frightfiction Chapter 270: Truly Settled Down
Chapter 270: Truly Settled Down
The tone of his voice showed that he had a backer, because normally when he saw the yamen runners from the prefecture, the village head would have bowed and said, "Sir, you've worked hard, would you like to come in and have a drink of water?"
But he was not in a hurry and even asked in a questioning tone, why were so many people assigned to their village?
First, when officials from the capital come to send you a group of new villagers, ordinary village heads can only accept them because it is an official matter and who would dare to question them?
Second, as the head of the village, you not only didn't rush to the front in such a big matter, but you were the last one to arrive. At the very least, you didn't take the officials from the capital seriously.
And look at the way you walk in a square step, you are more confident than the police.
Obviously, the official was not very powerful in front of them. After hearing this, he did not act like a lackey and said directly in a businesslike manner:
"It's arranged by the higher-ups that you guys have to find a place to stay tonight. As for what's going to happen next, you guys can discuss it."
Tang Guangzheng frowned. He had originally thought that if they were given three or four households, he would let them buy a plot of land on the east side of the river to build houses, and they would only reclaim land on the west side of the river.
But now, looking at the handover documents handed over by the yamen runners, he said, "Wow, there are nineteen households in total, nearly three hundred people?"
What should he do?
If so many people were really arranged to move to the east side of the river at once, the reserved residential land in the village would be much less, and who knows what the temperaments of these people fleeing famine are?
What's more, even if it is divided into three or five families, the newcomers cannot be treated well and they have to be suppressed for a while. This is called setting rules.
There is no order without rules, especially when the other party seems to be from the same clan.
It goes without saying that the journey to escape famine is so difficult. Not to mention the boys and girls, there are also many children and the elderly. This shows that these people are united!
Haven’t you heard about the situation of the refugees in the surrounding villages?
Not to mention the babies in their arms, even many women and adults were left behind on the road. It was said that some died of starvation, thirst, beatings, and kidnappings.
If it is a good thing for a group of people to unite and work together at other times, but at this time, in Tang Guangzheng's opinion, it is not a good thing.
Nineteen households came at once, and most of the heads of households were named Shen. They held on all the way here, supporting each other. It is conceivable that this group of people had to stick together.
It would be even more difficult to set rules for this group of people and to control them, especially after they fled the famine and became more aggressive and daring.
He was not judging others by his own standards. In his opinion, anyone who could survive the famine had to be very smart and cruel.
It can be seen that in Tang Guangzheng's eyes, Shen Zhiqiu and others are a tough nut to crack.
So he really doesn't want to accept them, but accepting refugees is a political task, and he can't just reject it:
"It's really hard to arrange so many people for us all at once, but since it's the imperial court's order, I can only do my best."
Team leader Li bowed and said, "Master Tang is righteous."
Tang Guangzheng suddenly changed the subject: "Our village cannot accommodate so many people. At most, three or four households can buy homesteads here.
The rest can only go to the west, and if these three or four households want to open up wasteland and buy land, they have to go to the west, because there is no vacant land in the east of the village."
Shen Youyou glanced at her father, and happened to meet his father's gaze. Not to mention the father and daughter,
They were Master Shen, Old Man Shen, Hunter Gao, Li Quan, Shen Mazi and other people in Shen Village who were more intelligent and could hear that something was unusual in the west.
In fact, many old men even wondered: "It's not like that's next to a mountain, with lots of sand and stones, so nothing will grow well there."
Although Tang Guangzheng was not happy about his village being divided into so many people, he did not hide it and told directly:
"Let me put it this way. You can see from here that the land to the west of the river is all wild grass and shrubs, and it is backed by Fangshan Mountain. Wild animals will come down from the mountain. We villagers have seen wild boars and wolves with our own eyes."
When some strong laborers from Shenjia Village heard this, their eyes lit up: "Wild boars and wolves?"
Some people even murmured, with some excitement in their tone.
When Shen Zhiqiu heard this, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, and he thought to himself: "Can you guys be more normal? You had no choice but to fight with wolves and pigs before, so why are you addicted to it?"
But obviously, this was not the time for him to complain. As the leader of Shenjia Village, he needed to take the lead and express his opinion. He didn't even need to turn around and ask for the opinions of the people on the opposite side. Shen Zhiqiu knew everyone's decision.
So he stepped forward and said, "No problem, we won't buy land and houses in the east, we'll go to the west."
Tang Guangzheng raised his eyebrows, his eyes flashed a gleam, and looked at Shen Zhiqiu who was speaking.
He secretly sighed in his heart, this kid looks better than his eldest son? His demeanor is comparable to his eldest son, but he is too poor because of fleeing from famine, darker than his son, and thinner.
"Young man, think carefully. If you build a house over there and get attacked by wild beasts, we won't be able to do anything about it."
What I mean is, you can go there, but even if you get bitten to death by wild beasts, we won't be able to help you.
Shen Zhiqiu nodded in agreement. He had no choice but to agree. Wasn't it clear what the other party had said? Was he just going to stand by and watch?
If you say more, you will just be a clown and be at a disadvantage.
Seeing that the two sides had reached an agreement, Team Leader Li considered his mission accomplished and nodded:
"Now that we have reached an agreement, you should try your best to arrange a place for them to live today. After we have discussed and measured the additional acres of land, we can go to the county government to register."
After saying that, he mounted his horse and left without looking back. The main reason was that he could see that the Tang family did not welcome Shen Zhiqiu and his group. In fact, there was no need to look, as Master Shen probably had guessed this situation at the beginning.
Which village is willing to accept so many refugees at once? Even if they accept them, let alone distribute houses and land, at least they still require refugees to buy them, which is a problem in terms of management.
As we watched Team Leader Li walk away, it was getting really dark. Many people had not eaten yet, but they were obviously more eager to watch the fun than to eat, and the crowd showed no intention of dispersing.
Tang Jiugong had actually been observing Shen Zhiqiu and his group, but he hardly spoke any words now. The old man was surprised by Shen Zhiqiu's calmness and everyone's reactions when they heard the beast.
If a normal person heard this, he would probably scream and shout: "No, we won't go there. Why should we feed the wolves?"
Even if they don't dare to make such a big noise at the beginning, at least women and children will hear this and will be scared and talk about it.
But this group of people didn't react at all. They accepted it very calmly. And for a moment, even Tang Jiugong thought that these people had become stupid and numb from fleeing famine and would not show any excessive expressions.
Although his eyesight was not very good and he did not see the excitement in the eyes of the people in Shenjia Village, and because he was a little far away, he did not hear the whispers of Shen Mazi, Gao Dazhuang and others.
But he saw Shen Zhiqiu's calmness. There was no fear in his eyes as he had imagined. Moreover, this man was a scholar like him.
Thinking of this, he was sure that this group of people were not simple, but how they were still needed to be observed: "Let's all go, Guangzheng, we can lend them the mud-brick houses in the village to stay temporarily."
After saying this, the old man walked away with his cane.
The way he walked was similar to when Shen Youyou and the others first met Master Shen, very slowly.
The village head Tang Guangzheng said: "Okay, Uncle Qi, don't worry, I will make the arrangements."