Chapter 709: Chapter 711: Settled

Wu Xiaoliu’s eyes darted around. "Are there any better places than this?"

"That, I don’t know," Chief Chen replied. "After all, I’ve scoured the entire area around the county government, but I haven’t personally visited anywhere further out. With so many mountains nearby, I wouldn’t dare give you a definitive answer.

"If you feel this isn’t suitable, I can help you look around again later. It’s just that you’ll be wasting these next few days."

Lai San grabbed Wu Xiaoliu’s arm and pulled him aside. "Boss, I actually think this place isn’t bad.

"Think about it. It’s close to the county town, which will make it much more convenient for us to go in later. If we go further out, a simple trip to town could take a day or two round trip, or even longer."

Since he spent his days wandering through various villages, he knew that many women married out of distant settlements. There were plenty of more remote places. In fact, if the spot they had just picked didn’t lack flat land, someone else would have snatched it up long ago. It never would have been left for them.

"It’s just that there’s nothing here at all," Wu Xiaoliu said, still sounding a bit displeased.

"If it had everything, it wouldn’t have been our turn to get it." The more Lai San looked at the land, the more satisfied he became. Besides, based on the distance, it wasn’t far from his aunt’s home, making it easy to visit her in the future.

"Lai San makes a good point," Zeng Dawang agreed. "Being close to the county town means that if someone gets a headache or a fever, we can find a doctor to treat it as soon as possible. If we lived further away, we’d probably just have to wait to die."

Thinking about the close call his younger brother had experienced over the past two days, Zeng Dawang felt that this place was excellent. It gave him a strong sense of security.

Listening to their discussion from the sidelines, Chief Chen nodded secretly. They weren’t entirely without reasonable men among them.

"Don’t just think about how empty this place is right now," Chief Chen interjected. "Look at it from another angle. Since you’re the first to arrive, you hold an absolute advantage. With such a massive piece of land, you can take your pick before anyone else.

"More and more people have been signing up over these past few days. It might not be long before there’s no vacant land left here."

Seeing their lingering hesitation, Chief Chen added more leverage. With that, everyone finally let go of their doubts. If they really thought about it that way, this was indeed extremely advantageous for them.

Right at that moment, the chief of the neighboring village arrived with a few villagers, carrying farming tools over. Seeing the group, the village chief assumed they were impoverished commoners from somewhere nearby. He gave them a sympathetic look, greeted Chief Chen, and then left. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to stay and help; he simply had a massive mess of tasks to handle in his own village.

They counted the various farming tools laid out before them. There was exactly one set per person.

Seeing that they had divided the tools among themselves, Chief Chen smiled and said, "There’s plenty of large timber nearby. You can chop some down first to build a small wooden cabin, and then slowly construct the rest. However, as for the land on the mountain, I will bring the steward over tomorrow to measure it for you. Once it’s divided, you can’t slack off."

He had to make certain things clear upfront. He was afraid these people would take the Silver and do no work, which would result in him taking the blame later.

"Don’t worry. I will definitely keep an eye on them and make sure they work hard." Seeing everything fall into place one by one, Wu Xiaoliu tossed aside the last bit of his hesitation. "There is one more thing I need to ask you, Arrest Officer. If other people want to come and claim land, will they receive the same treatment?"

Chief Chen’s eyes lit up. He nodded and said, "If you had asked me yesterday, I wouldn’t have dared to give you a definitive answer. However, our Lord sympathizes with your hardships and is paying out of his own pocket to make up for the settlement allowance.

"But as you know, this is no small sum. The amount he can subsidize is limited. The Lord said it’s first come, first served."

Of course, this was just the county magistrate’s stratagem. The actual subsidies would all be reported to Yongchang County later, not a single penny short.

Listening to this, Wu Xiaoliu nodded in excitement. "Then I will bring people to find you later, Arrest Officer."

"I’ll be at the city gates these next few days. Even if I’m not there sometimes, just tell those Government Officials, and they’ll help you find me. However, you better act fast. If too much time passes, I can’t guarantee you’ll still get this kind of treatment," Chief Chen whispered, creating a sense of urgency.

"Then... I’ll go find them first thing tomorrow morning," Wu Xiaoliu said.

Chief Chen patted him on the shoulder. "Don’t neglect things here, either. Once the land is cleared, the government office still needs to inspect it."

Seeing that everyone was already getting restless, even looking around for timber to build their houses, Chief Chen didn’t linger. He bade them farewell and left.

As for whether the mountain was safe? Chief Chen wasn’t worried in the slightest. Did they really think he hadn’t noticed? Those bags of theirs hid weapons and even hunting tools. They were perfectly suited to make a living here!

Staring out at the vast, empty mountain valley, Lai San and the others felt filled with drive. This would be the place where they would settle down and establish their lives. The more they looked at it, the more pleasing it seemed.

"Boss, are you planning to notify the other peaks?" Lai San asked hesitantly.

"I want to go tell them," Wu Xiaoliu replied. "After all, we all walked the same path. Even if we’re moving down to the foot of the mountain, we should let them know.

"Many people were forced into the mountains because they had no other choice. Now that such a great opportunity has come, they can openly raise their children, pass on their family lines, and live this life without regrets."

Zeng Dawang looked at Wu Xiaoliu in excitement. "Boss, are you saying we can still marry wives and raise children?"

Wu Xiaoliu gave him a light kick. "Of course. From now on, we’ll be people with official household registrations. As long as we work hard, quickly build our homes, and plant a few acres of land, we’ll be set.

"If we make frequent trips up the mountain in our free time to hunt some prey and supplement our income, our lives will improve sooner or later. Once that happens, will a wife be far behind?"

His words ignited a blazing warmth in everyone’s hearts, making them feel as if everything was finally moving in a good direction.

"Then let’s pick the spots for our homes first, otherwise we’ll lose out when the others arrive." Looking around the massive area, it was only natural to choose a location that satisfied everyone before building their houses.

"Let’s agree on this first: we need to build our houses close together so we can look out for each other," Lai San said, standing on his tiptoes to scan the surroundings. "Tell me, which spot looks good..."

「Meanwhile, at the county government.」

Gu Wenheng and Ming Feng had been doing accounts for several consecutive days. It was only after distributing all the Silver in the storehouse to various regions and specifying exactly how much land needed to be cleared that they finally had a moment of leisure.

Cen Gaosong and the others looked at the empty storehouse, feeling extremely uncomfortable in their hearts.

Just a month ago, they had been guarding a massive sum of Silver. It hadn’t even been that long, yet it was all gone. At this point, even mice would probably avoid the storehouse.

Cen Gaosong couldn’t help but ask, "My Lord, now that all the Silver has been distributed, what if there aren’t enough people to clear the wasteland and farm?"

It was easy enough to hand the money out, but trying to get the Silver back later would probably be incredibly difficult.

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