Chapter 305: Resettlement Site (Thanks to the book friend Ye Xiaomei for the reward!)
At first glance, Song Wenhui's series of actions seem very sincere. If it were someone else, they might have been moved to tears and cried bitterly, devoting themselves to Song Wenhui until their death...
But unfortunately, Zhen Sanshan, who had fought against the government troops all his life, was cunning and treacherous. No matter how Song Wenhui tried to show his kindness, he just wouldn't take the bait and ignored Song Wenhui.

Song Wenhui's methods were like flirting with a blind man, all of them were useless!

Song Wenhui, who had no choice but to find an ally, had to think of another way. At this time, the talkative Liu Peng, who had been bribed by him earlier, reported Jiang Chong's situation to Song Wenhui.

Seeing that Zhen Sanshan remained indifferent, Song Wenhui, after careful discussion with his trusted advisers, decided to instigate Jiang Chong to rebel and hoped to let Jiang Chong replace Zhen Sanshan.

Although Jiang Chong does not have as high prestige as Zhen Sanshan in the green forest, as the chief artilleryman and number one general under Zhen Sanshan, his reputation in the green forest is incomparable to ordinary people!

Song Wenhui's advisers estimated that if Jiang Chong killed Zhen Sanshan and took over, with his own reputation and appeal, plus Song Wenhui's intentional support, it should not be a problem for him to gather 50,000 troops from the green forest. With the addition of such a new force, Song Wenhui would be more confident of a quick victory over the Zhenwu Army...
According to the plan discussed by Song Wenhui's advisers, they planned to send a large army to Posuo Prefecture and pretend to suppress bandits in Posuo Prefecture. This way, they could deceive and paralyze the Zhenwu Army, making them think that Song Wenhui had no intention of dealing with them for the time being, thus allowing the Zhenwu Army to relax their vigilance.

Then they instigated Jiang Chong to defect in front of the enemy, quickly defeated Zhen Sanshan, and then swallowed up the money, food, and men and horses that Zhen Sanshan had accumulated over the years, and then attacked the Zhenwu Army by surprise.

But now, due to the problems that occurred on Jiang Chong's side, the plan needs to be modified in details and needs to be considered in the long run.

In fact, the reason why Song Wenhui was so eager to drag Zhen Sanshan into the water was that he needed an ally to help him deal with the Zhenwu Army.

He also had other ideas. In order to achieve his goal of a quick victory over the Zhenwu Army, he must concentrate all the troops in his hands as much as possible, form a fist, and launch an attack on the Zhenwu Army!

If the war in Changqing Prefecture goes against one's will and does not develop as expected, Song Wenhui will want to withdraw the 10,000 troops originally deployed around Posuo Prefecture to defend Zhensan Mountain and send them to Changqing Prefecture for reinforcement.

In this way, the Liaoyang hinterland controlled by Song Wenhui would be wide open and empty, which would give Zhen Sanshan an opportunity to march straight in.

As long as Zhen Sanshan is willing, he may gather troops at any time, march directly to the city of Dongning, and stab Song Wenhui in the back to make him lose everything...
Zhen Sanshan had every reason to do so. Before the Zhenwu Army appeared, Song Wenhui had always wanted to suppress bandits, strengthen his control over the entire Liaoyang Province, better integrate Liaoyang's resources, solve his own financial problems, and thus devote himself to the great cause of dominating the world!

Therefore, Zhen Sanshan, as the leader of the Liaoyang Green Gang, has been Song Wenhui's number one enemy for more than a decade. The two sides have been fighting for so many years and have developed countless grudges and hatreds. If there is a chance to kill Song Wenhui, I believe Zhen Sanshan will definitely be willing to help.

In this context, when Song Wenhui made overall considerations, he naturally had to take the huge risk of Zhen Sanshan into account.

Therefore, pulling Zhen Sanshan into the water is the best way Song Wenhui can think of to solve the problem at present. It not only solves the danger of Zhen Sanshan stabbing in the back, but also adds tens of thousands of new forces that are enough to influence the situation. It can be said to kill two birds with one stone!
Of course, there are pros and cons to doing anything. Although Song Wenhui's plan is good, if he fails to kill Zhen Sanshan, Zhen Sanshan, an old gun with a vengeful character, will definitely not swallow his anger and will definitely gather people and fight Song Wenhui to the end.

