The construction of the city wall did not go very smoothly, because after just three or four days of work, for some reason it started raining all the time.

Fortunately, the rain was not too heavy.

Moreover, during the day, it often only rains for most of the day, leaving one or two sunny hours.

But it’s different at night. It rains every night.

Not long after the sun set, the sound of rain began to fall.

I got up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet, and the sound of the rain made it impossible to sleep.

It seems that every night is accompanied by the sound of gurgling rain.

However, County Magistrate Yang's persistence in building the city wall was quite unexpected.

Even though it rained every day, he still insisted on repairing the city wall. Not only did he repair the city wall, he also added the project of digging a canal.

Even if the common people had complaints in their hearts, they dared not say a word.

County Magistrate Yang also suggested that they should be paid because of the bad weather.

The enthusiasm of the laborers was immediately stimulated.

Xia Daohua also set up her mung bean soup stall. Every day when the weather was hottest, if it didn't rain, she would set up the mung bean soup stall in front of the county government office.

Then the officials from the county government would bring laborers and carry a few buckets to serve mung bean soup.

Every time I cook summer rice, I boil two large pots of it and always keep mung beans and enough water in the pot. From the first time the water boils, I keep it boiling for half an hour and then remove it when the time is up.

After persisting in this way day after day, many officers were able to recognize summer rice flowers.

Many laborers also recognized the summer rice flowers.

Later, Xia Daohua found herself becoming more and more famous, so she handed over the business to Erlang and Sanlang, and appeared less frequently herself.

Times have changed, so it’s better to adapt to local customs.

When the city wall construction project entered the final stage and the canal dredging and deep excavation project entered the middle stage, refugees began to appear in Jixiang County one after another.

At the beginning, the number of refugees was small and they were all concentrated in the suburbs of the outer city.

Later, more refugees came from the suburbs and gradually began to enter the outer city of Jixiang County.

Xia Daohua discovered that the beggar who always basked in the sun across from her shop and did not work properly was also starting to become alert.

As the number of refugees increased, the pawnshops in Jixiang County began to become overcrowded.

People who sold their children, even their wives and mothers, appeared.

The broker Xia Daohua knew also recommended a group of maids and servants to her, telling her to buy a few servants while the prices were low, and at the same time reminded her to stock up on rice and flour.

Only then did Xia Daohua discover that several grain stores on the market had begun to hide their grains and limit the amount they sold each day.

Xia Daohua had no shortage of food, but she did go to the grain store a few times and buy a few grains at each store. She bought some coarse grains, fine grains, beans, in shells, with skins, and ground.

In fact, this was just to find an excuse to take the food out of the space for her.

Xia Daohua asked the shop assistants to find out some information. She also contacted the chatterbox at Yang's Teahouse. Xia Dalang also sent her a message. Even the beggar across the street who always basked in the sun gave Xia Daohua a heads-up.

Most of these refugees came from Zhongzhou County on the Yellow River.

As soon as the rainy season arrived, there was a flood.

Many villages were completely submerged by the overflowing river water. Not only the crops, but even the houses and the people living there were all swept away.

Those who were able to escape the famine were basically people living in villages far away from the river and on high ground.

Speaking of Zhongzhou County, it suffers from disasters almost every year.

It’s just that sometimes there is drought, sometimes there is flood, and it has never been a relief.

But for some reason, the people of Zhongzhou County still want to live in Zhongzhou.

Moreover, after being hit by a disaster, they fled away, and it seemed that they had gained experience and even developed some fixed traditions of fleeing famine - for example, people from each village who fled away must disperse and run in all directions, rather than going to one place.

Thanks to their tradition.

Otherwise, if they all headed towards Ping'an County one village at a time, even if the area of Jixiang County was doubled, it would not be able to accommodate so many refugees!

As the number of refugees increased, Wang called on the wealthy families and merchants in the county to gather together and urged everyone to set up porridge stalls.

After listening to this, Xia Daohua pondered for a long time and finally decided that there were some things that she had to say.

Whether County Magistrate Yang and his wife Wang can do it is another matter.

I thought about it but didn't say it out loud, and I couldn't get over it in my heart.

However, before Xia Daohua could bring up her idea of "work-for-relief," she heard Wang mention County Magistrate Yang's experience:

"When our master was in Hongshi County, he encountered a similar situation. The previous county magistrate handled the situation improperly, and as a result, the refugees caused chaos in the city, killed the county magistrate, and robbed several wealthy families in the city."

At this point, some of the women in the families moved uneasily, probably starting to worry about their family's safety.

Wang smiled slightly, but her face showed a bit of sadness:

"At that time, our master was given the task and it took him more than a month to quell the rebellion.

But at that time, 70% to 80% of the wealthy families in the county had already suffered from the disaster of the refugees, and there were less than ten families who survived unscathed..."

Wang laid the groundwork for a while, and seeing that everyone was a little tense, she finally revealed the plot:

"Our master is arranging work-for-relief, and I feel that we, the women in the harem, can't just sit there and watch.

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