The Great Ming in the Box-Chapter 189: The Deitys Special Prize
Xing Honglang was greatly puzzled: “A commendation meeting? What is that?”
The workers shook their heads: “We don’t know either, but we’ll find out once we go see.”
“It does make sense. We’ll know when we see it.”
Xing Honglang waved to the two artisans and her subordinates behind her: “Go, go, go, let’s all join in for some excitement.”
The group then headed toward the main fortress alongside the road construction team.
At that moment, the area in front of the main fortress gate was filled with activity; people from Short-term Workers Village and Labor Offenders Village stood in multiple tight layers around the front of the main fortress.
When Xing Honglang’s group arrived, they found nowhere to stand and had to remain at the outer edge, looking up at the fortress wall.
They saw Thirty-Two standing on the fortress wall, along with Saint Lady Gao Yiye sporting noticeable dark circles under her eyes, clearly from poor sleep, and beside them three ordinary folk wearing artisan clothes who were obviously not major figures.
The lamp maker and Xu Dafu were newcomers, completely clueless. Watching the cheerful crowd around them, they felt anxious: What was going on with the villagers in this place? In Xi’an Prefecture, refugees overflowed the streets, the whole city gloomy and oppressive. Yet in this small village, everyone had smiles on their faces, the atmosphere was lively—it was too strange.
They scanned their surroundings; under the setting sun, they spotted vast wheat fields encircling Gaojia Village, approaching harvest time. The wheat ears were plump, signalling an impending bountiful yield.
It seemed because this area was spared from drought and the crops thrived that they could all wear smiles.
Just then, Thirty-Two on the wall raised his hand and made a downward-pressing gesture.
The villagers got the hint immediately, instantly halting their chatter, and the entire scene fell silent.
Xu Dafu and the lamp maker quickly pricked up their ears, heightened their vigilance, and put themselves on full guard to see what on earth this commendation meeting was really about.
Thirty-Two raised his voice loudly: “This morning, three plasterers made a huge contribution to our Gaojia Village. They finally perfected the recipe and prepared ‘celestial mud’. From now on, we can make celestial mud ourselves.”
What celestial mud meant was crystal clear to the villagers of Gaojia Village—many had taken part in road construction, including even Ground Rabbit from the militia troupe, who once stirred up antics but had joined the road construction team.
After a brief stunned silence, everyone burst into cheers: “We can actually create the celestial divine treasures ourselves now!”
“It’s too amazing!”
Xu Dafu and the lamp maker felt utterly bewildered: “What’s this celestial mud? What self-made celestial divine treasures? What nonsense is this?”
Thirty-Two said: “Let’s now invite the three plasterers to come forward and share a few words.”
The three plasterers nervously stood in the center.
They were simple, unassuming artisans who’d never experienced such a grand event in their lives. Seeing the thousands of villagers below the fortress wall made them panic intensely. Two couldn’t even muster half a word; only the braver one stepped up. But as he opened his mouth to speak, his first word faltered: “Gre… ah… cough…”
He swallowed hard, steadied himself, and tried again: “Hello, everyone! Um… we… we were originally just very ordinary, poor plasterers. Due to the Deity’s favor, we were taken in here to eat well and sleep soundly. He even gave us the recipe for celestial mud. We followed the Deity’s formula and prepared the celestial mud. Actually… it wasn’t our own success—all credit goes to the Deity.”
Xu Dafu muttered quietly: “So they’re just plasterers.”
The lamp maker whispered: “I don’t know what celestial mud is, but it sounds like a remarkable kind of mud.”
Xu Dafu retorted: “What’s so great about making powerful mud? Isn’t it just the higher-ups giving a careless nod, tossing out scraps, and calling it done?”
The lamp maker softly sighed: “True. Five years ago, I crafted a very fine lamp. The Steward of Qin King Mansion was overjoyed, praised it to the skies at the time, and then… rewarded me with 20 copper coins.”
Xu Dafu sighed: “You’re a rotating worker; doing jobs for Qin King Mansion might earn you extra bonuses. But as a permanent worker like me, no matter how much or little I do, I only get that meager fixed wage.”
At that moment, Artisan Master Gao Yiyi ascended, accompanied by a group of helpers hauling three large basins of pork.
