Chapter 78 - Farmer’s Market
Translator: TeamTWO
Editor: Jun
Today was the first day of school for Bing’er. After hanging up, Ouyang Shuo washed up hurriedly and then took Bing’er downstairs to eat breakfast. They finally got to school before 9 AM.
Soon after he returned from school, the game cabin ordered by Sun Xiaoyue arrived and was installed in her bedroom.
Ouyang Shuo logged in the game again at 8 PM. He practiced spearmanship and the Ba Ji Quan for two hours, as usual. When he passed the general store last night during the Lantern Festival, he suddenly realized that he had never walked in it since it was built. That was kind of intriguing.
The general store was one of the several Basic Shops that it hadn't seen much of. The shopkeeper was the Basic Merchant Li Fugui. The middle-aged shopkeeper was startled at the sight of Ouyang Shuo, and said incoherently, “Sire's arrival, makes the small store shine. Come in, please.”
The store sold daily used goods such as oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, etc. None of them could be produced in the territory except salt. It was just the magic goods shelf on the back of salesman that made the general store conjure those goods seemingly out of nothing.
The shelves, similar to markets in function, could support remote businesses and transfers. The shelf would upgrade as the trading amounts reached a certain scale, and salesmen and the general stores could also be upgraded.
Faced with Ouyang Shuo’s visit, Fugui couldn’t help but share with him the secrets of the general store.
“My Lord, the general store actually has a hidden function.” Fugui said mystically.
“Oh? What is the function?”
“In the general store, you can only buy, but can't sell. The only exception is local products. If one's goods were adopted as a local product, it could be sold via the general store, with transaction tax only at 10%.
“Local Product?” Ouyang Shuo frowned ,with no idea of whether the Guilin Three Flower Tea belonged to the Shanhai Township or not. Afterwards, there was no Guilin department in the Nine Dynasty. It seemed that he had to find time to see how the three flowers tea were made in the workshop. Just having a try wouldn’t make a mistake.
"Right."
"Well, I know. I will keep my ear out for this." Ouyang Shuo nodded.
Ouyang Shuo walked to the Intermediate Market after leaving the general store. He was going to buy some vegetable seeds to prepare for vegetable garden construction. There were many kinds of vegetables that could be planted in Spring in the past. He didn't just buy on type of vegetable. He bought dozens of kinds of vegetables, such as garlic, cabbage, cucumber, eggplant, spinach, lettuce carrot, pepper, pumpkin, kidney bean, tomato, and zucchini, etc.
Then he bought some seeds of common medicines to prepare for the herbal garden construction. Because many medicines had to be transplanted from wilderness, the construction of herbal garden was more difficult than that of vegetable garden.
He found out that such goods couldn't be supplied sufficiently in the territory when visiting the general store. Taking this opportunity, he spent 30 gold coins to buy the and the .
After coming back from the market, Ouyang Shuo gathered Sun Yannong, Du Xiaolan, and Zhao Dewang in his office, explaining his vegetable-baskets plan to them.
"The vegetables will be planted in concentrated locations, so the Agriculture Division should reclaim 200-mu of farmlands to plant all sorts of vegetables. The Resource Division should have vegetable stalls ready. The Construction Division should cooperate with the Resource Division to build a vinegar-making workshop, sauce making workshop and tofu making workshop to enrich residents' spices and subsidiary foodstuffs.
The three secretaries agreed with no objections.
"Sire, after the three workshops operate officially, would we set upshops for selling?" Du Xiaolan asked.
It was an instant inspiration triggered by Xiaolan's question. Ouyang Shuo said excitingly, "No need. We just can't build a new shop for new kinds of goods as the goods are abundant all the time. That is not reasonable. In my opinion, we simply construct a large-scale farmer's market. Then we can sell agriculture products such as vegetables, fruits, fish, eggs, spices, subsidiary foodstuffs, etc. Basically all the stuff in the farming market.
Xiaolan got excited and said, "My Lord, this is indeed a great idea. In this way, not only is it convenvient for the residents, but we can also buy all the things in one place. The Resource Division can manage them easier and reduce dispatched personnel.
