Volume 1: Farming Chapter 49 Construction Plan Keeps Pace with the Times
If he had come across the miserable state of the Dahe Brickmaking Team when he first arrived, the Grassroots Chief would have definitely used his authority as the Chief to go over the head of the Fire Tribe and persuade the crazy cub Ayun to stop... But it must be said that people's acceptance limit is very elastic. After witnessing the Fire Tribe's people working like crazy for several days, the Grassroots Chief, who was also overwhelmed by the high-intensity and repetitive labor, didn't think there was any need to make a fuss.
Yu’s logging team was urged to get up and start work in the middle of the night!
The coal transport team of Hongye was exhausted and finally got back after dark! They were also criticized for being too dirty and had to wash themselves clean before they were given food!
The cubs are responsible for feeding the cattle and sheep, cleaning the sheepfold, looking after the alfalfa and soybean fields, and are also ordered around to help three teams that do heavy physical labor. If there is a shortage of people or if the progress falls behind, the cubs have to fill in!
The goblin cubs, who are not even as tall as thighs, are working diligently to dig the mountains and remove rocks!
The caracal will take care of all the light physical work!
Even the fragile human Thrall is responsible for cultivating enoki mushrooms to supply everyone!
In this situation where everyone was going crazy, the grassroots tribe leader didn't have the energy to sympathize with the Dahe Brick-making Team... The next day, when the cub Ayun jumped up and took the wailing and resisting Dahe Brick-making Team out to build a new cement kiln and continue burning cement, the grassroots tribe leader had a blank expression on his face and didn't even glance over there.
The days without sunlight passed slowly. In the open space to the east of the tribe and under the sheepfold, more and more wood was piled up. On the river beach to the west of the tribe, black rocks gradually formed small hills. In the open space to the northwest, the number of blue-gray bricks increased visibly, and there were piles of cement clinker next to them.
On the tenth day after the grassroots chief came to the Fire Tribe, Ayun checked the results of everyone's work and announced at dinner that the construction materials collection project had come to a temporary halt and everyone could take a day off. However, the imagined cheers did not appear, and everyone, including the silly and cute Niu Jiao, just looked at Ayun silently, then lowered their heads and ate big bites of wheat cakes.
"Don't you all care about taking a break? Well then, we'll start harvesting alfalfa and soybeans tomorrow." Xiao Yun spread his hands.
"Uh cough cough cough!"
“No, no, no—”
"You need to rest, you need to rest!"
Those who were choked and choked jumped up in a hurry.
Xiao Yun was satisfied then: "Okay, relax tomorrow and don't run around. Hurry up and harvest the alfalfa and soybeans, then we can do other things."
Everyone suddenly cried out in grief - every time they got a break, they had to work harder! Ah Yun was really too much~~
The grassroots chief was calm and collected, holding the soup and drinking it slowly. It made no difference to her whether she took a rest or not... Could she not eat if she took a rest?
After giving the exhausted tribesmen a day to rest, Xiao Yun led the entire team to the soybean field the next morning.
In order to transport back as much wheat seeds as possible in the spring, no bean seeds were asked from the minotaur. Only forty large fields, or about 400 acres, were planted with soybeans. After several consecutive days of sunny days, the soybeans in the fields had turned yellow from leaves to stems, and it was a good time to harvest.
The soybeans that are reserved for seeds are pulled out and placed separately, while those that are not to be kept for seeds are pulled out and piled on the open space at the edge of the field, and the soybeans are beaten with a flail to remove the shells, and then packed into bags for storage.
With the addition of 42 new forces from the grassroots tribe, the shelling and storage of more than 400 acres of soybean fields were completed in just two days. The efficiency can be said to be extremely fast... Well, the biggest reason is that the planting was late, the bean seeds were obviously degraded, and the yield per acre was quite low, so the harvest was also fast.
How low is this per-acre yield? Xiao Yun randomly selected a large field to harvest and shell the beans separately, and roughly estimated that the yield per acre of black beans is about 200 kilograms, less than 300 kilograms...
In other words, the total harvest of 400 mu of black beans from 40 fields was only about 100,000 jin... Such fertile land, cultivated with so much sweat, the Chinese farmers' tears of sympathy could probably fill a large bowl...
