OBS Chapter 402 Happiness is all in comparison
Chapter 402 Happiness is all in comparison
In the fourth year of the Hongwu reign, Zhu Biao had just turned sixteen.
At this time, Zhu Biao had not yet fully evolved into a glutinous rice ball with black sesame filling.
Upon hearing Yang Shaofeng ask him if he was thinking about the labor issue, Zhu Biao couldn't help but chuckle awkwardly.
"I think that if there were more laborers, the road construction could be completed much faster."
"Therefore, I was thinking about whether to ask Uncle Chang and my cousin to bring back more laborers."
"Especially Chang..."
Considering that Chang Yuchun was his future father-in-law, Zhu Biao still felt embarrassed to mention Chang Yuchun's killing of prisoners of war.
Moreover, Zhu Biao understood that Chang Yuchun's frequent killing of prisoners of war was not because he particularly enjoyed killing prisoners, but because the Ming Dynasty simply did not have enough food to support prisoners of war.
More importantly, before his brother-in-law began using prisoners of war as laborers on a large scale, the prevailing opinion in the court was to conscript laborers.
After all, ordinary people are easy to fool. There's no need to give them clothes; just provide them with enough steamed buns and rice, and give them an extra day's wages.
Even if some people ran away because they thought the work was too hard or the wages were too low, the government could still catch them and bring them back to work by following the household registration records.
In comparison, using prisoners of war as forced laborers is a bit less appealing.
Rice and steamed buns must be provided in abundance, like conscripting laborers, otherwise they won't have the strength to work.
They need to be given prison clothes, and a large number of people need to be assigned to guard them, otherwise they will easily escape.
Moreover, once they run away, they can easily disappear without a trace, and the cost of capturing them is also very high.
The wages saved by using prisoners of war might not even be enough to pay the overseers who guarded them.
Therefore, using prisoners of war as laborers is not as cost-effective as conscripting laborers.
Then the problem is coming.
How did my brother-in-law manage to get the laborers to work hard without running away?
Not to mention that they were given enough food, clothing and wages.
Given my brother-in-law's personality, even if he had a lot of money and food, he would never waste it on forced labor.
After thinking for a long time without coming up with a solution, Zhu Biao simply looked at Yang Shaofeng and said, "Brother-in-law, I want to go and see those forced laborers."
Yang Shaofeng smiled and immediately left the market with Zhu Biao, heading towards the construction site in the south of the city.
It's actually quite a coincidence.
The road in Ningyang County was built in the south of the city, and the road outside Dengzhou Prefecture was also built in the south of the city.
Yang Shaofeng even sometimes wondered if he would one day be known as a contractor in the south of the city.
Upon arriving at the construction site in the south of the city, Zhu Biao was immediately stunned.
Some of the Korean laborers were transporting lime, cement, and gravel.
Some of the Korean laborers are digging soil.
Some of the Korean laborers were responsible for filling the dug pits with the transported stones to make the roadbed, while others were responsible for pouring the mixed cement mortar.
People come and go, it's incredibly busy.
Surprisingly, no one complained of being tired or suffering.
Zhu Biao asked in a low voice, "Brother-in-law, are these... these Korean laborers afraid to slack off because the two of us are here?"
Yang Shaofeng smiled, but did not answer Zhu Biao's question. Instead, he led Zhu Biao to the food shed prepared for the Korean laborers.
Then, Zhu Biao was completely bewildered.
The soup was crystal clear, with only a few purple vegetable leaves floating on top, and at most a few tiny shrimp.
The steamed buns were dark and looked like they were made of some unknown material.
And there were also dried fish strips torn in half.
Is this the food for the laborers?
Zhu Biao stared blankly at Yang Shaofeng and asked, "Brother-in-law, this..."
Yang Shaofeng smiled again and said, "These are the meals for the Korean laborers."
"However, these meals were brought by the Korean laborers themselves and have nothing to do with our Great Ming."
"All we need to do is settle their wages."
