As the saying goes, all things are difficult at the beginning, and things become complicated in the initial stage. However, none of us have free time during this period. Yunwen and I worked on our own for the time being and went to the hillside to supervise the finished products of the blacksmith shops in several caves. I also went back and forth to monitor the market group, the wall-building group, and the farming group several times to reduce the probability of mistakes.
At the same time, we also discovered a problem, that is, it is difficult for the hyenas to get water. They now respect me like a god and will not easily come to our backyard to get water. Therefore, we can only take a dangerous path to the downstream of the spring pool to fetch water. At that time, we took two iron buckets in the castle, and now there is just one in each group. However, considering their physique, two people must carry a bucket of water at the same time to move forward, and going to the downstream requires walking up a large steep slope. It is easy to go down but difficult to come up. In addition, it is even more difficult for two people to move forward at the same time while carrying water.
Therefore, the efficiency of both the wall-building group and the farming group has been affected. As for the water extraction problem, I still have to think of a way to solve it.
However, the hyenas are quite good at inheriting these tasks. Once taught, they rarely make mistakes. I patrolled back and forth several times and it was difficult to find problems. However, it is more difficult to make them do better. The problem mainly lies in the making of adobes. The shapes of the adobes are generally acceptable, but some are not as good as those made by human hands. There are relatively more crooked and bumpy ones, but they can be used.
The current location arrangement is roughly like this. After leaving the post station, on the left side, which is near the Diaolou Hillside, there are many fields of about half an acre. Behind this field is the flax garden. Behind the flax garden is a downhill slope. After going down the slope, you can see the downstream of the spring pool, which is where they draw water. Going further to the left from the field is the Diaolou Hillside. The east side of the post station is responsible for setting up stalls in the market, which is used to exchange goods with the mermaids and rat people.
The location for building the city wall is the north side. The location that was previously temporarily piled up with earth and stones is now beginning to be covered, improved and raised one by one. The places for digging are mostly located on the hillside below the watchtowers, where they take earth and dig it, but it is not allowed to dig a sinkhole. They will stop when they reach a certain height, and then start digging the soil next to it. This way, digging will not cause danger and someone will not fall into the bottom of the pit. The width of the digging will be expanded from the side, and in the future, it can be considered to divert water here to build a moat.
In terms of daily efficiency, the three-member wall-building team can build five or six rows a day. One row is four columns wide and the height is about two meters. This speed of progress is already the limit. After all, it is inconvenient to get water, tools are inconvenient, and the business is unfamiliar.
In this way, a day passed by and night began to fall. After a day's work, everyone was tired. It was too dark to see clearly, so I arranged to call off the work and let everyone rest.
Afterwards, Yunwen came back to the inn from the blacksmith shop. Xiaoying and Xiaochun beside her also went back. Lingshang also brought the little red foxes back. Bailu stayed in the house all the time. Now she basically did all the work in the house, including washing clothes, cooking, watering the farmland, processing food and medicinal materials, and cleaning the house. When it comes to being virtuous and capable, she is the best.
After we came back, Bai Lu was busy cooking, and the other two girls reported to me about today's situation. Yunwen said that the situation at the blacksmith shop was improving, and she planned to make a new batch of template stones, and she would decide the shape of the finished product. Lingshang reported some of the current situation outside, saying that she went to patrol the tiankeng today and found no new footprints, which showed that there was no new movement today.
After reporting the situation, Bai Lu's meal was also ready. There were four steamed buns, a plate of homemade pickles, a bowl of fish soup, and a bowl of baked potatoes. The two dishes and one soup were ordinary food, but the taste was particularly fragrant. It was just served on the table, and it was no exaggeration to say that the fragrance spread from ten miles away.
"Everyone of you has something to report, so I'm left with nothing to do." Bai Lu said.
"How could that be? What Sister Bailu does are the most important things for all of us, right Zhou Bo?" Yunwen said.
Of course I know that Bailu feels that I didn't arrange a decent position for her so that she can have a good time. Therefore, I have to flatter her so that she can feel more balanced psychologically.
