Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

The construction of the pagoda's foundation was about to begin, and the entire Jiangnan region was abuzz with excitement when the recruitment notice was posted.

Outside Suzhou city, in Lijia Village...

Li Erniu was lying on the bed, cracking sunflower seeds, looking quite content.

Since the Jiangnan salt tax case was settled, Li Erniu's family has been allocated fifty mu of contracted land, and with the new grain seeds given to them free of charge by the government, they have lived a very comfortable life for the past two years.

After paying their quota of grain, the remaining grain was sold to the imperial court at market price, enough to feed a family of seven for the whole year.

These fields are only enough for the family to eat and drink without worry. If they want to live a better life, they either need to get a few dozen more acres of land or go to work in a factory.

However, Li Erniu has no intention of going to the factory to tighten screws right now. He feels that life is good enough for him. He can feed his family and have a few drinks from time to time. He is already very satisfied.

Just as he was comfortably thinking about how to make the days ahead even better, the door was pushed open, and his wife, Zhou, rushed into the room with a broom in hand.

"Still in the mood to eat sunflower seeds? Get up right now, something big has happened in Jinling."

Li Erniu frowned upon hearing this: "What are you shouting about, you old woman? What does the incident in Jinling have to do with me?"

The next moment, Zhou grabbed his ear and lifted it up.

"You silly goose, you don't even know about something this important? They're recruiting workers to build some kind of pagoda in Jinling, and you're still thinking about staying at home?"

Li Erniu forcefully shoved Zhou Shi away and angrily said, "What's wrong with you? What does repairing the pagoda have to do with me? That's a miserable job, I'm trying to avoid it, and you want me to go?"

Before he could finish speaking, Zhou smacked him on the buttocks with a broom.

"You stubborn fool, I told you to go to the city more often during the off-season, but you wouldn't listen!"

I've already inquired about it for you. As long as our family can send someone to work at the Nanjing Pagoda for three months...

From now on, all forced labor and corvée work for the whole family can be permanently abolished, and there will be no more worries about being summoned to work by the government.

Li Erniu was stunned: "Really? You can be exempted from all labor service and corvée labor just by working for three months? Isn't that a privilege only for those who serve in the military?"

Li Erniu originally planned to let his eldest son try to join the army when he turned sixteen, but there were still three years to go.

Now that I've heard that I only need to suffer for three months, I can't help but be skeptical.

When Zhou heard that he didn't believe her, she immediately pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from her bosom: "Look for yourself."

"I can't read, I can't understand it."

“I’ve already asked the village’s private school teacher. It’s an official document from the imperial court, recruiting craftsmen from all over the country to work in the suburbs of Jinling. You’re a carpenter, aren’t you? Why don’t you give it a try?”

Li Erniu was stunned: "Really?"

He glanced at the contents of the paper, but unfortunately, he couldn't understand a word of it.

"Stop dawdling and let's go."

Before Li Erniu could react, Zhou pushed him out the door.

He was about to say something when he saw a couple outside the door with the pre-prepared packages and carpentry tools hanging on their bodies.

When Li Erniu regained consciousness, he was already standing outside the courtyard, with two strings of coins hanging from his waist.

Looking back, he saw his wife, children, and parents smiling and waving at him.

"No, I didn't say I was going. This is too rushed."

The father stamped his foot and cursed angrily, "You damned bastard, hurry up and go! The village donkey cart is getting impatient."

The mother wiped her hands: "After the corvée labor is lifted in three months, if there's still work available..."

You don't need to rush back. You can earn at least ten taels of silver a month working there. Earn more to help support your family.

If you can't make money, don't come back.

Li Erniu got anxious: "Then what about the work in the fields next year?"

Zhou said, "Don't worry about it. There are several of us in the fields. If we're really too busy, we can hire a farming team to help us."

Upon hearing this, Li Erniu had nothing more to say.

The farming team is a recently emerging industry. Due to the reform of the farm system, most tenant farmers lost their employers and became unemployed.

However, the Chu state, which was on the rise, was full of business opportunities.

Soon, these tenant farmers were recruited by some merchants, who used their rich farming experience to form farming teams.

They employ farmers who are unable to manage their fields to handle the work, and guarantee a harvest that is 20% higher than what they would get if they cultivated the land themselves.

Shortly after the establishment of the farming teams, specialized agricultural teams such as well-drilling teams, transportation teams, water truck teams, and even drought and flood-resistant harvest teams sprang up in both the north and south of the Chu Kingdom.

Their presence greatly reduced the burden of maintaining order on the imperial court, and also significantly reduced the pressure on agriculture in the Great Chu.

That's why Zhou felt at ease letting her husband go out to work and earn more money, without worrying about the farm work being delayed.

After all, once people are well-fed and clothed, they will gradually yearn for a better life; that's human nature.

"Then I'm leaving. Take good care of our child."

Li Erniu tightened his work clothes, put on cotton gloves, and walked towards the village entrance.

When he arrived, he found that seven or eight men, who were also going to Nanjing to repair the pagoda, had been waiting for him on the donkey cart for a long time.

Once Li Erniu was on the carriage, the driver cracked his whip, and the carriage slowly began to drive out of the village...

Scenes similar to those in Lijia Village were playing out across Jiangnan, and even craftsmen from Sichuan traveled thousands of miles to Jinling upon hearing the news.

Unlike in the past, this year's imperial project has received support from the common people throughout the Great Chu.

Because this project wasn't done for nothing; every effort will be rewarded.

The so-called large-scale civil engineering projects that waste manpower and resources are essentially the result of the powerful and wealthy exploiting and oppressing the lower classes.

Endless corvée labor has always been a huge burden on the hearts of people in a small-scale peasant economy.

If it's an employment relationship, then it's a different scenario.

……

Five miles outside the North Gate of Jinling, at the construction site, Shen Lang sat expressionlessly on a high platform.

Below were seven thousand prisoners who had participated in the foundation work.

When Li Youcai of the Ministry of Works announced their daily working hours and the compensation they would receive, the crowd erupted in cheers.

"Working at least six hours a day, and still having to meet quotas? What's the difference between this and killing us?"

"We won't fall for it! You're just trying to work us to death!"

"I'm not doing it, what can you do to me? I'm just a worthless old man, I'll be a hero again in eighteen years, hmph."

Looking at the restless crowd, Li Youcai was at a loss for what to do.

The soldiers guarding the area immediately raised their guns and aimed at them, while three Maxim guns in the distance were already loaded to prevent a prisoner riot.

"Don't do it!"

As Zheng Xiaoru, the son of Zheng Bisheng, raised his arms and shouted, the slogans of the seven thousand prisoners gradually became unified.

At this point, Zheng Xiaoru had gone from being a fat man weighing 280 pounds to a normal person weighing less than 130 pounds, and it was hard to tell the difference without careful observation.

This fully demonstrates the necessity of labor reform.

"We'd rather die than do it! The imperial court is trying to kill us in some roundabout way. Don't be fooled by them."

"Don't do it!"

"I won't do it!"

Hearing the prisoners' unanimous shouts, Li Youcai nervously looked at Shen Lang.

Shen Lang, his face grim, slammed down his teacup, then walked to the high platform. Gazing at the vast expanse of water before him, he let out a disdainful sneer.

"have you had enough?"

As Shen Lang's voice emanated from the megaphone, the noisy commotion gradually subsided.

Everyone focused their attention on Shen Lang, eager to hear what he had to say.