Ji Yanwen shook his head at Jiang Bai.
These two people were clearly disaster victims; their sudden appearance in the village raises questions about their motives.
"We have no food at home, you should leave and leave our village."
It was almost dark by now, and everyone who had been working in the fields had gone home, so it's no wonder that these two managed to sneak up right up to Jiang Bai's house.
She didn't sense anyone following her when she returned. Could it be that the two of them coming here was just a coincidence?
The old man wanted to plead again, but then he saw Jiang Bai take out a stick and pretend to hit him. He didn't dare to stay any longer and quickly left with his grandson.
"You all stay at home, I'm going to the clan chief's house."
Jiang Bai squinted for a while, then got up and walked towards the clan chief's house.
These people were at the county town gate in the morning, but by evening they had rushed into the village; I'm afraid they have ill intentions.
Thinking of this, she hurried to the clan chief's house.
Coincidentally, all the clan elders were also here.
"Grandpa, two disaster victims have just arrived at my house."
The clan chief and the others were discussing how to deal with the drought. They also talked about the disaster victims from Luzhou. They said that some villages had been robbed shortly after taking in the disaster victims, and their families had lost a lot of money and food.
Upon hearing that two disaster victims had arrived at Jiang Bai's family, the clan chief and the others immediately took it seriously.
"More and more disaster victims are coming from Luzhou. If the county town doesn't give them a way to survive, they will eventually run to the surrounding villages."
"But what can we do? These disaster victims are starving, and the autumn harvest is just around the corner. We don't want them to just rush into the fields and harvest everything."
The clan chief and the others sighed and lamented.
"Go ahead and fight them. They're not afraid. They'll just come back if we fight them. We can't kill them all; the county government office is still there!"
Seeing them frowning and talking amongst themselves, Jiang Bai tilted his head and asked, "Why not set up a village protection team? Have people patrol day and night to prevent disaster victims from breaking in."
"Bai girl, you don't understand. The village protection team needs to be provided with food. There isn't much food in the clan granary. How can it withstand the consumption?"
"Besides, everyone is busy with farming right now, so where would they find the manpower?"
This is what the clan chief and the others are worried about. Setting up a village protection team sounds simple, but it is a daily drain. The disaster victims in Luzhou don't know how long they will stay. They can't just patrol forever, can they?
"Grandpa, the village protection team doesn't need many people, just someone to keep an eye on things."
"If everyone pools their resources, we can still manage to gather some food. We can't just let these disaster victims wander around the village."
Unlike towns, villages are not like those where all the houses are close together. Instead, there are usually one or two houses in one place, and then another one or two houses every ten minutes or so. Everyone lives quite far apart. Under these circumstances, if disaster victims were to rush in, who knows what would happen?
The clan chief and the others only said they would consider it, but did not agree.
Jiang Bai was just making a suggestion. Anyway, even if some disaster victims caused trouble, her family would be fine. She had given a reminder, and whether or not to listen was entirely up to the clan leader and the others.
The next day, the clan chief summoned everyone to the ancestral hall and talked about the village protection team.
Jiang Bai was still a little surprised. Didn't he refuse yesterday?
"Shanzi's mother, you tell us."
At this moment, a woman with a distressed expression stepped out from behind the clan chief and began to weep bitterly.
It turned out that last night, while she was sound asleep, she heard a noise in the yard. She wanted to go out, but she was worried about her child and didn't dare to go out. Only after the noise subsided did she dare to go out to check. What she saw was terrible: her house had been ransacked, and a full fifty pounds of grain had been stolen.
Shanzi's mother is only twenty years old this year. She has only been married for a few years. After her husband died, she and her child were kicked out by her husband's family and settled down on the small hillside across from Jiang Bai's family.
Their family, besides Jiang Bai's family, was the closest to the end of the village.
"The village protection team will be established, with each person receiving one pound of grain per day. Ten people will be selected, and five people will be formed to patrol day and night to ensure the safety of the village. Does anyone have any objections?"
Shanzi's house had already been robbed. Under these circumstances, everyone knew the gravity of the situation, and no one objected.
And that's how the village protection team was formed.
This has nothing to do with Jiang Bai.
Time passed little by little, and Ji Yanwen's birthday was just a simple meal, with a few extra dishes of stir-fried wild vegetables.
Jiang Anlin, under Jiang Bai's control, helped her plow the two acres of land in her yard and carried water on time every day, successfully sowing the bean seeds before the autumn harvest.
Jiang Bai has been busy stockpiling grain lately, running back and forth to the county town. Things were fine for a while, but every time she went to the county town, she would encounter some clueless disaster victims who would try to snatch the grain from her hands. Even after she dealt with them, they still wouldn't be so oblivious.
Jiang Bai didn't kindly give them food.
To put it bluntly, these disaster victims are just a microcosm of this world; there are countless other disaster victims like them in the world.
"We finally made it to the autumn harvest."
Jiang Lu stood by the field and took a deep breath, looking towards the road leading to the village entrance. In the woods over there, many people were lying haphazardly, and these people would occasionally look at them with a kind of green eye.
Because of the arrival of these disaster victims, their water was being used up even faster. The river had completely dried up, and the village wells were being supplied with water according to the number of people – one gourd ladle per person per day, and no more.
Stop looking and get to work!
Only the Jiang sisters, Jiang Bai and Jiang Lü, were in the fields. Ji Yanwen had been summoned to the village protection team and went on patrol with them. Of course, the main task was to keep an eye on the disaster victims who had wandered outside the village and prevent them from breaking in.
Under the blazing sun, even the straw hats on our heads were scorching hot. Despite wearing straw hats for shade, we were still parched from the heat.
Because the rice seedlings lacked water and were also infested with pests, each mu (unit of land area) could only produce 150 jin (unit of weight) of grain.
Just as the rice was harvested, threshed, and dried, the grain collector's gong resounded throughout the village. A team of ten constables stood in the shade of the village's threshing ground, with broadswords at their waists and gongs banging loudly.
"Have all the heads of the households arrived?"
The grain collector was a middle-aged man around forty years old, dressed in a scholar's robe, holding a book and an abacus, sitting upright at a table in the shade of the threshing ground.
"Reporting to Your Excellency, they have all arrived." The village head bowed slightly, not daring to offend the person before him despite his anger.
The grain collector glanced at the crowd and his eyes lit up when he saw Jiang Bai.
With his small, beady eyes, he questioned, "How come a woman has infiltrated this household?"
Despite saying that, his eyes kept glancing at Jiang Bai, his gaze blatant, the meaning of which was self-evident.
Jiang Bai's gaze turned slightly cold. This was the downside of having a woman in charge. When these parasites of the court went to the countryside to handle affairs, they might not be able to resist having other ideas when they saw those who were good-looking. And now it was clear that she had been targeted by this person.
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