"Your Highness, why don't you guess how much they are paid per day?"
After a moment's consideration, Zhu Biao gave what he considered a reasonable number.
"Twenty coins per day for each worker?"
This should be considered a fairly reasonable price, right?
Because his father had set a rule that the people of the Ming Dynasty had to perform corvée labor, and the government had to provide them with food and clothing, as well as pay them sixty coins a day.
Of course, rules are rules, but how to implement them is another matter entirely.
For example, they would find various reasons to deduct money, giving only fifty or even thirty coins when it was due to be sixty.
For example, they might simply not conscript laborers but instead have the soldiers of the garrison help with the work.
To put it bluntly, it's easy for officials to embezzle wages and pocket the difference if they want to.
Therefore, Zhu Biao felt that paying Korean laborers twenty coins a day was a reasonable figure.
However, to Zhu Biao's surprise, Yang Shaofeng smiled and shook his head.
"Each worker receives fifteen copper coins per day."
"Furthermore, these wages were not paid directly to the laborers, but were distributed to their families by the Goryeo government."
Zhu Biao stared blankly at Yang Shaofeng and asked, "Fifteen coins?"
Yang Shaofeng nodded and said, "It's fifteen coins."
"All clothing and food were to be provided by the Goryeo side on its own."
"All things considered, it is much more cost-effective than conscripting laborers."
Zhu Biao nodded blankly and asked, "What about the relatives of those convicted officials and gentry in our Great Ming Dynasty?"
"Are they really willing to work honestly on the construction site?"
Yang Shaofeng said, "As long as they have enough to eat and wear, and can survive, they can work for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon, with half an hour in between for rest. The work assigned to them is not too strenuous, so they can naturally keep going."
"As for those Semu people and the short, ugly Japanese, they work for about six hours a day, with half an hour in between for rest."
"Their food, lodging, and clothing were worse than those of the relatives of convicted officials and gentry."
“Their construction sites are not far apart, and sometimes they even have to work together. Compared to each other, the hard laborers of the Ming Dynasty no longer have the idea of escaping.”
Yang Shaofeng led Zhu Biao to a construction site not far away, and they went directly to the canteen.
It was soup, but Yang Shaofeng simply picked up a bowl and scooped out a bowlful with a spoon.
White noodle soup with some vegetable leaves and a generous layer of small shrimp.
After walking a little further to the side, the pot next to us no longer contained soup, but stewed sea fish. Although the smell was not as good, this thing could still be considered meat.
In the basket not far away, there was an even larger pile of dark and yellowish steamed buns.
Yang Shaofeng said with a smile, "These are the meals for the hard laborers of the Ming Dynasty."
It's time for those corrupt officials who readily accept the honor of being forced to serve corvée labor to wake up. Most of the corvée labor is heavy physical labor, and a lot of people would starve or die from exhaustion from just a plate of pickled vegetables and congee. Let alone escaping corvée labor, it would be a miracle if they didn't rebel.
Yang Shaofeng looked up at the sky and said with a smile as he led Zhu Biao around the construction site.
"They are not afraid of how hard labor is. As long as there are people who suffer more than them, they can find a reason to keep going."
"Happiness is something you discover through comparison."
"Also, Your Highness, please don't think that those Korean laborers are really suffering."
"In fact, they couldn't even get these things to eat in Korea."
"Just like the ordinary people of our Great Ming Dynasty, their food may not even be as good as that of these hard laborers."
"Dengzhou Prefecture has only started to recover in the last few months."
“When I first came to Dengzhou, the people usually ate only two meals a day, except during the busy farming season.”
"How could we dare to eat three meals a day like we do now?"
After walking a little further, we came across a construction site where workers were sitting together chatting and laughing.
Zhu Biao asked with great curiosity, "Who are they?"
Yang Shaofeng said, "These are people from Penglai County who came here to work and earn money before the spring plowing season."
"They also work four hours a day, but they get a 15-minute break every hour."
"They provide food and clothing, and each worker receives an additional sixty coins per day."