When Xu Qingfeng and Chen Zhushu were reconciling accounts, Liu Qing was wandering around Gumu County, wanting to understand the situation here.

The area of Gumu County is not large, but it is quite strong.

There are only a few hundred families and more than 1,000 people living in this small city, which does not seem crowded, and there are large areas of idle space.

The idle place was deliberately idle there, mainly to allow those criminals outside the city to come in and take refuge in the event of a military emergency, so that there was a place to stay.

Although those criminals are cheap in the eyes of the government, they are also a tool of production, even if it is for the sake of protecting the tools of production, they must be allowed to survive.

The year before last, the barbarians broke through the invasion, and this county town was besieged for more than a month.

Before breaking the barrier, Gumu County had already transferred all the criminals in a large area of the vicinity to the city in advance, and a full 20,000 or 30,000 people entered the city.

With 20,000 or 30,000 men helping to defend the city, and there was plenty of food in the granary, the barbarians attacked for more than a month, but did not attack this small city, but brought two or three thousand casualties to their own family.

In this way, they survived until the arrival of the counteroffensive army of Daqian.

The previous magistrate relied on this merit to get the best performance, and last year, after completing the grain task, the empty granary was also filled, and the two added up, and this year's term of office arrived, and he was directly given an official position as a prefect in the interior, and he was promoted several levels in a row.

As for those who were far away and had no time to transfer, some were taken away as slaves by the barbarians, some died by the barbarians' swords, and some ran into the mountains and hid.

According to later statistics, more than 20,000 people died in that war in Gumu County.

This mortality rate is much lower than in neighboring counties.

Mingxiu came over, to build a Taoist temple and a city god temple here, the area is not large, you can still find out the location.

In this city, the granary occupies a large area.

The granary is the top priority of this city, and it can even be said that the existence of this county town is to protect the granary.

Next to the granary was a barracks with more than 500 soldiers, led by a thousand households.

In the establishment of the border army, that number is 1,000, and the salary of the army is also received according to the quota of 1,000, and the salary of the army is paid to more than 500 people.

The vacant salaries of more than 400 places naturally went into the pockets of the generals.

Xia Qianhu was able to get a part, but the big head still went into the pocket of the general at the top.

It is not surprising that eating empty salaries is the traditional art of the army of the great cadres.

The granary was an important place protected by the army, and idlers were not allowed to go there, monopolizing the northeastern part of the city.

In addition to the soldiers, the city was inhabited by merchants and craftsmen, such as blacksmiths, weavers, and dressmakers.

In addition, there are some farmers who farm the land.

They farmed outside the city, but lived inside the city.

These are good citizens.

The so-called good people are the group of people who have behaved well among the sinners who have migrated and have been forgiven for their crimes.

For example, in the war, they went forward bravely and killed the enemy.

There are also people who actively assisted the government in defending the city during the siege, and were injured because of it.

These people proved their loyalty to the Great Cadres with their actions, so they became good citizens, and they could live in the city, and they also planted land by the moat outside the city.

The number of such families is not much, only more than 200 households.

Another reason for the existence of these good people is that these people can farm here to solve the problem of eating vegetables in the city.

Although they said that they had been pardoned for their crimes, they were not truly free, they could not return to their homeland, and they had to stay here, and under normal circumstances, they would die of old age here.

There are more than 200 of these good people, but basically there is one person in each household, and there is no such thing as a young family.

They are all exiled criminals, and most of these criminals are men, accounting for more than ninety percent, and the difference between men and women is too great, and the vast majority of them have no way to start a family here, but are just lonely.

There are more than 200 households of good citizens, and the total number of people does not exceed 300.

There are only a dozen families that have a family.

Most of these good people farmed outside the city, and a small number of them became officials of the yamen, working for the county government, which was regarded as eating public food.

There are more merchants in the city, and there are also many families with them, and they and some handicraftsmen gather on a street, which is the market of the county seat.

These businessmen also do the business of the people of the city, but mainly the business of the sinners outside.

The sinners were allowed to enter the city, and they also needed some daily necessities, firewood, rice, oil, and salt.

They would trade the grain they had harvested and the cotton and linen.

Sometimes when you catch a beast or a fish, you can come to the city and sell it and exchange it for some daily necessities.

There are many craftsmen and weavers and tailors.

Food, clothing, housing and transportation, this clothing bears the brunt, and there is still a reason.

And then there's the blacksmith.

There were many blacksmiths in every city in the Little Golden State, and in peacetime, they had to forge farm tools for those who were cultivating land outside the city.

In times of war, they had to craft weapons for the soldiers defending the city.

Neither did these craftsmen come from within, but they were chosen from among the sinners, and the elders of one skill were exempted from their sins and lived in the city.

They had lived in the city since the time of its foundation, and were classified as artisans, and were exempted from sin, but they were not free to move, and they had to stay and work in this place.

However, they still have money for their work, and the materials are provided by the government, and after completing the daily quota, there will be a certain amount of rewards for the good ones.

Everything that is manufactured must be handed over to the government, which will sell it.

Their food and lodging are also provided by the government.

Those who are diligent and skilled can save a little silver a year.

Although they were single when they first arrived, they have basically become families after working here for ten years.

- It is difficult to find a woman outside the city, but as long as you save enough money, you can ask a merchant to find a wife for them from the mainland.

There are several large caravans behind the shops here, going back and forth between the mainland and the border, although the road is hard and there is a certain danger, but there is also a lot of profit in it.

Traffickers are also one of them.

There are quite a few poor families in the interior, and it is not uncommon to see people selling their children and daughters, and buying and selling human beings is legal in Daqian.

As for whether there is something illegal in the legal, only they know.

Most of those good citizens have no family members, mainly because they only obtained the qualification of good citizens the year before last, and it has only been more than a year, and they have not saved enough money to marry their daughters-in-law.

Save for another four or five or five years, and you will have the hope of starting a family.

Liu Qing learned about the situation in the city, and felt that there was only one - the life of those good people was not easy.

And these good people are the envy of those sinners outside the city.