Chapter 47: The Merit Monument and Village Development

When the half-grown children came back crying and clutching their bowls and chopsticks, Yun Ge’er had the women start distributing porridge and steamed buns.

Since these were bland in flavor, Yun Ge’er also prepared some pickled vegetables to share with them. Most of these pickles were not very palatable, some even bitter; they had been brought by the county magistrate and his men from Long County earlier that day.

However, for the villagers of Gengdixia Township, these pickles were far from undesirable. Salt was expensive, and at home they always used it sparingly, keeping the salt jars placed high above. Now, with just a small piece of pickled vegetable, a sip of porridge, and a bite of the large white steamed bun, it felt like living in paradise.

If only such days could last forever.

Yun Ge’er himself also took a bowl of plain porridge. Watching the villagers sitting on the ground, eating eagerly, he found his appetite growing too.

“Father, Uncle Jiang, Gouzi, all of you eat together. This porridge won’t fill you up too much,” Yun Ge’er said with a smile.

Li Fu, who was usually very particular about etiquette, was standing and holding his bowl while eating for the first time.

While eating, Yun Ge’er continued, “This time, we have many more refugees. Gengdixia Township is a place with more land than people. Eventually, about five hundred people from the refugees will be settled here.

When they arrive, after the spring planting of the next year, our entire village will organize to help them reclaim the land. The land reclaimed will belong to the county collectively and will then be allocated to these outsiders.”

He then repeated the tax system for reclaimed land from before.

Yun Ge’er emphasized again that once these refugees were incorporated into Gengdixia Township’s records, they must be regarded as fellow townsfolk, and discrimination would not be tolerated.

He was confident about everything else but felt this matter would need continued emphasis. They would need a slogan or rallying cry to truly get the locals to accept the newcomers.

From the memory of the university student Yun Ge’er, people of this era were deeply xenophobic. It was not just a generational matter; even several generations would find it hard to truly integrate.

It was like the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement during the Qing dynasty in Guangxi, which erupted due to the extreme tensions between locals and immigrants. Even prominent leaders like Shi Dakai, whose families had lived locally for three generations, were still regarded as outsiders and resented.

With such historical lessons, it was all the more necessary to guide the community carefully here.

Yun Ge’er then told them that although land reclamation couldn’t start in winter, they could voluntarily join Wei Guan’s construction team.

This was not forced labor but paid work.

Since the refugees would be distributed among villages, houses needed to be built and trees cut on the mountains; the whole winter would be busy. While Lu Tou and his group went back, the county magistrate had brought Wei Guan and a few others along for this purpose.

Yun Ge’er had briefly spoken to Wei Guan before and thought the old man was quite resourceful with good organizational skills. The new rural development required such construction teams; they could become “state enterprises” in the future.

Wei Guan knew the benefits of this arrangement and had not expected such great advantages.

With tens of thousands of houses to build and ditches to dig for reclamation, they would never lack work, just the concern of not overexerting themselves.

Of course, Wei Guan also understood that anyone would want to join if there was money to be made. But in Long County, this wasn’t simply a matter of Yun Ge’er or the magistrate’s word alone; they still had to flatter and manage carefully.

Though Yun Ge’er said he wanted to finish quickly, the entire morning was spent at the village entrance.

He even treated everyone to lunch.

At last, the general direction was clear to the people of Gengdixia Township, and by afternoon, they got straight to work. Yun Ge’er believed in striking while the iron was hot.

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That afternoon, Wei Guan brought three or four men to interview the many eager villagers wanting to join the construction team.

The villagers had both simple, honest qualities and some ingrained flaws.

They wanted to earn money and thought this was a good opportunity; at worst, they could still get a free meal. So old and young all tried to join in.

That was out of the question.

The construction work was heavy labor. They refused to let men in their sixties or children as young as eleven or twelve join, but many young and able-bodied adults stayed behind cheerfully. Some women were also recruited, mainly those strong enough for hard work or skilled in cooking.

“Women too? They get paid as well?”

“Yes,” Wei Guan smiled. “Yun Ge’er said even women get land. If they can work the fields, why not this work?”

Though Wei Guan was over sixty and might have been expected to be proud, ever since meeting Yun Ge’er outside Long County’s city gate, he had been deferential—almost humbly servile—with a bit of self-satisfaction.

Scholar Zhu Neng couldn’t do what Wei Guan did.

Yun Ge’er was just a child, and though he was a scholar, he hadn’t achieved much and found it hard to swallow his pride.

Wei Guan laughed at him, saying: “So what if you’re from a noble family or a scholar? When your stomach growls, don’t you have to live on a bowl of rice bran porridge from the Li family?

