Chapter 136

"What are you standing there for? Huawei is coming." Lin Shuge said to Xie Chen.

Xie Chen still seemed to be a little unresponsive and stared at him blankly.

Lin Shuge said with a smile: "Why? Do you still want to have a baby? Can you or can I?"

Xie Chen raised his hand and touched the back of his head, his tone a little strange, "No, brother, just have me."

"Stop, Huawei is here, we are not allowed to talk about this topic anymore." Lin Shuge said in a low voice.

"My lords, thank you for your hospitality." Hua Wei came over with two Qiang soldiers.

"You're too polite, Chief." Lin Shuge smiled and led him to his seat.

"I haven't thanked the several officials sent by Dayan yet. Lord Mu is an excellent doctor. He saved many of our elderly and children. He can even cure sick livestock." Hua Wei said first after sitting down.

Lin Shuge exchanged a few polite words with him. Various diseases occurred frequently in winter. Most of the Qiang tribes had shamans, so naturally they were not as good as the Yan people who had inherited the tradition for many years and knew how to treat diseases. Moreover, ancient literati were also able to read medical books, so it was not surprising that they knew simple medical skills.

He also asked about the establishment of the Guanshi this year. Hua Wei was very excited when he heard about it. He said that in previous years the tribe was short of food and clothing, and no matter how many cattle and sheep they had, they could not exchange them for anything. This year, because of the Guanshi, the tribesmen not only exchanged their cattle and sheep for food, but also for vegetables that they had never eaten before.

The vegetables they were talking about were actually bean sprouts. In winter, when the weather was cold and the ground was frozen, the people of Dayan would dig cellars to store vegetables. The Qiang people did not farm, so where would they get vegetables from? Therefore, vegetables like bean sprouts, which were hard to get in winter, were priced very high in the Guanshi market and could be exchanged for a lot of mutton. The people on both sides felt that they were getting a good deal.

Some Qiang soldiers understood what they said and rushed to tell Lin Shuge and Xie Chen in their unfluent Qiang dialect that they had eaten all kinds of vegetables this year. Someone even said that he had exchanged half a sheep for some radishes, which were used to make delicious soup.

Lin Shuge listened to them with a smile. The Qiang people were a nomadic people who mostly ate meat. Not eating vegetables would reduce their vitamin intake, which could lead to a decrease in immunity at the very least and scurvy at the worst.

It seems that they get along well. When the people from Yuan County arrive, there will be fewer disputes, Lin Shuge thought to himself.

Several people were eating barbecue. Lin Shuge listened to the crackling sound of burning firewood. In his ears, he heard Hua Wei and Xie Chen talking about the Cuju game. Lin Shuge listened quietly to the two of them reviewing the gains and losses of each game. He took a sip of the wine offered by the Qiang soldier and asked him a few questions in a gentle voice. A few words came out of the soldier's mouth. Lin Shuge roughly guessed that he should be saying that the heavy snow this year collapsed the felt tent, and Mu Yuanzhou and Hua Wei took them to rescue the disaster. Fortunately, they survived.

"Brother, let's go back." Lin Shuge turned around and saw that Xie Chen had finished chatting with Hua Wei. Hua Wei and the soldiers said goodbye to them. Lin Shuge returned the greeting and watched them go away.

…

The cold winter has passed. Although it is spring, the weather is still a bit cold. Ten miles away from Ganzhou, there were soldiers leading the way, followed by many civilians with their families. Some were even pulling carts with valuables on them, with old people and children sitting next to them.

"Hurry up, we'll be there soon." the escort officer shouted.

"Oh, sir, you have said this several times." Some brave people shouted at the escorting officer.

The escort officer held the knife at his waist with one hand. Seeing this, the citizen immediately shrank back and dared not speak anymore. The journey was truly arduous. The people were unwilling to travel long distances away from their hometowns, and many of them fled along the way. He had no choice but to resort to tough measures, but since he had already come here, he was too lazy to bother with them.

Some people looked unhappy and said, "Look, the land along the way is barren. I don't know if crops can be grown in the land. If not, my family will starve to death."

