Love Lock

Chapter 36 A Look of Ignorance

"Uncle Wang, how's the recruitment of the other personnel going?"

"As soon as the notice was posted yesterday, people came to inquire. Today, when we opened the door, even more people came. So far, dozens have registered. Most of the people coming are craftsmen and farmers. There are only two cooks."

Uncle Wang quickly showed Han Lei the registration record. Han Lei saw that it was all in traditional Chinese characters, and the handwriting was terrible; she couldn't recognize a single one of them.

In that era, educational resources were scarce and mostly monopolized by wealthy families, so not many people could read and write. Uncle Wang was probably able to work as the shopkeeper for more than ten years because he could read and write.

Han Lei summoned the team leader and asked him to tell Magistrate Luo to send two literate clerks to help with the registration. Then she had Uncle Wang gather all the craftsmen and farmers who had already signed up, as work was to begin today.

Among the craftsmen were five or six bricklayers who could build walls and stoves. There were also a dozen or so carpenters who could make furniture and potters who could fire pottery.

After strolling around the restaurant, Zhao Zun and Luo Hai praised Han Lei's excellent taste in choosing the location. Then, they took Han Lei by carriage to see the wasteland they had selected for her.

Because both pig farming and agriculture require a good water source, Luo Hai specifically chose a large tract of wasteland beside a small river for Han Lei. The land was not flat, but rather hilly and winding, covering six or seven hundred acres. Because it had never been cultivated before, the ground was covered with stones of all sizes.

The stream is over twenty meters wide and has a relatively large flow, making it an ideal location for building a pig farm. Most importantly, it's not far from the county town; a one-way trip by horse-drawn carriage takes less than an hour, making it very convenient.

"Uncle Luo, I want this whole tract of wasteland." Han Lei was very satisfied.

"Alright! The land deed and documents for this wasteland will be delivered to you tomorrow." Luo Hai nodded in agreement. He couldn't help but be astonished. He had thought Han Lei would only cultivate a hundred or two hundred acres of wasteland at most, but he didn't expect her to take over this entire seven or eight hundred acres in one go.

“Uncle Luo, it’s almost noon. You should go back and have lunch and rest. We’ll take care of things here. Please have the wounded soldiers of the Little Squad bring all the recruited men here by horse-drawn carriage after you get back.”

"Alright, then you all go ahead with your work. I'll head back now. Tomorrow, I'll bring the relevant people from the county government to come and help."

After Luo Hai left, Han Lei also got on the carriage and bought a lot of steamed buns from the system, distributing them to everyone to tide them over for now. After filling their stomachs, Han Lei took out machetes and saws from the carriage, giving one to each person and asking them to go up the mountain to cut bamboo and wood to bring back.

After everyone had gone up the mountain, Han Lei led Zhao Zun to the back of a small hill.

Han Lei bought a lot of bulk cement and a large number of tools and farm implements from the system, piling them all up behind the hillside. To make it easier to move heavy objects, she also bought more than a dozen wooden carts and wheelbarrows.

Here, she had no foundation yet, and she dared not use tools that were too out of touch with the times. Even cement seemed a bit shocking to her.

Zhao Zun was already used to it. With him helping out, Han Lei took out tools and lime and began to survey and draw lines.

The area near the river was a rocky wasteland, much like the Gobi Desert. Han Lei designated twenty acres of land here to build a pig farm, with six parallel square septic tanks connected to it. Each tank was about one hundred square meters in size and was used to temporarily store pig manure for anaerobic decomposition, which could then be used as fertilizer to fertilize the land.

Each simple septic tank is connected to the pig farm by a ditch, and the six tanks are used in rotation for decomposition. This solves both the sewage disposal problem of the pig farm and the fertilizer problem of the land.

Of course, pig manure from pig farms alone is not enough to support the fertilizer needs of hundreds of acres of land; it can only be used to improve the soil quality of barren land.

The newly reclaimed wasteland is now being irrigated with composted farmyard manure, and crops can be planted in the spring.

To facilitate irrigation of every piece of wasteland, Han Lei not only planned the location of ditches to draw water from the river, but also planned the location of roads to facilitate the passage and transportation of crops.

In the early stages of the restaurant's development, Han Lei planned to use pre-packaged seasonings directly for cooking. However, to ensure a supply of seasonings for the restaurant's future needs, Han Lei designated ten acres of land near the mountainside to grow spices such as chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, galangal, and cardamom.

Around 3 PM, the recruits arrived one after another, escorted by the wounded soldiers of the small squad. Including the wounded soldiers, those who arrived later, and those who went to the mountain to cut bamboo and timber, there were nearly two hundred people. Han Lei hadn't expected to recruit so many people in just half a day. In her modern life, she often heard about labor shortages. Here, it seemed that this problem simply didn't exist.

Han Lei began assigning tasks.

The recruited men all built thatched huts using bamboo and wood. Five huts were planned throughout the wasteland. The huts were quite large, each covering about 200 square meters, and were used as a canteen and a place for everyone to rest temporarily.

The women and children were responsible for picking up stones of varying sizes from the ground and putting them in baskets. Then, the wounded soldiers of the Big Character Team would use wooden carts and wheelbarrows to transport them to the location of the pig farm and the future dormitory area.

The wasteland was uneven to begin with, and many stones were embedded in the ground. Furthermore, there were fewer women and children, so the work progressed slowly. The men, on the other hand, used more convenient tools and had more workers, so their work was much faster.

Wooden carts and wheelbarrows shuttled back and forth across the wasteland. For a monthly wage of one or two taels of silver, men, women, and children all put in their utmost effort and worked with great enthusiasm.

By sunset, the man had already set up two thatched huts, and the woman had cleared away stones from several acres of land.

Han Lei climbed back into the carriage and bought many solar lights from the system, asking Zhao Zun and Ping Chuan to help hang them on tree branches and bamboo poles of the thatched shed.

Zhao Zun was also inspired by the bustling scene before him. Upon hearing Han Lei's instructions, he and Ping Chuan immediately grabbed baskets to load the solar lights. After Han Lei taught them how to use them, the two of them eagerly joined in the work. Meanwhile, Han Lei prepared enough steamed buns for everyone in the carriage.

The sun disappeared behind the mountains, and night fell.

As Zhao Zun and Ping Chuan turned on the solar lights one by one, beams of bright light shot out, illuminating the wasteland as if it were daytime. This drew gasps of surprise from the workers.

"Wow, look! What's that? My goodness, why is it glowing?"

"Could it be a luminous pearl that only nobles possess?"

"How much silver must it have cost to hang so many luminous pearls?"

"Pshaw! I've heard that only the imperial palace has luminous pearls, and you can't buy them even if you have money."

Wow, what a huge luminous pearl!

"I never imagined that I would see a luminous pearl in my lifetime!"

"The luminous pearl is so bright! Just like the sun."

Under the bright light, exclamations of amazement rose and fell.

"Hehehe..."

Zhao Zun and Ping Chuan exchanged a glance, crossed their arms, and smiled at each other.

They now really enjoy watching these people who seem to have no sense of right and wrong.

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(End of this chapter)