After a day of going back and forth, he finally brought food security back to Horseshoe Lake. Chang Shiro's words still lingered in Xu Mu's heart.
Yongguan City was destroyed, Wangzhou City was destroyed, and now, it is Hezhou’s turn.
After Hezhou, Monan was unable to defend itself. Next, there was a two thousand-mile assault to the inner city. At this time, it was time to wake up from the dream of a prosperous age in the Epoch.
It's really funny that a great dynasty is forced to do this by foreigners and is still living in a state of intoxication.
"Chen Sheng, starting today, I will go to the back mountain to collect mud and build several strong kilns."
"The boss is going to bake bricks?"
"Yes, just be careful."
"Dong, boss! Someone is coming!"
At this time, Zhou Zun, who was patrolling the trail, came back on a fast horse.
"What?"
"Hundreds of people!"
Xu Mu was shocked, thinking that an official had found the treasure box.
"Where are you from? Could it be an official?"
Zhou Zun took a breath and said, "My boss, he's not an official, he's from a nearby village. It turns out that the old bandit occupied Ma Ti Lake, and these villagers didn't dare to live there, so they ran away."
"These villagers heard that I had killed Bang Bang, and they came back right now."
Xu Mu breathed a sigh of relief, "Zhou Zun, next time you speak, don't speak out of breath."
Not only Xu Mu, but also Jiang Caiwei and many villagers next to him had rare expressions of relief. This time they entered the inner city, God knows how many disasters they encountered.
When Xu Mu raised his head, he realized that there were already crowds of ragged figures in front of the path.
There were women, children, old and weak, and all of them had sallow and bluish complexions.
If you think about it, you will know that the old bandits are entrenched, and they are afraid of getting into trouble, so they have to leave their homes and go into exile to seek their lives.
Xu Mu was silent for a moment, unable to figure out the purpose of these people's coming. If they came to eat from a wealthy family, he would not mind killing them for the sake of the villagers' safety.
"W-who is the boss?"
Among the hundreds of figures, an old man with gray hair walked out, leaning on a tree stick.
"You're polite, I'm the owner of Ma Ti Lake." Xu Mu stepped out.
Chen Sheng and others behind them pressed their weapons calmly.
We have to be careful. We are used to seeing the tragedy in Wangzhou. Many people have become crazy because of hunger.
"Dong, boss, please ask for something to eat." The old man shivered for a while, then kowtowed to Xu Mu.
"Chen Sheng, come out with ten bags of rice." Xu Mu did not hesitate.
Chen Sheng, who was behind, hurriedly led a few people and ran back. After a while, he carried more than ten bags of rice and carefully placed them in front of Zhuangzi.
Many ragged villagers couldn't help but blush when they saw it.
"Thank you, thank you, little boss." The old man bowed three times, and many villagers followed him and knelt down, bowing three times too.
Xu Mu felt bitter in his heart.
"You all are returning to Horseshoe Lake, do you want to fill your stomachs and rebuild the village?"
The first time he came to Horseshoe Lake, Xu Mu saw that this gang of old bandits had killed many people and dared to leave their bodies on the road. The situation in the village must have been a mess.
"That's right! That's right! I can't believe that I will be my neighbor from now on."
To be honest, Xu Mu wanted to take in this group of villagers, but there were too many of them, and he didn't know if there were any evil-minded people among them.
Different from Chen Sheng and his gang, after all, they are friends who live and die together, fighting each other with one sword.
After hesitating for a moment, Xu Mu thought of a compromise.
"How about this? We can build the village in the open space to the west of Zhuangzi. If we want to make a living in the future, we can also help in Zhuangzi."
The old man raised his head, his expression in disbelief.
"Two meals a day?"
"Three meals." Xu Mu smiled.
The entire Xujiazhuang has followed him as a time traveler, eating three meals a day. There are countless habits such as drinking water to warm up, bathing once every two days, etc.
"In addition to three meals, there is also a monthly salary of two yuan."
Two coins, even for hundreds of people, is only twenty or thirty taels. To be honest, even Xu Mu feels a little evil. Of course, the monthly salary will definitely increase in the future.
For example, the monthly salary of the young leader Chen Sheng has risen to eight or nine taels, not to mention other rewards.
"Little boss, is this serious?"
"Seriously, you will know when you look at these villagers of mine. They were the same as you before."
The old man looked ecstatic.
He led the villagers back to Horseshoe Lake. His biggest thought was to return the fallen leaves to their roots and rebuild the village. Fortunately, the small boss in front of him not only fed them, but also provided them with a job.
"But, I will tell you something ugly beforehand." Xu Mu's face suddenly darkened, "After you enter my village, you will listen to me. If I am not here, you will listen to the leaders of the village."
"Don't worry, boss! As long as you don't hit anyone with a knife, we will listen!"
"What do you mean?" It was Xu Mu's turn to be confused.
"Earlier, we went to Weicheng to help out and worked for a day and a night. Then we got sleepy. The owner of the spinning village came to chop people with knives and forced us not to stop."
Xu Mu let out a sigh of relief.
Previously, he heard Chang Silang say that in the past ten years of the Great Ji Dynasty, the weather had been good and the grain production was abundant, but 70% of the grain in the world had disappeared for no reason, and God knows where it was hidden.
In troubled times, if you store grain, you will become rich enough to rival your country.
"Get up, my boss is not an evil gentry."
After paying homage to his boss, Xu Mu had a good talk, and then the old man stood up tremblingly with hundreds of villagers.
"Caiwei, later on, open ten more stoves and grill the dried fish. In addition, go to the circle to catch a few chickens. Today, let everyone have a full meal."
As soon as Xu Mu's voice fell, hundreds of villagers cheered.
"Xu Lang, I'm going to the slave family right now." Jiang Caiwei also looked slightly happy. Compared with other people in Zhuangzi, she came here to escape and knew how difficult the world is today.
Xu Mu's face relaxed slightly, and he raised his head calmly. In fact, he discovered that among the hundreds of villagers, there were at least twenty young men, who would be good candidates to protect the village in the future.
About an hour later, the aroma of food wafted around Horseshoe Lake.
A large group of villagers sat directly by the lake, crying and devouring the food.
"My boss, if they do it in the future——"
"Then we'll talk about it later. People who are alive just want to live well." Xu Mu interrupted Chen Sheng.
He naturally knew that what Chen Sheng wanted to say was just because he was worried about things like Dongguo Lang. But under such a general situation, these villagers were relying on him, and he was not relying on these villagers.
For example, if we only rely on the original 40 or so people to burn bricks to surround the village, God knows we will be busy until the year of the monkey.
But with the participation of hundreds of villagers, the completion time can be pushed forward at least a few steps. There is also the making of private wine. If the business grows in the future, with these villagers, there will be no need to hire outsiders.
By the Horseshoe Lake, under the dim sky, the villagers were extremely satisfied with their meal.
Soon after, the sound of children playing around after dinner also echoed through several nearby slopes.