Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 1493 - 470: Meticulous Preparations, Wolfish Officials, The Uprising Begins (Part 3)

In an instant, they no longer worried about what would happen after success.

With so many people involved, the thousands of troops at the Lu River Camp, they immediately ceased to fear—not just the Lu River Camp, even if the Town pursued them, what could be done?

With over a hundred thousand attendees, bringing families along meant at least five to six hundred thousand people.

The law doesn’t punish the masses; even if Yanling County or the higher-ups of Chen Cang were ruthless and unscrupulous, they couldn’t possibly risk defying the world by killing all six hundred thousand of them in one swoop.

The undercurrents of Qingwu Village began to surge rapidly from this.

October 28th, October 29th, for two consecutive days, the Iron Wheel Cars transporting coal stone to Su Field slowed down a bit, and the ruts were slightly deeper than usual, but unfortunately, these changes were extremely subtle and difficult to notice.

Manager Zhang Long, along with the other Eight Deputy Managers, was immersed in the delight of meeting this year’s rice quota, and they wouldn’t care about coal transport matters in previous years, much less now.

Caiqiu Calendar, 299 years, October 29th, late at night.

"Reporting to the Manager, as of today, the total weight of rice in the village’s warehouse has reached 19,422 pounds, only 78 pounds short of this year’s target."

In the main building of Qingwu Village, upon hearing the report from his cousin, the clerk Zhang Hu who was in charge of the warehouse, Zhang Long’s face was instantly filled with a smile. He raised his wine cup and loudly addressed the dozen or so people below: "Just 78 pounds left, it’ll be almost done by the end of tomorrow; everyone, you’ve worked hard these two months. I, the Manager, toast to you all, consider it an early celebration!"

"Manager, you’re too kind."

"The Manager supervises Su Field daily, with great effort and merit; this cup should be our toast to the Manager."

"Indeed, indeed, the Manager’s effort and merit deserve our toast!"

..........

Upon hearing the flattery from below, Zhang Long’s smile grew even wider. Suddenly recalling something, he chuckled lightly: "I’ve seen that the rice harvesting period this year is slightly extended, so we can still harvest for another three days..."

Another three days to harvest!

Upon hearing this, the dozen or so people below shook slightly and then turned to look at Zhang Long, their eyes sparkling.

"The County City’s quota is 19,500 pounds, and the excess will be reached by tomorrow, meaning the rice harvested afterward will exceed the quota."

Being outside the quota, naturally, it doesn’t need to be submitted to the County City.

Rice is quite valuable; one pound can sell for over 300 taels of silver!

"Everyone, let’s follow the usual rule; take thirty percent of the surplus rice to Lu River Camp, and we’ll split the rest. How much we can get depends on how hard we work these last three days..."

The expressions of the dozen or so people instantly flickered.

"Due to using Earth-digging Realm Limit as a shield, this year’s mortality rate at Cold Resistance Level is indeed not high, with only 18 dead so far."

"But the village’s Earth-digging Realm Limit is only a little over 3,000, how much rice can they harvest in the last three days with that number of people?"

"Then why not call all Earth-digging Realm over for the last three days?"

Suddenly, a lean middle-aged man in a yellow robe spoke tentatively, instantly drawing everyone’s attention to him.

"That’s ruthless! No wonder Liu Zhang can make such big fortunes!"

Upon seeing the yellow-robed middle-aged man, everyone couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

Liu Zhang is one of the Eight Deputy Managers, responsible for Qingwu Village Area Two. In recent years, his cultivation has increased rapidly, now with the power of 31 feather strength. It’s heard that, like Manager Zhang Long, he also has assets in the County City.

For those working in Slave Village, the fixed income is assured, with little distinction. The biggest source of profit is from the slaves; Liu Zhang has been doing so well in recent years, naturally meaning he exploits below more ruthlessly.

His reputation for ruthless exploitation below was previously just speculation. Now his proposal to call all village Earth-digging Realm for rice harvesting solidified that speculation.

The silence in the room was deafening; everyone looked at each other for a long time, but eventually, some began to feel tempted by the proposal.

"Anyway, many have died this year; it doesn’t matter for the last two days."

"Indeed! It’s merely a few more slave deaths."

"This year at Cold Resistance Level, not many have died; it’s just over a thousand Earth-digging Realm Limit died. At most, in the last three days, maybe an additional five or six hundred will die, but it shouldn’t be a big problem."

"The higher-ups won’t investigate; what’s to fear?"

"At worst, we’ll raise the bereavement compensation for the dead and cut down their Beast Meat and Beast Blood quotas for next year as compensation."

.............

"Alright! Let’s go with Vice Manager Liu’s suggestion."

Zhang Long took firm action and directly decided.

It means starting tomorrow, on the night of the 30th, the entire village’s Earth-digging Realm will follow together for rice harvesting.

"The village has over 15,000 Earth-digging Realm; if they all go for rice harvesting, even if each only harvests half a plant per day, that’s still 1,500 pounds. The quota will be completed by tomorrow, and in three days, we can have at least 4,000 more pounds. Calculating by 300 taels per pound, that’s 1.2 million taels of silver. Dedicating thirty percent to the camp still leaves us with 840,000 taels, and I can get at least sixty or seventy thousand taels myself..."

The dozen or so people in the room were all lost in reverie, starting to calculate how much of the extra rice they could divide in the next three days if converted to money.

Regarding the casualties caused by rice harvesting, it had long been dismissed and was not within their consideration.

As long as various resources were submitted regularly, the County’s Subordinate Bureau would generally not inquire about Slave Village affairs, even the population size, overall cultivation status, and account registration information, they only occasionally check on these, which is why Zhang Long and others dared to act so audaciously.