If You're Going to Do It, Do It Best

Chapter 37: If You're Going to Do It, Do It Best

The Earth God Temple in the east of the city is a fairly large temple, situated at the foot of a low earthen mound about a hundred zhang in circumference, less than a li from the East Gate.

An artificial small river winds its way nearby.

In this vast world, Demons and Monsters often run rampant in the wilderness, so human nations and regional powers naturally have many ways to deal with them.

Within the Great Ming Dynasty, the areas around various towns and cities are basically equipped with complete, tall city walls and City Protection Arrays.

In all official towns and cities, more or less canals or medium-to-large irrigation ditches have been built to meet the water needs within the city.

Even in places where environmental and geographical limitations prevent the drawing of external water sources, many deep wells have been dug.

Most of the labor from the annual corvée collected by the government is used for cleaning and maintaining the rivers and ditches inside and outside the city.

Due to significant climate change in recent years, droughts in various places have become increasingly severe, especially in the northwestern region of the Great Ming Dynasty, where many large and small rivers have dried up.

The small river next to the Earth God Temple, where Li Dingguo and the others just arrived, only has a thin layer of water at the bottom, like a mountain stream.

It looks like it will completely dry up and stop flowing in less than a month.

In the backyard of the Earth God Temple, there is a large deep well with relatively abundant water, ensuring that the dozens of orphans and beggars who usually gather and live here temporarily don't have to worry about not having water to drink.

Looking at this dilapidated Earth God Temple, which has long been without the smoke of incense, Li Dingguo, who has lived here for three years, felt a complicated mix of emotions.

He first had Tang Guangqiang and Cao Yongxiang lead the Martial Artist youths to distribute the rough cloth clothes and straw sandals they had just bought back.

The six large water buckets and several bars of soap they had just bought were also distributed, half for the boys and half for the girls.

"Everyone, take turns going to the backyard well, boys and girls separately, in batches, to fetch water back to your rooms, wash yourselves clean, and change into new clothes."

He looked at the orphans and beggars in front of him and said loudly, "Most illnesses are contracted because of poor hygiene."

"If you don't want to get sick in the future, you must strictly follow what I say!"

"Next, I will lead people to help you build two large latrines, separated for men and women, on the empty spaces on both sides of the Earth God Temple's backyard."

"From now on, no one is allowed to relieve themselves anywhere! If you need to go, remember to go to the latrine!"

"Did you hear me clearly?"

His tone was stern as he shouted at the little beggars.

"Understood, Boss!"...

His prestige among these orphans and beggars was extremely high, and now he intentionally unleashed his full Martial Artist aura, scaring his companions into repeatedly agreeing.

Li Dingguo waved his hand at Tang Guangqiang and Cao Yongxiang, signaling them to direct and maintain order.

The boys and girls who received new clothes and straw sandals were all beaming with joy.

Under the constant shouting of Tang Guangqiang and Cao Yongxiang, they formed two small teams, one for boys and one for girls, and lined up at the well, taking turns using wooden buckets to fetch water back to their rooms to bathe.

The two large side rooms in the Earth God Temple with drains were temporarily used as male and female bathrooms to avoid any awkwardness.

Seeing that everything was on track and orderly, Li Dingguo then directed the remaining nearly ten Martial Artist youths to start a thorough cleaning of the Earth God Temple.

They also collected some scattered wood and took it to the backyard, selecting two suitable spots for the Martial Artist youths to dig pits and build two large latrines.

These Martial Artist youths now each had several hundred jin of strength, and doing these chores was no problem for them as long as someone directed them.

Li Dingguo, who came from 21st-century Earth, understood the necessity of hygiene better than anyone and attached more importance to it.

He had his own plans, but they were not to be spoken of now.

To survive in the chaotic end of the dynasty and live better and better, relying solely on himself was impossible.

There were many things that, even if you wanted to be prudent and live out your life in obscurity, you couldn't stay out of.

In a chaotic world, the only things you could rely on were your mind, your martial prowess, and whether you had a loyal and reliable armed force under your command.

With the Cheat System, his growth rate would definitely not be slow, so why fear any challenge?

It was very necessary to quickly standardize the good living habits within the future team.

The initial stage of any grassroots movement is the most difficult.

But after forming a complete set of procedures and having a group of capable people under command, the development and growth in the middle and later stages would become easier and easier.

By the time everyone finished working, it was already noon.

Young men and women, who had finished bathing and changed into new clothes and straw sandals, gathered back in the empty space in the backyard of the Earth God Temple, their faces full of joy.

"Tang Guangqiang, did you use up the sixteen strings of cash from before?"

Li Dingguo asked Tang Guangqiang, who had come to his side.

"Boss, the money isn't used up yet."

Tang Guangqiang quickly replied, "But there's not much left, less than three strings."

"Mainly the clothes were too expensive. Even for rough cloth clothes, after buying the clothes, most of the money we had was gone."

He explained and also complained a bit.

"Okay, with the remaining money, you take a few people to the eatery and buy two baskets of steamed white buns so everyone can have another full meal."

"Also buy some bowls, chopsticks, ladles, and basins, and while you're at it, buy two new large wooden buckets and go to the porridge stall near the market to get two buckets of thin porridge!"

"If the Rebel Army soldiers there ask, just say Li Dingguo needs them."

With the Eight Great Kings, Zhang Xianzhong, making such big moves recently, Li Dingguo knew without a doubt that his and Ai Nengqi's reputations had already spread among all the Rebel Army soldiers in the city.

It was a small matter; just mentioning his name would ensure those ordinary Rebel Army soldiers wouldn't dare make things difficult.

The martial arts attire worn by Tang Guangqiang and the other young martial artists was a clear marker of their orphan youth camp.

"You need to be quick. Time is running out. We still need to rush back to the Wang Family Courtyard by evening."

Li Dingguo waved his hand, saying one last thing, signaling Tang Guangqiang to quickly take the people and get the job done.

"Alright, Boss!"

Tang Guangqiang hurriedly gathered ten young martial artists again, took the remaining money, and quickly led the group away from the Earth God Temple, departing rapidly.

Even though they had spent all the money given by the Great King at once, these young martial artists had good natures and were quite open-minded about it.

Anyway, the money they had wasn't of much use to them right now, so spending it was fine.