A quarter of an hour later, Shen Wu finally came out of the Yamen amid the expectations of the villagers.

Shen Wu smiled and said to Zhou Jia: "Mr. Zhou, the general took the young master to inspect the military camp. Before leaving, I told you to arrange for you to be in Fengming Town, at the foot of Fengming Mountain. There is a large wasteland there with fertile land and water sources. Conveniently, that place has always been deserted and uncultivated. The general said that in order to thank Miss Li and those good guys for helping my young master, I will set it aside to accommodate you. Each of you will be given two hundred kilograms of rations and twenty acres of wasteland. You won’t have to pay taxes for five years after you open it, and soon a clerk will go to Fengming Mountain to settle you down and issue you grain land deeds.”

Everyone looked surprised after hearing this, thinking that they had indeed come to the right place. Thanks to Xiaoyu and Mr. Zhou, they had a field and they didn't have to pay taxes for five years.

Zhou Jia bowed to the Yamen and thanked him, "Thank you, General."

Shen Wu waved to Zhou Jia and the villagers, "Let's go! It's still a day's journey there."

As long as they don't have to be military households, the village chief and the others feel like they are farming wherever they go.

Everyone followed Shen Wu towards the outside of the city. After resting for a night on the way, they walked eastward through Fengming Town. Around the end of the afternoon, Shen Wu led everyone to a mountain peak surrounded by mountains on three sides.

Shen Wu pointed to the Shan'ao land in front of him and said to Zhou Jia: "Mr. Zhou, this is the Shan'ao land. You see, there are mountains and water here, and there is such a large land. If it hadn't been for the general's words, who would have gotten you!" "

Zhou Jia stuffed a money bag into Shen Wu's hand, handed it over and thanked him: "Sorry for bothering you, Brother Shen. We'll invite you to get together after we've settled in."

Shen Wu took the money bag and handed it over with a smile, "Easy to say, easy to say, Mr. Zhou, if you need anything, you can go to the garrison Yamen to find me."

"Thank you, Brother Shen." Zhou Jia offered his hand to Shen Wu, and Shen Wu rode away, leaving the villagers of Xishan Village excitedly standing in front of the wasteland, looking at the green mountains and green waters in front of them.

Zhou Jia looked at everyone watching stupidly, "Let's unload the cars first, take the animals away, and then go to the mountains to cut down some trees and come back to build temporary shelters."

The village chief wiped away his tears and said, "Okay, let's put up the sheds first."

Li Yu looked around and saw what Shen Wu said was Fengming Mountain. There was a large wasteland at the foot of the mountain, covered with grass and various small shrubs. There was also a mountain stream about ten feet wide, and the water was very shallow. Very clear too.

Li Yu thought this place was pretty good, so he turned to Zhou Jia and Li Qing and asked, "How do you think this place is? I think it's pretty good. It has mountains, water, and such a wide land. There are no locusts and it's not like Qingzhou." So dry.”

Zhou Jia laughed and said, "It looks pretty good. Let's settle down first and then make other plans."

The village chief walked to the wasteland with a hoe, picked a few places and dug some soil. He bent down and grabbed a handful of soil and squeezed it with his hands. He turned to look at everyone with a smile, "Yes, the soil is fertile. Loose, General Shen did not fool us."

Two hours later, the people who went up the mountain to cut trees came down the mountain carrying wood and bamboo. Zhou Jia pointed to the high ground at the entrance and said, "Let's put the shed here first and make it firmer. We can't move it until the house is repaired." .”

Everyone started to take action. Some of the men picked up hoes to dig holes, and some buried the wood in the pits, knocked it into the soil with axes, dug up the soil to cover the wood piles, and then tamped them with hoes. After the frame was completed, , split moso bamboo fence is covered on the frame.

The women cut wild grass and vines to make straw curtains, covered them with moso bamboo sheets and tied them with vines. The two rows of straw sheds were built before dark.

The animals were led to the hayloft and tied up, the haylofts were divided, and everyone moved their gifts into their own haylofts.

After dinner, Aunt He boiled water, and Li Yu finally took his first bath in more than two months.

After several women took turns to wash, the men also took turns to wash. Everyone smelled their bodies that were no longer sour and looked at each other and laughed happily.

Li Qing ran to Li Yu and looked at him, "Sister, are we going to stop running away and settle down here?"

"Well! We don't want to flee anymore, we will settle down here."

Thinking about the ups and downs of life since the beginning of escaping from famine, everyone said with emotion, "It's great, we are finally stable."

Zhou Jia quietly took Li Yu's hand and said, "Yes, we are stable."

Early the next morning, the village chief came to Zhou Jia and said, "Mr. Zhou, let's choose a place to build the house first. It's already early August and it will get cold if it gets later."

Zhou Jia nodded, "Yes, I'll let Uncle Zhou see which location is best for building a house."

Zhou Jia went to Uncle Zhou and said, "Uncle Zhou, take a look at where everyone is building the house."

Uncle Zhou looked around and pointed to the mountain not far away, "We can build against that mountain. After the house is built, it faces north and south. There is a mountain stream in front of it, so everyone can use water conveniently."

The village chief looked at Uncle Zhou and held his hands in a smile, "Butler Zhou can also read Feng Shui!"

"I've seen a lot of things behind the old lady before, so I know a little bit about it." Uncle Zhou said politely.

"Even if Butler Zhou knows a little bit about it, it will be enough for us. Then we will choose what Butler Zhou said. I will draw the location and we will draw lots to decide which house should be built in which position to avoid noisy."

Li Yu pointed to the weeds and shrubs that were almost as tall as a man and said to the village chief: "Village Chief Grandpa, we'd better burn these weeds and shrubs first, and then go and build a house! Just in case there are snakes and insects inside." If you bite someone, you'll be in trouble."

After hearing this, the village chief thought it was right, "Okay, just listen to Xiaoyu and burn the grass first before looking at the foundation."

After hearing this, Chen Yaohui took out the fire certificate and planned to light a fire to the wild grass. Li Yu quickly stopped him and said, "Uncle Chen, you can't burn it directly like this. It would be terrible if a mountain fire started."

Chen Yaohui looked at Li Yu, "Then how to burn it?"

Li Yu pointed to the foot of the mountain, "Let's dig some fire breaks on the back side of the mountain and light fires so that the mountain fire won't be ignited."

"Okay, let's fix the house as soon as possible." Chen Yaohui took the lead and walked over there.

Adults and children all went into battle, cutting with knives, chopping with axes, and digging with hoes. After an hour, several fire belts one or two meters wide were opened. Everyone took out fire breakers and lit fires everywhere, and the fire started crackling.

Li Mei looked at the fire and smiled at Mrs. Li and Mrs. Qian: "The last time we cleared the land, Yu'er also made a fire break. After digging it, we lit a few fires and burned dozens of acres of weeds in a short time."

"This kid's brain is very useful." Mrs. Li also praised.

After the weeds were burned away, the village chief looked at the large, open and flat place in front of him and was satisfied, "We are the twenty or so households that have such a wide place. Make it wider and farther apart. You can repair it however you want." "

Butcher He couldn't help but nodded, "I'd better live at the end of the village! So as not to disturb everyone when killing pigs."

"They are all in a row, so there is no end of the village." The village chief said with a smile and began to draw lines to divide the foundation. Twenty or so households had one piece of land, and the divisions were completed in a short time.

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