Chapter 197: Chapter 138: Overall Situation
Cheng Zongyang was a little confused.
’The day before yesterday, the catch was over eight hundred, but it’s dropped by more than three hundred.’
Opening the door, he was t with rows of wooden fish-drying racks and an overpowering fishy stench.
Cheng Zongyang paid it no mind and walked toward Ma San, who was processing the catch. A kiln stood beside him.
Ma San and the others didn’t know how to fire a kiln. Cheng Zongyang had simply described the process to Ma San based on videos he had seen in his past life and told him to give it a try. Since none of them knew how to do it anyway, trial and error would eventually yield results.
They had to master brick-making. Earthen houses were just a temporary solution; brick-and-tile houses were the ultimate goal.
"My Lord," Ma San said, imdiately putting down his work and cupping his hands in greeting as Cheng Zongyang approached.
"Mm. It’s nothing important. I was just wondering, has the number of fish in the stream decreased over the past two days?"
At this question, Ma San imdiately nodded. "You are wise, My Lord. I was planning on reporting this to you upon your return today. The number of fish in the stream has indeed decreased. Of course, it’s the large fish that have beco fewer."
Cheng Zongyang nodded. That made sense.
It was only natural for the population of large fish to decline after several months of continuous fishing.
But the small fish weren’t worth much, so they hadn’t been catching them.
He thought for a mont before saying, "It’s fine. Just catch what you can. Stop once the daily catch drops below three hundred."
’I’ll have to set a closed season for fishing.’
In the past few months, they had caught nearly seventy to eighty thousand fish, most of which had been dried. It could definitely be considered overfishing.
If they didn’t show so restraint, he feared there wouldn’t be any decent-sized fish left in the stream in the future.
But this was also a testant to how astoundingly abundant the stream’s fish population was.
"Yes, My Lord," Ma San replied.
"By the way, how many dried fish do we have in stock?" Cheng Zongyang couldn’t help but ask.
"My Lord, as per your previous instructions, both the first and Second Level of the secure warehouse are used for storing the fish. Excluding the first and second batches, there are probably still over fifty thousand fish. The space is almost completely full."
Hearing this number, Cheng Zongyang couldn’t help but sigh.
If it weren’t for the Points, he really would have stopped fishing.
And the purpose of the Points was obvious. Not only had they allowed him to buy many items, but they also gave him plenty for Cultivation, which was how he’d achieved his current Realm and strength!
While he still couldn’t defeat the Exotic Beast with the Sonic Attack, he could take down the Tiger King and the Wild Boar King in a head-on fight if he spent so ti.
He had even simulated a ’Clone’ of himself to spar with to further improve his combat experience.
"Smoke these fish as well. It’s faster than air-drying. I’ll gradually sell them off later."
There were too many fish; they had to speed up the processing.
He would set aside a batch for the villagers to trade for later, and he planned to sell the rest.
If not for the fact that he couldn’t explain how fresh fish transported from Luoyang to Xiangyang could remain fresh, he would have just sold them directly.
It would not only earn him more money but also clear out his inventory quickly.
"Yes, My Lord." Ma San nodded. ’It’s just that I’m stretched thin and too busy to manage anything else.’
Cheng Zongyang chose that mont to say, "I’ll be adding six more people later, so your work should get much faster. By the way, have you figured out a way to make fish balls?"
Ma San had been pleased to hear the first part of what he said, but the second part made him give a wry smile:
"My Lord, not yet. Not unless we can build a bone-crushing tool, sothing that can pulverize fish bones. Otherwise, there’s really no way to quickly turn the fish into the fish paste you ntioned.
However, this humble one has thought of a thod: using a stone mortar and pestle. We could throw the fish into the mortar and pound it into a paste. This would mash the flesh and crush the bones at the sa ti, but I suspect there would be a lot of bone fragnts left over."
Cheng Zongyang knew that was the core of the problem. ’If I had a bone crusher, would I even need to think this hard?’
But the mortar and pestle thod...
’It seems like the most practical option for now, doesn’t it?’
"It’s worth a try." Cheng Zongyang nodded. "If you co up with anything you think is feasible, just try it. I only care about the results."
Ma San replied, "Then I’ll wait for you to bring in more people, My Lord. Only then can I free up the ti to make a stone mortar."
Cheng Zongyang smiled. "Barring any surprises, you’ll have them by tomorrow."
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