With a "pop" sound, a bamboo as thick as a bowl was split into two halves.
Picking up a wooden stick with a thick wrist, Gao Yongfa knocked out the bamboo joints one by one. His technique could be described as smooth.
After removing the bamboo joints, the next step is to continue dividing the bamboo into strips that can be used to weave armor.
Facing a mountain of bamboo in the yard, Gao Yongfa has been busy all morning, and a large bundle of bamboo strips has been prepared next to it.
At this moment, a shirtless middle-aged man came over and said slowly: "Dad, please rest for a while, my second brother and I will do this!"
"Leave me alone, your father and I are not that pretentious. Hurry up and get to work... If you can't meet today's quota, our family will have to receive less food!" Gao Yongfa didn't even raise his head when he spoke.
Gao Cheng'an scratched his head and then said: "Dad... my son really doesn't understand why we have to work so hard, doing more than ordinary people in a day!"
In Gao Chengan's view, how could a wealthy family like his own be reduced to being like an ordinary family, scrambling to do these hard-working jobs all day long.
Hearing what his eldest son said, Gao Yongfa stopped what he was doing and stared at Gao Chengan with burning eyes.
"How much food has our family saved?" Gao Yongfa asked.
"There are still more than a hundred kilograms!" Gao Cheng'an replied.
"How long will it last?" Gao Yongfa asked immediately.
"Our family of thirteen should have enough food for half a month!"
"No... save some, you can eat it for a month!" Gao Yong said coldly.
Gao Cheng'an was surprised. Doesn't that mean that the rations will be cut in half? What a hard life it will be.
But what does this have to do with working? As long as you work every day, the supply of food will not be cut off, so why work desperately every day.
"I know what you are thinking. Do you think there will be food supply every day?" Gao Yongfa asked.
"Let me tell you, the bamboo in the city is almost finished, and there is no chance to split the bamboo from now on!"
"Now that we can earn more food by splitting bamboo, do we dare to rest?"
Gao Chengan was a little confused when he heard this. The bamboo had been chopped down? But he didn't know this.
"Don't be stunned, get to work quickly!" Gao Yongfa urged.
Everyone in the Gao family started working again, and just then there was a knock on the door outside.
"Second brother, go out and see what's going on!" Gao Yongfa ordered from behind.
His second son, Gao Chengyu, was a young man in his twenties. He was originally a playboy. When he heard that he could stop working, he immediately ran out.
The Gao family's house is very big, and now that the slaves have been dismissed, everything has to be done by one's own hands.
Gao Chengyu opened the door of the house and saw a few old men standing outside. They were the uncles who often visited the house in the past.
"Second Young Master, are you here, Master Gao?" one of the old men asked.
"Inside, gentlemen, please come in!" Gao Chengyu stepped out of the way.
"My dear nephew, don't dare to say nonsense... We are not adults now, but ordinary people!"
As they spoke, the group entered the gate, passed through the hanging flower gate and drove to the front yard of the mansion.
Entering the mansion, I saw Gao Yongfa working. Everyone present looked at each other.
"Master Gao, why do you do this yourself?" said an old man in blue.
The Gao Yongfa in front of them was wearing a bunt, but his normal demeanor was very different, so everyone couldn't accept it for a while.
"What can I eat if I don't do anything? You feed me?" Gao Yongfa said angrily.
Everyone is having a hard time these days, so everyone can only support themselves, and it is basically impossible to support others.
Gao Yongfa was indeed tired at this moment. He put down the tools in his hands and came to the steps under the eaves to sit down casually.
"What are you doing here? There are spies from Prince Yong's Mansion outside. Do you want to harm me?" Gao Yongfa said in a deep voice.
"Sir, the spies from the palace didn't come yesterday morning. We came here after doing some research!" the old man in blue said with a smile.
"Then how do you know that the prince's spies moved to another place to monitor?"
Gao Yongfa spoke slowly, which made several people present feel uneasy and secretly cursed themselves for being too imprudent.
"Okay, tell me if you have anything to do. I have work to do here and I don't have time to entertain you!"
Everyone was feeling uneasy at the moment, but they had not forgotten why they had come.
I saw several old men gathered around Gao Yongfa, and then I heard someone lowering his voice: "Sir, can we still start a fight?"
After the military power was seized, Gao Yongfa was unwilling to lose everything, so he summoned his subordinates and announced that they would start an uprising.
"Are you confused? How can you start a fight in this situation?"
Seeing everyone's anger, Gao Yongfa continued: "Don't think about it, now that King Yong is in charge of the city, with soldiers, food and people's hearts, what can we do to start a fight?"
These words are irrefutable, but after all, there are still people who are not willing to lose and say: "Sir, do you mean that we just accept our fate?"
The scene suddenly became quiet, and several old men looked at Gao Yongfa, hoping that he could give everyone a little hope.
"Everyone, let's wait and see. The most important thing right now is to survive!"
Although they didn't say it explicitly, everyone already understood at this moment that an uprising was basically impossible.
"My lord is right. Survival is the most important thing right now. Go back to work...otherwise the family will run out of food!" said the old man in blue.
They were just surprised that Gao Yongfa was working, but in fact they were working too.
"Yes... we are not as lucky as the Hou family, but we gave birth to a good daughter, and now we don't have to worry about food and clothing!"
Hearing this, Gao Yongfa muttered: "The Hou family? That Hou family?"
"What else can there be? Hou Yun, the magistrate of Yuanyang, and his family!" replied the old man in gray who had spoken just now.
"Every major household in Yuanyang has had their food plundered. Why does the Hou family not have to worry about food and clothing?" Gao Yongfa asked in confusion.
"Hou Yunhe's little daughter somehow got connected with Prince Yong's Mansion. The Prince's Mansion sends rewards from time to time, so naturally she doesn't have to worry about food and drink!"
Gao Yong was so angry that Hou Yunhe, a sick man, was lucky. He had avoided all troubles during this period, but such a good thing happened to him.
"Hou Yunhe is seriously ill, and his deadline may be here in the next two days!"
"Because the Hou family has a relationship with the palace, I don't know how many people are looking forward to Hou Yunhe's death so that they can go to his home to pay homage!"
Because he was under surveillance by the palace, Gao Yongfa had been keeping a deaf ear to what was going on these days. He didn't know anything about these situations.
"What's the benefit of going to the Hou family to pay homage?" Gao Yongfa asked.
"Build a relationship with the Hou family!"
Yes, it's such a simple reason, because having a relationship with the Hou family means having a chance to have a relationship with the Wang family.
It is too tiring to work alone to earn food. If you can use the Hou family to establish a relationship with the palace, it will be a shortcut to survival.
After thinking about this, Gao Yongfa couldn't help but smile bitterly, secretly thinking that these people's minds are really bright.
Before, they were thinking of forming a clique to fight against the palace, but after the Tian, Zhang, and Xie families were executed, the Yuanyang dignitaries became the licking dogs of Prince Yong's palace, and they only wanted to flatter the palace in order to survive.
"Are you also looking forward to going to the Marquis Mansion to pay homage?" Gao Yongfa asked with a smile.