Chapter 380 Village Establishes Guard Team
The team leader took on the role of the bad cop.
"I'm putting it out there today, if anyone spills the beans after we've gotten the grain, the whole village will be punished. And the person who spills it will have their entire family kicked out of the village."
Being driven out of the village in those times was a death sentence. Without anywhere else to go, they would be undocumented, unable to find work, and would starve to death.
"And to the elders, you'll get a share of the grain too this time. We hope you won't do anything you'll regret."
The elders didn't dare to say anything. Their grain was already insufficient, and it was already great that they would get a portion this time.
"We promise not to say anything. If anyone from the Green Courtyard speaks out, they'll be expelled immediately."
The team leader nodded with satisfaction. If someone was disobedient, there were ways to deal with them.
"Alright, since that's the case, we'll send it out tonight. Don't ask too many questions about who we're selling it to, but the money from the sale will be announced to everyone."
The village chief was truly grateful to these new villagers from the Ye family. Not only did they save the people who went up the mountain, but they also figured out how to sell the goods and helped convert the money into grain.
Without the Ye family, they wouldn't have even known who to sell the tiger to. Although they knew where the black market was, they had no connections there. If they were swindled, there would be no one to turn to.
This solved all the village's difficulties, so the village chief not only couldn't ask, but he also had to help keep it a secret.
By evening, the tiger was sent out of the village. Elder Fan and Elder Dang also went to the courtyard in the county town and removed the valuable parts from the tiger overnight.
The remaining meat was also transported away overnight and sold at the black market in the nearby city.
The next day, Ye Shenggge saw only a pile of bones and the tiger hide, with very little meat.
In fact, Ye Mu'en had secretly brought back some meat for his sister to store. After all, tiger meat was very good for health.
"Come, come, Shenggge, today Master will tell you about the treasures of a tiger and how to handle these things."
"Elder Fan, you must take good care of these things."
Elder Fan understood immediately and winked at Ye Dad and the other elder men from the Bai family.
Ye Shenggge turned her head, feeling a little embarrassed. Don't fool her, she understood!
Of course, Ye Shenggge contributed a lot of good wine. Precious items should be paired with good ingredients.
After dealing with the tiger, the village chief and others held another meeting in the office.
After all, the situation reported by those who returned from the mountain had not yet been communicated to the rest of the village.
"Uncle, what are your thoughts on this matter?"
The team leader was at a loss and just wanted to hear if the elder had any good ideas.
The village chief looked at Ji Songlin, the team secretary, who habitually remained silent.
"Songlin, what do you think?"
Ji Songlin had always only done work within his scope and avoided participating in other matters whenever possible. This was because he knew that as long as the old village chief was there, the Bai Rong Brigade would be fine.
But now, it concerned the survival of the entire village, so if he didn't say something, it wouldn't be right.
"Old Village Chief, there is danger in the village, and it should be reported. But even if the authorities knew, what could they do? Could they kill all the large wild beasts in the entire mountain?
"Besides, if they send people into the mountains, wouldn't our secretly planted crops be discovered? They've already sprouted, we can't pull them up now."
The team leader handed everyone a cigarette, took two puffs, and spoke again.
"My idea is not to report it. After all, they can't handle the matters in the mountains. This way, our crops can still be preserved."
The village chief nodded. He didn't want the crops they had worked so hard to plant to be ruined. The villagers wouldn't agree either.
"What about when the wild beasts come down from the mountain? And we still need to go up the mountain regularly to tend to the crops."
"Uncle, why not organize some skilled people to patrol the village every day, and they can guard the mountain when we go up."
The team leader thought of the Ye family and felt a bit more confident.
The village chief glanced at Gong Aidang. How many skilled people were there in the village? It all depended on the Ye family.
"Are you suggesting that the Ye family manage it?"
"It's not just them managing it. We will also contribute some people."
The village chief shook his head. He didn't have the ability to convince those people.
"If you say one person from each family, they might agree. But if you ask them all to go out, that's impossible. Have you forgotten that I said they are not ordinary people and don't have that much time to spend guarding the village?"
There was no need to even say such things; even his youngest son could turn hostile.
The team leader scratched his head dejectedly. This wouldn't work, and that wouldn't work. They couldn't just wait for the wild beasts to come down and tear them apart.
The village chief sighed. They would have to rely on them for many things in the future, so they couldn't afford to offend them.
"Let one person from each family contribute. The Ye, Bai, Zi, and Ouyang families. That would give us four people, adding some confidence."
This was the only option available. In fact, the old village chief was also calculating that if there was real danger, the other members of these families couldn't just watch the people they sent out get into trouble, so they would help out in the end.
It couldn't be blamed on the village chief for having selfish motives. The capable should work harder, and the weak would always involuntarily rely on the strong.
The next day, the village guard team was established. The Bai Rong Brigade had over a thousand people, totaling one hundred and three households.
One hundred and three households meant one hundred and three people, and they had to be the strong laborers of the family. These one hundred and three people were divided into six teams, with seventeen people in each small team, and one remaining as captain.
The village chief naturally wanted the Ye family and their members to nominate someone as captain, but they were ruthlessly refused.
There was no other way but to let the team leader Gong Aidang be the captain.
Every day, two teams would be responsible for patrolling the village during the day, two teams at night, and the remaining two teams would accompany the villagers up the mountain for guard duty.
Zi Yisheng sent three people. The Bai family insisted on sending their own people. Chen Tonghua also sent himself, as he was the only male in the Chen family.
The people sent by Zi Yisheng would only join the teams going up the mountain. Since Ye Shenggge and the others went up the mountain every day, it was safer to have their own people watching them.
Ye Shenggge also made a large quantity of sleeping drugs for her family from that day on, telling them to carry them at all times just in case.
Wild beasts occasionally descended from the mountain, but they were all dealt with by the guard team.
What made the villagers happiest was the grain they bought. The recently hunted wild animals were also sold to the black market. The village collected over five thousand yuan.
Ye Shenggge exchanged the money for grain at the market price plus a small markup and transported it back to the village.
Calculated per person, each person could receive dozens of jin of grain. Although it was all coarse grain, the grain for a family combined could last a long time.
It was not until August that the fields became so dry that cracks appeared. The river water also dried up almost completely, but not a single drop of rain had fallen.