Chapter 552
Rotting Beast Meat, Incurring Public Enrage
Chapter 552 Rotting Beast Meat, Incurring Public Enrage
Evergreen Valley has very poor resource endowment.
How bad is it?
Even animal meat is considered a luxury.
Logically speaking, it shouldn't be difficult for people at the Earth-Digging Realm to hunt down some low-level cold beasts together, and for those at the Cold-Controlling Realm, hunting down mid-level cold beasts is even easier. In fact, if there are enough people and they are strong enough, they can even kill high-level cold beasts.
However, the prerequisite for hunting is the presence of cold-blooded beasts.
Changqing Valley is named so because it is surrounded by mountains and has a low-lying terrain, making it difficult for cold air to sink. As a result, the temperature in the valley is much higher than outside, and the vegetation inside is mostly green.
Cold-cold beasts prefer cold environments, as evidenced by their increased activity during the day.
The temperature in Evergreen Valley is higher than outside, so the resources of cold beasts are extremely scarce. As a result, beast meat, beast blood, and even beast bones and hides have all become scarce resources.
Things are valued for their scarcity, especially since beast meat and blood are essential resources for cultivation. Due to the lack of cold beast resources, villages like Changqing Valley can only purchase them from merchants in Qinghua City to meet their needs.
Merchants are driven by profit, especially when it comes to such necessities. Those who know about Changqing Valley have no other channels, so they naturally set the price very high. Low-grade animal meat can be bought for only 1 tael of silver for 2 jin in Qinghua City, but it doubles in price in Changqing Valley. During periods of supply shortage, it can even rise to 3 taels.
As for beast blood, that goes without saying.
Evergreen Valley is inherently barren, with very few ways to earn silver. On top of that, beast meat is so expensive. Because of poverty, people can't buy beast meat, and without beast meat, their strength can't be improved. Without improved strength, they can't hunt cold beasts, thus creating a vicious cycle. This is probably the core reason why Evergreen Valley's overall strength is weak.
Leaving aside the lumberjacks and earth-digging experts, they have all tasted beast meat, but not many times; as for the hundreds of cold-resistant experts, it would be difficult for them to eat to their heart's content.
Therefore, everyone reacted this way when they heard Zhang Hai say that he had prepared beast meat soup and saw the ten steaming pots.
"As expected, they're all barbarians and lowly bastards. Ten pots of beast meat are enough to appease them..."
Seeing the expressions on the faces of the laborers, Zhang Hai's eyes were full of disdain, but the thought of those ten pots of beast meat still made him feel a pang of heartache.
One pot yields 600 jin, so ten pots would yield 6000 jin. If this batch of meat were sold in Qinghua City, it would fetch 3000 taels of silver. But now it has to be used to appease these lowly creatures, which naturally makes him uncomfortable.
But considering that this road construction was related to whether his father could return to Qinghua City, he forced down his displeasure, put on a smile, and slowly said to the group of laborers, "Qinghua City has given us a ten-day deadline for building this official road. My father said that today's meal is a reward for everyone who cleared the snow road last night. For the next ten days, as long as you can complete the work on time, you will have a meat soup every night!"
gulp...
As the aroma of the meat soup slowly wafted through the air, many laborers in the crowd began to swallow hard. When Zhang Hai uttered those words, everyone's expressions turned excited.
As long as you complete the tasks on time, you'll get a meal every night!
In fact, when these laborers were conscripted, they all brought their own rations. After all, it wasn't uncommon for them to be conscripted before. The adults in the city never provided food when they asked them to work; this had been the norm.
But animal meat is not just a simple food.
It's also a cultivation resource; eating its meat can increase your strength!
"Is what Young Master Zhang said true?"
"As long as the schedule is completed on time, there will be a meal every night?"
"This is meat soup! This pot is huge, it must weigh at least several hundred kilograms per pot! One serving every night must cost a lot of money!"
"If they can provide one serving of game meat every day, then I can do this job!"
………………
For ordinary people living in Evergreen Valley, being able to eat a stable meal of beast meat every day is a dream come true.
Now that Zhang Hai has made such a promise, how could everyone not be excited?
"Of course, my father is a man of great stature; would he lie to you? Since he said so, he can definitely do it. The premise is that you must complete the schedule and ensure that the official road is fully constructed within ten days!"
The deadline given by the Ministry of Finance of Qinghua City was actually half a month, but Zhang Yiqing, the father, shortened it by one-third to ten days, naturally in order to curry favor with the Ministry of Finance.
The entire route from Chihu Ridge to Shigu Road is about 80 kilometers long. To complete it in ten days means that eight kilometers must be completed each day. It is definitely not possible to rely on the more than 30,000 laborers in Huwei Village. Even if we add the 40,000 laborers from the other four villages in Chihu Ridge, the possibility is still not very high.
