Chapter 57
When the older generation of the Qi family sighed about the good soldiers in the military settlement, the younger generation all nodded in agreement. They said that the soldiers in the military settlement were good, and the owner of the military settlement was also good. He not only took in their family, provided them with shelter, and gave them porridge, but also provided medical treatment for their older brother and younger brother. He was a good person.
The team moved forward very quickly. While they were talking, it was their turn to receive porridge. Each person received a bowl, which was poured until 80% full. The porridge was also very thick, unlike the porridge given by the rich families in the city, which was thin and full of water. You could see some rice grains suspended in the bowl.
The Qi family happily took the porridge and gathered together to drink it slowly.
The youngest child of the Qi family held the bowl with both hands and carefully drank a mouthful of the two-grain porridge. "Grandpa, this porridge is so thick and fragrant."
Old Man Qi smiled as he held the bowl, saying, "It's delicious, isn't it? Drink slowly, be careful of the heat." Just looking at the porridge, the owner of the military settlement was so honest that he felt at ease. It seemed that he had found a good place for his family.
"Grandpa, when we came in, the people who recruited us said that they would give us three months' rations at once. It seems that this should be fulfilled." Old Qi said in a loud voice. Just by looking at the porridge, you can tell that this military settlement is not short of food.
As he spoke, a little girl next to him opened her eyes wide, "Dad, are you saying that the military settlement will really give us three months' worth of food at once?" You know, there are fourteen people in their family, and to get three months' worth of food, wouldn't that mean they would have to be given a lot of food?
Old Man Qi pondered, "After this meal, we'll follow the soldiers over there to settle down. We'll see about the food issue later. But you don't have to worry too much. I estimate that even if we can't get three months of rations for our family all at once, one month should be no problem." After saying this, he paused and looked at his lame grandson. "Ashan, what do you think?"
A lame young man named Ah Shan was sitting in a chair, drinking porridge silently. The dampness of the porridge filled his eyes. He looked up when he heard his grandfather ask him, "I agree with your guess, Grandpa."
Everything about the military settlement was even better than he had expected. Earlier, at the city gate, his family had encountered two waves of recruiters, one from the Yichun Camp and the other from the Yichun Military Settlement.
Their entire family consisted of three children under ten, four adults, a couple in their sixties, two middle-aged couples, and a crippled man like him. After weighing the pros and cons, he strongly persuaded his grandfather to choose the military settlement. Now it seemed that his choice was right.
With the grandfather and grandson's words, the Qi family felt relieved. For a long time, the old man had been the head of the Qi family. Over the past two or three years, Ah Shan had grown up and gradually revealed his intelligence and wisdom, especially his financial skills. His suggestions had greatly improved the family's life, and now he had another person who could participate in the family's decision-making.
After they finished drinking the porridge, they took the bowls to the side, rinsed them with water, and put them back in their designated place, just like those who had finished drinking the porridge before.
As soon as they finished, a young sergeant greeted them, "You are a family, right? If you have eaten, follow me."
"Sir, where are we going?"
"Take you to the barracks for placement."
"Oh, okay."
"Master, how many families like ours come to the military settlement? How do they usually accommodate us?"
The young sergeant glanced at their entire family and said, "There aren't many families like yours coming in, but there are some. Most of the families we recruit have fewer than six people." The non-family members are small, but they have wandered all the way here, so there are bound to be some deaths. "You're good. I can see you've also made the long journey. There aren't many families like yours that are still together. What's your family situation like?"
The Qi family could see that the soldier was easy to talk to, so when they heard his question, they told him about their family situation. Firstly, they wanted to get closer to him, and secondly, there was nothing in their family situation that could not be told to outsiders.
The Qi family's village was a small one, with few fields. With just over a dozen people in their family, they only managed to cultivate seven or eight acres. However, the young and strong men in the village were skilled hunters, and the men were among the best in the village. Furthermore, they lived off the land, so besides hunting, they would often go into the mountains to collect local produce and sell it. As a result, the Qi family enjoyed a good life.
But this year they first suffered from a snowstorm and then from horse thieves. Not only were their property and food robbed, but many people were also injured.
