Food gives me an entry, I will be invincible if I stay alive

Chapter 226 The Imperial Court's Disaster Relief Grain
Chen Xu refined what he had gained through repeated contemplation.

The dragon soars through the sea of ​​clouds, vast and boundless.

This shows that the world is vast and the seas are boundless.

Although he was currently on a mountaintop, seemingly high enough to see far enough, the small village below the western cliff appeared as tiny as an anthill in Chen Xu's eyes.

But in reality, there must be infinitely high mountains beyond the mountains, and boundless oceans beyond the clouds.

He sat cross-legged on the ground, facing the little hedgehog, and suddenly began to recount the scenes from the past that he had glimpsed in a fleeting moment when he destroyed the "River God Temple" plaque.

“Ah Yuan,” Chen Xu said, “your teacher left this copy of ‘Tales of Mountains and Seas’ in your book box, surely hoping that you would venture into the boundless world.”

Wei Yuan opened his bright, clear eyes, but his tone was filled with nostalgia and a lack of confidence as he said, "But my teacher always said I was stupid."

Chen Xu chuckled softly and said, "You're not stupid at all. You're just too young. When a teacher says a student is stupid, it's only because the teacher is afraid that the student will become arrogant and frivolous and not diligent enough, so he intentionally suppresses him a bit."

The reason for saying this is that teachers still have high expectations for their students.

If a teacher has given up hope on a student, they wouldn't call the student stupid.

The little hedgehog exclaimed, "Is that so? If not having hope doesn't make you stupid, then what do you say?"

Chen Xu smiled and said, "If you really have no hope, then say nothing."

The little hedgehog immediately straightened up, sat upright on the rock, and murmured, "Is that so?"

Chen Xu said confidently, "A Yuan, you have to believe me. I've been a student of many teachers."

My teacher, Master Wu, repeatedly warned me against being reckless and aggressive, but when it came to making a decisive decision, he was ruthless and decisive, acting without hesitation.

Wei Yuan listened attentively and nodded quickly, saying, "Yes, Fellow Daoist Chen is right."

That holy child... no, that demonic child harmed me because I was too weak, and that's how I fell for his trick.

Otherwise, I possess the Earth Escape Technique, and I certainly wouldn't have been captured by those bad guys, nor would I have troubled you, Fellow Daoist Chen, to rescue me."

The topic finally circled back to Wei Yuan's earlier capture.

Chen Xu saw that the little hedgehog seemed carefree on the surface, as if it had forgotten the torment and pain it had experienced before.

But in reality... it was still affected.

While Chen Xu was cooking the emerald needle grass, Wei Yuan would occasionally sneak a glance at the small mountain village to the west.

Even after all the traces of fire in that small village disappeared, Wei Yuan still couldn't help but secretly go to take a look.

It thought Chen Xu hadn't noticed, but in fact Chen Xu had seen all its little movements.

Now that Wei Yuan had brought it up, Chen Xu asked, "Yuan, do you know why this village is haunted?"

Wei Yuan shook his head, somewhat ashamed, and said, "I was afflicted with talismans before, and after I woke up, I was locked in an iron cage. That evil Taoist priest hid very well, and I couldn't figure out her specific origins."

Chen Xu said, "It's not surprising that you can't tell, because although this heretical sect practices evil magic, they are actually native people of the village."

His tone was unhurried, and he succinctly and profoundly recounted a bizarre and tragic story in just a few words.

"A hundred years ago, the mountain roads here were impassable, and there were no villages at the foot of this mountain."

Later, a severe drought struck the north, and a group of refugees fled down the mountain to Yunjiang Prefecture. However, they arrived too late and missed out on resettlement opportunities.

At that time, the government introduced a measure that allowed people who fled famine in the north to gather in groups of a hundred to form a village.

Once an uncultivated land for building a village is found and reported to the government, one can build and live there independently. Of course, there are prerequisites for building a village independently.

First, each person must reclaim no less than ten mu of wasteland within a year. Second, after these ten mu of wasteland are reclaimed, they are exempt from tax for the first five years; thereafter, they are subject to a tax of one-tenth of the original amount.

As Wei Yuan listened, he gradually became engrossed in the story.

As it listened, it nodded and said, "A five-year tax exemption means the imperial court's disaster relief efforts are quite good."

Chen Xu laughed when he heard this. He did not directly refute Wei Yuan, but only said, "If there were no tax exemption, these people would have been forced to their deaths back then."

Although there is a five-year tax exemption, some people will clear wasteland in the mountains and fields, and after five years the imperial court will reap a large harvest of cultivated land. In any case, this deal is not a loss.

Wei Yuan suddenly had a thought and said, "This is actually a long-term solution. However, clearing the land will definitely be very difficult. Since it is a group of people who have fled famine, they must be exhausted after traveling thousands of miles."

In this situation, it would be even better if the imperial court could not only grant them tax exemptions but also provide them with some disaster relief grain.

Otherwise, it's hard to imagine how these disaster victims survived the initial days of no harvest during the land reclamation.

Chen Xu praised, "A Yuan, you have learned to see the crux of the problem at a glance."

That's exactly it. A group of people who have nothing left, not even much strength, are given a piece of land and asked to cultivate it...

No, they even had to find the land themselves. The government was only responsible for demarcating the land and erecting boundary markers after they had chosen a site.

Under such difficult circumstances, clearing land was no easy task.

Moreover, each person is required to cultivate ten acres of land per year. If the task of cultivating ten acres of land cannot be completed, these disaster victims will be expelled from Yunjiang and sent back to their original hometowns.

Having wandered thousands of miles, it is already a stroke of luck that we have been able to reach the southern border. If we are to be repatriated, who can guarantee that we will be able to return alive?

Therefore, this is a dead end where one can only struggle forward with all one's might.

Wei Yuan couldn't help but exclaim "Ah!" again, "Fellow Daoist Chen, so the imperial court really isn't distributing any disaster relief grain at all?"

Chen Xu paused for a moment, then said, "Actually, that's not necessarily true. Considering the previous events, I suspect that the imperial court actually distributed disaster relief grain."

However, you should know that some things may be well-issued at the top, but when it comes to implementation at the bottom, they may not be implemented in every aspect.

This village... well, this village is far too remote. Their disaster relief supplies were probably swallowed up at some point in the process.

When they arrived, all they found were ten acres of barren wasteland.

Wei Yuan asked with concern, "And then what happened? Fellow Daoist Chen, did these people succeed in clearing the wasteland?"

Chen Xu said, "Of course it was successful. If it hadn't been successful, the village of a hundred people would no longer exist."

But do you know how they succeeded?

Wei Yuan, being a suitable straight man, immediately pressed for details upon hearing this.

Chen Xu then said, "This is the beginning of the tragedy that has befallen Xiaopo Village."

The refugees from that year gathered together. Among them was a man who knew some witchcraft. In order for everyone to successfully clear the land within the time limit and to help them survive the days before the harvest, he performed these rituals.

The village shaman proposed human sacrifice back then.

Then, Chen Xu recounted a cruel past event that was beyond Wei Yuan's imagination.

(End of this chapter)