Chapter 23: The New Refugees

  The newly born sun jumped out of the sea level, the waves kept hitting the beach, Pang Gang wore a casual suit and walked slowly on the beach with bare feet. The fine sand kept massaging his toes, making people feel very comfortable. But this couldn't make Pang Gang's mood better, now the things in the fort were complicated and all pressed on his body, making our comrade Pang Gang, who had never been a leader before, feel that his shoulders were always heavy.

  It's been eight days since we arrived at Wanghai Fortress. Most of the newly arrived military households are clearing water channels in the wilderness under the leadership of Li Xian and Gou Sheng, while dozens of people are preparing for sowing two months later by turning over the soil. However, another pressing problem has emerged - food. The current grain supply within the fortress is only enough for half a month, which cannot support more than 300 people until the harvest season at the end of the year. Most of the sixty households I brought with me have no leftover grain and rely on me to provide for them.

  The work of digging canals and turning the earth has already begun inside the fort, but it is impossible to let those military households drink thin porridge as before, which is not enough to eat. Pang Gang calculated that if a adult eats dry food in high-intensity labor, with one day eating one or half a kilogram of rice, at least two and a half tons of grain will be needed for half a year. With more than 300 people in Wanghai Fort, it is necessary to have nearly 700 tons of rice to support until the harvest season at the end of the year. If Pang Gang wants to continue recruiting refugees, this number will have to be increased.

  This is not all, yesterday Li Xian, who was in charge of purchasing, reported to Pang Gang that it is necessary to let those strong laborers eat some meat and fish every few days. Otherwise, people will easily vomit blood due to lack of fat, and it is necessary to buy some lard or fatty meat to cook dishes to ensure physical strength. Buy if you must, but after Li Xian's report, Pang Gang almost vomited blood - the price of one catty of lean meat was ten cents, while fatty meat sold for twenty cents. In a later era, no one would ask about fatty meat, which was actually more expensive than lean meat. Calculated at one or two catties of fatty meat per adult per day, just buying pork for the military households would cost at least thirty taels of silver per month. This news really shocked Pang Gang.

  If in the future, there was a pork seller who dared to sell fatty meat at a higher price than lean meat, he would definitely be spat on. But now things have turned around, and lean meat is no longer popular. As for the more expensive ribs of later generations, they can only be used as a garnish. Later, Pang learned that in ancient times, oil extraction technology was backward, and the cost of plant-based oils was very high, making them very expensive. Ordinary people were accustomed to using animal fat from fatty meat instead of vegetable oil, so the fattier the meat, the more popular it was, and the more expensive it became. This is also why the cheap fatty meat in later generations would be sold at such a high price. Thinking about this, Comrade Pang couldn't help but feel a strong urge to burst out laughing - damn it, fatty meat sells for such a high price, how can those pork sellers of later generations who risk being fined for injecting "lean meat essence" into pigs bear it?

  Although the expenses were a bit high, Pang Gang still gritted his teeth and bought the single for the military dependents. However, this made Pang Gang's wallet thinner and thinner. The 2,700 taels of silver he had scraped together from under Wang Dama's bed last time had already been spent like flowing water, with nearly 1,000 taels gone. The remaining silver was a great concern for Pang Gang, who wondered if it could hold out until the end of the year. The current Wanghai Fortress was like a fragile child, unable to withstand any storms, and would be swept away by even a slightly larger wave.

  No, we must speed up the development of our farmland and the recruitment of refugees. We also need to increase our grain reserves. Otherwise, Wanghai Castle will not be able to become powerful in a short period of time. The current situation is getting more and more chaotic. If Wanghai Castle cannot grow stronger within these few years, all that awaits us is extinction.

  However, this period of time was not without good news. After Pang Gang's persistent research, he finally figured out some functions of the book that came with him when he crossed over. In this variant book that could be called a golden finger, it turned out to be very convenient and cheap to exchange for cold weapons. As long as you had thirty kilograms of iron ore, you could exchange for a Damascus curved knife that was already lost in later generations. As for those cavalry swords, long spears, shields, and armor, they were also very cheap. Pang Gang calculated that with just one hundred to one hundred and fifty kilograms of iron ore and a small amount of wood, he could arm a soldier to the teeth. This might be the only thing that made our Lord Pang happy during this period of time. For this reason, Pang Gang even sent people to collect iron ore everywhere, but so far, there had been no great harvest.

