Royal Road

Chapter 74 Outside and inside

In the vast wilderness, the withered grass has been burned out, and several oxen dragged heavy iron plows slowly across the field. Several women were sweating profusely, leaning on their shafts and waving their whips, and followed the healthy cattle to plow the land. It is now approaching the twelfth lunar month, and it has long been the time for slack farming, but they can’t rest.

A dozen or so days ago, a group of Huns attacked. The owner’s house was breached by insurgents, and food and property for the winter were looted and cleaned. Without a village to rely on, these tenant servants who survived the disaster can only take the remaining furniture, leave their homeland, and flee to other places. Escape in winter is not like usual. Although there are fewer soldiers and bandits, the cold and hunger are more terrible than any enemy. No one knows whether they can escape from the dead and take refuge in a new owner. However, after only a dozen miles out, this group of people heard the wind, Gaoducheng is accommodating refugees!

It turns out that the gang of rebels was suppressed by the Gaodu defenders! When hearing this news, many people were moved. In this world, nothing is easier to settle people’s hearts than a reliable city. What’s more, the county lord of Gaodu also issued an order that as long as he came to Gaodu to repair the city, he would receive rations and open up wasteland in places designated by the government. In the coming year, he could also rent good seeds and plant them in spring!

This is simply a rare good official! !

Hearing this news, without exception, the fleeing team galloped towards Gaodu City. Most of the males chose to go up to the city head to reinforce the city wall. And those female relatives and old men carefully pushed the plow cart and plowed the barren land in the cold winter day.

In winter, the land is too hard and lacks water, so it is not easy to plow. However, the government lent oxen and iron ploughs, as well as the keel rollovers being built in the distance, all of which indicate that this will become a new village. And they will cultivate and plant themselves and use this piece of land to feed themselves.

“Hope” is a force beyond imagination. It can crush the cold, crush the poverty, crush everything that makes people stand still. And Gaodu’s New Deal is something that can give people hope.

Therefore, even if they were tired and sweaty, even if they were hungry and thin, these people tried their best to push the plow, carefully plowing their own land. It must be deep plowing, watering, fertilizer spreading, and ditches for water digging. These are the guarantee of a good harvest, as long as there is a good harvest, they can take root here!

After ploughing a piece of land for more than half an hour, Sun stopped and ignored himself, hurriedly unloaded the iron plow on the cow’s back and took the cow aside to rest and feed. This is the farm cow of the county government. If you are exhausted, you can’t afford to sell her!

Zai carefully inspected the farming cows. She sighed lightly, wiped the sweat off her forehead with her cuffs, picked up a bucket on the side, and started to pour fertilizer into the field. While working, a small figure suddenly ran over from a distance.

“A-niang! A-niang! There is someone from Liang Mansion!” the little guy shouted loudly, causing the women around to stop their work.

The Sun hurriedly put down the wooden barrel and greeted him up: “Are they going to the city? Did they say to take someone back this time?!”

“No, I don’t know.” The child huffed and gasped, “but those people brought the dried meat! You can eat minced meat in the porridge at noon!”

“Ahhhhhhh!” When Sun heard this, he immediately lifted up his skirt and ran towards the scalper on the side.

Lead the cow back quickly. Meat porridge only happens once in five days! I missed this time, I don’t know when it will be next time!

It is a blessing to be able to come to Gaodu. However, as long as you stay here for a few days, you will know that there is a more desirable place near Gaodu. It’s Liang Mansion!

Liang Langjun, known as the “Buddha Son”, lives nearby. It is said that the rebel soldiers were struck by lightning because they offended the Buddha, and they were defeated by the Gaodu defenders. As long as there is a skill, or a strong body, you can bring your family to Liang’s Mansion. This is simply a good thing that you can’t ask for in eight lifetimes! It’s a pity that Liang’s Mansion is not so easy to enter, so these refugees outside the city are expecting that Liang’s Mansion can come and pick people from high places.

But if you can’t pick it up, you can get some benefits. For example, dried meat on a few days. It is said that they are all made of horse meat, which can strengthen the body. If you eat this kind of meat porridge, you will not get sick all winter! And the dried meat is still marinated. Some hot bacon porridge in winter is better than anything!

Not to mention the Sun family, even the women next to them hurriedly packed their farm tools and rushed to the makeshift village.

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“Has the grain and straw arrived?” Guo Jiao put down the brush in his hand and asked, raising his head.

“It arrived. The official replied that Duke Dongying was still in Luoyang, and the reward was temporarily suppressed. He transported fifty shimai first. They were all stored in the county government’s warehouse.” The little official replied hurriedly.

Taihang Pass is much smaller than ordinary passes, and there is no way to store too much grain in the pass, so the rations of Wuling Section 1 are also placed in Gaodu City. However, it was usually the first time that he was placed in the grain depot next to the arsenal, and went directly into the warehouse of the county government like this.