Xiao Yun squatted on the ground, pulling his hair and crying silently. Behind him, the ignorant natives were jumping and shouting around the warehouse full of black beans. Extreme sadness and extreme joy intersected without words at this moment. The former looked at the latter as if they were mentally retarded, and the latter looked innocent and confused with a lethal face, and then waved their arms and jumped happily: "You can eat bean sprouts~ bean sprouts~! Bean sprouts~! Bean sprouts~!"
"Ahhh~~Bean sprout~! Bean sprout~! Bean sprout~!"
Xiao Yun almost pulled his scalp off.
"What are you yelling about? Do you have a lot of energy? Oh? Then continue harvesting alfalfa! Get moving, grab the tools you need!!"
People holding sickles or weapons followed Ah Yun, who was emitting black energy, to the alfalfa field. They looked at each other in confusion as they walked along the road. What was Ah Yun angry about? They had no idea what was going on.
After more than a month of rain, the yield of the third crop of alfalfa fields was reduced by at least 30% to 40%. The final harvest of 1,800 acres of alfalfa fields was barely enough for 2 million kilograms. Fortunately, all the alfalfa from the previous was still in storage and the first crop of alfalfa had just been consumed, so there was no need to worry about not lasting until next year - the acorns in the forest had not yet been harvested.
With a large number of new laborers joining in, this harvest did not result in the tragic scene of corpses everywhere like the previous two times, especially the nine goblins. Their metal claws that could even dig through stones made it easy for them to cut alfalfa. The nine little dwarfs squatted down and worked together, and their efficiency was almost as good as that of a mechanized harvester running sideways.
After finishing the last harvesting work, Xiao Yun gave everyone another day to rest - he was not a devil after all! During the harvesting, some people were accidentally cut by weapons used as farm tools, so they had to be given some time to recover!
After herding the tribesmen's sheep for a day, Xiao Yun gathered all the warriors, two clan leaders, and an old goblin to hold the "Autumn Work Conference·Revised".
It was still the familiar activity room, and the familiar conference host. When Xiao Yun announced the theme of the meeting, Hongye, who had a good memory and IQ, immediately raised her hand: "Ayun, didn't we agree on what to do in autumn last time?"
"Last time was last time, this time is this time. The last time we discussed the work arrangements, the grass-roots chief and his men had not yet arrived, and the goblins had not yet discovered cement." Xiao Yun said seriously, "When we formulate tribal construction plans and arrange work, we must also evolve in accordance with the changes in the tribe's manpower and available building materials, and keep pace with the times. For example, it took us five days each to harvest alfalfa in the first two harvests. We worked overtime day and night, and everyone was exhausted before we completed the harvest..."
Yu, Hongye and others who had participated in the previous two alfalfa harvests looked at him sideways and said, "So you knew that too!"
Xiao Yun raised four fingers and said, "This time, we only took three days to harvest the alfalfa. We didn't have to work night shifts. We just had to work overtime in two shifts. After the harvest, everyone was not very tired. We only had one day to rest and regain our energy. Even if we wake you up tonight to continue working, you can still get up. This is the improvement in work efficiency and intensity sharing after the increase in manpower!"
"No, no, no, I don't think we are that energetic..." Hongye stared with dead fish eyes and waved his hands repeatedly.
Xiao Yun ignored Hongye's protest and spread out the cloth covered with words: "First, let's take a look at our current manpower. Including Sal, we have 112 people. Sal can't undertake labor above a certain intensity, and his work of cultivating enoki mushrooms cannot be taken over by others. Excluding him, the number is 111."
"The labor intensity that four manul cubs can bear is slightly stronger than that of the Sal, so they can be eliminated. There are still 107 left."
"..." The caracal warrior Qiu was conflicted, not knowing whether he should be happy that his cubs were treated better, or whether he should be happy about Ayun's cold and indifferent attitude towards division.
Hongye had a blank expression on her face, so it’s true that the cubs of snow werewolves and goblins don’t have “cub rights”, right?
