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Shen Wu smiled and said to Zhou Jia, “Mr. Zhou, the general has brought Young Master to patrol the military camp. Before he left, he instructed us to arrange for you to stay in Phoenix Town. At the foot of Phoenix Mountain, there is a large piece of wasteland with fertile land and convenient water sources. That place has always been barren and no one has been farming there. The general said that in order to thank Miss Li and those good men for helping my young master, he will arrange for you to be settled there. Each of you will be given 200 catties of rations and 20 acres of land. You won’t have to pay taxes for five years after the wasteland is opened. Later, a scholar will set off to Phoenix Mountain to settle you down and distribute the food and land deeds.”

Everyone was pleasantly surprised when they heard that. They thought to themselves that they had indeed come to the right place. They even had fields thanks to Xiaoyu and Mr. Zhou and did not have to pay taxes for five years.

Zhou Jia bowed and thanked the government office. “Thank you, General.”

Shen Wu waved at Zhou Jia and the villagers. “Let’s go! It’s still a day away.”

As long as they didn’t have to be soldiers, the village chief and the others felt that they were lucky to be farming anywhere.

Everyone followed Shen Wu out of the city. After resting for the night, they passed by Phoenix Town and walked east. Around the end of the afternoon, Shen Wu led everyone to a ridge surrounded by mountains on three sides.

Shen Wu pointed at the ridge in front of him and said to Zhou Jia, “Mr. Zhou, it’s this ridge. Look, there are mountains and rivers here and such a large piece of land. If it weren’t for the general’s orders, it wouldn’t have been your turn!”

Zhou Jia stuffed a money bag into Shen Wu’s hand and cupped his hands in thanks. “Thank you, Brother Shen. We’ll invite you to a gathering after we’ve settled down.”

Shen Wu took the money bag and cupped his hands with a smile. “Sure, sure. Mr. Zhou, if you need anything, you can look for me at the garrison office.”

“Thank you, Brother Shen.” Zhou Jia bowed to Shen Wu. Shen Wu rode away, leaving the villagers of West Mountain Village standing excitedly in front of the wasteland and looking at the green mountains and water in front of them.

Zhou Jia looked at everyone in a daze. “Everyone, unload the vehicles first and bring the livestock to be released. Then, we’ll go up the mountain to cut some trees and build temporary shacks.”

The village chief wiped his old tears. “Okay, let’s set up the shed first.”

Li Yu looked around the Phoenix Mountain that Shen Wu had mentioned. There was a large wasteland at the foot of the mountain. It was filled with weeds and all kinds of small bushes. There was also a mountain stream about ten feet wide. The stream was very shallow and clear.

Li Yu felt that this place was quite good. She turned around and asked Zhou Jia and Li Qing, “Do you two think this place is good? I think it’s not bad. There are mountains and rivers, and such a wide land. There are no locusts, and it’s not as dry as where we came from.”

Zhou Jia smiled. “It looks good. Let’s settle down first before making other plans.”

The village chief walked to the wasteland with a hoe and picked a few places to dig up a few piles of soil. He bent down and grabbed a handful of soil and squeezed it with his hand. He smiled and turned to look at every one. “Not bad. The soil is fertile and loose. General Shen didn’t fool us.”

After four hours, the person who went up the mountain to cut the tree carried the wood and bamboo down the mountain. Zhou Jia pointed at the high ground at the entrance. “Let’s build the shed here first. We’ll only move when the house is fixed.”

Everyone began to move. Some of the men picked up hoes and dug holes. Some mounted the wood in the holes and used axes to hammer into the soil. They dug to cover the wooden stakes and then used hoes to firm them. When the frames were done, they split bamboo to weave a fence over them.

The women cut wild grass and vines to form a straw curtain. They took it to cover the bamboo slices and tied them with vines. Two rows of straw sheds were built before nightfall.

The livestock was led to the straw shed and tied up. After they were distributed, everyone carried their luggage into their own straw shed.

After dinner, Auntie He boiled the water. Li Yu finally took her first shower in two months.

After the women took turns washing, the men also took turns washing. Everyone smelled their bodies that were no longer filthy and looked at each other and laughed happily.

Li Qing ran to Li Yu and looked at her. “Sister, are we not going to flee anymore in the future? Are we going to settle down here?”

“Yes! We won’t desert anymore. We’ll settle down here.”

Thinking about how they had been wandering around since they started fleeing, everyone sighed. “That’s great. We’ve finally settled down.”

Zhou Jia quietly held Li Yu’s hand. “Yes, we’ve settled down.”

The next morning, the village chief came to look for Zhou Jia. “Mr. Zhou, let’s choose a place to build the houses first. It’s already the beginning of August. If it’s any later, the weather will get cold.”

Zhou Jia nodded. “Yes, I’ll let Uncle Zhou see which location is good for building the houses.”

Zhou Jia found Uncle Zhou. “Uncle Zhou, can you advise where we can build house?”

Uncle Zhou looked around and pointed at the mountain not far away. “We can build them with backyards facing that mountain. After the houses are fixed, we’ll sit north and face south. There’s also a mountain stream in front that’s convenient for everyone to use.”

The village chief looked at Uncle Zhou and smiled. “Butler Zhou, you even know how to read feng shui!”

“I’ve learned some of this in the past when I followed Old Master. I know a little,” Uncle Zhou said politely.

“Even if Butler Zhou only knows a little bit, it’s enough for us. Then let’s do what Butler Zhou said. I’ll go and draw the lots. Let’s decide which shop is in which position to avoid noise.”

Li Yu pointed at the weeds and bushes that were almost as tall as a person and said to the village chief, “Grandpa Village Chief, let’s burn these weeds and bushes first before repairing the house! It will be troublesome if snakes and insects come out and bite people.”

The village chief thought that was right. “Alright, we’ll listen to Xiaoyu. Let’s burn the weeds first before we look at the foundation.”

When Chen Yaohui heard this, he took out a lighter and planned to light a fire to burn the weeds. Li Yu hurriedly stopped him. “Uncle Chen, you can’t burn them like this. It’ll be terrible if you cause a mountain fire.”

Chen Yaohui looked at Li Yu. “Then how do we burn it?”

Li Yu pointed at the foot of the mountain. “Let’s dig a few fireproof belts on the side of the mountain and light a fire so that we won’t start a mountain fire.”

“Alright, everyone, work early and repair the house.” Chen Yaohui led the way.

The adults and children all went into battle. They cut, chopped, and dug with hoes. Two hours later, a few fireproof belts that were one to two meters wide were opened. Everyone took out fire sticks and lit them everywhere. The fire crackled and burned.

Li Mei looked at the fire and said to Madam Li and Madam Qian with a smile, “The last time we explored the wasteland, it was also the fish that made the firebreak. After digging, we lit a few fires. In a while, we burned down dozens of acres of wild grass.”

“This child is really smart.” Madam Li praised.

After the weeds were burned clean, the village chief looked at the large area in front of him and was satisfied with the open and flat place. “There are only twenty or so houses in such a wide place. Let’s make them wider and further away. We can repair it however we want.”

Butcher He couldn’t help but nod. “I’d better stay at the end of the village! I don’t want to disturb everyone when I kill the pigs.”

“They’re all in the first row.” The village chief smiled and began to draw lines to divide the foundation. Pieces of land were divided and given to the families.