CHAPTER 231: CHAPTER 226: DRINKING FROM THE SAME RIVER

The villagers hesitated, as they initially planned to pose as refugees to do work, spend a winter doing it, earn some money, and quietly return home in spring next year.

But after hearing Jiao Dalang say this, they became frightened, fearing that Zhao Hanzhang might not let them leave and would even punish them.

"Why don’t you wait a bit? Let me go back and ask our County Lord if she still needs people. If she does, I’ll come back to get you?"

"Let’s go with you. If she doesn’t need us, we’ll come back." What if he leaves and doesn’t return?

"Yes, yes, and we can look out for each other on the road."

Jiao Dalang couldn’t think of any reason to object, so he agreed, but said, "I’m leaving today; if you’re coming, you’ll have to hurry up."

Although they were from two different counties, their villages were not far apart, and it would take less than half a day to walk there.

Jiao Dalang and the others were digging a canal near their village, so the distance wasn’t very far from here.

As soon as he agreed, the villagers gathered together, discussed for a moment, called their families, informed relatives, and soon brought along quite a few people.

Seeing so many people, ranging from those old enough to be his parents to others only eleven or twelve, Jiao Dalang felt weak in the knees for a moment.

Taking so many people back, would the County Lord be so angry she’d throw him out of Xiping County too?

But these people had been hungry for a long time, and as they all looked at Jiao Dalang with hollow eyes, he didn’t dare to ask them to stay behind, so he swallowed hard and braved himself to lead them to Xiping County.

Zhao Hanzhang hadn’t left yet. She specially came here firstly to conduct a patrol; secondly, because this area has limited water resources, it often faces drought, causing these villages to be most severely affected in Xiping County.

So she intentionally brought along Professor Fu to find the best places to dig reservoirs or wells.

The canal they were working on now connects to a small river, but according to the village chief, the small river doesn’t have much water and has poor storage capacity.

During years with heavy rain, the river floods the neighboring farmland, but when drought hits, the river quickly dries up.

Zhao Hanzhang walked along the riverbank, stepping on the mud with her foot and playfully poking at ice chunks in the water with a stick.

Fu Tinghan returned from a walk around the area and stood silently watching from the side.

When Zhao Hanzhang turned her head and saw him, she got startled. The stick in her hand slipped, smashing onto the river surface, causing cold water to splash. She smiled sheepishly and explained, "I haven’t seen a frozen water surface in a long time."

"A thin layer of ice, and it breaks with a gentle tap," Fu Tinghan said, "I’ve observed it; this riverbed is too high, and there’s a thick layer of silt. Instead of expending great effort to build a reservoir, it would be better to dig this river, clear the channel, and increase storage capacity."

Zhao Hanzhang nodded, "The mud dug out from the river could serve as fertilizer, but we just don’t have enough people. Let’s see where we can pull some more manpower."

Right now, building houses, digging canals across different areas, and developing the iron mines are major projects progressing simultaneously, consuming the most manpower and resources. If they didn’t have the Glazed Workshop, no one would dare to undertake so many things at once.

All available labor in the county has been utilized.

The two of them were sifting through various places for workers, thinking if they really couldn’t mobilize more people, they might squeeze some out of Shangcai’s estates. Maybe they could allocate some people.

While pondering, someone ran over from afar, waving and shouting breathlessly, "County Lord, County Lord..."

When he got close, he pointed in the direction of the village behind him, panting, "County Lord, Jiao Dalang brought back a lot of people. The village chief is furious and wants to drive Jiao Dalang’s family out of our village."

Zhao Hanzhang raised an eyebrow, "Wasn’t Jiao Dalang going to pick up his cousins?"

"Yes, but he brought back a lot of people, all from Shangcai, saying they’re here to work."

But there aren’t enough jobs left here; why should they be given to Shangcai people?

Jiao Dalang really is betraying his own here.

Zhao Hanzhang asked, "How many people did he bring back?"

"I didn’t count, but it’s estimated to be seventy or eighty people."

Zhao Hanzhang was both surprised and delighted, "So many?"

Fu Tinghan murmured, "It’s like delivering a pillow when you’re sleepy."

Zhao Hanzhang thought the same, and pulled Fu Tinghan along as she left.

Riding back on horseback, they saw two groups confronting each other at the village entrance. It was unclear who said what, but one group shouted loudly, "If you don’t let us live, then no one will!"

Zhao Hanzhang struggled to suppress a smile, then rode forward with a stern face, and shouted, "What’s all this noise?"

The village chief, upon seeing Zhao Hanzhang, immediately stepped forward to greet her, "County Lord, please mediate. These Shangcai people insist on coming here to take our Lower Corner Village’s jobs."

The hint of a smile on Zhao Hanzhang’s face completely disappeared. She looked down from above at the village chief, staring until he lowered his head in fear, before finally raising her eyes to look at the crowd silently watching her.

She saw these people, thin and pale, faces filled with fear, and anxiety in their eyes, ages ranging from twelve to forty.

Meeting their mournful eyes, Zhao Hanzhang’s expression softened slightly as she asked, "Where are you all from?"

The group nudged each other back and forth until they pushed Jiao Dalang’s cousin, Qian Jin, to the front.

He knelt before her horse, trembling as he replied, "To the County Lord, we are all from Upper Corner Village in Shangcai County."

Zhao Hanzhang, intrigued, asked, "Is the river called Jiao River coming from your village?"

Qian Jin affirmed, "It flows down from the mountain near our village, and the river also passes through our village."

Zhao Hanzhang then said, "Drinking from the same river, tied by blood, why distinguish between Upper Corner, Lower Corner, outside villages, and inside villages?"

She sternly looked at the village chief and said in a deep voice, "Not to mention your shared river ties; even without them, they are still Jin people like us. We in Xiping have even taken in people from beyond Ru Nan County. Can’t we accommodate relatives just over twenty miles away?"

The people from Upper Corner Village, upon hearing this, immediately knelt down and repeatedly kowtowed to Zhao Hanzhang on horseback, "Lady, please save us; we really can’t survive anymore."

Feeling sorry, Zhao Hanzhang quickly dismounted to help them up. Upon seeing their weak faces, she turned to the village chief, and said, "Go have someone light a fire and boil water, make some porridge for the brothers to fill their stomachs first."

Reluctantly, the village chief left.

Zhao Hanzhang squinted, watching his figure disappear. She then turned back with a smile, took the oldest person from Upper Corner Village by the arm, and said, "Come, let’s find a place sheltered from the wind to sit and talk."

With Zhao Hanzhang’s involvement in keeping the people from Upper Corner Village, those from Lower Corner Village quickly accommodated them.

After all, although the two villages were in different counties, they were very close, so many families were related.

When the village chief asked them to block the people from Upper Corner Village, they were unwilling, but since the chief said that if the jobs were given to them, there would be none left for their side, and because it was the village chief’s order, they complied.

Now that the misunderstanding was resolved, several families immediately squeezed forward to find their relatives.