Chapter 692: Three Thousand Laborers

In the evening, everyone rested well and went to attend the gathering. The Xuanyuan Tribe did not have that much gourmet food to eat, but for those people in the Construction Team, they could eat meat to their hearts' content. With various kinds of meat and different ways of preparation, their mouths were dripping with oil. To make the atmosphere more pleasant, everyone brought out the fine Wine brought from Huaxia and drank heartily with everyone.

Xuanyuan also learned the Huaxia model; numerous musicians performed in turns. They no longer only performed sacrificial duties, as entertaining people had also become a part of their work. The ordinary people of the Xuanyuan Tribe finally felt a joyful atmosphere for once.

However, this celebration did not last too long, and everyone knew when to stop. After all, there was not much meat for ordinary people to eat; only the high-ranking officials and guests could eat to their fill. There was not much Wine either. Once they had eaten and drunk their fill and danced, everyone felt tired, and the celebration ended.

The people of the Construction Team went back to have a good rest, preparing to start work the next day.

After the Navy unloaded all the cargo, they prepared to set off. However, Xuanyuan also sent two envoys to discuss the matter of building a Matou with Baifeng, and at the same time, to ask about what was going on with the icebergs in the Dahe.

One of the envoys was Dahong, and the other could not be considered an important figure; everything was led by Dahong.

At the same time, Baifeng hired three thousand Laborers from the Xuanyuan Tribe to go to Huaxia to work. Xuanyuan also selected three thousand from his tribesmen; these three thousand people would not cause any impact on the Xuanyuan Tribe.

The grain had already been planted in the fields. According to the simple farming techniques taught to them by Huaxia, the fields needed weeding—that is, using a small shovel to dig up all the unwanted wild Grass in the fields so as not to affect the growth of the grain.

This work looked very tedious, but it did not take much effort; women could complete it. The tools for weeding did not need to be made of Iron; even a polished and sharpened bamboo or wood chip could do the job. Therefore, in the current Xuanyuan Tribe, there was still some surplus labor.

According to Dahong's view, even if Huaxia hired another ten thousand people, the Xuanyuan Tribe could fully handle it. However, Baifeng did not need that many; the cost of food and wages for ten thousand people was still a bit too high.

This time, he hired Laborers from the Xuanyuan Tribe to carry out comprehensive construction on Xiao Town. He was not afraid of Xiao Town being exposed to the eyes of the Xuanyuan Tribe. It was an indisputable fact that the Xuanyuan Tribe had its own salt mines. A tribe that did not lack salt had no need to tear its face with a brother tribe over a place that looked like a salt mine.

Those Laborers also had to be strictly controlled and could not wander around the territory of Xiao Town at will. The reason could be to protect their safety; after all, leaving the protection of Soldiers and going alone into a wilderness was truly too dangerous.

Even if they saw the Saltpeter Mine, with their knowledge, they would not be able to distinguish the difference between saltpeter and salt. They might only think that Huaxia was developing another territory with salt and would not be able to truly realize the significance of saltpeter to Huaxia.

The Large Ship, which was already fully loaded, still could not carry everyone, so the Xuanyuan Tribe had to send out a portion of their own Boats to transport the Laborers to Huaxia.

The Laborers did not know their specific tasks. At first, they thought they had been sold to Huaxia, but Dahong personally came forward to explain, saying: "You are not being sold to Huaxia, you are just working in Huaxia to exchange for grain. When the weather gets cold, or when all the work is finished, they will send you back. Your families will all be able to reunite."

"You also don't need to be afraid that you will be treated as Slaves when you go there. Huaxia will treat you just like they treat their own tribesmen; you don't need to worry about this at all. Moreover, Huaxia will ensure that you can eat two meals a day and let you eat your fill. They will also solve the problem of where you live. In the wilderness, they will even send Soldiers to protect your safety so that you are not attacked by wild beasts."

"As long as you follow Huaxia's arrangements, there will be no problems at all. Huaxia has many rules, and you must obey them. Otherwise, you will be sent back. If the mistakes you commit are serious, our tribe will also punish you. Remember one more thing: when you finish your work and return to the tribe, the tribe will reward you with some extra grain, ensuring that those of you who stay and work in our tribe will receive more grain."

With Dahong's endorsement, the tribesmen of the Xuanyuan Tribe were clearly much more settled. Especially after hearing about the extra grain reward, they were even a bit happy. Along the way, the attitude of the Huaxia people toward them was also quite good, completely different from how they treated Slaves.

Except for not letting them enter certain parts of the Boat and not letting them move things on the Boat at will, there were no special instructions. They even reminded them to pay attention to safety when they were vomiting on the deck. After spending a long time together, the people of the Xuanyuan Tribe had no hostility at all toward these Navy members of Huaxia.

The biggest requirement Huaxia had for these Laborers was to prohibit theft and robbery. Even if the target was their own tribesmen, Huaxia would judge them to have committed a serious fault and send them directly back to the Xuanyuan Tribe.

What Huaxia needed to guard against most was the theft of their own Weapons and grain seeds. As long as there were many people from the Xuanyuan Tribe, things like the theft of grain seeds were hard to avoid. Fortunately, the places the Laborers needed to go were far away from Huaxia City and Lema City, so they could not come into contact with the farmland.

However, after entering the wilderness, the evil of human nature would be infinitely magnified. Huaxia also knew that the current Xuanyuan Tribe had no laws, so their tribesmen had no concept of obeying the law. Therefore, starting from now on the Boat, they had to be taught to give them some basic concepts so that subsequent problems could be avoided.

As for the wages, Huaxia certainly gave them, but because they were not people of Huaxia, their wages were half less than those of Huaxia tenant farmers. But since food and housing were provided, the Xuanyuan Tribe did not complain that it was too little.

Everyone's wages were settled monthly. Because there were no professional talents among them, they were all calculated at the price of manual laborers, and the price given to each person was the same.

This time, Huaxia paid half a month's wages in advance, and from then on, it would be settled monthly—given after a month of work was completed. The Xuanyuan Tribe also agreed.

The Xuanyuan Tribe did not inform them of the existence of wages. Everyone's wages were handed over directly by Huaxia to the Xuanyuan Tribe. How they were distributed in the end was none of Huaxia's business. This was not wrong either; after all, the people belonged to the Xuanyuan Tribe. Even if the Xuanyuan Tribe sold them, they could not have any objections, and using them to earn grain was even less of a matter.