Chapter 74 An unexpected surprise
After ten days of registration, all the refugees brought back this time were finally registered.
There were a total of more than 12,000 refugees, of whom more than 7,000 decided to stay and settle down, and the remaining more than 5,000 chose to join the army.
Lu Chenyang was quite surprised when he received this data, "So many people are willing to join the army?"
Li Dajun said, "Sir, what's so strange about this? Farming is so hard. You have to plant rice, water the crops, and hope for God's blessing. I used to farm when I was a child, but I never wanted to do it again after that."
So many people don’t want to farm anymore and choose to join the army, at least they can have enough food to eat.
Li Dajun added, "What's more, the current situation is not peaceful." He lowered his voice and said, "Because you are my lord, I dare to speak up. There are refugees everywhere now, and fighting may break out again at any time. Farming is not safe either."
Lu Chenyang nodded, knowing that he was telling the truth. "Anyway, no matter how chaotic things are outside, Yanquan County must remain stable."
Li Dajun grinned: "The adults are here, that's for sure."
In order to ensure the stability of Yanquan County, the garrison must be combat-ready.
This time, more than 5,000 troops were added, and now Lu Chenyang has about 15,000 soldiers under his command.
This does not include the original army to destroy the barbarians, but also the army to destroy the barbarians maintained by the Shen family and other merchants.
After the garrison became combat-ready, the Mieyi Army was not disbanded but trained with the garrison.
This is a complete team with strong combat effectiveness, but they no longer belong to the Shen family, but to the government office of Yanquan County.
It has been ten days since Yan Xing left. They only brought three days' worth of food and have not returned yet.
Lu Chenyang sighed. He had originally wanted to slowly store up food and make Yanquan County better over time.
But now it seems that he is not given the time at all.
There were refugees everywhere, and Lu Chenyang had no choice but to speed up.
The road is almost finished, and the multi-season rice has been planted. The current crop will be ready for harvest in a few days. While the rice may not taste great, it's a good source of yield.
This made him feel a little relieved. He just hoped to save more food, so that more people could survive when there was chaos in the future.
Regardless of what is happening outside, let’s just talk about Yanquan County. There is another important thing, which is to promote herbal medicine cultivation throughout the county.
The seeds and medicinal seedlings had been prepared long ago and were brought back by merchants in the city when they went out to do business.
These seeds and medicinal seedlings will all be distributed free of charge to the people and planted by them.
Zhao Xi started to get busy again. This time, Zhao Xi opened a herbal medicine training class directly in the county government office, and asked each village to send ten people to the county government office to study, with food, accommodation and travel expenses provided.
Let them learn well and then go back to teach the villagers.
One day, Zhao Xi finished his class and returned to the county government office angrily.
"What a bunch of rotten wood! Ah, can the medicinal herbs grown by such people really cure diseases?" Zhao Xi said with a frown.
There's nothing we can do about it. Those villagers can't even read. If we ask them to identify herbs, won't they be able to recognize them all?
No matter how patient Zhao Xi was, there were hundreds of people, that was hundreds of rotten wood, and Zhao Xi could not bear the torture any longer.
Lu Chenyang felt a little guilty. He had gone to see Zhao Xi attend class. To be honest, he felt sorry for Zhao Xi.
So he hurried to cook a bowl of noodles for Zhao Xi and put two eggs in it.
Zhao Xi looked at the bowl of noodles and his eyes turned red with emotion.
"Sir, it's all my fault. I will never complain again." Zhao Xi said with determination.
How could she live up to the expectations placed on her by the adults? !
Lu Chenyang looked at her and said, "Not everyone is as smart as our Zhaoxi. She learns things quickly and understands everything immediately. My mother always says that you are more talented than me. You learned her ancestral acupuncture method faster than I did."
Zhao Xi felt very proud when she heard this. She liked Lu Chenyang praising her and she enjoyed Lu Chenyang's sweet words the most.
Zhao Xi said, "Your Excellency is also smart, very smart, the smartest in the world!"
Changjing watched from the side with an expressionless face.
He had seen many stinky men using sweet words to coax young girls, but he never expected that Lu Chenyang was also such a man!
What I didn’t expect was that Zhao Xi was also such a little girl!
As he was speaking, Li Dajun suddenly ran in: "Sir, Lu Ning is back."
Lu Ning is back at this time?
Lu Chenyang immediately stood up and said, "Let him in quickly."
Lu Ning walked in quickly and stood in front of Lu Chenyang.
