I will lead the whole village to occupy the land and become the king.

Before Village Chief Li announced how the supplies brought back last night would be distributed, most people thought they would be divided equally.

From the end of the village to the beginning, the villagers came in groups of three or five, discussing how much food each of them could get.

Jiang Qinyu happened to hear a few words when she went out.

"Last night, only my little girl and some grandchildren were left at home. I don't know how much food they were able to get."

"Didn't they say it wasn't based on the number of people? I heard every family gets the same amount!"

"No way? Wouldn't a family like mine be at a disadvantage?"

"You have a big family, so shouldn't you contribute more?"

"Why should I? You have quite a few people at home, so why did only two men go to your house last night?"

"My house is..."

The two women started arguing as they talked.

Chen leaned close to Jiang Qinyu and whispered, "You're right. If we divide it equally, someone will definitely make a fuss."

The key issue is that those with more family members are making a fuss. They contribute the most but get the same share as those who don’t contribute at all. How can they not make a fuss?

"No matter how we divide it, there will always be people who will make trouble." Jiang Qinyu was quite open-minded about it. After all, the extra money was taken from the bandits of Qinggang Village. Who wouldn't want to get a bigger share?

Chen thought about it and nodded, "That seems to be the case."

As they were talking, they had already arrived under the big locust tree.

Village chief Li was surrounded by many villagers. The sweat towel around his neck was soaked, which showed how anxious he had been that day.

"Stop arguing, wait until everyone is here and I'll talk to you. Get out of here right now. Are you too hot to bear it?" Village chief Li lost his patience and waved his hand to drive them away.

Those people were not angry. They were sure to get some food anyway, so they retreated under the straw platform.

Jiang Qinyu and Chen found a dirt slope next to the straw platform and stood on it. This position allowed them to hear clearly what was being said on the straw platform and see the reactions of everyone present. Most importantly, it was not easy for them to be noticed.

After a while, all the villagers arrived, and Village Chief Li shouted at the top of his voice: "Fellow villagers, our village did something big last night. Let's go and get the food back!"

As soon as these words were spoken, applause and cheers broke out from the audience.

Village Chief Li lowered his arm and said, "In addition to taking back what we originally had, we also brought back their ill-gotten gains and food! This is inseparable from everyone's desperate efforts. Here, I want to give a thumbs up to the men and women of Dingshui Village. You are all great!"

"Good! I'm the best!" Someone shouted in the crowd, causing everyone to burst into laughter.

Those who participated in the battle with the bandits last night all had proud looks on their faces. Everyone held their heads high and tried their best to stand in the front.

Village Chief Li also smiled, motioned for everyone to be quiet, and then continued: "Just now, I discussed with several elders in the village and the head of the family who usually has a good reputation, and came up with a rule on how to deal with the things we brought back.

Now I will tell you how to divide those things, but I hope that no matter what you hear, please don’t interrupt me. Wait until I finish speaking before asking questions. Did you understand? "

"I heard it clearly!" everyone responded in unison. Because they had to divide things up, they all automatically maintained discipline.

The village chief then continued loudly, "Last night, in addition to finding several thousand kilograms of extra food, we also seized a total of 328 taels and 6 qian of silver from the bandits' house, as well as 58 copper coins! This money will be divided equally among the 56 households in our village!"

The people below cheered again. More than three hundred taels of silver were divided equally, and each family could get nearly six taels. That was six taels!

Many of them cannot save so much money in a whole year, and many families' total annual expenses are less than six taels. This is undoubtedly a huge sum of money for everyone.

With the money, we can buy food and the family can survive for a few more days.

Jiang Qinyu secretly gave Village Chief Li a thumbs up. He thought that distributing the silver first would calm everyone down, and then the rest would be easy.

As expected, Village Chief Li continued, "If we can divide the silver equally, we must divide the grain equally."

After saying this, he picked up the teacup he brought from home and gulped down a few mouthfuls of water. Then he continued, "After I finish speaking, each family will send someone to me to register how much food has been stolen from you. I'll give you all the food that has been stolen!"

"Huh? Are you only sending out the ones we were robbed of?"

"No way? There's still so much food!"

"Can you guys please let me finish what I'm saying? Didn't the village chief say that yet?"

The people below talked for a few words, then quickly pricked up their ears and continued listening.

Village Chief Li took a deep breath and reorganized his words in his mind before speaking, "As for the extra food we looted from Qinggang Mountain, I, several village elders, and those selfless heads of households all feel that this food should be temporarily managed by the village. For the rest of the drought, the village will have unified management!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd immediately went into an uproar.

"Why? Why did I work so hard last night? Wasn't it just to get a little more food? How can you just say you don't want to share it?"

"That's right, why don't you give us a share? I don't accept it!"

"I don't accept that either! We demand an equal share of the food!"

"How can we divide it equally? It's not fair to divide it equally. We can't divide it equally!"

"If you ask me, whoever contributes more should get more, and whoever contributes less should get less. That's the way it should be!"

"..."

For a while, there were many different opinions and the quarrels were so annoying.

Chen asked Jiang Qinyu, "Big Boss's Wife, what do you think the village chief should do?"

"They should do as I say." Jiang Qinyu was not very sure.

Village Chief Li was no longer anxious. He waited until the discussion died down before speaking again. "Although this portion of food won't be distributed to everyone right away, we still have to reward those who performed outstandingly last night!"

As soon as these words were spoken, those who had just opposed it changed their attitude.

"Oh, there are rewards? Does my sledgehammer count as one?"

"Haha...my Li Tiezhu definitely counts as one of them!"

"And my family too. We have the most people going there, so we should be included, right?"

"..."

After they finished talking, Village Chief Li continued, "First, based on the number of heads from each family who went up the mountain last night, if one person went, each person will be rewarded with ten kilograms of grain, if two people went, twenty kilograms, and so on. The more people who go, the more grain rewards you will get!

In addition, those who performed bravely last night will be rewarded with an additional ten kilograms of food if injured, and five kilograms if uninjured..."

Village chief Li made it clear how the rewards should be given, and now there was no sound of opposition from anyone.

Those who only went to join the party last night are regretting it so much now, while those who went to Li Dachui's house with seven or eight people are grinning so hard that their teeth are showing and they are so happy that they are crazy.

"The village chief is wise! We are all satisfied with this division!" Someone shouted first, and others echoed.

But Village Chief Li looked towards Jiang Qinyu with a smile on his face and gratitude in his eyes.