This was the first proper wedding in Phoenix Village history, and the villagers gathered to watch, filling the air with joy.
Only Qin Yue knew that the expenses for this wedding banquet were all covered by Gu Qingcheng alone.
The wedding was undoubtedly a success and brought solace to the hearts of the Phoenix Village residents.
The familiar wedding scene made them feel as if they had returned to life before the natural disasters.
The uncertain factors of natural and man-made disasters had cast a deep shadow in everyone's hearts. Although the villagers of Phoenix Village couldn't help but feel a stir of affection, most of them were still relatively conservative and reserved.
After struggling on the brink of death, they all felt that each day was a gift and lived day by day, daring not to hope for remarriage or raising the next generation.
Since they had suffered, why should the next generation suffer too?
Having experienced a life of precarious survival, everyone couldn't help but have some post-traumatic stress from the disasters, feeling they didn't deserve a stable, ordinary life.
But then, the village held a grand wedding banquet for Ge Hong. The familiar scene of the banquet gave the villagers a new stimulus, making them realize that such a new life was possible in Phoenix Village.
Recently, there had been a string of joyous events. Daoist Master Ge and Doctor Gu had developed a zombie antidote.
The village's water source, blessed by the mountain god, had been replenished.
And the village's grain harvest was abundant. The village basically distributed meat and grain to everyone every few days.
Then, they witnessed the grand wedding of Ge Hong and He Hua!
The villagers sometimes wondered if they were dreaming. Had life become this good?
Stimulated by these heartwarming details, and with their current survival environment not deteriorating and their lives relatively peaceful, many Phoenix Village residents also began to consider starting families and careers.
After Ge Hong and He Hua's wedding, Hu Lanfang discovered that the number of villagers getting married that month had more than tripled.
Gu Qingcheng was pleased to see this. She had a plan in mind to expand the territory of Phoenix Village.
She instructed Dai Fa to survey the village's population and age structure, intending to relocate the village's young and middle-aged labor force to the surrounding areas.
She wanted to establish a second, third, and fourth village outside of Phoenix Village, encircling all the continuous mountain ranges for miles around as Phoenix Village's territory.
The Yunwu Mountains stretched for four to five hundred kilometers, with varied elevations. However, due to their high altitude, most slopes were on a level plane.
As time passed, some mountain ranges had also been occupied by villagers fleeing their homes. However, they were insignificant, scattered in the mountains, barely surviving, unable to form a community, not even a village, and merely banding together to get by.
Dai Fa quickly compiled the data Gu Qingcheng needed.
Phoenix Village now had 18,280 people. Eighty percent were young and middle-aged adults over 13 years old. Ten percent were middle-aged and elderly people over 45, and another ten percent were elderly people over 50. Infants were a negligible fraction and could be ignored in terms of labor.
With this data, Gu Qingcheng felt confident. She then instructed Dai Fa to form 10 teams of 10 people each to scout the areas around the Yunwu Mountains and find suitable locations for new settlements.
At the mobilization meeting before the scouting teams departed, Gu Qingcheng declared that more Phoenix Village residents would be absorbed in the future, expanding Phoenix Village's territory and making it the most prosperous village in the Great Zhou Dynasty.
The teams were filled with enthusiasm and pledged to live up to their mission, scout diligently, and provide the most comprehensive intelligence for Phoenix Village's decisions.
After receiving their orders, the teams departed in batches.
Gu Qingcheng, having nothing else to do, accompanied Liu Ding's group to scout nearby.
With the rising water levels, the previously towering mountain ranges had been submerged. Due to the deep gullies and dense vegetation between the original peaks, climbing was not easy.
Gu Qingcheng then had Da Peng take them out by boat.
To be honest, traveling by boat was much faster than hiking.
Gu Qingcheng, being naturally inclined to take the easier route, did so.
On the boat, looking at the towering mountains, she said to Liu Ding:
"In the future, when villagers relocate, we will need to level roads between these peaks, roads wide enough for carriages to pass side-by-side."
"Leveling roads is not a problem, but what about the deep ravines between some mountains? How can we connect them?"
Liu Ding had also been sent by Gu Qingcheng to scout the surroundings, so he had this knowledge.
"We'll build bridges, using bamboo, wood, or iron pipes," Gu Qingcheng turned to Da Peng and said, "After you descend the mountain, trade is important, but promoting the prosperity of Phoenix Village and the urgent need for manpower are also key. I hope you can bring back eighty to a hundred people each time."
"Bringing people back is not a problem," Da Peng said proudly. "Everywhere is short of food and clothing now. As long as they can be fed, everyone is eager to come to Phoenix Village."
To be honest, if it weren't for the widespread flooding now, making travel difficult, and people hiding in remote corners, making them hard to find, he would have relaxed the conditions for recruiting people. Otherwise, he wouldn't have wanted those who were older and weaker.
Of course, he wouldn't dare say these words in front of Gu Qingcheng.
The last time he brought back Xiu Niang and her son, they were people on the verge of death. If he hadn't brought them back, their graves would have been overgrown.
But now, Xiu Niang and her son were living a comfortable life in the nursery. The child had gained two pounds in a month, and Xiu Niang herself had become healthy and rosy-cheeked, a stark contrast to the sallow and haggard woman she was before.
After her inspection, Gu Qingcheng felt that Phoenix Village's population of 18,000 was still too small. She wanted to rapidly expand to over 100,000 people.
Upon returning to the village, she discussed this idea with Dai Fa.
Dai Fa was the village chief, and for Gu Qingcheng to undertake such a grand endeavor, she naturally needed his support.
Although Dai Fa was surprised, he did not object. He had developed an inexplicable confidence in Gu Qingcheng:
Whatever Gu Qingcheng proposed would surely succeed, and his role was simply to cooperate.
Gu Qingcheng explained that she intended to occupy the entire Yunwu Mountains and integrate them into Phoenix Village.
In this way, Phoenix Village would become stronger, and a strong Phoenix Village would not easily fall victim to natural or man-made disasters.
Currently, everyone was overwhelmed by the major changes of the flood. However, once things stabilized, people would discover the incredibly wealthy Phoenix Village, and inevitably, someone would set their sights on it.
Not to mention anything else, but according to the recent intelligence gathered by Xiao Peng, two villages within a hundred-mile radius had begun to grow stronger.
One, claiming to be of the orthodox royal bloodline of the Great Zhou Dynasty, was called Zhou Zhuang, and the other was called Kong Liu Zhuang. In reality, both villages were formed by former bandits.
But because of this, these two villages possessed formidable strength, and their villagers, who were actually former bandits, were fearless.
The two villages were nearby, like hungry tigers encircling their prey, already casting covetous glances at Phoenix Village and posing a significant threat.