Chapter 61: Opening Sources

'Wah~~~'

A group of women squatted before the basins, scooping up potatoes from the side and dumping them into the basins to wash.

The washed potatoes were carried to the tiered sorting machine and poured in.

The so-called tiered sorting machine was simply a net woven from iron wire.

The mesh was divided into several layers from large to small.

The washed potatoes were poured onto it, and they shook the threaded steel support rods back and forth to sort them.

Large potatoes remained on the top layer, while smaller ones fell through.

Afterward, the potatoes sorted from each layer were packed into different baskets separately and carried to the canteen.

Sorting potatoes by size was because the supply targets differed.

Large potatoes were supplied to able-bodied men, and slightly smaller ones to women.

The remaining small ones and rotten potatoes were given to the elderly and children.

If an old man or old woman who had free rides, fought with young people going to work or school over seats, and even resorted to violence came over, eating small potatoes would surely cause a huge uproar.

But this was a reasonable distribution conforming to the productivity standards of this era.

If large potatoes were given to the elderly and children, it would inevitably trigger a tragedy, and able-bodied men would use force to seize them.

Second-grade potatoes were given to women because women could work.

In this chaotic era, if anyone relied on their age to act arrogantly, there was only one outcome.

In the cruel world of Yonghe Spacetime where people were killed and sold on the spot, there was no such thing as respecting the elderly and loving the young.

When granaries are full, people know etiquette; when clothing and food are sufficient, people know honor and disgrace.

People only care about etiquette and morality when they are full.

When starving, everyone looks like a human vegetable.

Throughout the entire washing and sorting process, there were dedicated personnel supervising the whole time.

When delivered, however many potatoes there were, they had to be counted when sent out, and it must be the same number.

If even one potato was missing, everyone working here would have no food to eat.

Those caught hiding potatoes on the spot were dragged out directly and hung on mangrove poles for public display.

Even stealing potatoes that cost two mao per jin was a capital crime in this era.

Basket after basket of potatoes was sent to the canteen, and the cooks poured them into large pots to boil in plain water.

Besides a handful of salt, there were no other seasonings.

After boiling for two quarters of an hour, the potatoes were fished out, counted, and distributed according to different Baojia Areas.

Similarly, there was always someone supervising the entire process at the canteen.

If any were missing, everyone would go hungry together.

The rules Lin Dao set were just that simple and brutal.

He had no energy to assign people to investigate cases, so he simply cut it off at the source.

If you don't want to go hungry, then open your eyes wide and watch closely.

The Bao Zhang Jia Long of each district in the Xinfu Refugee Settlement outside the city brought their district's Dingzhuang to receive the baskets of potatoes, signed and affixed their seals after counting the quantity.

From this point on, the safety of this grain was handed over to the Bao Zhang Jia Long and the transporting Civilian Laborers.

As for embezzlement during transportation.

In recent days, several incidents had indeed occurred.

When the matter was reported to Lin Dao, he only said one sentence: "Those who commit crimes shall all be handled by their own Baojia."

Those who stole potatoes during transportation were all beaten to death by their own Baojia and Jia.

The corpses were hung on mangrove poles to warn others.

For these refugees who had long been in a state of famine, grain was their life!

Stealing their rations was taking their lives.

The reason the refugees hadn't been dragged to the chopping block was because the Lord suppressed them with strict prohibition.

The Bao Zhang Jia Long and Dingzhuang escorted carts full of potatoes all the way back to their own Baojia.

Distributed one by one according to the registration roster.

Refugees of Xinfu received one potato each morning and evening per person.

The nutritional value of potatoes was very high.

Starch could replenish sugar, as well as carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, and so on.

Enough to sustain life.

If there was a woman in the family, the woman came to collect.

If there was no woman in the family, only the elderly and children, then the elderly and children came to collect.

If they were bachelors, then they could only collect it themselves.

The bachelors, after receiving potatoes, were too lazy to return to their Dizhu and simply squatted by the side to eat.

The Bao Zhang Jia Long watched these bachelors with vigilant eyes.

These people had nothing and no attachments.

They really dared to do anything.

Fortunately, the Yingjun were strict in this regard.

In recent days, various incidents occurred every day in the settlement area.

Robbery was the lighter offense.

Extortion, insulting women, brawling and injuring people, and even malicious acts of killing lives were commonplace.

Fortunately, the Relief Army never indulged them.

Every time, they sent armored soldiers to suppress them by force.

The lucky ones were struck on the head by the soldiers' hammers and fell asleep on the spot.

The unlucky ones were struck by shortened threaded steel, their bones broken and tendons torn, dragged away by their hair, hung on wooden poles, and still not taken down to this day.

With sufficient warning, the security situation in the refugee gathering area outside the city also improved greatly.

The bachelors held small half-jin potatoes and ate them down with the skins.

After eating they still felt hungry, but only dared to stare fixedly at the potatoes in others' hands.

Previously someone dared to rob, but those people are now all drying in the wind.

"Eldest brother."

A half-grown child looked at his brother, whose face was full of vegetable colors, "Not enough to eat~"

Someone beside laughed and said, "Want to eat enough? Go carry coal."

"Not only can you eat your fill, you can also eat meat."

The elder brother turned his head to look, his gaze icy cold.

That person didn't care at all, "Want to eat a full meal? Either go be a Regular Soldier, wait until battle time to take a Hu person's head, and convert to Regular Soldier Military Household."

"Or go mine coal underground."

"Stay here, and you'll just scrape by without starving."

