Oh, Qin Yao also wants to buy those barren mountains.
Those barren mountains have no iron ore and produce nothing, so they are of no use at all.
As for letting the victims do some work within their capabilities, that would be even better, so that they don't have to wander around after eating and cause trouble.
County Magistrate Meng felt that this was a great thing. He almost danced with joy and asked, "Miss Qin, when will you start providing relief to the victims?"
"Tomorrow." Qin Yao said, the sooner the better.
"Okay, it's settled then."
"By the way, Mr. Magistrate, what about the barren mountain?" Qin Yao asked again.
"Bring us the map of our county." County Magistrate Meng called out immediately.
Someone brought a map of Wuling County, which is a map of the county. "These gray parts are all unowned areas. Which ones do you want to buy, Miss Qin? I can give you a discount." Magistrate Meng pointed to the map and said.
Qin Zhen and Jiang Yunzhu had already researched in the store where to buy the barren hill, how many acres of mulberry forest to plant, and where to build a place to raise silkworms and produce silk, so Qin Yao hesitated for a moment before marking out two large areas with her hands.
Both places are in the north of Wuling County, which is close to Changfeng Prefecture. One is close to the top and the other is close to the bottom, forming a horn with each other, which just divides the victims into two groups, making it easier to provide disaster relief and, of course, to plant trees and build houses.
"Miss Qin is very thoughtful." County Magistrate Meng praised, and then sold the two barren hills and the surrounding wasteland to Qin Yao at a 10% discount.
Qin Yao paid six hundred taels of silver. Although the barren land was cheap, she bought a lot, so she still spent a lot of money. Of course, this little money was nothing in the eyes of the Qin family.
Qin Yao took the title deed and left.
Someone provided relief to the victims, and County Magistrate Meng suddenly had an extra six hundred taels of silver. He felt that he could finally sleep well tonight.
When Qin Zhen returned to Qishanju, he was overjoyed when he saw the land deed. The plan had begun.
He asked the housekeeper to stay and assist Qin Yao, and he immediately rode back to Luzhou to arrange everything.
On the same day, the victims received news that porridge stalls would be opened in Beidahe and Sizhifeng early the next morning. The victims were skeptical, but it was better to have hope than to have no hope, so everyone used their last bit of strength to walk towards these two places.
The next day, the victims got up early in the morning and looked around to see if there was anyone giving out porridge. They really couldn't hold on any longer!
In the morning light, a group of people came, and the leader was actually a girl. The girl was about fifteen or sixteen years old, wearing an apricot dress, with lively eyes and eyebrows, and looked kind.
Could this be the person who wanted to give out porridge? The victims all looked at Qin Yao, their eyes full of hope and pleading.
Qin Yao also saw the miserable condition of the victims. The arms of the five or six-year-old children were as thin as firewood, and the old man could hardly stand up.
"Hurry, set up the porridge stall and cook porridge." Qin Yao said immediately.
Butler Qin said, "Miss, I'm afraid you won't be able to explain to the master if you do this." This was a drama that had been arranged long ago to let everyone know that Qin Yao was also helping them under pressure, so that they would not bite her back later.
Qin Yao said anxiously, "Cook the porridge first and then talk about this." She was not acting at all, but the effect was surprisingly good. This was also the reason why Jiang Yunzhu asked her to come forward.
"We've already agreed on this, to..." Butler Qin muttered.
"Let's talk about this later." Qin Yao said.
Butler Qin waved his hand reluctantly, and the people behind him immediately took action to build porridge stalls and cook porridge. They had been prepared in advance, so they built dozens of porridge stalls in an instant.
Generation after generation, white rice and sorghum rice were poured into the pot, and soon, the fragrant smell of porridge wafted out.
All the victims stared at the big pots, swallowing their saliva from time to time.
In the west, a child couldn't help crying. He was so hungry and wanted to eat porridge.
"Wait, the porridge will be ready soon." His mother comforted him in a low voice.
The child was too young to understand much and just cried.
The mother had no choice but to coax her child.
At this time, someone handed over a cake and said, "Give it to the child first." It was Qin Yao. Seeing the child crying, she couldn't help but give him a cake.
The woman immediately choked up and said, "Thank you, young lady. Thank you, young lady." She bowed to Qin Yao repeatedly to express her gratitude.
"Get up quickly. You're welcome." Qin Yao waved her hand.
The woman then took the bread and fed it to the child.
"Girl, please give me a cake too. My mother is really dying." A thin man came over, knelt down and begged Qin Yao.
Not far from him, an old woman was lying there, breathing weakly.
Qin Yao quickly gave him a cake.
The man didn't even bother to say thank you and hurriedly took the cake back to feed the old woman.
More and more people asked Qin Yao for bread, and Qin Yao only regretted that she did not bring more dry food.
At this time, the porridge was ready, and Butler Qin led people to distribute the porridge.
While distributing porridge, he muttered, "Everyone can only get one bowl of porridge a day. If you want more, go plant trees nearby. If you plant five trees, you can get another bowl of porridge. If you plant ten trees, you can get two bowls. You can also convert it into silver money."
Someone heard his mumbling and immediately became interested and asked him what was going on with this tree.
Qin explained that they could go to the nearby mountain to dig holes and plant trees, and after the trees were planted and inspected, they could get a slip and come back here to get porridge. They could also convert it into silver, two cents for planting five trees, and the more work, the more money.
