"I think they're eating snakes, aren't they?" A sharp-eyed soldier spotted a small wild boar biting a snake and eating it.

"Yes, usually we just need to give them some wild vegetables or something, they mostly eat snakes that crawl down from the mountain."

"Your method is absolutely brilliant, killing several birds with one stone. I just wonder if this little wild boar is easy to catch? Are there many wild boars in the mountains?" Captain Liu and the others were quite tempted. You see, they had been constantly bothered by snakes and other ubiquitous creatures along the way. Now that they had finally found one of its natural enemies, and it could also provide them with some meat, they were thinking about how to promote this specialty.

“We haven’t found any here. If we want to find more wild boars, we may have to search deeper into the mountains.” Yun Mingwu was telling the truth. Ever since the last time they hunted a wild boar herd, they had also gone up the mountain to patrol after they came back from exchanging salt, but they hadn’t found anything. Because of this, the village was reluctant to exchange the piglets.

"That's such a pity." Although Captain Liu said it was a pity, he was thinking that after these people were settled, he would take his brothers into the mountains to search for them. This was a sustainable industry.

"That wasteland is just ahead." Yun Mingwu was unaware of his thoughts, and even if he did, he wouldn't care. Although they lacked the martial prowess of Sicheng, they possessed firearms and were unlikely to suffer any losses.

When Captain Liu and his team arrived at the wasteland they had mentioned, it truly lived up to its name. Not a single blade of grass had grown on it, and it was covered with countless small stones. Even if such land were cleared, it would take several years for it to thrive.

"Is there anywhere else besides here?"

Yun Mingwu could tell from his tone that he wasn't interested. "No, the land for the villagers who were sent to the countryside before has already been distributed. Except for this area, it's just too difficult to manage, so it's been left to lie fallow here."

Captain Liu had initially been full of expectations for this place, but upon seeing the situation, his heart sank. This wasteland was far too much trouble, and if they were to rely on this land to grow food, he didn't know if they would survive the famine, especially since the food they had brought was really scarce.

"We saw you harvesting corn on our way here. Is it possible to get a harvest by planting corn on this kind of land?"

“Then it needs to be carefully taken care of in the first year. Also, there are too many stones, so they need to be cleared away. The workload is quite large,” Yun Mingwu said frankly.

"Then I wonder if the village can clear this land first?"

As soon as Captain Liu said this, everyone looked at him; this request was really going too far.

But Captain Liu, oblivious to the situation, continued, "You're all used to doing this. You could probably clear this piece of land in a day or two if all the villagers worked together."

"Should we help you cultivate the land again?" Even the second grandfather, who hadn't wanted to interrupt, couldn't stand it anymore. Before anyone had even entered the village, they were already thinking about how to get something for nothing.

Even the slow-witted Captain Liu finally sensed something amiss and realized he had made an inappropriate request. "This is just a small suggestion; whether you agree or not is up to you."

"The land is right here. You can measure and discuss it yourselves. Zhizhong, you stay here with them. There are still many things to finish at home." Second Grandfather didn't want to hear anything more from him, so he waved his hand to signal Yun Mingwu and the others to go back and do their own things.

Watching everyone scatter, Captain Liu wanted to slap himself. How could he have been so foolish as to say those things? Perhaps it was because they had all been too agreeable before, causing him to lose his temper.

"Captain Yun, I'm really sorry about that. I just mentioned it casually, I didn't mean it that way." Seeing that everyone had left, he could only explain along with Yun Zhizhong.

Yun Zhizhong, however, did not take it seriously. What he feared most was such a casual remark, which meant that he already had an idea in mind. It seemed that he needed to find someone else to arrange for a suitable person to enter the village. He should not entrust the task of arranging the personnel to this Captain Liu.

"It's nothing. You should hurry up and measure this piece of land, otherwise it won't be safe to go back to the county town later." Yun Zhizhong's indifferent tone made Captain Liu realize that his words had still angered these people.

He was also losing face, and shouted at the other soldiers, "Hurry up and take the measurements, or are you waiting for me to do it?"

Yun Zhizhong didn't care how angry he was; he stood quietly to the side and watched them do their work the whole time.

Neither side spoke after that. When they were seeing them off out of the village, Captain Liu went around to check on the fields behind the village. Looking at the land planted with all kinds of agricultural products, Captain Liu and the others were envious. At this moment, Captain Liu regretted his previous slip of the tongue.

"That village is quite a large village." As soon as they left the village, the soldiers started talking about Pinghe Village, since Yun Zhizhong hadn't returned to the city with them but stayed at home.

“There are still over a thousand people in their village. Do you think that's a big village? It's just that there's not much land left after we measured it out, and it's not very suitable for farming. Otherwise, I would have considered having my family come over.” Soldier A looked at the lake in front of him, then looked back at the village. It was truly an ideal place to live.

“Even if the soil is good, it can’t accommodate many people. Let’s look around the surrounding area some more.” Seeing such a good place, Captain Liu was unwilling to go back directly. He led his men to search around the lake to see if they could find a better place to live.

This was also due to his overconfidence. If he had asked the people in Pinghe Village, he would have known that there were only mountains and nothing else around, and his trip would have been in vain.

"After going around in such a big circle, this flat area is relatively open, but there's still a lot of wasteland to be cleared." They circled around again and arrived at their usual campsite when leaving the village. Looking at the rows of stoves, they knew that this was probably the rest stop for Pinghe Village.

"This place won't work, it's too open. If some animals come down, the people living here will be in trouble." Captain Liu had also thought this place was suitable, but after careful observation, he found that it was simply not feasible, because they didn't know if there were other large animals in the mountains behind. If they rashly settled people here, that would be the most dangerous thing.

"But there's such a large lake here, it would be such a waste not to use it." Soldier A looked at the lake in front of him, and thinking about the drought he had seen along the way, he was filled with resentment.

"We can only go back and explain the situation to the leaders. As for the specific arrangements, let them handle it." Captain Liu felt he had done his best, and he would leave the more complicated matters to the leaders.