The end of natural disasters: the daily life of child brides in ancient times

Most of the people looked worse off than the refugees in Lu Qingqing's team because of long-term hunger.

Summer clothes are already thin, and when the wind blows, the clothes will flutter on the body.

They looked only slightly better than the refugees on the road.

But unlike the refugees, there is hope in the eyes of these people.

Prince Huai's palace invested money to build dams throughout the fiefdom.

The dams built not only stored water, but also preserved the people's hope of survival.

Therefore, when the team passed by the fields on both sides, what everyone saw were extremely thin men and women carrying water to the fields.

Under the scorching sun, they tirelessly carried water to the fields, working busily.

Some older men even took off their shirts and carried water with their bare chests. The weight on the shoulder pole made their already hunched bodies even shorter.

The old man's shriveled and dark body was bent as he moved step by step into the field.

When they heard the movement of the convoy, the people on both sides looked up.

When they saw the yamen runners in front, they understood everything instantly.

I guess he's here to settle down again!

In the past two years, people have come to settle down from time to time, and they have gone from being excited and curious at the beginning to being accustomed to it now.

Seeing the yamen runners leading people past, the people stopped looking and started to busy themselves with their work.

It took the team more than an hour to reach Baoshan Town.

I have to say that the name Baoshan Town is well deserved.

From a distance, Lu Qingqing and her group saw the big mountain.

Although the trees on the mountain are a bit sparse, the overall look is still green.

The entire Baoshan Town is built on the mountain, and all the houses and land are located on the south side of the mountain.

Most of the houses in the town are built in a relatively flat area far away from the foot of the mountain.

Xu Wenshan had already told them before coming.

Most of the villagers in Baoshan Town have settled here from other places in the past one or two years.

There were only about three or five households of villagers originally in this area.

After the immigration and settlement, there are now forty or fifty households in the entire Baoshan Town.

With the support of King Huai's policies, the villagers not only worked on the land they were allocated, but also planted a large number of mulberry trees on the mountain.

After one or two years of persistence, the area below halfway up the mountain is now full of mulberry trees.

Nowadays, most families in the town have a clear division of labor. The men are busy growing crops, while the women are raising silkworms and reeling silk.

Led by the yamen runners, the group headed straight for the village head's house.

The head of the village in Baoshan Town is surnamed Wu. He was among the first group of people to settle here two years ago.

There were more than twenty families who settled there, all from the same clan.

This Wu village chief is the patriarch of the entire Wu family.

At the same time, to date, families with the surname Wu still account for the majority in Baoshan Town.

Therefore, with the support of his clansmen, he successfully became the head of the village.

At that time, the Investment Promotion Department under King Huai planned to support local sericulture and silk reeling.

Most families have never raised silkworms and are worried that raising silkworms is not as good as farming.

They were afraid that if they had to devote their energy to raising silkworms, the whole family would not have enough food to harvest in the autumn and would starve to death, so they were not very cooperative.

At that time, the village head Wu had just taken office and actively cooperated with the silkworm breeding. Several families that were on good terms with him were the first to reap the benefits of silkworm breeding.

The first batch of silk cocoons were raised by people specially sent by the Investment Promotion Department, who taught us everything from raising silkworms to reeling silk and then making it into silk.

It was also at that time that most families in Baoshan Town realized that they could earn much more by raising this crop of silkworms than by farming for a whole year.

Not to mention, silkworms can be raised several times a year.

From that time on, every household in the town began to raise silkworms, and at the same time, the division of labor within each family became increasingly clear.

The men were responsible for tending the crops in the fields, while the women focused on feeding the silkworms. After the silkworms formed cocoons, they made them into silk and sold them.

Because women made money by raising silkworms and reeling silk, the status of women in most families in Baoshan Town was relatively high.

There are even female households here, which are rarely seen in other places.

Although His Royal Highness King Huai had issued a decree several years ago allowing women to set up their own female households.

But for various reasons, few people in various places actually set up a female household.

In Baoshan Town, there were two widows with children who established female households.

Back to the topic, when the group arrived at the headman's house, they found that he lived in a large blue brick and tile house.

The tall courtyard, coupled with the vermilion gate, looks particularly majestic in this village.

After Xu Wenshan got off the carriage, he pushed open the half-open door and shouted inside:

"Brother Wu, I'm Xu Wenshan. Are you guys home?"

In the yard, a man with a goatee, about forty years old, walked out.

As soon as he saw Xu Wenshan and several yamen runners, he greeted them warmly:

"No wonder there were magpies calling so early in the morning, it turns out a distinguished guest has arrived!

Mr. Xu, all the officials, let's go to your home and have some tea!"

As he said this, he was about to invite the person in.

Xu Wenshan also said with a smile:

“Brother Wu, don’t bother.

I came here today to ask for your help!"

Village Chief Wu had already seen the group of people standing behind through the gate.

Of course I knew that someone else had come to settle down here.

In the past, he would welcome a few families who settled there.

Today, the silkworm breeding industry in Baoshan Town is developing better and better.

He relied on the large number of Wu clan members and his position as the village head.

He collected the silk made by the villagers and then found ways to sell it.

In this way, the profit in between is quite substantial.

If there were more people, he could earn more money, which he would certainly welcome.

But there are quite a few people who have just arrived. If they form a group and threaten his position as the village head, it will be bad.

Moreover, seeing that these people migrated from far away and were able to drive carriages and carry a large amount of belongings, it seems that they are not simple people.

Seeing that Mr. Xu, the only person he knew at the county government office, had come to lead the way, Wu Lizhang didn't think much about it and said politely:

"Master Xu, you are too polite. If you have anything to ask, just send someone over and tell them. Why bother coming here in person?"

Xu Wenshan smiled, and affectionately let Lu Tianming and the others standing at the back step aside, introducing them:

"Brother Wu, all those who have settled here this time are my good brothers, so I'll have to ask you to take care of them in the future.

We are old acquaintances, so I won't be too polite and will just speak frankly.

According to the immigration policy promulgated by King Huai, each person could be allocated one mu of land when settling down.

There are still a lot of good lands available in our Baoshan Town. When the land is divided, Brother Wu, please help us more.

You have been the head of the village in Baoshan Town for two years and are very familiar with the entire town.

I'll trouble you in a moment."