Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 448: Focus on Production and Protect Life
Xia Lin does not keep idle people. Although he could not move these days, he still did not neglect his work. First of all, after temporarily settling the refugees, he began to do ideological work for them. This work was carried out by Shan Xiongxin, and the general content was to tell them not to panic, keep calm, and patiently wait for the progress of the land distribution.

The next work was to divert the young and strong labor force, with some of them joining the production and construction work within their capabilities, such as building houses, repairing roads, etc., while the other part entered the work of winter land reclamation.

We will expand new arable land from wasteland, dig water diversion channels, etc., to ensure the progress of spring ploughing next year.

All their work is paid, and although the salary is not high, it is enough to cover their daily food and clothing expenses.

As for the supplies, they were naturally transferred from Fuliang, but they were not given for free. Xia Lin had signed an IOU for them, and they would have to be repaid after the work was completed. However, everyone thought that he wanted to make money from his own small business to make up for the deficit, and they didn't think about anything else.

There are rumors on the street that wherever Xia Lin goes, large-scale construction will be started there, and he will benefit from it. This is not completely wrong. Large-scale construction is indeed large-scale construction. Since he came, these corners and nooks have naturally become dusty.

But to say that he put all the profits into his own pocket is really not the case. He was actually very poor. If the court had not felt sorry for him, his salary would have been fined until 2025. All his expenses were either obtained by cheating young ladies or by shamelessly asking his wife for money.

He didn't bring a single penny home and even took out more than 100,000 taels from home. If it weren't for his wife's wealthy family, with dowry and rewards alone worth a million taels, he would have eaten up all the gold and silver.

Then he met Dugu Han. People said that whoever got involved with the Dugu family would have his blood sucked and his marrow destroyed, but after the Dugu family got involved with Xia Lin, it was like a bottomless pit that emptied out money. When Dugu Han went out with him, Xia Lin never spent any money, and all his food, clothing and other expenses were paid for by Dugu Han.

Although the Dugu family also made money because of him, the problem is that they would have made money even without Xia Lin... It's not like they became the richest family in the world because of Xia Lin.

At this moment, people in the six counties of Henan Province started working hard. Although the Chinese New Year was still two months away, Xia Lin really did everything he could to ensure that these people had a good New Year.

However, one good thing is that such large-scale development has brought job opportunities that not only provide a place for the refugees to survive, but also give the local residents more choices in life.

For example, there are many lonely old men and women here. These people are actually very pitiful. They basically have no food to eat and they don’t know when they will freeze to death of hunger and cold. Now Xia Lin has come and brought many people with him. When people come, they have consumption power. Even if these old men and women make a pancake or a steamed bun and sell a little bit every day, it can be considered an income. They are not rich, but at least they can maintain their daily food and drink.

For those who had no or almost no ability to work, Xia Lin also arranged some work within their capabilities for them. After all, the purpose was to get paid for work. Even if they just watched over building materials or worked as shift watch on a construction site, two meals a day would definitely be guaranteed, and at least they would not starve to death.

"I can't guarantee anything else, but if people starve to death right under my nose, that's a slap in my face. In the future I will find a way to arrange for some educated people to come here to do some basic literacy and poverty alleviation work."

This is what Xia Lin said during a meeting with the local elders. He even said it in a tough tone: "You have seen the current situation. There are not many people left in your clan. I will settle you down when the time comes. If you cooperate with my work peacefully, I will definitely not let you suffer any loss."

At this stage, it was a period of military control. If the village elders and powerful people dared to cause trouble, they would be suppressed by the army. Besides, Xia Lin's policy for these people was generous and could solve a considerable part of their clan management problems, so the local village elders did not put up much resistance.

Violence can solve problems but not all problems. The main contradictions at present are concentrated on the complex network of relationships between the aristocratic families and temples in Henan Province. Winning over these small local tyrants is the best option at present.

Governing a big country is like cooking a small fish, which requires you to do it slowly, bit by bit. The tighter the time is, the less room for leakages.

Anyway, it was the end of October. It had been more than two months since Xia Lin came here. The basic resettlement of refugees had been stabilized, and land reclamation work had also started. What was puzzling was that the area where the refugees were originally resettled had not been removed, but was maintained and expanded every day.

Everyone below was very curious, but that was Xia Lin's arrangement, so no one dared to ask too many questions. It was not until around the seventh day that refugees began to appear one after another. Some were relatives of the previous refugees, some were tenants who had secretly escaped from their place of residence, and some were even beggars.

