Jiang Jin was taken aback, taking a good while to understand what he was saying.
She could not help but frown. Logically, this should not be the case. Were the people of Gefeng really that wealthy? They turned their noses up at six copper coins a day?
She had even specifically asked Dong Si; in this era, the average wage for an ordinary person was around 120 to 200 copper coins.
Six copper coins a day was quite a lot, especially since this was a small border county where ordinary wages should be even lower.
Jiang Jin handed the pocket watch in her hand to Yun Chengxuan, who had been eyeing it covetously from the side, letting him play with it for a while.
She was very puzzled. Why is this?
Chen Xi was equally puzzled. He thought for a moment and said, Could they be worried that we might renege on our debt? After all, we just arrived. We probably do not have any credibility in their eyes.
His assigned task for today was to bury the corpses. Due to a shortage of manpower, he had planned to recruit some of the city's commoners to help dig the pits.
Who would have thought that after waiting and waiting, not a single person would show up.
Jiang Jin shook her head. No matter how low our credibility is, could it be lower than the barbarians?
Chen Xi realized she was right, though there was one point he did not mention: the barbarians would not use incentives to get the commoners to work for them; they generally used armed suppression.
Jiang Jin lowered her head in thought. A moment later, she had an epiphany. She looked up and asked, Gefeng County does not seem to have any shops or taverns, right?
Chen Xi nodded, still not understanding.
Jiang Jin smiled. Go again, and tell them that one day's work can be exchanged for a pound of grain.
Chen Xi's eyebrows furrowed slightly. Would that not be even cheaper?
At 500 copper coins for a shi of grain, six copper coins could buy about a pound and a half. If they were only offering one pound now, how could anyone show up?
Suddenly recalling Jiang Jin's question just now, he could not help but laugh at himself.
Right. The current Gefeng County did not even have a single shop. Money was useless to the commoners; nothing was as practical as grain.
Grain was what the people in the city needed most urgently right now.
Furthermore, although they were all Han Chinese, the blood on the city walls had not even dried yet. It was normal for the commoners to be afraid.
Besides, not all Han rulers were good. The barbarians were not the only ones who oppressed the people and treated them as food.
As for only giving one pound of grain, Chen Xi looked at the sky. Judging by the current time, there was at most only a little more than half a day left today.
Jiang Jin was not entirely unreasonable either. Provide them with a meal at noon, and remember to have the pits dug a bit deeper.
Soon, shouts echoed through the residential areas of the city: Digging pits to bury bodies! Men and women both welcome, ages 15 to 45! One day's work for a pound of grain, lunch included! Those interested, gather at the entrance of the county magistrate's office!
Digging pits to bury bodies! Men and women both welcome, ages 15 to 45! One day's work for a pound of grain, lunch included! Those interested, gather at the entrance of the county magistrate's office!
...
Are you really going? Could it be a scam? For years, when has there ever been a job that gives a pound of grain for just half a day's work? And includes a meal?
The man stood at the door, turning back to look at Ah Le, who was lying on the bed breathing weakly. His heart ached, and he gritted his teeth. What if it is real? One pound of grain is enough for the three of us to eat for two days.
In this era, eating one's fill was impossible. Everyone skimped on their food, mixing it with wild vegetables and tree bark just to sustain their lives enough to barely work.
After saying that, he opened the door and left without looking back.
Chen Xi stood at the entrance of the county magistrate's office with three soldiers, waiting for people to arrive.
When he saw the first man arrive, he finally relaxed, secretly admiring Jiang Jin in his heart.
After waiting for about fifteen minutes, a total of 45 people had arrived. The majority were men, with only a few women.
Chen Xi glanced at two teenagers in the crowd and asked, Are you two 15 years old?
The two were so frightened that their lips turned pale. Their bodies could not help but tremble, thinking they were going to be beaten and killed. They dropped to their knees with a thud and begged for mercy.
One of them was Du Shi. I can work! I can work just as much as a 15-year-old!
The other boy also hurriedly promised, I can work too. We did not mean to deceive you. I can go without the grain. Just lunch, one meal is enough...
