Chapter 161: Wolf Lair (Part 3)

Wang You was somewhat dazed. When it came to the Four Books, the Five Classics, or arithmetic, he could manage well enough as an accountant under daily exposure. But when it came to analyzing current political affairs and their pros and cons, wasn't this making things difficult for him?

"The entire valley is divided into three sections: the front, middle, and rear. The front section is the livestock zone, raising cattle, sheep, and horses. The middle section, which is the largest, is the crop cultivation zone. The rear section is mostly gravel, suitable only for growing forage grass and fruit trees. Most of the residents live on the gentler slopes of the hills. As you saw just now, there are over two hundred such houses, and another three to four hundred will be built next year..."

Wang You drew a sharp intake of breath. He hadn't realized there were so many slaves living here already. With at least four or five members per household, wouldn't the entire valley hold three to four thousand people?

"Can the valley accommodate that many?"

Wang You noticed that the surrounding slopes were scarce and already densely lined with houses. Without utilizing the flat land in the valley, it would probably be very difficult to build more dwellings.

"If the slopes within the valley are properly utilized, over four hundred more houses can be built there..."

"Can't houses be built on the open ground in the middle of the valley?"

Zhen Qian chuckled. "Of course they can. But if we do that, the arable area in the valley will shrink. If all our food had to be supplied from the outside, it would greatly increase our burden, and keeping it secret would be impossible!"

"But..."

"You want to say that grain prices are very low right now, don't you?"

Wang You nodded. Presently, grain cost only six coins per dou. For three or four thousand people, the annual grain consumption would be just over ten thousand shi, which amounted to less than a thousand guan. For Zhen Qian, this was merely a drop in the ocean. One had to know that Zhen Qian's land yielded twenty thousand shi annually, and coupled with the profits from his shops, he made at least twenty thousand guan or more. A thousand guan was truly not a significant sum.

"You are wrong. Since this is an earthly paradise, it should be self-sufficient. Can it still be called an earthly paradise if it relies on the outside world?"

"Then can the food here be self-sufficient?"

Wang You found it hard to imagine how a small valley could guarantee self-sufficiency, especially after hearing that many cattle, sheep, and horses were also raised here. Could food magically sprout from the earth within the valley?

Zhen Qian did not wish to elaborate further on this point. Only he understood the operational system of the entire valley; everyone else performed their respective duties, and even if he explained it, ordinary people would find it difficult to grasp.

***

"The climate here is humid with an abundant water supply, allowing us to harvest two seasons of rice a year. It can easily feed five to six thousand people without any problem. If we add the cattle and sheep we raise, we can support another thousand. In two or three years, the population in the valley will exceed ten thousand!"

"Ten thousand!"

Wang You's jaw dropped in astonishment. Ten thousand people was equivalent to a lower-tier small county town! How big was this valley, anyway? Wouldn't it be overflowing with people by then? He simply couldn't figure out what Zhen Qian was trying to accomplish.

"Surprised, aren't you?"

It wasn't just surprise; it was sheer shock! It was practically madness. Whenever Wang You thought of ten thousand people crowded into the valley—leaving aside whether there would be enough food—there wouldn't even be enough living space. Were they supposed to live inside the rocks?

Zhen Qian gave a mysterious smile and offered no explanation. "We're going to pass by the breeding farm ahead. I might as well take you there to have a look."

Wang You followed Zhen Qian down the slope and discovered that the stone slab path beneath his feet had turned into smooth, massive boulders. These boulders were six or seven meters wide, appearing seamless and stretching all the way to the limit of his vision. He couldn't help but bend down and touch them with his hand...

"This is cement slab!" Zhen Qian stopped and stamped his foot on the ground, smiling mysteriously. "Remember the brick kiln in the village? It burned a large amount of waste material. Actually, that wasn't waste at all; it was cement. Calling it waste was just a deception to throw people off, and people even called me a prodigal son. You understand now, don't you?"

Wang You felt as though he no longer recognized Zhen Qian. How many more secrets were there that he didn't know about? The village brick kiln had long been regarded as the biggest joke around—unable to produce a few bricks from dawn till dusk, churning out nothing but useless slag. What was that if not being a prodigal son? Was that really the case, though? Wang You was also puzzled. Before losing his memory, Zhen Qian couldn't tell the five grains apart and was lazy with his limbs; besides reading, he mostly hung out with a few good-for-nothing young aristocrats visiting restaurants and brothels—that much was normal! But he was certainly not foolish to that absurd degree. Ever since losing his memory, the man seemed to have entirely transformed, acting all mysterious every day and busy with unknown tasks. Only Xiaozhu and Xiaomei were allowed into the study, and the people he interacted with became a few trusted old servants. He kept a polite distance from Wang You, as if hiding many things from him.

"This is made from that waste?"

"Hard to believe, right?" Zhen Qian and Wang Lun exchanged a smile, and Wang Lun replied, "Learn from this for the future. Everything Da-lang does has his own reasoning. Things that seem impossible in the eyes of others all become possible in Da-lang's hands!"

"Let's not talk about this anymore. You'll understand once you see those waste materials paved into cement roads in the future. Let's go! The breeding farm is right ahead. You should have seen it before, right?"

Rows of massive houses appeared before Wang You. These buildings were all made of the cement Zhen Qian had mentioned, each covering an area of over one mu and divided into upper and lower stories. As soon as they stepped inside, they were stunned by the scene before them: sheep were everywhere, groups of them confined within square wooden pens, while workers added feed into troughs.

"Aren't sheep supposed to be grazed in the open?"

"Did you forget the chicken coops in the village? Follow me!"

***

Wang You followed behind Zhen Qian in a daze, his mind flashing back to the chicken coops in the village. He hadn't found anything special about them then; could there really be a connection between raising chickens and raising sheep?

Just as he followed Zhen Qian up to the second floor, a chorus of cackling reached Wang You's ears, and he was once again struck dumb by the sight before him.

"Good heavens! These are chicken coops, and you can raise chickens like this?"

Wang You felt his brain was about to explode. Neat rows of chicken coops covered the entire second floor, with cackling echoing endlessly. In each small coop sat a single chicken, stretching its neck out to feed from the trough directly in front of it.

"This... this... chickens..." Wang You didn't know what to say. Everything before his eyes completely overturned his understanding. Was he dreaming?

Wang You pinched himself hard. A middle-aged woman pushed a small cart out into view, the cart piled high with eggs, a bright smile on her face.

"Da-lang... come to check on the chicken farm?"

"Yes! Just got back and dropped by to take a look. Granny Sun, how is the chicken farm doing now?"

Granny Sun wore an apron and a fitted outfit, with a linen cap on her head and a piece of gauze covering her mouth, leaving only half her face visible. "How else could it be? Five thousand chickens making a racket loud enough to deafen you, and the stench could choke a person to death. If it weren't for the fact that they lay eggs, I'd wring their necks! I'm going back to work. If you two aren't bothered by the stench, take your time looking around!"

Recovering from his shock, Wang You finally noticed that the smell inside was indeed unpleasant. Aside from the irritating chicken cackling, there was also the sharp stench of chicken droppings in the air...

"I'm not staying here..." Wang Lun laughed and retreated from the chicken house.

"Understand now? Those chicken coops you saw in the village were actually just experiments. Imagine what it's like to stack individual chicken coops together for farming—hasn't the efficiency of raising them increased drastically? How many chickens can a single household raise on their own? But here, a dozen or so women can raise several thousand chickens. Isn't it both convenient and profitable?"