Outside the tent, a shout came: "Something's wrong! The people in the two tents in front are fighting, sir!"
The county magistrate hurriedly walked toward the tent not far away.
A strong, burly man shouted at the top of his lungs, "You people from Baldhead Village, how dare you come to our tent! I'll beat you to death! This is a tent from Qingshuigou Village!"
The county magistrate, his face grim, slammed his fist on the table and said angrily, "What do you mean by 'tents of Qingshuigou'? These tents were given to the disaster victims by this county. How can they be considered tents of Qingshuigou? Why can't the people of Guangtou Village use them?"
The people of Guangtou Village are from the edge of the southern border. Because of the constant wars between the Great Zhou and the southern border, and Guangtou Village is right next to the southern border, the people of Guangtou Village are naturally regarded as people from the southern border and are looked down upon and even despised by people from other villages.
Daling Village contracted out its market to people from Qingshuigou. Two foremen wanted to bring in relatives from Guangtou Village, but they were met with unanimous resistance from the people of Qingshuigou.
The magistrate summoned the village head of Daling Village to clarify the matter before calmly saying, "How could you treat the people of Bald Head Village like this? I warn you, no matter what, Bald Head Village belongs to our county, and you cannot gang up on them!"
One of them, holding a hoe, said unhappily, "The people from Baldhead Village are secretly sending messages to Southern Xinjiang and even taking silver to Southern Xinjiang to buy things. Isn't this the same as making money in our Great Zhou and then spending it in Southern Xinjiang? How can such people stay in our Great Zhou? They should be expelled."
The reason why the people of Guangtou Village buy things at the Nanjiang Market is mainly because it is closer to the Nanjiang Market. If they want to go to the nearest Shui'an Market, even if they get up early in the morning before dawn, it will take five or six hours.
The magistrate was furious and raised his voice again: "What are you saying? You're not from Bald Head Village, how would you know how hard it is for the people of Bald Head Village? They go to the nearest riverside market, and even if they get up early in the morning, it takes them five or six hours. Where else can they go if not the Southern Xinjiang Market? You'd better not let me hear you say things like that again, or I'll definitely kick you all out."
Everyone fell silent. Li Zheng then walked over and coughed softly: "These things are not the fault of the people from Bald Head Village. It's mainly because their village's location determines their behavior. If you were in the position of Bald Head Village, would you still be able to say such things?"
Daling Village is currently the village with the best living conditions among the villages. Therefore, in front of the county magistrate, only the head of Daling Village has the right to say such things. The other heads of the village can only stand quietly to one side and listen to the county magistrate’s words. How dare they speak?
Li Zheng, the head of Guangtou Village, was a frail old man in his fifties who hunched over. Everyone called him Guo Li Zheng, and gave him the nickname "Steamed in the Pot".
"Guo Lizheng, tell me, would you consider relocating your entire village?"
These words caused the village leaders of the surrounding villages to frown and begin to whisper among themselves: "How can this be? Where can the people of Bald Head Village move to? Compared to the conditions, this relocation should not be Bald Head Village's turn at all. Our Xinghua Village is the one that deserves to be relocated more."
“Our Qingshuigou Village is more suitable for relocation. Crops don’t grow in the fields, we need stones to build houses, and it’s inconvenient to go to town to do things!”
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The village chiefs started discussing how to relocate their villages. The magistrate pondered for a moment and said, "Why are you all in such a hurry to merge villages? Let me tell you, after the villages are merged, there will only be one village chief. Moreover, this village chief will be someone with past achievements and outstanding performance among the people. Otherwise, forget about it."
Upon hearing that the county magistrate wanted to appoint a judge, everyone fell silent. No matter what, a judge would earn 15 coins a month, which was a considerable income for families at that time. Who would want to lose such an easy sum of money?
Therefore, no one said a word. The county magistrate sneered: "Through this disaster, the county will conduct a screening. The village with the widest affected area and the most complaints from the people will have its leader carefully selected again. The bald village that is being merged this time is firstly due to its geographical conditions, and secondly because it has suffered from war for a long time. Merging is inevitable!"
The crowd was quiet; no one dared to speak loudly.
The magistrate then turned his gaze to Yu Lizheng: "Yu Lizheng, over the years, Daling Village's various incomes and bidding results have met the requirements and even exceeded expectations. I would like to ask you, is it possible to allow the people of Guangtou Village to merge with your Daling Village?"
Yu Lizheng was conflicted. He didn't know what to say. He wasn't qualified to do this. Although he was the head of the village, only he knew that Dashanniang was in charge of all the big and small matters in the village. Now, the village's conditions had improved, and a village market was being built. This was a project that was ten times ahead of other villages.
Upon hearing this news, Liang Shuyan came to Li Zheng's ear and whispered, "Li Zheng, we can't refuse this. If we don't, the magistrate will have a bad impression of our Daling Village. We might as well agree to it for now and think of a solution later."
With Liang Shuyan's words, Yu Lizheng felt reassured and nodded heavily: "Alright, since the magistrate has given the order, I, a humble magistrate, have no reason to refuse. We are willing to accept the residents of Guangtou Village. However, I still need to go back and discuss the specific procedures for their move-in with the villagers!"
The county magistrate laughed heartily: "Discussion is inevitable. Since your Daling Village has agreed, then your Daling Village will become a model village in our county. In the future, whenever there are any benefits or policies, the county will give Daling Village priority consideration!"
The remaining village leaders looked at each other, unsure of what to say.
Liang Shuyan, however, was already planning in her mind: "Now that the people from Guangtou Village have arrived in Daling Village, I don't know how the villagers will react. Let's discuss this matter first before making a decision. If it doesn't work out, we can divide Daling Village into two parts. The original Daling Village will remain unchanged, and the people from Guangtou Village will be relocated to a new village in the back mountain. Daling Village will be responsible for the investment. The first year will be free, and starting from the second year, each household will be charged a symbolic amount of money until Daling Village has recovered all its investment."
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