Cut off my army's food supplies? I'll open a portal between the two worlds and max out my

The white porridge in the pot was so thick that it was difficult to stir.

Let alone when there were no disasters, even during the Lunar New Year, they were reluctant to put so much grain in their porridge!

You could eat this as a meal!

One per person! Line up to get yours! Anyone who cuts in line will be disqualified!

Jiang Tian reminded him from the side.

"Everyone, line up properly! Listen to this soldier!"

Old Liu volunteered to join the end of the line to help Jiang Tian maintain order. He was worried that someone in the line might not follow the rules, causing everyone to go hungry.

Fortunately, everyone followed the rules. Although everyone was starving, they all lined up obediently according to the rules.

Jiang Tian nodded in satisfaction upon seeing this.

The general once told him that nothing can be accomplished without rules. Those who don't even follow the rules of eating will certainly not be able to adapt to the rules of Anxi Town and will undermine the unity of Anxi Town.

We must not be lenient in dealing with such black sheep.

Jiang Tian said to Old Man Liu, "Old man, there are no military officers in Anxi Town. Just call me Captain Jiang from now on. I am the captain of the Anxi Town security team."

This is also the new responsibility that Li Wen assigned to Jiang Tian: to coordinate the safety construction of Anxi Town.

"Thank you, Captain Jiang, for giving us a meal!"

Old Liu thanked him, his voice trembling.

Jiang Tian didn't waste any more words. After seeing everyone getting their food in an orderly manner, he didn't say anything more, leaving them enough space to eat.

"tasty!"

"Dad!! We have food to eat! We don't have to eat dirt anymore."

"Good child, eat up..."

The group of refugees buried their heads in their food, occasionally wiping away tears from the corners of their eyes with the back of their hands.

The thick white porridge with pickled vegetables left everyone wanting more.

Jiang Tian observed this scene from the side.

Eating... This may sound simple, but for the former Anxi army and for these refugees today, it is a matter of life and death.

Whether it was the Anxi army of the past or these refugees now, there is only one source of their inability to eat—the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Jiang Tian doesn't have much of a desire for the Great Zhou Dynasty right now, because the general once said that he shouldn't let hatred cloud his judgment.

The Anxi army's main task now is to survive... As for the issue of hatred, we'll deal with that later.

Therefore, Jiang Tian understood that he now had to do every task assigned to him by the general well!

Jiang Tian was one of the few literate soldiers in the Anxi army.

Before Jiang Tian joined the army, his family was relatively well-off. His father did not want him to just practice martial arts, so he supported his education.

Jiang Tian was originally going to take the imperial examination to become a scholar.

As a result, the local powerful families expanded their land and encroached on their family's fertile fields. Jiang Tian was indignant and went to reason with them. During the argument, he beat up the other family's servants and was subsequently detained.

If it weren't for his father's promise to compensate with the fertile land they had seized, Jiang Tian might have been exiled.

After that, Jiang Tian's family fell into poverty, and Jiang Tian stopped studying. Instead, he wanted to rely on his martial arts skills to join the army and make a name for himself...

Recently, the general advised him to calm down and read more books and study more, especially management knowledge points written by the general, which greatly benefited Jiang Tian.

During the construction of the Anxi Army, Jiang Tian also made great progress.

Just like now, when the refugees were eating, he didn't rush to speak. Instead, he waited for everyone to finish eating and for them to look forward to the next meal. Then, Jiang Tiancai came out and gave them all hope.

"Everyone, please be quiet."

Jiang Tian stepped forward, interrupting the dissent of the refugees.

Old Liu took the lead and sat down quietly, waiting for Jiang Tian to speak.

Without further ado, Jiang Tian said, "First, let me introduce myself. I am Jiang Tian, ​​the captain of the security team in Anxi Town. You can call me Captain Jiang from now on."

"Let me answer the question that everyone is most concerned about first: Will the shelter still provide meals in the future? I can tell you for sure! Meals will be provided! But there are conditions: you will need to work with your own hands to earn food! There are plenty of farmlands in Anxi Town that need to be cultivated and cared for. Everyone can join the farming teams to work and earn a living."

"You must remember the rules in Anxi Town: work gets you food, and following the rules gets you land! Yes! You heard right! As long as you work in Anxi Town and meet certain conditions by following the rules, Anxi Town will allocate land to you based on your population! Of course, you only have the right to use this land; the ownership still belongs to Anxi Town..."

Jiang Tian patiently explained the rules of Anxi Town to all the refugees present in plain language.

After hearing Jiang Tian's words, hope was rekindled in the eyes of the refugees, led by Old Man Liu.

Old Liu hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

Upon seeing this, Jiang Tian took the initiative to speak, "Old Liu, is there something you want to ask me?"

Old Liu nodded quickly and said, "Yes! Captain Jiang, what I want to ask is, after we're allocated the land, who owns the crops grown on it, and how much tax do we have to pay...?"