Thirty-Two boomed: “In recognition of the three plasterers’ immense contributions, Artisan Master Gao Yiyi will personally award them each the ‘Artisans’ Well Special Prize’: 100 catties of pork per person!”
“Wow!” The spectators below cried out: “100 catties!”
This number was truly astonishing. How long would it take to eat a hundred jin of meat? Even if it couldn’t be finished and was made into cured meat, that would still be amazing.
Xu Dafu and the lamp maker were so impressed that they almost became green with envy. What was going on in this village? The mason invented a useful kind of mud, and was actually given a hundred jin of meat? Good heavens! We were in the bustling city of Xi’an, making things that satisfied the wealthy lords above, yet we received only a few common trades as a reward.
Three large basins filled with pork were placed in front of the three men.
The three masons were so excited that they rubbed their hands together eagerly.
However, this was not the end!
Thirty-Two spoke again: “Just now, we awarded the ‘Artisans’ Well Special Prize’. Next, we will also award the ‘Deity Special Prize’. Elder Deity personally said that anyone who makes a significant scientific contribution or a major invention for us will have the opportunity to receive this prize in the future. We reward them with one large silver ball each.”
Duang, duang, duang, three silver balls the size of a human head were placed in front of the three masons.
The white, pure silver emitted a dazzling light.
Instantly, it blinded everyone’s eyes.
This was, darn it, silver! White, pure silver! It was much more shocking than pork.
As soon as the reward was given out, everyone was utterly astonished.
Although they had long known that the Deity valued artisans, now, seeing three originally poor artisans suddenly receiving three huge silver balls and becoming super wealthy in an instant, they finally understood to what extent the Deity valued them.
Thirty-Two loudly said: “Everyone has seen it! If anyone makes a major invention, they will have the opportunity to receive the ‘Deity Special Prize’. One invention can make you incredibly wealthy.”
The crowd didn’t cheer, but many silently clenched their fists: So there is such a way to get rich! I must find a way.
The newcomers Xu Dafu and the lamp maker were so shocked that their jaws almost dropped to the ground.
Among the crowd, Li Da silently glanced at his spring…
His research on the spring hadn’t succeeded yet. The Deity’s huge immortal spring, once a piece was cut off, heated red-hot, and re-forged, would lose its elasticity. This puzzled him endlessly, and his progress was stuck. He was somewhat on the verge of collapse and had wanted to give up several times.
But now, seeing the mason’s success, it ignited a blazing fire in his heart. I must work hard and desperately to succeed. Once I succeed, it wouldn’t be as simple as freeing myself from artisan registration. I would also get a large silver ball and become wealthier than those unattainable wealthy lords of the past… The opportunity to defy fate and change destiny was right before me. I must seize it tightly!
Li Da withdrew from the crowd and returned to his blacksmith’s shop. He stood in front of the furnace, picked up the spring again, looked left, looked right, and examined it while rotating: My dear father, how can I restore your elasticity?
…
By the way, I need to especially explain why the eunuch portrayed both Liang Shixian and Fang Wushang as officials with fairly decent character.
The eunuch consulted a lot of material on the Peasant Wars of the Late Ming Dynasty, and there was a very interesting detail. Although Zhang Yaocai from Chengcheng County was the first living sacrifice marking the beginning of the peasant uprising of the late Ming Dynasty, after Zhang Yaocai died, the name of Chengcheng County disappeared from the historical records and almost never appeared again afterward.
Afterward, various bandits scattered and killed all over the land, and uprisings in counties sprang up one after another, but Chengcheng County was never mentioned again.
Did the people here no longer revolt?
Why? Why did this lousy place, described as “People from afar see Cheng as a sea of bitterness,” suddenly stop having insurrections so quickly?
The eunuch didn’t know what happened historically, but it couldn’t have been that everyone died. Wang Er only took a few hundred people north out of Chengcheng County and didn’t take the entire population.
So the people who stayed behind stopped causing trouble, and there must have been a reason.
Thus, the eunuch tentatively believed that the management here afterward was fairly decent, which is why Liang Shixian and Fang Wushang appeared in relatively positive roles.
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Chapter 189: The Deitys Special Prize
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