My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 53 Selecting Orphans

Liu Feng himself is also looking forward to this.

Although he had a complete grand strategy in mind, he was slightly lacking in confidence. Therefore, he was also looking forward to Lu Su's proposed grand strategy to see if it suited him and whether he could learn from the other party's strategy to improve his own plan.

That night, Lu Zijing got very drunk.

Liu Bei left Lu Su to stay overnight in the prefectural capital and selected a residence in Tancheng County to bestow upon the latter.

On the other side, Liu Li, an orphan of Liu Feng, carried out Liu Feng's orders and sent his subordinates to gather the orphans of the Danyang soldiers.

The soldiers of Danyang were all from Danyang. They had followed Tao Qian to Xuzhou since the fifth year of Zhongping (188 AD), and had been there for seven or eight years.

Many junior and middle-ranking officers of the Danyang Army either brought their wives and children over with them, or simply got married and had children in Xuzhou.

In the ensuing years of war, these junior and middle-ranking officers suffered heavy casualties, leaving their wives and children as helpless orphans and widows.

Those with connections were taken in and raised by relatives and friends of the Danyang Army.

It doesn't matter. If you have no relatives or friends, you can either use your savings to leave Xuzhou and return to your hometown, or you can only continue to live a difficult life in Xuzhou.

After Liu Feng arrived in Xuzhou, he conducted an investigation into the orphans and widows among the Danyang soldiers. He registered those who could be recruited into Liu Feng's camp and sent them some money and food so that they would not starve to death.

All we need to do now is follow the map.

Pan Jun has been in Xuzhou with his father for seven years, and was among the first batch of soldiers from Danyang to come to Xuzhou.

His father, Ji Gong, had become the captain and was already in charge of fifty men, which was a clear step into the realm of mid-level officers.

However, Pan Jun's father was not from a prominent family; he was promoted to captain solely through his personal bravery and the appreciation of his superiors.

Therefore, his father died in battle during Cao Cao's second campaign against Yan Province last year.

After that, the Pan family's upward trend was immediately and completely interrupted. Pan Jun's life suddenly changed from having enough money to learn to read and practice martial arts to struggling to make ends meet by relying on his savings.

Fortunately, his former superior still had some lingering affection for him and provided a small amount of compensation.

Relying on his family's savings and pensions, Pan Jun struggled to make ends meet, and his life got worse day by day until he was almost starving.

Just then, Liu Feng arrived in Xuzhou.

Under his investigation and arrangements, the orphans and widows of these Danyang soldiers all received a subsidy of one shi (a unit of dry measure) of rice.

This move greatly increased Liu Bei's prestige among the Danyang soldiers. Many Danyang soldiers began to feel that Liu Bei was indeed benevolent, even able to help orphans and widows, so they, as soldiers, were naturally no worse than him.

Liu Feng only used a few hundred bushels of grain to help his father gain prestige, improve his favorability among the Danyang soldiers, and successfully investigate the background of orphans and widows among the Danyang soldiers. He really made a fortune.

Now, Liu Li is simply looking for people based on the list, gathering usable teenagers according to the results of his previous investigation.

Liu Li drove the oxcart all the way to the slums in the southern part of Tancheng County.

These are the homes of the poor in Tancheng County. Most of the houses are made of wooden planks, straw, and mud bricks.

This place was originally extremely dirty and chaotic, with piles of garbage and sewage flowing everywhere, it was practically a garbage dump.

After Liu Feng arrived, he rectified the area, at least sending all the garbage outside the city to be buried, and then diverting several sewage ditches.

This wasn't because Liu Feng was a germaphobe, nor was it an attempt to win people over; he was simply worried that such a filthy environment could lead to an epidemic, which would be a matter of life and death.

After Liu Feng rectified the situation, the conditions in the slums were still very poor, but at least the environment was much better.

With the trash no longer blocking the way, the road has even been widened considerably.

Liu Li and his group, with three large oxcarts piled high with grain, attracted much covetousness as soon as they entered the slums, with some even showing signs of lustful intent.

But the next moment, the gazes that fell on the broadswords, spears and other weapons in the hands of these young men, as well as the waist badges hanging from their waists, immediately cooled down.

The oxcart stopped in front of Pan Jun's house. Liu Li then jumped off the cart and, along with several other boys, unloaded a sack of grain, threw it at Pan Jun's door, and shouted, "Pan Jun, it's time for what we agreed on. Come with me."

Pan Jun looked at the grain at the door. This bag contained a full shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain, enough to feed him and his siblings for ten to fifteen days.

"Okay, wait a moment!"

Pan Jun readily agreed, then called his younger siblings out of the house, and together they carried the grain into the house.

Liu Li and the others watched Pan Jun's actions quietly, without offering any help.

In these days, food is life.

Liu Li and his group understood this principle well, so they didn't make a move.

Soon, Pan Jun carried the grain home and hid it, then instructed his younger siblings to guard the house before joining Liu Li's group.

The widowed and orphaned soldiers of Danyang also banded together in the slums, and they lived very close to each other.

The moment Liu Li and his men stopped to distribute grain in front of Pan Jun's house, more than a dozen people emerged from the dilapidated houses, each carrying weapons such as wooden sticks.

Their fierce expressions resembled those of hungry wild animals, but they relaxed only after recognizing Liu Li and his group.

Liu Li waved to them, signaling them to get ready to receive their food.

The boys then crawled back into the dilapidated house and called their families to come out and wait.

Soon, Liu Li had gathered more than a hundred teenagers over the age of twelve after just one stroll around the neighborhood.

By this time, the oxcart was completely empty, so Liu Li led the orphans of Danyang back and left.

Saheli followed the rules along the way. Long before, Liu Bei had already set up a camp for refugees outside Tancheng to gather those who had been affected by disasters such as war, floods, and epidemics.

According to the epidemic prevention manual sent by Liu Feng, the entire camp was built in accordance with the prescribed regulations, and the disaster victims inside had been preliminarily counted and sorted.

Saheli's order was to select families of two to six members, prioritizing young and able-bodied adults, followed by orphans, and reluctantly abandoning families with many elderly members.

After all, this is a military settlement, not a relief camp, and besides, staying here means you can at least get a bowl of porridge.

Collecting resources for land reclamation is not easy, so we must make the most of them to ensure greater output in the coming year and help more people.

However, the selection criteria and solutions are different for these two methods.

Families of able-bodied young adults were simply selected and then placed in another pre-prepared camp. This was to separate the selectors from the rejects, so as to avoid causing panic and discontent among the people.

The eligible orphaned boys were selected and taken away, returning to the city with Saheli and the others.

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(End of this chapter)