Chapter 10: Fighting in the Northwest
Suddenly...
Next, Zhan Dongwen arranged some people to cut down trees and some people to dig holes in the trees.
Here, Tang Wen asked people to move the new tent out of the warehouse, and began to level the ground, laying stones, and digging drainage ditches...
Tang Wen and his mother's tent was renovated by laying a wooden keel on top of the stone slabs and thick wooden boards on top.
These were all bought by Tang Wen from the Great East Republic. After all, the carrying capacity of space travel is limited.
I don’t have enough money, so I can only enjoy myself for the time being.
However, only half of the sixty strong laborers who had originally agreed to work for the Tang family showed up today.
He must have heard that someone was killed last night and was afraid that he would become a target.
Therefore, Tang Wen is still short of people.
Moreover, Tang Wen also wanted to earn another hundred popularity points as soon as possible so as to start his fourth time travel.
In this way, the porridge distribution continued.
Here, Li Quan was sent out with silver and Zhao Du was arranged to bring five people to Yanling County to exchange it for gold.
After all, what happened last night, and they were afraid that the gold would be intercepted along the way.
After arranging everything, Tang Wen called Zhan Junru and said, "Gather all the women and ask who among them can sew clothes?"
"Master, I can do it. My sister and mother can do it too . Master, do you want to make new clothes? I will make them for you." Zhan Junru said.
“Instead of doing it for me, I’m going to sew two sets of clothes for everyone.
Look at how they are dressed, they all look like beggars.
The bloody clothes he was wearing from the fight last night were dirty and smelly.
The weather is still quite cold, if we don’t make clothes for them, they will be freezing.” Tang Wen said.
"With so many people, how much cloth will we need?" Zhan Junru was frightened.
"I have fabrics, even double-layer quilted fabrics. Come with me." Tang Wen took her into the warehouse. When Zhan Junru saw the beautiful fabrics coming out, she ran over excitedly , touching and pinching them, and couldn't let go.
"Master, this cotton cloth is really beautiful."
"Oh, there are silk ones too. They are so beautiful. I have never seen such beautiful patterns."
"Master, are you really going to make clothes for us?"
Zhan Junru was as excited as a child, looking at Tang Wen with longing.
"Of course, you will be the captain of the garment-making team from now on. Pick out the women who can make clothes and you will be in charge of the arrangements." Tang Wen said with a smile.
"Okay, okay, I'll go pick people right away. If they don't know how, I'll teach them." Zhan Junru turned around and was about to run out.
In ancient times, making clothes was relatively simple. All it took was a ruler, a pair of scissors, needle and thread, and cloth.
Of course, the efficiency is also very low. A woman may not be able to make one piece of clothing in a whole day.
Let them try it out first. When we have money, we can install sewing machines in large quantities. Later, we will teach them to operate on an assembly line.
As for buying modern clothes directly, Tang Wen doesn't want to do that for the time being, mainly because the clothes are too weird and will cause trouble.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, Li Quan came back with 3,000 taels of gold.
"Master, there is not much gold left in Yanling Chenji Money House. If we need to exchange it next time, we probably won't have this much." Li Quan said.
"There is more than one money house in Yanling, so we can go to other houses to change them. Besides, it's time to stop at Chen's Money House after changing a batch. Otherwise, we might be tied to someone and get into trouble." Tang Wen said.
"I understand. Next time I will go to Zhangji Liji Money House to exchange it. However, I heard from Shopkeeper Chen Er that there was a fight in the northwest." Li Quan nodded.
"Who are you fighting against?" Tang Wen was stunned and asked.
"The Great Qin Empire." Li Quan said.
"Why did they fight?" Tang Wen asked.
"I don't know. Shopkeeper Chen Er said the fighting was getting more and more intense. The Emperor even sent a general with 300,000 troops.
Therefore, all provincial governments were given tasks, including handing over a batch of food and fodder, horses and carriages, and conscripting laborers.
The prices of food, fodder and horses have increased in the past two days. Two years ago, one tael of silver could buy one hundred kilograms of rice.
Some time ago, one tael of silver could only buy 70 kilograms, but now it can only buy about 50 kilograms.
If the fighting continues like this, more people will starve to death.