It seems that Wu Ling still counts. Guo Jiao nodded in satisfaction: “This time it is a reward, it should not be the old grain. First use the grain in the treasury. Don’t boil the porridge too thinly. You need to eat more in winter to keep your energy. Those who repair the city Workers, you can give some dry rice and pickles.”

These days, Gaodu has accepted nearly two hundred refugees. The young official has long been used to it. He nodded immediately, hesitated, and said: “Liang Mansion has sent minced meat today. If this continues, wouldn’t the refugees feel at ease? ”

How could Guo Jiao not understand this trick of buying people’s hearts. However, at this moment, he will never have any doubts about Liang’s approach. Just because Liang Zixi’s method of working for relief is really ingenious! The labor of repairing the city is better than those of the servants in the past. He obviously doesn’t eat more than those people, but he works hard and is grateful to himself. Building a city in winter is not an easy task, but now the cost is less than half of what was expected. With the newly reclaimed land, not surprisingly, next year’s Gaodu tax will probably be several times higher.

“Hehe, Zixi is kind and kind, all are kind, don’t worry.” Guo Jiao said with a smile. I don’t know how many horses were seized by Liang’s house this time, and he himself received 40 or 50 catties of fresh horse meat. Wouldn’t it be a good thing for him to save some food when Liang’s mansion sent minced meat?

Seeing that the Shangguan said so, the little official didn’t dare to say anything, and retired.

Guo Jiao raised the pen again and continued to review the documents on the case. This was also done by Liang Fengtuo, who chose the refugees who came to Gaodu. If there are craftsmen or other skills, they can also be sent to Liang Mansion. Now other county government offices may have been sealed off long ago, and he is ready to spend the winter, but he still stays in the government office and is very busy. However, it is rare that Guo Jiao did not feel any discomfort. The more he does this kind of work, the more he can show his closeness to the Liang House.

This Liang Feng is not a descendant of those depraved aristocratic families, but a capable man with the talents of experience. If he was soaring in the sky in the future, he would resign as the county magistrate, and it would be okay to be a sergeant for him. After suppressing this little cautious thought, Guo Jiao continued to seriously examine the writing in front of him.

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“Lord Lang, this time I brought back thirty people. In fact, there are two carpenters and one stonemason. The rest are young laborers and their families. I can take another one or two before seeing the snow. Hundreds of people.” Aliang said with a ruddy complexion, excitedly.

Now that the Liang Mansion has recruited shady tenant farmers, it finally has some high-level demeanor. It is no longer to accept people at sight, but to let the refugees go to Gaodu, and then select the strong and capable ones to enrich the Liang’s mansion. This change made A Liang very happy. As the mansion of Tinghou, how can the refugees easily take effect?

Of course Liang Feng knew what his housekeeper was thinking. In the past, there was no other way. Now that there is a county as a buffer, the work of accommodating refugees is not so urgent. Improving the quality of personnel is second, and more importantly, such a system can make those who are qualified to serve in Liang’s mansion feel gratitude and be more loyal to Liang’s mansion. With a sense of belonging, cohesion will naturally increase. It can be described as a multitude of things.

“Are there many refugees entering Bingzhou from Taixing now?” Liang Feng asked again.

“It’s not a lot. The weather is too cold. If it is not a last resort, no refugees will flee.” Aliang replied.

“Well, arrange some people to explore the situation in Luoyang. Once the war is over, he will go to the city to rescue Doctor Jiang. He should be able to resign and return to his hometown if he reports the news of his grandfather’s death.” This is also the best way Liang Feng can think of. . Luoyang is really not a good place to go now, it is better to get Jiang Da back as soon as possible.

“Little understands!”

After explaining the matter, Aliang had not had time to retire. Yi Yan strode in.

“My lord, the outpost from outside the village reported that he saw a horse team walking around the gate of the village. It didn’t come close, but just looked at it from a distance for a while. I sent a scout to follow up secretly and found this group of people staying outside the village. For half a day, I went west, I don’t know what the purpose is…”

“The horse team? How many people are there?” Liang Feng immediately became alert. Now the Liang Mansion’s combat power has been greatly damaged, and the recruits have not yet made up. He didn’t want to attract the coveted bandits.

“Four people, no luggage. And this group of people are extremely sophisticated in riding skills, and the horses are good horses, not like bandits, but somewhat like Huns.” Yi Yan replied.

“The Huns came to visit Liang Mansion?” Liang Feng frowned. What does this mean? Has anyone on the Xiongnu side noticed the hidden strength of the Liang Mansion?

After thinking about it for a moment, he said: “Strictly guard the gate of the village, and do not let any other people wait in or out. No matter what the other party is, it is impossible to easily discover the details of the Liang Mansion. The villages outside the village should also control their mouths, if so. A stranger is coming, so be careful not to follow the truth.”

Wu Ling just came to lead the meritorious service, he really didn’t mean to get ahead. But if someone secretly wants to engage him, he must think carefully about how to deal with it. The guy Sima Teng is still in Luoyang, if he returns to Bingzhou, I am afraid it will take some time to make trouble. Alas, the battle in Luoyang, I don’t know when the dust will settle…