Lu Chenyang asked anxiously, "What happened?"
Lu Ning laughed heartily and said, "Don't worry, sir. It's a good thing. We ran into a cattle and horse merchant this time, and the prince asked me to bring people over."
Lu Chenyang was overjoyed and immediately rushed out to meet the person.
This cattle and horse merchant is called Fang Jinzhou. He is from the northwest. His family owns several large farms and specializes in the cattle and horse business.
It was a coincidence that he came to Lingnan this time. He met refugees when he was out, and followed them to Lingnan in order to escape.
Lu Chenyang asked, "Did you have a smooth journey?"
Lu Ning smiled and said, "Our Yanquan County garrison is quite famous. We did encounter a few small groups of refugees, but they ran away as soon as they saw us."
Lu Chenyang: "...They really know how to adapt to the changing times."
There were more refugees now, but not as many as those who surrounded Sanyang County, numbering over ten thousand. Most of them were small groups of about a thousand or eight hundred people. They didn't dare to besiege the city, but only robbed passersby.
Yan Xing led his troops on guerrilla warfare and encountered them several times. They heard about what happened in Sanyang County, where the refugee army that surrounded Sanyang County was completely wiped out (because the refugee army was taken away by Lu Chenyang, so in their view it was completely wiped out and no one was left alive), so they ran away as soon as they saw the garrison.
This is such a beautiful misunderstanding.
Lu Ning said, "That's right. We didn't do anything, which is not very satisfying at all." He said depressedly, "Fortunately, those county magistrates also knew the situation and replenished their food and fodder when they saw us coming."
Lu Chenyang nodded: "When will they come back?"
Lu Ning said honestly: "After finishing the dry food, he should be back."
Lu Chenyang was silent for a moment: "Okay, you can go down."
Lu Chenyang went to meet Fang Jinzhou. Fang Jinzhou was a middle-aged man in his forties, tall and dark-skinned. However, he liked to laugh and looked a little more amiable.
Lu Chenyang was even kinder to him. Looking at him, it was as if he saw endless oxen working the land. For the sake of the oxen, Lu Chenyang wanted to worship him as a sacrifice.
"Boss Fang, nice to meet you." Lu Chenyang said with a smile.
Fang Jinzhou couldn't help but shudder. This was a bit too enthusiastic.
The officials were enthusiastic towards him only because they wanted something from him, and all he had was money.
Fang Jinzhou felt like his wallet was about to bleed.
Lu Chenyang asked, "Boss Fang, would you be willing to expand your business to Yanquan County?"
Fang Jinzhou was stunned for a moment, "Sir?"
Lu Chenyang said, "We have too few oxen for farming in Yanquan County. Mr. Fang, you can open a cattle farm here. I'll grant you the land and provide you with labor to build it. It's free, and I can even give you tax exemptions for the first three years."
Fang Jinzhou's eyes turned. Lu Chenyang offered such good conditions, he could definitely go even further.
Lu Chenyang continued, "I also have a caravan out there looking for cattle traders. The conditions are exactly this. It depends on who can seize the opportunity first. You also saw the situation in our Yanquan County on the way here..."
"I agree." Fang Jinzhou said suddenly, "I will write a letter right away and ask someone to bring a batch of calves over. I guarantee they will be the best."
Lu Chenyang was stunned for a moment. Why did he suddenly become so happy?
Fang Jinzhou originally wanted to make some requests, but when Lu Chenyang mentioned the current situation in Yanquan County, he changed his mind.
He actually wanted to go to Sanyang County, after all, Sanyang County was famous for its wealth. However, Sanyang County was not as good as Yanquan County, and the people's state of mind was different.
How should I put it? I can feel that Yanquan County has a kind of vitality that cannot be found anywhere else.
There are also roads outside that have been repaired. The yamen runners had told him when he was waiting for Lu Chenyang just now. They were all newly repaired, and they were voluntarily lent to the yamen by foreign merchants for repair.
These things are enough to illustrate the situation.
No matter how Lu Chenyang changed his mind, he just agreed.
He was delighted. "That's great! Boss Fang, do you need an escort? The roads are not safe right now. As soon as we get to Yanquan County, you can send a letter and I'll send someone to meet us. I'll make sure my cattle are delivered safely."
It seems that Yanquan County is really short of oxen.
A smile flashed across Fang Jinzhou's eyes. "Thank you, sir. I'll write a letter and leave immediately!"
Lu Chenyang was extremely happy.
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