Why do we say after the Frost Descent? Because at this point all the farm work that should be done has been completed, the grain that should be delivered has been delivered, the people who should be rich have become rich, and those who should not have enough food have started to starve.

In previous years, we had to endure hunger, but this year is different. Everyone has heard about what is happening here, so many people choose to come here to try their luck.

In the face of these people leaving, not many people would really care, just like the untouchables under the caste system, they are not human beings, but only two-legged animals. Who would care about the life and death of animals? It would be better if they were not hanging around under their noses. After all, the masters are kind-hearted and can't bear to see people starving to death under their feet.

In fact, the current China has already had the shadow of the caste system to some extent. The aristocratic families and the nobles are at the top, followed by the nobles and the new nobles, then the scholars, and finally the farmers, workers and merchants. These are considered human beings, while the rest of the people who have neither land nor property nor cultural knowledge can only be considered untouchables. No one cares about things that are not considered human beings. Some places even know that Xia Lin will take in these wastes, so they simply drive these wastes directly to Xia Lin after finishing their work, mainly to make it more difficult for him.

Isn't Xia Daosheng just trying to show off his ability? He wants to see whether this compassionate Bodhisattva can feed so many mouths.

As for what to do with the land if these people are gone in the spring? Haha, the world is so big, three-legged frogs are hard to find, but two-legged animals are everywhere, right?

The arrogance of the rich and powerful is no joke; they simply look down on these two-legged beasts from the bottom of their hearts.

Xia Lin has been accepting everyone since the first group of people came to seek refuge. As long as they work, they will have food to eat. In short, these people's lives here may not be very good, but they are definitely better than before. Being able to eat can also feed the old and young in their families, which is enough for them.

Maybe it was just a few days, the number of people poured in like a snowball, and it only took six days for the population of the six counties to increase from more than 100,000 to 200,000, and only four days to increase from 200,000 to 300,000. After 300,000, the flow of people slowed down, but it was still increasing every day.

Judging from this general trend, it should be that the landlords and powerful people drove out the short-term tenants whose existence had lost its meaning in winter, leaving them to fend for themselves. Naturally, those who had nowhere else to go chose Xia Lin, which accepted everyone.

"The preliminary estimate is that there will be 400,000 people." Xia Lin held a small meeting in the room at this moment: "Fifth brother, you have less than four months left before the spring ploughing in March next year. Are you confident?"

"Yes!" Shan Xiongxin was the first to express his opinion: "If it cannot be done, please punish me by military law."

Xia Lin frowned and pointed at Shan Xiongxin: "Fifth brother, there is no joking in the army. If you issue a military order, even I can't protect you. Do you really want to issue it?"

"Yes!" Shan Xiongxin seemed full of confidence at this moment: "I have studied the Marshal's theories seriously these days, I can guarantee that it will work."

"it is good!"

Xia Lin slammed his hand on the table: "The noble families can't tolerate them, and the state government wants to join in the fun, so let's make a hole in the sky!"

Shan Xiongxin didn't waste any time and immediately plunged into the intense work. Xia Lin didn't have an easy time either, as he was also very busy with government affairs, and he was still in the stage of reclaiming farmland. After all, if the war breaks out next year, the spring ploughing in Henan Province will definitely be affected. Without arable land, people will starve to death. So he had to reclaim enough land to fill the gap for next year during these few months of slack farming.

How busy is he? Since his back healed, he has been doing this for the 28th time...

But when he finished his work every day, it was almost late at night and he was exhausted and had no strength left.

Now the basic work has been arranged, and all deployments are moving forward in the direction he envisioned. Although it can't be said to be smooth, at least the worst result has not occurred. Anyway, it is just moving forward step by step.

It's just that Shan Xiongxin was a little uncalm when he made the military order during the meeting... Xia Lin did show him some reports of his teacher doing mass work in Yan'an area, so there was no need for him to be so excited. If he really couldn't complete it, he would really have to face military court.

This place is actually not that lively. It is so lively that Fuliang County itself is so lively. After more than a month of turmoil, almost all the people from the great noble families in Jiangbei have gathered here.

It was because something had happened to his sons and nephews, and all of them were detained by Dugu Han. Even the heir of the Yuwen family was placed under house arrest here.

The person who came to Fuliang from the Yuwen family was none other than the head of the Yuwen family, Yu Wenzhi.

(End of this chapter)