As the saying goes, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend. There are no eternal friends, nor eternal enemies, only eternal interests." In the face of Song Wenhui, a common enemy, the Zhenwu Army and Zhen Sanshan are likely to unite together to deal with Song Wenhui. In that case, Song Wenhui will have no advantage at all and may even be at a disadvantage!

As for the direction things will develop next, it depends on Song Wenhui's next series of actions!
But it has to be said that although Song Wenhui is a little indecisive when making decisions, once he makes up his mind, he has the courage to risk everything...
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December 25th
Ye Mingsheng rode a tall horse, accompanied by hundreds of personal guards and more than a dozen Fengzhou officials, and headed towards Fengzhou City, Tutang Village, seventy miles south of the city.

Three months ago, Tutang Village was just a small village with a population of only about 300 people. However, with the implementation of Ye Mingsheng's immigration policy, Tutang Village became a resettlement site for Ye Mingsheng to temporarily accommodate immigrants.

The weather in Liaoyang in December was freezing cold, and it was common for people to freeze to death. However, under the temptation of tax exemption and land distribution, countless poor people oppressed by the gentry class still came to their dream home with their families, braving the biting cold.

They longed to live a good life in Fengzhou, under the rule of Ye Mingsheng, where everyone who tills the land owns their own land, everyone who lives in the house owns their own house, and everyone has enough food and clothing...
Because it is winter now, most production operations cannot be carried out, so Ye Mingsheng can only temporarily resettle these immigrants.

Because he was worried that these ordinary people would disrupt the good order that had been established with great difficulty in Fengzhou City and cause the crime rate in the town to soar, Ye Mingsheng decided after discussing with officials such as Murong Yuliang to set up the 17 villages around Fengzhou City as immigration resettlement sites to accommodate these ordinary people who came from afar!
Whether in ancient times or in modern times, population is both wealth and a problem. It can allow rulers to obtain demographic dividends and develop faster.

But a series of problems will also arise. They need to eat, they need clothes, they need shelter, and when their material needs are met, they will hope to get spiritual support...

If you fail to satisfy them step by step, you will be backfired by public opinion, defeated, torn into pieces, and thrown into the dustbin of history.

In order to prevent these immigrants from causing trouble, Ye Mingsheng came up with the magic weapon of work-for-relief. He gathered the young and strong among these immigrants, built mud houses in the resettlement site, and settled more immigrants who came here for the sake of their reputation.

In addition, Ye Mingsheng also sent some immigrants with craftsmanship to his craftsman camp, temporarily alleviating his need for craftsmen and speeding up the replacement of his troops and weapons. The arrival of a large number of immigrants led to a huge increase in the demand for food in Fengzhou. Ye Mingsheng had no good solution for this, so he could only implement a liquor restriction order in Fengzhou, prohibiting the use of grain to make wine. Both officials and civilians had to be frugal and reduce pomp and circumstance, and violators would be severely punished.

Then, using the government's guidance prices, the government would forcibly purchase the grain hoarded by grain merchants and landlords, in addition to their food rations, and finally the government would distribute all the grain in a unified manner based on local demand.

Saving money was not enough, Ye Mingsheng naturally had to increase revenue. In order to obtain enough food, Ye Mingsheng sold the iron ore and coal produced in Fengzhou to the Dalongchang Trading Company, and exchanged food from the Dalongchang Trading Company and other channels...
Thanks to Ye Mingsheng's many initiatives, people in Fengzhou, whether they were the original inhabitants or the immigrants, could no longer eat well or well enough.

But at least everyone can have food to eat. Up to now, no one has starved to death in Fengzhou, where hundreds of people starved to death in previous years!

Arriving at the resettlement site of Tutang Village, Ye Mingsheng rejected the grand welcome ceremony offered by Liu Zecheng, the official in charge of the place, and instead walked in very low-key. He wanted to see how these immigrants who came here for their dreams were living under his policies.

