The case of the six thieves was quickly settled. Since they did provide crucial information this time, Zhao Xingguo decided to reduce their punishment as they had agreed upon before. Instead of being hung on a tree for two days without food, they were now locked up in a firewood shed and starved for two days.
The six people who were locked in the dark and cold woodshed actually felt relieved. At least they saved their four fingers. From now on, they would never dare to come to the poor mountain village of Wanxi Village again. It would have been bad enough that they didn't steal anything, but they were beaten to death and starved for two days. It was really not worth it.
A patrol team was quickly formed in the village.
Since Wanxi Village is surrounded by mountains on three sides, there is only one road to enter the village, which is the village entrance. All the villagers unanimously decided to build a protective fence at the entrance of the village first.
Originally, they planned to use the wood cut from the mountain before the fire to build a wooden fence, but after much thought, the villagers still felt that the wooden fence was not safe enough. What if the other group of guys were so vicious that they set fire to their wooden fence? The wooden fence would burn very quickly and would not be able to withstand the fire for long.
so……
In the end, everyone decided to use the previously baked red bricks and the bricks and stones that they had dug out from the rubble to build a protective wall. The gate would be the large iron gate from Liu the Butcher's yard that they had found in the rubble.
The iron gate was thick and sturdy. Even after the earthquake, which had shaken down the surrounding walls, the massive iron gate remained intact, not even a single bend! Most importantly, it was large enough for a truck weighing over ten tons to pass through. Having such a large iron gate was sufficient for the villagers to come and go easily.
In addition, Zhao Tianliang even proposed to build a high-platform sentry post at the gate.
With the high-platform sentry post, the burden of the village patrol team can be greatly reduced by simply having someone stand on the sentry post and patrol every day to check for other people's whereabouts.
This was something everyone agreed with. Although their village was surrounded by mountains on three sides, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack, that didn't mean those guys wouldn't climb up the mountain first and then attack from the back. Although the possibility was small, they still had to be vigilant. Previously, Commander Meng's troops had come down directly from the mountain behind them.
Finally, it was decided that the village would form a patrol team. Fourteen patrolmen would be sent out every day from 7pm to 7am. During this period, ten people would patrol the village non-stop. As for the remaining four people, two would squat on the high platform during the day and two at night, keeping an eye on the situation on the road outside at all times. Once they found anything, they would immediately blow the whistle to warn.
This matter was settled.
Zhao Xingguo, Zhao Zhengde and several elderly people in the village also discussed how the village committee patrol team should be deployed.
The patrol team recruits people within the age range of 18 to 55 years old. All families with male children in this age group, as long as they are in good health, must join the patrol team!
As a result, families with many male members at this age are at a disadvantage. Therefore, the village stipulates that unless there are only the elderly, the weak, the sick, the disabled and the young in the family who can enjoy special care, other households without adult male labor are required to pay 10 kilograms of food per household every month as a midnight snack to replenish the energy of the patrol team members who patrol every day.
Zhao Xingguo's uncle and several others said that this method seems to be okay, but in fact it has many loopholes and is not fair.
If this happened in Lixi Village, there would have been a quarrel a long time ago, but this is Wanxi Village.
Therefore, when Zhao Xingguo announced the result, there was almost no opposition in the village. Even if there was, it was quickly suppressed by the voices of others. Even a few wives who felt that their families had suffered a loss were ruthlessly suppressed by their elderly wives and husbands.
"Since everyone has no objection, let's start the construction today. Let's build the protective wall at the entrance of the village first, so that those guys won't come to our house in the middle of the night to kill people and set fire without us knowing anything." Uncle Jiu knocked on his pipe.
"Okay, let's build the protective wall now. We must build a thick protective wall! We will try to finish building the protective wall today!" Uncle Jiu had spoken, and Zhao Xingguo waved his hand and led everyone to build the protective wall. Some moved bricks, some carried cement and river sand, and the whole village became noisy again.
With the active cooperation during the previous earthquake, there was no need for anyone to say anything more. More than a dozen daughters-in-law started cooking a big pot of rice in the open space in the village that day.