Ouyang Shuo shook his head. "Not only that. It is also convenient for the Taxation Division to levy taxes intensively. More importantly, the farming market will provide a selling platform for individual households and then stimulate the territory’s economy further. People who raise chickens and ducks and can't resume them all can sell the rest of them in the farming market to earn more money. When they get benefits from this, without our prompting, they will expand their breeding scale. Then, we will relax the restriction in farming products like vegetables, fruits, and tofu etc for individual household to support their developing.
The three persons nodded and they were all convinced by their Lord's foresight.
"The reason why we demand intensive planting is not for battling interests with villagers. For the sake of integrated planning, there will be vegetable fields everywhere if we don't control that. That is not good for the city plan. So only when some residents settle in the city suburb, can we relax the restriction on vegetables and fruits." Added Ouyang Shuo.
Sun Yanshuo nodded, with the doubt in his mind dissipated.
"Just leave the task of farmer's market construction to the Construction Division. Though I know that the rampart and the moat projects are entering a critical period, we still have to transfer craftsmen to build the farming market, including the three workshops mentioned before." Ouyang Shuo said to Dewang at last.
"My Lord, take it easy. I guarantee that I will fulfill my mission." Dewang said loudly.
"Well, go ahead!" Ouyang Shuo ended the conversation.
At 2 PM, Ouyang Shuo was reading the report formulated by the Administration Department, while the gatekeeper came and reported. "My Lord, the manager of the dojo is requesting an interview!"
"Send him in."
Ouyang Shuo was very polite to this boxing master. He poured tea to him personally, said smilingly, "This is a new tea for this year, please taste it."
Lin Yue picked up the cup and drank a mouthful of it. "Good tea!" Putting down the cup lightly, Lin Yue said in embarrassment, "To tell you quite honestly, my lord, I came here for one thing which I need your help on."
"You are welcome, Mr. Lin, anything not against my principles. You have shown kindness to me in teaching me skills and I will not decline. Just tell me." How could Ouyang Shuo miss the opportunity to get closer?
“The fact is that my five apprentices all finished their apprenticeships and I want to find jobs for them in the army. I hope the lord can help.”
Ouyang Shuo was silent for a while, moved by Lin Yue’s character. It was easy for him to arrange his apprentices places in the army. In addition, it was not against his principles. But he didn’t do that and instead laid down to beg Ouyang Shuo. Such a clear attitude towards work and life really made Ouyang Shuo convinced.
“Apprentices in the dojo all learn Tai Chi from Mr. Lin. It would be great if they could join the army. I guarantee that they can serve as sergeants once they enter the army. If they perform well, they can be promoted to be sergeants or captains.” Ouyang Shuo said as he nodded.
“Thank you very much, lord.” It absolutely indicated the lord’s affirmation of him. How could he be unhappy?
After Lin Yue’s departure, Ouyang Shuo managed to visit the military camp. Now the military camp had upgraded to advanced barracks, which were both nicer in space and facility than the intermediate military camp.
After upgrading to a grade 2 town, the Shanhai territory didn’t hurry to enlarge the army scale, remaining the scale of a Cavalry Squadron and an Infantry Squadron. That was not because he didn’t want it to be enlarged, but due to the lack of a general. If he enlarged the army scale blindly, there would be no one leading them.
Ouyang Shuo found Zhao Sihu and told him the arrangement of the Dojo disciples. According to him, the 5 dojo disciples would serve as sergeants in the infantry.
Sihu nodded. He had passed the Class Change Chamber in advanced Barracks and upgraded to a basic officer. He was just thinking about having the people serve as sergeants, and this was exactly an instant help.
Name: Zhao Sihu (Black Iron level)
Identity: Captain in the Infantry Squadron of Shanhai Town
Occupation: Basic Officer
Loyalty: 85
Command: 80
Force: 95
Intelligence: 60
Politics: 30
Cultivation Method: None
Equipment: Delicate Falchion, Golden Leather Armour, Delicate Shield
Evaluation: Born from grass, getting through blood and fire. Solider rank 9, turn to general.
It could be seen that officers like Zhao Sihu who transferred from a rank 9 soldier was worse than a basic officer like Lin Yi. What made them different was cultivation method.