"As the saying goes, food and fodder must be prepared before troops move out. You are the head of the logistics department, a very important position. How can you be idle? Don't think too much. Aren't you the one who runs around doing all the chores in the family?" I said.
Bai Lu immediately smiled and said, "That's not the case. Compared to you, the things I do are just unimportant things. They are not as important as your city construction and military intelligence."
"Sister Bailu, there is no distinction between high and low in matters of life, it's just that everyone has different responsibilities. Just like I want to do your job, but unfortunately the conditions do not allow it. I am clumsy and can't do anything." Hu Lingshang said.
After she said this, everyone burst into laughter. Although this is an indisputable fact, her serious analysis was still funny, and it also reminded me of the embarrassment of this fairy-like girl when she was working.
After hearing this, Song Bailu became even more satisfied.
At this time, there was a knock on the door outside the courtyard. Bailu took the initiative to open the door. Not long after, I saw Bailu leading a group of hyenas in. Standing in the front were Xiaoying and Xiaochun. After they came in, I saw them holding fish and potatoes, which were distributed today. They stood pitifully outside the door and did not dare to come in. They were extremely respectful to their leader and would not disturb him while eating. Therefore, they planned to stand outside and wait for us.
Yunwen used the communication ability of the Yangshen Tree to call Xiaoying and Xiaochun in and asked about the situation. The two female hyenas kept talking, and Yunwen nodded and responded slightly. Finally, she stood up and told us, "It's like this. They used to share food and have no experience of cooking for themselves. In addition, they don't know how to handle the ingredients themselves. We hope we can still follow the previous practice and distribute it."
I thought about it for a while, and then I realized why there were so many foods piled up in the hyena queen's bedroom and the castle where Yingchun lived, some of which were even stinking. In addition to their strong desire for control and abuse of their subjects, the traditional customs of the hyena people have not changed, and they all rely on the leader to distribute food. This may also be an instinct.
But it's okay. In this case, if the food is arranged in a unified manner, the quantity can be managed to avoid food waste.
"Let me respect their customs and let them hand over all the food. Yunwen and Bailu, you will be responsible for selecting it. After we finish our meal, we will make a big pot of rice and cook a meal for them. It will also be a good opportunity to see how much they eat." I said.
The cart was borrowed, so we could only pile the food in the backyard. The hyena man handed it all back, and Yunwen drew correct numbers on the wall with charcoal. There was indeed a lot of food, 32 fish, 8 giant shrimps, 13 killer crab legs, and 46 potatoes. However, these were the hyena man's meals, so we planned to put them away separately. After handing them all over, we also planned to distribute the daily food according to the amount.
"Let them prepare the lotus leaves and wait outside the courtyard gate. We will work harder today and make a meal for them after dinner. The ingredients are temporarily distributed as follows: 3 fish, 1 giant shrimp, 1.5 giant crab legs, and 5 potatoes. Let's see the effect first. At first, one crab leg was enough for a meal for the four of us, but now there are almost forty hyena people, but they are small in size and half of them are children. Let's divide their food into ten days' worth and see if it is suitable." I said.
The girls nodded, and then after we hurriedly finished our meal, we went out and began to prepare food in the open air outside the courtyard. We baked the crab legs. We split one of the crab legs in half. Baking it was not a difficult task, so Yunwen and I could do it. We crushed the huge shrimp meat and made it into balls. We made twenty of them. We put the fish and potatoes in an iron bucket, placed it on the campfire, and poured water into it to stew.
Soon the food was prepared and everyone lined up holding the lotus leaves. Yunwen asked two "maids", Xiaoying and Xiaochun, to come and help. They cut all the cooked fish into slices and placed them on the stone, mashed all the potatoes and placed them on the lotus leaves on the stone, and also served the shrimp balls. In this way, each person had a piece of fish, a piece of mashed potato, half a shrimp ball, and a large piece of crab meat, all put in the lotus leaf in their hands.
It's their lunch box.