Stepmother in charge: Making a fortune through farming and raising her children to fight back

Village Chief Qin bent his waist again.

"Sir, please let these dozens of people stay in our Qinjia Village. We are willing to let them settle down here, help them build houses, divide up land, and integrate them into our big family so that they can become true Qinjia Village residents."

Many people in their village are now working at Yun Zhenzhen's house, and many are also involved in road construction, which means that there may not be enough manpower for the upcoming spring plowing.

In addition, there are too many wastelands in the village, and it would be a waste to leave them idle. It would be better to distribute them to these people for cultivation. The village can also earn extra income from rent, and then use this money to build Qinjia Village. It is simply the best of both worlds.

He wanted to build Qinjia Village into the most advanced and civilized village among the surrounding villages... no, in the entire Yuzhou.

When he thought of this, Village Chief Qin suppressed the smile in his eyes. This deal was really a good deal.

Lu Yunfeng nodded: "You have solved a big problem for Yunding County. The rest of the matter can be decided by the villagers themselves."

Then, he turned his gaze to the refugees kneeling on the ground and spoke threateningly, "Qinjia Village is the most peaceful and prosperous village in Yunding County. The fact that you can settle down here is a blessing you have earned in this life. Don't even think about causing trouble. If I find you, I will show no mercy!"

Sixty or seventy refugees, plus their families who were still staying outside the city, if they moved into Qinjia Village together, there would be about two hundred people, accounting for 20% of the original population of Qinjia Village.

When there are too many people, it is easy for them to gather and cause other troubles. We can't always rely on patrol teams to keep an eye on them. If their attention is not there, there will always be times when they miss something.

So Lu Yunfeng put it bluntly: these refugees must be made aware of the consequences of gathering and causing trouble.

Then, he said coldly, "Those dozen or so people you sent over earlier who had committed crimes are already incarcerated. Those who have killed people will be executed in three days, and the rest will never be released. I hope you'll take this as a warning and never follow in their footsteps."

At this juncture, executing the person three days after the verdict is also a disguised way of killing the chicken to scare the monkey. For the sake of peace in the entire county, this is understandable.

Upon hearing this, the refugees trembled with fear, fearing that the county magistrate would cause trouble for them and hold them accountable for the night raid on Qinjia Village.

Then, Lu Yunfeng took out a long sword and handed it to the village chief: "This sword has seen blood on the battlefield. I give it to you, Qinjia Village, as a reward. If there are refugees causing trouble in Qinjia Village in the future, you have the right to execute them first and report later!"

The village chief knelt down respectfully and reached out to take it: "Thank you, County Magistrate!"

With the County Magistrate's actions, the refugees who originally had other ulterior motives now lowered their heads and obeyed obediently.

After the county magistrate's carriage disappeared from sight, the village chief gathered the other refugees who were still working.

"Everyone present here, including your families, can settle down in our village and become a true member of our family. When we accept you, we will also truly accept your entire family. You don't have to work for now. You can take two days off. Go back and pack your belongings and bring your families over. You can take some time off to build houses. Once you are settled, we will distribute land to you all."

Lu Yunfeng's words just now scared these people so much that they broke out in sweat and dared not have any other thoughts in their hearts. The village chief's comfort soothed their inner anxiety like a hot spring.

These people who fled famine were, after all, lower-class farmers. For them, the most important things were houses and land.

Now they can settle down in Qinjia Village and own their own land. Are there any refugees in the world more fortunate than them?

"But let me be frank. The land of Qinjia Village isn't going to be given away for free. After all, it's a reward earned through the hard work of the entire village." The village chief continued, "When the time comes, you'll all gather and the land will be divided among you based on your population. Regardless of gender, each person will receive two mu of land. The price per mu is one tael of silver. After a year's harvest, you can use grain as collateral. Once you pay the required one tael of silver, the land will be yours."

Hearing this, the refugees all looked surprised.

If each person has two mu of land, that means a family can have nearly ten mu of land. If they farm well every year, they will definitely not go hungry again.

Moreover, one acre of land only costs one or two taels of silver, which is much cheaper than buying land in their hometown. With this calculation, they made a lot of money.

"Don't worry. As long as you live a down-to-earth life in the village and work hard, you will sooner or later truly integrate into our Qinjia Village and become a part of this place." The village chief played with the long sword in his hand as he spoke, looking at them with a smile: "If anyone wants to cause trouble... then you will be greeted not only with good food and drink, but also with my big sword. If I accidentally hurt anyone, please bear with me..."

As he spoke, he subconsciously gestured with his long sword, and the refugees in the front row were frightened and took a few steps back.

This was the long sword that the county magistrate had spoken with, and it could kill first and report later. They were all scared to death and shrank their necks, not daring to speak.

"Okay, it's getting late now, so you should all go back and pack up, and pick up your family members."

All the refugees quickly dispersed as if they had been pardoned.

They all ran out of the city to look for their families, but many of them were never found.

Seventy-five refugees, plus all their families, totaling 261 people, came to Qinjia Village in a mighty group.

Most of the women and children who had walked to the front had no young and middle-aged people at home, so they had to go back to the city to bring their brothers and sisters or elderly mothers over.

But most of those men have wives and children, and some men have lost all their family members, leaving them alone...

In the end, most of the people brought over were young adults and children, but there were basically no children under three or four years old. They were all ten-year-olds who were able to work...

There are wastelands almost everywhere in Qinjia Village. Yun Zhenzhen suggested to the village chief that these refugees should build houses around the fields allocated to them, with each family spreading out a little and becoming neighbors with the villagers to prevent them from gathering together and causing trouble.

Most of them planned to build a thatched house. They went to the mountains to cut some trees and dragged them down. They used the thatch that could be found everywhere in the village, and then covered the middle with mud to block the wind. Then a simple house was built.

There are still many thatched houses like this in the village. They are much easier to build than adobe houses and can be lived in, but they are a bit cold in winter.

There are some single men who have no home or family, and they still live in the big house that they helped build with the help of the villagers, as long as one of them has enough food to eat and the whole family is not hungry.

In less than a few days, almost every family had built a thatched house and covered the roof with thicker straw. By repeating this process several times, it was able to prevent rain and snow from leaking in from the back.