Old Liu voiced what everyone was thinking.

These migrants had been farmers their whole lives, and they didn't care who they farmed for, as long as they had land to cultivate. What they cared about was the ownership of the harvest and the taxes they had to pay.

Upon hearing Old Liu's question, Jiang Tian replied with a confident expression, "I can tell you all clearly here that our general said whoever cultivates the land owns the grain! As for taxes, I can also assure you that our general said Anxi Town will only collect a maximum of 10% crop tax in the future!"

"One-tenth?!"

Did I hear that right?

"...Am I dreaming?"

Including Old Liu himself, all the refugees thought they had misheard.

Only after Jiang Tian emphasized it again did everyone realize what they had just heard.

Anxi Town only collects 10% of the agricultural tax?! They never even dared to dream of such a thing!

At its peak in the early years of its founding, the Great Zhou Dynasty also had an actual tax revenue of 30%.

Not to mention, they have to pay 50% of their income in taxes before they leave their homes!

Moreover, they paid taxes with their own grain!

Because the land consolidation situation in the Great Zhou Dynasty is particularly serious, many ordinary people do not own any land at all.

They could only rent land from landlords to farm.

Half of the grain grown on rented land went to the landlord.

After the peasants paid their rent to the landlords, the landlords often stopped paying taxes. When the imperial court discovered that the taxes collected were not in accordance with the records, it would crack down on the people.

This is the current state of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Farmers toil in the fields all year, only to find that they not only have no surplus grain, but also owe the landlords grain.

Having grown accustomed to a life of hardship, the refugees found it hard to believe when they heard about the treatment they received in Anxi Town.

Seeing the shocked expressions on the faces of the refugees, Jiang Tian couldn't suppress the smile on his face; he felt a sense of pride.

Although he was shocked when he heard the general say that, he felt a deep sense of pride for his general when he saw that ordinary people could live such a life.

They truly are celestial beings! Such lofty thoughts are beyond the comprehension of us mortals.

Jiang Tian had also expressed concern about how Anxi Town could manage such low agricultural tax revenue.

The general once said, "As long as the overall environment is good, the economy will naturally recover." Although Jiang Tian himself didn't understand, he had already begun to look forward to it.

Seeing that everyone's shock had subsided, Jiang Tianqing cleared his throat and said, "Ahem, of course I wouldn't lie to you all, but you must all abide by the rules I mentioned before joining Anxi Town. Next, I'm going to say the most important point, so please listen carefully: Anxi Town's success today is entirely due to our General Li Chen! Remember, all of you, today's good days are all thanks to the General..."

Then, Jiang Tian talked for an hour about Li Chen's glorious deeds. He didn't seem tired at all, and became more and more excited as he spoke.

The displaced people in the audience listened very attentively... because the rule set by this general was that they only had to pay 10% of the tax!

Although they haven't seen Li Chen in person yet, many people have already begun to admire him.

The subsequent resettlement of the displaced people was quite simple.

First, let them recuperate at the shelter.

They've been starving for so long; if we don't enforce it, they'll definitely overeat.

Jiang Tian later explained this, telling the refugees that the idea of ​​using white porridge to nourish their stomachs was personally suggested by the general, for their health.

Once they have recovered and are ready to work in Anxi Town, their food intake will no longer be restricted.

Li Wen has been keeping a close eye on the workshop these past two days, because this is the first day that the first batch of handmade soaps produced in Anxi Town has hit the market.

After this period of learning, the female workers have adapted to the manual production model that integrates modern knowledge.

They used local resources; oil was not difficult to obtain, and the herders were happy to trade their stored oil or simply process it on the spot.

The remaining materials and recipes were also easily solved.

"General, look! This is soap we made ourselves!"

Huaihua suppressed her excitement and showed Li Wen the first product from her workshop.

Li Wen held it in his hand for a moment, then smelled it. The faint fragrance was enough to give it a significant competitive edge in the market.

"Have you tested its cleaning power?"

Li asked the question.

Huaihua nodded: "General, we tested everything according to your instructions! There are no problems!"

"Okay, let's start packaging them in parchment paper today, and then we can go public."

"Make another batch of simplified products for internal use."

Li Wen's strategy was simple: he would use those beautifully designed and carefully colored soaps as "foreign trade" goods for "export" business.

Pricing naturally had to conform to the standards of the nobles of the Western Regions kingdoms.

The soaps used in Anxi Town should be as plain as possible in appearance and simple in workmanship, so that the residents of Anxi Town can use soap themselves without affecting the status of soap in the Western Regions market.

After finishing all that, Li Wen still remembered the issue of those displaced people.

Today, Li Wen and Jiang Tian told each other that they wanted to come and inspect the shelter.

Li Wen arrived early, but before he even got there, he saw a group of people standing in a line...