Chapter 420

Thus, they would have no excuse for not paying wages anymore.

No matter ancient or modern times, labor deserves reward. This is an unchanging principle everywhere.

By then, they can pay more wages to the families, which also helps resolve the family environment issue.

Village Chief Zhao did not know about Mo Jiuye's arrangement. After calming down, the first thing that came to his mind was that the Mo family raised so many poultry and livestock, they must hire people to take care of them like farming.

"Old Nine, there are quite some villagers here. Don't you think it's better to hire those familiar faces rather than some strangers?"

The words were blunt, without any euphemism.

Since arrangements had been made for the poultry and livestock, Mo Jiuye could not agree to Village Chief Zhao's request.

"Chief Zhao, proper candidates have been selected for the breeding."

After a pause, Mo Jiuye looked to the villagers and said loudly, "But don't worry, my wife and I have discussed that the poultry and livestock will give birth to offspring soon. You can purchase them from my family at low prices then.

Moreover, we can provide the know-how of raising dairy cattle."

The villagers were a little disappointed by Mo Jiuye's rejection at first. But soon they got attracted by what he said next.

Especially when Mo Jiuye mentioned dairy cows, it was a very novel concept to them.

Village Chief Zhao asked on behalf of everyone.

"Old Nine, are you referring to this one?" He pointed at the black and white patched cow and asked.

Mo Jiuye asked Liang Hao and others to take the poultry and livestock away first. He stayed to patiently explain to everyone.

"The cow Chief Zhao referred to is a dairy cow..." He told them what he knew about dairy cows.

Although the villagers had never heard of dairy cows, they were not unfamiliar with milk.

Back then, the Cui Family raised a cow. When it gave birth, the surplus milk would be sold at high prices in the city to rich families for money.

However, the milk yield of the cow raised by Cui Family was not high. Even if there was surplus milk, there would be very little, precious amount.

But Mo Jiuye just said dairy cows could produce tens of catties of milk every day if raised properly. The number was mind-blowing.

If it was true that so much milk could be produced, even if dairy cows were more expensive, it would be worth pooling money to buy one.

Village Chief Zhao had this idea, and so did other villagers.

Everyone gathered around Mo Jiuye.

"Old Nine, is what you said true?"

"Old Nine, how much does a dairy calf cost? I'll sell my harvest this autumn and buy one from you."

"Old Nine, you didn't lie to us, right?"

Mo Jiuye knew they were eager to earn more money.

"Don't worry, I keep my word. The price of calves will absolutely be fair. Also, when the pigs and sheep reproduce, you can purchase from my place if you want to raise them too."

That was all he would say. He had decided to let the families of Liang Hao and others be in charge of the breeding. There would be no change.

As for the villagers, they could start small-scale breeding to make money. As long as they took good care of the animals and didn't let them die, they would definitely earn money.

The villagers were all honest and simple people. Seeing Mo Jiuye say so, no one insisted anymore.

Moreover, it would probably be more profitable to learn breeding themselves rather than working for others.

It was just that they needed to find ways to pool money together, because livestock was expensive. Otherwise they would have started raising them already.

"Since Old Nine has made it clear, let's think of ways to save up money these days. Then we can also raise a dairy cow like the Mo family." Village Chief Zhao said one sentence to silence those who still wanted to say something. Then he waved his hand to disperse the crowd.

It took some explanation for Mo Jiuye to bring back so much poultry and livestock. But he was used to doing this kind of thing without any pressure. The cattle and sheep were directly sent to the pasture where fences had been set up around the grassland in advance.

The sheepdogs that had been prepared early on were already guarding there. Now with the cattle and sheep inside, not a single one tried to escape.

The families hired by Tao Ran only needed to feed and clean up manure.

The pigpen was also built by He Zhiran in the modern breeding style with ventilation and drainage facilities.

The chicken farm spread from the hillside.

It was also He Zhiran's reference to the past world's free-range farming style. Free-range chickens were very popular.

In free-range farming, chickens can roam freely within a confined area to forage by themselves.

When selecting the location, He Zhiran found there were many earthworms, which reproduced quickly enough to feed the chickens.

It was said that chickens often eating worms would have tighter meat texture. The eggs they lay would also have darker egg yolks and more fragrant taste than ordinary eggs.

Ducks and geese liked places with water sources. So their farms were built near a streamlet discovered when they bought the wasteland.

The streamlet was originally going to be excluded from the land area by the officials. But it was acquired together with the wasteland by He Zhiran and Mo Jiuye for the purpose of raising ducks and geese in the future.

The breeding farms built by Mo Family were large in scale. With so much poultry and livestock brought back today, they still looked empty.

Mo Jiuye intended to quickly settle these matters before his wife gave birth, so that he could wholeheartedly accompany her during her confinement.

Therefore, he went to the city for three consecutive days, transporting poultry and livestock back home the same way every day.

After a few busy days, the number of poultry and livestock in the breeding farms finally took shape and temporarily reached their ideal quantity.

Meanwhile, Mo Jiuye also hired the families of Tao Ran and others to work here as originally planned.

Hearing that it was a job in exchange for due remuneration, Tao Ran and others no longer declined.

In five days, Mo Jiuye finally arranged the breeding farms properly.

In the same five days, the fifth and sixth uncles also accomplished a major task up in the mountains.

Gunpowder was finally successfully invented. Moreover, following He Zhiran's method, the fifth uncle packed the gunpowder into a bamboo tube, lit it and threw it into the distance to explode as envisioned.

It was another afternoon again when He Zhiran and Madam He were resting under the grape trellis in the yard and heard several bangs. But this time, the explosions were very different from last time’s.