0p0 Chapter 183 Luo Xiaoran’s “bad idea”
Chapter 183 Luo Xiaoran’s “bad idea”
The meat that Luo Xiaoran brought was mainly pork. The fat was cut out to extract the oil, the oil residue was put on a plate, and the lard was put into a can. The remaining lean meat was stewed together with cabbage and radish.
After the stew is done, the dish does not need to be served on a plate. Several people can eat it directly from the pot with hot steamed buns. In the cold Yangliupo, it is a rare delicacy.
What's more, for many people in Hexi Village who can't afford meat, this meal is better than the New Year's Eve dinner.
Zhang Changzong specially took the wine that he had been reluctant to drink from home, just to give it to the supervisors, so that they would not make things difficult for the villagers, and not to whip or scold them at will.
The common people who were doing corvée labor were all very poor, so they had no money to bribe the supervisors. The supervisors either had to buy good wine and food with their own money, or eat the same food as the villagers.
Now, Butcher and his four companions can drink Zhang Changzong's wine and eat hot meat dishes from Hexi Village, which is much better than the other supervisors.
If their meals were provided by Hedong Village, there would be absolutely no smell of oil at all, and their mouths would taste bland.
Hedong Village is not as lucky as Hexi Village. With Luo Xiaoran's care, their food reflects the hardships of the working people at the bottom of the society during their service in that era.
The food distributed by the government office was insufficient, but it still had to be divided according to the length of service. Only the day's share of food was prepared every day, so everyone could not get enough to eat. They could only bring some food from home to supplement the food. If their family was poor and they could not bring dry food, they would simply work on an empty stomach.
"Now that you're full, let's get to work!"
There is a set time for meals. When the time comes, the butcher draws the whip from his waist and gives orders with a fierce look in his eyes.
As soon as these words were spoken, the villagers who were still desperately stuffing food into their mouths, without any prior agreement, finished the last bite of food in their mouths, without wasting any food at all.
The villagers listened to the butcher's words very much and stopped eating. However, they only listened to the first half of the sentence and not the second half. No one took a step to repair the road.
Seeing this, Master Tu was furious, "Are you all deaf? I said get to work!"
No one moved, not even one person spoke.
Just when Tu Ye's patience was about to run out, Luo Xiaoran's voice rang out:
"How can we start work without lime?"
……
After returning from the county government office yesterday, Zhang Changzong tossed and turned all night and couldn't sleep, worrying about the lime issue.
His brother-in-law, Wang Dandan, specialized in building houses for others and had channels to buy lime, so he knew the price of lime very well.
The sale of lime was controlled by the government and the price was not cheap. Even if all the people in the Hexi and Hedong villages were sold, they would not be able to buy enough lime to repair the road from Yizhou to Fuyuan.
Of course, Zhang Changzong was not the only one who couldn’t sleep last night.
Every household in the Hexi and Hedong villages did not sleep well. Even if they were extremely sleepy and fell into a daze for a while, they would dream about deadly lime. Where could they get lime?
The next day, Zhang Changzong, who was full of worries, led the sighing villagers and walked towards Yangliupo as if he was walking towards the underworld.
Zhang Changzong was in a daze. He felt that he might have encountered a great disaster this time and that the road he was traveling on would be difficult to repair.
Unexpectedly, Luo Xiaoran told him halfway that they should join forces with the people of Hedong Village to pretend to be stupid.
"How do you pretend to be stupid?" Zhang Changzong murmured, his head feeling dizzy and confused.
Luo Xiaoran glanced at Qiu Niang and Du Kongqing, who didn't understand what she meant, so she explained further:
“Whether we are ordinary people doing corvée labor or the government offices that issue corvée labor, we want everyone to know:
If the lime issue is not resolved, the road cannot be repaired. If the road is not repaired without lime, it will be a sin in the end, so it is better to give up the task at the beginning and enjoy some free time. "
"This... you absolutely can't do that, Xiao Ran!" Zhang Changzong was shocked, "This is openly opposing the government!"
Even Qiu Niang and Du Kongqing showed expressions of surprise at Luo Xiaoran's words.
Luo Xiaoran sighed. She knew very well how shocking her method was. In a sense, it was to let the honest peasant class rebel against the feudal bureaucratic landlord class.
The villagers had no idea about this method, let alone proposing it.
But if this is not done, the corvée issue will reach a dead end, and all people, life or death, fried or fried, will ultimately be at the mercy of An Luhai.
"The imperial law stipulates that there is one person per household. An Luhai has called up so many more people this time, which is an unauthorized conscription and a serious crime. Therefore, he must have some concerns." Luo Xiaoran deliberately paused to give Zhang Changzong time to digest what she said.
"Let's take a step back. If An Luhai arrested us today because we refused to do corvée labor, his prison would surely burst. This incident would also cause a stir in the entire Fuyuan and Yizhou. Don't forget, this is Yangliupo outside Yizhou City."
Zhang Changzong gradually understood the meaning of Luo Xiaoran's words, "If the matter gets out of hand, it will spread to Yizhou and Prince Yan's mansion..."
"That's right! I heard that His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan doesn't like people who don't follow the rules. He was able to lead the Northern Border Army to guard the border for ten years. He must have strict military discipline and iron-clad military law. If he knew that An Luhai had arrested hundreds of villagers from the two villages, he would probably be willing to send his men to investigate."
Zhang Changzong stopped talking. Luo Xiaoran understood why he hesitated and continued:
"Even if we are held responsible in the future, we delayed our service only because we were waiting for the lime to be delivered. Let's not talk about the fact that the delay was due to the government not giving us the lime. It's better for us to just delay our service than for the road not to be repaired and for Magistrate An to accuse us of 'disrespecting the princess'."
Luo Xiaoran explained it so clearly that Zhang Changzong pondered her words over and over again in his mind. Finally, he had to admit that Luo Xiaoran's method was truly ingenious.
After all, delaying the labor service term would result in imprisonment at most, but offending the royal family was a capital crime punishable by death.
Even though Luo Xiaoran had made her point so clearly and Zhang Changzong was very shaken, he still didn't dare to make a decision easily.
Firstly, based on his understanding of Magistrate An over the years, he was a good official with an upright character. It was just that his only son, An Ruquan, who had passed away, was tyrannical and domineering during his lifetime, which damaged his reputation.
In Zhang Changzong's heart, he still believed that there was some hidden story behind this corvée labor. Perhaps the yamen runner who delivered the message made a mistake, and County Magistrate An would order people to transport the lime as soon as possible.
Secondly, Luo Xiaoran’s idea was too bold. He didn’t dare to lead so many villagers to rebel against the government. He was even afraid to think about it.