Chapter 210: Construction Site Dumplings

Six kilometers west of the town of Weisshem, there was a valley.

This valley was originally a forest farm belonging to a noble family. Due to the continuous decline of Weisshem over the past two hundred years, the value of wood had become increasingly low, and this valley forest farm was abandoned more than a hundred years ago.

Now, a hundred years later, this forest farm, which had been deserted for many years, was bustling again.

Nearly half a month had passed since Hal Maxwell, Pansy, Wagner Pitt, and Captain Ken of the Sokree people came to this valley with an engineering team composed of prisoners.

During these ten days, more than 6,000 prisoners (both from Weisshem and Indhal) worked diligently to cut wood, dig foundations, and build houses under the guidance of several Undead Engineers and the iron-fisted threats of 120 Sokri mercenaries and more than 20 operators, and barely created a prototype of a railway station and logistics transfer station in this valley.

Well... actually, it was just a few rows of warehouses, two waiting rooms that were about the same size as the cow sheds on ordinary farms, and five wooden buildings that served as the station dispatching room, conductor lounge, conductor office, ticket office, and information desk and merchandise sales office.

Once the construction of a station that could provide basic services was completed, the railway construction project would be officially launched.

Early in the morning, Hal, Pansy, Wagner, and Ken, who were in charge of the prisoners, met together and hurried to the cabin where the undead engineers lived.

Five of the seven undead engineers in charge of the project were moving around at the door of the cabin, and the other two were lying on chairs in a scattered manner.

The four people present did not find this phenomenon strange at all. These undead spirits were all like this; they would scatter into skeletons when told to and would not respond no matter how you shouted; then they would suddenly combine into human forms and walk around everywhere in high spirits.

"I was just talking about it, and you're here," one of the Undead Engineers waved at the four people. "Come on, guys, come here, let's discuss the division."

The voice sounded very old, so the four of them naturally did not feel offended, and all of them moved closer obediently.

After only half a month of getting along, these indigenous folks all surrendered to the group of undead engineers – although they often spoke incomprehensible gibberish like the other Tarantan undead, they were indeed very intelligent, especially in organizing prisoners to do work.

Hal and the Sokri man Ken were both team leaders, and they knew very well that the more people there were, the more trouble there would be and the harder it would be to lead a team. And based on the experience of Wagner, who had served as a mid-level non-commissioned officer in the city defense army, it was absolutely impossible to make more than 6,000 prisoners obedient and follow orders without killing a few people to establish authority.

But in the eyes of the Undead Engineers, these troubles seemed to not exist.

They first made a set of work schedules, clearly listing the prisoners' working hours and rest times, so that the prisoners knew what to do at what time.

Afterwards, the Undead Engineers divided all the prisoners into several groups and selected those model prisoners in Weisshem who had been imprisoned for half a year to be group leaders. They divided the work areas according to the groups and arranged the meal pick-up times according to the completion of the groups' work surfaces. This not only avoided the trouble of maintaining order when thousands of people were queuing, but also stimulated the initiative of the prisoners. The staple food dumplings provided by the construction site canteen were unlimited and allowed people to eat their fill, but those who arrived late would not be able to get the side dishes (which were pickled mustard and vegetable stew)!

Simplifying the point-to-point management of more than 6,000 prisoners into point-to-group management of 216 groups of prisoners had greatly reduced the pressure. No wonder the four indigenous NPCs were so obedient to the undead engineers.

The four of them sat down, and the undead engineer who spoke first explained the next project arrangements to them:

It would be a waste of manpower to have 216 groups of prisoners crowded together to build the road. It would be better to divide them into seven teams according to the number of undead engineers, with thirty groups of prisoners forming one engineering team, and simultaneously advance the section of railway from Weisshem to the junction of the Tarantan Wasteland.

There were a lot of mountains in Weisshem. It was unrealistic to dig tunnels in the absence of heavy engineering equipment (the machines were too expensive for Yang Qiu to afford) and blasting teams. 

Lord Yang used the wood to exchange for more than 400 kilometers of old-style railroad tracks from the Huaxia Kingdom (in fact, they were freight tracks from the abandoned coal-producing areas in Province G. The wood was just the transportation fee for dismantling the tracks and transporting them to City A. The tracks were given away for free). As for the sleepers, Weisshem did not have the conditions to make reinforced concrete sleepers nowadays. Fortunately, there were wild forests all over the mountains, and they could use local materials. The engineering team only needed to dig the roadbed and transport sand and gravel to raise the road surface. The construction difficulty was not high.

The only problem was that Lord Yang had provided a batch of engineering equipment... that only the Undead Engineers could operate.

However, this was not a big problem. During the survey, these retired engineers had already calculated which sections of the road and which construction stages required the assistance of engineering equipment, so they could be flexibly scheduled.

The four natives had no objection to the Undead Engineers' arrangements, including Hal who had a rebellious mind. There was no way; he had already tried his best to understand the Undead Engineers' intentions, and if he wanted to express different opinions, he had to be willing to be a shameless nitpicker.

As the four of them split up to form teams, Pansy could not help but sigh, "If only all the Tarantan Undead were as rational as these engineers."

Compared to those undead with mental problems, these undead engineers were as friendly as the elders in the neighborhood – not only would they not harass or bother them, but they would also wisely help them solve all their problems.

Hal was silent for a moment, then said darkly, "With so many wise undead souls, what's the point of Tuttle?"

Pansy: "…"

Well, this guy was still holding a grudge.

When the whole valley became lively because of the detachment, a group of farmers from nearby villages came into the valley in a mighty procession, carrying loads on their shoulders and pushing carts.

These farmers were here to sell vegetables to the construction site.

