The casual life of the flat space

"Okay, you are quite capable, kid. But since you call me uncle, I will say something more."

"I am willing to listen to your teachings!" Seeing that General Zhao was about to speak his heart out to her, Bai Tieying also stood up and saluted with a serious expression.

"Sit, sit. It's nothing serious, but... judging from what you've done in the past few months, and what happened at the food factory today, I guess you must have been very smart since you were young. However, maybe because of the sudden loss of your parents, your character has become a little... biased.

Things in this world are not black and white. People who speak harshly to you are not necessarily bad people, and people who are kind to you are not necessarily good people. You are smart, but you have not experienced enough...

People who are too smart can easily see through the ways of the world, but it also causes a lot of trouble. It is not a good thing to be taller than the trees in the forest, taller than the pile on the shore, and taller than others, especially when you are a child.

Of course, you are so smart, you don't need me to teach you these things. I just want to say that if you can be as 'gentlemanly as jade', then it won't be a pity for you to be so smart."

"Bai Tieying thanks Uncle Zhao for his heartfelt words." Bai Tieying stood up and bowed deeply.

She would not be so arrogant as to think that she was a "Zhongyong", but General Zhao's words did fall into the category of "saying too much", so her gratitude was naturally sincere.

But if she really had to thank someone, she knew that she should thank Mu Qingqiu. Thinking of this, Bai Tieying turned her head and looked at Mu Qingqiu. Wow! Little brother is so handsome today!

Mu Qingqiu was frightened by Bai Tieying's look, thinking that she was hinting at something... Suddenly thinking of something, Mu Qingqiu asked, "General Zhao, you just said that County Magistrate Xiao's house was confiscated, so what about those refugees he deceived before?"

"Hey! I'm also having a hard time with this. Three or five people is fine, but there are more than 300 people! And half of them are elderly, weak, women and children. Where should I place them?

That’s not all. There are also more than a hundred slaves and servants, and the number of tenants has reached hundreds in the past two months. I…” General Zhao wanted to curse at this point, but he immediately realized it, stopped talking, and continued:

"...My original intention was to leave them until the next county magistrate came. But the difficulty lies in that the matter has already been registered. Once this petition is submitted, there is no guarantee that someone will bring it up at any time. When they ask about it, I haven't dealt with it yet... Oh! Anyway, it won't be a big mistake, but I'm afraid someone will take advantage of this to make things difficult for me."

"Uncle Zhao, aren't there still county magistrates and county lieutenants in this yamen?" Bai Tieying also thought of the same thing and asked.

"The county magistrate retired before the incident, and the county lieutenant accidentally broke his leg and is currently ill at home!" General Zhao said indignantly.

"That County Magistrate Xiao has been operating in Shang'an County for many years. They..."

"Tieying!" General Zhao called out, interrupting Bai Tieying's next words. "Hey! What can I say about you, kid? You have good character, but like I said just now, you are still young, so sometimes you are too upright... I just drank too much today, don't take it to heart."

"Uncle Zhao, how could I be so ungrateful?" Bai Tieying quickly explained, and then said, "Uncle Zhao, what I meant is, are you worried about how to resettle these refugees without causing trouble for you later?"

"Oh? Do you have a good idea?"

"It's not a good idea, but I just thought of some ways. I wonder if they can help you solve your problem."

"Then tell me quickly! Hahaha, if you call me uncle, then you are my niece. Why are you still keeping it a secret from your uncle?" General Zhao was really worried about this matter. After returning home yesterday, he stayed in the study until midnight but could not think of a solution.

It is said above that the confiscated money should be turned over to the national treasury, which is the simplest. But the houses and land cannot be taken with them, right? This is easy, just find any merchant to sell it to, it is a favor, and you can do some manipulation yourself. But the population is a big problem.

Maids and servants are destined to be of low status. The worst that can happen is that you can pay the money first and then sell them slowly later.

But the confiscated lands will inevitably change owners, and it is hard to say whether the owners will still hire these tenants at that time. If some idiot gets desperate, I will definitely be in trouble.

Then there are the refugees, which are the most difficult to deal with. Which village would be willing to accept half of them, the elderly, the weak, women and children? Besides, when has the resettlement of refugees not caused some trouble?

Normally, it was not General Zhao's turn to deal with this matter, and the pain would fall on someone else's head. But this time, he was careless and was a step behind the two old thieves in the county government. The officials from the capital were even more shrewd. As a result, the matter of resettling the refugees fell on him, the highest official in Shang'an County.

"Uncle Zhao, the biggest problem with resettling refugees is that they are worried about people's instability. The locals don't trust the refugees, and the refugees are indeed barefoot and not afraid of wearing shoes... Then I think these refugees can be divided into different groups:

The first type of people are middle-aged men who are alone and have no ties. These people can be recruited to join the army. I believe that with Uncle Zhao's military management methods, they can be well prevented from having no place to use their strength, and at the same time, they can be prevented from causing trouble when they are desperate;

The second category is people with families. They can be allocated together with tenants who have no land to farm. To be honest, refugees who can bring their families to Shang'an County are capable. We can identify those families that have not committed crimes and give them priority in resettlement.

Now that it is less than two months before the freezing, we can lend them farm tools to open up wasteland and cultivate the fields. We can also give them some food and silver, and reduce taxes for the next few years.

Because these people, in addition to being capable, also love their families. They travel thousands of miles just to have a meal and will not cause trouble unless it is absolutely necessary.

The same goes for tenant farmers. I don't know how much rent they have to pay, but judging by County Magistrate Xiao's character, it won't be low. At this time, all we need to do is give them all the harvest from the land this year and mix them with the refugees.

Doing so can firstly play a role in mutual supervision, and secondly, everyone is propertyless... People without industry, as long as they have something to eat, will not have evil thoughts. Thirdly, in the long run, this is a good opportunity for Shang'an County to increase the number of households. Only when the population increases, taxes can be better paid... Of course, what Uncle Zhao has done has laid a good foundation for the successor county magistrate," Bai Tieying said meaningfully.