liu Er took out ten copper coins from his arms and told what he saw and heard in Pingting County.

These dozen men were all shocked. They didn't expect the rumors to be true.

Liu Erdao: "I have decided to move to Pingting County with my family tomorrow. I have found out that there is a refugee camp in Pingting County, and even if there is no place to live, it is better than staying here."

"Liu Er, I'll go with you."

"Go together, go together."

……

three days later.

As the sun set in the west, Chen Mo stretched. He would not go back to the village today and asked Chun Hong to boil water. He wanted to take a bath.

After Chunhong went down, Sun Meng came over and said that Wang Ping and Wu Shan wanted to see him.

Wu Shan is currently the Dianshi in the Yamen, in charge of all the police officers, and is responsible for maintaining public security in the city, as well as arrests and prisons.

Wang Ping is the clerk of the household in the yamen. He is in charge of all the scribes in the yamen, the amount of household registration, the amount of land and grain, warehouses and other money and taxes.

The two came together and talked about the situation of refugees.

There are too many refugees in the city now, especially in recent days, many people from other counties have poured into the city. Some are even soldiers under Yuan Youchun, and now they actually want to be common people under Chen Mo's rule.

When there are more people, the refugee camps in the city will not have enough accommodation. If there is not enough accommodation, these refugees will sleep on the streets with their families, affecting order and city appearance.

In addition, the arsenal is already saturated with workers and cannot recruit any more.

Chen Mo rubbed his brows, thought for a while, and then said: "In this way, we will re-establish the garrison in the city, with a quota of three thousand, and the treatment will be half that of the brave guards.

In addition, establish refugee camps outside the city, reinforce city walls, build fortifications, and recruit workers from outside the city, with the same treatment as in arsenals. "

"promise."

Not long after the two retreated, Sun Meng came again to report Han Wu's arrival.

Chen Mo asked Sun Meng to let Han Wu in.

Han Wu came in carrying a basket and said: "Master Chen Xian, these are the fish caught by the people in Dadong Lake today. These three fish have the same characteristics as the fish you mentioned, Master Chen Xian."

Chen Mo walked over and took a look. Two of the three fish were purple, with scales like snakes and no fins. There was also a fish with three eyes, all the way to the tail.

According to what Yi Qianchi told him, these three fish correspond to the three-eyed bull fish and the snake-scale purple fish respectively.

"How much do these three fish weigh?" Chen Mo asked.

"These two strange purple fish, the bigger one weighs seven pounds, the smaller one weighs three pounds, and the fish with eyes on its tail weighs less than one pound," Han Wudao said.

Chen Mo nodded: "Get the reward money first."

Although this is the first time he has seen this kind of fish, he has not been able to confirm whether it is the three-eyed bull fish or the snake-scaled purple fish that Yi Qianchi mentioned, but the characteristics are consistent. Chengmen Lixin, regardless of whether it is true or not, Chen Mo’s bounty is Want to give.

"No." Han Wu retreated.

Just when Chen Mo was about to take the three fishes to Yi's house, Chunhong came over, handed Chen Mo a booklet, and said: "County magistrate, this is a piece of music composed by the eldest lady. And invite you to come and listen.”

Hearing this, Chen Mo raised his eyebrows, yes, as the daughters of the magistrate, the Xia sisters supposedly know more than Yi Qianchi, so why should he sacrifice the near for the distant.

"I understand, you go down first, I will go in the evening." Chen Mo said.

"No." Chunhong responded, then thought of something and said: "County magistrate, the water is also boiled."

Chen Mo nodded. After the spring red subsided, he called Sun Meng and gave him the music score of the poem. He said, "Send someone to give this music score to Miss Yi Shiyan, saying that I wrote it specially for her." I got the poem and composed the music.”

He didn't know what gift to give to Yi Shiyan, so he just wanted to borrow flowers to offer to Buddha.

"promise."

(End of this chapter)