The team made a statement, which put everyone at ease.
The team will not abandon anyone, not even children or the elderly who are unable to work.
After resting, the team continued their journey. It was getting dark, and they needed to reach their resting place as soon as possible.
The patrol team had scouted the way ahead; there was an uninhabited village ahead, which would be reached in half an hour.
On the way, the three village chiefs called Chen Dong over to discuss the matter of increasing the amount of food.
Just then, Old Man Chen also had something to discuss with the village chief of Lotus Village.
Village Chief Xu asked, "Chen Dong, what are your thoughts on the matter of increasing the amount of food?"
Old Man Chen: "I think it's great."
Village Chief Bai: "Currently, in our team, 43 people are eligible for the pregnant women's meal, 78 people are eligible for the children's meal, 166 people are eligible for the elderly meal, and 120 people are eligible for the work injury meal."
The largest group consisted of staff.
Village Chief Wu continued, "We have decided that, depending on the food situation, we will allocate a minimum of five jin of grain to each welfare meal every day."
Each type of meal is provided separately. As you know, our team doesn't have much food, so these meals rely on donations from team members.
Village Chief Xu: "Our three families will privately donate half a jin of wolf meat tomorrow for meals for pregnant women, meals for workers injured at work, and meals for children."
We've called you here to discuss this, mainly to ask how long the team can last if food consumption continues at this rate, so we can have some peace of mind.
With a team of over 1,600 people, the food consumption was enormous. Implementing this policy involved a lot of risk, and they made a great decision before announcing it.
Old Man Chen was also aware of the team's food situation, since the team's food supply almost entirely depended on the food his family contributed.
Old Chen sighed and said, "My family's food supply is not very stable either, but recently I can confirm that we can hand over 100 catties of perilla, 60 catties of amaranth, 10 sugarcane stalks, and 10 catties of sweet potatoes to the team every day."
Hearing this, the three village chiefs felt relieved. The team could hold out for a while longer, and when they reached Ma'ao Village, they could think of another way.
Old Man Chen has done his best. If there were more food, he would be willing to hand over more.
Amaranth and perilla have the shortest harvest cycle and the highest total yield, but they cannot be produced day and night.
Xiao Bao needs to sleep at night, so the only thing he can do before bed is plant sweet potatoes. Vegetables with short production cycles can only produce for a maximum of six hours a day.
For example, his family's Smilax glabra may seem plentiful to most people, but if you really calculate it, based on a yield of two catties each time, in six hours, the maximum daily yield would be 24 catties.
They had a large group of children, and they ate it all in one day.
As for the leftover vegetables, his family didn't manage them strictly, and the children would always take them here and there, so there was no stock at all.
Old Man Chen thought of his family's situation and said, "The prices of my family's goods will be lowered, which will affect the production of hand warmers in Lotus Village."
I know everyone is doing this for the good of the team, and the price of hand warmers won't be increased, otherwise no one will be able to afford them.
Therefore, my family decided to supply the hand warmer production workers with 100 jin of grain, distributed in installments of 20 jin per day.
Village Chief Xu said gratefully, "Thank you on their behalf!"
The villagers never intended to raise the price of hand warmers, since their original intention was to ensure that everyone in the team could afford one.
They collect grain for two reasons: first, to make a living, and second, to encourage everyone to cherish the things they have, as they represent the hard work of the bamboo craftsmen.
The team does not allow anyone to reap without sowing.
After thinking for a while, Old Man Chen said, "Tomorrow my family will donate 2 jin of sweet potatoes for pregnant women, 6 jin of amaranth for workers injured at work, and 10 hand warmers for the elderly."
The donation system for welfare meals quickly spread, and everyone wanted to help, but they were powerless to do so, since they themselves were often hungry and could not afford to give any more food.
Half an hour later, the group finally arrived at the village, but it was already dark.
Just as everyone stopped to pack up their things, the patrol team came to report that Village Chief Tang had something to discuss and hoped that their team could stop and rest at the village entrance.
The members of the Anping Village Alliance all settled in the village's concentrated construction area. They did not occupy the scattered houses at the village entrance, but they were still within the patrol area of the patrol team.
The three village chiefs discussed it for a while and agreed, but with some conditions: their people could not just barge in, and they were not allowed to cause trouble in their ranks.
After the notice was issued, the patrol team also reduced their patrol area, only patrolling their rest area.
After seeing that the Anping Village Alliance had agreed to let them stay on the side, Village Chief Tang made another request.
They hope to trade with the Anping Village alliance team; they have some tools they want to exchange for food.
There were also carpenters and bamboo craftsmen in the county alliance. Although they lacked tools, they still managed to make some commonly used household tools.
For example, bamboo tubes, bamboo baskets, bamboo mats, carrying pole baskets, hand warmers, wooden basins, and wooden bowls.
They are willing to sell at a low price, but not by much; their main purpose is to exchange for food.
He also found out that the largest manufacturer of hand warmers in the Anping Village Alliance was from Hehua Village. If he offered too low a price, he was worried that he would steal their business, and Village Chief Xu would have objections, since Village Chief Xu was also one of the decision-makers in the alliance.
When Village Chief Bai heard that their group also had hand warmers and wanted to trade with them, he didn't think it was stealing business from their village. On the contrary, he thought it was a good thing that the group could exchange less food for heating tools.
Why are the people in their village working so hard every day? It's so that everyone in the team can have a hand warmer.
It would be even better if some goods could flow in from other sources, as that would allow us to achieve our goal more quickly.
Village Chief Wu and Village Chief Bai shared the same idea, so they agreed to the deal.
The team purchased ten hand warmers, three wooden basins, and six pairs of carrying baskets from them; these were all for public use.
Others who want to trade are free to do so.
When the people in the group heard that they could buy things at a low price, they were all happy to go and take a look. However, most of them only wanted to exchange their hand warmers for hand warmers, while a few wanted to exchange their carrying poles and baskets for carrying poles.
I don't want to trade the others. The wooden basin is unnecessary; I can borrow it from the Chen family or from the team.
If the Chen family holds a sacrificial ceremony, you can attend and, if you're lucky, even receive one for free.
Wooden bowls were even less necessary; they could make do with short bamboo tubes.
The rest are all handicrafts that farmers often do, which they can do themselves.
They don't have extra food to exchange for this or that. To get warm clothing, several families have to scrape together some food, and everyone will share the tools.
The transaction took place right at the edge of the patrol team's post, and everyone in the team rushed over to see what was going on when they heard the news.
A boy shouted, "What you call selling at a low price? Look at the hand warmers you make. Your craftsmanship is nowhere near as good as the ones made by the people of Lotus Village. How dare you ask for the same price as them?"
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