"Among the 107 available manpower, there are 16 Snow Wolf Warriors, 42 adult Snow Wolfs, and two clan leaders. These 60 people are considered first-level laborers and can undertake the most important heavy physical work."
The Fire Chief had a serious look on his face, while the Grassroots Chief had a confused look on his face. The former was thinking of nothing, while the latter had a stormy and turbulent mind.
"Thirty Snow Wolf cubs and one Black Panther warrior. These thirty people can be considered as second-level laborers and can undertake heavy physical work that consumes less energy."
Qingyan had a look of “Haha” on his face and didn’t want to say anything.
"One manul warrior, six adult manuls, and nine goblins. These sixteen people are considered third-level laborers and can undertake light physical labor that requires certain skills."
"The above is the manpower we have available now." Xiao Yun looked at everyone with a sharp gaze. "With this manpower scale, wouldn't it be a waste of time, manpower and resources to adopt the previous tribal construction plan? Look at the cement bricks that the Dahe Brick Making Team has worked so hard to make. If we use such good building materials to carry out petty tribal construction, can we be worthy of the Dahe Brick Making Team who have worked so hard and shed blood and sweat, and the goblins who have worked so hard to dig stones from the mountains?"
...The Snow Wolf Warrior who was inexplicably dragged into the Dahe Brickmaking Team and was on the scene just watched him show off silently and didn't want to say a word.
"Even if you don't care about the efforts of the Dahe Brickmaking Team and the goblins, and you think you work just as hard as they do... then would you like our tribal construction plan to lag behind, just like the vegetables planted in the fields that are stunted and can't grow, wasting our sweat?" Xiao Yun sighed, "Think about the wheat we planted, and then think about the black beans we planted. The harvest of the same field of black beans is at least one-third less than that of wheat... This is because the black bean seeds we planted are degraded and we don't apply as much fertilizer as the wheat field! We could have gotten more black beans, but we got so much less because we didn't apply enough fertilizer and the seeds were not good. If we could do it again, would you like to accumulate more soil and fertilizer in advance and select the best bean seeds to plant?"
"...I want to!" People who have eaten bean sprouts echoed painfully. They haven't eaten bean sprouts for a long time. They miss them so much! They never want to live without beans and bean sprouts again!
Those who have never eaten bean sprouts have heard others mention it countless times when they were harvesting soybean fields, and they just nodded silently.
"So, we must lay a solid foundation for our tribal construction now, while there is still time! Just like the fertilizer that we work hard to accumulate before sowing, the fields that we work hard to plow, and the bean seeds that we carefully select! What do you think, right?"
"Yes..." The person who responded had an even more painful expression.
"Then, the new tribe we are going to build will have to be expanded in scale!" Xiao Yun slapped the spread-out "Planning Map·Revision" with his palm, "We need to build ten large collective bedrooms! Couples will have their own houses! The first sewer pipe will be dug 500 meters north of the tribe!"
"Our tribe cannot just develop in such a small area. We need to extend to the north and east. The first step is to make use of the vacant land on the north bank and above the current tribe, and build a ten-hectare living area first!"
"As for the old mud brick houses in the tribe, we will demolish them all after we build the new living area and pave a large square with cement!" Without waiting for the gasping tribesmen to object, Xiao Yun said loudly and forcefully, "Next summer, the wheat we harvest will cover the entire square! The endless wheat will be dried on the ground under our feet, ground into flour, and made into countless wheat cakes!"
The grass-roots leader suddenly felt her arms ache and shuddered subconsciously, but the other people's reactions were the opposite of hers, and they all cheered enthusiastically...
The grassroots chief looked around at everyone, her sight fell on the cub Ayun who was talking endlessly about how there was so much wheat that it covered the sky, and she couldn't help but fall into deep thought... It was this cub who distorted the style of the Fire Tribe, and the grassroots chief had noticed this a long time ago. What made her ponder was that with her experience, she could not tell whether Ayun's behavior that made everyone crazy was right or wrong - if she hadn't kneaded more than a thousand pounds of wheat flour with her own hands and had psychological trauma, she would have been extremely moved after hearing such words, and would not have been as calm as she is now!
