Chapter 327: Finishing Up
Editor: Atlas Studios
“Hey, have you heard? The boss wants to distribute winter clothes to children under the age of 12.” A woman in her thirties held her companion back and said enviously.
Her companion pursed their lips and said, “This is all news from a few days ago. The clothes are already ready, and you’ve only just heard? Alright, no matter how envious you are, you don’t have a share.”
“It’s true that I don’t have a share, but my son does. He’s only eight years old this year, which makes him nicely qualified to receive the winter clothes. I wonder if Boss will still want to hire workers next spring.”
“Do you have time? Magistrate Fang has given us so much land. Just the work in the fields is enough to keep us busy.”
“Even if I can’t come, my child can come. The workers’ three meals are taken care of here. Young teens have huge appetites but aren’t capable of much work. If the cattle farm is hiring, I’ll make him come even if they don’t give him a salary. I’d be glad if they’d just feed him.”
Her companion’s eyes darted around and they said, “I heard that we have to rear thousands of calves. Look at the number of calves sent over these few days. Too many to be counted. They have few workers at the moment, so they might really hire more people.”
“I wonder if I can get to speak with Miss Xiuhong. If I can, I might be able to reserve a spot…”
Many people heard this, so Xiuhong realized that recently, there were always people around her who were extremely attentive. When she went over to settle accounts, people would take the initiative to help. There were even people who served her tea and brought her a stool.
Xiuhong merely raised her eyebrows and didn’t ask for the reason. She just turned around and went back to look for Zhang Liu.
Zhang Liu thought for a moment and said, “Now, both states know that we need calves for our large cattle farm. Many people have sent calves over these few days. They naturally know that we’re hiring workers next year, so they want to please you in the hopes of reserving a spot.”
“They want to come instead of working in their own fields?”
“It’s for their kids.”
Xiuhong nodded. She knew it. Hanzhong Prefecture lacked everything now, especially labor. It wasn’t so bad during winter and farm time, but during peak farming season, it was impossible to hire people. Only children could come to the cattle farm to do some odd jobs.
Thinking about how Mu Yangling planned to expand the cattle farm to rear 3,000 calves, she didn’t say anything and only nodded. “If anyone asks you guys, don’t agree casually. Just say that Boss will arrange it next year.”
Zhang Liu agreed.
Mu Yangling went to make a deal with Butcher Qin.
Butcher Qin had herded over 365 calves this time. After not seeing him for a few days, Butcher Qin had clearly lost weight. When he saw Mu Yangling, he heaved a sigh of relief and said, “Miss Mu, at long last I made it back to see you.”
Realizing that Butcher Hua had a knife wound on his face, Mu Yangling asked in surprise, “What happened?”
Butcher Hua smiled bitterly. “Fortunately, we listened to Miss Mu’s advice. We encountered robbers on the way. Fortunately, there weren’t many of them. We barely managed to protect the flock of sheep with more than ten people on our side. Otherwise, we would have really lost everything this time.”
Mu Yangling’s expression sank. In that case, their business probably couldn’t continue. Indeed, Butcher Qin and Butcher Hua said, “The journey from Hanzhong Prefecture to Xingyuan Prefecture was fine, but the east of Xingyuan Prefecture is chaotic. Many refugees who dispersed from Tongchuan Prefecture went up the mountain to become bandits. As there aren’t many of them, the Imperial Court didn’t care.”
“How many are there?”
“There are only about 10 to 20 of them. Fortunately, there aren’t many of them. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to escape.”
“What about this business?”
Butcher Qin and Butcher Hua looked at each other and shook their heads. “The trip to Xingyuan Prefecture is fine, but beyond that, it won’t work. Miss Mu, we definitely can’t buy so many sheep, and we only made a trip. We found these calves for you in Xingyuan Prefecture. This is the most we can find.”
Mu Yangling nodded and squeezed out a smile. “Thank you for that.”
After Mu Yangling settled the bill with them, they began to discuss how many sheep they were going to take away this time. Meanwhile, Bowen had already herded the calves back with the others.
“Uncle Qin, since you’ve passed many places along the way, there’s something else I need your help with.”
Butcher Qin leaned forward slightly and smiled. “Miss Mu, just tell us. We will definitely do what we can.”
“The two of you also know that I don’t have time to go out now, so I want you to help me promote the cattle farm along the way. If anyone wants to sell calves, just bring them over. I’ll definitely offer them a suitable price.”
Since it was just relaying a message, Butcher Qin immediately agreed.
Mu Yangling went to look for Magistrate Fang again, hoping that he could support the construction of the cattle farm through official channels and attract more people to herd their calves here.
Eager to rent her cattle at the beginning of spring next year, Magistrate Fang was very glad to help, so he agreed.
Under this two-prong approach, there were indeed many people who brought their calves to the cattle farm to sell. There were cattle dealers, but most of them were individuals who brought their calves over in groups.
The price Mu Yangling offered was very fair. Although it would take a few days to herd the calves over from afar, Mu Yangling would give them an additional 200 copper coins for the travel expenses. This was a huge sum of money for a farmer who could not even earn 100 copper coins a month. Once this matter spread, those who had calves at home were more willing to bring them to the cattle farm, which increased the price of calves in the market.
On the day of the winter solstice, there were already 3,085 cows in the cattle farm. Only then did Mu Yangling spread the news that five days later, the cattle farm would no longer accept cows.
As for why the cut-off wasn’t that day itself, it was naturally because of the people who were already on the way. She couldn’t possibly refuse the cows that those farmers had painstakingly dragged to the cattle farm, right?
At this moment, the rooms and cowsheds in the cattle farm had already been built. More than 3,000 cows had been herded into the cowshed. Mu Yangling divided the cattle farm into three districts. Each district had 1,000 cows, and there weren’t many leftovers.
There was a district leader in each district, and there were ten people under him. Each person was in charge of about 100 calves.
Zhang Wu and Zhang Liu were in charge of these 33 people.
The harvesting of the pasture was also coming to an end. The dried pasture was piled in the room, on the roof of the cowshed, and in the thatched hut.
The military camp was settling payment in wages, while the ordinary civilians were settling payment in grains. In order to prevent looting from happening, Magistrate Fang specially brought the bailiffs over that day to maintain order.
Because there were many people, Mu Yangling directly invited the soldiers from the 5th Division to help distribute the wages and grains.
Magistrate Fang looked at the vast field in the cattle farm and the copper coins in the bamboo basket behind Xiuhong, as well as the mountain of food not far away. He sighed at Mu Yangling and said, “There’s a lot of money to be made in business. No wonder so many people in Great Zhou abandoned their fields to do business.”
The business environment of Great Zhou was very prosperous, surpassing any previous dynasty. Mu Yangling did not deny this. Although the current dynasty looked down on businessmen, they did not restrict the development of business.
Magistrate Fang’s eyes were filled with worry. “Emperor Shizong made a mistake. If he had focused on farming and suppressed trade, there wouldn’t be unfarmed wastelands and no grains in the treasury now.”