vstars Chapter 402 The life you yearn for
Chapter 402 The life you yearn for
The starving people gathered around the notice to reassure the public and began to discuss it.
"The conditions listed on this notice seem pretty good. They'll give you 5 taels of silver as a settlement allowance, plus an ox for plowing, and you won't have to pay taxes for the first two years. Tsk tsk, I can't survive in Shandong anyway, so I might as well go to Qiongzhou to make a living!"
Some people expressed concerns: "Our ancestors have lived in Shandong for generations. Will we suffer from acclimatization issues if we go to Guangdong? I've heard that Guangdong is very hot, and Qiongzhou is even hotter with a scorching sun. Will crops be able to grow there?"
Some well-informed people refuted, "You've misunderstood. The officials said that Qiongzhou has no winter, plenty of rain, and crops can be harvested three times a year, with very good yields. It's just that the local Li people are not yet civilized and don't know how to cultivate crops, wasting such a large area of good land. That's why the government there came to Shandong to recruit people."
The news of three harvests a year amazed everyone. "My goodness, three harvests a year! If Shandong had this advantage, we wouldn't have to leave our homes. So what if we don't have oxen or rain? No matter how hard or tiring it is, we can grit our teeth and get through it..."
"The government also said that Qiongzhou is surrounded by the sea, there are no mountain bandits, and the sea pirates have been wiped out by the government troops. Once you go there, you don't have to worry about anything except farming. Just pay your taxes honestly. The standard for paying taxes is very low. Each mu only needs two shi of grain, and you don't have to pay anything else. The rest is all yours. After a few years, you can live like a landlord!"
These words struck a nerve with all the starving people: a life free from war, burdened by countless exorbitant taxes, and where hard work could lead to wealth—this was almost the life that peasants in feudal society longed for most.
After more than two years of suffering from war, the starving people had an urgent need for a stable environment. They didn't ask for much; they just wanted to avoid having their homes destroyed by war and losing their loved ones, and to be able to farm and make a living in peace. If they could also be exempted from most of the exorbitant taxes and levies, and achieve a comfortable life through hard work and thrift, that would be like living in paradise.
Everyone was excited and exclaimed, "If it's really that good, we'll go even without a settlement allowance!"
Some people expressed concern: "People's words are two-faced, and officials' words are two-faced. They say nice things now, but who knows if it's true when we get to Qiongzhou? What if they're lying to us in the end?"
Most people retorted, "We can't survive now. We've lost our homes and our fields are abandoned. If it weren't for the government's porridge distribution, we would have starved to death on the way. Even if the government's words are exaggerated, can things be any worse in Qiongzhou than they are now?"
"That's right, if you're afraid of this and that, you might as well stay in Dengzhou. The government's soup kitchens won't stay open forever. You'll either starve to death or become a beggar!"
The yearning for a better life made the starving people ignore all difficulties and obstacles. Ninety percent of them were determined to go south to Qiongzhou to make a living. All they cared about now was when they would be able to leave.
Fortunately, the government didn't make them wait too long. Two days later, officials went around the streets and alleys beating drums and gongs, announcing that all the starving people who wanted to go to Qiongzhou should "register" at the City God Temple in the south of the city, and then they could board the ship.
Upon hearing this news, starving people flocked to the City God Temple from all directions, completely surrounding the enormous temple.
The Qiongzhou garrison temporarily requisitioned the City God Temple as an "office" for registering and initially screening starving people. Not all starving people could immediately board the ship to Lingao; those suffering from serious illnesses had to stay behind for treatment, otherwise their lives would be in danger. The journey to Lingao was long, and the cabins were stuffy and poorly ventilated. Even healthy people felt uncomfortable, let alone the sick. Most would die on the ship. Moreover, some diseases are contagious, and the confined space was the perfect place for infectious diseases to spread. It was unacceptable to expend so much manpower and resources only to transport dead people back.
Local officials and yamen runners from Dengzhou were dispatched by Zhu Dadian to assist the Qiongzhou garrison. A dozen or so clerks sat behind desks, recording information on the starving people who came to register, while several doctors were nearby to screen the sick. Qiongzhou garrison soldiers, armed with rifles, were responsible for maintaining order.
Because of their high expectations for the trip to Qiongzhou and their natural fear of the government, the starving people, despite their large numbers, maintained order under the watchful eyes of the bayonets, queuing up in long lines to register.
Zhu Jinhu stood in the long queue, slowly moving forward. The sun was quite strong at this time, and Zhu Jinhu, who already had a cold, felt dizzy and lightheaded after being exposed to the sun, feeling like he might fall at any moment.
