The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

It's December now, and the Lunar New Year is just ten days away.

This year, the festive atmosphere in Ganluchuan is even more lively and exciting than in previous years.

What's all the fuss about?

That's slaughtering the pig for the New Year!

Don't be fooled by those pigs brought back from Sichuan and Chongqing; they've only been raised for about half a year.

The Ganluchuan pig farm provides excellent feed for its pigs.

Wheat bran and rice husks mixed with dog rice grass ensured a full stomach at every meal.

Before arriving at Ganluchuan, the piglets weighed only 20 or 30 pounds, but in just six months they grew to over 150 pounds.

According to the general's instructions, except for sows and boars kept for breeding, all other pigs must contribute to this year's Lunar New Year dishes.

The first batch consisted of one hundred brave warriors.

Half of it was sent to various military posts in Kansai to express condolences to the mid- to high-ranking officers in the army.

The other half is sold in the butcher shop in Ganluchuan.

The General of the Western Garrison received half a piece of meat.

Gan Minglan even specially invited a Sichuan chef to cook a meal for everyone in the mansion, a Sichuan specialty dish called "pig-killing feast".

Everyone ate to their heart's content, their mouths greasy with oil.

Luo and others unanimously agreed that "the pork from Sichuan and Chongqing tastes better than that from Lezhi County."

Zuo Chijun (Fatty) nodded vigorously.

He knew the taste of pork.

My maternal grandparents ran a pork shop, so I've never lacked pork since I was a child.

However, this pork is indeed extraordinary.

Gan Minglan: It's been so long, and no one has noticed anything unusual.

They are all castrated black pigs, and the taste of the pork varies little from place to place.

The key to the delicious meat of pigs from Ganluchuan Pig Farm is still the feed.

Dog rice grass is truly a treasure from head to toe.

Livestock fed with dog grass for more than six months not only have better health, but their meat quality also changes imperceptibly.

The fibers are delicate and the juice is plentiful.

The lean parts are not dry and tough, and the fatty parts are rich but not greasy.

With the addition of fresh dog rice grass root as seasoning, and the chef in charge of the cooking, it's like having a full buff.

Gan Minglan had been experiencing some morning sickness, but after eating pork for two meals, she miraculously recovered.

Overjoyed that his wife was experiencing morning sickness several times a day, Zuo Wenkang, feeling anxious, quickly asked Manager Zhang, who was in charge of the pig farm, to slaughter a pig specifically for his family.

In temperatures that are normally below -10 degrees Celsius, the processed pork stored in ice cube trays can last until it thaws next year.

Manager Zhang stood up straight.

He couldn't help but feel smug in front of Supervisor Wang, Supervisor Yu, and Supervisor Tang:
"The general specifically requested to eat the pigs raised by his wife! We're going to slaughter a total of a thousand pigs this year. The first batch was a few days ago, and we'll slaughter another two hundred tomorrow."

"Hey, you didn't see it! The kids from those families who didn't get any meat were crying from the smell of the meat coming from next door."

The other three rolled their eyes in unison. Manager Wang had the leverage to challenge the pig farm; she was full of confidence.

"Don't be so smug! Our chicken coop has hatched more than 20,000 chicks in the past six months! The earliest batch has already started laying eggs."

More than three thousand roosters were purchased by the garrison as New Year's goods! My wife received a hundred taels of silver in bonuses just for hatching the chickens this year.”

Supervisor Yu was not to be outdone:
"Our duck shed is just as good! We have over five thousand male ducks, and we can start selling them after the New Year. Ganluchuan is truly a blessed land! Back in Sichuan, our female ducks were considered diligent if they laid 180 eggs a year. Since coming here, they've averaged 20 eggs a month! As for the bonuses you two mentioned, we're getting just as much as you!"

Manager Tang glanced sideways at the three older women in front of him:
"Oh dear, no comparison! Geese, these kinds of poultry, only lay eggs twice a year, in spring and autumn. This autumn, the five hundred female geese in our goose shed laid an average of sixty eggs each."

But the male goose lived up to expectations, growing to over ten pounds in just four or five months! This year, our iron pot stewed goose will be served at the Ganluchuan Garrison's New Year's Eve dinner!
"Hmph, I have three thousand eight hundred geese in my hands, and the prize money is one hundred taels!"

When it comes to the bonus, words cannot adequately describe the excitement of the four managers.

Over the course of half a year, each of the pens had produced four or five apprentices.

This means that the four elderly women, all over fifty years old, had a net income of more than one hundred and forty or fifty taels of silver.

Although next year they will only receive a management salary plus a mentoring bonus.

But the income from just one year was equivalent to more than half of the family savings during the Yongtai reign.

The old lady's appearance now is completely different from when she first arrived.

With relaxed eyebrows and eyes, confident and composed, head held high and chest out.

These four managers of the farm were not the only ones who held their heads high.

The village chief of Wangxiang Village, which is about 20 miles away from Ganluchuan New Town, is already looking forward to the annual grand evaluation.

Ganluchuan has ten immigrant villages.

If you were to ask any villager, "Which village has had the best year?"

The answer from all ten people would be: "It's that damn Wangxiang Village!"

“The men in their village are all used like mules. They not only cultivate 20 mu of wheat fields, but every family has also reclaimed 20 mu of wasteland.”

"You ask what good things can be produced from wasteland? People are hoping that the wasteland in the countryside will yield gold!"

"This gold is not that gold! They've planted mulberry trees on all the newly reclaimed wasteland in their village! You know about mulberry planting and silkworm raising, right?"

“The other villages got the news later, and by the time they found the garrison, there were no more mulberry trees that were a year old. We still have to plant trees so that we can reap the benefits sooner.”

"You ask how ordinary silkworms can compare to gold? Do you know what a silk quilt is? It's a quilt made of silkworm silk! Do you think the nobles in the palace, the families of the nobility, and those nouveau riche only have cotton quilts to cover themselves with in winter like us? A ten-pound cotton quilt is not as warm as a four- or five-pound silk quilt."

"That's right, they sell all their silkworm cocoons to the garrison, and the garrison is making silk quilts again! You ask who would buy such expensive things? The merchants traveling to and from Ganlu River are practically scrambling to buy them!"

“In Wangxiang Village, the income from mulberry planting and silkworm raising alone is no less than two hundred taels of silver. Wouldn’t you say that’s like growing gold on barren land? In the second half of this year, the entire village built large brick and tile houses, and the village chief of Wangxiang Village was so happy he was almost out of his mind.”

"Even a small village chief can earn a hundred taels of silver a year, which is more than the annual salary of those centurions."

"How can that be the same! Don't be fooled by the fixed salaries of the soldiers; their year-end bonuses are much larger."

"Look at our Ganluchuan Garrison, it has: seedling bases, seed bases, horse farms, brocade weaving workshops, cotton spinning mills, wool mills, soap mills, sugar mills, oil mills, paper mills, poultry farms, and so on. These are all businesses that make a fortune every day! And who gets the profits from these workshops? The lion's share goes to the Ganluchuan Garrison!"
Therefore, the soldiers guarding the gates of Ganluchuan New City earn more in bonuses at the end of the year than my entire family earns in a year.

"What? My family also earned eighty taels this year. A common soldier can earn more than eighty taels?"

"What's eighty taels?"

"Tsk tsk, I'm genuinely envious of every military household in Ganluchuan!"

"Add one!" (End of Chapter)