After the fall, the temperature began to drop, the autumn wind was bleak, and countless yellowed and withered leaves were blown down, and the branches were trembling.
Lin Yuan felt that this year's temperature was lower than last year's, so he put on his cotton-padded clothes early, and asked Qiuniang to calculate the carbon, waiting for Jiang Guangyi to send the agreed 500 people over.
He is now sitting next to the charcoal fire, with fern roots smoldering in it. This is a plant rhizome. After it is smothered, it tastes soft and tasteless. Lin Yuan eats it as a snack and pushes it aside. Exploring, picking out the fern roots, and cleaning the ashes from the outside before pushing them aside to pass it to Lin Yuan.
Lin Yuan broke it in half, and handed one half to Erliang.
Erliang took it with a smile and said, "Thank you for the reward, Young Master."
Lin Yuan took a sip of hot water and looked at the people who were busy harvesting in the field outside the window. He was still very satisfied.
This year's harvest is not much different from last year's, but more fields are opened this year, the harvest has doubled, plus the grain saved from last year, and another 1,000 people, this grain is enough for nearly a year.
At least until next winter, but there will be another harvest next fall.
So don't worry too much about the food. After the harvest next year, they should be able to set off for Xinghua.
Xinghua has saltworks, and it can be said that the cities captured by Zhang Shicheng are the most prosperous places.
Among the leaders of the uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, there was a saying that "Chen Youliang was the most unruly and Zhang Shicheng was the richest".
Erliang squatted beside the charcoal fire. He was still wearing the old cotton-padded coat. The cotton-padded coat was not washed, and few people could afford it. It was considered a luxury, so most of it was worn out and then thrown away. If it's just a hole or something, it can be sewed up.
The life of ordinary people is basically a true portrayal of "the new three years, the old three years, and the sewing and repairing for another three years".
"It's getting colder this year." Erliang said, "A lot of people will freeze to death again."
Erliang said: "I used to think that the winter in the south would not be cold, but now I wear several layers of cold air and dig in."
Lin Yuan didn't explain the difference in the cold weather between the north and the south, but said, "A lot of people will die this winter."
Erliang scratched the back of his head: "We Zhuangzi should be fine?"
Lin Yuan wiped Erliang's head, and only remembered Erliang after touching it. It's probably been a long time, so long that he can't remember how long ago he washed his head. Lin Yuan looked at his palm and couldn't hold back. He came back and continued to sit. After sitting for a while, he remembered what Erliang had just asked, and replied, "Zhuangzi will be fine."
There is enough food and carbon, and the infrastructure is complete. It is not easy to freeze people to death. Even if you get sick, there are still medicinal materials. As long as the disease is not serious, it is not an incurable disease, and it is basically safe.
The day Jiang Guang brought people was the coldest day in this period of time. It wasn't winter yet, but it was as cold as last winter. Lin Yuan put on a thick padded jacket and dressed like a bun before going out to pick up people. .
This time Jiang Guang still found someone to escort him, and the escorts were still Chen Bosong and the others, but this time there were quite a few of them. It is estimated that all the people in a stockade came out.
It seems that Chen Bosong and the others have not been doing well recently.
Jiang Guang got off the horse. He had a big belly. When he got off the horse, he almost fell and squatted. I brought you all, and I brought you twenty more, which is a bonus."
Lin Yuan first asked people to take the new arrivals to the shed that was built some time ago, and told them to tidy up the hair on their bodies. Those who had fleas had to shave their heads, and those who didn't had to change their clothes.
The women have been busy for more than half a year, and they have made a lot of clothes. Because of the clear division of labor, the efficiency is also much higher. There are more than 3,000 sets of pseudo-padded clothes made of straw velvet alone, not to mention simple underwear.
There were also several greenhouses built in Zhuangzi, which are places for women to work.
Pregnant women have almost all given birth to their children, and some have died of dystocia.
Lin Yuan buried them in the cemetery, and people in Zhuangzi sometimes went to worship them.
"Go in with me first." Lin Yuan took Jiang Guang into Zhuangzi, saw Chen Bosong dismount, and stayed at the gate of the city. He didn't seem to want to go in, so Lin Yuan said to Chen Bosong, "You put your weapons over there. in the shed, and come in together to keep warm.”
None of Chen Bosong's brothers put down their weapons. Their knives were all pinned to their waists, and their hands were on the hilt, as if they had been glued to it.
Finally, Chen Bosong said, "Leave it in the past."
These people seemed to be very convinced by Chen Bosong, and they didn't ask any more questions. Sure enough, they took off the knives at their waists, put them in the shed, and followed Chen Bosong to the inside.
