Chapter 562 Beggar
Zhou Silang took the rice back to the kitchen, poured it back into the pot, scraped out the hot ashes and some remaining charcoal from the stove, and then placed the pot on top to keep the rice hot and not get cold immediately.
After finishing all this, he took the pot of food out.
After exiting the alley, walk along the main street until you reach the busiest section, where you will often see young or old beggars begging.
During the time they were in Yizhou City, Zhou Silang didn't dare to say that he had visited the entire Yizhou City, but he was familiar with the neighborhood where they lived and several nearby streets.
When you first start wandering around, you'll always get lost and have to ask people on the street for directions, but you'll always run into people who don't really want to talk to you, or who deliberately give you the wrong directions, or who insist on giving you directions even though they clearly don't know the way themselves.
After being cheated so many times, Zhou Silang realized that it was more reliable to ask beggars on the street for directions.
In addition, some restaurants on the street like to hire some laundry assistants to run errands, deliver food and recycle tableware every day.
They are called hangers-on, but they are actually beggars.
The restaurant pays them some food and they run errands for the restaurant.
Zhou Silang had met them several times and became familiar with them after a few interactions.
Because today is Qingming Festival, all the restaurants at the entrance of the alley are closed and no one knows where the beggars have gone.
Zhou Silang walked along the street towards the bustling area. Seeing a restaurant that was wide open, he turned and entered an alley, which was the back door of the restaurant.
Sure enough, as I walked in, I saw a group of ragged people rummaging through a wooden barrel from afar.
Zhou Silang squinted his eyes and looked around. He finally found someone familiar. He coughed lightly and called out, "San'er?"
A little boy of eight or nine turned around and saw Zhou Silang. He walked up to him lazily and said, "Brother Zhou Silang, did you find a job for us?"
"You've all been to the restaurants on the street. What kind of work can I find for you? Come, I brought you a dish."
When San'er heard this, he immediately rushed over with his bowl. Seeing the vegetables and meat inside, he was very surprised and said, "Brother Zhou Si, are you rich?"
"No, isn't this Qingming Festival? I'll treat you to a good meal. There are only vegetables, no rice."
San'er waved his hand, and the other little beggars rushed over, saying, "Don't worry, we have it."
They had some naan and steamed buns hidden away. Although they were not whole and had been there for several days, they were still delicious when eaten with the vegetables and meat.
Especially when the dish is still hot.
Zhou Silang gave the dishes to San'er and asked him to divide them. They were surprised to find that the dishes were hot and were very happy.
Zhou Silang took back the empty bowl and saw that they were eating with gusto. He waved his hand and said, "I'll be leaving now. You guys enjoy your meal."
Everyone said goodbye to Zhou Silang warmly, "Goodbye, Fourth Brother."
"Have a safe journey, Fourth Brother."
Zhou Silang walked to the entrance of the alley and saw Manbao and his friends staring at him in amazement while carrying things. He first glanced at the baskets in their hands and immediately went to greet them happily, "Have you finished shopping? So fast!"
Manbao nodded and said, "There are not many people in the restaurant today, so the speed is very fast."
She glanced at the empty basin in Zhou Silang's hand, frowned, and asked, "Fourth Brother, when you took the vegetables just now..."
"Oh, they're friends I met outside. I'll tell you when I get back." Zhou Silang was a little hungry, so he eagerly took the baskets from their hands and said quickly, "Come on, let's go back and eat first."
Manbao and his friends only bought vegetables, and the rice was from home. Daji brought the rice out from the kitchen, and Zhou Silang explained, "It would be a waste if those vegetables were thrown away, so I sent it to them."
Manbao asked, "Then why don't you deliver the food together?"
"...There's only this much food, just enough for us."
"We can cook more," Bai Shanbao said, "Since we're doing good deeds, why not do it to the best of our ability?"
Zhou Silang scratched his head and said, "I'm not trying to do good deeds. Wouldn't it be a waste if things were thrown away? We don't eat vegetables, but we do need to eat rice."
Bai Erlang said, "You are stingy."
Zhou Silang was unhappy. "That's not stingy. I don't like what you're doing. We don't have gold or silver mines at home, so how can we cook a meal just to give it to others? If you give it to me today, will you give it to me tomorrow?"
Daji glanced at them and said, "Hurry up and eat. It's already past lunch time. Be careful not to go hungry."
Manbao asked as he served himself some rice, "Fourth brother, why don't they go home?"
"Because they have no home," Zhou Silang said. "Who would run away if they had a home? San'er and the others have been wandering around for over two years. Most of them were displaced by the flood three years ago, but others have all sorts of reasons. Why would I ask so many questions?"
Manbao frowned. "I remember that there weren't so many beggars in Luojiang County. With so many people, why didn't County Magistrate Tang distribute land to the refugees like County Magistrate Yang did and use it to resettle them?"
Bai Shanbao thought for a moment and said, "Yizhou is prosperous, maybe he doesn't have that much land anymore?"
"What about their original family land?" Manbao asked, "Since they had a family before, it's obvious that their parents, and even their grandparents, had land. Even if they were stranded away from home, the family land would still be there. The government provided some seeds, tools, and exempted them from taxes for a few more years, and they would naturally settle down."
Manbao said this because that was how Yang Heshu resettled the refugees.
Shortly after he took office, he began to arrange for some strong refugees. When he found that the grain prices in Yizhou were still high during the autumn harvest, he began to arrange for other refugees.
The refugees who are still stranded in the county will be dispersed and distributed to various villages, or they will be directly resettled on a piece of wasteland and allowed to form their own village.
Lend them some food, give them some seeds and farm tools, and exempt them from taxes for the second year on the grounds that they were reclaiming wasteland.
For some relatively barren or difficult to reclaim wasteland, he would also issue conscription orders and conscript laborers to help reclaim the land.
Now, two years have passed. Not only have the refugees stranded in Luojiang County been settled, but refugees from other counties have also flocked in after hearing the news, and most of them have been accommodated by Yang Heshu.
Therefore, the population of Luojiang County has grown very rapidly in the past two years. In addition to the people born in the county, there are also these newly joined refugees.
Population is one of the indicators for evaluating a county magistrate's performance. Apart from anything else, Yang Heshu is excellent in this regard.
Manbao and Bai Shanbao also knew that because of this incident, Yang Heshu was sued by two neighboring counties for suspected population competition.
Yang Heshu mentioned to them that most of these refugees came from Yizhou. Otherwise, if their ancestors were in Luojiang County, he wouldn't have to worry so much and could just directly provide them with some food, seeds and farm tools.
Therefore, there is still a big difference in the resettlement of landless refugees and those who do not lose their land.
The next chapter will be around 8 p.m.
(End of this chapter)
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