Chapter 371
They'd heard about it earlier—the official had built a factory over at Daping Village. Built with green bricks, it had hired workers and craftsmen from town. Hundreds of people, two shifts, working day and night in a rush. No one knew what was going on inside—soldiers were guarding it. Some villagers had come over out of curiosity to have a look, but they couldn't get in. Standing outside, though, they could see it was vast and spacious—dozens of mu of land, several meters high, truly impressive. They had never seen a building like this before—it was even nicer than the finest houses owned by the wealthy families in town. They couldn't help feeling envious, muttering among themselves that these officials must be rolling in silver, putting up a workshop that was better built than most people's homes.
Now the soldiers were leading them inside. The place was split into different areas, which they called "workshops"—though they didn't quite understand the term—but it was even nicer inside than they'd imagined: bright and clean. Everyone felt like their two eyes weren't enough to take it all in.
Making cement wasn't simple. The basic process was: first, grind limestone and clay into a fine powder; then, burn that powder at high heat until it turned into hard lumps called clinker; finally, grind those clinker lumps together with the leftover waste from iron smelting, and the result was cement.
It sounded simple, but doing it was no easy task. Without machinery, everything depended on manual labor. Most of the raw materials mined—like limestone and clay—had to be crushed. Limestone was the biggest raw material used in cement production; after mining, the limestone came out in big, hard chunks, so breaking it down was one of the most important steps in preparing materials for the cement plant.
This was work for strong men.
The soldiers were considerate and assigned the dozen or so women and fulangs to different workshops. Everyone remembered what their families had told them—none of them wanted to be separated—but they didn't dare defy the official's orders.
They worked on edge, every little sound making them jumpy. The men doing other tasks in the same workshop hadn't stopped working either.
Nine copper coins a day—who dared to slack off? With pay that high, it meant they were expected to work themselves to the bone.
Tieniu had been swinging his hammer breaking rocks all morning. His arms were sore and limp, drenched in sweat. Now his mouth was parched, and he staggered like he was about to collapse. The soldier in charge of their workshop saw him and called out, "Hey, you—Niu, whatever—take a break, will you?"
"Huh?" Tieniu wiped his sweat. "We can take breaks?"
The soldier said, "Why not? You're doing heavy labor. Even an ox can't work nonstop, let alone a person. Our new prefect isn't heartless—if you drop dead on us, the factory has to pay compensation. But don't you go slacking off either, or we'll fire you."
Tieniu was bolder than most, and he really couldn't hold on any longer, so he sat down to rest. Seeing that the soldier didn't actually scold him, he took the chance to chat.
"Officer, who's that man outside?"
"Who do you mean?"
"The one who's always squinting..."
The soldier quickly shushed him and glanced toward the door. Only when he saw that Li Yisheng wasn't there did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"You want to get yourself killed? That's our prefect's younger brother! Sure, his eyes are a bit small, but that's no way to talk about him!"
Tieniu's heart skipped a beat—he hadn't expected the man to have such status.
"So he's an official too?" Tieniu asked.
"Not exactly. He's a physician. But we're shorthanded under the prefect—he's busy rooting out bandits and blasting mountains, stretched too thin to handle everything. So Lord Li came to help. You all just work hard." This soldier was from a village himself and knew how tough life was, so he said kindly, "Our prefect is a good man, and Lord Li is a good man too—not the harsh type. People just don't know it yet; they think he's like the ones before. You lot were bold enough to seize the opportunity—otherwise, this chance might not have even come your way. Work well, and your families will surely get better off."
The two women nearby caught every word.
A little while later, another soldier came over.
"Lord Li says it's scorching hot outside. You workers, remember to drink plenty of water. Go to the mess hall to get some water today, and starting tomorrow, remember to bring your own."
Lord Li actually cared about them like this.
And what was a "mess hall"? Where was it?
But soon everyone found out.
At noon, the soldier struck a copper gong and announced a shift break of one and a half shichen. The workers were split into two groups. The first group went to eat and rest first, then came back to take over so the second group could go eat.
The soldier counted off the first batch and told them to follow the soldiers outside to the mess hall for lunch.
Nine copper coins a day—and meals included?
Heavens above!!
When villagers went out to work, if the boss didn't provide meals, they'd eat nothing at all.
First, food outside was too expensive—they couldn't bring themselves to spend the money.
Second, in this heat, if they brought their own food, it would be spoiled by noon. Only in winter, when it was cold, could they bring something. So today, a few had brought two raw sweet potatoes each, but most had brought nothing at all.
The budget was tight—the funds allocated to Li Yisheng weren't much. The food wasn't anything fancy either: steamed buns, one stir-fried dish, and a bowl of egg drop soup.
Ten eggs in a pot of soup, with just a few scallions floating on top—it looked pretty meager. But everyone drank it happily.
The soup had salt in it! That was way better than plain water.
Several women who'd come with Tieniu lined up for their steamed buns and saw that the fulangs and women who'd arrived with them that morning were now serving food to the workers.
They breathed a sigh of relief. When they'd first come out of the workshop, they'd nervously glanced around and hadn't seen any of their fellow villagers—their hearts had been in their throats. Now they finally relaxed.
That evening, they lined up for their wages. Li Yisheng personally gave instructions: "Work starts at chenshi (7–9 AM) and ends at youshi (5–7 PM). Come on time—you don't need to arrive as early as you did today. If you're late for a valid reason, I'll let it slide the first two times; after that, I'll deduct your wages. But if you're late or skip work without a good reason, three strikes and you're out—don't bother coming back. I'll pay today's wages now, but from now on, wages will be paid every ten days. As for the work—you've already done a full day, so you know what it involves. If you can accept it and think you can handle it, you're welcome to stay."
Work started at chenshi, meals were included, they got a break of one and a half shichen at noon, and they finished at youshi. The work was heavy, sure—but farm work was exhausting too...
What was there to complain about?
Even if it killed them, they'd do this job.
The women and fulangs went home without a moment's rest. Their mothers-in-law pressed them urgently: Was it proper work? What exactly did they do? Did they really get paid?
Yes!
They handed over their nine copper coins and explained that wages would be paid every ten days from now on, and the official hadn't beaten or scolded them. They wanted to keep this job.
Those in the same workshop as Tieniu also shared what they'd overheard.
The villagers finally felt at ease.
So the next day, the women and fulangs came to work happily.
But when they saw that the factory was still hiring women and fulangs, some men felt the jobs were too easy to get—and that their own work was being taken away.
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