15 Apprenticeship (1/2)
As Ouyang Shuo led the line of militiamen through the village, the villagers looked curiously at the cage of small piglets.
The piglets were only half a month old, brown-haired, black stripes on their backs, truly very cute. On the road, he had looked at their stats.
Mutated Small Wild Boar Piglets: Produced by the wild boar king and mutated elite wild boar sow, these wild boar piglets are very adaptable, their meat are delicious, and they have a growth cycle of three months.
Before they returned, Zhao Dewang had already arranged for people to build a pigsty. It was built behind the dining hall, so it would be convenient to feed them.
The pigsty was a small room with an inner and outer area. The inner area was 3.5 meters long, and 2.5 meters wide, for sleeping and eating. The outer area was 50% bigger than the inner area, with a drinking trough, and was open to the sun. Hay was scattered inside and outside the pen, making it easy to keep the pens dry and clean.
When Ouyang Shuo’s militia carried the pig cage to the pigsty, Cui Yingyu and Zhao Dewang were waiting for them. Behind them was a third man, some 30 year old man with an honest but cautious face. Yingyu introduced him as Zhu Baocai, in his original village he was a famous pig master. He had been selected by Yingyu as their pig keeper and domesticator.
Ouyang Shuo had faith in Yingyu’s eye, directly handing over the <Wild Boar Domestication technical manual> to Zhu Baocai, saying to him, “Master Zhu, the task of domesticating these pigs, I give to you. It is very important for the territory to cultivate a good species of wild boar. Wild boar farming will be a core industry in the territory one day. At the right time, we will expand the scale of the pig farms. I hope that the first true pig farm can be raised by you, Master Zhu.”
Seeing that the lord was very easy-going, Zhu Baocai was no longer so cautious and talked about his skill at raising pigs. He seemed even more confident, he solemnly said, “Please do not worry about this pig breeding, I already have some experience. Look at these little piglets, all so strong and healthy. They are a fine breed, I have great confidence in raising them.”
After finishing with the pig master and saying a cordial farewell, Ouyang Shuo returned back to his office. As he sat down, Gu Xiuwen came in. Ouyang Shuo asked him to be seated and asked him if he had anything for him.
Gu Xiuwen said, “Sire, I discussed with the people in charge of three divisions today, and did the personnel distribution for farmers, builders, fisherman, herders, craftsman, the five categories. Please approve this, sire.”
“Oh, your efficiency is very high! Let's talk about how you allocated things.”
“In the territory are 130 farmers. 39 households were allocated to the Reclamation Division to cultivate farmland, and the original 40 farmers were maintained and moved under the management of the Material Reserves Division. The fishermen were allocated 25 people until there were more fishing boats. After they start fishing, they will be moved under Material Reserves Division as well. For shepherds, we only have two people, responsible for pig farming. The carpenters were assigned 24 people, their main project at this time is the salt pan field construction under General Shi.”
Ouyang Shuo pondered for a moment, then asked, “On the shipyard side, are you clear on the progress of the fishing boat construction?”
“According to my understanding, the construction of an ordinary fishing boat requires 50 units of wood, and each boat can carry two fishermen out to the sea to fish. The shipyard, at its current size, can build one fishing boat a day. The first fishing boat was requisitioned by General Shi, who is using it to transport personnel and materials for construction of the salt pan.” Gu Xiuwen was well prepared as a clerk of the territory to understand the latest developments in all walks of life as one of his basic tasks.
“Not bad. Let's stick to the distribution plan. Beginning tomorrow, other than special talents, everyone is to be assigned to the Salt Pan Division. At the same time, in addition to the five fields, set up a separate household. Personnel information is as important as military information and must be kept confidential. As for the Salt Pan Division, you must pay close attention to it. I will clear this up with General Shi.”
“In addition, starting from tomorrow, we will be changing the meetings to once per week. Who attends should also be fixed, in principle, only the secretaries of the various divisions need to meet. If there is a need, you can take one or two deputies along to go to the meetings. If you have problems from day to day you can report to me directly.”
Gu Xiuwen nodded and seeing his lord had nothing else to say, rose and departed.
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The next day, Ouyang Shuo stopped in on General Shi, asking about the construction on the salt pan fields.
Although he was a military man, General Shi was quite familiar with military books and reading. Even in an unfamiliar area, he was still able to think clearly. He stated unambiguously, “The intrinsic principles of the Sun Drying Salt technical manual are solid and backed by experience. You need an average of one salt worker per two mu. The average monthly harvest is 200 units of salt per mu. As our manpower is currently limited, I will recommend the first phase of the construction to be one hundred mu of salt fields. According to final estimates of the whole, the whole beach is expected to open up tens of thousands of mu of salt fields.”
Ouyang Shuo made some mental measurements. In the Market, a unit of salt sold for 20 copper. In other words, a mu of land could produce a gold coin in pure profit, which was very impressive. Unfortunately, the sea salt cycle took an entire month. To obtain the first harvest, they could not count on it when they were building the grade 2 village.
Ouyang Shuo knew that the population limit for the second village was 500 people, a gap of 300 people from the first village. According to the average flow of immigrants, it would take 20 days to reach the full population. With that delay, because he’d need some additional funds for work in the secondary village, he’d have to think of another method.
General Shi stood aside, watching him standing there in a daze, amused at Ouyang Shuo’s bemused expression as he wrestled with the problem.
Ouyang Shuo blinked as he returned to normal and asked, “When can the first phase of 100 mu be completed? You needn’t worry about the labor, I have already discussed it with Xiuwen yesterday.”
General Shi relaxed. “According to current progress, we’ll be finished tomorrow afternoon.”