Not worrying about scarcity, but worrying about unequal distribution

Three days later.

[ Name: Tran Mac. ] [ Age: 17. ] [ Cultivation Art: Purple Sun Origin Refining Art (Initiate 1132.3/3000). ] [ Realm: Organ Tempering (Seventh Grade). ] [ Strength: 135. ] [ Skill: Demon Subduing Saber Technique (Perfection 399983/1000000). ]

During these three days, Tran Mac completed the land survey of Phuc Trach Village, Vuong Gia Trang, Lieu Thon, and Tieu Cao Thon, as well as a census of all villagers.

A total of 813 households, totaling 3326 people.

Among them, 925 were able-bodied young to middle-aged men.

Among these people, there were twelve carpenters, two blacksmith apprentices, nine hunters who specifically lived by hunting (apart from Ho Cuong's group of five, there were four others recently tallied), six literate individuals, three butchers, and seven butcher apprentices.

Next, this information just needed to be organized and registered into rosters.

Because these three days were continuously sunny, the matter of Tran Mac being a "reincarnated immortal" was now firmly believed without a doubt in the hearts of all the villagers.

The one hundred and thirty-seven able-bodied young men from other counties who had previously joined, Tran Mac planned to place them all in the patrol team after their housing was built.

In his calculations, the patrol team was intended to develop into a militia later on.

Farmers in harvest season, soldiers in leisure time.

Of the two hundred sets of armor, Tran Mac kept one set for himself, gave one to Ho Cuong, and the rest all went to the patrol team.

Temporarily, after the mountain stockade was built, Tran Mac also planned to put those idle workers into the patrol team. At that time, they would be divided into two teams, to be managed by Truong Ha and Ho Cuong.

...

The sun was setting in the west.

Three large pots were set up in Phuc Trach Village.

Grass carp, herring, and other types of fish, gutted and cleaned, were cut into pieces and added to the pots.

Afterward, the village women added wild vegetables, mushrooms, and spring bamboo shoots they had dug up from the mountains and washed clean.

The villagers who had gone up the mountain to build the stockade also came down. Ho Cuong and his men carried a deer and a roe deer, along with some wild chickens and rabbits.

The deer and roe deer were carried into the village slaughterhouse, gutted and cleaned by the butchers, then seasoned with spices by the village women, smoked, and stored in the storehouse, guarded specifically by members of the patrol team.

As for those wild chickens and rabbits, after being plucked and cleaned, they were similarly cut into pieces and evenly distributed into the three large pots.

After the meat was cooked, salt and seasonings were added.

"Time to eat, time to eat!"

Truong Ha banged a broken iron gong, "Clang, clang!"

The patrol team, fishing team, and the stockade construction team, except for a few on duty, all gathered around, along with some of their family members.

"Make way, the congee is here!" Song Man (Little Man), holding a wooden ladle, trotted over from not far away, her somewhat chubby round face sporting two dimples.

Behind Little Man, Han An Nuong, Luu Thi, and two other village women pushed a three-wheeled cart. On the cart was a large wooden tub filled with still-steaming thin congee.

The crowd parted to make way. When Han An Nuong and the others pushed the cart through, everyone nodded and greeted respectfully:

"Sister-in-law Han."

"Madam Han."

Some bolder ones even directly called out "Immortal Master's Wife."

On the first day, Han An Nuong would blush and feel embarrassed, but after three continuous days, Han An Nuong had adapted.

The crowd lined up, each person coming forward to receive a bowl of thin congee, then going to the three iron pots. Truong Ha, Han Vu, and Ho Cuong would ladle out a scoop from the pot into their bowls.

If someone had a relatively good relationship with these three, when getting their food, they would whisper with a smile, "Brother Truong, how about an extra piece of fish?"

At this, Han Vu and Ho Cuong would look over.

Truong Ha would cough lightly and shout, "Play your mother! If you get an extra piece, and he gets an extra piece, do the people behind still want to eat or not?" (Translator's Note: "Chơi con mẹ ngươi" is a very rude curse, akin to "Fuck off!" or "What the hell!").

"Then how about another ladle of soup?"

"Roll!" (Get lost!)

Under Truong Ha's shout, that person would dejectedly leave, then find a few good friends, squat down somewhere, stir their bowl with chopsticks, and chat.

As for whether they could eat their fill?

That was definitely not possible. Each person only got one bowl, and the congee was still thin. It would be strange if one could get full.

However, there was some fat content, so after eating, they wouldn't be hungry at night.

For them, who were "on death's doorstep," to receive shelter and a meal was already very satisfying.

The aroma of meat, carried by wisps of hot steam, spread throughout the village, making the women and elderly folk at home swallow hard.

A child peeked through a window, watching his little companions wolfing down their thin congee like hungry tigers. He couldn't help but swallow, then turned to look at his mother who was mending clothes, and pouted, "Mom, why do Tran Diem and the others get to eat meat, but we don't?"

Hearing this, the child's mother walked to the window, glanced outside, then closed the window, picked up the child, and said, "Because their family is in the fishing team."

"Then Mom, when can Dad join the fishing team?"

"He doesn't need to join the fishing team. When it's your dad's turn for guard duty, Mom can also take you, Ah Bao, to eat."

"Huh? Why? Didn't Mom just say only the fishing team gets to eat meat?"

"Ah Bao, I'm sorry, Mom didn't explain clearly. Mom will explain it carefully to you now."

"..."

To encourage everyone's active participation.

Tran Mac decided to provide everyone with one meal a day.

And "everyone" here did not mean all villagers.

Only those who had contributed in the village were qualified to eat.

That is, the fishing team, construction team, patrol team, etc.

Moreover, it was limited to the individual himself, not including their family members.

If one wanted their family members to also eat, then as a member of the fishing team, you had to catch more than three jin of fish that day. If you didn't catch any, or caught less than three jin, then only you yourself could eat; your family would have no share.

If you were a member of the patrol team, only if you were on guard duty that day, on shift, or went scouting ahead, would your family members be qualified to eat together.

For the mountain stockade construction team, only if a villager put in significant hard labor would his family members be qualified.

Then there were the hunters, participating butchers, and literate individuals; they and their families could also eat together.

The main reason Tran Mac did this was to worry about the problem of "not worrying about scarcity, but worrying about unequal distribution."

Because if he didn't do this, take the fishermen as an example: if someone caught three jin of fish, while someone else caught none, but then it was announced that regardless of whether fish were caught or not, everyone's family could eat, then for the person who caught fish, it would be too unfair.

He would feel that since everyone got to eat anyway, why should he bother catching fish? Then the next day, he would slack off. After all, whether he caught fish or not, he and his family would still get to eat.

It was precisely because of this decision by Tran Mac that the fishing team caught over two hundred jin of fish every day.

Of course, Tran Mac's decision also had many loopholes.

Still using the fishing team as an example, there were skilled ones and less skilled ones.

Initially, with his skill, he could theoretically catch about ten jin of fish a day. In that case, after reaching the three-jin target, he might not catch anymore or might slack off.

Besides, the weight of fish in Dai Dong Lake varied.

If one was lucky and caught a ten-jin fish, then what?

And what if they caught carp?

So, given the current situation, Tran Mac could only try his best to maintain relative fairness; absolute fairness could not be guaranteed.

He had no money on hand at the moment, so he could only maintain things this way temporarily.

...

After everyone had lined up and finished eating, Tran Mac finally came to eat, primarily maintaining the persona that "you eat first, your meals are the same as mine"...