boyutpedia Chapter 195: Shelter completed
Chapter 195: Shelter completed
The farmers responsible for growing cotton have been buying food for most of the year, so they are well aware of the grain prices and quality in the town and county.
The food provided by Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou was better and cheaper, and it was delivered to their doorstep, so how could they not want it?
Few people came to buy the new grain, but the old grain was snapped up by the farmers. Because many people had not bought a satisfactory amount of grain, Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou had to ask Fang Youfu to lead the team to transport more old grain to the farm.
After the matters at the farm came to an end, Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou first entrusted Bai Chong and Gu Yongming to store grain and salt without leaving any trace, and then took Fang Youfu and several brothers to Jiajia Village in person.
The shelter supervised by Father and Mother Jia has been built for the most part. The high walls and rows of houses have all been completed. The only things that need to be set up are the mechanisms and traps, which have not yet been placed in their proper locations.
The construction engineer hopes that Bai Jingzhou and Gu Wenxuan can do this job personally, because these things will determine the safety factor of their shelter.
These will be their last trump cards when facing the enemy. Not only the construction engineer, but also Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou, they are not at ease to hand these things over to others to arrange.
Coming to her newly purchased residential plot with great expectations, the first thing Gu Wenxuan saw was the three walls that she had people build as a simple version of the city wall.
The wall was not only high and wide, but also had battlements on it (short concave-convex walls on the city wall used for shooting and lookout), and a climbing path on the inside (a sloping road going up to facilitate people walking and transporting supplies). It was difficult for people outside to climb up along the smooth outer wall, but they could stand on the wall to meet the enemy.
Outside the heavy wooden door facing Gu Wenxuan and the others, Gu Wenxuan saw a trench about two people high. Inside the trench were densely packed wooden stakes with sharpened ends as thick as an adult man's arm.
At the position of the moat opposite the gate, the construction master carpenter had already led his men to build a suspension bridge. As long as the suspension bridge was lowered, they could enter and exit the shelter at will.
After crossing the suspension bridge and entering the gate, Gu Wenxuan saw that the construction engineer had led his men to build two arrow towers on the left and right sides of the gate and next to the back mountain.
Next to the arrow tower is the location reserved by the construction master where the mechanism trap needs to be set up.
Looking inward from the location where the traps were set, Gu Wenxuan saw many fenced courtyards and adobe houses.
Currently, there are only a stove, a kang, and a tunnel in the adobe house. All other household items will need to be purchased by the people who will move in later.
It is worth mentioning that, unlike other mini courtyards that are all of standard specifications, the courtyards of Gu Wenxuan's and Bai Jingzhou's families, which are closest to the two arrow towers next to the back mountain, are particularly large.
In the two large courtyards, the construction engineer planned out several standard mini courtyards according to Gu Wenxuan's requirements.
Some of these courtyards were used for living, but more of them were used for storing things. In the small courtyards used by Gu Wenxuan as spare warehouses, the construction engineer not only led people to build a lot of warehouses, but also led people to dig a lot of cellars.
Gu Wenxuan had already decided to reserve the courtyards closest to the Gu and Bai families for those who were close to them.
This also includes her grandparents and cousin Jia Yuelan. Although they have a residence in Jiajia Village, if any bad guys attack Jiajia Village, their shelter is obviously safer than the villagers' self-built walls.
After the inspection was completed and all the traps were set up, Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou hurried back to Baijia Village after entrusting Jia's father and Jia's mother to help keep an eye on and inspect.
At this time, the atmosphere in Baijia Village had become very depressed because of the series of bad news that Bai Lizheng brought back.
As expected, this year's autumn taxes and various additional taxes have increased again.
If it were just that, it would be fine. However, what the villagers could not accept the most was that the regular service they were conscripted for this year was not to do hard labor in other places like last year and the year before, but to go to the battlefield to transport military supplies and do miscellaneous tasks.
As luck would have it, this time, Li's family members, Li Laosi and Li Laoliu, were both in need of military service.
When the wives of Li Laosi and Li Laoliu heard about this, they were so exhausted that they fainted on the threshing floor.
Like these two women, there were several other women in the village who could not bear the blow. Their families screamed and tried to pull and support their loved ones, while they could not help but worry about the future of themselves and their families.
When Bai Jingzhou and Gu Wenxuan appeared in the village, the threshing ground was already filled with crying.
The spouses of Li Laosi and Li Laoliu were rescued by Bai Chong. They kept wiping away their tears and begging their husbands in a low voice to risk their reputation and go to Gu Wenxuan's family to borrow money.
Li Laosi and Li Laoliu are the brothers of Gu Wenxuan's grandmother Li. Although their family is poor, after Gu Wenxuan's father came back injured and their second house was separated, Li Laosi and Li Laoliu still brought their son to send money and food to Gu Wenxuan's house, trying to help them tide over the difficulties.
Gu Wenxuan's family had been living a better life since last year. Normally, they could have come to ask for a reward, but they did not do what other villagers did, going to the door and trying to spy on this and that.
These two truly honest people only came to ask if they could also bring the nuts from their homes to sell when Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou's families joined forces to do the roasted nuts business.
Gu Wenxuan's family liked Li's relatives very much. Not only did they never leave them out when they hired people to do work, but after buying cows, they took the initiative to help the two families plow the fields.
During every festival, Gu Yongming and Gu Yongqing never forgot to send gifts to their two uncles.
Even if they didn't say it this time, Mr. Gu and Mrs. Li were still planning to lend them money. But after they arrived, they were so ashamed that they almost stuck their chins into their chest before they even opened their mouths to say "borrow money".
When Li saw this, he immediately guessed that his two brothers wanted to borrow money.
Without saying anything, she took out two portions of silver that she had prepared long ago, "30 taels per family, is that enough? If not, I'll give you some more."
The two brothers and their respective spouses did not expect that before they could say anything, Li had already stuffed the silver and money directly into their hands.
The four old men and women kept saying "Enough, enough" and then wiped their tears to thank Mr. Gu and Mrs. Li.