"Everyone, please calm down!" Yun Mo said.
He glanced at Lin Yinan, who looked at the people below and asked, "Approximately how many of you have come this time?"
The refugees looked at each other in bewilderment. They followed the people in front of them in a dense crowd; who would have the time to count how many there were?
Lin Yinan then asked, "What about the person who brought you to Longtan?"
A steward from the Chen family squeezed out from the crowd, bowed, and reported, "Reporting to the City Lord, I am the steward of the Chen family. There are more than 8,000 people who have come to Longtan this time. As for how many households, we have not counted. My young master asked me to pass on a message to the City Lord."
"Please speak, Manager Chen," Lin Yinan said politely. It must be said that Chen Gu had indeed given them a great gift.
"The young master's provisions will arrive in three days. Please make preparations to receive them, Lord City Lord."
Lin Yinan said, "Thank you, Steward. You've gone to a lot of trouble. Please come into the city for a cup of tea and a rest."
"I still need to meet the grain transport convoy, so I won't go in and bother you any longer," Manager Chen said, turning to leave.
After watching the steward leave, Lin Yinan said to the refugees outside the city gate, "Please wait here patiently. We need to go back and discuss the resettlement plan."
"Why won't you let us into the city?" The refugees only wanted to enter the city; they believed that only by entering the city could they become members of the Dragon Pool.
Lin Yinan said, "The city is already in ruins, and there's nowhere to settle so many of you."
"Why is it always a woman like you speaking here? Isn't there a man in charge?" The refugee was somewhat dissatisfied, seeing that she was young and a woman.
Lin Yinan curled a cold smile at the corner of her lips. People in this world always think that men are the ones who speak and make decisions.
"I am Lin Yinan, the lord of Longtan County. If you want to stay, you must follow our arrangements. If you want to cause trouble, then you'll have to see if our bows and arrows agree."
As soon as she finished speaking, the guards lined up, raising their bows and arrows at the refugees below the city wall.
A young man below said, "Regardless of whether the city lord is male or female, as long as she can ensure that everyone has enough to eat and wear, we will listen to her."
"Yes, that's right! All we ask for is food to eat and a roof over our heads."
"As long as everyone is willing to work hard and down-to-earth, I guarantee that no one will go hungry," Lin Yinan said at the right time.
Looking at the tired and hungry refugees, Lin Yinan's eyes flashed, and he continued, "Thank you all for coming to Longtan for help. We will set up a soup kitchen at the city gate later so that you can have a full meal."
After she finished speaking, the refugees below erupted in a cacophony of whispers, some expressing doubt and others gratitude.
"What if they give us a meal and then kick us out?"
"Finally, we have a hot meal."
"The Lord of the City is very kind."
As for the opinions of the refugees about her, Lin Yinan ignored them. She instructed Yun Yi and his guards to keep a close watch on the city gates, and then had all the management personnel summoned to the county government for a meeting to discuss the matter.
Then Qianxia summoned Zhang and instructed her to distribute porridge to the refugees outside the city later.
Hearing that more than 8,000 people had arrived, Zhang asked with some worry, "Anan, should the porridge be thick or thin?"
Without thinking, Lin Yinan said, "It should be thick, so they can have enough to eat and have the energy to work."
"There are too many people, and the canteen is afraid it can't cook that many at once."
"It's alright. If there aren't enough pots, just make more. Call on more women to help. Write down the names of those who come to help, and give them points for their performance evaluation later."
"Okay, I'll arrange it right away."
Zhang became increasingly efficient in her actions, and when she left, she called Old Mrs. Zhao and Li Shulan over to help her.
Upon arriving at the council hall, Lin Yinan brought out a booklet of deserted villages around Longtan County, which Yun Yu had previously compiled.
After reading it, she had a general idea of how to resettle these refugees.
She glanced at everyone and slowly said, "Let's discuss how to resettle these refugees."
Lin Yiheng was very familiar with the city's layout. He knew that the city couldn't possibly accommodate so many people, so he shared his thoughts with everyone.
“We can’t arrange for them to live in the city. First, there isn’t enough farmland. If they all live in the city, they’ll have to go to work far away every day, wasting a lot of time on the way. Second, in the future, when we’re looking to attract investment, the city will have too many people and limited housing resources.”
After pondering for a moment, Pan Qingfeng said, "I think they should be resettled in the surrounding villages so that Longtan County can develop rapidly."
“Managing a large number of people is a challenge.” Yunye also shared his concerns.
"These people definitely have to stay," Lin Yinan said. Now that they've come to Longtan, they can forget about leaving.
Pan Qingfeng could see through her ambition. He didn't know how much wealth Longtan County had, and all the accounts were managed by his brother, the city lord. He tentatively asked, "If you want to keep people, the food consumption alone will be quite high."
"The food problem isn't too big," Lin Yinan said.
They initially seized the Fan family's granary, and later, to cover their tracks, they asked Yun Zhenchuan to help them purchase another batch.
Three days later, the Chen family's grain arrived, and within a month, the rice in the fields could be harvested.
No one knows exactly how much food she has stored in her spatial storage.
Even with the Yun brothers, Lin Yiheng only knew the general outline.
“Where are we going to get so much food to feed them? The crops in the fields haven’t even been harvested yet!” The clan chief had no intention of supporting idle people.
"I went to see for myself, and many of the houses in the villages are almost uninhabitable," Yunyu said truthfully.
“I just checked, and most of those eight thousand men are young and strong. At least two thousand can be spared for future troop development,” Yun Mo suddenly interjected.
Yunye nodded in agreement. "We've already taken Xihe County. Whether we can hold it in the future is another matter."
Pan Qingfeng said, "Xihe County must be defended; it cannot be lost."
Those who know, know what obtaining an iron ore mine means in chaotic times.
The clan chief had absolutely no good ideas. He looked at Lin Yinan and asked, "Yinan, do you have any good ideas?"
Lin Yinan handed the booklet to Pan Qingfeng, saying, "Pass it down and take a look. This is a survey of abandoned villages and land that Yunyu led a group to conduct some time ago."
Pan Qingfeng flipped through the booklet, reading each page carefully.
Looking back at Lin Fu, who was sitting in the corner taking notes, Lin Yinan said, "Fu, write down what I'm going to say."
Lin Fu nodded and laid the paper out again.
“There are nearly eighty villages in the entire Longtan County. We will first settle them in the village closest to Longtan.”
Lin Yinan picked up her cup, took a sip of water, and slowly expressed her thoughts, "The Chen family steward said that eight thousand people came today. We don't care if there are any more coming later. Let's settle these eight thousand people first."
These 8,000 people were first registered by Lin Yuanzhi, Lin Tiezhuang, Lin Fu, Pan Qingfeng and others. Then, they were allocated to villages in groups of 300 to 500 people. The allocation method was determined by drawing lots after the registration was completed.
I'll have Qianxia and the others make the number plates first, and then issue one to each household during the registration process, so they can draw lots for them.
During the lottery, the secret guards must strictly monitor the process and absolutely not allow any exchange of lottery numbers to occur, in order to prevent their acquaintances from forming cliques.
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