Because of the earthquake, there was still a lot of meat in the village. In this environment of dozens of degrees below zero, the pigs, cattle, sheep, etc. that were killed by the earthquake did not spoil even after being left for such a long time. Everyone spontaneously brought food and vegetables from their homes.
Some families really do not have strong labor to build the protective wall, so they help with cooking and collecting firewood, and do not take advantage of the villagers.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the whole village was extremely harmonious.
Feeling this kind of atmosphere, Qin Suyun was also not idle. She used Jade Dew to ripen a batch of Chinese cabbages and lettuce in three glass houses and sent them as meals. When many people saw these 20 or so Chinese cabbages and lettuce, their eyes turned green!
They haven't seen any green vegetables for almost two months!
Even though they usually farmed at home and had a lot of private plots, the earthquake, hail, and blizzard had completely rotted the vegetables and fruits they had planted. Some were buried under the rubble, while others were smashed to pieces by the hail. Finally, the blizzard caused the temperature to drop so low that they couldn't even grow any vegetables.
I can’t even plant it!
"Wow! Sister, I didn't expect that you still have cabbage at home! This is amazing!" Jiang Hongmei swallowed subconsciously. The couple in her family have been eating white radish and bean sprouts for more than a month!
During the hailstorm, all the vegetables in the fields were damaged. Only the white radishes planted in the fields were still intact.
The damaged lettuces and Chinese cabbages had long been eaten by the couple, leaving only the white radishes and newly sprouted bean sprouts that had survived until now.
The majority of people in the village are in the same situation as Jiang Hongmei's family. Some families are even worse off and don't even know how to grow bean sprouts. Every time they want to eat, they have to go to other people's homes to beg for some, which is really annoying.
"Hehe, I'm lucky. Although the glass house on the top floor had some cracks caused by hail, it was fortunately preserved. Otherwise, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to find these." Qin Suyun said a few polite words with a smile, and then started working like other people in the village.
Every household in the village built their own house, and many people often used cement, sand and gravel at home, so it was not difficult to find these. In order to build the protective wall at the entrance of the village as soon as possible, everyone contributed almost all the cement, sand and gravel in their homes. These things were not valuable. The most important thing for them now was to protect the safety of the village and prevent those guys in the county town from coming here to rob them of food and supplies.
With everyone working together, the protective wall at the entrance of the village was built very quickly. It only took one day to complete the protective wall!
A simple wooden sentry post was built on the five-meter-high protective wall, which was enough to shelter the patrol team from wind and rain.
Everyone was very satisfied with their day's results. Even Uncle Jiu nodded in satisfaction and approval after seeing the final product of the protective wall.
That night, the patrol team led by the village chief was easily formed.
…………
At the same time, about dozens of kilometers away from Wanxi Village, in a dilapidated community in the county town.
More than a dozen figures flickered in the firelight, making them difficult to see clearly.
He Zhennan was hunched over, half-crouching under the window of a house, listening to the noise inside.
"What the hell is this weather?! It snowed every day before, and I couldn't find anything to eat. I was hungry every day. Now the snow has stopped for several days, and there is no sign of melting. The temperature still remains below zero. I really don't know what the hell I did wrong to encounter such horrible weather!" A man in the room was cursing, very dissatisfied with the recent snowstorm and the sharp drop in temperature.
"Alright, stop talking, kid. In this kind of weather, who in this county isn't going hungry? Out of a hundred people, I'm afraid all of them won't have enough to eat. What else do you have to complain about? At least we can eat meat these days." Another male voice lowered its voice and said slowly, "This kind of weather has its advantages. At least we don't have to worry about the meat going bad."
"Hehehe, the boss is right! If there is no food, we can just eat meat."
"Boss, how about we stew that piece of meat tonight...stew the fresh piece from last night? We can even add some other ingredients to it. It will surely taste great. Hahahaha."
"Barbecue is good too! We can try this tonight! Two-legged lamb, two-legged lamb, sprinkle some cumin on it and it will become cumin lamb, right? Hehehehe!"
As soon as the topic of meat was brought up, several people in the room started laughing, and the atmosphere was extremely harmonious.
Outside the house, under the window sill, He Zhennan's face was so ugly that it looked like water was about to drip out of it, and the veins on the back of his hand holding the dagger were bulging...
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