Although the immigrants who fled Fengzhou in the resettlement site did not know who the well-dressed, strong, heroic and dignified young man in front of them was, when they saw the officials accompanying him and the soldiers protecting him, they naturally knew that Ye Mingsheng was a high-ranking official. Everyone consciously made way for Ye Mingsheng and bowed to him along the way.

Looking at these pale, skinny, ragged immigrants in the resettlement site, Ye Mingsheng felt heavy-hearted and also felt the heavy responsibility on his shoulders...

Since Ye Mingsheng has recruited these people to Fengzhou, it is his responsibility to help them get rid of the poor days of exploitation, humiliation, and fear in the past and live a well-off life with enough food and clothing!

Although these immigrants looked very miserable, Ye Mingsheng felt somewhat comforted that their eyes were not empty and numb like those of the walking dead.

These people, regardless of gender, age or status, all have the glittering light of hope in their eyes, which makes Ye Mingsheng deeply gratified. As long as they feel hope, they will have motivation, and he can mobilize their enthusiasm for production work through various measures, thereby unleashing all their energy and allowing them to grow together with Fengzhou!

"How is the current food supply at the resettlement site? How is the public security situation?" After touring the resettlement site, Ye Mingsheng asked Liu Zecheng, the official in charge:
Facing Ye Mingsheng's question, Liu Zecheng did not dare to be careless, and immediately answered respectfully:

"Reporting to the general, according to the rules set by the prefect, the young and strong working in the refugee settlements are inevitably given one catty of food a day, and the elderly, weak, women, and children are all given half a catty of food. There are currently more than 1,300 young and strong people in our Tutang Village resettlement site, and the rest of the elderly, weak, women, and children, a total of more than 2,700 people, and the total food required is about 22 stones per day!"

"Food is delivered from the city every seven days, so the supply is acceptable. It will only last for one or two nights at most. If everyone tightens their belts and catches some fish in the frozen river nearby, they will be able to get through this!"

Ye Mingsheng frowned slightly when he heard this, but did not say anything. Although he had tried his best to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, he had only managed to keep the food situation in Fengzhou at a balanced level. There was no excess food that could be supplied to these resettlement sites in advance.

But now the environment outside is covered with ice and snow. In the absence of a weather forecast, even the most experienced hunters cannot tell when it will blow and snow!
Under such harsh natural conditions, it is normal for the transportation team to rely only on livestock and manpower to have a little delay in the delivery of food. Even if Ye Mingsheng issues an administrative order, it cannot completely solve this problem.
What Ye Mingsheng can do is to obtain more food from various channels as much as possible, and reduce the human factors that cause delays in food delivery through the implementation and adjustment of government orders!

After talking about food supply, Liu Zecheng quietly observed Ye Mingsheng's facial expressions before continuing:

"General, at the beginning, some of these immigrants did steal other people's food and occupy the houses with better locations. Some were even so bold as to commit rape!"

"But we all strictly followed your orders, sir, and dealt with such vicious incidents severely and strictly. After chopping off a few heads, the public security situation in the resettlement site gradually improved. At present, there have been no public security incidents in the entire resettlement site for nearly a month, and everything is in order!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded with satisfaction after hearing this. In this feudal society, common people generally have the tendency to be reluctant to leave their homeland. Therefore, most of those who dare to immigrate from their homeland, apart from being oppressed and unable to survive in their original place, are also very courageous!
Being bold is a good thing in some situations, but a bad thing in others.

As the saying goes, severe punishments are needed in troubled times. In today's complex environment, Ye Mingsheng has no way to implement completely fair trials and criminal laws. He can only use thunderbolts to show his bodhisattva heart and use death to make the vast majority of people feel awe, so as to ensure order and guarantee the survival rights of the vast majority of people...

After learning some basic information about the resettlement site from Liu Zecheng, Ye Mingsheng also walked into the simple mud houses built for the immigrants and experienced the immigrants' daily living environment firsthand.

This mud house is indeed simple and the space inside is very small, but it is still sturdy and can shelter from wind and snow. There is also a fire pit inside the house to provide some warmth so that people will not freeze to death in the cold wind.

(End of this chapter)