After the villages were allocated, they sent people to help the displaced people settle down, and then distributed land to each household, urging them to seize the time to reclaim and cultivate the land.
With a little hard work, we can grow a season's worth of food, which will be enough to ensure our basic needs are met in the first half of next year.
Seeing that no one had any objections, Lin Yinan continued, "For those who are willing to follow the arrangements and settle in the village, we will give each person thirty catties of grain. If you eat it sparingly, you will definitely be able to eat until the next harvest."
"What about those who are not satisfied with the village they were assigned?" Lin Yiheng asked. In the past six months, he had encountered too many people and problems.
Lin Yinan snorted coldly and said in a firm tone, "Of course, you should go back to where you came from."
"Do they know how to grow rice?" Lin Shuo, after all, was educated and had made rapid progress during this period.
"No, we'll teach them. I can provide the resettled people with high-quality rice seeds; they just need to buy them at the original price."
"What if they don't have the money to buy it?"
Pan Qingfeng had escaped famine and knew how arduous the journey was. Very few people had any wealth left after the journey, otherwise so many of their clansmen wouldn't have become slaves.
Lin Yinan said, "If you don't have the money to buy rice seeds, you can buy them on credit first, and then repay double the amount after the harvest."
Everyone nodded in agreement with her idea.
"For villagers who are willing to settle in the village, we will implement a two-year tax exemption policy. In the first year, we will provide comprehensive guidance and training on crop planting. Villagers can rent farm tools and oxen from us. The repayment method is that they can simply repay the rent by working during the off-season."
"May I ask, Lord City Lord, is the use of labor to pay rent for the construction of fortifications?"
Pan Qingfeng's eyes lit up as he listened; even with his vast knowledge, he had never heard of such methods before.
“When the county government issues a notice requiring the construction of dikes, canals, or roads in villages and towns, someone in the family must work to pay the rent.”
After Lin Yinan finished speaking, the clan chief and the village chief exchanged glances, their only concern being whether there would be enough food.
"Anan, eight thousand people, thirty catties of grain each, that's a lot of grain. Do we have that much grain left?"
"The 30,000 shi of grain that the Chen family sold to us will arrive soon, so Clan Chief Grandfather has nothing to worry about," Lin Yinan said.
The clan chief and village chief were finally relieved.
After discussing some minor details, they began to prepare for the follow-up work.
"Anan, when will you conscript some able-bodied young men?"
Yun Mo wanted to quickly conscript people and train an army to protect Longtan.
Lin Yinan glanced at him irritably, "No rush, at least let them plant the next season's rice."
While the people in the county government were discussing how to resettle the displaced people, the displaced people outside the city were not idle either.
They sat on the ground in groups of three or five, twisting straw ropes in their hands, or weaving straw sandals or baskets.
"It smells so good, Mom! It's the smell of rice porridge."
Some children with keen senses sniffed the aroma of rice floating in the air.
"Where?" The child's mother didn't believe it, thinking the child was starving, and continued weaving straw sandals without even raising her head.
"It smells so good, it's absolutely delicious!"
"I can smell it too!"
Then everyone raised their heads, trying to smell the aroma of the rice porridge, and kept swallowing their saliva.
"The city lord didn't lie to us!"
"How much longer until we have something to eat?" someone murmured, losing all interest in working.
This scene took place near the city gate.
A group of people were gathered around the paddy fields a little further from the city gate, their eyes shining as they gazed at the rice growing in the water.
Is this rice? It looks just like roadside weeds.
Someone tried to reach out and pluck a leaf to examine it, but was slapped away by someone nearby.
"Look at it, it's growing so well, why are you pulling it?"
"I just wanted to see how it differed from grass."
The man felt extremely wronged. He had been a farmer in the north all his life, but he only grew wheat. This was the first time he had seen rice growing in the fields up close, so he was quite curious.
Old Lin, who was squatting by the edge of the field smoking his pipe, glanced at the group of refugees gathered around him, but pretended not to see them.
After smoking for a while, he hung the pipe back on his waist.
He lifted his foot to block the mud on the edge of the paddy field at the water inlet, then picked up a bamboo pole from the edge of the field and walked into the paddy field to chase the rice flowers.
The refugees nearby were all startled by what they saw. Wouldn't his actions knock down all the newly opened rice flowers?
One of the displaced people asked, puzzled, "Uncle, is there some special meaning behind you taking this fishing rod?"
Old Lin's wrinkled, sun-darkened face immediately broke into a smile.
"That's a very broad statement."
The young men watching from the side were itching to try it out, and said with a smile, "Uncle, tell us what you think, let us see it for ourselves."
After finishing his work, Old Lin turned around and stopped in front of everyone, his face beaming with undisguised joy.
"This rice field is currently in the flowering stage, which is the time when it is most sensitive to water. The field cannot be short of water or too wet, and there are specific requirements for how much water to add."
As he spoke, he stretched out his finger and put it into the water. "Look, the water is only an inch deep. The city lord said this is an intermittent irrigation method."
The onlookers were astonished and began to discuss among themselves.
"This rice is so precious!"
"Wheat is easier to manage than wheat."
Old Lin glanced at them sideways, raised the bamboo pole in his hand with a proud look, and said, "See? The rice is flowering. This bamboo pole is used to drive away the flowers."
"Our city lord said that the purpose of the pollination is to ensure that the rice is fully pollinated by human hands so that each rice seedling can grow smoothly. What do you know? Being more meticulous is to increase the rice yield."
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
