1237, Beijing camp officers and soldiers envy railway workers
"Everyone is here. The first battalion and regiment headquarters of the first regiment of the Beijing Infantry Regiment will assemble immediately." Zhu Yang, the commander of the first regiment, shouted loudly.
Five miles south of the current Guihua City, the Dahei River Pier is full of officers and soldiers from the Beijing camp who have just disembarked.
They got on the boat from Jiuyuan City, and the tugboats took ten canoe boats in order, heading east along the Yellow River, and then turned into the Dahei River. Then they turned northeast and disembarked at the Guihua City Pier.
This is the water transport terminal of Guihua City, and not far away is the Guihua Railway Station. Yang Fan's newly built Suiyuan Commandery Department Building is also here.
The officers and soldiers of the Beijing Camp will be stationed here, and then take trains back to Beijing in batches.
Now the railway is still advancing towards the west non-stop. A railway bridge is being built over the Dahei River, using cement piers and steel truss bridges. More than 30,000 migrant workers are working on the wasteland from Guihua City to Jiuyuan City in sections.
As soon as these soldiers from the Beijing camp got off the boat, they felt that their eyesight was not enough.
In the wasteland south of the Dahei River, there are tents and material storage sites everywhere. Countless railway construction workers wearing sturdy work clothes and wicker safety helmets are busy.
It had only been a few months since they left here, but they didn't expect that the wilderness in Henan would be so lively.
Today's railway workers and their families all live in Nancheng of Beijing. The Railway Construction Company has started building a huge workers' community in the wasteland of Nancheng.
Inside the high walls of the community are densely packed five-story tube buildings. Many of these workers who have made money in the past two years have bought houses in the railway community.
The houses here are not expensive in total because they are small in size.
This kind of house is a wing building with five floors and two semi-underground and underground floors. In the middle of each floor is a two-meter-wide corridor. The corridor runs from north to south. It is sold on the ground, and the semi-basement is used as a dormitory for single employees. The full basement is used as a warehouse.
use.
On both sides of the corridor are single rooms in a tube building. They are three meters wide and ten meters long. They have a balcony three meters wide and two meters deep. The living area is only thirty square meters.
Each house is divided into three suites at the front, middle and back. Each room is about ten square meters. The two rooms at the back are illuminated by a one-meter-high wooden window on the top of the brick wall.
The couple lived in the innermost room, the children lived in the middle, and the elderly lived in the room near the door.
These residents use the public restroom and kitchen on the same floor.
The land in Nancheng is particularly cheap, and most of it is wasteland. Therefore, apart from cement and bricks, these buildings have no labor costs. This is also the reason why the selling price is cheap.
Yang Fan is quite particular and doesn't imitate those unscrupulous developers who set out to increase the construction area.
These houses have a usable area of 30 square meters, and the balcony is free with 6 square meters. The balcony can be used as a kitchen or to dry clothes. It is very practical. If they are willing to go to the public kitchen to cook, they can go to the public kitchen, and if they are willing to cook on the side of the balcony
Build a stove and cook on the balcony.
There are relatively complete convenience stores in the community, including small restaurants, large canteens, and shops that wash and mend clothes. Many singles can also spend money to solve their life problems.
Despite this, the area is really small. If the population is large, the whole family will be crowded into the tube building, and they can only sleep on bunk beds and draw a curtain to ensure privacy. However, they are already very satisfied. They are all farmers who have lost their land and fled famine.
Instead of starving to death, I found a job again. I also have a small house where the family can be sheltered from the wind and rain, and they can keep themselves warm by burning a briquette stove in winter. What else is there to be dissatisfied about?
The key point is that this tube house is really cheap. You can buy one for thirty taels of silver. One tael of silver per square meter. They can afford it with their annual income. They can also pay for it in three years.
There are bathhouses and markets, various shops and various convenience services in the community. When heating, each household relies on its own honeycomb briquette iron stove. Water needs to be fetched from the water house and returned to fill the water tank. There is a steam engine there.
Pumping groundwater.
In order to reduce costs, running water was not installed. After all, everything has gone up, and house prices have also gone up. These workers and their families are laborers. They have good physical strength and have no problem carrying water.
Cold water is free, but boiled water is charged. A bucket of boiled water in a tin bucket costs one copper coin. Now people in Yang Fan's system have been forced to get used to drinking boiled water. If they buy a bucket of boiled water, it will be enough for the whole family to drink for a few days.
These workers now feel at ease at home, with their wives taking care of the children and taking care of the housework. If there are elderly people at home, their family members can also do some small business or go to work in the workshop.
Various convenience shops in the railway community are run by family members, which can be regarded as an increase in income.
The compound is very large, with a kindergarten and a school inside. Children of workers can go to school. The tuition and book fees are only ten copper coins per semester. The workers can afford it.
Now, they have no worries and remit money back home after making money.
The soldiers in the Beijing camp looked at these road construction workers with envy.
They have all heard that it is very profitable to do this now. Railways and trains are both businesses run by marshals. The treatment is very good.
Because railways are built in barren mountains and wild mountains, not to mention hardships and dangers. This era is not peaceful.
There are wild animals, poisonous insects, snakes and ants, as well as various infectious diseases. There are also bandits and the like, and the natural environment is also quite harsh.
Therefore, the wages are very high. They do hard physical labor and have good food. They are paid one silver dollar a month, and there are bonuses for completing tasks, and there is also a year-end bonus at the end of the year.
A railway road construction worker has more than thirty silver dollars in a year. Their food also guarantees one meat meal every day. Basically, it is braised fat pork. The staple food is cornmeal pancakes, which can be eaten as much as you like without any limit.
If you can't afford to eat, you can't do this work. Whether it's lifting rails, laying ballast gravel, lifting sleepers, or installing sleepers, it's all heavy physical labor.
Although this job is very tiring and hard, it makes much more than what I earn in Beijing Camp.
They served as soldiers in the Beijing camp, and the emperor gave each of them five silver coins a month, which was the highest military treatment in the Ming Dynasty. Because the money was actually paid, through Xinghe Bank, every penny was transferred to their bankbooks every month.
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Although it is said that the Guanning Army in Liaodong was given 16 taels of cavalry a year, they often defaulted on their military pay for a year and a half. Moreover, after various losses, not even 5 taels actually reached the hands of the soldiers. Moreover, prices in Liaodong are so expensive.
, all kinds of daily necessities shops are opened by civil servants and military leaders, and they still need to be plundered.
These soldiers from the Beijing camp got off the ship and looked at the railway workers working enthusiastically. They were very envious and whispered. It would be great if they could leave the Beijing camp and work on the railway.
After they got off the ship, they had to form a team one by one and go to the waiting area to wait to get on the bus. The officers and soldiers who had not taken their turn stood here with envy and watched the workers working. They felt that compared with the training, these hardships were nothing.
When the commander trains them, they feel like they are exhausted. The training will not stop until the last of their physical strength is drained. I really don’t think these tasks are difficult.
