The weak scholar in the end of ancient times

Chapter 9: Burning the Wasteland
The village chief was eagerly waiting for Wen Gu to come back. He felt relieved when he heard Wen Gu say that the Taoist priest had other plans and would not let them suffer any loss.

Not a doubt at all.

They are still in awe of Master Qing Yi.

But there are so many people in the village who need to make a living, so he always has to consider the village more.

Wen Gu helped them to find out what the Taoist priest was thinking, and they were willing to talk to Wen Gu more about their next plans.

Now that the time has come, they can no longer stay in the village. They need to go out and search the town for the necessary building materials and supplies to prepare for the construction of the fort.

As for which day to take action, it depends on the weather.

If the weather is suitable, we need to clear the wild obstacles and roughly screen the obstacles along the way from the village to the town.

The method is very simple - burn the wasteland.

The villagers have lived off the land for generations and are no strangers to burning wasteland. They have different experiences dealing with burning wasteland in spring and autumn.

Now, they do the preliminary preparations first.

Copper coins are no longer as valuable as they once were, and people in the village now barter or do things in exchange for them.

However, the work ahead was much more complex, involving many more people, and difficult to count. The leaders were at a loss as to how to arrange it.

Wen Gu suggested: "Why not record work points? Calculate the pay points based on the amount of labor and working hours, and distribute the village income based on the points."

Now the supplies are under the collective management of the village, and the people in charge are not stupid, so we can try this method for now.

Suggestions were made after reviewing the past, points were awarded according to merit, and correct characters were counted.

Too many numbers and symbols may not be suitable here, and drawing correct characters is more in line with the people's sentiments.

All the village needs is a fair, literate person to take on this position.

After hearing this, the leaders agreed that it was feasible. It was like replacing the traditional copper coins with a more practical "currency." How much one could earn depended entirely on their achievements.

But there is controversy over the selection of candidates.

Recording work points is equivalent to managing everyone's money, just like the accountant in a restaurant.

Then this accountant must be carefully selected. He is in charge of all our money. If he is partial or embezzles our money...

No matter what, your own money cannot be underestimated!
Even though there aren't many kinds of supplies in the village now, there are a lot of things to do. Especially at times like this, the accounts must be clear, otherwise disputes will lead to bloodshed.

Suddenly, the house became lively.

When it comes to money, everyone's chaotic thoughts immediately become clear. Everyone has their own thoughts and preferences for the candidates they prefer.

I was just keeping accounts, not copying books, so the knowledge required wasn't that high. Who couldn't draw the character "正" (correct)? Even if I couldn't, I could go back and learn it; it wasn't difficult.

After Wen Gu made his suggestion, he sat there quietly, holding his herbal tea and watching.

Listen to the candidates suggested by several leaders and compare them with people you know. This is also a way to get to know the villagers.

There are quite a lot of candidates, which means there are many talented people in the village. Why do they just stay at home all the time? They should go out and do something!

After several people in charge argued, the best candidate was found -

Zhang Xin, the nephew of Zhang Erzhuang, the former accountant of the county restaurant and current village accountant and storyteller.

Xiao Zhang is fifteen or sixteen years old. People in the village say that he has become stupid because of reading too much. He is rigid, pedantic and inflexible.

In the past, people would have said that this was just the spirit of a scholar, but now the world has changed, and it is just like this. If it weren't for his uncle Zhang Erzhuang taking care of him, he wouldn't be alive today.

Zhang Xin is slightly better at mathematics than his peers. He used to live in the county town and came to the village for refuge. He couldn't communicate with the villagers.

After making the decision, they called Zhang Erzhuang and Zhang Xin.

The Zhang family had left the village for many years and came back to seek refuge. They had always acted cautiously, but were suddenly called by several people in charge. They were confused and worried.

Wait till you know the details, you will be pleasantly surprised.

Just record the work points, no need to move things, and no need to fight those monsters. What a leisurely job!

Zhang Erzhuan thought that his nephew had a straightforward personality and was easily offended, so he said, "Why don't I take over this job in the early stages, and let him learn by following me?"

The leaders present looked at Zhang Erzhuang, who seemed more shrewd, and then all looked at Zhang Xin, who was standing next to him with a dull face.

In other matters, everyone would of course think that the experienced Zhang Erzhuang was more reliable, but in this matter, everyone sided with this honest and dull nephew.

Be stubborn!

It has to be rigid!

Be honest!

It must be what it is, not a single bit wrong!
Zhang Erzhuang: “…”

Well, at least this job was gotten by my nephew. As long as he does this job well, his family will have a foothold in the village.

Compared to this job that many people covet, Zhang Xin's attention is more on Wen Gu standing next to him.

Wen Gu put down his teacup and stood up, first learning a set of etiquette between scholars.

Zhang Xin was so excited that tears filled his eyes, and he seemed to be back in school.

When I came to my senses, I was filled with disappointment again.

The villagers didn't care about these "pedantic etiquette", and after a long time, he almost forgot his identity as a scholar.

The village chief explained the scoring process to him and asked him, "Do you have any questions or comments about this?"

Zhang Xin, who had just been helped by Wen Gu to regain his youthful spirit as a scholar, was so excited that his face turned red. He swept away his previous dejection and felt a surge of heroic spirit in his heart.

"No objection! I read the books of the sages and should serve the people!"

As the accountant Xiao Zhang left, he looked very energetic and confident.

Finalized the scorekeeper.

The people in the room continued to discuss, occasionally asking Wen Gu for his opinion. This scholar was indeed capable of solving difficult problems.