Lin Yuan took them to his house. The house was built with one entry and one exit. It looked simple, but it was very large. It was not difficult for more than 20 people to sit in the main room. They couldn't blow the wind at the moment, and they seemed to be a lot more relaxed. They were still holding cups made of bamboo tubes, which were filled with hot water, and Lin Yuan also asked someone to put some syrup in it.
These waters are sweet to drink.
Even these rough guys like it.
After all, ancient people had very few ways to consume sugar.
Lin Yuan asked Yang Zian to help greet these people first, and he took Jiang Guang to another room far from the main room.
Jiang Guang sat on the chair, first let out a long breath, took a sip of hot water, and then moved his neck, rubbed his wrists, and came to life.
"This journey is not easy." Jiang Guang said, "I am afraid that they will starve to death, freeze to death, and make me spend a lot of money."
Lin Yuan said very politely: "Of course I should be called out."
As he said that, Lin Yuan took out a fake jade, Jiang Guang took it with a smile, and said, "How good is this", while moving quickly and neatly.
"Brother Jiang, where did all these people come from?" Lin Yuan said, "If it was a desperado, I would have thought about it earlier."
Jiang Guang waved his hand: "Hey, I don't want to cheat you. They are all collected by me from others. I don't know what they did in the first place."
Lin Yuan nodded, knowing that it was impossible to ask Jiang Guang to do statistics, so he could only spend some time doing statistics on his own.
At Lin Yuan's gracious invitation, Jiang Guang decided to rest on Lin Yuan's side for a few days before starting the road again. He stopped, and Chen Bosong and the others naturally stopped.
The place to live is a good arrangement.
Eat and go to the cafeteria with the people who work.
This group of people has probably never seen so many people living in groups, and they feel incredible while being vigilant.
"This Zhuangzi is really big, and there is still a city wall, just a moat."
"They all eat like this?"
"There are multigrain steamed buns every day? There is still oil in these vegetarian dishes."
"They all say that sometimes there is meat to eat."
These rough men are a little envious. They may not be able to eat enough with their heads tied to the belt of their trousers, but these people only need to do what they want to do every day to be full.
Just when they saw the disabled people in Zhuangzi, this feeling of envy reached its peak.
Although Chen Baisong did not treat them harshly, once they were injured, especially after being disabled, the only way left was to wait for death.
There are also disabled people in Lin Yuan's village. Although there are not too many, these people basically do the same work as women, and they are transferred to logistics. In Lin Yuan's view, the importance of logistics cannot be ignored.
As long as it can create value, a disabled person is not a disability in his eyes.
Chen Bosong chewed the steamed buns and listened to his brothers chatting together.
He knew what his brothers wanted to live, but he also knew they couldn't live like that.
The reason why they survived was because of the swords in their hands, disarmed and returned to the fields? That must be the days after the victory is won and the world is at peace.
"Boss, I think you have a good relationship with the owner of this Zhuangzi." After leaving the cafeteria, someone with a detached personality couldn't wait to say, "Otherwise, you can discuss with him and ask us to come to this Zhuangzi as well. Just like the guard Jiang, they gave us shelter and food, and we covered them."
The few next to me wanted to say that, but they didn't dare. Now that someone brought it up first, they also followed suit.
"I feel very good."
"Yeah, it's getting colder this year, and we don't have much food left. After this work is done, the food given by the surnamed Jiang is only enough for us to eat for ten days and a half months, and ten days and a half months. What about later? Starve to death?"
"Boss, now is not the time to die to save face."
Chen Bosong walked at the front, his brows were wrinkled, and he said, "I know."
He knew in his heart that this winter would be difficult this year. They had cleaned up the bandits and bandit villages around them, and they had robbed everything that could be robbed. If they robbed them again, they could only go down the mountain and rob the common people.
Although he said that he couldn't attack the people, but when it really hits the end of the road, who cares who is robbing
Jiang Guang's life is not very common. If spring and summer are okay, he will never starve to death by leaning on the mountain, but he will have a hard time writing.
But not in autumn and winter.
Like his brother said, this is not the time to die for face.
But Chen Baisong didn't know how to speak to Lin Yuan.
As if he opened his mouth, he became a person who made a special trip to the door to fight the autumn wind.
Going to bed in the middle of the night, the brothers are still whispering about what they saw during the day. Now they feel that this village is better everywhere, better than their stockade. In the stockade, they still live in a shed built by themselves. It's warm to sleep together. They don't have time to burn charcoal by themselves.
"The clothes those people wear are all made by the women in the shed." Someone thought enviously, "I also want to wear clothes made by women."
The person next to him laughed at him: "You start thinking about women before your hair grows?"
The man said excitedly: "Would you like to try it and see if I grow up?"
"Then don't dare to try, I'm afraid that you will be killed by accident."
