The soldier raised his eyebrows when he saw his covert action, but did not refuse. As soon as he took the purse, he knew how much silver was in it, and a smile appeared on his face.
"You came early, so you still have a place to stay. Come with me, I will take you to the government office."
"Okay, thank you, bro."
Shen Changshan got on the carriage and a group of people drove the carriage into the city. Because of the previous plague, some people in the city had left, so the current population was not large, but one could still vaguely see the bustle and prosperity of Suzhou City in the past.
"Brother, I have quite a few people here. I wonder if we can be assigned to the same village? We are unfamiliar with the place, and if we can be assigned together, we can all take care of each other."
"That's not a problem. We can just make some adjustments when we divide the money later."
“That’s great!”
Shen Changshan sat on the side driving the carriage. He exchanged a lot of words with this young man along the way, and the conversation between the two of them was quite harmonious.
The carriages in the city could not go too fast, and it took them a quarter of an hour to reach the government office.
Although they were at the gate of the government office, the carriage and belongings needed someone to look after them, so each family only chose one person to go in, and Chen Li followed them in.
There were people walking in groups of three or four in the government office. They were all wearing official uniforms and were in a hurry.
Soon they arrived at a small courtyard. There was a desk on the steps of the eaves. A middle-aged man with a mustache was sitting in front of the desk. There were two young men beside him, whispering something to him.
There were other people in the yard, and judging by their clothes and expressions, they were probably refugees who had come here for resettlement, just like them.
Their household registration documents had been handed over to the soldiers guarding the city, and soon it would be their turn. When the man with the mustache saw the household registration documents, he raised his head to look at Shen Changshan and the others, and finally his eyes fell precisely on Shen Li.
There was a lot of speculation in his eyes, but no malice.
Chen Li also guessed something, perhaps Wei Zian had already greeted them in advance.
It's true. I didn't want to ask for his favor at first, but now it seems that I have no choice but to ask for it.
The man didn't say anything. He picked up the booklet beside him and flipped through it quickly. He soon decided on their destination: Qingxi County, Daohua Village.
The two young men beside him looked up at them when they saw the dividing point, and then buried their heads and began to record.
After a while, the soldiers guarding the city came over with the household registration, "Come on, I'll take you to re-register."
Originally, money was required to settle down, but Suzhou was now recruiting refugees and displaced persons, so the money requirement was waived. In addition, land was allocated according to population. No tax was required in the first year, only half of the tax was required in the second year, and the full tax had to be paid starting from the third year.
Lin Cuicui and the others were waiting outside anxiously, and Shen Changshan and the others stayed inside for half an hour before coming out.
As soon as he came out, he was met with everyone's expectant gazes. Shen Changshan thanked the young man next to him again, and then walked towards them.
"The household registration documents have been prepared, and we've been assigned a village to stay in. Let's go first. We can still get there before dark."
"Okay, okay."
The carriage slowly drove out of the city and headed towards Qingxi County. They had to report to the county government office before they could go to Daohua Village.
This was the first time they felt the road to the county town was so long. They had walked on the road for so long before and didn’t feel time was passing slowly. But this time, they were anxious to see the place where their ancestors had lived for generations.
Everyone was in a hurry to get on the road and did not stop to rest at noon. They just had a quick bite and finally arrived at Qingxi County at three quarters past midnight.
Shen Changshan learned from the soldier guarding the city gate that Qingxi County was a relatively prosperous county in Suzhou, and it was a good thing that they were assigned to Daohua Village.
Not only is it close to the county town, but there are also many people with different surnames in Daohua Village, which also helps them gain a foothold in the village.
Shen Changshan stepped forward with the freshly issued household registration documents, and the soldiers at the city gate let him pass after checking them.
Shen Changshan asked a few more questions before leading the team to the county government office.
There aren't many people in the county town, and there are few vendors on the streets. However, considering Suzhou's past prosperity, it will recover soon. They are just taking advantage of time.
This time, Chen Li did not go in, but stayed outside with her mother and the others. However, they came out very quickly, carrying relief food on their shoulders.
After putting down the food on his body, he called on his family members to move the food.
The government provided 20 kilograms of relief food per person. The food was quickly loaded onto a horse-drawn carriage, which was then driven out of the city to Daohua Village.
Daohua Village is only ten miles away from the county town, and the huge team soon arrived at Daohua Village.
Daohua Village is nestled against the backdrop of a river, with rolling hills behind it and a river running through it. On either side of the river lies land, with crops visible from afar.
The population of Daohua Village is not large, with only 60 households. The village chief is a middle-aged man with the surname Ma.
Their team was very spectacular and attracted the attention of the villagers as soon as they entered the village.
Shen Qi'an got off the carriage and walked towards a little boy of seven or eight years old standing on the side of the road.
"Who are you looking for?"
Before he opened his mouth to speak, the little boy had already started asking, which showed that he was not afraid of strangers.
"Let's look for the village chief."
The little boy's eyes rolled around. "What do you want to talk to the village chief about?"
Shen Qi'an did not intend to fool him just because he was a child, but told him the truth.
"We have settled in Daohua Village."
"Oh, then you can come with me!"
After they said that, the little boy obviously understood, because some people had settled in Daohua Village during this period, but it was the first time he saw so many people and carriages.
Shen Qi'an was dissatisfied with the child's slow walking, so he simply picked him up and put him on the carriage, asking him to show the way.
We soon arrived at the home of Village Chief Ma. Village Chief Ma’s home was a large tiled house made of blue bricks. Most of the houses we saw along the way were ordinary tiled houses, but there were also a few large tiled houses made of blue bricks.
Everyone they met on the road looked at them curiously, especially when they saw so many carriages, and they all wondered why they came to the village.
The child in the carriage explained to them very proudly that he was here to see the village chief.
They soon arrived at the village chief's house, but the village chief was not at home at the moment, but someone had already gone to call him back.
Soon, they also saw the appearance of the village chief. Although the village chief was not very old, he had a tuft of black beard on his chin, perhaps for the convenience of management, and looked quite majestic.
"Were you assigned to Daohua Village?"
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