Chapter 257: Settling The Refugees
After sleeping, Xie Chong felt much better.
Qin Wanwan didn’t sleep much at noon and woke up early; now she had already run out to find food.
Yu Wuyou also returned right at mealtime.
When Xie Chong found them, the two were sitting under the grapevine eating nuomi cakes and flower cakes.
Qin Wanwan was eating what was in her bowl while thinking about other things.
“I want to eat roast duck.”
Yu Wuyou also thought of the plump ducks he had seen before, and his eyes lit up.
“When are we going to catch them?”
Qin Wanwan looked up and saw Xie Chong walking over. He, with his fair, chubby little hands, was still holding pastries and ran over happily.
“Daddy, can we catch ducks?”
Xie Chong nodded: “Yes.”
The military camp raised so many ducks, and they were all plump; catching and eating them was fine.
“The locust plague has passed.”
These days had been mentally exhausting, but the outcome was good.
It’s just that… the money he had just earned was basically all spent, and he was poor again.
He touched his flat sachet at his waist and sighed.
“Daddy, what’s wrong?”
She held a flower cake and offered it to Xie Chong: “You eat.”
Xie Chong took a bite and ate half of the flower cake directly.
Qin Wanwan looked at it and continued to feed her daddy.
Yu Wuyou stood on the table picking grapes.
“It’s nothing, I’m thinking about the feasibility of buying wine to earn money.”
Qin Wanwan nodded understandingly: “Oh, Daddy, you’re short on money again.”
Xie Chong clenched his fist and coughed twice: “During this period, many people have come to sell locusts, and after a while, many more will come to sell soybeans.”
Not only did they have to collect soybeans, but they also had to purchase grain.
Although there was some grain tax, the border pass had a small population, and the grain tax alone was not enough; they had to spend money to buy some.
Qin Wanwan pointed at the grapes: “We can make grape wine.”
Xie Chong also looked at the grapes.
Little Qilin’s plants grew well, and the grapes were no exception.
Although there were dense, uncountable bunches of grapes hanging, the grapevine was very nutritious, and the grapes grew very well.
Crucially, they were also delicious.
“Grape wine? Is it that kind of grape wine from the Western Regions?”
Qin Wanwan shook her head: “I don’t know, I haven’t had wine from the Western Regions.”
“But we can make grape wine ourselves.”
Xie Chong patted Qin Wanwan’s head: “Okay, we’ll make our own.”
However, most of the grapes were not yet ripe; it would be about time after the wheat harvest.
After the locust plague passed, the commoners made a small profit, and their grain was mostly preserved.
Most importantly, the commoners who had fled to the border pass also saved some money, which ignited their hope of survival.
With money, the commoners were all smiles and were willing to buy some good things in town.
This directly stimulated a lot of commerce in the town, and Shahe City thus became even more lively.
Walking on the road, Qin Wanwan could hear everyone praising her daddy.
She was very happy.
“My daddy is a good general.”
Yu Wuyou nodded indifferently, not caring about the reputation.
They arrived at the city gate and saw many temporary straw sheds.
These were built by the refugees.
Looking at the refugees, Xie Chong said to Yu Wuyou: “I’ll have to trouble you to examine them.”
Great disasters are often accompanied by great epidemics.
Droughts were fine; most people starved to death.
Floods were generally linked to epidemics.
However, as a precaution, Xie Chong still had to inspect them first to ensure that these people were not carrying any infectious diseases before he could rest assured to arrange them.
For other places, these refugees were a troublesome burden to get rid of, but for Xie Chong, they were exactly the population and labor force he needed.
The border pass had too few people, and most of the land was idle, which was a great waste.
While Yu Wuyou went to see the refugees, Qin Wanwan stayed by his side, occasionally propping her chin on her hands and looking with curiosity.
Yu Wuyou was not the only doctor examining the refugees; other doctors, and even doctors from the military camp, had also come.
However, among all the doctors, Yu Wuyou looked the least like a doctor.
But with just one glance, he identified several people in the refugee camp.
“Those two have tuberculosis, those few have measles, those few are also infected, and that one…”
Following the direction of his finger, the people around those pointed out instantly scattered, their faces filled with terror.
“You… you have tuberculosis!”
“I knew your cough wasn’t right. Doctor, doctor, please check me quickly. I’ve been with him these past few days. Who knew it was tuberculosis, you heartless people!”
Several people looked terrified and sought out the doctor.
Tuberculosis was a deadly disease.
Xie Chong immediately ordered people to isolate the ones Yu Wuyou pointed out in a separate location.
“Daddy, what illnesses do those people have?”
Qin Wanwan curiously pointed at a few people with pale faces and miserable expressions. Her daddy hadn’t said what illnesses they had.
Yu Wuyou whispered into the little one’s ear: “Venereal disease.”
Xie Chong, who was behind them: …………
Although Yu Wuyou was carefree, looking at those few people, most of whom were women, he also knew that if he said it publicly, those women would probably not be able to survive even if they settled here in the future.
On the road fleeing famine, women had the hardest time.
The other doctors, seeing that Yu Wuyou had diagnosed so many patients without even taking their pulse, were somewhat disbelieving.
Mainly, Yu Wuyou didn’t look like a doctor; he looked more like a young master.
And he was so young.
But he was General Xie’s man.
They didn’t believe it and went to take their pulses and examine them, and then they all fell silent.
They were… they were all correct!
Instantly, the doctors looked at Yu Wuyou with different eyes.
After isolating the sick individuals, Xie Chong and his men recorded the information of the rest and then distributed them to the villages.
It was a separate village that was established.
Although Qin Wanwan had nothing to do, she was still very busy.
One moment she was scurrying around with her short legs to find Daddy Xie, and the next she was looking for Daddy Yu Wuyou.
When she didn’t want to look for her daddy, she found something to do herself.
She ran to a group of children.
“Did you also flee here?”
A few skinny, sallow-faced children looked at Qin Wanwan approaching with a wary expression.
It wasn’t their fault; although they were young, they had lost family members along the way and had seen all sorts of human indifference, even scenes of cannibalism, so they were habitually wary of everything.
“Here you go.”
Qin Wanwan took out two soft, white steamed buns.
The children’s eyes lit up when they saw the steamed buns, but they didn’t dare to take them.
“You can eat them, I’m not a bad person, I came with my daddy.”
She pointed at Xie Chong.
The children’s wariness decreased significantly when they saw Xie Chong.
“Thank… thank you…”
One child took a steamed bun and immediately turned to share it with the other children.
With their guard lowered, they were naturally willing to talk to Qin Wanwan.
“Can… can you ask the Great General to catch some bad guys?”
After finishing the small steamed buns, one child bravely spoke to Qin Wanwan with red eyes.