"Boss?" They found that Chen Bosong had been silent, and turned to look at Chen Bosong.
Chen Bosong turned over, his mind was a little confused, he just said: "Go to sleep first, think about it tomorrow."
When several people saw that Chen Bosong was asleep, they couldn't say anything else, so they could only go to sleep under the quilt.
Lin Yuan is also discussing with Yang Zian now, how to keep Chen Bosong, it is best to call all the brothers in his hands to come over.
Yang Zian said: "I see that they are all strong and strong, and everything else is easy to say, but I am afraid of having two hearts."
Lin Yuan understood what Yang Zian meant, but he also said, "We will only have more and more people in the future. If we are always afraid that people will have two hearts, we will stay here forever? This is definitely not a long-term solution."
Yang Zian sighed: "I just look forward to your grandma, and I have some friendship with you."
Lin Yuan: "I hope that friendship is useless, people's hearts will change, I want to get a book of military law out."
Yang Zian: "Military law?"
Lin Yuan explained: "It can't be called military law, whatever it is called, as long as the rules are set, everything will be done according to the rules."
Yang Zian touched his chin and thought, "This is feasible."
"It just takes a lot of time."
Lin Yuan: "It will naturally take a lot of time."
During this time, Lin Yuan has been looking for an opportunity to chat with Chen Bosong, and put the pros and cons on the table. Whether it is a hit or miss, at least it can be solved neatly.
But Chen Baisong couldn't see people almost every day. Lin Yuan asked around to find out that he took his people to the mountains to hunt, but most of the time there was no harvest.
Lin Yuan could only wait for him to come back in Zhuangzi.
"It's back! Oh my God!"
"More than ten sheep!"
"Is this catching a flock?"
"How far do you have to go to meet you?"
"The sheep are dead?"
"Some are dead, some are alive."
Lin Yuan stood at the gate of the city, and soon saw Chen Bosong and the others, slowly appearing in front of his eyes from a small black spot.
Chen Bosong rode a horse. He was tall and mighty on the horse. His hair was tied up high. Because of the heat all over his body from hunting, he ripped open his clothes and opened his chest. The people behind him were chasing the sheep.
These are wild goats, and you can tell by their horns that they are not domesticated.
Chen Baisong rode his horse forward to Lin Yuan, pointed at the group of wild goats, and said, "It's worth our group's rent and meals for the past few days."
Lin Yuan did not refuse: "Then I will accept it."
A smile appeared on Chen Baisong's face.
"I happen to have something to tell you, come down for a walk?" Lin Yuan invited.
Chen Bosong didn't shirk, he turned over and dismounted, his movements were smooth and unrestrained, his chest was still open, and he was sweating profusely, Lin Yuan could smell the sweat, but fortunately Lin Yuan was used to it, but he didn't show an expression of disgust. .
The two walked side by side, Lin Yuan was slightly shorter than Chen Bosong, and he had to raise his head slightly to see Chen Bosong's full face.
"How's your stockade going recently?" Lin Yuan didn't get straight to the point as soon as he came up, and asked politely first.
Chen Baisong just forgot to put down the horse whip, and he was still holding it in his hand. His expression was a little dignified: "The people at the foot of the mountain can't get through, and the bandits and bandits around, who can be beaten, have been beaten."
Lin Yuan understood: "I haven't had a good time recently, is there enough food?"
Chen Bosong evoked a wry smile: "Ten days and a half months is always enough."
They make a living by robbing and farming? wasteland? They simply don't have enough manpower.
It was only at this time that Lin Yuan revealed his intentions. He seemed to have no intention of saying, "It just so happens that my Zhuangzi is also short of people. If you don't dislike it, bring your brother here. I'll charge as much as you want."
Chen Bosong was silent for a while before saying, "Young master, you are always so kind and you will suffer."
Lin Yuan: "Huh?"
Chen Bosong thought of going elsewhere: "No matter how much food you grow, the more people there are, the more food there will be. You asked Jiang Shang to bring 500 people, and another 500 in winter. Man, how do you feed?"
Before Lin Yuan could speak, Chen Bosong frowned: "Master, what are you laughing at?"
Lin Yuan supported Chen Bosong's shoulders, and said happily, "Do you think I'm getting so many people just to spread kindness and do good deeds?"
Chen Baisong looked into Lin Yuan's eyes with a serious expression of "Isn't it?"
Lin Yuan smiled and said, "It's not that simple, don't you think that the people in my village have a better life than the people in your village?"
"But it stands to reason that you have fewer people, and everyone should get more. Why is it better for me to have more people?" Lin Yuan asked.
Chen Baisong: "It's not the same thing. How long will it take for the five hundred people to work? You have to be raised for nothing before you work."
Lin Yuan shook his head: "It can't be called Bai Yang, do you know how many years it takes for a person to do things?"
