vrcanaries Chapter 790: More and More Refugees
Chapter 790: More and More Refugees
She bought several plots of land and nearby hills.
No one wants the salty and bitter land, and no one wants the surrounding mountains either. These lands are cheaper than those in Yunzhou.
She drew manpower from several other prefectures to build the farm, and Tanghe selected a location and began to arrange manpower to dig a pond.
This job is not easy either. There are many rocks on the mountain. If you want to dig a big pond, it will take more than a hundred people at least half a year.
Tang He explained it clearly to her, and she did not lose heart. She said, "I didn't expect to become fat in one go. This kind of thing can't be rushed. I'm not in a hurry in Song County, so you should follow the schedule here. It's just that I have to trouble you to run around more. You have to help look after these places and those in Song County, Yunzhou."
Tang He said: "It doesn't matter. There are more and more people in the village this year. The most complicated section over there has been passed. Those who have repaired water conservancy projects know how to do the rest. I'd better watch these places first."
Zhou Guo also meant this, and said happily: "Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Tang. Don't worry, I will definitely take care of your food, clothing, housing and transportation."
Tang He laughed, "The main thing is food, just arrange the food for me."
The meal Zhou Guo arranged was quite sumptuous, with delicious meat and fish for every meal, as well as wine. As long as it didn't interfere with their work, they could drink as much as they wanted.
Tanghe is quite reliable and gets things done quickly and well.
It was a good idea originally. Just take it slow and I estimate it will be done in three to five years.
But later, more and more refugees came here every day. In just five or six days, there were more than ten waves of people, totaling about one hundred to eighty people.
She called Hu Zi over and pointed at the endless stream of refugees and asked, "What's going on?"
Hu Zi chuckled and said, "Master, didn't you say that we need manpower now? I recruited these people. You said before that Song County was recruiting refugees, and I don't know where they got the news from, but they all rushed to Song County. The key is that Song County is not short of manpower now, and they will have to come back after they go there. It's better to recruit them directly to save them from making multiple trips."
Zhou Guo said: "Well done. Local workers now have to pay 40 wen a day for food. These refugees can have three meals a day, so we don't need to pay them that much. Ten wen a day is enough. The family has a lot of expenses now, so we can save a little bit, and let them have something to eat and earn."
Locals can survive without this job.
Hu Zi said, "Master is really amazing. Before, the day laborers in Song County were paid 40 cents a day, but later they stopped coming when they heard that they were only paid 10 cents a day. If they don't compete with the refugees for work, we can support more refugees. Master is really kind-hearted!"
Zhou Guo: “…” In fact, she didn’t think so much about it. She simply felt that forty cents a day was too expensive, and now the trade route to the south was cut off.
The family's annual income comes from the mushrooms in the mountains, the grains in the fields, and the crabs in the pond. The escort agency has to pay money out of it. The bigger the stall, the bigger the expenses. She has never stopped opening shops over the years, and she always feels that the money is not enough.
After a few more days, more people came, and now there are five or six hundred people here.
She divided these people into several places where they were needed, and they were moving around in these places for some time.
Although it was only a short time, several places were already very different from when she first arrived.
The white saline-alkali land is bare, with occasional clumps of dead and dry weeds. At first glance, you might think it is winter, with a sense of bleakness.
Now, rows of brand new mud and thatched houses suddenly appeared at the foot of the mountain, and noisy voices came from various hilltops, mixed with the laughter of children.
It has added a lot of popularity to the originally solemn white land.
She looked at these refugees. When they first arrived, their faces were full of sorrow. Now, perhaps because they saw hope, smiles gradually appeared on their faces. They were full of energy every day, as if they had been injected with chicken blood.
Even the three or four-year-old children did not rest. Every day they either followed the adults to help move small stones, or followed their older brothers and sisters to help collect firewood, all with a smile on their face.
When she looked at them, she seemed to see her former self, and her brothers and sisters at home, who had also gone through the same thing.
Sighed.
He turned around and called Hu Zi over.
"The crabs will be ready for sale in a few months. We have enough crab fry at home now, but the land we own is small and Yunzhou is limited in size. We can't sell them even if we have more. You can make arrangements to expand the ponds in the several manors. Next year, we can distribute some crab fry to sell in these prefectures."
Apart from Baoyue Tower, she is the only one who has Yunzhou crabs.
She sold small crabs for five hundred coins each and large crabs for one thousand five hundred coins each. With such a big fuss, Baoyue Tower must have known about it.
They have only been selling them in restaurants, with small ones costing one or two taels of silver each and large ones costing two taels of silver each. They cater to their repeat customers, which is why Baoyue Tower has always been the largest restaurant in the north.
I never thought of selling these crabs outside.
But Zhou Guo's actions in recent years made Baoyue Tower a little hesitant. It seemed that they were thinking in the wrong direction. The customer base outside seemed to be no less than that of Baoyue Tower, and even much more.
Fortunately, Zhou Guo did not sell it in the provincial capital, but only in various county towns, otherwise Baoyue Tower would definitely not agree.
Their unique dish that they rely on to attract customers has been sold to every household in Yunzhou. Where is the advantage?
Once people buy crabs from major restaurants, they also sell crabs. Doesn't that mean that even restaurants are no longer the only ones doing this?
Baoyuelou is still hesitating whether to sell its food outside like Zhou Guo did.
Good news came from Zhou Guo’s several farms: they had recruited enough people and were ready to start construction.
After all, the pond at home is not big. Although it has been expanded a bit, it can only raise 80,000 to 90,000 crabs at most. Together with those raised in the 20 acres of rice fields, there are only 110,000 to 120,000 crabs.
After ponds have been dug in several farms, even if each farm can only raise 20,000 crabs next year, the four farms will add up to 80,000 crabs.
Add these 110,000 or 120,000 crabs at home, that’s 200,000 crabs!
Even if all these crabs are small and can only be sold for 500 coins, then 200,000 crabs can still earn 100,000 coins!
Even if the remaining seeds are divided, there will still be 80,000 or 90,000 strings of cash.
With this money, even if she opened shops in several counties under the provincial capital, with more than a hundred shops in total, each shop would have to make an average profit of two strings of cash a day for more than a year to make it back.
Crabs have now become a major source of income for the family.
Once these ponds are dug, with 70,000 to 80,000 crabs raised in one pond, crabs may become the family's largest source of income.
By then, no matter how big the family expenses are, the money earned from selling crabs every year will be enough to pay the people below, and they can also give them some bonuses from time to time.
Their lives might be as good as those people in the Cangshan village.
So, when she heard that various prefectures were preparing to dig ponds, she handed these plots of land to Hu Zi and Tang He and rushed over without stopping.