Chapter 306 The Lotus Pond Project Begins
Dahe Village is probably the largest village in Ping'an County.
The imperial court successively granted about four thousand acres of wasteland. The area behind the village was quite open, so the group of refugees were confined to the back of the village.
A dozen or so thatched huts were built overnight, divided into five sections. Dry straw was laid on the ground, and each hut could accommodate more than a dozen people lying down at the same time. Four people shared one quilt. They made do with what they had for now.
The village was divided into several areas.
First, there is a free activity area where residents of Dahe Village who are not infected can move around freely.
Secondly, there were separate areas where sick people in the village lived alone in ancestral halls or schools.
Thirdly, there were refugee areas, located on open wastelands, guarded by patrol teams on a rotating basis.
The refugees had just lain down in their thatched huts when it was already dawn.
They had no choice but to get up and work, because Zhao Lizheng had made it very clear that if they didn't work, they wouldn't get any porridge, and they didn't want to starve to death.
Wang Yongcheng, now the leader of the patrol team, said coldly, "There are three jobs in the village that you need to do. The first is to plant trees, in that area over there, and you are not allowed to wander around. The second is to chop firewood, and you can only move around on this low hill. The third is to dig ponds, and each person can get a day's worth of food if they dig two cubic meters of soil a day."
Cheng Wanwan demarcated the area for digging the pond.
This was something she had planned to do long ago, but due to a lack of manpower, it had been delayed until now.
However, it's not too late now; it's winter, and there's little rain, so people usually choose this season to dredge rivers and dig ponds.
However, the soil freezes hard in winter, making digging extremely difficult. Moreover, ancient tools were relatively primitive, and one person could only manage to dig about four or five cubic meters of soil a day. Such a large area required even more work than planting mulberry trees.
She uses these two hundred acres of ponds to grow lotus roots and raise some aquatic products. The ponds are about 1.8 meters deep. After the lotus roots are planted for the first time, they are backfilled to a depth of 30 to 40 centimeters, leaving the ponds about 1.5 meters deep, neither too deep nor too shallow.
She doesn't care about the quality of the lotus roots she grows, because if they are too good, they will be selected as tribute. Tribute is collected, and she won't get a penny. She's not going to do something so thankless.
There are two types of lotus: one that grows lotus roots and the other that grows lotus flowers. She chose a lotus root variety that combines the benefits of both, as long as the quality of both is average.
It takes at least two years to grow lotus roots from lotus seeds, but it's faster to cultivate them from lotus root nodes. A few days ago, she went up the mountain and saw that the area where wild lotus roots used to grow hadn't been completely dug up. Next year, she'll symbolically transplant some over there, and then buy lotus root seeds from the mall. That way, she won't have to go to the south to buy lotus root seeds to avoid attracting attention...
Cheng Wanwan looked at the more than thirty refugees in front of her, all dressed in thin clothes, shivering in the cold wind.
Although she felt sympathy, she didn't want to show her goodwill so quickly.
She said calmly, "Start digging from here. Each person is responsible for a section of land. You can get a small token for digging up a square meter of soil. Two tokens can be exchanged for a bowl of hot porridge."
The location she chose was more than 800 meters away from her backyard, so she didn't have to worry about her family contracting the plague.
Each migrant was given tools and immediately began to work.
Cheng Wanwan set up a large pot at home to cook porridge, providing food for the migrant workers.
People inside and outside Ping'an County were busy cooking porridge and preparing medicine.
It wasn't until the rumors among the refugees outside the city reached Shen Zheng's ears that he learned that more than a hundred people had gone to Dahe Village to rob grain.
He was instantly enraged, dropped what he was doing, and turned to find his father.
"Such a thing has happened?!" Magistrate Shen stood up abruptly. "Ping'an County provides them with two meals of thin porridge a day, yet they still go and wreak havoc in the villages! They're nothing but a bunch of rioters! I think they're just too idle to have such rebellious thoughts! Men, quickly ride to Dahe Village and see what's going on!"
Master Yuan entered, covered in sweat: "Dahe Village is fine. Those hundred-plus people have all been tied up by the villagers. It was a false alarm!"
"Hahaha, I knew Dahe Village wouldn't be so easily bullied by refugees." Shen Zheng laughed immediately. "These hundred-odd people dared to raid Dahe Village at night. Arrest them all and punish them severely!"
Magistrate Shen had the same idea.
If these troublemakers aren't dealt with, other vagrants might follow suit, and if they get into trouble, it will be very difficult to manage them.
Master Yuan, catching his breath, said, "Those hundred-odd people cannot be dealt with..."
Shen Zheng frowned: "Master Yuan, how come I never realized you were such a compassionate person before?"
“If they were dealt with, there would be no one to help with the work in Dahe Village.” Master Yuan said with a wry smile. “I also thought that Dahe Village would hand over the group of refugees to the government. I didn’t expect that only ten people were dealt with. The rest of them were all kept to work. They are given two bowls of porridge for each day of work. The group of refugees are managed separately and there has been no trouble for the time being.”
“It must have been Aunt Zhao’s idea,” Shen Zheng grinned. “Aunt Zhao had told us about work relief before, and I never thought it would actually be implemented. Now, several cities near Ping’an County are besieged by refugees, but Ping’an County is the only one that provides two meals a day. The number of refugees coming here will only increase, and even if there are mountains of food, they will soon run out. Why not find some work for the refugees to do? The more they work, the more they earn; if they don’t work, they can just starve. In this way, Ping’an County can develop, and we can also weed out those who are lazy and unwilling to work…”
Magistrate Shen looked at his son with satisfaction.
This kid had been outside the city all day and hadn't slept all night. He had dark circles under his eyes, but he was full of youthful vigor.
He used to show no interest in these political matters.
Now, however, he gets more and more excited as he talks about it.
“Let these refugees repair the river embankments and improve the ditches, so we can cope with either drought or flood next year,” Shen Zheng said thoughtfully. “After these things are done, we can also repair the roads. Every time we come from Dahe Village to Ping’an County, it’s such a bumpy ride… Aunt Zhao gets dizzy in the carriage, it must be because the road is uneven…”
He rattled off several things in one breath.
“We’ll do it your way.” Magistrate Shen picked up a brush and wrote down the measures Shen Zheng had mentioned. “Master Yuan, you’re in charge of announcing the new policies.”
Shen Zheng glanced at it and was immediately stunned: "Really, do we have to do everything I say?"
Magistrate Shen patted his son on the shoulder: "Because what you said is very good, but—let's put the road construction on hold for now."
He has a clear sense of priorities and what is important and what is not.
Although he often visited Dahe Village and hoped the roads would be smoother, his large-scale road repairs were narrow-minded from any perspective.
He said with relief, "My Zheng'er has finally grown up."
Shen Zheng was instantly agitated.
He likes to be affirmed and praised, so he likes Aunt Zhao.
He never imagined that his father would affirm him, would not point out his mistakes, and would trust him so much...
"Father, leave this matter to me!"
"good."
Shen Zheng laughed and followed Master Yuan out.
The two had barely left when another letter from the prefect arrived.
"...The refugees fleeing this famine have caused immense suffering. From the south to Huzhou, every county and town along the way has been ravaged... The imperial court has ordered that the refugees be rectified in their current locations, and that they be helped to settle down. The number of households that have settled down will be used to determine the year's performance evaluation..."
Magistrate Shen was immediately struck by a headache.
He could barely manage to provide food and medicine to the refugees.
But settling down and settling down... that's really too difficult...
But no matter how difficult it is, he will rise to the challenge.
The most critical issue now is to control the plague.
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