Chapter 23 City Wall

Pig raising is troublesome work, they eat most anything but in an era without pig feed, having them grow fat is very difficult. Farmer families usually just feed them ragweed. Those with better conditions feed them husks as well. From spring to autumn if there are milk starch grass they would pick some for the pigs. Milk starch grass, or in other words the dandelion, has a long growing period. But now with so many fleeing people, by spring’s arrival it would have all been picked and eaten by refugees.

Now that Lin Yuan is raising pigs, he feeds them ragweed and bean curd.

Nowadays, bean curd is considered a good source of food so the people on the farmstead feels heartache at the same time they are wishing the pig to grow fatter.

Some young boys, like Er Liang and Gou zi went to the river to gather snails to feed the pigs.

Because of castration, the two pigs are not as lively, as for putting on fat, for the time being Lin Yuan cannot see anything yet.

Er Liang and Gou zi both quite like the pigs, but Er Liang still needs to serve Lin Yuan so normally only Gou zi follows along the pig carers to pick ragweed.

When Er Liang has free time they would gather snails together.

Lin Yuan in truth has a craving for snails, but there aren’t any spices or condiments now. Just adding salt and vinegar is not enough to get rid of the dirt and fishy flavor. No one is willing to eat it now but in the modern days snails with some chili oil and sticky chili bean sauce, a sprinkle of scallions and ginger, add some soy sauce, all stir fried together, it is incredibly fragrant.

But now no one eats it at all.

They have yet to come to a dead end so no one is willing to eat it.

But pigs are not picky, having something to eat is enough. Every half a month Lin Yuan would go see them, after all he has a craving for meat as well. After 4 to 5 times of making sure the pigs are growing well he no longer worried.

As for what would have them grow fatter Lin Yuan still could not be sure. The conditions now are lacking so taking only a year to raise them is already a good thing.

If it truly takes 2 to 3 years Lin Yuan could only give up on the endeavor.

Other than pigs, they had also bought 20 or so of chickens, 10 hens to lay eggs and one rooster for breeding. All the rest are chicken raised for meat. The eggs rely on the hens to incubate and it would be lucky for one or two to be hatched. A hen lays one egg per day, on lucky days they lay two a day.

Eggs can be stored for awhile, so they are basically stored for a week so that everyone can receive a share, with those doing outstanding work getting more.

As for shabby work——there weren’t any.

They all cherish their current days on the farmstead where they will have food to eat if they work and the landowner does not dock their rations.

If they were to slack off, angering the landowner, they would then be thrown out. They are very clear on what kind of life is waiting outside for them.

Recently, Lin Yuan is quite idle, with nothing to do he began to teach people how to read and write simplified characters.

Traditional Chinese characters have a greater difficulty and must be learned by rote from a young age of 3 to 4.

Lin Yuan feels teaching them traditional characters would be too difficult, after all without the original owner’s memories he could only read and not write traditional characters.

Writing simplified characters is much more convenient and suitable for uneducated people to learn.

Pursuing scholarship in ancient times has a high threshold. Aside from the four treasures of study (TN: pen, ink, paper and ink-stone) being expensive there is also the payment for the teacher. Ancient people pay particular attention to the belief that a teacher for a day is the same as a father for a lifetime. When your teacher grows old, you as the student must provide for his retirement.

The cost of having an education is too high.

When they heard that Boss will teach them to read and write no one could understand.

“What read and write?”

“I have never seen farmers read and write.”

“That’s right, our ancestors do not know how to read and write, but they still lived their days?”

There were some who said impatiently:”Say that to Boss.”

“How come you don’t go.”

“Why should I?”

“Then I won’t go either.”

Lin Yuan used a burnt charcoal stick to write words on the wall, teaching them simply:”This is the character for mouth, it looks like the shape of a open mouth.”

This one is easy.

“Just a circle! How convenient!”

“Ai, I also now know a word?”

“I remembered it, I can definitely write it!”

Lin Yuan also taught them:”This is ‘person’, there is no head or arms, only two legs.”

Because Lin Yuan taught simple characters that can be remembered easily, it gave them some confidence. As long as they realize that it is not as hard as they thought then they won’t have an unwilling mindset. Lin Yuan also does not plan to have them recognize a lot of words, just 300 words is enough to satisfy daily needs.

Back in the days when China conducted activities to wipe out illiteracy, recognizing less than 500 words is considered illiterate, above 500 and under 1000 is half an illiterate.

Wiping out illiteracy is not going to be possible, Lin Yuan thinks he does not have such a large capability.

But, some of these people remember words quicker, sure enough even learning to read requires talent.

The weather gradually warmed and the wild beasts in the woods also begin to increase in activity. Brother Dao leads a small team everyday to create traps and often there are catches. The biggest catch were a mountain goat and a deer. With the weather warmer they could not store fresh meat so the viscera was all eaten the day of the catch while half the meat was made into bacon and another half stewed in a pot for communal feeding.

Fishing also yielded several fishes each day and were all eaten the same day. Only they were a bit small with a lot of bones. Lin Yuan nearly choked four times before he gave up and only drank fish soup.

“Wonder what the situation is with Wu city.” Lin Yuan says suddenly.

On the side Jiang Gui worked on braiding straw sandals and straw baskets. He raises his head and said without much expression:”When I left, Wu city was on fire, everything must all be burnt by now.”

In that kind of situation, no one bothered to put the fires out, either people were stealing or fleeing.

“It is likely now a dead city.” Jiang Gui finished a straw sandal, “even if there are still people they would definitely be hiding.”

“But they won’t last long, the city has no food.”

Lin Yuan says quietly:”Brother Jiang, I plan to go to Wu city in the spring.”

Jiang Gui gets a shock:”Go there for what!”

Lin Yuan:”It has a city wall at least, there are also farm fields inside.”

Jiang Gui rolls his eyes:”If the city walls are useful would the refugees have even gotten in?”

Lin Yuan sighs:”The city walls can be repaired.”

Jiang Gui does not think so:”Repairing would require people, even if women and children are included it is still not enough.”

Lin Yuan:”But there are still a lot of refugees.”

Jiang Gui sighs:”I know you pity them, but refugees can not be reasoned with.”

Lin Yuan also sighs.

Jiang Gui puts a pair of straw sandals aside and says to Lin Yuan:”Fourth brother, there is one method.”

Lin Yuan:”What method?”

“Basically, you just want a city wall, we can construct one here.” Jiang Gui says sincerely.

Lin Yuan claps his hands together:”Brother Jiang, that is true, I must think for a bit.”

When Lin Yuan left, Jiang Gui rubbed at his chin.

Jiang Gui thinks privately:”Silly little brother, you don’t even have the people to go repair Wu city’s wall, how will you have the people to construct a wall here?”

Nowadays they can’t buy any bricks, but if they were to use stones, with just the people they have in the farmstead they would not be finished even after half a year.