Chris, a dairy farmer, was delivering vegetables to his uncle's house for the first time. When he entered the valley and saw many buildings in the valley that was once overgrown with weeds, he almost dropped his jaw: "Oh my God, there are so many things here!"

"I told you a long time ago that this place has changed a lot." The uncle who was walking in front with a load on his shoulder turned back with a smile. "The people detained in the detention center and the prisoners brought back from the city half a month ago are all working here. I saw Garcia Green when I delivered vegetables the day before yesterday!"

"Really? The Elegant Dream boss Garcia?" Chris said in surprise.

Before the arrival of the undead, Elegant Dream was the premier luxury club in Weisshem. Garcia Green, the owner of Elegant Dream, was a well-known local figure, known for his violent temper and his tendency to kill people on a whim. Even a young man like Chris who lived in the countryside knew of his notoriety.

"There are no big bosses now," Chris's uncle sneered. "That guy looks like a street beggar who walked out of nowhere. He is timid and can't even hammer a nail properly. Even the prisoners in the same group despise him."

"Is that so!" Chris's eyes flashed with gossipy intentions. He loved to hear about the misfortunes of notorious guys like that.

"Garcia is nothing. I've seen better ones," a vegetable farmer walking next to Chris boasted loudly. "Last time I came to deliver vegetables, I saw Cardo Gold!"

The vegetable farmers who delivered the vegetables immediately exclaimed, "Oh——"

The former militia captain, Cardo Gold, was much more famous and had a much higher status in the eyes of vegetable farmers than the club owner Garcia – all the farmers who had come to the town to sell vegetables had their baskets kicked by the former militia captain and had their vegetables taken for free.

Yes, Mr. Gold had a high reputation in the town and was highly valued by the former mayor, whom the townspeople only saw a few times a year, but this had nothing to do with vegetable farmers. The enthusiasm and friendliness of the former militia captain were not open to the lower-class people, let alone farmers. If anyone in the town wanted their children to join the militia and have a stable job, it would have been impossible to succeed without giving Captain Gold enough gifts.

The vegetable farmer who broke the news was very proud to see that everyone's attention had shifted to him. He talked incessantly about how miserable Cadogan Gold was, and especially emphasized how Mr. Hal Maxwell would beat and kick the arrogant former militia captain at will.

Take Gold, for example. He had enjoyed a smooth life for decades and had been bullying the people of Weisshem the whole time. It was truly difficult for him to adapt to the change in his identity in a short period of time. Even after being reduced to a prisoner, he was often provocative. He was not as tactful as Garcia Green, so it was normal for him to be the focus of Hal's violent temper.

Amidst the cheerful chat, the vegetable farmers delivered large quantities of vegetables to the construction site canteen in the valley.

The construction site canteen, which consisted of a few simple sheds, did not have a formal chef. All the chefs were part-time chefs who took turns in shifts. It truly did not require any cooking skills to cook dumplings and stew after all.

"There are a lot of dishes today," Sam, who was the part-time chef, saw the vegetable farmers coming and came out of the shed with a smile.

"Mr. Hank." When the vegetable farmers saw that the person who was collecting vegetables today was Sam, they all smiled sincerely.

Next, the group of vegetable farmers lined up consciously and carried the vegetables they sent into the shed to be weighed.

The construction site canteen did not discriminate when it came to vegetables; potatoes, radishes, greens, and cabbages were all accepted. The only requirement was that the vegetables had to be washed and tidied before being put into the pot. The staff members did not have the energy to wash the vegetables.

After being weighed, the vegetable farmers could collect the "vegetable money" from Agent Sam – six pounds of potatoes and radishes or three pounds of green leafy vegetables could be exchanged for one pound of dumplings.

That's right, the construction site canteen had no money to buy vegetables, so they could only exchange dumplings with the farmers.

Anyway, there were as many of these super low-cost dumplings as you wanted – as long as the consumption did not exceed the budget given by Weisshem Town Hall.

Vegetable farmers were very happy about this kind of exchange – dumplings with thin white flour skin and meat filling could be exchanged for vegetables grown in their own fields. Anyone who was not enthusiastic was a fool!

Although the dumplings made at the construction site did taste a little worse than those sold at the undead delicatessen in town, they were, after all, dumplings wrapped in thin white flour with meat filling!

Chris's family ran a ranch. They grew grass and raised a dozen dairy cows on the mountain land where crops could not be grown. The family's income usually came from delivering milk to residents in the town and selling some cheese products.

After Chris's grandfather passed away, his father's generation divided the family business. His uncle did not want to run the ranch, so he took the family money and "changed jobs" to become a farmer.

Usually, his uncle and aunt delivered the groceries together, but today, because his aunt had something to do, his uncle asked Chris to help.

Chris's mouth opened wide when he saw his uncle exchange two baskets of vegetables and the potatoes he helped push for more than 30 kilograms of white flour dumplings.

He had also eaten the dumplings sold at the Undead Delicatessen in town. Fifteen small dumplings cost three copper coins!

The beaming uncle carefully put the white flour dumplings he had exchanged into the basket. Seeing his nephew's jaw dropping, he could not help but smile and said, "Don't be silly. I'll give you a few pounds when we get back."

"Thank you, uncle," Chris smiled.

Before the uncle and nephew could say a few words, Sam who was collecting the vegetables suddenly raised his hand and said to everyone, "I want to tell everyone that starting tomorrow we won't need so many vegetables. You don't need to send them anymore."

"Ah??"

The vegetable farmers who were happily waiting to exchange for dumplings suddenly became agitated.

"Don't worry, I haven't finished yet," Sam smiled and pointed to the way they came. "The town is going to build a road from the town to this valley. They should announce the recruitment of workers tomorrow. If you have time, you can go and have a look. If you join the road construction team in the town, you can eat dumplings from the construction site without having to send food. It's free, and you can get paid for it!"