The elder brother fell silent for a moment, "Why don't you go?"

That person slowly spoke, "I went, people said I have an evil illness, they won't take me."

The elder brother stood up, pulled his younger brother, and left.

"Eldest brother, where are we going?"

"Go mine coal."

The younger brother hesitated, "Eldest brother, I want to be a Regular Soldier, I want to avenge our parents."

The elder brother stamped his foot, widened his eyes, and stared at his younger brother, "Do you know, to become a Military Household you must take a Hu person's head!"

"Hu people are not so easy to kill!"

"Don't forget, a hundred-plus Hu people slaughtered our entire Weichang!"

He gripped his younger brother's hand, "With something to eat there is strength, we go mine coal, we can also eat a full meal."

There are not a few coal mines around Xiangguo City.

The mined coal is mainly used as living fuel.

After all, the surrounding trees have long been chopped down, coal is the only fuel source that can be obtained on a large scale.

The surplus coal is stored, and when the quantity is large enough, Lin Dao transports it back to Xian Dai Shi Kong to sell.

Compared to gold, silver, and pearls, mineral resources and timber are the most stable source of income.

Mineral mining is difficult, and insufficient quantity is also hard to sell.

As for timber, there really isn't much left on the Hebei Plain, which has been developed for a thousand years.

Either the great forests of the northeast, or the great mountains to the south, or the Taihang Mountains.

Before the mineral business reaches scale, Lin Dao mainly relies on exchanging seized valuable goods for funds.

Xian Dai Shi Kong, Hai Gang Cheng, Xin Sheng Tang.

Inside the Ke Shi, Lin Dao put down his tea bowl and opened his backpack zipper.

The Manager sitting opposite and the seated physician exchanged glances, both with joy in their eyes.

This Lin Sheng is their old friend.

The goods he brings are all top-quality Good Things.

They are very much looking forward to what treasure it is this time.

Similarly wrapped in silk lining.

After opening, it is a piece half the size of a palm, somewhat flat and round, with something covered in short fluff all over.

A layman seeing it naturally cannot understand.

But the Manager and physician are insiders, and understood what it is at a glance.

"Musk?!"

"Picked up." Lin Dao reached out to signal, "Take a look."

The physician's expression was serious, he put on gloves and stepped forward to inspect.

After observing for a while, he took tweezers, pried open the hair shell, and from inside pinched out a gray granule similar to a small stone.

First looking, then leaning in to smell.

The physician's expression changed slightly, "Wild?"

Lin Dao, leaning on the sofa, held his tea bowl and sipped some water, "Picked up, not sure."

Wild musk and artificially farmed musk differ greatly in price.

Musk taken from artificial farming basically costs a few hundred per gram.

While wild musk costs as high as tens of thousands per gram!

The Manager subconsciously looked at the physician, but the physician slightly shook his head.

People say it's picked up and they're not sure, just listen to this, don't take it seriously.

If you really want to buy wild goods at artificially farmed prices, this deal can't be done.

Do you really think people are fools?

The Manager came back to himself, rubbing his hands and smiling, "Lin Sheng, then we'll open the shell."

Lin Dao nodded. "Please."

The outer layer of the musk is called the hair shell.

The true musk is the musk kernel inside the hair shell.

Open the hair shell, take out the musk kernel inside, and put it on the scale.

"Twelve point eight grams." The Manager spoke at once. "Round it to thirteen grams."

"Fifty thousand per gram. Is Mr. Lin satisfied?"

"No rush." Lin Dao set down the tea bowl, reached into his backpack, and took out ten-plus hair-shell musk wrapped in silk.

The tweezers in the physician's hand clattered onto the desk.

The Manager's face flushed red, sweat beading on his forehead; he fished out a handkerchief and wiped it.

This is too much!

"They were all picked up."

Lin Dao signaled. "Weigh them."

The Manager rose awkwardly. "Mr. Lin, I need to ask the boss's opinion."

It's not that he dares not accept; he's worried the source might be problematic and he'll get implicated later.

He returned to his office and reported the matter to the boss.

After a good while, the boss called him back.

"Checked. No report filed. Take them all."

Sixteen pieces of hair-shell musk in total, yielding two hundred seventeen grams of musk kernel altogether.

Rounded to two hundred twenty grams, total price eleven million.

Among the Four Famous Aromatics, musk has the least weight, yet its unit price is the highest.

After Lin Dao left, the resident physician asked in confusion, "What exactly is this Mr. Lin's background?"

"First hundred-year wild ginseng, then a large piece of ambergris, now so much musk."

"Where do all these rare and precious medicinal herbs come from?"

The Manager instructed in a low voice, "We do the prepared-medicine business."

"Good things — just put them in storage."

"As for the source, don't ask so much."

Lin Dao drove to the Company and handed it to Finance for bookkeeping.

The subsequent payments for various orders, the final payment from South Africa for purchasing scrap gold mines — in an instant, more than half was gone.

"Peter." Lin Dao instructed the staff. "Kwun Chung Wharf side — go rent a warehouse."

"A remote location doesn't matter."

The types of goods moving in and out are increasing, and the quantities are growing larger.

Can't keep hiding cargo destinations with paperwork like before; must truly declare customs and book shipping space for transport.

Hai Gang Cheng side also needs a warehouse.

With these arranged, Lin Dao sat in his chair, eyes closed, resting his spirit.

"Scrap gold mine secured. Next is the supply source."

"Yonghe Spacetime — where is the most gold?"

"Ye City!"

(End of Chapter)