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

Chapter 753 Shining Brightly

After lowering her guard, Sun Yue finally had time to observe Wei Kui and Zhang Xiaoniu. She noticed that one of them was tall and the other was thin. The taller one was carrying a large cloth bag, which was bulging and seemed to be filled with grain.

"Are you really here to deliver food to us?"

Sun Yue asked cautiously, not because she didn't trust Zhang Xiaoniu and Wei Kui, but because food was so scarce these days.

Besides, Sun Yue had lived for twenty-five years and had never encountered a situation where the government distributed grain.

"it is true."

Zhang Xiaoniu nodded seriously and said, "Commander Yang said that poor families who have run out of food can receive grain every day according to the number of people in their household, and each person can receive half a catty!"

Half a pound of grain per person is certainly not enough to feed the people in the city, but at least it can keep them from starving to death.

Given the shortage of food and supplies, this was the limit of what Yang Zheng could do.

"Big sister, are there only two people in your family?"

"Yes, sir, it's just me and my child at home."

"to make!"

Zhang Xiaoniu nodded and said to Wei Kui, "Wei Kui, give your eldest sister a pound of grain."

"okay!"

Soon, Sun Yue brought over a small cloth bag and received about one pound of wheat from Wei Kui.

Perhaps seeing that Sun Yue and her orphan mother were pitiful, Wei Kui gave her a little more.

After distributing the grain, Zhang Xiaoniu glanced at Sun Yue, whose eyes were filled with surprise, and asked with a smile, "By the way, eldest sister, do you own any land?"

Sun Yue paused for a moment, then shook her head and said, "No!"

Sun Yue's family used to rely entirely on her husband's military pay for a living, so naturally they didn't have any farmland of their own.

“If you don’t have farmland, you can register at the government office. Commander Yang said that all poor people who have no land can register at the government office to get land. Given your family’s situation, you will definitely be able to get a few acres of land.”

After confiscating the land from the powerful landlords in the city, Yang Zheng acquired a large amount of farmland, which he naturally couldn't just leave unattended.

Instead, the land would be allocated to landless people in the prefectural city for cultivation, so as to maximize the use of the land and enable it to produce food.

"what?"

Sun Yue was surprised again. The fact that Yang Family Army was distributing grain was already a pleasant surprise for her, but she never expected there would be an even bigger surprise.

In the eyes of Earthlings in their previous lives, farming was the most arduous, lowest-paying, and least cost-effective job.

For ordinary people in Kyushu, farming is definitely the most cost-effective job, bar none!

Especially for women like Sun Yue, it is impossible for them to compete with men who have better physical fitness in the labor market. At most, they can only find some jobs such as sewing clothes for others and earn a meager income.

So when Sun Yue heard that the Yang family army was going to allocate land to her, her joy was beyond words.

Having her own land meant she had a stable source of income, allowing her to better raise her son...

"Sir, does this farmland belong to me or the government?"

Sun Yue asked with a look of surprise and delight.

“Naturally, it should be handled by the government.”

Zhang Xiaoniu replied with a smile, "But you don't need to worry. Although this land belongs to the government, it's no different from your own! You only need to pay 30% of the grain you grow on the land as rent, and the rest is all yours! In addition, as long as you don't commit any crimes and honestly pay the rent, you can continue to cultivate this land indefinitely."

Upon hearing this, the look of surprise and delight in Sun Yue's eyes intensified.

Thirty percent of the rent may seem like a lot, but it's actually not much at all!

You should know that even on your own land, you have to pay more than 50% in grain tax, in addition to all sorts of exorbitant taxes and levies...

It can be said that after deducting various taxes, the farmers of Xia State might not even earn 30% of the grain they harvested in half a year.

However, renting land from the Yang family army only required paying 30% of the rent...

This is such a great deal!

At this moment, Sun Yue even felt a sense of unreality, as if a pie had fallen from the sky, and she was completely stunned by this surprise.

Zhang Xiaoniu and Wei Kui exchanged a smile. They understood Sun Yue's excitement. If it were them before joining the Yang family army, their reaction to such news would probably have been even more exaggerated than Sun Yue's.

"Alright, sister, I've told you everything. Remember to go to the government office to register when you have time."

After giving Sun Yue another word of advice, Zhang Xiaoniu and Wei Kui left side by side to distribute food to the poor people in the city, going door to door.

Sun Yue clutched the grain bag tightly, looking slightly lost in thought.

Ordinary people like her have no way of getting close to those high-ranking officials, let alone gaining their favor.

In fact, most ordinary people would be content if they could avoid being exploited by officials, let alone receive their favor.

However, this is obviously impossible. The reason why officials can live in big houses, wear fine clothes, marry so many concubines, and keep so many servants is because they exploit the people.

Let's just talk about Zhu Changhe.

Zhu Changhe spends his days squandering money in brothels. Where does all this money come from?

Nature obtains its wealth through the exploitation of the people.

In short, in the eyes of ordinary people, none of those high-ranking officials, generals, and big shots are good people. They never care about the lives of ordinary people and wish they could squeeze every last drop of blood from them.

But today, Sun Yue saw a different kind of important person: Yang Zheng.

Yang Zheng is known as King Yang. The presence of the word "King" in his name indicates that in many people's minds, although Yang Zheng was not a prince appointed by the imperial court, his status was equivalent to that of a prince.

Such a figure should be high above, coldly looking down on the masses below from the heavens.

However, he was willing to demean himself and care for the most ordinary people.

Knowing that the people had no food, he distributed grain to them; knowing that the people had no land to cultivate, he allocated land for them to cultivate...

At this moment, Yang Zheng, whom she had only met once before, shone brightly in Sun Yue's heart, radiating a warm and comforting light.

"mother!"

At this moment, Han Tong's childish voice woke Sun Yue, who had been lost in thought for a long time.

She turned around and saw Han Tong staring longingly at the bag of grain in her hand, swallowing his saliva frantically.

Seeing this, Sun Yue smiled and said gently, "Tong'er, wait a moment, Mother will go and cook for you."

Soon, Sun Yue started a fire and cooked a meal using the wheat that Wei Kui and Zhang Xiaoniu had brought.

After cooking the wheat porridge, Sun Yue gave most of it to Han Tong, stroking Han Tong's hair and saying, "Tong'er, you are growing now, eat more."

"Ah."

Han Tong wolfed down the wheat porridge in his bowl. The wheat porridge, which was hard to swallow at the moment, seemed to him the best food in the world, after he hadn't eaten a single grain of rice for five whole days.