Spring comes to the desperate place

Chapter 197

Not to mention them, even Song Chunlin himself was starving. He didn't know how to accommodate so many people at once. Song Chunlin could only take them to the wounded camp first. He remembered that there was an unused yard next door, so he placed the people in the yard. Song Chunlin gave silver to a few soldiers and asked them to buy some food and daily necessities.

"Try to choose food that is easy to digest, and buy a few sets of clothes, no matter how pretty they are. Also buy some cloth and needlework. I think there should be some people among them who are good at sewing."

The soldiers took the silver and left. Song Chunlin comforted everyone, and then scrounged a pot of chicken soup from the kitchen of the wounded soldiers' camp next door.

The yard was fully stocked with furniture, so he didn't need to buy any extra stuff. He gave everyone a bowl of hot chicken soup, and then the soldiers who had gone shopping came back, along with a merchant carrying a load on his shoulder.

The vendors were selling dandan, which is meat filling wrapped in dough, and its shape looks like modern wontons.

The soldier spent two taels of silver to buy all the glutinous rice dumplings from the vendor. The vendor sold all the glutinous rice dumplings at once and was grinning from ear to ear. He cooked the glutinous rice dumplings skillfully and soon a pot of steaming hot glutinous rice dumplings was ready.

With a bowl of chicken soup, Song Chunlin asked them to feed the children first. When Gu Fengyue finished her work and found here, she saw Song Chunlin sitting on the steps in the yard, eating steamed buns with a grunt.

"Gu Fengyue! Here!" Song Chunlin had sharp eyes and saw him at a glance, and quickly called him over to eat together.

Gu Fengyue walked over, took the bowl and chopsticks handed to her by the vendor, and sat on the steps with Song Chunlin to eat.

After eating the hot steamed buns, their whole bodies warmed up. After eating, the two of them left the yard. As for the people who stayed behind, Song Chunlin left some silver for them and asked them to buy some daily necessities. After they settled down tomorrow, he would think about the specific whereabouts of these people.

On the way back, Gu Fengyue asked Song Chunlin: "I thought you had already made plans for them, didn't you?"

Song Chunlin showed a conflicted expression: "I did think about it. I thought that they can't do any heavy work with their physique, right? So I arranged them in the wounded camp. They should be able to take care of the wounded. But today I went to the wounded camp and saw that it was full of men. They just went through that kind of thing. It's not right to throw them into a place full of men all of a sudden. This is not right, very not right."

Only then did Gu Fengyue understand that this was what he was worried about.

"On my way back, I passed by the field I had just planted yesterday. Alas, it's hard to describe. The seeds I just planted had not yet had time to take root and sprout before they were trampled into a mess by the army's iron hooves." As he spoke, Song Chunlin looked at Gu Fengyue dimly, and Gu Fengyue covered her lips and coughed lightly.

"Hehe, this happened suddenly, didn't it? It's all the fault of the Tatars. If it weren't for them, our soldiers would never have trampled on the farmland." In fact, what he wanted to say more was that there was nothing growing on that large piece of Gobi Desert, and it was pitch black. It was good enough for them to find the direction. Who could tell whether they were standing on fields or not?

Song Chunlin actually thought about it. There was no moon last night and it was pitch black. He was naturally not afraid because of his mental strength, but ordinary people couldn't. It was understandable that he would be in a panic while riding a horse in the dark. Now he could only blame himself for his bad luck.

Seeing this, Gu Fengyue immediately changed the subject: "So you plan to take them to farm?"

Song Chunlin nodded: "Well, let's farm first. This is what they are good at. With my supervision, they don't have to worry about others harassing them."

The two of them decided on the next tasks for these people in just a few words. After returning to the government office, Song Chunlin was so tired that he didn't even want to wash his face. He just fell directly on the bed. It was Gu Fengyue who pulled him up.

"You're so dirty, you've become a little cat. Hurry up and wipe your face so you can sleep more comfortably."

Song Chunlin sat on the bed in a daze, not wanting to move. Gu Fengyue could only wipe his hands and face without complaint. Her rough technique made his cheeks red. Fortunately, Song Chunlin didn't react at all. It was because he was too tired to care.

Song Chunlin and Gu Fengyue slept until the afternoon. When Song Chunlin woke up, Gu Fengyue was not by his side as usual, and the kettle filled with spiritual spring water on the table was gone. Song Chunlin sometimes wondered, who of the two of them liked to drink the spiritual spring water to refresh themselves the most?

It was already dusk, so Song Chunlin simply took a shower, changed his clothes, ate a purple rice ball, and slowly walked to the front hall.

General Qi has also returned. A group of people are summing up the losses caused by the Tatar raid. Fortunately, except for the villagers who were killed, food and other things have been looted. People have been sent to register every household and then release them according to the number of people.

One of the deputy generals was not very satisfied with this: "General, if we distribute food based on the number of people, what if someone already has a lot of food stored at home? Isn't that unfair to them?"

"What if someone falsely reports their grain reserves? His family originally only had one dan of grain, but reported ten dan. Should we also give him ten dan? It would be better to divide the grain by the hair of the head, so that adults and children can get the same amount. If we divide it this way, there won't be much difference."

This is very pertinent. What is worrying is not the lack of food but the inequality. Instead of letting the people reveal their family identities, it is better to divide the food equally so that everyone gets a share. Those who have less food will get more and naturally will not say anything. Those who have more food will not complain if they get less, because their food had been robbed, and now they can still get some, which is a blessing in disguise.

If a more greedy general came, he might even take all the food for himself.

Song Chunlin squatted in the corner and silently finished eating a rice ball. He took out his water bag and drank a big sip of water. Then he wiped his mouth, walked around the lobby where everyone was, and went towards the door.

"Young Master Song, are you going out? Dinner will be served soon." A passing yamen runner asked in surprise. Although this little ancestor ran out all day, he actually showed up on time for three meals a day without missing a meal. What happened to him today? Why wasn't he going to eat dinner?

Song Chunlin touched his stomach and said, "Well, I'm going out to eat. Please leave the door open for me tonight!"

"Okay, don't hang out too late, come back early, I'll leave you some midnight snacks."

Song Chunlin thought about it for a while and nodded frantically: "Okay, I want to drink mutton soup!"

The bailiff laughed: "Okay, okay, I'll leave you a pot of mutton soup."

After getting the promise from the yamen runner, a satisfied Song Chunlin strode out of the government office and began to walk towards the wounded soldiers' camp. He had to go there to explain their work for tomorrow.