Chapter 144 How to Resettle Refugees

The night gradually darkened.

With the help of seven or eight scholars during the day, there wasn't as much rice to thresh, and the whole family would slowly work on it at night.

Due to drought and locust plague this year, the harvest is not very good. In previous years, one mu of land could yield more than 300 kilograms of grain, but this year the yield per mu is only about 200 kilograms.

The tax rate is 1/15. The total output of five mu of land is 1,000 kilograms, and more than 60 kilograms must be paid to the government.

After the autumn harvest, the county government will send people to collect grain from village to village and personally inspect it, without any false information.

The only good thing that can be done is to have the bag of rice handed in exposed to less sunlight so that it retains moisture and can weigh more, thus saving a kilogram or two.

Cheng Wanwan packed the threshed rice into sacks and asked Zhao Sanniu to carry them into the main room and stack them neatly, and then take them out to turn over and dry them tomorrow morning.

Cheng Zhao used a pitchfork to pick up the threshed rice stalks and put them aside. Zhao Dashan bundled the dry straw and stacked it into straw piles. These straw piles would be very useful in winter. Not only could they be used to start a fire, but they could also be spread on the bed or stuffed into a quilt as a blanket. After the straw piles were stacked, they were covered with reeds on top to prevent them from getting soaked by rain.

Ah Fu is boiling water for evening washing.

Shen Zheng had nothing to do and wandered around aimlessly.

He sat down next to Cheng Zhao with his legs crossed and said, "My dad told me to learn more from you. I'll do whatever you do. You're doing farm work every day. When are you going to start studying?"

Cheng Zhao said without even looking up: "Farm work is also a science. You can do it with me."

Shen Zheng scoffed, "With this free time, you might as well read a book. When my father comes and asks me what I've been reading these past few days, I won't be able to answer a single word."

Cheng Wanwan straightened up, rubbing her aching back as she sat down in the chair. She asked, "Since Young Master Chen has nothing to do, let me ask you a question."

Shen Zheng didn't care at all: "Go ahead and ask."

“I heard that the imperial examinations test people’s livelihood every year, so I’ll ask a question on that topic.” Cheng Wanwan said while rubbing her waist, “This year there is drought in the north, floods in the south, and locust plagues in the middle of the country. Disasters are frequent in various places. People have no food and will become refugees. Throughout history, refugees have always been one of the most troublesome problems for the imperial court. If you were officials in the imperial court, how would you solve this problem?”

Shen Zheng had read history books and naturally knew the harm caused by refugees. The previous dynasty was destroyed because refugees gathered together and revolted.

He never expected that a peasant woman could know all this.

It seems that he underestimated the peasant woman.

He considered his words carefully, "The imperial court has always adopted a dual approach of suppression and appeasement. Suppression involves sending troops, while appeasement involves opening granaries to distribute food and setting up porridge stalls. Once the disaster is over, the refugees are sent back to their hometowns, and the homeless are sent to settle in unowned lands."

Cheng Wanwan looked at Cheng Zhao: "What do you think?"

The measures Shen Zheng mentioned are top-down suppression and appeasement by those in power, which is the thinking of the ruling class.

Cheng Zhao, having grown up in the countryside, likely has his thoughts largely based on the common people. However, he is rigid and needs stimulation to become more open-minded.

Cheng Wanwan continued, "Suppression and appeasement can only temporarily solve the refugee problem. Have you ever thought about the root cause?"

Shen Zheng twitched the corner of his lips and said, "Didn't you just say that there are refugees because of frequent disasters?"

"Not really." Cheng Zhao spoke slowly. "The frequent disasters are just the beginning. In fact, there were signs of this long ago. I heard that in the fertile south, some county governments collect taxes at one-third. Farmers can still starve to death after a year of hard work and the autumn harvest. Even if there were no disasters, these people would become refugees. Exorbitant taxes, cruel officials running rampant in the countryside, and wealthy gentry swallowing up land are all the reasons for the refugees."

Zhao Dashan interjected, "Magistrate Shen is much better; he only requires us to hand over one-fifteenth of the amount."

Shen Zheng said smugly, "My dad is the best, of course!"

Zhao Ergou said, "The taxes in Baiyun Town are very heavy. I heard that they have to pay 60% of the tax. So, out of 100 kilograms of grain, only 40 kilograms can be kept."

“People are starving to death during the autumn harvest, so why bother farming?” Zhao Sanniu spat. “It’s better to go to town and work as a laborer, at least you can save up some money.”

Cheng Zhao raised his eyes and said, "It's difficult to truly implement both suppression and relief for the refugees. Suppression could easily force them to rebel, while relief would require the allocation of grain and silver layer by layer. Of a hundred thousand taels of silver, by the time it reaches the last layer of officials, only a hundred taels might remain. This creates a lot of uncertainty. Besides these two methods, I think we could arrange work-for-relief on the spot, such as building city walls..."

"And we'll dig ditches!" Zhao Sidan chimed in. "If every village builds ditches in advance, we won't have to worry about droughts anymore. And if there's a sudden rainstorm and floods, the ditches can also divert the water from the fields. Mom, am I right?"

Cheng Wanwan patted his head: "Our Sidan is so smart."

Shen Zheng retorted, "The imperial court can also take this opportunity to recruit soldiers. Once the displaced people join the army, they will not be relegated to rebel forces, which will stabilize the government and the situation on the front lines..."

Everyone in the room expressed their opinions.

Even the quiet Zhao Dashan would put forward some of his own opinions.

As it grew later, Cheng Wanwan announced that it was time to call it a day and everyone should wash up and go to bed.

While sleeping that night, Shen Zheng dreamed that he had become a refugee. He got into a fight over a black steamed bun. Luckily, he was good at fighting and successfully snatched the bun. He lowered his head and started to eat the bun, but it smelled bad, like it had gone bad... Then, he heard a scream.

"Master, why are you biting my foot?"

Ah Fu spoke with great grievance, but dared not pull his foot out.

When Shen Zheng opened his eyes, he saw that Afu was holding his legs in his arms and stuffing Afu's feet into his mouth.

"Ptooey! Ptooey! Ptooey!"

He got angry and got up from the ground.

"You're going to sleep outside tonight!"

Afu didn't care much; whether he slept inside or outside, it was all the same—he was sleeping on the floor, so there wasn't much difference.

The aroma of rice porridge wafted from the courtyard. Following the scent, Afu walked to the kitchen: "Auntie, let me watch the stove for you."

Cheng Wanwan was cooking rice porridge. Now that there was new rice at home, there was no need to suffer the hardship of eating corn and buckwheat noodles. White rice was so delicious. It could be cooked into porridge and paired with pickles for a delicious meal.

The pickled vegetables were brought by Grandma Zhao. Grandma Zhao originally kept the pickled vegetables to prepare for a famine year, but now that the fields have had a small harvest, she sent half of them over. Cheng Wanwan likes to eat these and kept them all.

The family had just sat down at the dinner table when they heard the sound of car wheels coming from the gate of the yard.

Shen Zheng was the first to rush out. He saw the Qian family's carriage. On the carriage were a coachman and two servants. The three of them worked together to push a round, grayish-white stone roller down, which immediately created a large crater in the muddy ground.