Chapter 124 Captain
After disembarking, the Japanese laborers were divided into teams of one hundred men each. Akita Neiji, accompanied by a hastily chosen translator and a team leader sent by a high-ranking official, headed towards their assigned camp. Upon arriving, he found... only land... no camp; everything else would have to be built by themselves.
Seeing the slightly agitated crowd, the captain was the first to object, "You're here to work, what's the difference? Do you want to fight with people and risk your lives? If so, I'll send you to the north of Great Xia tomorrow, where there are plenty of beasts to harass you."
The hastily chosen translator quickly translated the captain's words, and the commotion in the crowd subsided. They were all farmers and craftsmen, not the samurai and ronin Qin Mo had recruited. No one would risk their life against orcs if they could earn money peacefully.
After listening to the translator's words, everyone obediently began to collect their personal belongings. The brand-new clothes and lunch boxes reassured everyone, proving that Da Xiaqun hadn't lied to them; food and lodging were indeed provided.
Soon, the team leader, along with a group of Daxia people, delivered several large pots and a cartload of rice to the Akita production team. The Daxia people chatted with the team leader for a while before leaving, patting the young team leader on the shoulder as if to encourage him.
“We’re short-staffed right now. There’s no dedicated cook to serve you. Anyone who knows how to cook, come out and cook for yourselves, or you’ll go hungry.”
The translator's attitude was extremely arrogant, which Akita found very annoying. "This damn guy, so what if he knows the language of Great Xia? Now he acts more like a big shot than the captain."
Several bachelors were chosen to start cooking, and soon a thick porridge was ready. Everyone drank until they were full, and their stomachs, which had been tossed and turned at sea, were now full again.
We sleep on haystacks at night. There are no tatami mats here, only wood all over the mountain. Tomorrow we will start building houses and making beds, and we will have to do everything ourselves.
Akita Neji lay on the warm haystack, thinking of his nephew, unable to fall asleep for a long time. When they docked today, he didn't see Akita Shichiro's ship, nor did he know where he had been taken.
"Are you here to work or to beg? Look at you all, you poor wretch..."
Akita Neiji was awakened by a burst of cursing and hurriedly got dressed. They had slept too soundly last night, and the days at sea had left them exhausted.
"Sir... we're not here to beg. We planned to cook early so we could start working after we ate..."
"Who told you I'm Da Rao? Call me team leader! Production team leader, how can you work like this? Let me tell you, if you don't take care of your health and get sick, there are no doctors here..."
The young captain was yelling at the group of bachelors who had gotten up early to cook, while the translator was shouting from the side, leaving the Japanese completely bewildered.
"Sir... does the vice-captain mean... we can just eat today and not work?" Akita Neji stepped forward again, asking with a forced smile. As for that damned translator, he was just a yes-man and didn't care about his fellow countrymen at all.
"The prince's rule is that you don't have to work after disembarking. If you want to work, go ahead. There's plenty of wood in the woods over there, grab your axe and go chop some! As for the food..."
"Is this even fit for human consumption? Is this even fit for human consumption?" The captain grabbed the rice bag with one hand, shook it, and threw half of the rice into the boiling pot, instantly turning the thin rice porridge into a thick paste.
That wasn't all. The captain grabbed Akita Neji by the chest and lifted him up, saying fiercely, "The food over there is ten times your portion. If it's not enough, ask me for more. But if anyone starves to death or works themselves to death, you can forget about eating!"
Only after the young, clean-shaven captain had walked away did Akita rub his aching chest, still shaken. Having trained in martial arts himself, he knew how strong the captain was; he hadn't even seen how the captain had made his move.
"Akita, what do we do now?" Akita's actions had won everyone's favor, and the few bachelors who were cooking ignored the translator and asked Akita instead.
"Eat first, then do some light work. If you feel unwell, stop immediately. Let's not make trouble for ourselves."
"Oh!" everyone exclaimed happily. A cartload of grain weighs over a thousand catties. If ten out of a hundred people eat it, wouldn't each person get a catty of rice? That's a lot of rice!
"There's fish in the car, pickled fish..." With a delighted voice, Fusang Rao's appetite was completely whetted.
A hearty bowl of rice paired with a piece of pickled fish made Akita and the others feel no more resentment towards this desolate land. As for the lack of houses, there were plenty of trees over there! They were the captains, so they could chop them down as they pleased.
Seeing the Japanese people who had nothing better to do than frantically cut down trees, Liu Huaiyu really didn't know what to do. He couldn't very well scold them anymore. If they mistakenly thought that hard work was wrong, that would be no fun, and his grades would definitely be at the bottom.
Liu Huaiyu also had another name, Liu San. He was the third son in the Liu family, but unfortunately, his two older brothers died young. As the only son, he was spoiled by his parents and was a typical troublemaker.
Last year, the Crown Prince led his troops to fight the orcs, and Liu San was successfully selected thanks to his fighting skills honed over the years. Then his mother went directly to Lin Huaiyuan and Wu Shengze, and Wu Shengze quickly sent him home on the grounds that "an only son should not join the army."
This year, he wanted to apply to the Naval Academy, but his uncle, who knew about it, told his mother. Otherwise, the handsome guy would have a badass scar on his face. Liu San almost stormed out because of this, making his mother cry her heart out.
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