Chapter 305 is all about labor.
There were no casualties in Dahe Village during this night raid by refugees.
Women, the elderly, and children danced and sang around the bonfire. Although the night wind was strong, everyone's heart was filled with warmth.
The village head convened a meeting of key personnel, sitting in a room to discuss how to deal with these refugees.
“The city gates of Ping’an County are closed, and we don’t have enough manpower. If we send these refugees back, the county magistrate will be unable to handle them.” Cheng Wanwan said slowly, “There are a total of 135 people, 25 of whom are women, and the remaining 110 are all men.”
The village head stroked his beard: "They're all laborers..."
These men had been fleeing famine for three or four months. Although some were physically weak and thin, they were men, and adult men at that, which meant they could work.
“They are both a source of labor and a potential threat,” Master Yu said. “If we let them go back to the mountains, the next ones to suffer might be Guihua Village, or Chengjia Village, Lijia Gou, and so on. As far as I know, only Dahe Village has a patrol team. Other villages may not be so united. If the refugees are prepared like they are tonight, those villages will surely fall.”
The village head said with great pride, "I was right to have foresight, otherwise we would have been doomed tonight."
He Xiao said, "I've seen them. Only the four or five people in the lead have some rudimentary skills; the rest are just farmers."
Those people, like everyone else in Dahe Village, once owned their own land, but due to a natural disaster, they were forced to leave their homes and become displaced.
Three or four months ago, they must have been simple and honest rural men.
Cheng Wanwan pursed her lips and said, "Can the patrol team manage over a hundred people without causing trouble?"
“Eliminate the wicked and keep those who are inherently kind,” He Xiao pondered. “Besides the four or five ringleaders, there should be some lackeys and followers. Find these people, lock them up separately, and hand them over to the government for punishment after the plague has passed. As for the remaining refugees who have not committed any evil deeds, we can manage them separately and we will definitely be able to control them.”
Cheng Wanwan pulled out a piece of paper from somewhere, took a charcoal pencil, and drew a circle on the paper.
“The villagers of Dahe Village live concentrated at the foot of the mountain and along the river. This side was originally wasteland, and this side is the 4,000 mu of land that the imperial court has bestowed upon us. For now, only the Cao family is planting trees…” she said as she drew. “Here, five areas have been designated to manage the refugees in five groups of about twenty people each. Even if there is trouble, it can be suppressed quickly…”
Everyone shared their opinions, and the rules were quickly finalized.
Several large pots were started cooking at the same time. The porridge was cooked first and then delivered to the refugees by the village's old ladies.
On a cold winter night, someone brings you a bowl of hot porridge, even though you've made a mistake. To be able to drink porridge after making a mistake is like receiving divine treatment.
They held their bowls of porridge, unable to finish it in one go, because it was thick and more filling than the plain porridge distributed by Ping'an County.
Grandma Zhao chose a thin-looking young man and said with a smile, "Drink slowly, don't choke. No one will take it from you."
The young man didn't care about any of that. He poured the scalding hot food into his mouth. Food was such a precious thing; it only truly belonged to him once it was inside his stomach.
After finishing his drink, he wiped his mouth and said somewhat embarrassedly, "Thank you."
Grandma Zhao sighed and said, "These past three or four months, you've fled from the south to come here. It must have been very hard for you. Look at you, your face is so thin, it's so pitiful."
The young man almost burst into tears. In the past three or four months, he had witnessed the coldness and warmth of human nature, and it had been a long time since anyone had cared for him like this.
He stammered, "We've been traveling all the way from Shuicheng, stopping and starting along the way. Some cities along the way would take us in for five or six days, but once our food ran out, they'd send us away... We didn't know where we'd end up fleeing this famine, or how much longer we'd survive... What happened tonight really wasn't intentional..."
They had done evil deeds, yet the villagers still brought them porridge, which made him feel extremely ashamed.
Grandma Zhao said casually, "Our village head said that the law does not punish the masses. More than a hundred of you have come to Dahe Village to cause trouble. Even the county magistrate cannot deal with you. So the village head has decided to send only the ten worst people up. You can secretly tell me which ten people have done the most bad things. At dawn, these ten people will be sent on their way."
The young man's eyes lit up. This meant that even if he explained everything, those people wouldn't bother him anymore.
He immediately said, "Wang Heizhuang, Li He..."
"Wait a minute." Grandma Zhao beckoned Wu Xiaochui over. "Alright, you can continue now."
The young man gave his name, and Wu Xiaochui was responsible for recording it.
The young man glanced at it; the handwriting was neat and beautiful. How could any random child in the village know how to write?
He looked up and glanced around casually, and saw that there were even seven or eight-year-old children writing.
Next to each migrant was a "kind and benevolent" old lady who was responsible for getting information out of them, and an educated child who was responsible for registering them; the scene was strangely harmonious.
These refugees were also fleeing from the village; they were villagers too, but no one in their village could read or write…
This village is truly different from their original village. No wonder a woman named Sui Ru came from here; no wonder she was able to capture them all in one fell swoop…
Each person gave the names of ten people, and after that, Old Mrs. Zhao arranged for each person to receive a bowl of medicine.
After drinking a bowl of medicine, the village headman began to call out names.
The ten people mentioned most frequently were singled out, tied up like rice dumplings, and locked in a pigsty. This was considered a heinous crime, and they will be handed over to the government for processing.
The twenty-odd people who were nominated were also tied up and locked in a cowshed in the village. This was a minor crime, and if they showed remorse, they would be re-examined.
Those who were not nominated were confined to a small area near the edge of the village and were not allowed to move freely.
"Listen up, all of you!" the village head shouted. "That bowl of porridge you just drank was the first bowl of porridge you had in Dahe Village, and it will be the last."
Upon hearing this, everyone was terrified.
"Are they trying to starve us to death?"
“We didn’t do bad things on purpose; we were forced to.”
"Please, village head, let us go."
"You've made a mistake, there's no way we'll let you go!" the village head sneered. "If you want porridge, earn it with your own hands! Everyone in Dahe Village feeds themselves with their own hands; nobody has extra grain to feed you all. But you can work to exchange for food! For example, the village needs to plant trees; planting ten trees can get you a bowl of porridge! The village also needs a lot of firewood; thirty catties of firewood can also get you a bowl of porridge..."
All the refugees immediately burst into tears.
When they were outside Ping'an County, they could get two bowls of porridge all day long without doing anything. Although it was just plain porridge, it was something they got without working for it, and it tasted great.
As a result, they now have to work in order to get food.
I've been really ripped off!
"Anyone who tries to escape midway will be treated as a serious criminal and handed over to the magistrate!" The village head's tone was cold. "Wrongdoing has its price. I hope you remember this lesson!"
After the village head finished speaking, he turned and left.
He played the bad cop, and Cheng Wanwan played the good cop, speaking gently: "Winter nights are very cold, and the village patrol team will build thatched huts overnight, with ten people in one room, and the village will provide some straw quilts."
A straw quilt is made of two layers of coarse cloth filled with dry straw in between, which can barely keep you warm.
The refugees were immediately moved again.
They fled from the south, from summer to winter, still wearing only thin clothes. Every night they had nowhere to hide, and several people would freeze to death in one night.
Unexpectedly, the village built them thatched huts and even gave them blankets. They must have met a living saint.
"Thank you, Madam Sui!"
"We will never forget Madam Sui's great kindness and virtue!"
The refugees all knelt down in unison.
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