Unlike the other starving people who had families with them, he was all alone. A year earlier, his entire family had been slaughtered by the rebels. To be precise, he was the only one in the entire village who survived because he was herding cattle on the hillside outside the village. All the hundreds of people in the village were killed by the rebels who looted the village, leaving no one alive.
After experiencing this upheaval, Zhu Jinhu transformed from a naive boy into a resolute individual. For over a year, in order to survive alone in such harsh conditions, he sifted through piles of corpses in search of food; he even stabbed a wounded, lone rebel soldier to death, which, in a way, avenged his parents. Unable to integrate into other groups of starving people bound by villages and clans, he struggled like a lone wolf, nearly starving to death several times in the wilderness. In his most difficult moments, he even considered eating human flesh, but he was lucky enough to survive all that hardship.
Now Zhu Jinhu finally saw a glimmer of hope: the government was recruiting starving people to reclaim wasteland in Qiongzhou Prefecture, Guangdong, with very generous conditions. Unlike others who worried about being deceived, he hesitated almost without hesitation. He only had one worthless life; staying in Shandong would lead to a dead end sooner or later, so he might as well try his luck in Qiongzhou Prefecture.
After waiting in line for a long time, it was finally his turn. He answered the clerk's questions with high hopes, watching the clerk's brush scribbling words he couldn't understand on the paper.
"Name, place of origin, age?"
"Zhu...Zhu Jinhu, a native of Jimo, Laizhou Prefecture, is nineteen...nine years old."
The clerk, who was writing furiously, looked up at him and said in surprise, "A stutterer?"
Zhu Jinhu's face turned bright red. He stuttered when he was nervous, which was a major worry for him. He couldn't help but worry that they wouldn't reject him because of his stutter when hiring farmers.
Fortunately, the clerk didn't dwell on the issue, but simply continued to ask him about his special skills and basic information such as whether he knew how to farm.
After passing this hurdle, he followed the people in front of him to a doctor. The doctor examined him like livestock, pinching his cheeks, looking at his tongue and teeth, and then feeling his pulse. These actions made Zhu Jinhu feel somewhat resistant; he remembered how adults used to check the teeth of livestock when he was a child, and it was the same way.
After checking his pulse and looking at his flushed face, the doctor frowned and asked, "Are you ill?"
Zhu Jinhu's heart sank. He had witnessed soldiers leading away seriously ill starving people ahead, supposedly unable to board the ship to Qiongzhou. Not wanting his only hope to vanish, he quickly protested, "I just have a cold, it's not...it's not a serious illness!"
Fortunately, it was just a false alarm. After carefully checking Zhu Jinhu's pulse, the doctor confirmed that he only had a common cold and waved him on. Zhu Jinhu received a wooden number plate with the numbers "9527" engraved on it. This was his registration number, indicating that he was eligible to board the ship smoothly a few days later.
As for the starving people who were seriously ill or temporarily weak, they were left in Dengzhou, where doctors were responsible for their treatment and recuperation. Liu Ye had also thought about their resettlement: after they recovered from their illness or were fully recovered, unless the starving people themselves strongly requested it, they would be given priority to stay in Shandong and be transferred to the Longkou Coal Mine in Huang County to work in the coal mine.
Following the mutiny, coal mining was forced to cease, and the tens of thousands of kilograms of bituminous coal previously mined and transported back to Lingao had been completely depleted. The coke produced was prioritized for casting naval guns. Now, with a large influx of immigrants returning to Lingao, the previously stagnant army will undoubtedly expand, leading to a surge in the casting of field artillery. This will create a demand for bituminous coal, the raw material for coke. Therefore, controlling the Longkou coal mine and ensuring a stable supply of bituminous coal is crucial. Fortunately, Shandong Governor Zhu Dadian now trusts Liu Ye implicitly, and the future governor of Dengzhou and Laizhou is highly likely to be Liu Ye's future father-in-law—a true ally. Therefore, controlling the Longkou coal mine and establishing a route to Qiongzhou is not a problem.
The first batch of over nine thousand eligible starving people were selected and were to be transported back to Lingao by ship in two days. This was the most important matter for the Qiongzhou camp at the moment, and Liu Ye, as the leader, dared not be careless and needed to rush back to oversee the operation personally. Fortunately, the unrest had been quelled, and the channels for the migration of starving people had been initially established. Liu Ye's goal had been basically achieved, and there was nothing to worry about in Shandong for the time being, so he could return to Lingao with peace of mind.