"Humans are different from beasts. Animals can take ten days and a half months at least, and more than one year or two years." Lin Yuan said, "Humans start to conceive in October, to quack landing, from crawling to walking, from walking to running. It takes more than ten years for a person to go from being born to being able to give birth.”
Lin Yuan: "So having more people is also an advantage."
Chen Bosong: "That also has to be done according to one's ability."
Lin Yuan: "I've measured it, and I think it's okay, I can afford it."
Chen Bosong didn't know what to say.
The young master became more stubborn than ever.
Chen Bosong can only say: "I have 130 brothers, all of them are single men, pay attention to loyalty."
Lin Yuan: "If possible, I hope you can bring everyone here."
Chen Baisong looked at Lin Yuan: "Master, there are more than 130 mouthfuls. These people are coming, but they all want to eat your food."
Lin Yuan waved his hand: "It's okay, I can afford it, and it's not for them to eat for nothing, they always have to work."
To be honest, he really wanted to know the difference between Chen Bosong's "bandits" and the "soldiers" he had trained. If they came over then, they could have 100 people from each side for a military exercise.
Real knowledge comes from practice.
Chen Baisong repeated what Lin Yuan said to his brothers at night.
The expressions on their faces were magical.
"Boss, is it really the owner here who mentioned it?"
"This owner is really... a kind-hearted person."
"Hey, look at the people who were sold. Now they are wearing straw velvet clothes, and they still live in houses. Where can there be such a good owner now?"
"Renshan is being bullied. I think this owner is too young to know the dangers of the world."
"That's what you said, but you don't want to stay? I'm happy to stay anyway."
"That is, what else can we rob? If we go on like this, we can only go down the mountain to grab the food of the people."
Chen Bosong listened to them talking.
"Boss, are we really here?"
"Actually, thinking about it, I think our stockade is pretty good."
Chen Bosong said, "I want to come here."
Several people did it at the same time: "Really? Boss, what do you think?"
"Didn't you say yesterday to think about it again?"
"Did that boss say something to you and convince you?"
Chen Bosong's voice was calm, he said, "Apart from this, is there any other way? Go down the mountain and rob the people?"
A few people stopped talking. Although they are "bandits" in the eyes of others, in their own eyes, they are not. Although they are robbers, they have not robbed the people, nor killed the lives of good people. There are merchants passing by. , they also escorted a section, and only then did they reach out to ask for compensation. Although it means a strong buy and sell, it is better than taking people's lives directly.
They will also rob those bandits who really harm the people.
In their own eyes, they are not evil people, but good people.
Naturally, he didn't want to make mistakes and was forced to become a villain in the fish and meat town.
Chen Baisong: "There are still some things that I haven't discussed with him in detail, but I want to bring them back. When Jiang Shang is sent back, we will bring them here."
"That's going to take a lot," someone said.
"How many cars do you want to pull?"
Chen Bosong: "If it's useless, don't bring it."
"That's right, it's inconvenient to carry so many things on the road, and if you meet someone you want to rob..."
"Bullshit, then we can fight back!"
When winter comes, there will be more bandits. Many nearby villagers who cannot survive will form a group. A group of people will go in and out together, grabbing food and money. As long as they kill the first resister, these grouped people will become one. The gang then began to flee.
What Chen Bosong was afraid of was that they would become like this.
They have survived the past several years, and they have never gone astray or harmed the people.
"Anyway, I won't have to freeze this winter."
"I felt like I was going to die from the cold last year, and my hands and feet were stiff every day."
"What are you, if I hadn't slept with Second Brother Niu, I would have frozen."
"Second brother Niu snores so loudly, can you sleep too?"
"I was very sleepy, so I fell asleep naturally. Besides, it's better to be noisy than to freeze to death."
They all had smiles on their faces. When they thought that they would also live in this village, they were full of energy. Although they had only been here for a few days, they could also see that this village was not a master of the landowner. Zhuangzi, who doesn't treat the next person as a human being.
As far as the food in the cafeteria is concerned, it is worthy of admiration for this owner.
Chen Baisong said: "Go to sleep, we have to get up early tomorrow. Let's go into the mountains again. Before the wild things have jumped into the deeper, let's look for it."
Several people responded: "Sure, let's catch dozens of wild sheep back."
"If only I could hold a deer, deer blood is a big supplement."
"You make up your ass, I don't think you're empty when I look at it."
"Go to sleep, don't talk about it, there are more words than anyone else."
"Sleep and sleep."
The room was dark, and after a while, there were steady snoring, teeth grinding, and sleep talking, forming a harmonious trio.
Chen Bosong turned over and thought to himself: I have made a miscalculation now, why don't I ask them to chat.