No matter how the grassroots tribe leader, who was the only sober one among the drunken ones, struggled, after completing the process of convincing people with reason and reaching a consensus with the people who had a say in the tribe, Xiao Yun led everyone to start the vigorous work of building a new home. The first step was to dig a sewer pipe to discharge domestic sewage in the selected living area.
This sewer pipe sounds complicated, but it is actually not difficult to implement. You just need to pay attention to two points: first, to facilitate the installation of the sewer system, the new living area must adopt a square construction plan, such as imitating the square layout of ancient cities; second, the main pipe for discharging sewage should avoid roads and buildings. Anyway, the area is large and there are no existing buildings on the ground, so there will be no restrictions.
The burnt lime was used to draw a conspicuous white construction line in the construction area north of the tribe. The goblins dug underground pipes that required a certain level of technical skills, the snow werewolves dug the foundation, the snow werewolf cubs continued to be responsible for the sheepfold and also for moving bricks, cement, and doing odd jobs everywhere, while the caracals followed Xiao Yun to burn the ceramic pipes to be buried underground.
The ceramic pipes made of yellow clay and logs are fired in sections. It doesn't matter if the fired sections can't fit tightly together. At worst, you can just paste a layer of cement on the joints...
When the ceramic pipes with a length of half a meter and a diameter of 20 centimeters were produced in batches from the kiln, sixty first-level laborers, including two clan leaders, had completed the first step of the first phase of the project, the foundation excavation and filling of the large room with ten collective bedrooms, and began to pour simple concrete with a proper amount of cement and a large amount of crushed stone into it; when Xiao Yun led the goblin caracal to lay the ceramic pipes, the first-level laborers had already started to build walls and houses; when Xiao Yun taught the caracal how to build a kang flue, the first-level laborers went straight to the second phase of the project site to dig the foundation of the warehouse...
Thanks to Xiao Yun's brutal abuse of his tribe members last winter (...), the twenty adult members of the Huoyan tribe, including the Huoyan tribe leader, are all skilled house builders. After all, how big a technical barrier is there to building a brick wall? Anyone who can play with building blocks and mud and has enough strength can do it... Under their leadership, the unskilled grassroots tribe members only need a few days to practice.
The grassroots chief, who was so tired of kneading dough that he began to doubt his life, began to miss the good times when he was in charge of food in his dreams a few days after participating in the construction project... It turns out that happiness is all about comparison. The days of being surrounded by mud and water, rubbing the cement for a long time after it dries on your body, and being laughed at by that guy Huoyan if the wall is built crookedly are really not a life for a human being!
Especially being laughed at by Huo Yan - Oh my God! Being laughed at by a guy like Huo Yan! The grassroots chief wanted to cover his head with animal skins when he thought about it. He was too ashamed to face people!
Others can't see through Huo Yan, but she can't see through him either. She is a slow-witted fool! When she first came here, she thought Huo Yan was extraordinary and admired him very much. It was his serious square face that deceived her.
While the first-level laborers were working hard to build rows of warehouses and large greenhouses, Xiao Yun picked a few of the young ones to help with making tiles. Last year, they were short of manpower and pressed for time, so they had to use reed shed roofs that were easily collapsed by snow to make up the number. This year, they had enough manpower and enough time, so of course they had to make the tiles.
The clay for tiles is mainly made of yellow clay, just like pottery. Considering the need for waterproof performance, Xiao Yun uses a ratio of 80% yellow clay to 20% cement to make the clay for tiles. After mixing the raw materials, a simple wooden mold is used to make finger-thick, trapezoidal tiles, which are placed on a thicker log and pressed into a semicircular hollow shape. They are then placed in a ventilated place to dry, and the simplest tile is made.
Burning tiles is similar to burning red bricks. You can use a brick kiln directly to burn them. Stack the dried tile blanks into the brick kiln like playing cards, leaving gaps between the tiles. When the tiles are full, put in firewood and coal and start burning. Observe the fire power through the air holes of the brick kiln, and it is best when the smoke burns fully into the gaps between all the tiles. When the color of the tiles turns to blue-gray, it means the firing is successful.
