Ch 121: Yunlan County Has Changed!
Seeing that Ling Chuan had said so much, Xie Zhiming knew that if he declined again, it would be somewhat impolite.
He stood up and bowed respectfully to Ling Chuan, “Thank you, Brother Ling, for your kindness. Xie will certainly not let down Brother Ling and the Yunlan commoners!”
He, Xie Zhiming, wasn’t thanking Ling Chuan because of his official position, but because of Ling Chuan’s appreciation of his knowledge and talent.
“Don’t be in such a hurry to thank me first, you still need to help clean up this mess!” Ling Chuan laughed.
“Brother Ling, rest assured, Xie will do his best!”
The next day, the news of the Liu Family’s entire family being executed spread throughout Yunlan County. Upon hearing this news, the common people cheered and jumped with joy. Gong and drum sounds could be heard everywhere on the street, and many people even burned paper money to comfort their families.
“Father, Mother, did you hear? That group of beasts from the Liu Family finally went to Hell. You can rest in peace now!”
“Sister, your brother is useless, I couldn’t avenge you, but Captain Ling has avenged you. He personally cut off the heads of the Liu Family. Your brother has decided to join the army, and use the rest of his life to repay Captain Ling!”
With the fall of the Liu Family, the large hand over Yunlan County was torn apart, and finally, the universe recovered its clarity.
The Liu Clan Manor had been cleaned up, and there were no bloodstains visible on the ground, but everyone in Yunlan County knew that just yesterday, the ground here was awash with blood, and heads were rolling.
Perhaps, this manor was the only remaining witness to the Liu Family’s glory, and also the ironclad evidence of the Liu Family’s evil.
Early in the morning, the common people spontaneously came here. Although soldiers had informed them everywhere yesterday that those commoners whose farmland and shops had been forcibly occupied by the Liu Family could go and get their land deeds back, many people still didn’t dare to believe it.
Xie Zhiming had invited the Li Zheng of the entire Yunlan County and some long-lived old people early in the morning, mainly to help verify identities, to avoid the situation where land deeds were fraudulently claimed.
After those commoners got their land deeds back, many of them cried with joy, and were so moved that they knelt down on the spot.
The Liu Family had encroached upon nearly half of the good farmland and shops in Yunlan County, and the land deeds filled three large boxes. However, multiple checks were required during the distribution process, and the workload was enormous.
Ling Chuan deliberately asked Su Li to help. With her photographic memory, things progressed much faster.
As for the farmland that originally belonged to the Liu Family, Xie Zhiming temporarily kept it, and after clarifying the situation later, would distribute it to those commoners who didn’t have farmland.
In addition, Ling Chuan had Wei Lian open the granary to distribute grain, and all the commoners of Yunlan County could receive some grain.
As for the mine, most of the miners returned as promised. Originally, many people didn’t plan to come back. After all, this place was like Hell to them.
But after hearing the news of the Liu Family’s downfall, many people thought of Ling Chuan’s promise to them that they would receive their wages after three days.
Many people returned to the mine with the mentality of giving it a try, and found that the Captain who had been guarding the mining area was already distributing wages according to the accounts, which also caused those who were still watching to come over.
Xue Huanzhi checked their working hours in the mining labor based on the accounts to calculate wages. To ensure accuracy, he invited almost all the accounting room clerks of the entire Yunlan County. Their abacuses were almost smoking.
After distributing the wages, Xue Huanzhi conveyed Ling Chuan’s meaning to the miners.
“Captain Ling asked me to tell everyone that this mine will continue to be mined in the future. If you are willing to stay and continue mining, we will pay your wages in full every month. Moreover, we guarantee that everyone’s working time will not exceed five hours a day, and there will be two days of home leave every month!”
“With food to eat and wages? Sir, is that true?” A miner asked with an expression of disbelief.
“Mining no more than five hours a day, and being able to have two days of home leave every month. Where can you find such a good job?”
“Everyone, rest assured, our Captain keeps his word!” Xue Huanzhi nodded and said, “Also, if any brothers want to join the army, you can go and participate in the recruitment assessment. As long as you pass the assessment, you can join the army!”
As soon as these words came out, those miners who had been deceived by Zhang Jun with the pretext of recruiting soldiers also cheered.
After three whole days, this series of trivial matters was finally completed.
The cheers throughout Yunlan County never stopped, and many people came to the military camp to kneel and pay their respects.
At night, Ling Chuan and Xie Zhiming sat opposite each other in Tianxiang Tower, drinking. Although they were exhausted both in body and mind these past few days, seeing the smiles on the faces of the common people, they felt it was all worth it.
“Being a good official is really not easy!” Xie Zhiming sighed.
“It is said that the County Magistrate is the parent official of the people, not only to uphold justice for the common people, but also to seek a livelihood for the common people. Being an official is not easy, being a good official is even harder!” The two of them raised their wine cups and clinked them together, then drank it all in one gulp.
“Next, I will have someone dig a water channel to bring water from Tiger Head Peak for the common people to drink; Brother Xie, you also need to distribute the farmland properly as soon as possible, and don’t miss the farming season!”
Xie Zhiming nodded repeatedly and said, “Brother Ling is absolutely right, I am already preparing, but currently there is a shortage of manpower, it’s really difficult to do everything!”
There were only Wang Xu and more than twenty constables in the County Government who could be used. Now that Yunlan County has had a major reshuffle, many things need to be handled. Relying on these twenty-odd constables alone is definitely not enough. Ling Chuan suggested, “Tomorrow I will let Ji Tianlu assist you!”
Xie Zhiming was overjoyed when he heard this, “That’s really a great help!”
At the moment, Ling Chuan also had a lot of things that needed to be handled.
First of all, with the mining area resolved, iron ore was no longer a problem. He had to start mass-producing armor. Fortunately, he had done enough preparatory work in terms of armor refining before, coupled with the guidance of Blacksmith Yang, the expert in forging, the craftsmanship aspect did not require Ling Chuan to worry at all.
As for the mine, Ling Chuan did not intend to start mining immediately. He went to the scene yesterday and saw that the iron ore of this mine was very rich. The amount the Liu Family had mined in the past few years was less than a tenth of the total amount. However, because the Liu Family had no mining experience, and they simply didn’t treat these miners as human beings, the entire mining area was in danger of collapse.
At the moment, the first thing to do is to eliminate these safety hazards, to ensure that there will be no collapse accidents in the subsequent mining. As for the iron ore, those piled up in the mining camp are enough for a long time.
In addition to strengthening the mining area, Ling Chuan also re-planned the mining camp, roughly according to the layout of the military camp, but the scale was not that large.
Following that, Ling Chuan designed a teleportation device, which can reduce manpower in transporting ore, and reduce the labor intensity of the miners. Even Mo Xun was full of praise after seeing the blueprints, saying that with Ling Chuan’s talent, it was a pity that he did not enter the Mohist School.
In addition, Liu Yan also began to recruit a large number of people, both men and women, even if they didn’t have any craftsmanship.
After all, brewing, weaving, and blacksmithing all require a lot of miscellaneous workers. Of course, the wages of miscellaneous workers and craftsmen are different.
As the scale of production grew larger, Ling Chuan decided to move the brewing and weaving to the Liu Clan Manor.
First, the manor environment was better, and secondly, so many women living in the military camp, there might be accidents. Now that conditions permitted, it was naturally better to separate them.
