My house was confiscated and I was exiled. I emptied the emperor's warehouse and fled.

At dawn in winter, the chill is particularly pressing.

The sky turned white, and the entire land was shrouded in hazy morning light.

Su Yunwan woke up from her sleep, and with a touch of mental power, she pulled the team along and checked the brick storage situation in the brick kiln.

In a brick kiln dozens of miles away, the steward was tied to a chair under the eaves with a cloth stuffed in his mouth, watching helplessly as the last brick was loaded onto a carriage.

Shen Hou ordered people to untie the steward. The free steward was frozen all night. He weakly said: "You are finished! If you dare to steal Mr. Chang Shi's green bricks, you will be sent to jail!"

After hearing this, the team of soldiers who stayed at the end, instead of being threatened, laughed loudly: "Why, did Mr. Changshi also place an order?"

"You dare to defy the government, you are so presumptuous!"

"You can't say that. We pay with one hand and deliver the goods with the other hand. It's a fair transaction!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Shiyi calculated the total amount based on the number of bricks. After deducting the deposit, he put the remaining amount into a purse and forced it into the hands of the steward.

Afterwards, everyone walked away in front of the steward's pursuit.

Su Yunwan withdrew her mental power and was about to lift herself up, but was caught by long arms.

"Wanwan, it's still early, please sleep a little longer." Qin Junyi, who was sleeping lightly, immediately opened his clear eyes.

Su Yunwan said: "We've been busy outside all night, and it's almost time to call it a day. I'm going to ask the women to get up and cook in the stove so that they can have hot porridge when they come back."

"Just ask someone to pass the order." After Qin Junyi finished speaking, he immediately summoned the shadow guard outside the house and asked him to wake up all the female family members except the old lady to cook.

Afterwards, he stood up and dressed, "I'll just go out and make arrangements. You can sleep peacefully."

"I'm not sleepy anymore. I'm going to the warehouse to have a look." Su Yunwan got up together.

When she arrived at the warehouse, she estimated the amount of breakfast, replaced the required military rations with rice and flour that she had ripened, and asked people to move out to make porridge and pancakes.

The other female members of the Qin family heard the order and did not dare to disobey it. They all got up with difficulty.

Since there were thousands of soldiers, Qin Junyi asked the shadow guards left behind to set up more than [-] simple stoves on the spot, and mobilized everyone to cook porridge and bake meat cakes.

When the Chu family heard the news, Chu Shao also asked the old lady to order all the young women in the family to get up and help. As for the sons of the Chu family, as early as yesterday evening when they borrowed the animal-drawn cart, they set out together to help transport bricks.

When the last batch of operating teams returned, the sticky white rice porridge and fragrant meatloaf were ready.

Everyone drank porridge and ate meat cakes, and their mouths were full of oil.

"I don't know if it's because I'm hungry, but I feel that the porridge and cakes today are particularly delicious."

"I have never tasted such sweet porridge."

"There are also pancakes, which are fragrant and chewy."

"..."

Similar words rang out from time to time in the crowd, Su Yunwan deeply hid his merit and fame.

After dinner, Qin Junyi ordered everyone to set up tents so that they could catch up on their sleep.

The empty wilderness was suddenly occupied, and rows of spacious tents stood like lonely hills, standing particularly eye-catching in the hazy morning light.

Zhao Lizheng, who had been awake all night, opened the courtyard door and sighed deeply when he saw the large-scale tents and neatly built green bricks at the end of the village.

As soon as they learned the identity of the Qin family, they sent out so many extra troops. If Mr. Zhou Mu sends troops to kill them, Beiling Village will fall into war again.

Alas...how difficult...

Yesterday, other villagers in the village saw that the newly moved Qin and Chu families were powerful, so they hid at home and observed secretly.

When they saw Zhao Lizheng today, they gathered around him to inquire about the news.

After learning that the Qin family were generals who had been demoted to common people, someone excitedly said: "Uncle Zhao, with their joining, we will be able to better repel the Hu people's sneak attacks!"

Only if we can keep these troops.

Zhao Lizheng complained silently and was not optimistic.

That morning, under Qin Junyi's instructions, no one in the Chu family went to the fields to clear wasteland under the pretense of being sick. They only let the people from the Tian Gang go to clear wasteland on their own and pay their wages in the evening.

Sun Baihu might have been frightened by the Qin family's power, so he didn't say anything.

In addition, Qin Junyi asked one of the Tian Gang to come to find their gang leader to negotiate. The Qin family was in urgent need of a large number of manpower.

Then, he entered the room and handed a drawing to Su Yunwan: "This is the drawing of the house designed by Shen Hou. Please see if there is anything that needs to be modified."

Su Yunwan took it and opened it, and saw that the paper had a closed and independent courtyard as its basic feature, and then enlarged, expanded and extended it.

The layout is square and self-contained, with ten entrances and ten exits, covering an area of ​​hundreds of acres.

"This house is too big. When will it be built?"

"Plan the land first, hire as many craftsmen as possible, and try to build the front few first."

"Where are the soldiers?"

"People who don't have enough room to build adobe barracks can dig caves or underground dens to survive the winter. It will be warmer than living in tents. The winter in the northwest is similar to this, and everyone comes here this way."

Su Yunwan had no objections to the drawings, except for one point: "I want to add floor heating and a kang."

"Is the fire kang a hollow earthen couch? I have seen it in the northwest. Firewood is placed in the hollow space under the couch to burn for warmth. However, the heating is uneven and the smoke is lingering. It is very choking. Even if there is a chimney, it cannot completely solve the problem."

"It's similar to an earth couch, but the principle of burning charcoal and floor heating is the same. I'll think about how to do it first, and you can go and invite the masons."

Su Yunwan had read technical books on earth kang and tile kilns, but it had been so long that he couldn't remember the details.

Then she found a piece of white paper and started drawing, sometimes meditating, sometimes writing, and constantly sketching shapes on the paper.

I didn't finish the manuscript until the sun was almost overhead.

During this period, the leader of the Tian Gang arrived as scheduled. His surname was Tian and he was known as Boss Tian. He was an energetic middle-aged man.

After serving tea, Qin Junyi asked him to mobilize or help hire as many carpenters, masons and other people as possible to build the house.

The farmers in that dynasty were not only good at farming, but also learned skills such as carpentry and masonry during the winter slack. Although he is not very proficient in it, he can take care of himself at home and abroad, and the people in Tian Gang can do it more or less.

In addition, the other party has a wide network of contacts and can hire professional craftsmen faster.

Boss Tian responded without hesitation: "I can recruit about 200 more people nearby. Those who are farther away will have to bring their bedding and dig a cellar here to spend the night. Don't worry, even if you stay overnight, you won't be needed." Pay more.”

It is now the slack season for farmers. Except for one person from each household who works as a corvee in mining and digging rivers, the rest of the people are struggling to find work and can only spend the winter with their belts tied at home.

Even if it only provides two meals a day, many people are rushing to get a bite to eat.

Now the Qin family needs a lot of manpower, and he wants to send more people from the gang to avoid having to stop work due to snow and road closures.