In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 412: Recruitment

In Yuezhou, countless White Lotus Sect followers, led by their leader Xiao Mingwang, rose up in rebellion. In less than half a month, they defeated the 100,000 Yuezhou troops, successfully separating Yuezhou from the territory of Xia Kingdom and taking it over for themselves!

Meanwhile, uprisings broke out in Qiongzhou and Haizhou, but because these uprisings were peasant uprisings, they did not escalate and were quickly suppressed by the local garrisons in Qiongzhou and Haizhou, disappearing without a trace.

However, although the uprising was suppressed, it was clear to everyone that the Xia Kingdom was already on the verge of collapse, and the disintegration of the Nine Provinces was a foreseeable event.

The land of the Xia Kingdom is like a powder keg, where even greater turmoil could erupt at any moment!

While the outside world was in turmoil, Chenjia Village remained peaceful.

Near the village chief's house, a meeting is being held in a newly built building.

Those present included: Chen Lian, the livestock manager of Chenjia Village; Chen Da, the deputy commander of Chenjia Army; Chen He, the agricultural manager; Chen Hou, the construction team manager; Chen Dao, the head of Chenjia Village; and his bodyguard Chen Cheng.

Chen Dao sat in the main seat, looked at the various Chenjia Village administrators in the room, and said, "Speak, what difficulties do you all face?"

"Rice Brother".

Chen Hou spoke first, saying, "We don't have enough manpower here. There are too many things to build now. With only the few people under my command, I don't know when we'll be able to finish."

The construction team under Chen Hou's command in Chenjia Village had the largest number of people in the entire village. However, the construction team also had the most to do, including constantly building new chicken and duck farms, repairing and maintaining roads, and building dormitories for the new recruits of Chenjia Army.

With so many projects, it's simply impossible for Chen Hou's small team to handle them all.

"It's the same here."

Chen Lian then said, "The number of chickens, ducks, pigs, and cattle is increasing, and I simply can't keep up with the manpower I have!"

The village now has more than 15 chickens and ducks, but Chen Lian only has a few dozen people, which is far from enough to keep up with the demand. Not to mention that Chenjia Village now has not only chickens and ducks, but also hundreds of pigs and cattle.

"I'm doing a bit better here."

Chen He also said, "But Brother Dao, the wheat in the fields will be ripe soon, and we'll probably need a lot of manpower then."

"so……"

Chen Dao pondered for a moment and said, "You want to increase manpower?"

"Not bad!"

The three nodded in unison. Chenjia Village was developing too fast. Without enough manpower, they couldn't get anything done.

"Alright!"

Chen Dao nodded and made the decision: "In that case, let's hire people."

After saying that, Chen Dao looked at the three of them and said, "Tell me the number of people you need, and then post a notice to recruit them."

"no problem."

The brief meeting ended, and later that afternoon, a notice was posted on the notice board outside the grocery store.

"clang!"

Chen Gou stood in front of the notice board, banged on the gong, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Chenjia Village is hiring! Chenjia Village is hiring! Everyone come and take a look!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a large crowd gathered around, pointing and commenting on the notice board.

Is Chenjia Village going to recruit soldiers again?

"That can't be right, can it? Last time they only recruited a little over three hundred people, how could they be recruiting here so quickly?"

"Gou-ge'er, what does the notice say?"

"..."

Chen Gou was a celebrity in Chenjia Village, so many outsiders recognized him. Illiterate people asked Chen Gou about the contents of the notice.

"Everyone, please be quiet!"

Chen Gou gestured with his hands to quiet everyone down, and then explained to them: "The notice board shows the job postings for our village. As long as you are successfully recruited, you can get the same treatment as the villagers of Chenjia Village, with a monthly wage of 500 wen."

"what?!"

Upon hearing this, everyone became excited.

"Brother Gou, call me, call me! I'm the hardest worker!"

“Brother Gou, I can work for Chenjia Village.”

"I can do it too! I'm quick and efficient, I definitely won't slack off!"

"..."

The crowd excitedly surrounded Chen Gou, eager to work for Chenjia Village immediately.

There's no way around it, an income of 500 coins a month is just too good to pass up!

"Everyone, don't panic, don't panic!"

It took Chen Gou a lot of effort to quiet everyone down before he finally spoke: "There are a lot of people to be recruited this time, so you don't need to worry about not being able to find enough workers!"

After finishing speaking, Chen Gou paused and said, "This time we are recruiting a total of one thousand people, including 700 men who will mainly be engaged in farming and building houses, and 300 women who will mainly be engaged in taking care of chickens and ducks and sewing. Those who want to participate in the recruitment can come and register first thing tomorrow morning."

"Recruit a thousand people? That's a lot!"

"Great! I can work for Chenjia Village now."

"I must come early tomorrow to register."

"With 500 coins a month, I can earn the same amount of money as the villagers of Chenjia Village!"

"..."

The crowd surrounding the notice board was extremely excited.

Outside the crowd, a woman who looked to be around 25 years old stood quietly in place, her eyes sparkling with surprise.

The woman's name was An Hong, and she used to be a prostitute.

To many, prostitution is a rather easy profession; one can earn more money in several days or even a month than an average person could earn simply by lying on a bed with their legs spread.

But is this really the case?

On Earth, where Chen Dao lived in his previous life, the situation might have been similar, with many prostitutes buying cars within six months and houses within a year.

However, in the Xia Kingdom, the situation was quite the opposite.

In Xia Kingdom, the brothels are controlled by either gangs or the government. Neither gangs nor the government can be resisted by the prostitutes in this industry. Therefore, the vast majority of the income from prostitution is taken by the forces behind them, and the prostitutes only get a small portion.

Take the brothel where An Hong used to work as an example. Behind the brothel was the Black Tiger Gang. More than 9% of the brothel's income was taken by the Black Tiger Gang, and only 1% was received by the women in the brothel.

Of course, the brothel would also provide An Hong and other women with food, clothing, and shelter, relieving them of the troubles of daily life.

however……

Selling her body in a brothel was never An Hong's true wish!

An Hong did not voluntarily go to the brothel to sell her body; she was forcibly abducted by the Black Tiger Gang.

The Black Tiger Gang was once considered lawless in Taiping County. In their view, it was more practical to kidnap women than to go through the trouble of finding women willing to sell themselves.

In the brothels run by the Black Tiger Gang, the vast majority of women were abducted from the countryside by the gang; they themselves did not want to work in the sex industry.

But the Black Tiger Gang doesn't care whether they want to or not.