Chapter 15 Recruiting Refugees On the seashore of Dongmou County, Donglai County, Qingzhou. Five huge ships slowly docked at the shore. Han Dang led his troops across the sea by boat, and relying on the improved advanced sailing technology, they arrived here from Wen County in just five days. Liaodong and Qingzhou are very close to each other. Tian Ze's map and compass, plus the shallow waters between Liaodong and Qingzhou and countless small islands connected in series. The combination of these conditions made Han Dang's voyage very smooth and he encountered almost no problems. But looking at the soldiers who looked a little tired from taking turns to control the ship, Han Dang couldn't help but sigh. There are too few guards. Although the new type of sea vessels they operated greatly simplified the energy and manpower required for operation, each vessel still required nearly ten people to operate it properly. In order to travel quickly during these five days, they worked in shifts four times a day and were very tired.
Han Dang led the guards to take turns guarding and resting, and it took a whole day to recover. Leaving his deputy with fifty men to guard the ship, Han Dang took the rest of the guards, pushed a cart carrying a large amount of fried noodles, and went straight to Dongmu County. The county magistrate of Dongmu was named Tian Kan, a member of Tian Ze's clan. Against the backdrop of the court selling official positions and titles, Tian Ze placed some people in Qingzhou, Xuzhou and Liaodong. Wenxian, Pingguo and Dashi counties in Liaodong, Dongmu and Liaoxian in Qingzhou, and Quxian in Xuzhou. The county governors of the six counties are all from Tianze. However, due to shortage of manpower, the county magistrates of Qingzhou and Xuzhou were all members of the Tian family, which gave them a good place to go. These people are not Tian Ze's confidants, but considering that they are of the same race, it is acceptable to turn a blind eye and provide some conveniences. In order to ensure that nothing could go wrong and no news leaked out, and also to prevent the court from becoming wary of the Tian family's foothold in Liaodong, the three counties of Liaodong employed the death squads secretly trained by Tian Ze. With Tian Ze's ability, this level is already the limit. After all, the Wuzhong Tian family is the Wuzhong Tian family, and Tianze is Tianze. Although the family has given Tianze considerable help, it will not put all the weight on Tianze. The three counties of Liaodong are not so bad, but it is a cold and sparsely populated place, and it is dangerous, so no one is willing to go there. But Qingzhou and Xuzhou are both big states. Even though the three counties that Tian Ze sought to capture were close to the sea and relatively remote, it took a lot of effort, and the Tian family made great efforts. After all, he was not the only one who bought an official position. In many places, official positions were replaced within half a year after they were purchased. …… Not far to the north of Dongmu County, there is a simple refugee area. Although the house is simple, it is not small in size, almost as big as half a county town. Tian Kan looked at the increasing number of refugees and felt secretly anxious. "Why haven't the people Chengshou arranged come yet? If this continues, these refugees will probably cause trouble."
As Tian Ze's cousin, his abilities were not outstanding, and he was able to become the county magistrate only because of Tian Ze's recommendation and guarantee. He was still very grateful to this cousin. Moreover, the clan valued this younger brother very much. Before he left, the clan leader specifically instructed him to do his best to help. Therefore, when Tian Ze asked him to help recruit refugees and directly offered them 100,000 shi of grain, he agreed without hesitation. After all, if these refugees were not dealt with, they would easily cause unrest. It was the best thing for Tian Ze that he was willing to spend money and food to recruit these refugees away. One hundred thousand shi of grain a year is enough to feed six or seven thousand people with some left over. Not only did he solve the refugee problem without spending a single grain of food, he was even able to save a lot of food. What a wonderful thing. However, he did not expect one thing. There are too many refugees in Qingzhou! Even though the news of his recruitment of refugees was not widely publicized, and even though the food he provided to these refugees was only thin porridge that was barely enough to fill their stomachs and mixed with a little gravel. Refugees continued to arrive in an endless stream, and even the surrounding counties, after learning about this, seemed to have found a scapegoat and began to guide the refugees over. In less than two months, more than 3,000 refugees had accumulated outside the county, almost half the population of the county. If this continues, he will have to forcibly drive them away in less than half a month. "County magistrate, a caravan has arrived, claiming to be from the Wuzhong Tian clan." Just as Tian Kan was getting anxious, a county official reported. "Hurry, please bring the person