The person who came to deliver the goods was the manager of the merchant. Seeing that the group of vicious thugs had been driven away by Yun Mo and his men, he carefully stood up from the side of the mule cart.
Yunye stepped forward and bowed to the steward, saying, "Steward, I'm sorry you were so easily frightened. Please come inside and have a cup of tea to calm your nerves."
The manager returned the greeting, looking relieved, and said, "Luckily, the goods being transported this time didn't include any food or anything like that, otherwise they would have ruined them long ago."
The side gate of the city gate opened, and dozens of young men came out.
They helped reload the overturned goods onto the truck, secured it with ropes, and followed Yunye as he pulled the truck into the city through the side gate.
When the mule carts had almost all gone, the refugees who had followed them stepped forward and knelt down in front of the Yunmo brothers.
"Please, sir, have mercy and take us in!"
Yun Mo frowned and looked at the steward. "Steward, who are they?"
The steward sighed and recounted the origins of these refugees and the various forms of oppression they had suffered at the hands of the group they had just encountered on the road.
"They're not in cahoots?"
With the danger over, Lin Yinan slowly walked down from the city wall.
The steward nodded. "No, most of them came from Yongqing City."
Lin Yinan was even more puzzled upon hearing this, "Since you arrived in Yongqing City first, why didn't you settle down there instead of coming all the way to Longtan County?"
An older man in the group stepped forward and said, “We were originally in Shigong City. The Shi family there used their power to pretend to rent land for us to cultivate, but in reality, they wanted to turn us into their private slaves.”
As soon as the man finished speaking, a younger man covered his face and cried, “My brother’s family was tricked into becoming private slaves. They worked day and night, enduring hunger and thirst. My poor niece, who was just thirteen and had a beautiful face, was taken away to be a concubine for the young master in the mansion. My niece was a woman of strong character and refused to comply. They tortured her to death.”
“They weren’t satisfied with just getting rid of my niece, so they beat my brother’s whole family to death.”
"What is a private slave?" Lin Yinan asked Yun Mo, puzzled.
Yun Mo took a deep breath and said, "Private slaves are unregistered people without household registration."
"We don't support idlers here!" Lin Yinan said calmly, not relaxing her requirements because of their miserable experiences.
Upon hearing this, the refugees seemed to see a glimmer of hope and expressed their support one after another.
"We can do anything, as long as we have a place to stay and food to eat."
"Yes, yes! We can do anything except be private slaves!"
"I can farm and raise livestock."
"I've been to school and can read."
"I can do arithmetic."
Listening to the disorganized chatter of the refugees, Lin Yinan felt her head buzzing, and she pinched the bridge of her nose with her hand.
Upon seeing this, Yun Mo quickly waved to the crowd.
"Everyone, please be quiet!"
"How many people are there in total here?" Lin Yinan asked.
At this moment, the man who claimed to be good at arithmetic stepped forward, bowed directly to Lin Yinan, and said, "May I have a quarter of an hour?"
Lin Yinan nodded.
So the man took out a booklet and a small, charred wooden stick from his pocket, and wandered among the refugees, asking questions and taking notes very seriously.
"This person is not bad!" Even Yunmo couldn't help but nod in praise.
Lin Yinan's gaze swept across the crowd, and many people quickly lowered their heads.
They were very curious as to why this beautiful, heavily pregnant woman was in charge, especially since the man had been quite formidable when fighting the bandits.
But being newcomers, they dared not ask.
Yun Mo was satisfied with the crowd's reaction, and his expression softened considerably. "What are your plans for them?"
Lin Yinan had a rough idea in mind, and she would make up a more detailed plan when she got back that night.
"Let's have another meeting tonight to discuss this."
"Okay, I'll do as you say."
A quarter of an hour passed quickly, and the man returned to the two of them, unfolding the booklet in his hand.
He said neither humbly nor arrogantly, "There are a total of 720 people here, from 150 households. There are 385 young men aged 15 to 40, 260 women, 23 children over 10 years old, 15 under 10 years old, 7 under 5 years old, and 30 elderly people. Most of the people come from three villages, and their surnames are Zeng, Guan, and Pan respectively."
Lin Yinan was surprised to hear this. This person was not only efficient, but also very organized.
"May I have your name?"
Pan Qingfeng replied politely, "My name is Pan Qingfeng."
"What did you do before?" Lin Yinan became interested in him immediately upon hearing his name.
Pan Qingfeng: "I used to be the manager of this restaurant."
Lin Yinan looked him up and down, and couldn't believe he was the manager of a restaurant.
Could you please give me the headcount you've compiled?
"Of course." Pan Qingfeng quickly presented the booklet with both hands.
Lin Yinan glanced at the neat handwriting on the booklet; this person must know more than just a few words.
"It's getting late, so you should rest where you are. I'll talk to you about your accommodations first thing tomorrow morning. What do you think?"
The refugees looked at each other, then nodded.
"We will follow Madam's arrangements."
"I have another task for you." Lin Yinan turned to look at Pan Qingfeng.
"As you command, Madam."
After talking for so long and seeing that Yun Mo hadn't said a word, Pan Qingfeng knew that Lin Yinan was the one in charge, and his attitude became even more respectful.
Lin Yinan took a new booklet out of her sleeve and handed it to him.
"Go back and register the family members of each household in this booklet, the more detailed the better."
Pan Qingfeng took the booklet, bowed, and said, "I will certainly not fail in my mission."
The couple and their guards returned to the city amidst the farewells of the crowd.
Until the city gates closed again, the refugees surrounded Pan Qingfeng.
"Brother Feng, can this lady be trusted?"
"Why isn't the man next to her saying anything? Is this city run by a woman?" some people speculated.
One woman immediately retorted, "What's wrong with the woman in charge? Isn't your wife the head of the household?"
Pan Qingfeng waved to the crowd, "While it's still early, let's register the situation of each family first, so we can report back tomorrow."
"After we register, will they allocate land to us?"
"With such high city walls, the houses inside must be very impressive, right?"
Pan Qingfeng suddenly felt tired of talking and didn't want to speak anymore, so he carefully wrote down his own family's situation first.
That evening, Lin Yinan summoned the leaders of the various teams to the county government office for a meeting.
Upon hearing that there were over seven hundred people outside, everyone became worried.
"What? They have more people than us? What if they rebel against us after we let them into the city?" The clan chief was the first to object.
The village chief also said slowly, "Anan, it's hard to manage when there are too many people."
Lin Yinan looked at her older brother.
"Brother, what do you think?"
Lin Yiheng's slender fingers fiddled with the abacus. He glanced at the clan chief and said, "I think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. If Longtan County is to develop, we can't rely on just this many people."
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