novelReconstruction of Fanzong County
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The river that Qin Mian and Lei Tia discovered was a little far away, and the lake was relatively close, so they were quickly discovered.
Knowing that there was a lake nearby that they could wash up on, the commoners didn't need to be urged by others to ask where the lake was. Lei Tia arranged a team to specially lead the way, and also carry some water on his back.
Qin Mian pondered for an entire afternoon and still decided to move his Kui County to the lake's edge. Most of the commoners were farmers, and it was easy to irrigate them from nearby water sources. At that time, all they needed to do was open up a large area of farmland.
The next morning, Qin Mian first went to find the original County Magistrate to meet up with him. After officially becoming a County Magistrate, he changed into County Magistrate's attire, revealing his handsomeness and might.
But now was not the time for children to be sentimental. The two of them discussed for a while and threw themselves into rebuilding Kui County.
Qin Mian ordered all the commoners to gather together as soon as possible, while he also said that he would move his Kui County to a lake not far away. There were those who were willing, but there were also those who weren't. He was happy because Kui County was clearly a dangerous place. If he did not move now, could it be that he would have to wait for the next time to move? The reason he wasn't happy was that his ancestors had lived here for generations, and it was hard for him to leave their homeland.
Qin Mian did not care about what they thought and directly said: "From today onwards, we will be rebuilding our Kui County. All those who were willing to stay in Kui County would be separated into two groups. One group would be responsible for making the road outside the mountain smoother and wider, while the other group would be responsible for clearing the wasteland and building houses in the new Kui County. At that time, the cultivated land would be divided evenly among the people. In addition, from today onwards, three meals a day are distributed according to work, that is, working is the only way to eat, not only to fill the stomach, but also to fill the stomach. If you don't work, think of a way to eat three meals a day. As for those who are unwilling to stay, I will give each of you two silver taels. From today onwards, you two will have nothing to do with Kui County."
Because of the large amount of compensation from Turow Country, the amount of silver that the Emperor Xiao Hui granted Qin Mian was not small. Therefore, he hoped that he could use this kind of method to keep them back, so that they wouldn't have to go all the way to seek refuge with their relatives and friends. Also, there were some people who were stubborn and feudal, and rather than wasting their time arguing and arguing with them, it would be better to use this kind of forceful method to intimidate them. One must know, delaying it by one more day meant delaying the danger by one more day. If it rained one day, it would be worse. Once the Kui County was built properly, the commoners would naturally understand his good intentions.
Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, the commoners started clamoring. A majority of the commoners had lost their loved ones while the earth was shaking. They were already grieving in their hearts, the new County Magistrate only needed two taels of silver to send them away, causing them to feel even more angry and dissatisfied.
Lei Tia frowned, he wanted to do something, but was stopped by Qin Mian.
Qin Mian had long anticipated this situation and did not try to persuade them.
"Those who are willing to stay in line, get ready to work."
Only a few moved.
Qin Mian didn't mind at all and assigned tasks to them.
When it was noon, when no one prepared food for the people who were protesting, they finally realized Qin Mian's current identity???? County Magistrate, that was their parents, and their escorts! Everyone started panicking and quickly went to find the soldiers Lei Tia brought along. This meant that they had agreed to move and that they were willing to stay and work.
Of course, there were still people who were unwilling to stay.
In order to prevent others from cheating, Qin Mian said that it was possible for him to come back even after he left. However, in the first ten days after his return, the others could eat two steamed buns per meal and the food was quite good. The people who came back could only eat one steamed bun per meal and drink a small bowl of soup.
There really were people who intended to cheat money first and leave for a few days before coming back, pretending not to have found relatives. Hearing Qin Mian's words, he immediately gave up his idea and obediently went to line up.
Even so, there were still a few people who chose to leave. Qin Mian did not use any words. In front of all the commoners, he got Vice General Cheng to give every single person who wanted to leave two taels of silver. On the paper, he wrote their names down and told them to leave with their handprints.
However, only a small number of people had left. There were only six households in total, with less than thirty people altogether. Qin Mian sent people to secretly ask around, to make sure that these four families had relatives in the Regional Palace, and that there was an 80% chance that their relatives would help them. Only then did Qin Mian relax and had people secretly give them 10 silver coins, ensuring that they had enough to entangle their relatives.
Only then did these people realize that the new County Magistrate was not as evil as they thought, and left with gratitude.
"If you want to be rich, you have to build your own path first." This sentence could be said to be the truth. Therefore, Qin Mian arranged for a third of the people in Kui County to go and fix the road. Temporarily build a flat dirt road, and after the new Kui County was built, organize hands to dig sand to pave the way, or use bricks to pave the way. Of the remaining two-thirds, one of them was responsible for reorganizing the land by the lake to make it easier to build a house, while the other was responsible for carrying all the bricks and stones available in the city to the lake.