Mentioning this, Father Qi felt heartbroken. His fourth son, Yingshan, such a good boy, had also had his leg broken in a fight with horse bandits. The key point was that the fourth son was also smart. The horse bandits were a scourge to the village. It was he who gave the villagers advice, which allowed everyone to hold out for so long and buy time to send his wife and daughter to the back mountain. The fourth son was also broken by the angry horse bandits.
Hearing this, the young sergeant looked at the lame Qi Yingshan with admiration, and also advised them to go to the medical department to see a military doctor as soon as possible.
The Qi family kept this in mind and quickly thanked the young soldier.
The young sergeant waved his hand and said, "No need to thank me, old man, after you settle down, take this young man to the military doctor. If he can be cured, then we will. If not, don't lose heart, young man. As long as you are still here, you can still have a bright future." He pointed at his solar plexus with his finger.
The young soldier didn't know it at the time, but his words would come true. The Qi family had similarly fled, but after arduous efforts to reach Yichun, they lacked a large Yichun camp to house their entire family. Furthermore, before entering the city, they were tragically robbed by a nearby stronghold. Their money and property were long gone, and the women suffered greatly. The men of the Qi family, unable to watch their women suffer, fought back fiercely, but were killed and wounded.
The Qi family had lost several male members who could support the family, and the remaining elderly and children could not hold on for long without help and died that winter.
Qi Yingshan's family was wiped out, leaving only him and his sister. He later fled with his sister to the Diluo tribe, where he was highly valued by their powerful figures. Due to his own experiences, he hated Daliang and devoted himself to amassing wealth for the Diluo tribe, contributing indelible merit to their growth.
In this life, fate took a turn and sent their family to Xing Changfeng and Yao Chunnuan. Their fate was completely different from their previous life.
The Qi family looked at him in surprise, including Qi Yingshan. They didn't expect him to comfort them. Aren't the soldiers here too friendly to them?
The young soldier smiled and said, "We soldiers admire people with sharp brains the most. You will understand after staying in the military settlement for a long time." For example, their Chief Secretary Yao has a very sharp brain. He found Marshal Zhu's secret vault in one go, which saved them a lot of effort.
Old Man Qi went on to say that they reported the matter to the authorities, but the government didn't care, nor did they talk about suppressing the bandits. They didn't provide any compensation or help to the people who had suffered. Their indifference was chilling.
Later, they heard that the group of horse bandits were just 20 or 30 miles away from their village, occupying a mountain and settling down.
The villagers were terrified when they heard this. With the bandits so close to them, wouldn't their village become their tenant farmers? They only needed to come and plunder them regularly after the summer and autumn harvests, and each time, like this time, they would leave them with a little food. There was nothing they could do.
After realizing this, no, just knowing that the bandit's lair was only thirty miles away from the village, the villagers began to flee in panic, either seeking refuge with distant relatives or old friends, anyway, they tried their best to escape from that place.
Naturally, the Qi family wouldn't stay. They took everything they could, and the things they couldn't take were worthless items and furniture. It was a shame, but they could take them back once they had settled in their new home. As for the few acres of wasteland they had reclaimed, it wasn't very fertile, and because it was so remote, it wouldn't fetch much. So, leaving it behind wasn't a big deal.
After hearing about the family's plight, the young soldier sighed. "Happy people are all alike, but unfortunate people are each unfortunate in their own way. There are many people like them among the newly arrived military settlements."
"You're right to think so. People move and live, trees move and die. Life doesn't matter where you live, right?"
Old Man Qi nodded, "That's right, staying alive is the most important thing."
"But are the horse thieves in your place so rampant? You should know that the bandits in our Yichun area dare not show up at all because of the raids by the elite soldiers of the Xing family in our military settlement." The young soldier was full of regret when he said this. How could such arrogant horse thieves be so far away? It would be great if they were within the raid range of their military settlement. Robbery is the best way to get rich quickly.
The few remaining strongholds not only dared not show their heads, but if possible, they really wanted to flee from this terrible area of Yichun overnight.