Moreover, the war in the northwest was tense, and more victims from there flocked to the south.
Therefore, Yanling County will become more and more chaotic, and we must be careful.
We are afraid that a large number of disaster victims will come and we won’t be able to handle it,” Li Quan said.
I still think it’s not enough? ?
Tang Wen would not say this, so he said, "You should immediately go with Zhao Du and pick out a dozen capable guards with better martial arts skills to practice in the back mountain. Move our swords and short weapons to the cave for them to practice."
Oh no! My people. I have to quickly accumulate 100 popularity points to start the journey and exchange the gold for supplies and silver...
3,000 taels of gold would be worth 30 million taels in the Great East Kingdom, enough to buy a large amount of supplies and silver.
However, what is most in need at the moment is people. Even if there are materials and money, it will be useless because building a dam requires a large number of laborers.
Although there are already one hundred and forty or fifty people who can be used, there are only about a hundred people left after excluding the elderly, women and children.
With five or six more injured, there were only about ninety left.
It takes people to cut down trees, and it also takes people to set up tents and level the ground.
It takes people to build the barbed wire, and about ten people are assigned to practice martial arts, so there are no more people to do other things.
"Dongwen, there are surprisingly fewer people coming to eat porridge today, only a few dozen, even fewer than yesterday. What do you think is going on?" Tang Wen asked.
“The most important thing is that these guys are the same people as yesterday.
They are all people who are unwilling to sell themselves to the Tang family and are even unwilling to work as odd jobs.
These people are probably lazy, so let’s not give them food tomorrow.” Zhan Dongwen rubbed his forehead, looking distressed.
"Are there only two or three hundred people on the island?" Tang Wen asked.
"Impossible!" At this time, a voice came from behind. It turned out to be Sun Ping who came back.
"Sun Ping, did you discover something?" Zhan Dongwen asked.
"When I was chopping down a tree earlier, I was in a hurry to poop, so I wandered to a place to poop and accidentally slipped down.
As a result, I heard someone talking, so I sneaked over.
We found that there were still many people hiding , at least more than a hundred people." Sun Ping said.
"Who are they?" Tang Wen suddenly became interested. Wow, more than a hundred people. If he bought them all, he would have a hundred popular people.
“I’m not sure, it seems like there’s a mistress and they all listen to her.
They also said that Master Tang, you are a robber and want to seize the land they have worked so hard to cultivate.
If I sell myself to the Tang family, I will be a slave in the future and I will do whatever Master Tang wants.
If they are to die, they must die; if they are to be killed, their wives and daughters must be sacrificed." Sun Ping said.
"Nonsense! My sister has been waiting on the master for several days, and the master has been very polite to her.
Even for sleeping, each person has their own bed, and there is a small room specially reserved for my sister.
The master didn't even let my sister help him with bathing, he did it himself.
If the master was that kind of person, my sister would have…" Zhan Dongwen stomped his foot on the ground.
"Of course I don't believe it either. Mr. Tang has been so good to us, he can't be that kind of person." Sun Ping nodded, "But that's what they said."
"Master, is it that the mistress who is spreading rumors, scaring the victims away from coming? She dares to ruin your reputation. I will take people to arrest her." Zhan Dongwen said viciously.
"Let's put this aside for today. Sun Ping, go ahead and find out the situation. If you can find out more useful information, I'll reward you half a tael of silver," Tang Wen instructed.
"Master, can I..." Sun Ping stammered, looking embarrassed.
"If you have anything to say, just say it directly, even though you are all servants of my Tang family.
But, I, Tang Wen, have never treated you as my servants.
I, Tang Wen, am different from other masters, and you will see it clearly from now on." Tang Wen snorted.
"Last time, the master gave me a packet of 'Spicy Braised Red Beef Noodles'. My son ate it and kept asking for more.
As a result, he was beaten half to death by my wife. The whip marks on his legs are still there, which makes me feel sad.
So, I don't want the half tael of silver as reward, can you give me a pack of instant noodles?" Sun Ping said.
"Ah..." Tang Wen sighed, opened the carton and took out three packs and gave them to him, saying, "Here, one pack for each of your family of three."
"Thank you for your reward, sir! I will definitely find out the news." Sun Ping ran away excitedly with the instant noodles.
