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

Inside Yumen Pass.

The number of soldiers on duty at the exit has recently doubled.

It wasn't that there were foreign enemies invading, but rather that they were preventing the people inside the pass from fleeing.

Yes, people gradually began to leave their homes in the border regions centered around Yumen Pass.

The reason is also very simple.

Increase taxes.

Especially recently, the imperial court has begun to openly and legitimately increase taxes!

The border bureaucracy had been colluding to create various pretexts to collect taxes in disguise.

Costs such as canal repair, irrigation, and field patrol fees... While these may not be considered taxes, they are essentially a disguised form of taxation by the local bureaucratic system working together.

However, the imperial court was unaware of this.

Or perhaps the imperial court knew but didn't ask any questions.

The common people have already been living in dire straits for the past few years, and now the young emperor is leading the way by increasing taxes across the country.

The local people on the border suddenly felt that they could not survive, and many of them wanted to flee as soon as they had food.

However, they are all respectable people with registered residence and land ownership. If a large-scale famine escape occurs, the number of registered residents will not match the actual number of people, and local officials will be held accountable.

Therefore, the authorities came up with a dirty trick.

People from the border areas are prohibited from leaving the border. Even if they are fleeing famine, they can only wander around the vicinity. In this way, if they need to deal with inspections from above in the future, they can temporarily allocate some land to settle some people, and the number can roughly match the number of registered residents.

As for the common people who couldn't get enough to eat while farming, the officials of the Great Zhou Dynasty didn't care.

This land has been cultivated for almost two hundred years. There is plenty of arable land. If you don't farm, someone else will.

Can't survive? There are so many charitable noble families in the countryside, you can sell yourselves to them! That way you'll not only have land to cultivate, but you also won't have to pay taxes to the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Once someone is classified as a lowly person, not only will they become a slave, but their descendants will also be enslaved. Many people cannot accept this outcome, so they would rather flee from famine than sell themselves into servitude.

This has created a peculiar phenomenon.

The refugees outside Yumen Pass wanted to escape into the pass.

The refugees inside the pass wanted to escape to the outside of Yumen Pass.

If the Yumen Pass is closed, then we can only take the side paths.

Many displaced people and refugees began to climb the mountains, carving out a path through the Yanshan Mountains.

And so, deep in the mountains and forests, a group of ragged people encountered another group of ragged people.

"...Who are you?"

"We're refugees, what about you?"

"Fleeing? You came from the direction of the pass, right? Aren't there imperial troops protecting you there? Why are you fleeing?"

"...They're fleeing from the imperial court. Don't ask us anymore, what about you? We heard that the court has no jurisdiction over you in the Yanshan area, so aren't you quite comfortable? Why are you running towards the interior?"

"The northern cavalry and the surrounding tribes are constantly harassing us! They're either stealing our food or killing us! We simply can't survive here! We're thinking of going to the interior of China to find refuge; even if they only give us some barren land to cultivate, we can barely make a living."

"..."

Both sides paused for a moment, then realized that the other's idea was too naive, and that even if they passed the test, they wouldn't survive.

The scene was very quiet for a moment, then a long, mournful sigh followed:

"What should we do then?!"

-

As the number of displaced people and refugees increased, Li Wen made a decision overnight.

"Increase the number of shelters and increase the share of food supplies to prepare for the next wave of migrants."

After instructing Jiang Tian to complete the remaining tasks, Li Wen then had someone call Huaihua over.

"General, did you call me?"

Huaihua's face has regained its vitality, and the group of more than 100 women she leads has become an undeniable force in Anxi Town.

"Yes, how did the training course for the medical team members go the other day?"

The most important thing in accepting refugees is to do a good job in epidemic prevention and disinfection, which is an essential part.

Huaihua nodded earnestly and said, "General, I have made them study the epidemic prevention manuals that you issued before carefully."

"Do we have enough disinfectant and alcohol?"

"There's still half a warehouse left."

