It sounds rather pitiful, but Zhao Hanzhang doesn't empathize much with them, as it was looted goods.
However, Zhao Hanzhang finds it difficult to blame them since they didn't become bandits out of greed, laziness, or because they liked to fight, but because they truly couldn't survive otherwise.
Zhao Hanzhang asked, "Do the villagers still have land? Have they sold it?"
Not treating them as bandits but as ordinary citizens, not only was Wei Dayi comforted, but the dozen or so young men who came down the mountain with him also felt comfortable and a bit aggrieved.
"We still have some land, but we've sold some too. Particularly good fields still have buyers," said Wei Dayi. "Now, with so much land lying fallow, as long as one can pay taxes and afford seeds, the land can be cultivated as one wishes. Few are willing to spend money to buy land."
