xymnovel Chapter 53 Subcontracting
Chapter 53 Subcontracting
On the day Zhou Ziliang met with Sun Chuan, Shao Shuyi practiced archery for half a day in a small courtyard by the river.
Cheng Ji initially corrected some of his movements, but later let him practice on his own.
In the afternoon, I began to teach him sword and shield combat techniques—of course, it's only the basics yet.
As evening approached, Cheng Ji had just left when Li Fu arrived with his two children.
Shao Shuyi sheathed his sword and shield, his head steaming like a steamer. Seeing this, he immediately called out, "Su Niang, go to the pole and get two salted fish. We'll cook them with pickled vegetables. Also, cook rice for three more people."
"Yes," came a reply from the kitchen.
Shao Shuyi turned to look at Li Fu and asked, "Have you thought it through?"
Li Fu was silent for a moment, then said, "Now that things have come to this, the only thing I can't let go of is—"
As they were talking, Su Niang's daughter, Daohua, came over and gently took the hands of Li Fu's two children, preparing to take them to eat something delicious.
Li Fu's son, Sihai, subconsciously withdrew his hand, lowered his head, and remained silent.
The daughter, Rongniang, stared intently at the rice blossoms, unable to pull her hand away for a moment.
Shao Shuyi squatted down, looked at Sihai, and laughed, "Go play with Daohua. There are dried fruits in the kitchen. The three of you can each have a handful and share them."
The little boy turned to look at his father, saw him nod slightly, and then followed him.
The three children slowly entered the kitchen and then began rummaging through drawers and cabinets.
"Brother Shao, I..." Li Fu's eyes were a little moist.
"Let the two kids stay here for a few days," Shao Shuyi patted his shoulder and said, "If you still want to send them to Qingyuan after a while, that's up to you. As for yourself—"
"Brother Shao, I can find work myself," Li Fu said.
Just as Shao Shuyi was about to say something, he saw Wang Huadu, Yu Yuan, Liang Tai, and Kong Tie return.
Wang Huadu, covered in grime, shouted, "That rich family in the west is building a house. They pay laborers eight hundred coins a day, plus lunch. That's generous. From now on, Baijianu and I will go there. Anyway, there's not much work at the docks."
Yu Yuan and Liang Tai were clean and tidy, clearly having just finished work at the inn and returned together after meeting on the way. They greeted each other.
Shao Shuyi returned the greeting, and after learning that the two had already eaten, he pulled them down to sit and talk.
Kong Tieze came to the wall, where a short-handled axe and a two-ringed knife were placed, both spoils of war obtained from the bandits of Taihu Lake, and of good quality.
He himself had an iron sword, passed down from his ancestors, which was now hanging at his waist.
Shao Shuyi also bought an old bow, which is now hanging in his bedroom.
The bronze firearm was taken by Yu Yuan through sheer persistence, and he treasured it greatly.
This was the main equipment of their four-person group. It didn't sound like much, but this wasn't an armory. What ordinary person's home would have so many weapons for killing? If someone who didn't know them came over, they would definitely think that Shao Shuyi's group were not law-abiding citizens—and they probably really weren't.
After personally picking up a ring-handled sword and testing it, Kong Tie turned to Li Fu and asked, "Do you know how to use it?"
Li Fu shook his head, his gaze fixed only on his children who had just come out of the kitchen.
He noticed that his son's steps were a little lighter, and he was holding a piece of dried fruit as he followed behind the two little girls.
"Buddha's Tooth, he's like family. Teach him a lesson when you have time," Wang Huadu said, pointing to Li Fu.
Liang Tai glanced at him, said nothing, and only hummed in response.
"You're too honest," Wang Huadu said, putting his arm around Liang Tai's shoulder and laughing.
He now really enjoys "bullying" Liang Tai, because this guy doesn't like to talk. Even if someone punches or hits him a couple of times, he just smiles憨厚ly. But that doesn't mean he's stupid. He understands many things in his heart, he just doesn't say it.
"Alright, let's get ready to eat," Shao Shuyi said, clapping his hands and getting up.
He's short on money now, but he still has plenty of rice at home. After renting this small courtyard, he directly inherited the vegetable garden, and the melons and beans on the trellis outside the wall are also his for the taking. In addition, with salt, cured chicken, and salted fish (Mid-Autumn Festival gifts), he's living a good life, so he comes here to eat from time to time.
Li Fu had already spoken with him, suggesting that he bring his two children to live here, so that he wouldn't be arrested next year, or be forced to flee because he wouldn't have the money to pay his taxes.
He will go home again tomorrow to bring back all the things worth taking, and then settle down in Liujiagang instead of returning to Taicang.
The courtyard rented by Shao Shuyi is a two-section, four-bay structure, meaning that each section has three rooms.
Wang Huadu lives in the east room of the front yard. The west room is currently the kitchen, but it will be vacated in the next couple of days. A reed shed will be built in the yard to serve as a new kitchen, and then another family can live there.
The east room in the backyard is Shao Shuyi's residence, while the west room is still empty. If Kong Tie is willing to move in, it will be given to him—he is currently worried about his younger siblings and is unwilling to come over for the time being.
Before he knew it, ten months had passed. He had already established himself in Liujiagang and made several like-minded brothers, and had gained some confidence in the future.
On the 21st, he and Zheng Fan boarded a boat and headed to Suzhou.
******
On the day Shao Shuyi went to Suzhou, Zhou Ziliang had already returned to his lover's home.
A major battle ensued.
