Chapter 253 Migration
"Dad, where are we going?" A little girl's childish voice suddenly rang out in the endless convoy.
"Go home." Wang Wu said with deep affection and excitement, and there was even a hint of crystal in his eyes.
In the past, due to oppression by local thugs, my land was confiscated and my family had no food. I had to leave my hometown for several years and thought I would never have the chance to come back. But I never thought that I would actually come back alive.
Compared to when he left, hungry and penniless, he now carries a whole cart of things with him, and this is only part of it.
In addition to the deposits in the money houses, a lot of grain was directly transported by the government, and the only things they carried with them were the necessities.
In fact, according to the government's call, you don't need to bring these things with you at all. You can directly convert them into coins and buy them when you land to avoid delaying your journey.
But who can really be assured of this?
After wandering for so many years, he no longer fully trusts anyone, not even the government, even though the government is very kind to them now.
If it weren't for his strong homesickness and the fact that his ancestral graves were there, he would not even be willing to respond to the government's call to come here.
Zhao Jie, who was in charge of the migration, looked at the sky, estimated the time, and shouted, "Stop for a while and rest for an hour."
As the words fell, one oxcart after another stopped, and everyone got off the car and packed up, then gathered together and started cooking.
Zhao Jie looked around and was relieved to see that everyone was in an orderly manner and no problems had occurred.
"Zimou, you haven't rested yet?"
Just when Zhao Jie was about to take a rest, two scholars dressed as clerks came over.
Li Heng calmly took out a bottle of wine from his sleeve, raised his eyebrows and said, "Fine Fenjiu, come, have a sip."
Zhao Jie frowned slightly: "We are still on duty, it is not appropriate to drink."
The government has issued a clear order that drinking without reason is not allowed while on duty to avoid delays.
"It's just a couple of drinks, it's okay. You know what I'm talking about, sir, as long as nothing goes wrong. It's so cold, drink some wine to warm yourself up." Liu Ding waved his hand.
After saying that, he casually took out a portion of pork head and half a bag of peanuts from his arms.
"Although we as minor officials have hard work, fortunately the treatment is still good, otherwise, I really don't know how we can survive." Liu Ding sighed.
After all, he is a scholar from a poor family, but now he has to work as a village chief. It is really a waste of his talent.
Zhao Jie hesitated for a moment when he heard this, but ultimately did not refuse the two's request. He came to his carriage with them and sat together.
He carefully added some charcoal to the small stove in the middle, lit a copper pot, prepared some mutton, and took out three wine glasses.
Anxious Li Heng quickly poured the wine, and the three of them bowed slightly and drank it all in one gulp.
As the fire burned and strong liquor went down his throat, Li Heng finally heaved a sigh of relief, picked up a piece of meat and put it in his mouth, then complained a little tiredly.
"It's so cold, but they still have to take these people all the way to Jizhou. I really don't know what the higher-ups are thinking. They are so unreasonable."
"Cough cough." Zhao Jie coughed twice.
"What are you afraid of? There are no outsiders here. The county magistrate is broad-minded and will not care about this." Liu Ding looked at the cautious Zhao Jie and said.
Zhao Jie smiled slightly but said nothing.
He is not like these two people. One is from a poor family, and the other has a family member who is an official, and he is a county official. The county magistrate has to consider his face.
However, these two men were not bad people by nature, otherwise they would not have treated him, a boy from a farming family, equally. The three of them got along quite well with each other.
"I guess the higher-ups have their own considerations. After all, population migration is not an easy task, and it's better to do it as early as possible. Otherwise, after settling down for a long time, these people will be even less willing to go to Jizhou." Zhao Jie said.
"That's true. It took me a lot of effort to persuade these people to migrate." Li Heng sighed.
"Not really. Most people are cooperative, but there are a few troublemakers who are leading the riots and inciting the people. Sometimes I really want to report to the Ministry of Security and send these people to labor reform." Liu Ding followed. "It hasn't come to that. These people are just unable to get over it at the moment, so just give them some advice." Zhao Jie saw the stove was boiling, and he served a bowl of meat soup to each of them, and handed over the hot pancakes that had been baked on the side.
