Chapter 226: Mulberry-Dike Fish Pond

By the time they got up the next day, many of the Suiren clan Slaves had already kicked the bucket; even though they were female, they could not escape a brutal beating, though the Baifeng tribe Soldiers did not pay much mind, merely asking about it as a matter of routine.

Originally, the other Slaves had discussed during the night that they would surely be caught and killed for doing this, but for the sake of everyone, a few people said directly that they were willing to take the blame for everyone, so the next day, when the people of the Baifeng tribe inquired, someone came forward directly to say that they were the ones who killed the person.

However, the people of the Baifeng tribe were not stupid, but they did not care that much either, merely symbolically whipping that person once; this was how it was done in all the Slave areas within the entire tribe.

Then they dragged the Suiren clan Slaves who were not yet dead into the same room, keeping them separate from the other Slaves; it was fine for a portion to die, but they could not have them all wiped out.

The Slaves who were processed could not believe they had been let off just like that, and after realizing it, they were all thanking the Baifeng tribe for their benevolence, so they worked much harder when doing their chores.

Upon returning to the tribe, Baifeng went to ask Changxu if the pigeons he had released had returned; Changxu confirmed they had already returned, and that both Yu and Wu had understood the information he sent out and had notified the tribespeople.

Baifeng was quite satisfied with this, so he told Changxu that he still had to continue working hard and expand the scale of pigeon breeding; the current number of pigeons was still too small, and Baifeng also said that he would come here to look around often so that the pigeons could recognize him, otherwise, if this flock was entirely in the hands of Changxu, it would not be a good thing for the Baifeng tribe.

The Dahu had long since thawed, and their water conservancy system had also begun to operate; the plants sown in the Fish Pond had already sprouted, and now the tribespeople did not pay much attention to the Fish Pond, because the Dahe was right at their doorstep, and the produce in the Fish Pond no longer held any attraction for the tribespeople.

Only Baifeng was still quite concerned; the Fish Pond had at least a relatively stable output, and Baifeng was now preparing to build a mulberry-dike fish pond, because his silkworms would soon be ready to hatch, and taking advantage of the fact that the mulberry leaves had not yet emerged and the dormant period of the mulberry trees had not ended, it would still be in time if they transplanted them now.

So Baifeng gathered the Slaves, first draining most of the water from the Fish Pond, and then began to clear the silt from the bottom of the pond, because there were many fish, so a lot of excrement was produced, including the natural sedimentation of the water, and the silt below was already very thick.

While draining the water, they also caught many big fish, all of which were fish that had slipped through the net in the past; there were many that weighed thirty or forty catties, and the taste of this kind of fish was very average, the meat being too thick and cottony, but fortunately, there was a lot of meat, and catching them out could also give the other fish more living space.

They first piled the cleared silt randomly around the Fish Pond, and then another group of Slaves would push the silt away, piling it onto the land above the Fish Pond, which was equivalent to laying a layer of soil with stronger fertility onto the land.

A lot of the Fish Pond silt was cleared away, though of course not all of it, because they still had to plant lotus roots inside, and if there was no mud, they would not be able to plant them.

Subsequently, they placed a layer of Grass at the water inlet and continued to let the water fill the pond; placing the Grass was for fear of blowing the silt away, which would make the Fish Pond water unable to clear for days, but once the water level rose, the Grass would not be of much use.

The Fish Pond was cleared and the mud was laid, and then Baifeng began to have people look everywhere for mulberry saplings or simply move large mulberry trees to transplant here; mulberry trees propagate quickly, and many small mulberry saplings could be found next to an old tree.

But because they were all wild, it took quite a bit of effort to find them; they had previously planted a large orchard under the city wall, which also had mulberry trees, but since they had finally taken root, it was truly not suitable to move them now.

If the mulberry trees here at the Fish Pond did not survive the transplant, they would still have to rely on them for sericulture later; the silkworm eggs Baifeng left behind were very numerous, and if they did it the same way as last year, Baifeng would surely be too busy to cope with sericulture this year, so he had to be well-prepared now.

A mulberry dike was to be made next to the Fish Pond, and a row of houses had to be built next to the mulberry dike for raising silkworms; of course, they did not need to be very good or comfortable, as long as it was a house with good ventilation.

There were many Workers in the tribe now, who were people specifically responsible for construction; by pairing them with some Slaves to help out and do trivial tasks, the speed of house construction was very fast, and Slaves could also take the opportunity to change their status by learning during the construction process.

Because Baifeng did not restrict the Slaves from learning things that were not secrets of the Baifeng tribe, as long as you could learn those jobs and work proficiently, there would always be a chance to gain freedom.

What's more, the Baifeng tribe now had a wide variety of jobs, and some technical work fell within this scope of learning; if one were too unlucky and was assigned to pure manual labor with no technical skills to speak of, then one would have to rely on an exceptionally outstanding quantity, or see if one had enough luck—for example, finding a large piece of gold while picking up cow dung, or finding some kind of mine—to change one's fate.

Under this incentive mechanism of the Baifeng tribe, the working state of the Baifeng tribe's Slaves was extremely good, even more proactive than the Baifeng tribe's own people, and there was no need for any whips or the like.

Everyone was convinced by the wisdom of the Tribal Chief, while the newly arrived Suiren clan Slaves looked ashen, dragging their soon-to-be-broken bodies and crawling slowly, feeling that being a Slave was not as good as dying early, but to their surprise, they did not see fierce Baifeng tribe Soldiers holding sticks to supervise them, nor did they see Slaves slacking off, which made them exclaim that it was impossible; even their own tribespeople were not this diligent when working.

After Baifeng arranged the matter of building the houses, the tribespeople began to plan the size on the ground at the fastest speed, then laid the foundations and built the walls; the Brick, Cement, and Tile in the tribe were all prioritized for the rooms arranged by the Tribal Chief, and even if many people's houses that should have been built were not yet finished, as long as the Tribal Chief gave the word, the materials had to be transferred over to build a room for the bugs to live in.

After the mulberry trees were all found and planted, Baifeng looked at this place and felt that raising chickens was very feasible, because with the cover of the mulberry trees, the raptors flying in the sky would find it difficult to find the chickens on the ground, and even if the chickens were seen, they would have a place to hide when natural enemies arrived.

And so, before the silkworm room was even built, Baifeng had people start building a chicken coop there as well.

Raising a portion here and not dismantling the one at the vegetable garden would allow them to raise more, and the chickens could eat the Grass and bugs in the fields, and the mulberries they did not have time to pick were also food for the chickens.

Chicken manure could fertilize the land, dead silkworms could feed the chickens, and silkworm excrement could feed the fish—a very good cycle.