In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 601 is about how good Taiping County is.

"What?! There's flour available too?"

"Village chief, I'm willing to vacate my house."

"I'm willing too."

“Village chief, look at me. My house is the biggest and has the most houses.”

"..."

Tempted by the promise of five kilograms of flour, the villagers' attitudes instantly changed.

Although they had just finished the autumn harvest and had plenty of grain stored at home, who would complain about not having enough grain?

Especially for villagers like those in Zhangwang Village who have experienced hunger and even witnessed people around them starve to death, let alone five jin of white flour, even one jin would be enough to tempt them.

After all, lending the house to Zhang He and others for temporary accommodation wouldn't cost them anything.

"Quiet."

The village chief gestured for everyone to quiet down, saying, "With all this noise, I don't even know which of you has a spare room."

As they were talking, Zhang He also came out of the village chief's house.

The village chief glanced back at him, then continued, "Those with empty rooms, please step forward so I can make the allocations."

“I have one at home.”

“My family has one too.”

"Village chief, count me in."

"..."

Soon, the village chief began assigning lodgings to the caravan members.

The allocation method was quite simple: every 2-3 people would go to a villager's home to stay overnight.

Jiang Li was coincidentally assigned to Zhang Minghui's house, where he was joined by another man from the caravan.

"What a coincidence."

On the way home with Jiang Li, Zhang Minghui smiled憨厚ly, saying that he had a very good impression of Jiang Li because Jiang Li had given his son chicken to eat.

"It's quite a coincidence. My name is Jiang Li, and this is Wang An. What's your name, brother?"

"Zhang Minghui, just call me Lao Zhang."

"Row."

Before long, Zhang Minghui led Jiang Li and his son back home. After arranging for them to sit down in the living room, Zhang Minghui poured them a glass of water and then sat down opposite them. Just as he was about to speak, his wife's voice came first.

"Ahui, do we have guests?"

A middle-aged woman walked out of the bedroom. Her features could be considered pretty, but her skin was rough and dark, possessing all the characteristics of a rural woman in the Xia Kingdom.

"Yes."

Zhang Minghui nodded and said, "These are He Ge'er's friends Jiang Li and Wang An. They will be staying in an empty room in our house tonight."

"Hege'er is really back?"

The woman didn't dwell on the matter of borrowing money; instead, she asked with great surprise.

The whole village knew about Zhang He's return, and the woman knew as well, but she was not one to join in the fun, so she didn't go to the village chief's house.

"Well, I'm back!"

Zhang Minghui nodded: "Not only are they back, they've also made a fortune! I see that He Ge'er and Shouhou are both wearing silk clothes."

While speaking, Zhang Minghui glanced at Jiang Li and Wang An's clothing. Although they weren't wearing silk clothes, they were still relatively warm cotton-padded clothes, which were much more aesthetically pleasing than the drab linen clothes worn by the villagers of Zhangwang Village.

"Wearing silk?"

The woman's face showed a timely expression of shock.

In her memory, silk was a fabric exclusively for landlords or important figures. Zhang He and the skinny monkey were actually wearing silk clothes.

After a brief moment of shock, the woman sat down next to Zhang Minghui, looking at Jiang Li and the other man with curiosity, and asked, "Are you two from Qingzhou?"

Jiang Li and Wang An nodded at the same time.

"So you're from Qingzhou?"

"no!"

Jiang Li shook his head and said, "We are also from Liangzhou."

"what?!"

Zhang Minghui and his wife were immediately surprised. Although Jiang Li and Wang An were not tall, they looked exceptionally strong, so they subconsciously assumed that the two were from Qingzhou.

This is because Liangzhou was barren, and the vast majority of its people were not well-fed or clothed, so most of them were rather thin.

Take Zhang Minghui as an example. Although he was far from starving to death, his family had not eaten well in recent years, and sometimes they were even hungry. Therefore, although Zhang Minghui was a middle-aged man, he was very thin and his clothes were loose and baggy. He looked completely different from Jiang Li and the other man.

That's why Zhang Minghui and his wife were so surprised when Jiang Li said he was from Liangzhou.

"Brother Jiang, are you really from Liangzhou?"

Zhang Minghui asked, somewhat incredulously.

"Ah."

Jiang Li nodded patiently: "Like He Ge'er, I fled from Liangzhou to Qingzhou due to famine."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Minghui and his wife were even more surprised.

Jiang Li being from Liangzhou was already surprising enough, but they never imagined that Jiang Li had actually fled from Liangzhou during a famine.

Although Zhang Minghui and his wife had never fled famine, they knew that it was not an easy thing, and most people would probably starve to death on the way.

They even saw firsthand the refugees fleeing famine; those refugees were all emaciated and looked more like beggars than beggars themselves.

In contrast, Jiang Li and Wang An had rosy complexions and were dressed appropriately, showing no signs of being refugees.

"Is Qingzhou really that good? Can you get enough to eat just by fleeing famine there?"

Zhang Minghui asked with a puzzled look. He had never been to Qingzhou, but because Zhangwang Village was not far from Qingzhou, he could occasionally hear some news about Liangzhou.

As far as he knew, when the cold disaster ravaged Liangzhou, Qingzhou was also affected. Logically speaking, the people of Qingzhou should not have been doing well either. How come Zhang He and others were able to live a life with enough to eat after escaping to Qingzhou?

"It's not that Qingzhou is good, it's that Taiping County in Qingzhou is good."

Jiang Li said, "Magistrate Xu of Taiping County is the best official in the world. Under his governance, the people of Taiping County live very well. Even the refugees who fled to Taiping County are mostly able to eat, and very few people starve to death."

Are there really such good officials?

Zhang Minghui and his companion were taken aback. The people of Xia Kingdom were extremely disgusted with, and even hated, officials because there were far too many corrupt officials in Xia Kingdom. Therefore, very few people in Xia Kingdom had any goodwill towards officials.

"Of course, the most important reason why we are able to live a good life is because of Chenjia Village."

When Jiang Li mentioned the name Chenjia Village, his face was full of gratitude.

"Chenjia Village?"

Zhang Minghui looked puzzled. He knew what Taiping County was, but Chenjia Village was a completely unfamiliar place to him.

After all, there were no electronic maps these days, and ordinary people rarely traveled far. They knew about Taiping County because it was the county closest to Liangzhou.

As for a small place like Chenjia Village, Zhang Minghui and his wife had never even heard of it.