The New Year flies by, and more than twenty days pass in the blink of an eye.
During this period of time, Li Hui was extremely busy and never had a day off.
First of all, the development of the situation in Juchao County was somewhat beyond Li Hui's expectation. After the year, more and more refugees came from the north, and there was an endless stream of people dragging their children with them.
Some of these people were refugees who had fled south from the Yan Kingdom. They heard through unknown channels that Juchao County had implemented naturalization of soil and allowed them to occupy land and reclaim wasteland, so they came one after another.
Others fled south from the Shouchun area. According to their descriptions, Yuan Zhen had indeed launched a rebellion and stood in the area occupying Shouchun City. Some of these people were unwilling to become rebels, so they ran away, and some
It was because Yuan Zhen and his son, in order to prepare for the upcoming imperial encirclement and suppression, recruited strong men into the army, which made the people miserable. So they had to escape.
This shows that what Wang Muzhi said to Li Hui before is true, and Wang Muzhi did not lie to himself.
Facing the influx of large numbers of refugees, Zhou Che felt that it needed to be controlled, otherwise the small Juchao County might be overwhelmed and unable to accommodate so many refugees.
But Li Hui's attitude was that no matter where they came from, once the refugees arrived in Juchao County, they would take them all in. Those who were willing to stay would be naturalized and allowed to settle here.
Li Hui told Zhou Che that the people who came to Juchao County with hope were looking for a way to survive. If Juchao County did not accept them, their fate would be worrying.
Zhou Che himself came from the north and knew the suffering of the refugees. He was just afraid that the trouble would get out of hand in the end. After hearing what Li Hui said, he said no more.
Therefore, in the first half of the year, there were nearly two thousand more refugees in Juchao County. Together with the people who fled Juchao County and returned one after another, the entire population of Juchao County has reached more than 20,000 people. And Xiaochao County has a population of more than 20,000.
The small town of Juchao County is also crowded with more than 10,000 people.
The streets are overcrowded, with homeless people everywhere, crowded in alleys and street corner shelters, begging and wandering everywhere, causing pressure on public security in the city and panic among the people.
Years ago, residents in the city responded to the county magistrate's call and accepted the refugees one after another. They even helped build houses for them in Beicheng. But now so many people have come, the local people can no longer accommodate them, and instead feel panicked.
On the ninth day of the first lunar month, Mr. Zheng’s tea shop was robbed. A group of hungry refugees rushed into the shop and swept away the food. They ordered the common people to just stuff it into their mouths without even beating or scolding them. Mr. Zheng
He came to the county government office to see Li Hui and asked Magistrate Li for a solution, otherwise no one would dare to open a store.
Of course, Li Hui was actively thinking of ways. In addition to ordering Zhou Che to strengthen security inspections, he also ordered people to step up the construction of many straw mat shacks in Beicheng to allow the refugees to live temporarily. He also provided rice and porridge at regular intervals every day to stabilize the refugees first.
Come down.
Although this has gone the same way as before, there is nothing we can do about it. The refugees have nowhere to go and can only stay in the city. It is naturally impossible to let them wander around, so we can only temporarily keep them in captivity and monitor them, and slowly resettle them.
They had so many people pouring in all at once that it would be difficult even for gods to handle them.
Zhou Che was so nervous that he patrolled the county with his men every day, fearing that something would go wrong. The manpower on hand was already extremely insufficient. In order to maintain the situation, Li Hui asked him to recruit help from the refugees. Unexpectedly, Zhou Che
In one fell swoop, hundreds of young men were recruited.
A small county government office in Juchao County is not allowed to have so many manpower. The county captain can have at most forty or fifty county soldiers. The government office can have at most a dozen officers and a few jailers. It is impossible to recruit so many people.
. Doesn’t this mean he has become a handsome refugee?
Li Hui thought of a way and gave these more than a hundred refugees a name called the "Volunteers Group". In name, they were organized by the refugees themselves. They usually built houses, helped distribute food supplies, and patrolled the night to assist with security. They had full authority.
Following the county magistrate's orders is purely out of a warm-hearted and helpful nature.
With these measures, the situation in Juchao County gradually stabilized. After the 15th day of the first lunar month, the number of refugees coming became much smaller. The situation gradually stabilized.
But Li Hui knew very well that this situation would not last long. The resettlement of the refugees was by no means just a shack for them to stay in. They needed land, houses, farming, and self-sufficiency in order to gain real stability.
Now I still have some food and supplies on hand, which can barely support them, so that they will not starve to death and freeze to death. But in two months, all the supplies and food will be exhausted, and by then the spring famine will occur. Once a famine occurs, there will be a huge disaster.
trouble.
Therefore, you must quickly find a way to truly solve the problem.
After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Li Hui began to patrol around the county, looking for wasteland that could be reclaimed and cultivated. For this reason, he even missed the official certificate of his official appointment as county magistrate that arrived on the seventeenth day of the first lunar month.
Li Hui knew that he must resettle the people as soon as possible, find a place for them to settle down, and cultivate and cultivate the land.
However, in five or six days, Li Hui traveled almost all over Juchao County, but was disappointed to find that things were not as simple as he imagined. Although there is a lot of barren land in Juchao County, most of the unclaimed barren land is
Unable to cultivate land.