Fortunately, in ancient times, most of the houses were one storey, so it was easy to dig them out. The commoners pulled the farm tools out of the rubble and threw them into the busy work.
The ten thousand elite soldiers that Lei Tia had brought with him naturally could not stay idle. He sent a team of five hundred people to hunt every day to improve the food for everyone;
There were a lot of children in the county. Qin Mian found four children among the commoners and arranged two rooms for them to teach the children. While allowing the children to read, he also prevented the adults from worrying about them when they were working.
Qin Mian also did not relax when it came to Qin Ruiqi and the others' studies, allowing them to follow the other children to attend class.
And like this, with Qin Mian's meticulous arrangements, practically no one in the city was idle. Even the old ladies and elders who could not do their work could help them sew their clothes, look after the children from one year old to five years old, or even dig up wild vegetables.
Prefect Cai had not left for a single moment. Seeing how Qin Mian had spent less than three days to completely reconstruct the county, he couldn't help but be impressed. In the matter of Kui County, he had originally only held the thought of keeping himself safe. But now, he suddenly gained enlightenment and felt that he absolutely could not miss this opportunity. There were practically no problems with Qin Mian's arrangements. It was only a matter of time before his Kui County would be successfully established, and if he could help Qin Mian from time to time, Qin Mian and Lei Tia would definitely speak up for him on behalf of the emperor. At that time, it would not be long until they would make a fortune for the emperor.
After thinking it through, he began to actively cooperate with Qin Mian.
Before the news came back, he did not stop the Prefect Cai from being in charge of repairing the road. The main point of this was to supervise the progress of the road construction and the food of the labourers, to ensure the enthusiasm of the commoners as they walked, and that they would be able to eat their fill with every meal. Of course, he had also arranged for Lei Qin Jian and Lei Qin Yuan to be helpers for Prefect Cai. Although they were called helpers, both sides understood that this was to prevent the Prefect Cai from taking the opportunity to take advantage of the labourers' food, and to reap the benefits from this.
The Prefect Cai did not mind his actions much. Qin Mian did not understand his personality, so it was normal for him to guard against him. Cai Yongxin might not be a good official, but he was not someone who would snatch food from the mouths of the commoners.
Qin Mian and Lei Tia were in charge of all the matters in the new city. Qin Mian tried his best to recall the bent plough he had seen in his previous life, and after pondering for two to three days, he asked the artisans to try it out a few times, finally producing the bent plough. The curved plough is composed of a plough head, a plow wall, a plow bottom, a pressure plough, a plough head, a plow arrow, a plow shaft, a plow tip, a plough evaluation, a plow construction and a plough disc. The plough plough can be freely rotated at the end of the plow plow plough plate not only to make the plough frame smaller and lighter, but also to facilitate turning and turning, and to operate flexibly, saving manpower and animal power.
Seeing this, the Prefect Cai was shocked. The long and straight plows used by the common people are difficult to turn around, arable and inefficient. However, with only a few changes on the basis of the bent plough, it was able to achieve twice the result with half the effort. How could it not be shocking? If this plow was spread throughout the entire nation, wouldn't it mean that the level of productivity of Grand Xia Country would rise to a whole new level?
But looking at Qin Mian's expression, it seemed as if he did not realize the significance behind it.
Qin Mian didn't have the "greatness" to the point that he wanted to raise his Grand Xia Country productivity before, so he didn't think about it in this way. If he did not have to rebuild his Kui County, he still would not have been able to think of this point. Today, he naturally understood the importance of the bent plough to the peasants. However, he still rejected the Prefect Cai's suggestion of "immediately reporting this matter to the imperial government". He dared to say that once the Emperor Xiao Hui found out about the plough, they would definitely send some high officials to investigate. In the Kui County, he and Lei Tia's statuses were the highest, so no one would criticize or argue about the reconstruction of the Kui County. If there were any more high ranking officials coming, it would definitely hinder the progress.
Therefore, his thought was that he should at least wait until all the fields around Kui County were cleared before he could tell the Emperor about the new plow. In any case, the commoners had already used the old plough for hundreds of years, so there was no need to wait for a few more months.
Qin Mian and Lei Tia had an imperial edict, and Lei Tia still had Shang Fang Sword that he could slash first before using it. With regards to the two's unanimous decision, Prefect Cai did not dare to object.
Qin Mian had promised to remember his achievements for Prefect Cai in the future, and Prefect Cai had also calmed down.
Thus, in the first report Qin Mian and Prefect Cai sent to the Emperor Xiao Hui respectively on the progress of reconstruction of the new county, they did not even mention a single word about the bent plough.
With the curved plough, the cultivation of the land would progress even faster. The commoners watched as the number of square fields by the lakeside increased day by day. A sincere smile hung on their faces, and hope for life once again ignited in their eyes.
At the lakeside, rows of houses were also in their infancy. From afar, they looked even more beautiful than the old county town.
| ← Ch. 203 | Ch. 205 → |