My eunuch godfather

Chapter 38 Construction Site

"Besides,"

Zhang Kun withdrew his hand from Zhang Guotai's shoulder, his tone becoming much more relaxed, and he smiled slightly:

"Brother, if you want to make money, just find your younger brother to do business with you. You'll get a bigger share of the profits."

"You don't believe in my abilities, that I've managed to get the river engineering camp up and running?"

That's true. If you follow Li Cheng to make money, you can only get a sip of soup and gnaw on the bones left by him.

After thinking for a long time, Zhang Guotai asked Zhang Kun for advice:

"What my brother said is true. The materials business is very risky, and my brother shouldn't get involved."

But... but how should we explain this to Li Cheng, brother?

Zhang Kun shook his head at Zhang Guotai and said with a smile:

"If my brother is filial enough to our godfather, do you think our godfather would just sit idly by and do nothing about it?"

"Thank you for your guidance, little brother!"

Zhang Guotai smiled and thanked Zhang Kun:

"If my younger brother hadn't reminded me, I would have almost gone down the wrong path!"

Following Li Cheng can make a lot of money, but it also carries great risks.

He might also be drawn into the power struggle between Zhang Ye and Li Cheng, which would be a bad deal for Zhang Guotai, who is living a happy life.

Following Zhang Kun, and following Zhang Ye behind Zhang Kun, might not make much money, but the risks are also not high.

"Please tell me, brother."

Zhang Kun reached out and pressed on Zhang Guotai's shoulder again, smiling slightly:

"Whose men have been planted in our river engineering battalion by that guy surnamed Li?"

Li Cheng only began to intervene in the river engineering camp after he learned that Xu Bengao was about to lose his title of acting manager.

Currently, there is only one clerk surnamed Lu in the river engineering camp who was planted by Li Chengan.

There are also some small fish and shrimp, which pose no threat.

"Should we go find Li Cheng and persuade him to transfer this person?"

"Thank you, brother. I will handle him myself."

......

The following afternoon.

Dressed in black robes, Lu Sili walked impatiently through the streets and alleys toward the construction site of the River Works Camp at Xuanwu Gate.

The construction site was bustling with activity, and many river workers were working hard, hoping to be among the first to build enclosed houses through their outstanding performance.

Even if you don't rank first, there are still rewards for second and third place.

Thanks to the efforts of Zhang Kun and the craftsmen, the construction of the dam, the clearing of the bottom, and the transportation were all quantified as much as possible.

This not only makes the overall progress of the project clearer, but also makes it easier to calculate the workload of individuals, teams, and small camps.

This made things very difficult for Lu Sili and other officials in the river works camp, as there was too much data to collect.

The number of bamboo sticks used for the daily production of these sticks alone is at least in the hundreds of thousands.

To this end, Zhang Kun promoted literate individuals who had followed the river construction team to the capital.

On the other hand, clerks and accountants were temporarily hired in Xuanbeifang to assist the officials.

The drainage truck clattered as it emptied the murky, foul-smelling river water from the embankment until the riverbed was exposed.

After drinking hot ginger soup, the river workers changed into straw sandals that they changed every five days, walked down the wooden boardwalk to the bottom of the cofferdam, and began dredging the silt.

Zhang Kun introduced pulley systems and built dozens of simple cranes spanning the moat to facilitate the transport of baskets of silt ashore.

From the construction site to the nearest fertilizer plants, Zhang Kun cleared several routes in advance to facilitate the removal of the silt.

"Lu, the clerk!"

Ge Dajin, the military craftsman promoted to head craftsman by Zhang Kun, hurried over and greeted Lu Sili with a beaming smile:

"Why did it take you so long to get here?"

"Speak quickly, there's still a lot of work to be done back at the main camp!"

Although Lu Sili was a clerk, he considered himself a scholar and looked down on Ge Dajin, who came from a family of artisans, and said irritably.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Emperor Hongwu disliked officials and ordered them to be prohibited from participating in the imperial examinations, but this was not written into laws or regulations.

Moreover, he also made an exception for some students who had been demoted to clerks because of their misconduct.

After the Hongwu Emperor, restrictions on officials were quickly relaxed:

As early as the first year of the Jianwen reign, a clerk from the Ministry of Rites who was in charge of the imperial storehouse passed the Zhejiang provincial examination and became a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial examination).

In the thirteenth year of the Yongle reign, a military officer from the Left Guard of Zhongdu passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations).