Chen Xi sighed. Get up. Over here with us, you do not need to drop to your knees at every turn. Fine, let us head out together.
Overjoyed, the two quickly supported each other as they stood up.
The group soon exited the south gate. Besides corpses, there were also two carts filled with hoes, pickaxes, and other farming tools.
The farming tools belonging to the commoners of Gefeng County had long been confiscated by the Quzhao soldiers.
Fortunately, the Quzhao people had not melted them down to forge weapons after confiscating them. They had all been piled up in the county office's storehouse, and now they came in perfectly handy.
Chen Xi directed everyone to load the corpses onto the handcarts and push them forward. The burial site was not far, located on a small hillside about four or five li outside the south gate.
No one felt any repulsion towards the corpses. In this day and age, there was hardly anyone who had not seen a dead body.
They harbored a deep-seated hatred for the Quzhao people who had oppressed them, killed their relatives, and enslaved them. Facing these corpses, they wished they could step forward and stab them a few more times. How could they be afraid!
Back in the county office, Jiang Jin helped Yun Chengxuan set the time on the pocket watch and then began teaching him how to read it.
See this? There is a circle of 12 numbers here, representing 12 hours. One hour is half a shichen, which means the hour hand will go around twice a day...
Watching the ticking second hand, Yun Chengxuan's face was filled with wonder. At the same time, he showed immense interest in the Arabic numerals on the dial.
Jiang Jin was quite patient with him, taking a piece of paper to teach him how to write the Arabic numerals.
The curious little boy, Yun Chengxuan, then showed immense interest in her black wooden pencil.
Jiang Jin was speechless. After teaching him once, she silently handed the pencil to Yun Chengxuan, letting him practice on his own.
However, he lost interest after practicing for a while and went back to studying his pocket watch. He opened it and closed it, closed it and opened it, or just watched the second hand tick by.
Whenever it completed a circle, he would shout, Auntie, it made another circle! So amazing!
Auntie, does it not get tired from walking?
Auntie, does it need to sleep at night?
Auntie, do we need to feed it?
Auntie, does it need to poop?
Unable to endure it any longer, Jiang Jin kicked him out.
Jiang Jin continued to perfect the structural blueprints for the barbican.
Time quickly reached noon. Dong Si brought her food, accompanied by Yun Chengxuan, a guy who constantly kept an eye on meal times.
Dong Si had specially asked the kitchen to prepare it. The ingredients were left behind by the Quzhao people in the county office. There were both meat and vegetable dishes, and the rice was steamed to the perfect texture.
Jiang Jin told Dong Si to sit down and eat together.
Dong Si hesitated for a moment before sitting down. During their time on the run, his mindset had changed a lot, and he no longer strictly adhered to the rules of hierarchy like before.
Remembering something, Jiang Jin asked, Those rabbits of ours, find a way to make a hutch for them.
Here with her, there was no rule about remaining silent while eating or sleeping.
Of the four rabbits they had kept earlier, one had given birth to a litter of eight, and another female rabbit was also pregnant. The reproduction rate of rabbits was truly incredibly fast.
Dong Si agreed, Understood. By the way, My Lady, between the county office kitchen and the barracks kitchen, there are dozens of chickens and ducks. Should we eat them all, or keep them?
Jiang Jin's eyes lit up. Keep them! Let them lay eggs and hatch little chicks and ducklings.
Speaking of meat, Jiang Jin thought of pork, the most commonly eaten meat in later generations, and asked, Do they raise pigs?
Shi referred to pigs.
It was just that in this era, the practice of castrating pigs did not exist yet. The pork had a strong, gamey stench, so it basically never made it onto the dining tables of the nobility.
Dong Si nodded. Yes, but there are only three of them.
Jiang Jin smiled, her eyes curving into happy crescents. Three of them wasn't a bad haul at all. She looked over at Yun Chengxuan, who was busy wolfing down his food. "When you have some free time, go into the mountains and see if you can find any wild boars or hares. Pheasants would work too."
"But wild goats would be the absolute best." Her tone was brimming with coaxing temptation. "Let me tell you, roasted wild goat is incredibly delicious. That flavor... tsk, tsk, tsk..."
