Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 115 White Disaster
In the dead of winter, as Sang Yang'an was building a house with the villagers, a woman from the neighborhood called out.

"Snowing!"

"It's really snowing! It's finally snowing!"

Sang Yang'an looked up at the snowflakes that had begun to fall from the sky, a look of joy on his face.

"Pack up and head home! If it's still snowing in half an hour, have Old Li send a message to the county saying it's snowing!"

Sang Yang'an's words cheered the others up; the gloomy sky and falling snowflakes couldn't dampen the enthusiasm in their hearts.

"it is good!"

The local woman, Aunt Liu, happily agreed, and then called out to the girls who were pushing a cart of dirt over: "Put your things down, let's go home. We'll have the head of the household slaughter a sheep for us today, the girls are craving meat! They haven't had any for days!"

Sang Yang'an had a child, and although her first child was a girl, she was very happy and developed a newfound tolerance for other children.

"Alright! Let's go back! We'll slaughter a sheep for dinner today!"

Because of the incompetence of the higher-level officials, Sang Yang'an has now been promoted to township head.

Township heads have 100 households, town heads have 1,000 households, county heads have 10,000 households, and prefects have 100,000 households. Beijiwu is currently 100,000 households.

Although nominally there are only 30,000 households, in reality, 100,000 households belong to Arctic Martial.

Some people fled and some died, but fortunately the Tatars ransomed them with slaves, exchanging the wives and daughters of the invaders for them.

The girls in Village 1311 were Mongolian girls who had been sold by their families. At this time, because most people still couldn't communicate with each other, they acted very unfamiliar with each other.

Fortunately, many of the people they sold to were of mixed Han and non-Han descent who could speak Mongolian. On the way home, several Mongolian girls learned that they were going to eat mutton that day, and they were immediately happy.

Here, you can eat three meals a day: rice porridge and steamed buns. Sometimes you can also have noodles and flatbread.

The daily work is no longer the farm work on the grassland, but rather things like carrying vegetables, cleaning, washing clothes, cooking, and working in the fields.

Sang Yang'an reads the newspaper to the villagers every day and also teaches the children to recognize characters.

Newspapers were expensive, costing ten coins a sheet, but they were a necessity in Baihu Village. Everyone wanted to know about the outside world, so they were willing to use village funds to buy newspapers.

The next day, Sang Yang'an bought today's newspaper from the postman at the post station.

"Your village is in the newspaper." The old man at the post station chuckled as he handed over the newspaper. He then walked over to the tin stove, sat down, and slowly sipped his tea from an iron teacup.

Sang Yang'an quickly searched and soon found Village 1311 on the list.
1311 is an internal number. The village of 1311 also has a new name: Hetou Village.

"It has been snowing in Hetou Village, Shuozhou for 24 hours, with a snow depth of 22 centimeters, and it has not stopped yet."

"Snowfall in Yingzhou Shanyin Village lasted for 18 hours, with a snow depth of 41 centimeters."

"Snowfall in northern Tongju lasted for about 36 hours, with a snow depth of 55 centimeters."

"Snowfall in Gaoliu County lasted for 20 hours, with a snow depth of 17 centimeters."

……

"The heavy snow in Taiyuan Prefecture has not stopped for fifteen days, and countless people and livestock have died."

"Heavy snow in northern Shaanxi, with snow accumulating several feet on the plains and two meters in the valleys. Many Turkic sheep and horses died, and people starved to death and resorted to cannibalism."

"Yulin was hit by heavy snow for twenty days, with snow accumulation reaching two meters. Camels and horses in the border region all died, and starving people dug up rats to eat."

Sang Yang'an became increasingly alarmed as he looked at the scene; the joy that had just risen yesterday instantly turned into fear.

Fortunately, as I continued reading, I came across Arctic Martial's orders.

"The chief of the mountain tribe, Beijiwu, issued an order requiring all production teams along the route to keep the pipelines clear so that the army could distribute relief food and coal for heating. Except for a small number of people on duty, all military households should have stoves in their houses, pay attention to ventilation, and place livestock in the houses for early warning."

"It is required that people be gathered in each village and that the stoves be kept burning. Those who are poor can live in the commune. Snow will be cleared from their houses regularly and they will be centrally resettled."

"Those who are short of fuel can report to the local station for unified reinforcement."

"Cattle and sheep will be slaughtered as needed, with priority given to human lives. Each person is required to have meat once a day to keep warm through the winter."

