The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 528 The Land of Part-Time Workers
As soon as the imperial court gave the green light, the Hexi Corridor responded the fastest.

After the establishment of the former Bei State, this corridor was used to set up several garrisons, including Liangzhou, Ganzhou, and Suzhou.

Each garrison has approximately three thousand households.

However, with the loss of the Seven Guards of Guanzhong and frequent attacks by the Tatars, the soldiers' families repeatedly migrated inland.

In addition, the bloody massacre by the Kashgar Khanate rendered the garrisons in the Hexi Corridor virtually useless.

It was only after the Western Expeditionary Army captured the Seven Guards of Guanzhong that the desolate garrisons were gradually filled with new troops.

With the arrival of the Kansai migration wave, the Hexi Corridor also left behind hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing war and internal strife.

The Guanxi Army, located outside the Great Wall, possessed formidable military strength, capable of not only resisting foreign enemies but also continuously expanding its territory.

Life in the garrisons of the Hexi Corridor within the Great Wall was anything but peaceful.

In addition, the first stop for high-yield grain varieties to leave the pass is the Hexi Corridor.

It has been proven that high-yield seeds are highly adaptable to adjacent land.

It has had bumper harvests for several consecutive years.

The population of the Hexi Corridor, including garrison troops, their families, and immigrants, has now exceeded 250,000.

Many of the immigrants who stayed behind deeply regretted their decision.

Back then, they fled their hometowns and endured hardship all the way.

They took ninety-nine steps, but failed to reach Heping Pass.

It's just across the Peace Pass.

Look at the immigrants who went to Kansai at the same time, what kind of lives did they lead?!

Not to mention the twenty mu of assigned land per household, and the cotton and mulberry fields that were arbitrarily reclaimed.

Not to mention the large flocks of big-tailed sheep and the abundance of oxen in every household.

Let's talk about those workshops in Kansai.

I've heard that one-third of the young women in Kansai have a well-paying job.

What does Kansai mean to them now?
It's practically a paradise for working!
Unfortunately, these people didn't have travel permits and couldn't get out of the country.

They could only watch helplessly as the caravans of merchants came and went.

The dazzling array of Kansai specialty products stimulated their senses.

They also wanted to become itinerant merchants, going to the Kansai region to sell goods.

But what wealth have they accumulated over the years?
An average family would be lucky to save five or six taels of silver a year.

Even the wealthiest among the poorest families only possess a hundred or eighty taels of silver.

With this little bit of money, what can you buy in Kansai?
They couldn't even afford a few horse-drawn carriages for selling goods!

Now, they finally got to see the recruitment information for Anxi released simultaneously by all the garrisons.

It's good to have someone available.

Go to a great place to work and you won't need to empty your savings.

The entire Hexi Corridor has been experiencing red-temperature conditions these days.

Temperatures are particularly high in densely populated areas.

Those who meet the requirements.

Fearing something might go wrong with these conditions, the entire family mobilized.

The whole family rushed to the registration office to stand in line for him.

Those who don't meet the requirements will face even more trouble.

The boys, some as young as twelve or thirteen, came with their parents. After being refused, they used every trick in the book to act shamelessly.

"Well, everyone has their own reasons," the boy's mother said.

“Sir, don’t be fooled by the fact that my son is thirteen years old on his household registration. He was born in January, which means he’s already over fifteen in the traditional Chinese way of counting age. His wedding is this December. Tell me, how can a boy who’s old enough to get married not be considered an adult?”

The boy's biological father said:

"Sir, look at my second son's appearance and build, are you sure he's not an adult yet? When we fled, we lost our identity documents, and when we registered at Liangzhou Garrison, they got his birth date wrong."

There was that outgoing boy who patted his bulging chest:
“None of the guys in their early twenties in our village are as strong as me. Why are they allowed to sign up when they're not as capable as me? I’m not having it. I’m going to challenge them!”

"."

A young boy, a hothead.

Their main tactic, along with that of their family, is to be unreasonable and argumentative.

The minor official in charge of dispatch registration roared angrily, his face flushed red:

"The General of the State granted an extra 10,000 places to each of our three prefectures because they are closest to Anxi. Our Prefect had already instructed us to strictly control the selection process and never engage in any fraudulent activities."

Your children are not yet adults, their bodies are not fully developed, how can they do long hours of heavy physical labor? The Anxi project cannot be completed in just one or two years, can't you wait another two or three years?"

The teenagers and their families were screaming in panic:
“Sir, we can’t wait! Who wouldn’t rush to sign up for such a good job? None of those who went to Guanzhong in the past have ever returned home. If my son misses this year’s recruitment opportunity, he’ll probably never have a chance to get ahead in his life.”

“If you can’t do those heavy physical jobs, you can do other things! Building garrisons and cities requires a lot of bricks, and seven or eight-year-old boys can do things like mixing mud, breaking bricks, and firing kilns.”

"Please, have mercy! There are seven people in our family. My parents are old and ailing. I'm the eldest, and I have a twin brother who's a year younger than me and a sister who's three years younger. The grain we grow, after keeping some for our own consumption, isn't even enough to buy medicine for my parents."

"Sir, we are doing this to speed up the Anxi project. Those provincial governors who are thousands of miles away, it takes them months to get their able-bodied men here, how much has that delayed things?"

"Yes, yes! Anxi is only productive during the summer and autumn seasons, so wouldn't it be better to arrive early and start work sooner?"

"If you ask me, the imperial court should advise those who insist on traveling three to five thousand miles not to come. Such a long journey means they might not be able to return home for at least ten or eight years."

Should I persuade people not to come to work?

That is impossible!

Those who want to be sent to Anxi to earn high wages, who isn't struggling to make ends meet back home?
High grain yields are indeed a good thing.

Everyone can have enough to eat now.

However, grain prices during the Yongtai reign reached their lowest level in hundreds of years.

In most grain-producing areas, the price of one shi (120 catties) of refined rice/flour was only five to six qian (a unit of weight).

Millet and beans are cheaper.

Farmers are busy from spring to autumn, yet they can't earn much money.

Clothing, food, housing, transportation, coming-of-age ceremonies, weddings, funerals, and ancestral

Which one doesn't cost money?

After achieving basic food and clothing security, people wanted to live a more prosperous and comfortable life.

at the moment.

There was such an opportunity, organized by the government, to go out and work and make a lot of money.

No one wants to give up, and no one will give up.

Even wealthy people who are living comfortably are tempted by these limited job opportunities.

Because of their proximity to the waterway, the Hexi Corridor allowed them to get a head start in signing two-way labor dispatch agreements.

Those half-grown boys who don't meet the recruitment requirements, they've got legs!

Those who are fast can leave Peace Pass in three to five days.

For the Guanxi garrison, all laborers who came to the territory, regardless of their age, could find work.

As long as one doesn't commit crimes, they almost always accept anyone who comes.