"Women are responsible for rubbing moxa floss. Collect the mugwort from Er Fu. Each person must do at least five catties a day."
"Children are responsible for grinding Charcoal Powder. Collect the charcoal from Si Jin. The Charcoal Powder must be ground finely; it only passes if it goes through the sieve. Each person must do at least five catties a day."
"The first ten men are responsible for stirring; collect the materials from Wen Mo.
The middle twenty men are responsible for pressing. Tian Youdi, you are the leader of the pressing group. Collect the molds and scrapers from my Third Brothers Wife and assign tasks to these twenty people.
The remaining ten oldest men will be responsible for clearing the site and drying, while the rest will go cut large bamboo to make packaging.
My requirement is to produce two thousand tubes of finished products within three days. Remember, this includes the time for drying.
Provide your own tools; if you don't have any, you can borrow from others.
Village Chief, I'll trouble you to oversee the command, coordinate the manpower, and supervise the quality of the finished mosquito coils. If anyone tries to slack off, make sure to record it.
The finished products will be registered and inspected by Si Jin and Er Fu. Wages will be settled uniformly after the Hour of the Rooster in the evening, calculated daily.
If the goal is met within three days, I will reward everyone with one catty of meat and one catty of salt."
The men and women present listened in a daze, especially when they heard Qin Sang mention rewards for completing the goal.
There was meat, and salt too!
And it was one catty per person, not per household.
For families with many workers, wouldn't they be able to get six or seven catties of meat?
Qin Sang finished her arrangements in one breath. Everyone understood; even if someone didn't catch on immediately, they could get a detailed explanation by asking those around them.
If they still didn't understand, they could ask the group leaders or the Village Chief.
Er Fu, Si Jin, Wen Mo, and Third Brothers Wife had already stepped to the front of their respective groups and began distributing mugwort and charcoal.
Since three families had previously been arranged to make moxa floss and Charcoal Powder, there were plenty of raw materials. Xiao Wu had also prepared buckets of mosquito coils paste, even adding the water, just waiting for it to be stirred.
Xiao Wu recorded who took what and how much.
He also carefully reminded them that one bucket could produce a hundred mosquito coils, preventing villagers from pocketing any for their own use.
A few grumbled that their work was harder than others' yet the pay was the same, but as soon as they spoke up, they were scolded by those nearby:
"You're so blind! Look outside Tianjia Village and see what the price of grain has risen to!
Where else could you earn a hundred wen for a day of manual labor?
Even if you could buy grain with a hundred wen, could you still buy water?
Ungrateful."
"If you think it's too tiring, then don't do it. Do you want me to tell the Village Chief?"
"If you don't do it, plenty of others will. What's wrong with using some strength? Won't your strength return after a night's sleep? You're still young and short-sighted."
The man, scolded by everyone, shrunk back in fear.
"I didn't say I wouldn't do it! Who said it was tiring? You clearly misheard. Stop accusing me."
All three groups began collecting their materials in an orderly fashion, with the Village Chief directing where to work and where to dry the products.
There was still a group of about ten elderly and weak women left. Seeing the others starting to collect materials, they grew anxious.
"Da Zhuangs Mother, what are we supposed to do? You've assigned tasks to everyone else, but what about us?"
"Exactly. Although we're old, our eyes are sharp and our limbs are nimble. Why not let us rub the moxa floss? We'll definitely do it better than those young wives."
Qin Sang smiled and said:
"Don't worry, Aunts. We need to hurry with these mosquito coils, which is why I assigned the young people first. You will all have work to do.
Those who can make clothes, come and collect a bolt of fabric. One bolt makes two adult outfits or three children's outfits. If the finished clothes are unwearable, the whole family's wages will be docked.
If the clothes are well-made, you can keep any leftover fabric for yourselves.
Those with poor eyesight can take sole fabric and scraps to make shoes. If you can't do either, then I'll have to ask you to go home and rest."
Qin Sang's last sentence was a bit blunt, but no one cared.
What woman didn't know how to make clothes and shoes? They had been doing this work for decades. Even Widow Xia's Mother-in-law, whose eyes were blind from crying, spoke up from the group:
"This old woman can do it with her eyes closed. Rest assured, Da Zhuangs Mother, you'll definitely be able to wear the shoes I make."
Qin Sang nodded with a smile.
"Very well. Those collecting fabric, soles, needles, and thread, come to me."
With a wave of her hand, Qin Sang revealed the mountain of fabric behind her and began distributing it to the first old woman.
In an instant, the whole village was mobilized by Qin Sang, and Tianjia Village was a scene of bustling activity.
The men stirred the paste until the veins in their arms bulged and sweat poured down.
The women rubbed the moxa floss earnestly, their hands moving with great dexterity as they rubbed and twisted.
The children tapped and pounded with wooden sticks, playing as they worked. Other than being a bit dirty and black, there was nothing wrong with it.
The women took the measurements given by Eldest Brothers Wife, their scissors snipping away incessantly. They even spontaneously began to divide the labor—some cutting, some sewing—resembling an assembly line.
Pairs of old hands gripped the soles, moving up and down rapidly. Qin Sang was truly curious where they got the strength to pierce such thick soles with a thimble.
Every household brought out their sieves, plates, tables, and benches for drying. Fortunately, there was no sign of rain, so anything could be dried as long as there was space to place it.
The bamboo forest was already left with nothing but bare stalks and wouldn't survive anyway, so cutting them down was perfect. Besides packaging, the leftovers could be used as firewood.
Because Qin Sang's assignments were reasonable and she had appointed group leaders, even with over a hundred people, everything was orderly, and no conflicts or disputes arose.
Everyone at home was busy, and Qin Sang was no exception. She went to find Tian Yougen to discuss scouting the path the next day. He said he would select and notify the candidates. Qin Sang then returned home, took out the oilcloth she had bought previously, and planned to make a tent.
Third Brothers Wife had less work, and seeing Qin Sang starting to sew, she came over to help. With her assistance, a crude tent was simply stitched together by the end of the afternoon.
Just as the sun began to tilt westward, villagers from neighboring villages arrived to exchange for grain.
Qin Sang was responsible for identifying the herbs, while Third Brothers Wife was responsible for weighing the grain.
They were all dug-up grass roots. Fortunately, most herbs in the mountains were just inconspicuous weeds, so the Mall accepted eighty percent of what was brought for exchange.
No one from their village went up the mountain today, but fortunately, more and more people from neighboring villages knew about exchanging herbs for grain. In a short while, a small mountain piled up beside Qin Sang.
Many people wanted to exchange for water and had brought their own containers.
Qin Sang didn't stand on ceremony; she didn't exchange much water. A half-catty of rice's worth of herbs was exchanged for one bamboo tube of water.
Some were reluctant, while others exchanged for more.
As it was getting dark, Heizi and his group arrived.
Heizi had many people with him, and they had dug up many grass roots. After Qin Sang identified them, she let Heizi go inside to carry out the grain.
"Heizi, there's something I need to tell you. The grain exchange can only continue until the day after tomorrow."
Heizi grew anxious.
"Aunt, has something happened?"
Qin Sang told Heizi about the possibility of military unrest.
"Although it's not certain if they're coming, it's better to be safe than sorry. We will enter the mountains in three days. You should also use these three days to think of a way; it's best if you can hide.
Anyway, it's not raining now, and we can't farm the land. If the military unrest really comes and we've hidden, we won't lose anything, right?"
Heizi said without a second thought:
"Aunt, can we go into the mountains with you?"