“Each village should gather one-third of its labor force to be ready for deployment at any time. If there is not enough fuel for seven days, it should be reported in advance.”

“Workers in the mining area are working hard to dig coal, and straw in the fields can be used by themselves without any restrictions.”

"Those who take advantage of the situation to cause trouble, kill them!"

Sang Yang'an felt much more at ease after seeing the rescue efforts from Arctic Martial Arts.

Old Man Mi at the post station looked at Sang Yang'an and asked gently, "Does your village have enough food and fuel?"

Sang Yang'an immediately replied, "There is definitely enough food. Every household sets aside grain according to the number of people. My family has three people, two adults and one child, and we set aside 850 catties of grain."

"There's a lot of coal piled up in the village, along with this year's harvested straw and leftover wood and branches from building houses. It'll be enough to burn until next year."

Old Man Mi, holding a cup of tea infused with red dates, remarked with emotion, "The wheat has ripened a thousand times, but this is the first time we've encountered such a good emperor. We don't have to pay taxes, we're well-fed and clothed, and he even thinks of us when trouble comes our way."

Beiji Wu was neither an emperor nor a prince, but Sang Yang'an smiled and said, "That's right! There's no better emperor than this!"

Everyone tacitly accepted the imperial rule of the Arctic Army.

Needless to say, their martial arts skills were earned through fighting; their territory was originally theirs.

In just one year, everyone has witnessed the governance capabilities of the mountain farmers.

Sang Yang'an had no time for idle chatter; he grabbed the newspaper and immediately went back to gather the villagers to begin their work.

It wasn't just Sang Yang'an who took action; all the higher and lower levels of the various villages and garrisons were also mobilized.

Those who froze to death could not be replaced, and fines and penalties would be imposed. In addition, this was a mandatory order from the Arctic Army, and the commanders who were granted fiefdoms personally went to their subordinates to inquire about the situation and show concern for the grassroots.

Most of the houses of the mountain farmers are adobe houses, and a small number are brick houses.

Their disaster resistance is much better than thatched houses, and since they were all recently built, their stress resistance is much better.

The abundant coal mines and anthracite production were enough to keep 500,000 people warm. With enough food and clothing, a stable supply of fuel and other resources, and mutual support among densely populated settlements, the rescue work became much easier.

As long as you have enough to eat and a sheltered place to live, even if the whole family is crammed into a haystack, they can survive. Now, with sheepskin coats and cotton quilts, and the help of iron pots, hot water, and soup, getting through the winter will be much easier.

The situation on the grasslands was much worse. Although they had no shortage of furs for warmth, they had very little fuel.

Large numbers of cattle, sheep, and horses froze to death, and with the heavy snow blocking the mountains, the nearest places were dozens of miles away, and they were quickly buried in the snowstorm.

This disaster swept across the entire Northwest region, rapidly eliminating a large number of the elderly, the infirm, the disabled, and children with intellectual disabilities and deformities in some areas where the population was already dwindling.

***
After confirming that his hundreds of thousands of men were safe, Beijiwu enjoyed a rare moment of leisure, basking in the warm winter sun in the clean, high-walled courtyard.

The women and children in the courtyard were also sitting in the sun, chatting and laughing from time to time.

These women, confined to their ten-acre courtyard all day to farm, work, eat, drink, and relieve themselves, have no idea what's going on outside.

Beijiwu sat in the courtyard, wondering if he should send them all back to Beitian Village in a few years.

"Kitada Village must have changed by now, right?" Beiji Wu frowned and quickly decided to send someone to tell the Kitada Village chief not to change anything there, and to let the women in his family take care of them in their old age.

Or if any of my sons or daughters misbehave in the future, I'll lock them up in our hometown and not let them out.

"It's better when there are fewer people~"

Beijiwu felt that the current number of people was good enough; managing 30,000 households and over 100,000 people was manageable, but any more would be too much to handle.

The same goes for the women in the family. If there are too many women, it's impossible to take care of them all. Besides, I'm not at home every day; I have my own things to do too.

Five hundred thousand people is about the size of a county town. I can manage one-third of it myself, and the rest can share two-thirds. As long as my 30,000 military households don't cause any problems, there won't be any issues.

Even if we continue to attack Yanmen Pass and capture it, we won't be happy. Beijiwu feels that the weather has been bad these past few years, and the land we've taken over is just a wasteland.

