She Came to Heal, Stayed to Conquer

”Mr. Wang, how’s the recruitment going for the rest of the people?”

”As soon as the notice was posted yesterday, people started asking about it. Today, when we opened, even more came; we’ve registered dozens of people by now. Most of them are craftsmen and farmers; only two cooks showed up.”

Mr. Wang quickly handed the registration records over to Han Lei to review. Han Lei took a look; it was all in traditional characters, written messily, like scrawls she couldn’t read at all.

In this era, educational resources were scarce and mostly monopolized by wealthy families; not many people could read and write. Perhaps Mr. Wang became a shopkeeper for over a decade because he was literate.

Han Lei called over Squad Leader Xiao Yi, instructed him to tell County Magistrate Luo to send a couple of literate clerks to assist with registration. Then, she asked Mr. Wang to gather all the registered craftsmen and farmers because work would start today.

Among the craftsmen, there were five or six masons skilled in wall building and stove setting. Additionally, there were ten or so carpenters who could make furniture and potters skilled in ceramics.

Zhao Zun and Luo Hai wandered around the restaurant and came out to praise Han Lei’s good eye for its location selection. Then they took her on a carriage ride to see the wasteland chosen for her.

Since running a pig farm and farming required a reliable water source, Luo Hai specially selected a large piece of wasteland by a small river for Han Lei. The land was uneven and hilly but added up to six or seven hundred acres. Having never been cultivated before, it was strewn with stones of all sizes.

The little river was over twenty meters wide, with a substantial water flow, making this the ideal site for a pig farm. Most importantly, it wasn’t far from the county town; a one-way carriage ride took less than an hour, making travel convenient.

”Mr. Luo, I’ll take all of this wasteland,” Han Lei was very satisfied.

”Alright! Tomorrow, the land contract and documents will be delivered to you,” Luo Hai agreed, nodding. He couldn’t help but be surprised, thinking Han Lei would at most cultivate one or two hundred acres, not expecting her to take on seven or eight hundred acres in one go.

”Mr. Luo, it’s almost noon. You should go back to eat and rest; we’ll take care of this. Please arrange for the wounded soldiers in Squad Xiao to hire carriages and bring the recruited people here.”

”Okay, you all keep busy, and I will head back first. Tomorrow, I’ll bring relevant personnel from the county office to assist.”

After Luo Hai left, Han Lei also boarded the carriage and bought many steamed buns from the system, distributing them to everyone. After filling their stomachs, Han Lei took out knives and saws from the carriage, distributing one to each person, sending them up the mountain to chop bamboo and wood.

Once everyone went up the mountain, Han Lei took Zhao Zun to a small hillside.

Han Lei purchased many bulk bags of cement and a large number of tools from the system, stacking them behind the hillside. To facilitate transporting heavy goods, she also bought over ten wooden carts and wheelbarrows.

Not having a foothold here, she dared not use tools too far removed from this era, even cement seemed remarkably outlandish to her.

Zhao Zun, on the other hand, was accustomed to it. With him lending a hand, Han Lei began plotting and marking lines using tools and lime.

Near the river, there was a stretch of rocky ground like a rocky desert. Here, Han Lei marked twenty acres for the pig farm, connected with six parallel square-shaped simple cesspools, each about one hundred square meters, for temporarily storing pig waste for anaerobic decomposition, used as fertilizer to enrich the land.

Every simple cesspool connected to the pig farm using ditches, with the six pools rotating in use and decomposition. This solved both the pig farm’s waste disposal and the land’s fertilizer needs.

Of course, pig manure alone wouldn’t suffice for hundreds of acres; it could only improve the soil quality of barren land.

The newly cultivated wasteland was now irrigated with decomposed farm manure, ready for crop planting come spring.

For the convenience of watering each plot, Han Lei not only planned the location of ditches to draw water from the river but also planned road locations to facilitate passage and transport of crops.

For the restaurant’s preliminary efforts, Han Lei planned to cook dishes using pre-packaged seasoning. For future supply, she marked off ten acres near the mountainside for planting chili peppers, Sichuan pepper, star anise, galangal, and cardamom as spices.

Around three in the afternoon, the recruited people arrived one after another under the protection of the wounded soldiers from Squad Xiao; including those who later joined and went up the mountain to chop bamboo and wood, there were nearly two hundred people. Han Lei was surprised to have gathered so many people in just half a day.

In modern times, she’d often heard of labor shortages. Here, it seemed like that wasn’t an issue at all.

Han Lei began dividing tasks.

The recruited men all used bamboo and wood to set up straw sheds. Across the wasteland, five straw shed sites were planned, each occupying about two hundred square meters, used as dining halls and temporary rest areas for everyone.

The women and children were responsible for picking up stones of varying sizes on the ground and putting them into baskets. Then, the wounded soldiers from Squad Da used wooden carts and wheelbarrows to transport them to the pig farm’s location and the proposed site for dormitories.

The wasteland was inherently uneven, with many stones set in the ground. Due to the fewer women and children, their progress was slower. Meanwhile, the men’s work progressed much faster due to handy tools and larger numbers.

Wooden carts and wheelbarrows shuttled back and forth over the wasteland. Eager for the monthly wages of one or two silver, men and women, young and old, exerted all their strength, working zealously.

By sunset, the men had already erected two straw sheds, and the women had cleared several acres of stones.

Han Lei reentered the carriage, purchasing numerous solar lights from the system, and asked Zhao Zun and Ping Chuan to help hang them on tree branches and bamboo poles of the straw sheds.

Zhao Zun was also inspired by the bustling scene; upon hearing Han Lei’s instruction, he and Ping Chuan immediately grabbed baskets to load with solar lights. After Han Lei instructed them on usage, the two cheerfully joined the laborious effort, while Han Lei prepared ample steamed buns for everyone in the carriage.

The sun disappeared behind the mountain, drawing the final ray of light as night fell.

When Zhao Zun and Ping Chuan switched on the solar lights one by one, the bright beams illuminated the wasteland, making it as bright as day, prompting cries of amazement from the workers.

”Wow, look at that! My goodness, how is it glowing?”

”Could it be those precious luminous pearls only important folks possess?”

”To hang so many Luminous Pearls, it must cost quite a bit!”

”Hah! I’ve heard Luminous Pearls only exist in the Imperial Palace, and can’t be bought even with silver.”

”Wow, such huge Luminous Pearls!”

”I never thought I’d witness Luminous Pearls in my lifetime!”

”The Luminous Pearls shine so bright, like the sun.”

Under the bright rays, exclamations and praises erupted continuously.

”Hehehe...”

Zhao Zun and Ping Chuan exchanged glances, sharing a knowing smile.

They really enjoyed watching these people display their lack of insight.