Someone whispered back: "Farming is a piece of cake. I heard that there are Xiongnu and Qiang people all around here. I don't know if we can survive."

"Didn't they say that a general conquered the Qiang people and took back a piece of land so that we could move here?" someone else asked.

"Those barbarians were not educated by us. Today they surrendered to our dynasty's military force. Who knows what will happen tomorrow?"

The person who spoke was obviously a scholar. The others nodded, all of them worried about the unknown future.

"But I heard that Dingyuan has been different in recent years. The paper we use is said to have come from Dingyuan. Everyone must have heard of Ganzhou paper, right?" The man added when he saw that everyone looked gloomy.

Others have heard of Ganzhou paper, but they can only pray silently in their hearts for God's blessing and a better life.

After an unknown amount of time, after walking through a forest, they saw a city in the distance. The city walls were majestic, simple and tall, like soldiers guarding the frontier, standing in the distance.

"Qingquan County is just ahead." The escort officer's tone was filled with excitement. Upon hearing this, the people were also excited. They had finally arrived.

Lin Shuge had already brought his men here to wait. The escorting officer stepped forward first to greet him and took out the transfer order from his arms.

"You all have worked hard on this journey. Please follow me. The Moshui Valley is quite far from here. You should take a rest before going onwards." Lin Shuge said to the escorting officer.

"Thank you, County Magistrate." The escort officer saluted him.

Everyone followed Lin Shuge into the city. Lu Yuechuan took a few steps back to question the accompanying soldiers, while Yang Yan patrolled the surroundings with the servants.

As soon as they entered the city, everyone exclaimed in surprise. They saw that the city was very clean and tidy, without any dilapidated walls or houses. The streets were very spacious. They didn't know what materials were used, but the road surface was flat and hard.

There were all kinds of shops and vendors on both sides of the street. The people of Qingquan were shouting their wares loudly. When they saw them, they enthusiastically tried to sell them food. Some people smelled a strong fragrance and couldn't help but go over. Lin Shuge saw that it was someone selling tofu pudding.

Ever since Lin Shuge taught Wen Yuan and others the tofu recipe, it became popular throughout the entire county. As the method was simple, Wen Yuan and others did not keep the recipe to themselves and contributed it to others. As a result, stalls selling various soy products were not lacking in Ganzhou County.

"Everyone needs money to settle down, so watch your mouth and eat later." The escort officer reminded him after seeing this. The man could only swallow his saliva and returned to the team in disappointment.

Lin Shuge said nothing and led everyone to the inn. Because there were too many people, most of them could only stay outside the inn. Fortunately, Lin Shuge had someone cook porridge early. After drinking a bowl of hot porridge, the hardship of sleeping in the open air along the way seemed to be alleviated a lot.

"This gentleman is really honest. Look, this porridge is not adulterated at all." Some people were drinking porridge and whispering to the people around them.

"I just talked to the officer here. This Lin County Magistrate is very popular. When he first came, he got rid of the bandits who were causing trouble for the area and created various things for the people to make money. We..." He swallowed the porridge, "maybe we came to the right place."

"Is this true? Lord Lin looks like one of those young masters from Yuan County. Can he really care about people like us?" someone asked in surprise.

"After drinking and taking a rest, we will set off." The escort officer said to everyone.

Lin Shuge thought that the common people were moving with their families and would carry a lot of things with them, so he sent out most of the officials in the county, and notified Xie Chen to transfer a team of soldiers to escort them.

Lin Shuge was riding in the lead and met Xie Chen who was riding towards him, followed by He Xin and a group of soldiers. He Xin looked at Lin Shuge, and immediately coughed lightly, took a few steps back, and dared not speak again.

"Brother, I'm here." Xie Chen glanced at the people following behind him and said to Lin Shuge.

"You came at the right time. We are going to settle these people today. How are the houses over there going?" The silver money allocated by the county magistrate's office has arrived in Qingquan. Lin Shuge has recruited a group of people to build houses. Naturally, the people are willing to do it if they can earn money. Not to mention that there are also jobs like burning bricks and cement, which is also a source of income for the people.