Zhou Jun advanced with great momentum, but the opposing side was no pushover either. Although they were beaten and screamed in agony, they stubbornly maintained their defensive line.
As the saying goes, "One should strike while the iron is hot, but the momentum will wane on the second attempt and be exhausted on the third." Zhou's army had been attacking for a long time without success, and their formation was in disarray. They were about to be defeated when suddenly the enemy's gongs sounded loudly, and they collapsed and fled. However, judging from their formation, it was clearly a feigned defeat.
Zhou Ziliang rolled over contentedly and lay on the bed like a dead pig. After panting for a while, he finally said, "Gouzi will come to Liujiagang tomorrow. I have three boats for him to repair."
The woman's eyes lit up, and she gently pressed herself against Zhou Ziliang, rubbing against him slowly, and said in a coquettish voice, "At least you have a conscience."
Zhou Ziliang laughed heartily, pinched the woman's cheek, and said, "The boat isn't really a big problem; it can be finished within ten days. I'll give your brother fifteen ingots of silver; if he's careful with his spending, he should be able to save quite a bit."
"Mmm." The woman embraced Zhou Ziliang, her touch gentle as water.
The next day, the young man named Gouzi arrived as promised, happily received fifteen ingots of paper money, and after leaving the house, his eyes darted around, looking at the group of people chatting idly outside the courtyard.
A moment later, he pulled Wang Wu away and asked in a low voice, "Wang Wu, do you know anyone who repairs ships?"
"Of course we know each other." Wang Wu didn't know what the other party meant, but he didn't dare to offend them, so he replied politely.
"Da She has three canal boats that should be arriving at Liujiagang today. They're fine, still operable, but they want to get them fixed up and running to avoid any mishaps at a crucial moment." Gouzi looked around mysteriously and said, "He gave me ten ingots to repair the boats. You know I'm good at eating, drinking, and having fun, but I know absolutely nothing about boat repairs. If I mess things up for Da She, I'll naturally be in trouble, and you'll all get scolded too. How about this, I'll give you the money, and you can find someone to fix them, okay?"
Wang Wu's heart skipped a beat.
He knew about the three ships that came from Taicang; they were indeed arriving today. After being refurbished at Liujiagang, they would sail to the sand yard to pick up the cargo.
It was just unexpected that Zhou She would entrust such a matter to his old flame's younger brother; it was a bit outrageous.
Fortunately, Zhou She seemed to still have some sense, and the ten ingots he gave were just right; that would be the amount needed to repair the boat at the official boat repair shop.
However, if you find a smaller boat shop, eight or nine ingots of paper money will be enough, and you'll even have some left over.
So he feigned a pained expression and said, "Dog, isn't this a bit inappropriate?"
"That's a good idea." Seeing that there was a chance, Gouzi immediately smiled and said, "If Dashe can't see you, I'll just say I need your help. It won't be a problem."
After saying that, he took out ten ingots of paper money, stuffed them into Wang Wu's hand, and said, "I'm leaving this matter to you."
Wang Wu was about to refuse again when he saw Gouzi already running off humming a tune. So he could only quietly put the money away, say goodbye to the other two, and then jog to the agreed-upon dock.
As evening approached, the three boats arrived as scheduled.
Wang Wu boarded the boat directly and led them to Fei's boat repair shop. After much persuasion, he negotiated a price of eight ingots of silver for the repairs and agreed to pick them up on the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month.
Fei's boat shop was full of half-built riverboats and didn't have much room to sell, so the next day it was transferred to the smaller Qian family boat shop for seven ingots of paper money.
The Qian family's boat shop didn't seem to have any objections.
The price of seven ingots of paper money is low, but not unacceptable. If we can find a way to save money, we should be able to make a small profit.
That's just how small workshops are. If it were a real piece of meat, would it have slipped through your fingers? This is only possible in Liujiagang. In other ports along the Yangtze River, some craftsmen even have to farm on the side. Even small opportunities like ship repair are hard to come by.
All three ships were common canal barges, accustomed to sailing on the Yangtze River and canals, and only cost two hundred li.
This boat has a very unique shape, with a width of eight feet five inches (about 2.6 meters) and a length of six zhang five feet (about 20 meters), making it quite slender.
The main reason for this mess is policy restrictions.
In the early years of the Yanyou era, "powerful people and wealthy merchants, greedy for profit, built three to four hundred or five hundred boats to sail on this river (the Huitong River, the northern section of the Grand Canal), which caused obstruction of official and civilian boats."
To solve the canal congestion, the Yuan government simply took a one-size-fits-all approach, setting up sluice gates at Linqing and Gutou, each only nine feet wide, known as narrow sluice gates.
In this way, even if the southern section of the Grand Canal did not have such a narrow sluice gate, if you wanted to travel the entire length of the canal, the width of the boat could only be less than nine feet.
Then, something outrageous happened.
In order for ships to pass through the locks, shipyards in both the north and south began to build a large number of canal barges that were less than nine feet wide but astonishingly long, each weighing five or six hundred feet.
This type of boat brought a new problem: it was too long, "and once inside the lock, it could not turn around and would often run aground, obstructing other boats."
The Yuan government then realized that it had only restricted the width, not the length...
Therefore, in the fourth year of the Taiding era (1327), regulations were made for the canal cargo ships, and their design became the three ships belonging to the Zhou family today.
Two of the three boats were moored on either side of Luhua Port, while the other was moored on the Loujiang River outside, alongside Shao Shuyi's boat.
On the 26th of the eleventh lunar month, after supervising the work, Wang Hua went to Qian's boat shop to see the boats he had been longing to see.