Since we have enough grain to eat, we might as well improve our iron smelting technology and military and civil administration first.

Beiji Wu did not attack Yanmen Pass, but the general guarding Yanmen Pass had been on guard against Beiji Wu for the past year.

The soldiers trained on how to shoot Arctic warriors and how to defend their country at any cost for their wives, children, and elderly parents.

While slaughtering his fellow villagers who wanted to flee to the north, he listened to the tragic news of his parents, wife, and children dying horribly behind him.

Natural disasters and man-made calamities turned these people into orphans, and the continuous heavy snow caused more than a dozen low-ranking soldiers at Yanmen Pass to freeze to death.

Then every day, one could see plump and well-off Jinzhou merchants, dressed in cotton-padded clothes, smoothly conducting legal trade with the Shan Nong tribe after giving the general some money.

While the imperial court was doing business with the mountain farmers, it treated its own people as less than human, yet it also told them to protect their homes and country, claiming that the mountain farmers were evil.

The Wen Dynasty has only been established for two or three years, and now it is already enraged by the people and resented by the government. It has no one to blame but itself!

***
On the first day of the new year, Beijiwu, who was spending the holiday in Shuozhou City, received a report from his subordinates.

"Reporting to the master! Bai Mu, Yan Shuangli, and other generals guarding Yanmen Pass have surrendered with their troops and are willing to submit to the master!!"

The messenger knelt on the ground excitedly, his hunched body unable to conceal his pride and joy.

Arctic Martial frowned. He really didn't want this place, nor did he want to continue fighting.

Arctic Wu was very unwilling to take over Yanmen Pass.

Yanmen Pass is the core barrier of northern Shanxi. Once Yanmen Pass is breached, the fall of the entire central Shanxi region will be only a matter of time.

Beijiwu really couldn't understand why those people would surrender to him when he was living a perfectly good life at home.
Want some of my millet?!

Thinking of this, Beijiwu said directly: "Let them continue to defend Yanmen Pass, give them 1,000 shi of grain, 2,000 frozen sheep, 500 sets of cotton clothes and quilts for warmth, and another 10,000 taels of silver."

"Give them another 50,000 shi of relief grain during the New Year so they can distribute it to the people."

Beijiwu figured they were probably hungry during the New Year and wanted a hot meal, so he gave them a lot of food.

Anyway, a lot of sheep have died recently. The snow is still falling on and off outside, and the price of a sheep has long since fallen below 100 coins. A 50-pound sheep can't even be exchanged for 50 pounds of grain.

Many people have dead sheep frozen solid everywhere in their homes, and they simply can't finish them all.

****
Outside Yanmen Pass, heavy snow was falling.

A group of people happily led their horses towards Yanmen Pass.

"Brothers, open the door quickly! We've got the grain and silver! Over two thousand head of mutton, fifty thousand shi of grain, and ten thousand taels of silver! The mountain farmers are truly generous!!"

Upon hearing the general's words, the soldiers on the city wall were no longer afraid of the cold and began to shout.

"The general is back! The mountain farmers have brought us silver, grain, and cotton-padded clothes!"

"Surrender!"

"Haha! We should have voted a long time ago!"

"Open the gate! Welcome King Wu!!"

After Yanmen Pass surrendered, several garrison commanders personally went to persuade the others to surrender as well.

Within two days, Yanmen Pass, Daizhou, Xinzhou, and Yangqu Shiling Pass, strategic locations stretching 240 li, surrendered and rebelled one after another.

"Even Yanmen Pass has surrendered, what are we still holding on for? Everyone has surrendered, are you going to kill our entire families?"

"Exactly! When the emperor killed us Jinzhou people, did he ever consider that those people were all Han Chinese?!"

"Even if we surrender, we can still be Han Chinese. The mountain farmers won't kill us Han Chinese. If we surrender, we'll get land, women, and silver. Is it better for us to be officials under Emperor Wen or Emperor Wu?"

"We can't win anyway. Even if the mountain farmers come in, they won't kill us or our families. Let's surrender, otherwise we'll all be killed by that beast, Prince Jin."

Unable to resist the persuasion of his men, the general guarding Shiling Pass united his entire army, turned their arrows inward, and began to help the mountain farmers defend Taiyuan City, which was fifty miles away.

The distance from Taiyuan to Luoyang is less than 800 li, and the time for the emperor to receive news from the front lines was drawing ever closer. On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, he received an urgent report from the border.

(End of this chapter)