"It's still under construction. If there's not enough time, we can let the people squeeze in first. Then we can use my brother's previous method and let them work to pay for the house. After that, they can pay a part of the rent every year. After three years, they don't have to pay anymore, and the house will naturally be theirs." Xie Chen replied.

A portion of the money distributed by the county magistrate's office must be kept as resettlement expenses for the people. Money is needed to purchase all daily necessities, but if the people know that the houses are built for them, they will naturally work more efficiently. However, the houses built by the county government can only be regarded as rented to the people first. After all, there is no free lunch in the world. If they are given away for free, there is no guarantee that someone will take advantage of it.

Lin Shuge nodded, rode with him, and arrived at the Moshui Valley first.

Mu Yuanzhou and Chen Yuanrong were inspecting the newly built house with the police when someone shouted, "A lot of people have come."

The two men then turned around and saw two horses galloping towards them. On the horses were two people, one wearing green clothes and the other wearing black clothes, both of them had extraordinary grace. They immediately went forward to greet them.

"Sir." Mu Yuanzhou and Chen Yuanrong saluted.

Lin Shuge dismounted, and Xie Chen also dismounted to inspect the houses with him. Looking around, they saw that many houses had been built, with a combination of blue bricks and cement, and the speed of construction was much faster. Many people were busy building walls. In addition to the blue brick houses, there are also many houses built of wood and houses made of mud blue bricks.

Lin Shuge nodded. The progress was already very fast. He continued to move forward and saw many Qiang people working. Mu Yuanzhou said beside him: "They begged me desperately, and I have spent a lot of time with them. Sir, I assure you that they are ordinary people. They have no bad intentions and just want to earn some money to support their families."

"Why are you so nervous? I'm not going to chase them away, but you still have to be careful." Lin Shuge said softly.

Mu Yuanzhou looked up at Lin Shuge, then at Xie Chen. Chen Yuanrong said loudly, "I told you that you are worrying too much. Why would Lord Lin not allow them to work here?"

"Okay, after the relocated people are settled, I will send some more people over. You can take care of the household registration, house rental, and personnel arrangements."

"Yes, sir." Mu Yuanzhou replied.

When the people of Yuan County arrived, they were stunned by the rows of blue brick houses.

"Wow, is this the house we are going to live in? I have never lived in such a nice house." Some people said in shock.

"I just said that I saw a lot of houses like this in the county government office. It turns out that ordinary people in Qingquan can live in them."

"This will cost a lot of money, right?" someone asked, expressing everyone's thoughts.

Lin Shuge listened to the people's discussions and said loudly: "Everyone has worked hard on the way here. As you can see, these houses are built for everyone to live in. However, time is too tight and we cannot provide them to everyone, so we need everyone to work together to build houses. If you are wealthy, you can pay the county government for a house in one lump sum. If you are short of money, you can rent a house from the county government and pay it back within three years."

The people all calculated in their minds and felt that it was much better than they had expected. After all, they thought they would have to build houses on their own when they arrived here.

"If your family is really poor, you can work to pay off your debts. The county officials will keep a daily account for the workers, eight cents a day. The money you earn can be used to rent a house, but you are not allowed to cheat." Lin Shuge continued.

Many common people became excited. Most of the common people of that era were from poor backgrounds. They came here from their original counties to settle down. They had to keep the money they had for daily necessities. If they could really work and earn money, everyone had plenty of strength, so who would be unwilling?

"Sir, we are willing." Someone shouted first, followed by a deafening shout.

The escort officer looked at Lin Shuge strangely for several times. Mu Yuanzhou came over and handed over all matters to him. The soldiers following behind him also organized the people to line up to register their household registration.

"This will allow them to gain a firm foothold first. Spring ploughing will begin soon. I wonder how Ye Xing's farm tools are doing?" Lin Shuge said to Xie Chen.

Xie Chen smiled and said, "Brother, you don't have to worry about everything. Ye Xing knows everything himself and must be ready."