Chapter 824: The Peasant Girl’s Splendid Manor
Chapter 824: Threats (1)
After the New Year, the weather hadn’t warmed up yet, and there wasn’t much work to be done in the fields. It was still possible to delay it for a while. Therefore, when the Mo family announced they were hiring laborers to reclaim the mountains, offering thirty coins a day for strong men, twenty coins a day for women, and ten coins a day for children, the news quickly spread through the village. Adults and children eagerly rushed to the homes of the village heads, scrambling to volunteer for the reclamation work in Liuyang Village.
Some families had many members who could work, and sending three to five people to reclaim the land was no problem. As a result, the combined labor force of the neighboring villages—men, women, and children—added up to over 1,200 people.
Although the village heads hoped all of their villagers would be selected to increase their income, the mountains weren’t their property, and the wages weren’t coming from them. They couldn’t fulfill everyone’s wishes. Therefore, after registering the names of those who volunteered, the village heads handed the list over to Mo Yan.
Mo Yan didn’t need that many people for the reclamation, but since she didn’t know the villagers from the other villages, she couldn’t tell who was capable and who was lazy. In the end, she decided to allow all 1,200 people to participate.
On the 20th day of the first month, the villagers took off their thick winter clothes, put on their old shoes from when they worked the fields, and brought machetes and hoes. They arrived at Mo’s twenty-some barren mountains and energetically set to work reclaiming the land.
The barren mountains were overrun with dried yellow grass and underdeveloped shrubs. It would be easy to burn it all, but that would not only pollute the air, but the strong winds on the mountains would make it difficult to control the flames, potentially setting the entire mountain range on fire. Therefore, burning the grass wasn’t an option.
Instead, the workers used machetes and axes to clear the wild grass and shrubs, dug up the roots, and then dug tree pits, preparing for the fruit saplings to be planted once the weather warmed up.
The strong men were responsible for cutting the trees and digging up the roots, the women used machetes to cut the grass and dig out the roots, while the children gathered the branches, grass, and other debris into designated piles. The branches and roots could be used as firewood, while the grass and roots would be used as compost for the fruit saplings.
Mo Yan asked familiar people, like Lin Da, to keep an eye on the workers. Those who worked honestly were allowed to stay, but those who were lazy or tried to cheat would be sent home with their wages. After three days, only around 700 people remained out of the original 1,200.
The remaining workers started to understand what was expected of them and became more diligent, only stopping to drink water during the scheduled breaks.
Among those who were sent home, a few troublemakers were unhappy with being dismissed and decided to cause trouble. They teamed up and went to Mo’s family to make a scene. Mo Yan released the furballs, which scared the troublemakers into running away in panic, never daring to return.
With the beast tags granted by the current emperor, even if Mo Yan’s divine beasts had killed someone, it would be considered justifiable. If they hadn’t caused trouble, why would the divine beasts have attacked them?
The work wasn’t too strenuous, and the wages Mo Yan offered were even higher than what people in the city made. Since there were so many workers, Mo Yan didn’t provide meals for the workers from other villages. However, she did give each child a boiled egg every day.
Mo Yan’s poultry farm produced nearly two thousand eggs a day. Using around a hundred eggs a day wasn’t much of a strain on her, but for farming families, eggs were a precious commodity. Even if they raised chickens, no one would be willing to give their children an egg every day.
This gesture greatly touched the children and their families, making them work even harder.
With so many hands, the twenty-some barren mountains were cleared and prepared in less than a month. The tree pits were dug to the perfect size and depth for the various fruit saplings, which greatly pleased Mo Yan. When the work was finished and the wages were settled, everyone received an additional three days' pay.
(The End of This Chapter)
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