Dignity won’t fill your belly.”

This was a truth Wei Guan learned after his whole family perished in famine, leaving only a grandson.

What was wrong with tending to a two-year-old’s dirty feet? Besides, Yun Ge’er showed no arrogance, and Wei Guan genuinely wanted to listen to what the boy had to say.

Though young, Yun Ge’er had his own way of doing things and getting along with people. Such a child would be treasured wherever he went.

Zhu Neng, silenced by Wei Guan’s retorts, could only bury himself in work.

While Wei Guan expanded the construction team, Jiang Guang took money and bought the remaining fields in the afternoon.

After a full day’s toil, Yun Ge’er went to check the valley again.

He had asked Jiang Guang to inquire how many wanted to leave. Those who chose not to settle in Long County would be registered there by Li Fu, but leaving later would be difficult.

Some refugees indeed chose to leave. Once they learned about the offer of return travel expenses and food, about ten thousand gradually departed over a day or two. Le Dan Dai Ren quickly tallied the numbers—about thirty thousand remained.

That day, Yun Ge’er grouped about five hundred people by household and took them to temporarily lodge in Gengdixia Township.

The weather was good during the day, but nights were cold.

This group shivered in the valley, and even with fires burning through the night, it was insufficient. They needed to be settled quickly.

So Li Fu stayed behind at Gengdixia Township, leading the elders and county officials to allocate land. The plan was to divide eighty acres per person.

Since land quality varied, it had to be distributed evenly.

The final method was drawing lots.

They divided the land into eighty-acre plots, then had representatives draw lots for their plots, or people could draw for themselves. The poorest land was excluded.

The lots were roughly balanced between good, medium, and poor fields, so families should draw fairly evenly, and no one could complain.

That said, some would still want to cause trouble when the time came. Moreover, the outsiders would grumble, so Li Fu had to stay to manage these issues.

Meanwhile, Yun Ge’er took Jiang Guang and others to divide the remaining refugees into villages. Beyond Long County was a vast wasteland, perfect for building several villages and enhancing Long County’s prosperity.

Dividing the population took two more days. Large villages contained five thousand people each, smaller ones two to three thousand. In total, three large and six small villages were established, scattered throughout Long County.

After wandering outside for over ten days, Yun Ge’er finally plunged back into the Li estate.

He returned at night, utterly exhausted. Though since fainting at the ancestral hall and waking up, his energy had been remarkable, this recent strain was still overwhelming.

His once chubby face had thinned noticeably. Even in dreams, he muttered, “Don’t panic, don’t panic; there is land.” Li Fu thought Yun Ge’er truly needed rest.

Things were finally on track. Yun Ge’er’s idea of “hiding wealth among the people” took shape as refugees were settled and each received two months’ provisions.

Of course, the rations were calculated as two meals of thin porridge daily, mixed with soybeans, rice bran, and other supplementary foods.

Although they had plenty of grain from Ma Yi, much was needed for early construction, so they rationed carefully for sustainable development.

Even so, about one-fifth of Ma Yi’s grain was distributed immediately. Some was stored in the county’s granary under Li Fu’s orders.

The granary, usually for tax storage, was temporarily used with no issue. Others were moved into thatched huts built on site.

As for gold and silver, aside from recent expenditures, the rest was transported by Yun Ge’er in boxes to Li Fu’s house for safekeeping.

Yesterday, Li Fu sent word to the Li estate to tell Xin Niang and her family that Yun Ge’er would be returning today. So early this morning, Xin Niang waited at the door.

Xin Niang had raised Yun Ge’er alone since birth. After more than ten days without seeing him, she had been so worried she could neither eat nor sleep.

Fortunately, with Madam Guo and others going out daily, the most mentioned names in Long County’s conversations were now Yun Ge’er and Li Fu.

They said the young Yun Ge’er, though small, exposed gangs of thieves and con artists, saving many refugees. Magistrate Li was benevolent, sending refugees home when possible and strongly advocating for settling those who could not return.

During this time, red cloth in Long County had surged in price.

Yun Ge’er had people tear long strips of red cloth, inscribed with slogans like “Offering true love, rebuilding the homeland,” “Natural disasters are ruthless, but human kindness prevails,” and “When one place suffers, help comes from all directions.” These banners stretched across Long County.

They actively promoted that Magistrate Li was building three large villages and six small ones, inviting everyone to donate generously to whichever village they preferred to help rebuild their homes.

All donors would have a monument erected at the village entrance commemorating their contribution, which would stand as long as the village existed. The person donating the most could even name the newly built village, provided the name was not intentionally insulting.