In the sixth year of the Tianshun reign, a county official even achieved first place in the provincial examination, becoming the top scholar in the provincial examination, and later passed the metropolitan examination!

Not only for officials, but also for entertainers, slaves, and other people of low social status, restrictions were gradually loosened.

In the 23rd year of the Wanli reign, Wu Yuancui, the Zhejiang Provincial Education Commissioner, expelled more than 200 students from the entire Zhejiang province who were born into lowly social classes!

The problem is that there are no restrictions on artisans, right? Ministers such as Xu Youzhen, Yan Song, Zhao Zhenji, and Wang Xiangqian all came from artisan backgrounds.

"Doesn't Clerk Lu remember things? It was the supervising official who ordered you to go to the site in person."

Ge Dajin's smile vanished, and he said coldly to Lu Sili, "Check the manpower usage of the Ding-character Battalion!"

"Oh, about that..."

Upon hearing Zhang Kun's name, Clerk Lu frowned and gave Ge Dajin a perfunctory reply:

"I'll go back and call two scribes over..."

"No!"

Zuo Liangyu, the sentry officer of the Dingzi Battalion, rushed forward to block Lu Sili's path, glaring and saying:

"If I said you should check it yourself, then you should check it yourself!"

Several transport soldiers who had joined the river works camp with Zuo Liangyu surrounded Lu Sili and shoved him toward the moat.

"Get off me! Don't push me!"

Lu, the clerk, broke free from the transport soldier beside him, took a deep breath, and suppressed his anger. "I'll go check!"

However, Zuo Liangyu followed behind, making things difficult for Lu Sili infuriating him, who cried out in a shrill voice:

"Left Sentry, what exactly do you want from me!?"

"These cofferdams,"

Zuo Liangyu pointed to a dike in the moat and sneered at Lu Sili:

"You officials, you've never actually been there to see it for yourselves, have you?"

How can you claim to have personally verified something without seeing it with your own eyes? Please!

Lu Sili wanted to refuse, but Zuo Liangyu and several transport soldiers surrounded him tightly, so he had no choice but to turn around and walk across the wooden bridge.

Inside the embankment, river workers were draining water and clearing silt, the air thick with a foul, putrid stench.

Unable to bear the stench, Lu Sili gagged a few times and turned to flee back to the shore.

Just then, Zuo Liangyu suddenly tripped Lu Sili, who lost his balance and fell headfirst into the embankment!

"Help!"

Zuo Liangyu shouted and led several transport soldiers to personally "rescue" Lu Sili.

There was still more than a foot of water in the embankment. Lu Sili choked on his breath several times and tried to get up, but the mud was too slippery.

After climbing down, Zuo Liangyu stomped on Lu Sili's back several times, causing Lu Sili to open his mouth in pain and slap him several times.

When they were finally pulled ashore, they not only had choked on water and suffered abdominal distension, but also had broken ribs.

"Quickly bring over an ox and tie up Clerk Lu to it to control the water!"

When the transport troops led the ox over, Zuo Liangyu deliberately tied Lu Sili tightly to the ox's back and pressed down hard on his chest.

After a long while, Lu Sili died, his eyes wide open.

Zuo Liangyu raised his hand to close Lu Sili's eyelids, feigning a sorrowful and self-reproachful expression, and instructed:

"Quickly report to the foreman, there's been an accident at the construction site! Clerk Lu has tragically drowned!"

A moment later, Zhang Kun arrived on horseback and quickly walked over to examine Lu Sili's body, also showing a sorrowful expression.

Turning his head, he glared at Zuo Liangyu and asked in a pretentious manner:

"How did you manage this construction site? Someone actually died!?"

"Supervisor,"

Zuo Liangyu knelt on one knee and hurriedly explained to Zhang Kun:

"It was Lu Sili who came to the embankment in order to verify the labor of the Dingzi Camp, and was suffocated by the stench from the bottom of the river."

He lost his footing and unfortunately fell off the embankment!

Zhang Kun then asked the river workers at the embankment, but they were all busy draining water and clearing silt and did not notice how Lu Sili fell down.

Upon hearing Zuo Liangyu's words, the river workers echoed his sentiments.

"Ugh!"

Zhang Kun sighed deeply and turned to Xu Xin, who was standing beside him, to instruct:

"Send someone to buy a good coffin and bring it back for the burial of Lu Sili."