The moment Zhou Laosan walked closer, he spotted several fleeing fellow villagers from their old village gathered around the area. However, every single one of them wore a deeply troubled expression, looking as though they were facing a formidable enemy.
Beside them, a few government soldiers were giving a lecture with overbearing arrogance.
Zhou Laosan walked up to Blacksmith Li from their old village and asked in a low voice, “Uncle Li, did the local government say how they plan to resettle us?”
With a bitter expression, Blacksmith Li let out a long sigh. “They did.”
“What’s the plan?” A flicker of hope rose in Zhou Laosan’s eyes.
“They said they want us to perform hard labor!”
What?
Zhou Laosan’s hope shattered instantly. It felt as though a bucket of piercingly cold water had been dumped over him, and his face turned ashen.
At this point, the government soldiers also noticed the crowd’s reluctance.
They couldn’t help but spit in disdain. “Be sensible, all of you! This is a path to survival given to you by the Prefect himself. If the able-bodied men go to perform labor, you’ll at least get a bite to eat. It’s far better than starving to death along with your women and children.”
“Don’t tell me you people still want to keep roaming around and causing trouble? Don’t reject the kindness given to you!”
These soldiers had been dispatched to the town from the prefectural capital precisely to control the refugees and prevent any chaos. Therefore, they also put forward the conscription requirement: the male hands from each refugee household had to perform labor for three years. If they agreed, the female family members and children would be resettled by the government in the surrounding villages, and they would even be allocated some paddy fields to sustain themselves.
“For a group of impoverished and vicious refugees like you, the government is already showing mercy by being willing to manage you. If you still dare to be picky, you are truly courting death.”
The soldier sneered a couple of times. Looking at the poor commoners before him, there wasn’t a shred of sympathy in his eyes. There was only contempt, as if looking at worthless, lowly objects.
Zhou Laosan couldn’t help but clench his fists in secret, a few veins bulging with rage.
How was this giving them a path to survival? This was clearly not treating the fleeing commoners as human beings—they were treating them like pigs and dogs!
To dragoon able-bodied men into labor so unreasonably meant that if they agreed, they would definitely be sent to remote, extremely harsh places to toil day and night. He was afraid they wouldn’t even survive the three years before losing their lives. Furthermore, if the men of the family were all dragged away, leaving only the women and children to cultivate the land in the village, wouldn’t they just be left to be severely bullied?
“Absolutely not,” Zhou Laosan shouted out in agitation. He had to stay by his family’s side; he still needed to protect Mianmian and Axi for the rest of his life.
Hearing this, the government soldiers instantly glared at him. “Who said that?”
Knowing he couldn’t afford to provoke them, Zhou Laosan hastily calmed his emotions. “Officers, can we step aside to speak?” Zhou Laosan reached his hand into his pocket and offered a placating smile.
The soldiers exchanged glances, mostly understanding what was happening. Thus, two of them, one older and one younger, stepped out of the group.
Once they had walked a bit further away, the younger soldier assumed a pompous air and snorted, “You, what’s this about?”
“Officers, please show some mercy. I still have an elderly mother to support in my family, and I truly have no choice but to fulfill this filial duty. Can you guide us to another path of survival so I don’t have to perform this labor?” Saying this, Zhou Laosan retrieved fifty copper coins from his pocket and covertly placed them into the hands of the two soldiers.
The younger soldier deliberately weighed the fifty copper coins a couple of times. Then, he let out a cold sneer. “Just this much?”
Zhou Laosan didn’t dare to be half-hearted. Gritting his teeth, he emptied his pockets entirely. He managed to scrape together a total of two hundred and fifty copper coins. When he handed them over to the two soldiers, his palms were covered in beads of sweat.
“This little bit of money isn’t even enough for the two of us brothers to drink a pot of wine,” the younger soldier accepted it with a look of disdain. However, he also knew that refugees didn’t possess much wealth to squeeze, so he didn’t make things difficult for him any further.
