Chapter Twenty-Four: Return to Dragon Tiger Village

  Chen Chu rode his horse towards Longhu Village at a gallop. He was somewhat impatient to see what changes had taken place in his village.

  Not long after, Chen Chu saw from a distance that high fences stood upright at the location of Longhu Village, and within the fenced area, new buildings could be vaguely seen.

  Chen Chu was somewhat surprised and unknowingly quickened his pace.

  When they arrived at the entrance of the village, they saw a large crowd of people standing there, with over a thousand people. Chen Chu couldn't help but be amazed, in just one and a half months, how did Longhu Village have so many people!

  Chen Chu saw that the person standing at the front of the crowd was Deng Gong and the energetic Zhang Rui. Chen Chu dismounted his horse, and at this time, Deng Gong came up to him in three strides, closely followed by several young villagers whom Chen Chu had met before.

  Deng Gong had not yet arrived in front of Chen Chu, but someone else had already rushed ahead of him. This person was none other than Zhang Liao's younger sister, Zhang Rui.

  "Big brother, you're back!", Zhang Rui exclaimed happily as she jumped in front of Chen Chu. Then she looked behind Chen Chu and asked puzzled: "Big brother, where's my brother?"

  "I'll let Wen Yuan stay in the county office for a while, and I'll be back soon."

  Zhang Rui still wanted to say something to Chen Chu, but at this time Deng Gong and the others had already arrived in front of Chen Chu. So Zhang Rui stood very sensibly behind Chen Chu and didn't speak again.

  "My lord!", Deng Gong exclaimed excitedly as he knelt down, the others following suit. Together they spoke in unison, their voices carrying far and wide across the empty plains, creating a majestic scene.

  "Deng Gong, didn't I tell you not to perform the ritual of kneeling and bowing? ", Chen Chu said with a hint of reproach as she helped Deng Gong up. Then she shouted to the people around her: "Everyone get up!"

  "Thank you, sir."

  Then, Chen Chu and Deng Gong walked hand in hand into Longhu Village. In fact, Longhu Village should no longer be called a village, it's more suitable to call it a town. The original low and dilapidated thatched cottages were gone, replaced by rows of newly built wooden houses, and the area of the village had increased several times compared to before.

  Chen Chu also found that the villagers' mental outlook was completely different from half a month ago, and everyone's face was filled with yearning for the future. When the villagers saw Chen Chu, they would still show genuine gratitude.

  Chen Chu couldn't help but feel a little dazed, being looked at by so many people with eyes full of reverence and admiration, something he had never experienced before.

  Under the leadership of Deng Gong, Chen Chu came to the center of the village, where a two-story wooden villa stood out from the surrounding houses, surrounded by an earthen wall that enclosed a courtyard.

  "Deng Gong, what is this?" Chen Chu looked at Deng Gong with a questioning expression. In fact, he had already guessed roughly and just wanted to confirm it.

  Deng Gong smiled respectfully and replied: "My lord, this was built by the villagers for you."

  Chen Chu nodded and walked in without saying much. Deng Gong, Zhang Rui and others followed behind him.

  As soon as he entered the villa, he saw all kinds of furniture. These pieces of furniture were very new and obviously made by the villagers for him.

  Chen Chu nodded in satisfaction and couldn't help but praise Deng Gong in his heart: He really is meticulous when it comes to handling matters.

  After walking around the new house, Chen Chu and Deng Gong, Zhang Rui and others sat down in the main hall.

  "Deng Gong, tell me about the current situation in our Longhu Village." Chen Chu said to Deng Gong with some expectation.

  "Yes, milord." Deng Gong replied with a fist bump.

  Deng Gong took out a bamboo scroll from his sleeve and said, "The master had entrusted me with two tasks: one was to build houses on a large scale, and the other was to open up wasteland. Now that it has been a month and a half since then, we have newly opened up 10,000 mu of grain fields, bringing our total to 15,000 mu; the new houses can accommodate more than 4,000 people."

  Chen Chu nodded, such a short period of time to achieve such results under the condition of complete self-reliance is already quite good, it can be seen that Deng Gong and other villagers are very dedicated and hardworking.

  "Very good, Comrade Deng and everyone else have done a great job."

  "Thank you, sir." Deng Gong said with a clenched fist, his expression extremely excited and delighted.

  "Master Deng, just now when I came in, I saw that there are many more people in the village than before. Are they all the refugees that I asked Wei Zhuanggui to help recruit?"

  Deng Gong nodded, but his expression turned somewhat bitter. "Master," he said, "what you saw just now was only a fifth of the village's population. The others are all working outside the village."

  Chen Chu was shocked, according to Deng Gong's words, Longhu Village now has a population of nearly 6,000.

  "What's going on? I only asked Wei Zhuang to recruit 3,000 able-bodied refugees into the village, how did so many more people appear?" Chen Chu frowned, his tone somewhat displeased. This wasn't because he was unwilling to help the displaced refugees, but rather because of limited capacity, and it was fundamentally impossible to support so many mouths. Six thousand people! The 700,000 catties of grain that Chen Chu had Wei Zhuang purchase would be hard-pressed to last until the summer harvest. To support these six thousand people, nearly a million catties of grain would be needed, with a shortfall of up to 300,000 catties.

  Feeling Chen Chu's displeasure, Deng Gong hastily said: "Your Excellency, this matter actually doesn't blame Wei Zhanggui. Wei Zhanggui only sent over a thousand people, the others all came on their own after hearing the news."

  Chen Chu was suddenly speechless. The current situation is turbulent, the people are struggling to survive, and as soon as they hear of a place where they can settle down, they will flock there. Chen Chu had not considered this issue when making plans earlier.

  Warm reminder:

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