in." Upon hearing this, Tian Kan said quickly as if he had seen a savior. Han Dang strode into the county government office, bowed and said, "Greetings to County Magistrate Cheng'en." "Mr. Yi, you and I are old acquaintances. Why should we be so formal? Please stand up quickly." Tian Kan hurriedly stepped forward and helped Han Dang up. Although he is of the same generation as Tian Ze, he is only a collateral relative and his status cannot be compared with Tian Ze at all. Naturally, he dare not neglect the subordinates of this cousin. Han Dang stood up and said, "Thank you, County Magistrate Chengen." "Did Chengshou arrange you here to receive refugees this time?" Tian Kan asked directly. Now he is troubled by these refugees and wants to solve this problem first. Han Dang nodded and said, "This time the lord sent me here for this matter." “How many people can you take away this time?” "Two thousand four hundred people." Han Dang said. He also saw the refugees outside the city. Although they could barely fit on the ship if they squeezed together, Han Dang did not dare to take the risk. "But I will be there quickly. If everything goes well, I will be able to come back in a month to transport the second batch. And the number of refugees transported each time will increase." Han Dang continued. "Is that so?" Tian Kan frowned slightly, estimated in his mind, and then said: "Okay, let's do it this way. I will continue to recruit refugees according to Chengshou's words, and it will not affect his business."
"County Magistrate Cheng'en, I wonder what the situation of these refugees is like?" Han Dang asked. Tian Kan said, "Don't worry, I never dare to delay anything Chengshou asks me to do." "I have carefully arranged for people to check the backgrounds of all the refugees who came here, and the vicious ones have been executed. In addition, I have also arranged for the yamen runners to consciously train them to observe order and obey orders as Chengshou said, and it has begun to show results." "I will arrange for the yamen runners to assist you in selecting the refugees who arrive first." Upon hearing this, Han Dang bowed respectfully again and said, "Thank you for your hard work, County Magistrate! The current lord thanks you, County Magistrate." "You're welcome. We're all family, why should we be like this?" Tian Kan said with a smile. "County magistrate, this time the lord ordered me to bring you million coins as compensation for your hard work. Because copper coins are heavy, I was not able to bring them this time. Please arrange people to go to the shore to transport them." Han Dang said. Based on the price of one thousand coins per refugee, million coins was a huge sum, which would be more than 30,000 kilograms of copper coins. Because fried noodles also had to be transported, Tian Ze did not have enough manpower for the delivery, so Tian Kan had to arrange people to deliver it himself. Dongmu County is very close to the seaside and can be reached in just one hour on foot. Tian Kan has been running the county for three years, so he should have some control. Tian Kan frowned: "What are you talking about? How can I..." Han Dang bowed and interrupted, "County Magistrate, the lord specifically told us about this before he left. We are grateful for your kindness, but let's keep things separate." "You have worked hard to recruit and resettle the refugees, and you have also done some education. You should accept this money." "If nothing else, at least give some hard-working officials in the county some hard work fees. Besides, in the future, we may need to deal with surrounding counties to recruit refugees, and the county magistrate cannot spend this money on his own." Seeing Han Dang's firm attitude and his reasonable words, Tian Kan sighed: "Okay, but this money is too much, only 20% is enough." Han Dang shook his head slightly: "County Magistrate, there are indeed quite a few refugees who have come here these days, but I'm afraid most of them are from the surrounding areas." "Once most of the refugees from the neighboring counties have been recruited, where will the county magistrate recruit more refugees from?" "These refugees are hungry and can hardly support a long journey. The county magistrate will have to communicate with officials from other counties and hire people to recruit refugees from the local area." "This will certainly consume a lot of money and grain, and this money is what the county magistrate deserves. Please don't refuse it!" Seeing Han Dang being so sincere, Tian Kan felt a little warm in his heart. After all, he is one of us! So considerate. Nowadays, the land annexation in Qingzhou is extremely serious, resulting in refugees everywhere. If he can properly settle these refugees, he will definitely gain a great political achievement. And if he contacts other counties, he can gain gratitude and connections. With just some effort, he not only earned a large amount of money and grain, but also gained the hearts and reputation of the people. It was really killing two birds with one stone. If I were not a member of the Tian clan, I would never have the chance to enjoy such a good thing. (End of this chapter)