In addition to the large lake Jiao Lake, Juchao County also has a large number of hilly and mountainous areas. However, the hilly and mountainous areas cannot be cultivated, irrigation is a problem, and the land is very barren. It is possible to plant some miscellaneous grains, but it also depends on the harvest.
There is no guarantee that people will have enough food to eat.
There are also large areas of wasteland that are fertile and easy to irrigate, but they are large areas of wasteland located in the polder area along the Jiaohu Dam. Although these places have good water outlets and fertile land, they are places prone to floods. Juchao County
The people suffered a lot because Jiaohu Lake broke its dikes almost every year, and the crops they planted were submerged and there was no harvest. It is not impossible to forcefully open up paddy fields in the polder area, but it is likely that the work will be in vain.
Li Hui also inspected the river embankment, intending to do something about water control. However, he found that he was unable to do anything about it for the time being. Without so much manpower, and without so much material, money and food, there was no way he could strengthen the lake embankment and stop the flood.
.
Huang Tingbai, the former magistrate of Juchao County, left a large amount of information, including his calculations on the idea of strengthening the dam and the price to be paid for it. According to Huang Tingbai's calculations, if he wanted to strengthen the west side of Juchao County
The fragile Jiaohu Dam, which is about thirty miles long, requires at least 100,000 manpower and three months to complete. The amount of materials, money and food required is an extremely huge number.
And, even so, there is no guarantee that the embankment will not break. According to the information of Huang County Magistrate and the descriptions of local people, when the river flows back, the water level of Jiao Lake will overflow the embankment several feet high. In the most severe year, Juchao County
Water flooded in, and the water on the streets was as deep as a person's height. The entire Juchao County was surrounded by a vast ocean. The floods did not recede for three months.
According to this description, such a water situation cannot be achieved by reinforcing the dams. What Huang County Magistrate said about strengthening the dams to prevent floods is actually to prevent some small floods. But in fact, here in Juchao County, there is a flood every two or three years.
There was a huge flood, and the polder area was basically a vast expanse of water. Therefore, County Magistrate Huang lamented in his book that this method was not feasible.
In fact, even if it were feasible, how could Li Hui have so much manpower and materials, let alone three months to repair the embankment. These refugees need to be resettled and cultivated as soon as possible. They must have a harvest this year to solve their food and clothing problems. Otherwise, the situation will not be solved at all.
Can't hold on.
After a lot of effort, Li Huicai found some wasteland that was barely suitable for reclamation on both sides of the Ligao River and on the left side of Xiaotang River to the east of Gushan in the city. The total area was only more than 4,000 acres. According to a household with five
Calculating the minimum planting area of ten acres, it can only accommodate seventy or eighty households of displaced persons.
Li Hui has calculated that there are currently about 500 or 600 naturalized households, nearly 4,000 people. Some of them can be resettled on the water. After all, such a large Jiao Lake can feed many people. But the number of fishermen cannot be too many, otherwise
Even the big lake cannot support them. Fifty or sixty households can be resettled in this area, allowing them to make a living on the water.
Some refugees have skills and strength and are unwilling to farm and open up wasteland. They can be resettled in the county town, open a shop for business, or be hired as coolies. These people can be resettled in at least a hundred households.
There are also some people who can be resettled into villages. Those who originally have land but no manpower to farm it can be transferred and settled in a place. There is no problem in resettling 70 or 80 households in this part.
But after all these are taken into account, there are still more than 300 households with no place to relocate.
This is a very troublesome problem for Li Hui. There may be refugees coming in the future, and there will be more and more refugees who cannot be resettled, which will become an unstable factor. Li Hui's head hurts thinking about these things.
, but I have never thought of a good solution.
But there are ways after all, and Juchao County has potential that can be tapped. Li Hui has actually had the idea a long time ago. There are a large number of private farmlands in Juchao County, and they have been deserted for three or four years. These are all residential areas.
The property of a local wealthy family in Chao County.
But a few years ago, when the Feng Heizi gang was rampant in Juchao County, these local wealthy people fled Juchao County one after another and never came back. And until now, they have no intention of returning to Juchao County.
.
When the local people returned in large numbers after receiving the news that the Feng Heizi gang had been wiped out, the wealthy families in Juchao County who had fled to other counties were not in a hurry to come back. After all, their family had a big business, and they had no land or property like those people who fled to other counties.
Unlike those who have no money and can only make a living, they have capital.
In addition to land, many wealthy families in Juchao County also have many other industries. They can also establish themselves and start businesses in surrounding counties and counties. In addition, they have wide connections, and many wealthy families have officials who have been in their families, and they have connections with local people.
Rich families also have marriage relationships, so they don't have to worry about livelihood issues at all.
After the news came from Juchao County, some of them were cautious and wait-and-see, while others did not want to come back at all. Especially when they heard that a large number of northern refugees were pouring into Juchao County, most of them were even less willing to come back. Refugees
It is the source of turmoil. As smart as they are, they absolutely do not want to return to such a place. They will wait until everything settles down before coming back.
But the problem is, if they don't come back, Li Hui is a little anxious. Because Li Hui has already planned on them.