It is not easy to plant trees on a barren mountain. You should try to dig a larger hole to prevent the soil from being too hard, making it difficult for the seedlings to grow in the future.
But no one forces you to do this job, and you can grind it slowly. It's not like going to a mine, where you have to keep moving over a hundred pounds of ore. Unless you are a strong and healthy young man, you can't do it at all.
So immediately many people decided to plant trees.
At this time, everyone had received porridge. The rice used by Qin Yaoshe for her porridge was sorghum and rice. Although the porridge was a bit watery, the rice used was good rice. It was much better than the porridge distributed by the government. At least this porridge smelled fragrant.
On some cold spring mornings, after drinking a bowl of hot porridge, I feel warm all over and as if I have strength all of a sudden.
After drinking the porridge, someone immediately went to plant trees. Didn’t you hear what the housekeeper said? The more trees you plant, the more porridge you will get. If you can’t finish the porridge, you can exchange it for money.
The most important thing for people is to have hope. With hope, you can persevere.
There was a bustling scene on the mountain.
Seeing this, County Magistrate Meng smiled with relief. Of course, he also had things to do. The 1,200 taels of charity money had to be used for the victims. For those who couldn't even plant trees, the government would be responsible for distributing porridge.
Thanks to these two approaches, although there were many disaster victims in Wuling County, very few of them starved to death, which was almost unimaginable in the past.
After drinking porridge two or three times a day, the health of these disaster victims gradually improved, and some of them went out to seek work.
Planting trees can provide a living, but it is not a long-term solution. You still have to find a suitable job.
This is also what Jiang Yunzhu meant. Planting trees is just to give these disaster victims some buffer time so that they can slowly adapt to this place.
What most disaster victims actually lack is this buffer opportunity, to find another job while they still have to, and at least they don’t have to worry about starving to death.
Moreover, from beginning to end, the victims work and eat like normal people, so they will not have the feeling of being separated and abandoned, and it will be much easier for them to reintegrate into society.
Unlike those people who were saved by the government’s free porridge in the past, they gradually gave up on themselves and just waited for that bowl of porridge every day, living a life like death.
This was something that County Magistrate Meng had not expected at first. After he found out, he was full of respect for Qin Yao. He had wondered before why Qin Yao asked these disaster victims to plant trees. So this is the reason!
These days, more and more porridge was given away at any time, and Qin Yao's reputation was getting bigger and bigger. The victims all knew her, a kind-hearted girl, and they were all grateful to her. In fact, many people who were saved by her set up a longevity tablet for her and prayed for her morning and night.
During this period, Butler Qin would also select some people who are smart or hardworking to stay behind. First, to manage everyone, and second, after the victims leave, someone will have to stay here to take care of the mulberry trees and raise silkworms to produce silk.
He left quite a few people behind, so everyone saw more hope.
Everything was in order. Some people left the barren mountains and new victims joined. Beida River and Sizhi Peak were like two temporary resettlement points for the victims, welcoming and seeing off people, while the barren mountains and wastelands next to them slowly began to turn green.
There were suddenly fewer cases of selling people and fighting in the county, and life seemed to have returned to normal. The people of Wuling County were no longer so hostile to the disaster victims, and everything seemed to be moving in a good direction.
County Magistrate Meng can now have a good night's sleep every day.
However, the magistrates of other counties could no longer sit still. The problem of the disaster victims could not be solved, and it seemed that chaos was about to break out in their county.
The magistrate of Huayang County first found Qin Yao, hoping that she could also go to Huayang County to give out porridge. There were also many barren mountains and wastelands in his Huayang County. If Qin Yao needed them, he could sell them to her at a 20% discount, no, 30% discount.
Qin Zhen had already made all the connections by then. He had originally wanted to expand into other counties, and now this was just the right time for him to get a pillow.
Immediately, he decided to go to Huayang County to donate porridge and plant trees.
Qin Yao had to step in for this, and by this time, it was already the end of March, and students from the county, including Xie Chen, had to pack up and prepare to go to Beijing.
It's magical. Qin Yao used to think about Xie Chen leaving every day, but since she started to host the porridge distribution, maybe it was because she was too busy, or maybe it was the feeling of being needed, she actually liked this job very much and felt less sad about the parting.
She used to be particularly afraid that Xie Chen would not pass the exam, and then she would really have no chance with him.
But now, she felt that no matter what the results of his exams were, they could work together.
This may be growth. From a girl in the boudoir to the young master of Changyuan Grain Store, she has become more cheerful, more confident and more capable.
Seeing this, and also seeing that Qin Yao was often with Jiang Yunzhu, Qin Zhen realized belatedly why Jiang Yunzhu insisted that Qin Yao do this. She was doing it for her own good. Otherwise, it would be the same if she chose someone else.
He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He was tricked. Now Qin Yao had become a living Buddha in the hearts of the disaster victims. He couldn't force her to marry. But it felt good. He only had Qin Yao and Qin Lu as his children. Qin Lu was still young. He planned to let him take the imperial examination. If Qin Yao could really achieve something, he would be happy to see it happen.
I’m afraid his silly girl doesn’t know how lucky she is to meet Jiang Yunzhu.
For this reason, he decided to give Jiang Yunzhu a gift in a few days.
Jiang Yunzhu didn't know what Qin Zhen was thinking, but that day, she received an invitation from Xu Qingshan. It turned out that he was going to get married in two days, and he invited her and everyone in the Jiang family to attend his wedding banquet.