Inside the county government office, County Magistrate Zheng was discussing the issue of providing relief to these refugees with Li Erlang.
"The government office still has a surplus of over two hundred taels of silver. Use this money to buy some food and distribute a month's worth of food per head to these people. Let's settle them down first!"
The number of refugees allocated to each county today is not as many as expected, so the previous plan has to be changed accordingly. The inn outside the city still needs to be built, but these refugees will not be used to build it.
The main reason is that the refugees assigned here are too old or too young to do such physical work.
The two of them discussed until it was dark, and then they called it a day.
On the second day, just as the patriarch had said, a group of soldiers escorted the ragged refugees staggering towards Lijia Village.
Upon seeing this, the villagers immediately sent someone to inform the clan leader. By the time the clan leader arrived after hearing the news, the group of people had already arrived at the village entrance.
Upon seeing this, the patriarch immediately went to meet him.
These officers and soldiers were not runners from the county government, but soldiers under General Qin.
The officers and soldiers sent these screened people to the villages under their jurisdiction. After they arrived, they asked the clan leader to put his fingerprint on the receipt document and then rushed back to report.
"My dear gentlemen, you have had a hard time on this journey. Why don't you take a rest in the village before continuing on?"
The leader folded the document and put it in his arms, but he refused the clan leader's invitation: "I have official business to attend to and cannot stay for long. I have already sent the person to you. I hope that Clan Leader Li will take good care of him!"
"Of course." Clan leader Li nodded repeatedly in front of the soldiers, not daring to show any negligence.
The leader nodded and then led his men towards the county town.
According to the general's order, all the selected refugees must be sent to various villages for resettlement today. They need to return to the county town as soon as possible to complete the next task.
After seeing them off, Patriarch Li finally had time to look at the group of people. There were seven or eight old men, and the rest were half-grown children.
These people looked tired, ragged, and listless.
This is understandable. After all, they have been traveling a long distance, and the government only gave them a bowl of porridge to keep them alive and prevent them from starving to death!
An old man among them took the lead and stepped forward, bowing to Clan Leader Li. "I am Cao Jiang, the Clan Leader of Caojia Village. Most of these people are from our Cao clan. The flood destroyed our homes, and we had no choice but to flee here with the remaining clan members. Clan Leader Li, please take good care of us from now on!"
Seeing how haggard they were and the child in their arms was just a bag of bones, Chief Li did not make things difficult for them and led the group to the wasteland that had been allocated in the past.
That piece of wasteland was right next to Li Yan's medicinal field. There was a large open space at the foot of the mountain, but it was overgrown with weeds.
These people had abandoned their families and properties to escape, so they had no farm tools on them. Now, looking at the weeds all over the ground, the children following the team were so anxious that they burst into tears.
Why is it so difficult? I lost my parents, relatives, and home. After going through so many hardships and difficulties, I finally managed to settle down, but all I see is desolation.
The emotions that had been suppressed for so long seemed to be unable to be held back any longer, and tears welled up in their eyes. Even when venting their emotions, they still did not dare to be too presumptuous, but just lowered their heads and shed tears silently.
When Li Yan came over with the bean curd cakes, she saw several girls standing behind the crowd secretly wiping their tears.
Li Yan quickly took a few steps forward and said to everyone with a smile, "I was just about to find someone to collect my herbs, and now it's a coincidence."
The little children who were hiding behind the crowd and secretly wiping their tears couldn't help but look up when they heard this, and saw a little girl who looked not much different from them, talking to them with a smile.
"I have a job I'd like you to help me with. If you help me gather herbs, I'll hire someone to build you a house. What do you think?"
Cao Jiang, the leader, was very interested when he heard this. They were old and young, and it would take a lot of effort to build a house, let alone clear the weeds at the foot of the mountain. What's more, they didn't have any tools yet!
Building a house is really not easy for them as they have limited labor.
But the person who made the promise was just a child. Can her words really count?
Clan leader Li seemed to see the worry in the old man in front of him, and then smiled and said, "Everyone, don't worry, this girl will definitely fulfill her promise."
After hearing this, the old man took a step forward, bowed to Li Yan, and murmured, "Don't blame me, young lady. We are willing to do this. Thank you very much, young lady. Thank you very much."
Li Yan quickly stepped aside and saluted the old man, then said to Chief Li, "Grandpa Chief, please help me find some uncles in the village to come over and build some houses for them. The wages will remain the same as before, thirteen cents a day."
Clan leader Li naturally saw the difficulties these people faced, and now using this method to help them build houses was a good idea.
Although the villagers might have some opinions after inviting these people to pick medicinal herbs, this girl also invited the villagers to build houses. In this way, both parties benefited and it was like killing two birds with one stone.
Patriarch Li put his hands behind his back, hummed a little tune, and while praising the girl's kindness and righteousness in his heart, he went to the village to look for someone.
After Chief Li left, Li Yan handed the bean curd dregs cakes in the basket to everyone.
These days they only had a bowl of porridge every day to survive, and they had not eaten dry food for a long time. Several children looked at the bean dregs cakes in the basket and couldn't help swallowing their saliva.
"It's not a good thing. If you don't mind, just eat some to fill your stomach!"
These bean dregs were specially left over this morning. Li Yan mixed some flour into them, and the aunt and niece rolled them into pancakes. They might not taste very good, but at least they can fill their stomachs.
Cao Jiang took the basket, thanked repeatedly with gratitude, and then distributed the cakes to the children behind him.
The children took the food and gobbled it up ravenously. Some of them even swallowed it without chewing it. They had no choice but to swallow the food as soon as possible during the escape. Even if they put the food in their mouths, it would be snatched away by others.
Li Yan couldn't bear to watch the children choking and rolling their eyes. She paused for a moment, feeling sad.
"There are plenty of these pancakes, eat them slowly!"
She had suffered from hunger in her previous life, but when she saw the appearance of these children, she couldn't help feeling sad.
In places she couldn't see, many people were suffering from famine, and all she could do was to make life better for those around her!
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