As someone who had experienced hunger, Lin Hai knew that once you picked up the bowl, you had no choice.
While Lin Hai was busy adding more food to the children's meals, he casually asked Yang Xiong's daughter, "Why are you so hungry? Didn't you eat enough in the forest?"
Yang Xiong was about to respond when Lin Hai glared at him. After frying the peppers, Jia Dashun put the ring-handled knife on his back on the makeshift stove. With a "clang", Yang Xiong lowered his head, picked up a piece of bacon and didn't look up again.
"Well, sometimes we can eat meat in the forest, depending on what Daddy and the uncles hunt. Sometimes we eat soup made from wild vegetables and mushrooms."
"Oh, then when was the last time you ate meat?"
This question is a bit difficult. The little girl thought about it for a long time and finally came to a conclusion. The last time she ate meat was before the weather got cold, which was last autumn. Several months had passed.
"Is your mother in the woods?"
"Mom is starving." The little girl said calmly while eating without raising her head.
"Who usually makes wild vegetable soup for you?"
"Miss Fan."
"Oh." Lin Hai turned to look at Yang Xiong and continued, "So what did you guys plan to eat for lunch today?"
"I don't eat lunch. Dad said two meals a day is too much. But Xiaoling ate two meals and was still hungry."
"Your name is Yang Xiaoling?" Lin Hai's expression became more and more friendly.
"No, my name is Yang Lingling."
This kid, hey...
"Then what will happen to Miss Fan after you're full? What about the other uncles and aunts in the forest?"
"Um..."
"How about this, brother, ask this uncle to cook some more rice, and then you go back to the woods and tell him that it was your father who asked you to come out for dinner."
"Ah, yeah!"
Xiaoling put down the bowl and ran away.
Yang Xiong's face darkened as he was about to say something when Lin Hai interrupted, "That's enough. Nothing is more important than having enough to eat. You should be thankful I found you first. Otherwise, even if everyone in the mountains came out, there wouldn't be enough food. You should save the energy you had staring at me. When you go back to till the land and harvest two crops, you can buy some cloth to make Lingling a new dress. Her clothes are too big now. They must be altered from her mother's old clothes."
Yang Xiong lowered his head and stopped talking. Big tears fell into his food. He opened his mouth wide and ate it with all his might.
Qinghetun, county government office.
"Xiao Linzi, I've counted them. Three hundred people came down from the mountain. Most of them are strong laborers, two literate people, and a dozen children. They have all been resettled." After a busy day, Wang Liang finally returned to the county government office and told Lin Hai about the resettlement situation.
At present, due to the limited food brought when moving here, Lin Hai did not dare to eat too much, and he did not dare to recruit too many refugees. Three hundred people were already the current limit.
The three hundred people were resettled in the county town. After all, the city was already full of houses. Even if they had been burned, the frames were still there, so they could just rest and rebuild. The only difference was that each household received a "land reclamation permit" stamped with Wang Liang's seal. As Lin Hai put it, "Anyone who reclaims land needs a permit. Anyone who doesn't register with the county government and doesn't reclaim land according to the plan will be considered stealing imperial property, and the county magistrate's third squad will teach them a lesson."
"Brother, I've taken a look and there are definitely more than just these few people on the mountain. Once the news of us recruiting refugees to settle and reclaim the land gets out, refugees from all over the place will probably flock here. By then, we'll have to accept them even if we don't want to."
"We need more food, tools and medicine."
"Tools are easy to get. I've been renovating the blacksmith shop in the city. With the iron we brought, we can burn some charcoal and forge iron. It'll be enough in a short time. We can also arrange for people to collect herbs. The only thing we need is food."
"We have money." Lin Hai said.
"You mean the one back then?"
"Yes, it's best to use it where it matters most. As long as we have food, we don't have to worry about not having money. Brother, do you still remember when the Ministry of Revenue came to Chen Chao to buy food?"
"Well, you mean to buy it in Chen Dynasty?"
"Yes, logically speaking, the Chen Dynasty shouldn't sell grain. This is no different from aiding the enemy. But for some reason, they just sold it. If they dare to sell, then we dare to buy. The two of us, along with our two brothers, will take out the money tonight and have Nineteenth Brother take people to the Chen Dynasty to exchange for grain. Our Qinghe County is located at the junction of three countries. The journey is not far. We can be back in half a month, and our food supply will be replenished."
"Okay, let's do it."
Lin Hai felt that these children were good prospects.
After being hungry for several years in the forest, he was actually dragged by Shi Bangyi to learn to read. Although it might be due to boredom in the forest, and although he could only write and draw on the ground with sticks and branches, and although the words he wrote were illegible, knowing how to read was already a skill. What's more, he could bring the youngest along for meals, and now he could help adults with the land reclamation. Lin Hai felt that this was the best behavior for a well-behaved child at this time.
"We must open a private school." Lin Hai called Shi Bangyi and Yang Xiong, and told Wang Liang in a firm tone.
Shi Bangyi wholeheartedly supported the idea of opening a private school. After all, there were only him and his daughter Shi Zhener in his family, and it was too difficult to reclaim land. If the villagers had not given him the best irrigated land out of friendship, Mr. Shi was so lazy that he might not be able to reclaim a single piece of land.
Yang Xiong had some objections.
"Sir County Lieutenant," Yang Xiong bowed deeply, "I fully support the idea of teaching the children to read. If there's enough food at home, who wouldn't want their children to study? But I've also heard that the city doesn't have much food left. The first batch of rice isn't ripe yet, and everyone's eating sparingly, mixing a handful of rice with half a bowl of vegetables to make a whole pot. The children could help a lot by picking some wild vegetables and fruits and tending to the garden."
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