Chapter Twenty Continue Building

  Old Dad approved of Yang Heng's idea, but Yang Heng was not in a hurry at this time. Since coming to this world, he was anxious at first, but now he had some foundation and his mood slowly calmed down.

  Firstly, with the emergence of some new technologies, there is this book "Qimin Yaoshu" which allows Yang Heng to slowly manufacture some new devices. The development of these new devices can be attributed to the inspiration from "Qimin Yaoshu". Moreover, his father has already become a fire chief in the local garrison, meaning he has ten soldiers under him. With his father's martial value, his future prospects are very bright. Yang Heng had also recalled the history of this era that he knew, and in this era, there was no one with a higher martial value than his father. If there was anyone, it would be Li Yuanba, but it seems like Li Yuanba does not exist in official historical records. This is something that needs to be investigated further to determine whether Yang Heng has crossed over into the official history or the unofficial history.

  In the official history, only Xue Rengui at the end of the Zhenguan era had some military value, but it was still not comparable to his father. At this time, relying on his father's power, he only needed to undergo some simple weapon training, and the position of Colonel was not a dream.

  "Little kid, little kid, what are you spacing out about? Don't you know your uncles are leaving?" "Ah, what? The uncles are going back? How can it be so soon?" I was spaced out for a while, how long has passed, could it be a whole day? Yang Heng felt somewhat unbelievable.

  "What's going on, your uncle and aunt are here to light the fire for us, once it's lit, they can leave. It's all about etiquette." Old Dad introduced with some helplessness to Yang Heng.

  It turned out that this was similar to the later generations' method of starting a fire, but at this time, it was the uncles who brought an bow and came to Yang Heng's home to drill wood to get fire, and then lit up the cooking pot. This might be the traditional custom of Lao Ye's family. To know that using fire is a sign of human civilization, when moving into a new house, relatives and friends come to light it up, which is equivalent to sending fire seeds. Although Yang Heng didn't quite understand this matter, he could also imagine its significance.

  "Big nephew, is there anything else to do later? In the next period of time, not only are your uncles idle, but also your aunts have nothing to do. Does your family still have things that need us to do, but you, big nephew, still have to take care of food."

  Since seeing Yang Heng and Father's hunting skills, the uncles have become less polite to Father and Yang Heng. Every day there is meat to eat, which is much better than receiving wages. It can be seen that during this period of time, the uncles have all gained weight, and even Auntie and the children have improved their physical condition. This is all due to Yang Heng occasionally allowing the uncles to bring back some things after hunting.

  "Alright, uncles, from now on, not only will you come, but also the aunts, and even the younger brothers and sisters can all come together. They're old enough to help with some tasks that are within their ability, like helping with the stone or picking up grass, and we'll take care of food, so you won't go hungry."

  Looking at the family conditions of these uncles, judging from the current situation, if Yang Heng's family didn't return, this entire village would eventually become slaves to some wealthy households. In this era where population is scarce, these poor mountain villagers might be among the first to be forced into slavery.

  Now that Yang Heng has arrived, he will not let his uncles suffer this fate. He will even bring the village together as one big family, starting with these four uncles. What Yang Heng regrets most is that his aunt still fears the influence of the Yang family and does not dare to interact with them. This is just a small-minded thought of some poor people in this era, not because they are bad, but because they are forced by life. This era is not an era of moral decay like later generations.

  This old man had no other choice, his idea was to wait until things were really over before going to see Ah Weng. However, the old man didn't think that if he waited until his own family's affairs were settled, Ah Weng would also be concerned about saving face and wouldn't associate with him anymore, instead becoming even more estranged.

  The next day, the old mother brought her uncles and aunts, as well as younger brothers and sisters to this mountain valley entrance to pick up stones. The wooden cart was added with two baffles by the little uncle in front and back, so that large or small stones can be loaded on it.

  "Little girl, slow down, don't fall." The old lady found that it was the little girl from Second Uncle's family who was the most pitiful. She had just learned to walk not long ago and was following behind, picking up stones no bigger than her own fist and sending them to the side of the cart. Her mouth was still muttering, "Picking stones, eating meat."

  It's all Yang Heng's fault, this morning, his uncle and aunt brought their kids to their home early, "Ah, uncle and aunt, you came so early, and my younger brother and sister are also here."

  "Ah, here comes the little girl. Mother said let the little girl help brother's family with chores." Before anyone else could respond, the youngest little girl jumped in to answer first, "Ah, okay, okay, I know I have to help brother with chores, and later brother will give me lots of meat to eat." "Mmm, work and get meat to eat." And so the little girl remembered this phrase.

  The construction of the east wing, Yang Heng is prepared to use the most common method for construction, that is, building an earth house. However, this building is different from the local earth houses, which do not have a foundation or anything, and are built directly on the ground with wooden boards. As a result, the village houses can only be used for a few years before being rebuilt, either because they were damaged by wind and rain, or because they were eroded by water from the ground up, requiring an accident to occur every few years and then rebuilding.

  Yang Heng didn't plan to go through so much trouble, but he remembered that the upper half of his old house in his previous life was also made of earth, and those old houses could last for hundreds of years without collapsing. So Yang Heng decided to use the construction methods of later generations. That is, to lay a foundation on the ground first, digging out a foundation pit about 30 centimeters deep. If there were particularly soft places, such as tree pits, they would find hard ground. The foundation was not the most important thing; on top of it, they would continue to build a skirt wall over half a meter high using stone blocks. Then, on top of that, they would start laying wooden boards, building with earth, and even adding some branches and long grasses inside the earth. In this way, the house would be quite solid.

  The old man was arranged by Yang Heng to go out and buy food, even salt and rice. In the past when there was no money, it was naturally impossible to buy anything. But the old man brought back some gold, so some of the most needed things could be bought. Eating cooked meat every day is not a big deal, right?

  While picking up stones, Yang Heng followed the past and picked up the first car, just to get a feel for the size of the stones. In fact, it's not necessary to grasp the size, as long as the uncles can lift them onto the cart, they're fine. The smaller ones, like the small pebbles Xiao Niang picked, which were about the size of her fist, are also needed. Yang Heng planned to use some small pebbles to pave the corridor path in the courtyard. As for the larger stones, they need to be crushed and used to lay the foundation and build walls. This isn't because the stones are too big, but rather because their shape is round and smooth, making it difficult to build a wall without proper technique. After crushing them, they have edges and corners, making it much easier to build walls that are also more solid.