Using animal meat as an incentive is just the first move. Grandfather Zhang Kuang has already dispatched his county guards to continue conscripting laborers from the southern villages. As long as enough people participate, half a month should be no problem.
"Alright, as long as Young Master Zhang keeps his word, we'll definitely work even harder!"
"It's just road repair, right? It's all just manual labor. As long as we're paid for animal meat, we've got plenty of strength!"
"Brothers, what's the commotion about having meat? Eat and get to work!"
………………
Seeing that the laborers had calmed down and were now staring longingly at the ten large cauldrons, Zhang Hai's disdain deepened, but he managed to hide it well. Then he smiled and waved to the person behind him.
"Don't worry, everyone. We will keep our word. Brothers, bring all ten big pots down and distribute the meat broth to everyone. Eat first, and then we'll officially start working!"
As soon as he gave the order, ten large cauldrons were immediately carried down.
The laborers, each carrying their own utensils, lined up in a long queue at the behest of the village manager, waiting to get their meat soup.
Seeing the smiles on the faces of the laborers, Zhang Hai shook his head slightly, a cold laugh running through his mind.
Ten pots would be 6000 catties, worth 3000 taels of silver. In ten days, that would be 3 taels of silver worth of meat. How could these people possibly eat meat every day?
The daily construction progress is not up to them. Last night, Father Zhang Yiqing said that he would only spend a maximum of 1 taels to buy animal meat, which is about 2 catties.
All things considered, no matter how hard these laborers work, they can only have meat to eat for three days at most; they can forget about it the rest of the time.
"The Ministry of Finance only allocated 15 taels of silver. 12 taels will be spent just on purchasing road construction materials, leaving only 3 taels. After 1 taels for bribes, Father will only have 2 taels left at most. Allocating 1 taels to buy meat for these people is already showing great mercy. No, we have to find a way to deduct a little more..."
A glint of greed flashed in Zhang Hai's eyes. His father had entrusted him with the task of purchasing animal meat, and the entire 1 taels of silver was in his hands. If he could find a way to cut a little more, he could still make a profit.
The laborers were also divided into ranks, with the hundred or so leaders of the Cold-resistant level naturally at the front. They quickly obtained the beast meat soup from the steward and then gathered around to eat.
"Pah... What, what is this?"
"It stinks! This meat tastes rotten!"
"Is this animal meat?"
…………
Suddenly, something unexpected happened. The first group of people who ate the beast meat had a violent reaction. They all spat out the meat in their mouths, clearly unable to swallow it. Then, looking at the bowls in their hands, their expressions were extremely ugly.
There were supposed to be 6000 catties of animal meat, but there were more than 30,000 laborers present tonight. So when the stewards of Huwei Village distributed the meat, each person was only given a spoonful, which was mostly soup with very little meat, just about a bite.
Just two ounces of meat, gone in a few chews, and the fact that everyone reacted this way shows that there's a serious problem with the meat.
Zhang Hai didn't react immediately. He thought the laborers were going to cause trouble again, and anger rose on his face. He shouted, "What are you all yelling about? We've given you meat, and you still want to cause trouble? Do you want to die?"
Those few Cold-Resistant level beings who had just made a sound were immediately startled.
However, someone still stepped forward, cupped their hands, and said, "Young Master Zhang, it's not that we want to cause trouble, but there's something wrong with the meat in this pot. If you don't believe me, try it for yourself!"
"vomit…………"
"This meat is really rotten!"
"It's rotten meat, take a closer look..." "It really is, there are wormholes in the meat."
"Ugh, there are bugs!"
........................
As more and more people who had hunted the animal meat tasted it, Zhang Hai finally realized something was wrong. He quickly went to the side, snatched a bowl from someone's hand, and after sniffing it, his heart skipped a beat.
There really is a problem!
The Ice Abyss is an extremely cold environment, and animal meat generally won't rot if it's properly preserved. However, there are exceptions, so rotten meat can occasionally occur.
Generally speaking, once animal meat is rotten, it has no value whatsoever. There may be no abnormalities when cooking it, but people can immediately tell the difference once they taste it.
Although Zhang Hai didn't eat it, he could tell just by smelling it. The meat had been stored for more than three years and hadn't been kept in a suitable low-temperature environment; it was clearly riddled with wormholes.
"That's impossible! The meat was all taken from the village warehouse; it couldn't have been more than a year old..."
Zhang Hai felt a few doubts, but before he could think about it, his thoughts were interrupted by the angry roars of the laborers.
"So, ten meals of animal meat were for this rotten meat?"
"This animal meat is probably unwanted even if sold to others, yet they give it to us to eat and ask us to do our labor to repair the road?"