"We don't have your ability." Li Heng sighed and said, "I really admire you for being able to deal with those troublemakers."
The three villages they were in charge of were adjacent to each other and they were familiar with each other's situations. Li Heng did not think that the problems Zhao Jie encountered were simpler than his own, but he was able to do a good job, which made him have to admit defeat.
"That's right. With your ability, it's a waste of your talent to manage a village. I have never seen a village chief who does a better job than you. Even our county magistrate may not be able to do as well as you." Liu Ding said.
"Cough cough cough! If you two want to kill me, just say so." Zhao Jie almost choked on the wine he had just drunk when he heard that, and quickly patted his chest with his right hand.
I accidentally touched the scar on my chest and my brows furrowed unconsciously.
"The wound on your chest hasn't healed yet?" Li Heng keenly noticed Zhao Jie's expression and asked with concern.
"Zhao Wu is too hateful. If I were you, Zimou, you shouldn't have been soft-hearted and reported the incident directly. He privately beat up a court official and caused him serious injuries. He should have been sentenced to a few years of forced labor in the Anbu."
Zhao Jie sighed, "We are all from the same village, it shouldn't be that serious, he didn't mean it. Besides, he has four children at home, what will happen to his family if he is sent to prison?"
"Oh! Where can I find a village chief like you? I never thought you could control those troublemakers." Liu Ding smacked his lips.
"In order to be a good village chief, you get up early and go to bed late every day, make many mistakes, and get scolded by the villagers. Not only did you lose a lot of your salary, but you also have to endure the beatings. If the county doesn't promote you this year, I think there is something fishy going on."
"But by doing this, you've put us in a passive position! If the county magistrate follows your standards, both of us will have to give up." Li Heng joked.
"If you ask me, the county governor should directly promote you to be the county magistrate, so as to avoid embarrassing us."
"If you two keep saying that, let's not drink this wine. I have to go wash my face, or I'll get drunk." Zhao Jie said hurriedly.
"Okay, okay, no more joking. Let's drink." Liu Ding said.
Because they all had responsibilities to fulfill, the three of them just had a few drinks and then stopped drinking.
"Zimou, what was the approval rate during the first vote on your village's relocation?"
"More than 80%."
"Wow, that's amazing! There are less than 30% of them in our village." Li Heng exclaimed in admiration.
"Why is it so low?" Zhao Jie frowned.
"Don't mention it. We had agreed at the beginning that the government would provide subsidies for the relocation, calculated on a per capita basis, 8,000 coins per person, and that things that could not be taken away could be converted into cash. Most people agreed."
"It was those bastards Lao Pang and Lao Liu who insisted on not moving unless they were paid 20,000 yuan. They also made a lot of unreasonable demands for a discount, wanting to exchange one bungalow for two. They also instigated other people, which resulted in this incident." Li Heng said angrily.
"You also have some historical problems." said Liu Ding, who is familiar with the situation.
"Your predecessor, Gao Qi, was corrupt when he was here. Although he was caught by the Discipline Department, a lot of the money had already been squandered and cannot be recovered."
"Not at all. Because of this guy, the newly appointed Mr. Zhang had to take a lot of blame. Even if most of the holes were plugged after verification, the village's finances are almost emptied. There are still some difficult problems left, which are still a problem until now." Li Heng sighed.
"But the problem is that Lao Pang and Lao Zhang didn't suffer any loss! They were compensated for their problems, and even secretly given more, but this group of people still kept making trouble."
"The crying child gets the milk. Those guys are lazy and greedy. After tasting the sweetness, they naturally want to get more money from the government."
"Besides, after this incident, the people in your village no longer trust the government. How would they know whether you are corrupt or not? To borrow a phrase from Envoy Tian, since you have become an official, the government's previous problems are also your problems," Liu Ding said calmly.
"Alas! It's hard to be a good official. This is the case under the rule of Envoy Tian. If it were in the past, I would have given them twenty lashes of the cane long ago. Let's see if they still cry out." Li Heng bit a piece of meat angrily.
"If you ask me, the discipline department shouldn't be so strict. There are always a few people who make complaints, and most of them are for personal gain."
(End of this chapter)