The younger generations of the Qi family opened their eyes wide. They came to a place where they were not afraid of those horse thieves at all?
Old Man Qi smiled and nodded repeatedly, "We've heard about this, and it's a very important reason why we chose to go south or north to Yichun. Don't we ordinary people just want a stable life? Just imagine, we finally arrived in a new place, and everything has to start all over again, right? What we fear most is that after we work hard and have our own house and our own land, the horse bandit incident will happen again. Should we leave or not?"
The young sergeant clapped his hands and said, "Then you should come to our military settlement!"
The Qi family nodded. They also felt that they had come to the right place because, so far, the military settlement had not given them any bad impression.
As they were talking, they arrived at the recruit camp.
"Let us live in such a nice house?" The Qi family was surprised when they saw the rows of new houses in front of them.
"These barracks are newly built, but they are just for you to stay in temporarily."
Oh, it turns out it’s just a temporary place for them to stay.
"Once the new military dependents' area is completed, you'll have to move there. This is the barracks for new recruits. It's just a temporary place for you now."
Huh? Does that mean the military settlement will build new houses for them? That's too good to be true, right?
The young sergeant led them to the door of a barracks. "Your family of fourteen will live in this barracks. Each of you will have a bed. There are two empty beds. I will arrange for two more people to move in later. Don't bully me."
This was a large barracks with eight bunk beds, divided into upper and lower bunks. It was the first time they had seen this kind of bed, and it was much better than the large bunk beds they had expected.
With the men here, the young soldier's mission was nearly complete. He gave his final instructions, "Alright, settle down. I need to continue collecting people. If you have any questions, you can go find the manager of this barracks. His office is in the row of three houses to the left of the main gate. Remember all that?"
The Qi family nodded repeatedly.
"Okay, settle down. Also, you have to get up early to work tomorrow, don't forget."
"I won't forget." They were supposed to work after they came in; that was what had been agreed upon. As long as they were alive, there was nothing to complain about. It was just work, wasn't it? Besides, the military settlement had given them half a day to settle in.
"Grandpa, food--" the little girl next to him tugged at the hem of Old Man Qi's clothes.
"Little girl, I heard it. Regarding the food that was promised to you when you were recruited for the military settlement, we will definitely not default on it. First of all, the monthly food allotment for soldiers and the military dependents responsible for the settlement is different. To prevent the new recruits from giving up their rations to their families, not having enough to eat themselves, and then falling behind in training, the new recruits eat in the cafeteria morning, noon, and night. They are guaranteed to be full, but they are not allowed to waste. For the military dependents of us who are farming, men receive 45 kilograms of food per month, women receive 30 kilograms, children receive 18 kilograms, and the elderly and children are treated the same way. In addition, families with new recruits will receive a 10 kilogram food subsidy per month for each new recruit. This is the current temporary food distribution plan for the military settlement. I heard that there may be changes next year. We will notify you separately then."
The little girl tilted her palm-sized face upwards and counted on her fingers. "Brother Dajun, Brother Erjun, Brother Dahai, and Brother Xiaohai are all new soldiers, which means our family can get an extra 40 kilograms of food per month and year." So, how much food can their family get?
"After you're settled, go to the steward's office and get the corresponding ID card. If you want to cook your own food, you can go to the warehouse with your ID card and get the corresponding food. If you don't want to cook your own food, you can eat in the cafeteria, which also requires ID cards and has set meals."
After the young soldier finished his instructions, he left in a hurry. He was really busy.
"What the military commander just said means that we can go to the warehouse and take out the food that belongs to us at any time with the voucher."
"That's exactly what I mean."
"We have food, but we only have one pot and one clay pot, which makes cooking inconvenient. And don't forget, the officer just said that two more people will be living in this barracks."
The presence of outsiders in the barracks also meant that it was not absolutely safe, at least for the remaining belongings and food they had.
"I'm thinking, let's eat in the cafeteria for a few days and see how it goes. If the food there is okay, we can eat there for a while. When the new military dependents' quarters are built and we get our own houses, we can take out the food and start our own business."
This suggestion was unanimously agreed upon by the Qi family.
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