Talking about building bricks and stones, Wen Gu asked them:

“Has the village considered building an earth brick kiln?”

The village chief had actually thought about it before, but he shook his head and said, "It's not worth it."

Baking bricks and making earthenware require contact with water and mud, and evil plague and poisonous insects are more active in water. The villagers dare not approach those wet mud pits and puddles, let alone dig mud to make bricks.

Firewood had to be used sparingly, but it was too much to bear. Instead, it would have been better to go directly to town and remove some bricks and bring them back.

Wen Gu nodded in agreement.

The village is still too small.

Even if they have the technology, the villagers have no experience in building earthen brick kilns and have to grope their way through it. The time-consuming and labor-intensive process of making something may not be good, and there is also the risk of being possessed by evil spirits.

There are not many people to begin with, so it is really unnecessary to waste more population on this.

In comparison, when the temperature drops, they can just go to town and bring back a few truckloads of bricks and stones, which is enough.

Wen Gu asked again, "Have you ever thought about moving to town? The houses in town are better."

As a commercial settlement under the county, the town has frequent trade with the county seat and surrounding villages.

The houses built by the rich families in the town were made of blue bricks, which were much better than the thatched houses in the village.

"At first, some people did want to move to the town, but then the Taoist priest said there was a lot of evil spirits there, so they all gave up the idea."

The village chief smiled and said, "Once our village builds a fort, it will definitely be safer than the town!"

There is another reason for not going to the town. They are familiar with the area around the village. If they encounter an emergency, they know where to hide.

The town's topography isn't ideal for defense. There are roads on all sides, making it easier for villages to get to the town. But it doesn't have walls like a county town, so living there isn't very safe.

Wen Gu listened carefully to the ideas of local residents and observed their ways of doing things, which helped him better integrate into this world.

After the matter was discussed, Wen Gu walked out of the village chief's house. Liu the hunter also came out at that time. Wen Gu stopped Liu the hunter and asked about the situation in the town.

Hunter Liu was more familiar with the town closest to the village, having searched there before for rice and other daily necessities.

"In fact, most of the food the village has stored now was collected from other nearby villages," said Liu the hunter. "After the chaos started outside, we only went into the town with the Taoist priest when he first arrived."

He told Wen Gu that there were many people in the town who were possessed by evil spirits, which made it even more dangerous, so they had to be fully prepared.

As he was speaking, Wen Gu looked up and saw a falcon flying overhead.

"Is that the falcon you, Hunter Liu, tamed?"

"Yes." Hunter Liu was quite proud of this.

This is one of the hunting skills passed down through generations in his family. Some people train hunting dogs, but he trains falcons.

When a falcon flies in the air, it can tell whether there are prey, danger or unknown situations around it.

Hunter Liu had trained birds for the children of wealthy families in the town and the county, so he knew a little about the situation.

Rich families also kept flying slaves, also known as carrier pigeons, to deliver messages, so when he trained his falcons, he told them not to catch carrier pigeons.

Hunter Liu said: "They usually don't catch pigeons... unless they can't help it."

When the world first began to fall into chaos, perhaps because the situation was critical, communications were frequent from all sides, and pigeons could be seen flying in all directions in the sky every day.

Hunter Liu couldn't help but catch a few falcons.

There are flying slaves used by the nobles to communicate.

It was from the information he got there that he knew chaos was about to break out and that an evil plague was spreading.

After the village chief was secretly informed of this matter, he immediately asked his grandson Dou Miao, who was an apprentice at the county medicine store, to come back. Hunter Liu took two villagers with him to pick up the person, and bought some medicinal herbs that were not available in the mountains in the county and town.

Wen Gu was moved as he listened to Liu the Hunter's story.

But that is Lao Liu's sweetheart.

What else? Seize the falcon?
He said, "It's great that it can provide early warning and send messages. Are there any other birds like this? I want to take one north with me."

Hunter Liu said bluntly: "Even if there are, they need to be tamed by someone special. You can't control them."

Wen Gu asked him, "Is there no other way?"

Liu the Hunter's eyes flashed, but he didn't say anything immediately, but he definitely had some ideas.

……

The villagers observed the weather and wind direction every day and finally waited for the right time to burn the weeds.

On this day, everyone in the village went out.

When doing big things, you need a sense of ritual.

First, please ask the Taoist priest to open the altar and perform the ritual.

Then mobilize the villagers and boost morale.

Under the influence of the storybook, the villagers were indeed not as flustered and confused as before when they went out. Each family had divided up their tasks and had a clear purpose.

Wen Gu looked at the fields ahead that were invaded by weeds.

The grass and trees that grew wildly in spring and summer became withered, and the poisonous insects, rats and ants in the wild gradually retreated.

Looking around, large areas of plants have turned withered and yellow.

Taoist Qingyi, who had just finished a ritual, saw Wen Gu staring ahead and looked over. He saw nothing unusual.

What kind of evil idea is this damn scholar thinking of?

The Taoist priest asked, "What are you thinking about?"

Wen Gu said, "When I was traveling and studying, I heard that there was some kind of light skill that could allow one to fly directly over these weeds."

Taoist Qingyi: "..."

Hunter Xiao Liu, who was eavesdropping nearby, asked: "There's such a technique? How do you fly?"

Wen Gu said: "Walk on the leaves, or step on your left foot and then your right foot to the sky, can you fly over?"

Hunter Xiao Liu's eyes lit up: "How could such a magical skill exist in this world?!"

Taoist Qingyi: "..."

What on earth are you studying while you're studying abroad, you idiot?!

More bullshit than me!!!

(End of this chapter)