"That's good. For the next period of time, Huaihua, you will personally lead the medical team to handle the epidemic prevention work at the shelter. I will have Jiang Tian cooperate with you throughout the process. While carrying out the epidemic prevention work, you can also observe some skillful women. If they meet the admission criteria of Anxi Town, you can recruit them into the medical team ahead of schedule. Go and ask the canteen if they are short-staffed. If they are, you can also use this method to select relevant personnel."

As the number of migrants increases, Anxi Town can prioritize recruiting qualified individuals from the migrant population to register their residency in Anxi Town, thus setting a good example for other migrants.

Let them know that in Anxi Town, as long as they abide by the law and work hard, they can have enough to eat and drink.

Li Wen plans to establish a standard using this method of talent recruitment.

"Yes, General!"

After carefully noting down what Li Wen said, Huaihua withdrew to prepare for the next steps.

Li Wen then called the white wolf over.

"General, did you call me?"

White Wolf is no longer as distant as before. If it weren't for his accent from the pastoral language, he would look no different from a person from the Great Zhou.

Now, the white wolf is dressed in a coarse linen blue robe, with his hands, feet, and sleeves all tightly bound.

It's obvious that they're imitating Li Wen's everyday style of dress.

Li Wen usually dresses like this for informal meetings.

"How's work going at the breeding team? Are they manpower-efficient?"

Li Wen took the initiative to ask.

Originally, Anxi Town planned to raise only one hundred pigs, but as Anxi Town's demand for future arable land increased and the price of piglets in the modern area continued to decline, Li Wen quickly expanded the breeding scale to one thousand piglets.

A thousand pigs are raised in a semi-free-range manner across the Gobi Desert, and the work of looking after them is no easy task.

If it weren't for the fact that the Tumu River could solve the water problem, and that Director Zhu had introduced a stable feed purchasing channel, Li Wen wouldn't have dared to expand to so many pigs.

If these 1,000 pigs are raised at a density of 50 pigs per mu (unit of land area), 20 mu of land can be reclaimed in 30 days.

Pigs are very good at rooting around in the ground with their snouts. They can easily break through a five-centimeter-thick layer of hard soil. Then, grass seeds are released into the artificial feed, and they turn into organic fertilizer along with the pig manure to nourish this barren land.

Before long, grass will grow on the barren land.

After that, with human care and cultivation, it can be transformed into farmland in less than six months.

Although it can't compare to the fertile land along the banks of the Tumu River, with the help of chemical fertilizers, growing crops like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn is definitely not a problem.

As for the ecological imbalance caused by pig farming, Anxi Town doesn't need to consider it at all.

That vast Gobi Desert, except for Anxi Town, is entirely a wild ecological environment.

All areas marked by the boundary markers of Anxi Town belong to the legally reclaimed land area of ​​Anxi Town.

For the white wolf, he was always carrying out the orders of the divine messenger. In the eyes of the herdsmen, being able to turn those wastelands into fields was a divine act!

White Wolf remembered Li Wen's teachings and didn't lie. He then revealed his current troubles: "General, we're short-handed at our farm. Besides raising pigs, we also have to herd sheep and cattle every day."

After the herdsmen joined Anxi Town, the white wolf voluntarily offered up his cattle and sheep.

But Li Wen refused to accept them. Instead, he purchased the cattle and sheep at market price in the name of the Anxi Town government and distributed the proceeds equally among the members of their clan, or in exchange for some rewards.

These cattle and sheep are now state-owned assets of Anxi Town.

The herders still helped with the herding, but their work changed from serving the lord to a legitimate job with wages.

"Why didn't you say so sooner?"

Li Wen said with a frown.

Several days had passed since the introduction of piglets, and Li Wen had assumed that White Wolf had found a suitable way to arrange things, but it turned out that he was just gritting his teeth and holding on.

White Wolf's expression showed hesitation: "This... General, you have given us this peaceful life, and we have the utmost respect and gratitude for you. You have also assigned us such favorable jobs. If we can't even do this little thing you assigned us well... I feel ashamed to face you."

White Wolf spoke his mind.

The main concern here is comparison. The trade and business operations in Blackstone are going very smoothly, which has greatly benefited Anxi Town.

If we can't even raise pigs well... then we'll be outdone.