Chapter 310: Arrangement
Editor: Atlas Studios
Seeing that they had become obedient, Mu Yangling said, “It’s late today, so we won’t start work. Because you guys caused trouble, today’s work was delayed. I won’t punish you, but I won’t give you today’s rations and salary. In order to prevent you from making similar mistakes in the future, I’ll explain the rules today.”
“Firstly, don’t be noisy when you’re forming a line. After you fall in line, listen to my instructions.”
Mu Yangling then divided up the work specifically.
All the children under the age of six were to stay here to dry and transport the pasture. This was the least-physically demanding job, and the salary was calculated according to the number of bundles.
Children above the age of six and under the age of 12 were asked to cut the pasture. Ten of them would form one group, and the salary was calculated according to the results achieved by the group collectively.
On the other hand, children above the age of 12 were divided into three groups. One group was to manage the children under the age of six and helped them move the pasture off the cart. Another group was to harvest the pasture and record down the quantity. The last group were to build cowsheds with the elders below the age of 55.
Because it was more tiring to build a cowshed, the salary was also the highest. Of course, Mu Yangling left it up to them to register for this task without forcing anyone. But unexpectedly, everyone who met the criteria went for this job first.
Mu Yangling asked Zhang Wu to pay attention to the screening and not let those scrawny and weak children into the third group.
As for the elders above 55 years old, they went to cut the pasture with the children.
Mu Yangling chose another 20 old women with clean fingers and relatively neat clothes to be in charge of everyone’s food.
These 3,000 people were all divided into groups of 10, and 10 groups formed one team. The group leader would only look for the team leader, and the team leader would only manage the team members. Zhang Wu and Zhang Liu would be in charge of them.
After giving the instructions, Mu Yangling asked them to go back for the day. When they came tomorrow to collect the scythe, she specially instructed the 20 old women in charge of the food to stay here at night because time was tight. Of course, they could choose to go back, but they had to come to the cattle farm at dawn (5am).
The 20 old women said hesitantly, “Boss, it’s fine to serve breakfast at 9am. We can make it even if we come at the same time as them.”
Mu Yangling glanced at them and said, “I serve three meals a day here. Everyone will eat at 6am and start work at 6:15am. Lunch is served at noon, followed by a break, and work will resume at 1pm. At 5pm, we’ll have dinner. Then, the soldiers will escort you back. Rinse and repeat.”
Not only the 20 women, but the eyes of everyone who heard this lit up. They could actually eat three meals?
Although they felt that this girl was too particular, they did not object at all. In any case, she had already said that she would take care of the food. The elders, who were originally a little resentful, immediately calmed down.
Although it was a little tougher here, they could at least eat three meals. Perhaps they could even save up some food for the future if they ate sparingly. After all, although the army said that they would be in charge of their food, no one knew how much rations they would distribute.
It was better to eat while there was still something to eat.
Mu Yangling lowered her head and saw the children standing there with their necks shrunk. Her heart ached, but she suppressed her concern and only waved them back.
It was already the end of autumn, and she was wearing a jacket. Although the children were wearing cotton-padded jackets, they were all tattered and leaking wind.
Winter had always come early in the north. In another ten days, they definitely wouldn’t be able to leave the house like this. Since Mu Yangling saw this, she couldn’t very well ignore their plight.
Hence, that night, Mu Yangling took out the account book to calculate how much money she had left. Only then did she realize that she still had a lot of money.
Last year, her business deals with Butcher Qin earned her a total of 46,000 taels of silver. Although she had built two rabbit sheds in one go this year and also spent some money buying calves, she seemed to still have a lot of money left.
She had yet to receive any return from her investment in the rabbit sheds, because Fan Zijin reinvested all the profits into the business. Although it was a profitable venture, the money was immediately reinvested again.
They had no money, so they could only reinvest the profits continuously in order to expand their business step by step.
Therefore, the money Mu Yangling had now was earned from selling sheep last year.
She had set aside a budget of around 2,000 taels to buy the 500 calves. But it occurred to her that there were so many free laborers now and their military camp was not far from here, so it should not be difficult to hire laborers in the future. In that case, should she buy more? She might as well raise 1,000 calves in one go.
It was not that Mu Yangling had a big appetite, but she felt that this cattle rearing plan was urgent. But where was she going to buy so many calves?
Alright, she could give Butcher Qin a try. Since he would definitely come to sell sheep again this year, perhaps he could make two trips this time. At most, she would offer him a higher price…
Mu Yangling wrote down a number on the paper. In that case, she still had about 38,000 taels of silver left. Mu Yangling immediately took out 5,000 taels of silver. She would discuss with Fan Zijin tomorrow to buy some cotton and fabrics to make some clothes for the children.
Mu Yangling didn’t have much sentiments towards the elderly and adults, but she was very soft-hearted towards children. After making up her mind, she called Zhang Liu over. “Go back and fetch Miss Xiuhong tomorrow morning. Get her to bring the sandalwood box I gave her. Also, bring over the three cow-raising masters that we found not long ago. Since we’re expanding our cattle farm, it’s definitely not enough to just rely on these three masters. We have to find five more. Also, find a doctor who knows how to treat livestock illnesses to take charge of such matters here.”
Zhang Liu was speechless. “Miss, isn’t there a doctor at the horse farm next door?”
“But we can’t go to them for everything. We have to find someone for our own cattle ranch.”
“Miss, didn’t you say that you would only raise 500? Isn’t eight masters too many?” Zhang Wu asked.
“I’ve changed my mind. I want to raise 1,000.”
Zhang Wu and Zhang Liu looked at Mu Yangling in shock. They didn’t expect their master to change her mind so quickly.
“But we only have 800 acres of land. Is that enough land to raise 1,000?”
“Who owns the land beyond the 800 acres?” Mu Yangling asked.
“It belongs to the state.”
“Since it belongs to the state, it also belongs to everyone. Whoever stipulates that the grass on state land can’t be cut?” Mu Yangling asked Zhang Wu and Zhang Liu with a smile.
Zhang Wu and Zhang Liu shook their heads repeatedly. That’s right. Who said that the grass on state land couldn’t be cut? The rivers, roads, and mountains in this world all belong to the state. Still, that never stopped them from walking on those lands, fetching water there, and entering the mountains.
“Then, then why are we still buying land?” Zhang Liu felt that they had spent money for nothing and shouted, “We shouldn’t have spent this money in the first place.”
“How stupid.” Zhang Wu knocked on his brother and said, “If we don’t buy land, where will our cowsheds be built? Moreover, how big is 800 acres? As long as one doesn’t go inside to take a look, no one knows what’s going on inside. Much less the land on the outside. Considering the land here is vast and sparsely populated, as long as no significant events happen, no one will go there. All we’re doing is cutting the grass. Just don’t go around shouting for everyone to know.”