"Isn't Young Master Zhang afraid of divine retribution for doing this risk-free business?"
"What a load of crap! Consider it a waste of time we cleared the snow for them last night. I'm not staying here anymore, I'm going back."
………………
Seeing the crowd below becoming increasingly agitated, Zhang Hai felt a pang of panic.
Although Huwei Village was in charge of repairing the official road, they were not the only ones involved. Four other families in Chihu Ridge, as well as Qinghua City, which had set up a temporary administrative office south of Changqing Valley, were also mobilizing laborers to repair the road. So it was a coordinated effort from multiple locations.
If these 30,000 laborers leave and the section of road under the responsibility of Huwei Village is not completed on time, then the entire group of people in charge of Huwei Village, including my father Zhang Yiqing, will be held very responsible.
So we absolutely must not let these people leave!
But the meat was definitely rotten.
How can he explain himself to these people?
Zhang Hai gradually became agitated. The chattering and threatening voices of the laborers, who were trying to leave, continued, making him even more flustered.
"Stop right there!"
Finally, seeing that some people were actually turning to leave, Zhang Hai could no longer remain silent and shouted angrily at those who were about to leave.
"This meat has probably been tampered with, I..."
"Young Master Zhang, stop with the hypocritical explanations. You just killed Chief Zhu and tried to lure us with ten pots of beast meat. Aren't you just relying on the strength of your Tiger Tail Village to force us to work for free?"
After Zhang Hai stopped the man, he immediately tried to explain, but before he could finish speaking, a middle-aged voice from the crowd interrupted him.
His expression froze, and he was about to speak.
"We worked for you for fifteen hours without even a drop of water, and in return, you gave us ten pots of rotten animal meat to eat. Only your Tiger Tail Village would do something like that. You want us to help you repair the road? Dream on!"
"I'm someone who's been through Qinghua City before. The government allocated funds to repair the official road, and everyone in the city received some salary. It's one thing for you to deduct our brothers' money, but you won't even give us a bite of animal meat. Instead, you're giving us ten pots of rotten meat. Are you even human?"
"Shameless, brothers! We're not building roads for them no matter what! Let's go!"
“That’s right. We should go back. Tiger Tail Village has gone too far. If they really make a big fuss and it gets to Qinghua City, I don’t believe that all the adults in the city are blind!”
"Let's go, let's all go!"
………………
There was trouble.
Zhang Hai had no time to think about why the animal meat was rotting. He immediately realized what was happening when he heard the highly suggestive and encouraging words coming from the crowd.
His expression shifted several times as he stared at the crowd. From the direction of the voices, he roughly identified the speakers and roared at them, "You...you...and you...all of you, step forward!"
"What, Young Master Zhang, do you still want to kill people?"
"Kill a few more, make an example of them, and they'll force us to keep working for them on empty stomachs!"
“Brothers, if we don’t resist now, next time it won’t just be hard work. There have been rumors that Cai Qiu suffered a defeat. The 20 troops that went there two hours ago were going to fight someone else. What if the road is only half repaired and the enemy attacks? Do you think this young master Zhang and Cai Qiu will care about our lives?”
"No wonder so many armies marched south, now I understand..."
"I've heard that too. If we help Cai Qiu repair the official road during a battle, the enemy will definitely wipe us out when they invade!"
"We're risking our lives to build roads for them, and we won't even get a bite of animal meat. What's the point? No way! I absolutely refuse to do it! Let's go!"
........................
The crowd started to retreat!
These laborers were actually leaving.
Zhang Hai was furious. His face turned pale and then flushed. Seeing the crowd begin to retreat, he suddenly drew his sword and charged forward, heading straight for the first few people whose names had been called.
Pfft...
For some reason, he had only run forward a dozen meters or so, and before he could even get close to those people, five or six people inexplicably clung to him.
Zhang Hai thought these laborers had gotten themselves into trouble and were about to attack him, which fueled his anger. He drew his sword and slashed at them.
Puff... Puff... Puff...
With a series of five or six slashes, he instantly cut the six men who were closing in on him in two.
After killing the person, Zhang Hai was stunned for a moment.
The six corpses on the ground were actually four frail women and two teenagers who were no more than thirteen or fourteen years old.
Of course, he wasn't the only one stunned.
And then there were the laborers who were just about to leave.
The laborers who were closest to the scene saw the six corpses on the ground, then looked up at Zhang Hai, and their breathing instantly became heavier.
Many people behind were confused, but when they got closer and saw what was happening, their breathing immediately became rapid.
Killing was nothing to Zhang Hai, but seeing the way the laborers stared at him, his heart skipped a beat, and two words inexplicably surfaced in his mind:
"It's over!"
He has angered the public.
(End of this chapter)