The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 223 Refugees
Seeing the ugly child's stunned expression, the neighbor aunt urged:
"Hurry up and go! There are seven big sheep!"

Ugly Baby finally understood what the auntie said and trembled with excitement:
"Auntie, why? Why are you giving us sheep?"

"Of course it's because the Marquis is merciful, and the generals are merciful! Angmen Ding Town Fort didn't back down when killing the Tatars this time, and this is a reward for Angmen! Every military household with seriously wounded or dead soldiers will receive a sheep per person. Other villages don't receive this treatment as Angmen Ding Town Fort!"

The auntie had just gone to confirm and received confirmation that she was going home to retrieve her household registration.

Dogwa trembled with excitement: "We're not cowards! Next time the Tatars come, we'll be on the battlefield too!"

The centurion, who had personally delivered sheep to Gouwa's house, overheard their conversation.

He nodded approvingly.
"As expected of a son of Angmen Dingbao, he's got guts! But, Gouwa, don't worry, this time the Northern Tartars were almost wiped out by Angmen. It's unlikely that such a large-scale battle will happen again in the border town for the next three to five years!"

War will result in injuries and deaths.

Who could like this thing?

If there is no war, the children of military households can wait until they reach adulthood to enlist.

In this way, the eldest son in the family can help the family members for many more years.

Gouwa was precocious and understood what the centurion meant from his words.

He happily took the ropes for the seven large sheep from the centurion.

The family's three younger brothers and sisters wished they could live and eat with these grassland sheep.

His grandfather heard the commotion outside and slowly moved to the doorway.

After the centurion's explanation, he immediately had his grandchildren face the direction of the camp and bow down.

"You must remember the great kindness of the Marquis and all the generals. Without their help, our family would have been eating mud underground long ago!"

The old soldier didn't cry even though he went blind.

He did not cry when his two sons died in battle and when his daughters-in-law remarried.

Even after being severely injured by the Tatars not long ago, she didn't cry.

Unexpectedly, the seven not-so-fat sheep that the centurion brought to him today moved him to tears.

These are the seven sheep that brought hope for their family's survival!
The hard times don't seem so unbearable after all.

There are more than a hundred military households in Dingzhenbao who are just as happy as Gouwa's family.

Who wouldn't want a free sheep?
More than 5,000 were quickly arranged.

Also.

The release of more than 12,000 sheep at market price has sparked considerable discussion.

When the entire Northwest was short of sheep, such a large flock of sheep arrived!
If it weren't for priority given to orphans and widows, and if it weren't for the purchase restrictions, these military households would have fought tooth and nail to buy these sheep.

While waiting to buy the sheep, the older women gathered together and had endless things to talk about:

"Good heavens! A sheep weighing twenty-odd pounds can easily fetch three taels of silver in Huaiqing Prefecture! Buying it is a sure win!"

"Don't be like that! Lamb isn't fatty these days. Let the boys in your family raise them for three to five months, and they can gain at least twenty pounds more by autumn! Fat sheep will be worth more back then!"

"Oh dear, you rich and powerful people can certainly do that! The Ang family is so poor we can barely afford to eat, how can we afford to raise sheep for a few more months? Tomorrow, Ang will have his eldest son lead the sheep to Huaiqing Prefecture to scout out the way for you!"

"Ang's youngest son earned some money in Youzhou with Captain Gan. Ang doesn't want to sell the sheep, but there's no one in the family to herd them. Hehehe, Ang plans to kill one tonight and stew it! I heard that Ganweixian uses these grassland sheep!"

"What? You're saying the lamb sold at Ganweixian is grassland lamb? Then I'll have to slaughter one tomorrow to make soup!"

As the conversation went, the topic of buying sheep veered off course. "We really can't afford to drink mutton soup that costs 100 coins a bowl every few days, but I can tell that this sheep weighs about 20 jin, so after slaughtering it, we should be able to make a hundred or two bowls of mutton soup!"

"That works out to less than ten coins for a bowl of mutton soup. That's such a good price! The weather isn't hot yet, so if we kill one and hang the meat in the well, it'll be enough for the whole family to eat for several days."

"Thinking about it that way, it's definitely a good deal. Everyone says this stuff is a good tonic, right? I'll treat it as a way to nourish the whole family!"

The older women pointed and whispered about the sheep they were about to get their hands on.

I've already figured out in my mind how many pieces of meat I need to cook each day so that the whole family can eat to their heart's content and extend the period of eating meat.

As a result, it naturally did not disappoint everyone.

These grassland sheep ate tender grasses such as barley grass, as well as Chinese medicinal herbs like astragalus and licorice in the valley pastures for about a month.

The taste of stewing, while not as delicious as sweet and savory, is still fresh enough to delight everyone.

good to eat!

It is in no way inferior to the Tan sheep of Huyan County.

Many clever people immediately came up with the idea of ​​breeding grassland sheep lambs.
Before the citywide buzz had even died down, two more explosive news stories emerged.

First, General Zhao and his men had successfully suppressed the bandits and returned in triumph, bringing back a considerable amount of spoils from Xijing City.

The second bombshell news was that not only border troops returned, but also 200,000 refugees.

They were refugees who did not want to join the local migrant army, and whose homes and lands were destroyed by the local migrant fighting, leaving them homeless.

In the past, military households all felt that the days in the vast Northwest, with its endless yellow sand, were the most miserable.

When they saw these refugees, they didn't know where to look.

These refugees all looked like stick figures.

The children (mainly boys) were all naked, with big heads and thin arms, their hair uncombed and their faces unwashed, looking several times uglier than Ugly Duckling.

The most terrifying thing is that young women and married women alike are barely clothed!
They were all hunched over, their backs bent, and they never raised their heads the entire way.

The men's numb faces were filled with exhaustion and despair, as if their souls had been drained, and they simply followed the main group mechanically.

awful!
Really miserable!

The people inside the pass are living in such a miserable state!
General Zhao had just returned to the camp when he was questioned about the situation by Deputy General Xiong and others. He couldn't help but slam his fist on the table and curse:

“Those civil officials are all cowards! There isn’t a single official in charge of the overall situation in the local government offices! What other way can the common people live but to rebel?”
These refugees have been fleeing for almost a year. They're not allowed into cities wherever they go, and no wealthy families offer them porridge! Many families that set out with a dozen or more members were reduced to just two or three when they met us!

Two hundred thousand people waited anxiously on their way back.

They all knelt down and kowtowed.

The men all expressed their willingness to join the military.

Registering the head of the household can change the fate of all future generations.

But the men were also quite straightforward: "Our whole family almost died on the way to escape the war. By joining the army, at least we can get a full meal every day!"

Yes!

Only by living can one have offspring.

(End of this chapter)