  "Older brother, older brother!" A voice sounded behind Pang Gang, and he knew without turning his head that it was Da Zhuang who had arrived.

  Dazhuang rushed quickly to the front of Pang Gang, panting and saying: "Sir, Gou Sheng has returned from Qingzhou Prefecture, he asked me to come find you."

  The big name of the dog is Wang Zhi, which was only known when Pang Gang registered and made a book for everyone. From then on, Pang Gang let him formally change his name back to his original name, but Da Zhuang, who had grown up with him since childhood, still habitually called his nickname.

  Pang Gang scolded: "Dazhuang, you can't always be calling people 'dog leftovers'! Now that you're all grown up and have your own little flag, how can you still address Wang Zhi like that? It's not right!"

  "Haha......" Da Zhuang rubbed his head and smiled foolishly: "Sir, I've been calling you that for so many years now, it's already become a habit, can't change it even if I want to!"

  Pang Gang could only helplessly smile and shake his head, no longer bothering with these things. He changed the subject and asked: "Dazhuang, what did Wang Zhiran ask you to find me for?"

  Dazhuang said with great joy, "It's such a big deal, not only did Gou Sheng buy back 400 stones of grain, but also brought back 60 households of refugees from Qingzhou Prefecture. I've seen them and most of them are young and strong, now we don't have to worry about lack of manpower!"

  Looking at the enthusiastic Da Zhuang, Pang Gang couldn't help but secretly sigh. Recruiting so many refugees was a good thing, but it also increased his own burden. In these times, even wealthy landlords didn't have surplus grain!

  With a heart full of joy and worry, Pang Gang brought Da Zhuang to rush to Wang Hai Fortress. After more than half a month of construction, the current Wang Hai Fortress has initially taken shape. More than 300 people have occupied nearly half of the area inside the fortress, and some new wooden houses are being built. The current Wang Hai Fortress looks like it finally has a bit of vitality.

  Pang Gang arrived at Wang Hai Fortress and saw a commotion in front of the fortress. Wang Zhi was maintaining order with more than 20 strong men from inside the fortress. Next to them were ten cows, dozens of bags of rice, and various items such as winnowing baskets, carrying poles, bamboo baskets, hoes, plows, cow yokes, and sun-dried hay mats scattered all over the ground. Except for the draft cattle kept in the outer cowshed, the rest of these items were piled up inside the warehouse.

  Hundreds of new refugees are looking at the newly arrived official with a mixture of hope and apprehension on their pale faces, which have turned yellow due to long-term malnutrition, and in their numb eyes, there is a glimmer of expectation for the future, mixed with a hint of unease and fear.

  Looking at the figure still shivering in the sunlight, Pang Gang sighed inwardly and loudly called over a village woman who had arrived earlier, ordering her to bring some people to quickly start a fire and cook some millet porridge for everyone to fill their stomachs first, specifically instructing her to make it thicker.

  The village woman was also a quick and efficient person, she agreed with a sound and then led dozens of village women to start setting up more than ten stoves in the fort, soon fires were lit on the stoves.

  In less than half an hour, the hot porridge was ready. As these newly arrived refugees rushed to scoop up the porridge, they were beaten back by Da Zhuang and more than a dozen strong men wielding large wooden clubs. Especially those young and strong men who had rushed to the front were beaten severely.

  "Line up, all of you line up!" At this time, Da Zhuang no longer had the silly appearance in front of Pang Gang. Holding a large wooden stick, he was shouting loudly like a fierce god, which was also repeatedly requested by Pang Gang. In Wanghai Building, it is necessary to follow the rules and regulations for its future development.

  Just as Da Zhuang was taking out those who didn't follow the rules with his big stick, a middle-aged man wearing a green robe and with a head of disheveled hair stood at the back of the crowd, gazing faintly at all this.

  Thanks to "Wind Demon" brother for the reward! Also, Atop is seeking recommendations and collections here!