Now things are much better. The Chen family's work is much easier. They just need to patrol back and forth with sticks and watch the prisoners work. At the same time, the Chen family's three dogs will also come out to patrol.
The Chen family's production line has started operation, and everyone in the village is very curious.
Old Man Chen thought about it and realized that the village should recruit more people. If there were too many enemies, his eldest daughter-in-law would not be able to take care of everything.
So the Chen family spread the word about bracken root powder, but they didn't teach them step by step; they just gave a general overview of the process.
Of course, the Chen family also had conditions: the fern root powder could only be made and consumed by the family in the village, and could not be shared or sold outside the village for the time being, nor could it be used to exchange for supplies.
The villagers all agreed, after all, this was only temporary, and everyone was sensible. In their current situation, they had to keep a low profile, otherwise they would be in danger of being killed.
At the same time, the villagers are very grateful to the Chen family.
The Chen family didn't say anything about it, but suggested that the villagers recruit more people, because if there were too many enemies, they wouldn't be able to take care of others.
The villagers obtained the method for making bracken root powder and, after studying it for almost half a month, finally succeeded in making it.
So the village chief called everyone together. The village would use public resources to recruit 100 people to join the village patrol team to protect the village, and each household would also contribute some food.
This time, no one objected; everyone agreed.
Normally, no one would be willing to provide food to hire outsiders. However, during this period, the villagers have been brainwashed by the Chen family and have come to understand the importance of unity. Only by protecting the village can they peacefully cultivate the land and survive.
Now, everyone in the village is following the Chen family's survival plan. If a family has enough supplies to feed themselves for about three months, they will use the remaining supplies to exchange for a new sled to clear land. If they don't have enough, they can borrow from other villagers and exchange for more supplies.
They got the new sleds back, and slowly started clearing land. Once they had extra vegetables, they hired more people to clear more land.
Vegetables are very popular nowadays. Although they may not fill you up, they are still better than nothing.
Let alone vegetables, even wild vegetables are very precious now. People outside really dig up grass roots and eat tree bark. They dig up the places where wild vegetables grow again and again, leaving everything bare.
Only in Anping Village can they peacefully cultivate the land and eat the vegetables they grow.
The Chen family has no control over how many people the villagers can recruit; they only need to take care of their own families.
While the villagers were still worried about food and manpower, the Chen family brought back another group of people and opened a new production line to make bracken root powder.
Now, the Chen family plans to process the bracken root powder into dried bracken root powder.
However, it's quite simple. Just put the prepared bracken root powder into a strainer, and the bracken root will leak out of the strainer and fall into boiling water. Then, take out the solidified powder and put it into cold water. After that, take it out of the cold water and put it on a rack to dry.
When you want to eat it, wash the bracken root noodles thoroughly, then soak them in cold water for about 2 to 3 hours. After the bracken root noodles have softened, add an appropriate amount of cold water, turn on the heat and bring to a boil. After boiling, cook for about 5 minutes, then remove the bracken root noodles and soak them in cold water for about 2 hours.
Bracken root noodles need to be soaked thoroughly. They are considered soaked when there is no longer a milky white hard center in the middle.
Nowadays, bracken root rice noodles are very popular among the Chen family.
Old Man Chen thought of taking out fifteen catties of bracken root noodles to exchange with the people in Liu Family Village. He trusted the steward of Liu Family Village. Although they did not help when Anping Village was in trouble, they did not take advantage of the situation.
Moreover, if the village children go to Liujiazhuangzi to beg for food, they can occasionally get steamed buns to eat.
Old Chen thought the previous bracken root noodles didn't look appealing and worried that the people in Liu Family Village wouldn't want them. But this time, the dried bracken root noodles were different; they looked much better, and he was confident that the Liu family would want them.
Sure enough, after the steward of Liu Family Village tasted the bracken root noodles, he bought them and exchanged 15 catties of bracken root noodles for 35 catties of dark flour.
The texture of bracken root noodles is no worse than that of regular noodles, so it was no surprise that Old Man Chen could get more dark noodles in return.
Old Man Chen wanted so much black flour, of course, to feed his employees; his own family members, of course, should eat better food.
Today, there is good news: Bai Yu has received a response to the questions he asked earlier. The teacher he consulted asked other people about the problems that couldn't be solved, and it is said that some people have solved several of them.
However, there is also bad news: the famine is severe, and refugees have begun to besiege the city gates of the county town, led by bandits from other places.
The city gates are now closed, and chaos reigns outside the city.
The newly appointed county magistrate is a young man in his twenties. At that age, he's probably the son of some official who's out here to gain experience.
When he first arrived, he did want to achieve something and lead everyone through the difficulties.
So, as soon as he arrived, he forced the wealthy people in the city to donate grain and porridge, and he also opened the city gates. As a result, he affected the interests of too many people and was tricked by people inside and outside the city.
Nowadays, even the government offices are struggling to make ends meet, so there's no way to expect the government to open granaries and distribute food and porridge.
Chaos reigned outside the city, with people clamoring to attack the city gates. The people inside the city were also having a hard time. Taking advantage of the current chaos, the landlords in the county town began to inflate prices.
Although the government wanted to suppress it, the newly appointed magistrate had no experience and could not see the situation clearly. As a result, all the people he sent out were killed, so the magistrate learned to keep a low profile.
All he can do now is guard the city gate and wait for his family's help. Once they bring grain, he can recruit more soldiers to guard the gate. As long as he can hold the gate and survive, he has put his original plans behind him.
Upon hearing these two pieces of news, the village chief decided to let it go for now. Solving the problem was important, but he couldn't risk his life.
Chen Kai was very unwilling. He had finally made a new breakthrough in his research on watermills. Was he really going to give up like this?
Chen's eldest daughter-in-law said decisively, "I'll go, and I'll be back in three days."
Old Chen immediately objected, "No, wife, it's too dangerous outside right now."
Others also disagreed with this.
Seeing this, Chen Kai pulled Xiao Tian into the house. As soon as they entered, Chen Kai asked, "Xiao Tian, can you tell my fortune? Will my sister-in-law be in danger this time?"
Xiao Tian said, "Nothing will happen, and you won't get hurt."
After thinking for a while, Chen Kai decided to send his sister-in-law.
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