He curled his lip somewhat contemptuously. “If you don’t want to perform labor, that’s fine. There is another method, though I don’t know if you’ll be willing.”
Zhou Laosan hastily raised his eyes. “Please speak.”
“In the secluded valley on the northern side of Lingzhou City, there is a vast amount of wasteland. If you can head over there to reclaim the wasteland on your own to make a living, you can also establish roots here in Lingzhou.” After speaking, the younger soldier chuckled a couple of times, his laughter carrying a hint of mockery.
Even the older soldier beside him couldn’t bear to listen further. This older soldier still possessed a bit of conscience, so he gave Zhou Laosan the honest facts. “I advise you to think it over carefully. That place isn’t some fine land either; it won’t be any more pleasant than performing labor.”
Upon questioning further, Zhou Laosan learned that although there was plenty of wasteland over there, it was not suitable for farming. During the previous dynasty, the government had established official mining grounds there, and the ground was entirely filled with mountain stones. If one wanted to reclaim the wasteland to grow crops, the difficulty would be immense.
It was precisely because of this that it had been abandoned for many years with nobody going there. The reason the government was willing to let them go over was because they wanted this group of destitute refugees to risk their lives trying. If they could revitalize the area, it would bring nothing but benefits. If they failed, they could just leave this group of commoners to their own devices over there, saving them from continuing to roam around and disrupting the public security of the various towns and the prefectural capital.
Zhou Laosan frowned in a dilemma, the calculations in his mind becoming completely jumbled. After thinking for a good while, he couldn’t help but harbor the thought of continuing to flee eastward. Worst comes to worst, they could just walk all the way out of the boundaries of Lingzhou to seek a living elsewhere; they certainly wouldn’t starve to death!
However, the moment this thought cropped up, the older soldier caught a glimpse of it. The soldier hastily patted Zhou Laosan on the shoulder. “I can tell you’re a man with his own ideas, but let me remind you—absolutely do not move forward any further.”
Zhou Laosan raised his head in confusion. He saw the soldier lower his voice and warn him carefully, “The imperial capital issued a strict order long ago for Lingzhou City to intercept the refugees; they must absolutely not be allowed into the capital. If you continue to flee forward, it will truly be a path to self-destruction.”
“At that time, if you’re intercepted in another locality, it won’t just be the able-bodied men forced into labor. The women and children might even be seized to become government slaves.”
Hearing these words, Zhou Laosan’s heart skipped a beat.
The times were difficult, and fleeing from famine wasn’t a matter of going wherever one pleased. Currently, every locality harbored an immense rejection toward refugees, and it seemed the imperial court had indeed made arrangements accordingly. It was highly likely that what this officer said was the absolute truth.
Thus, Zhou Laosan hastily expressed his gratitude, having nearly stepped into an abyss. “Thank you for the warning, Officer!”
Except, in this manner, there were only two paths left to take at present. Perform labor, or go to the northern part of Lingzhou City to reclaim wasteland? No matter how one looked at it, each was more difficult than the last.
“Daddy.”
Just as Zhou Laosan was in a dilemma, a milky child’s voice drifted from beside his leg.
Zhou Laosan turned his head to look. His daughter had followed him over at some unknown point. She was currently tilting her pale pink, small round face, looking at him expectantly.
In an instant, Zhou Laosan’s heart melted into water, and his troubles lessened by a fraction. He scooped Zhou Mianmian up into his arms.
Zhou Mianmian bit her small hand, looking up toward the distant sky in the north. Tilting her small head, she only felt a sense of comfort and openness from that direction. Consequently, she extended her white, soft finger and pointed toward the north.
“Daddy, let’s go reclaim the fawmlind!”
“It’s ‘wasteland’.” Zhou Laosan corrected her patiently, then couldn’t help but widen his eyes and smile. “Wait, Mianmian, what did you say?”
“Go reclaim the wasteland!”
“Alright!” Zhou Laosan was instantly delighted, and his heart felt much more at ease. Since his own little bundle of fortune had said so, then it guaranteed could not be wrong. They would head to the north to reclaim the wasteland!