By the time the tiles were finished, the cement in the main room had already dried. The task of laying the tiles on the beams was handed over to the agile caracals, while Xiao Yun continued to watch over the brick kiln to make tiles... In theory, a simple vertical kiln could also make tiles, but Xiao Yun was hoping that these tile houses could last longer, so he naturally wouldn't take advantage of that.
All the staff were mobilized and worked hard for more than a month. When the temperature dropped to about ten degrees and it was cold if you didn't sleep on the heated kang at night, ten large rooms, sixteen warehouses, and thirteen private houses were successfully built. When the tiles of the last family house were laid, the crowds who came to watch, regardless of whether they had work to do or not, cheered as if they had survived a disaster...
"Thank you for your hard work!" Xiao Yun was also very touched. He had not had a good night's sleep in the past month and a half, and the dark circles under his eyes were as dark as a panda's. "This winter, none of us will have to worry about getting cold!"
Qiu, who was laying the last tile, had tears streaming down his face and waved his arms vigorously... It is said that caracals do light work, but the work is too much and too diverse, and all his tribesmen were so tired that they had bald spots on their heads - fortunately, it was all worth it, because Ayun said that among all the ten large rooms, there was a room for them, the caracals!
The goblins who had been hiding in the corners were now mixed in the crowd, their shrill voices drowned out by the rough howls of the snow wolves... They finally got their reward after all the hard work, as they had even honed their metal claws to the point of being rounded from digging limestone, and now they had a share in the large room, instead of being left far away to live in a thatched hut.
Xiao Yun smiled and waited until everyone had shouted enough, then signaled for everyone to be quiet and turned to look at the two clan leaders.
Cao Gen had a blank expression on his face, while Huo Yan had a serious look on his face.
Xiao Yun blinked and coughed.
Huo Yan nodded seriously: "That's it."
Xiao Yun: “…”
Grassroots: “…”
The grassroots chief, who originally didn't want to complain, couldn't hold it in any longer, so he stepped forward and said uninterestedly: "The tribe is not going to trade the blankets this year, so we'll keep them for our own use. Everyone has a share, find, uh, find..."
At this point Cao Gen suddenly forgot the words. After all, she had not intended to cooperate before. She paused for a few seconds, then looked at A Yun anxiously and guiltily.
Xiao Yun... Xiao Yun looked at her silently. You seem to be a reliable person, but why do you fail at the critical moment...
Cao Gen turned his eyes away and said shamelessly: "Ayun, you speak."
"..." Xiao Yun's mouth twitched for a fraction of a second, then he put on a business smile in an instant, and met everyone's gaze with excitement, agitation, and joy. "The two clan leaders said that we all have a share of the tribe's blankets. Everyone go wash your hands, take a shower if you are too dirty, and then go to the captain of your work team to get a blanket. Dahe, Hongye, Maomao, Qiuqiu, Shamen, Yangmao, come to me later to get the blankets for your team members, and then I will go down to collect the people's hair later."
The blanket had been knitted by the caracal, and the others didn't know what it was, so they just perfunctorily said a few times "good thing"; but Qiu, who knew that the blanket was a good thing... didn't want to cheer at all, "Damn Ayun, who is the ball!"
The daily necessities were still in the mud-brick house, and we had to go back to take a shower. All kinds of supplies had not been moved in yet. Everyone wanted to sleep in the new house at night, and they walked back happily while discussing which room they would sleep in. The thirteen couples who had private houses also had lively discussions with others... We still had work to do to let these people know what private space was.
Xiao Yun, with a smile on his face, was calculating madly in his heart, trying to figure out how long he could keep these people happy before telling them about the next task. When his eyes swept over the grass roots that were avoiding him, he suddenly felt a little heartbroken.
Judging from the performance of the grassroots chief during his work, he thought he had dealt with this chief who was older than Huo Yan...his emotions have not been tamed yet and he is still in the rebellious period!
Being as slow as Huoyan is certainly not good. Although it is easy to "convince people with reason", they cannot keep up with the trend. Being too smart is not good either. If you can't figure out something, you will tend to rebel... Xiao Yun sighed secretly. The revolution has not yet succeeded. Comrades still need to work hard!
