Chapter 419 – Rebuilding Xiangyang County (Part 3)
After Jiang Pengji finished speaking, her gaze landed on Feng Jin as she said, “Huaiyu, take charge of the internal affairs of the county office and ensure it resumes operations quickly. Compile a list of arable lands and work with Xiaoyu to allocate manpower for land reclamation.”
Feng Jin bowed, “I shall obey the Lord’s command.”
“The task on Wenzheng’s end is quite demanding; re-register the population census of Xiangyang County. Categorize the prisoners from the Green Garment Army, the common people who followed from the capital, and the local populace. This project is colossal, and I fear Wenzheng will have to work hard.”
Qi Guanrang revealed a slight bitter smile; he was spared the running around, but this paperwork could be soul-crushing!
Counting a total of fifty to sixty thousand people for re-registration alone made him feel like his hands were about to fall off just by thinking about it.
While complaining internally, he still said, “I shall obey the Lord’s command.”
“Coach Meng, there’s also work for you here.”
Jiang Pengji had too few able men to conscript now, and no one could escape the fate of working overtime.
“The post-disaster measures in Xiangyang County are quite rough. Lead your troops to tidy up, and follow the procedures we implemented back in the capital. If you discover any citizens showing symptoms of illness, be sure to isolate them from the general populace immediately. Should you encounter any diseased corpses of people or animals, dispose of them swiftly to prevent pest breeding. This is a critical matter, delay is not permitted.”
Meng Hunyun clasped his fists, “I accept the orders and promise not to disappoint the Lord’s trust.”
Finally, she turned her attention to Luo Yue.
Though Luo Yue and his thousand Imperial Guards had not formally joined her ranks, Jiang Pengji found it easy to work with him without any awkwardness. Upon seeing her like this, Luo Yue’s heart skipped a beat, as he could foresee a period of hard work ahead.
He could swear, since meeting Jiang Pengji, in such a short time, his workload had nearly equaled the combined total of years of duty in the Imperial Guards!
“Coach Luo, this matter shouldn’t fall to you, but as you’ve seen, we’re currently short-handed; this is unavoidable.” She forced a smile and said, “I shamelessly ask for your understanding, and on behalf of the common people, I thank you for your benevolence.”
Luo Yue felt a chill run down his spine and quickly replied, “There’s no need for the county magistrate to be so courteous. If there’s anything you need from me, just command me.”
“In that case, I’ll shamelessly ask once more. The security of the entire county city of Xiangyang will be entrusted to you, Coach.”
After hearing this, Luo Yue was left speechless: “…”
No courtesy at all—it really was not polite in the slightest.
Jiang Pengji spoke with righteous fervor, and paired with her compelling expression, it was very persuasive. “The world is in chaos, and we ought to unite to weather the storm; however, there are always unscrupulous individuals seeking to profit from disaster. As far as I know, in times like these, human trafficking is rampant, and the trade is extensive. If we neglect this issue, how many innocent citizens will be snatched away for trade? For the peace of the people of Xiangyang County, I must bother Coach Luo with this task.”
Luo Yue swallowed his words, grinding his teeth as he felt trapped.
“This task will be left to me.”
Jiang Pengji wasn’t stopping there; she had even pulled half of the Imperial Guards away to distribute them elsewhere.
With fewer hands, Luo Yue felt the pressure piling up.
But words once spoken are like water poured out; there’s no taking them back.
As everyone had their assignments laid out, it was clear that in the coming months they would all be working overtime like crazy. The audience in the live stream started to sense something was off; all the tasks were given to Feng Jin and the others, so what would the streamer do next?
[Nutrition Express]: Lazy streamer, you aren’t thinking about slacking off, are you?
[Old Driver Alliance]: Am I the only one feeling sorry for the young boy Xu Ke and the rest? I reckon this overtime will last all the way into winter, without a single day off. It’s only May or June now, and if they don’t work overtime, it’s fine, but if they do, it’s going to be life-threatening! Just thinking about it makes me fearful. I ask you, working overtime for six months straight without holidays or raises, would you be afraid?
[Going to the Bathroom with a Finger]: Sigh, ancient times aren’t easy to navigate. Those girls and guys dreaming of time travel should wake up. If they accidentally run into a heartless boss like the streamer, they’d definitely squeeze out their last drop of value.
The audience was having a field day critiquing, but how could Jiang Pengji possibly slack off?
In fact, her tasks were incredibly heavy.
Not only did she need to exchange popularity points for food and mix it into the granary, but she also had to draft a thorough plan for the county’s development, utilizing all available resources. If this were peacetime, it would take at least ten people several months to accomplish.
Transportation in ancient times was inconvenient, and surveying needed substantial time and effort.
Building houses required timber and bricks; though they seemed abundant, that was not the case.
While there are trees everywhere, they couldn’t just chop them down recklessly; the materials needed to be chosen carefully.
In this era, building a house required glutinous rice juice, glutinous rice, and lime, and occasionally, even eggs.
When people couldn’t fill their bellies, who could spare these things for construction?
Thus, she thought it was essential to let people from ancient times witness the black technology of the past.
In her time, construction materials had progressed to their limits, offering little to reference for this era.
According to history textbooks, ancient buildings were predominantly reinforced concrete, derived from the brick houses of a bygone era.
Where did bricks and tiles come from?
She recalled the rough descriptions in the history textbook that they were formed through kilns.
Though the textbooks did not elaborate in detail, her era’s perspective and knowledge allowed her some understanding of furs.
To people of this era, these furs were invaluable treasures.
Northern Dongqing produced a lot of coal, and there were several small coal mines nearby in Chengde County, though they were of minimal use and not large scale.
If coal were used as a fuel source for brick kilns, it could be an excellent approach.
This era already possessed rudimentary pottery firing techniques, with several aspects that could be learned from.
“I need someone to accompany me for a stroll up the mountain…”
Jiang Pengji casually called over two of her troops, donned in simple attire as she stepped out, where chaos had already erupted outside.
The audience in the live stream continued to mock Jiang Pengji for supposedly slacking off.
Giving orders while her subordinates were running around, she seemed quite leisurely wandering about.
However, some knowledgeable viewers in the chat recognized her purpose.
They believed the streamer was definitely not that type of person; her actions were certainly strategic.
It proved that Jiang Pengji did not let them down.
After wandering for two days, she had roughly grasped the soil quality around Xiangyang County, and her plans were becoming increasingly refined.
She consulted several local farmers and hunters, personally surveying the area to find suitable clay materials for producing stone bricks.
Of course, this was not the key aspect.
She sought clay not only for brick-making but also to establish proper distribution for earth materials in the mall.
Yes, the junk sold in that lousy mall was not even decent, and the pathetic system even sold dirt!
When Jiang Pengji had been bored and browsing the mall, she came across all sorts of dirt with outrageously high prices. The system claimed each type of dirt had its own value, stating some were nutrient-rich and could boost crop yields, transforming barren land into fertile soil… In short, it was quite high-flown.
But once the system’s facade was lifted, dirt was left with the simple and crude classifications of “clay” and “sand.”
Each type’s price plummeted from exorbitantly high to almost rock bottom.
So, when it comes to being unscrupulous, who could outdo the system as the ultimate fraudster?
