Chapter 110: The darkness before dawn is the most difficult to endure
"Sigh, the world nowadays..."
At the ferry crossing of City of Dawn, the boatman briefly expressed his views and sighed deeply: "To put it bluntly, we just want to survive, but we can only go with the flow."
"Although it was hard and risky in the past, I could still earn a little money every day. If I had work every day, I could earn much more than farming."
"But now that the Land of Rain is in such a mess, the number of the merchant ships coming here is decreasing, and there is often no work for half a month or a month."
"And that Hanzo-sama is extremely aggressive. Every time he attacks the Sand Village, there are casualties. Then he uses both soft and hard tactics to take people away..."
"My son passed away like this." Another tracker hung his head, his gray hair messy and vicissitudes of life, and choked up, "I thought he could live a good life and maybe even support his family, but in the end..."
"In the end, he didn't die at the hands of Konoha or Sunagakure, but was killed by the poisonous gas that Hanzo accidentally released."
The leading tracker added to the man's unfinished words, patted him on the shoulder and sighed, "Although some compensation was given in the end, it will be the backbone of the family in the future!"
"I had hoped that the child would help me share some of the burden in the future, but in the end, such a strong man died just like that."
"So, we came here to try our luck..."
Having said that, the tracker raised his head timidly and looked at Kumokawa's expression carefully.
"Is that so…" Kumokawa just lowered his eyelids slightly, covering his twinkling eyes, and whispered, "What a pitiful experience."
What these trackers said verified the information Nagato had obtained and also added many details.
The capital of the Land of Rain is located in the southern part of the Land of Rain. In the past, because it was adjacent to the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind, it was much more prosperous than the northern part where Kumokawa was located.
It is precisely for this reason that the number of merchant ships is far greater than that in the north, so these trackers have always gathered in the south.
However, the wars between the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire are becoming more and more frequent, and the Sand Village is obviously aware of its own weakness of the lack of resources.
Therefore, they have been frantically plundering the border recently as a precautionary measure, trying to slow down the consumption of their resources so as to buy more time to confront Konoha.
In the southern part of the Land of Rain, which had originally prospered commercially due to the two countries, almost all the villages along the route of the Sunagakure Village troops were looted to varying degrees.
Under such circumstances, obviously no merchant ships would dare to take the risk of staying in the south.
The ambitious Hanzo took the opportunity to expand his power and recruited those hungry people into his own ranks, but he and his Rain Ninjas did not engage in production.
As Hanzo has more and more people under his command, although his own power is growing, the money and food he needs to consume is also increasing, and in the end it will still be borne by the civilians.
——Either wait to starve to death, or become Hanzo's cannon fodder.
It's obvious which one most people would choose. To be cannon fodder, at least they can live a few more days.
Even being cannon fodder requires conditions, and the elderly, the weak, women and children can only wait quietly for death.
These trackers didn't want to wait for death, nor did they want to be useless cannon fodder, so they crossed the river from the south and wanted to try their luck in the north.
Or maybe they got some information from some businessmen...
"…"
Kumokawa raised his eyelids slightly, met those evasive yet hopeful eyes, and said with a gentle smile: "If you trust me, you can also join City of Dawn. As long as you work hard, I guarantee you won't go hungry."
After that, he pointed to the undeveloped wasteland and the dilapidated houses left by the bandits and said calmly, "Clear these houses first. You can stay here for one night."
"I will send you tools tomorrow. Tear down all the mud walls and rebuild them. Collect the usable beams and chop up the rotten ones as firewood."
"Within a month, you will build the house yourself, and then go directly to reclaim the land."
At this time, a tracker suddenly raised his hand and said awkwardly: "Sir, I don't know how to farm or build a house, what should I do?"
The other trackers also looked excited but also nervous.
"If you don't understand, you can learn. Someone will come to teach you."
Kumokawa waved his hand, "Don't worry about food. I will definitely not let you go hungry. As long as we reclaim the land, we will give you household registration and land deeds, and exempt you from taxes for three years."
Although few of the dozens of trackers in front of Kumokawa knew how to farm, they were all excited when they heard that they could own land by reclaiming wasteland and that they would not have to pay taxes for three years.
"Really? Is it really possible?" The leading tracker was overjoyed and said respectfully, "On behalf of this group of old friends, I sincerely thank you. Thank you so much!"
Soon, they each chose an abandoned house as a family unit, and there was no need for Kumokawa to send anyone to supervise them. They were very active in doing it on their own.
"Uncle Aki."
Kumokawa motioned Aki to lean over and whispered, "You are responsible for managing these newcomers. Send them tools tomorrow."
"Don't let them build the house in a scattered manner. Discuss whose house should be built first and whose house should be built later. Plan ahead so that the process will be faster. Ask for stonemasons and carpenters if they are needed."
"Also, if soilless cultivation is feasible, we should start with them and promote it."
Aki nodded and was about to agree, but was suddenly interrupted.
"Remember, this kind of thing cannot be forced!"
Kumokawa reminded them with a serious expression: "After all, this is an unheard-of technology. It's normal for them to have doubts. You can use my test fields first. If they can produce a good harvest, they will naturally flock to follow suit."
Hearing this, Aki was stunned for a moment, then nodded solemnly: "I understand."
This place is some distance away from the City of Dawn. Subsequent refugees received will be settled between this place and the city, and then houses will be slowly built and the land will be reclaimed to form a connected area.
Thinking of this, Aki couldn't help but admire Lord Kumokawa's foresight.
According to the thinking of those noble merchants, all the money earned and grain collected should be saved.
They must choose to store enough money and food, then find a good piece of land to build a mansion, and try to keep the land in their own hands.
Not only do they have food, money, land, and mansions, they also buy some slaves to show off their status.
But Kumokawa was frantically absorbing the population and reclaiming wasteland, and he was paying for the construction at his own expense. He actually distributed a lot of land to them, and he didn't have any servants in his house.
If Aki put himself in his shoes, he would never do that.
"Okay."
Kumokawa interrupted the few people who were deep in thought, walked towards the greenhouse in the rain and fog in the distance, and said softly: "We don't have much time."
"The darkness before dawn is the most difficult to endure."
(End of this chapter)