The 8th Battalion of Chengying resettled the people in this valley, the terrain is treacherous, the center is low-lying like a huge dustpan, the belly of the mountain is about 10,000 acres wide, there are high mountain cliffs on three sides, and there are traces of the side wall built by the previous dynasty on the ridge. Due to a lack of labour, no manpower was arranged to repair the side walls. In addition to arranging three hidden outposts on the peaks around the valley, the felled trees were arranged as a fence at the narrow mouth on the north side of the valley, which was guarded by archers.

Here is the Yalu River in the east 100 miles, and less than 200 miles to the south is the mouth of the Yalu River, which is convenient to get the response of the 4th Battalion Water Division. In accordance with the tradition of the Xia people to expand the borders, the Chengying Battalion spent the most labor on reclaiming wasteland and building warehouse cities. Kurashi was not built in the middle of the valley, but on the highest peak in the eastern part of the valley.

Kim Chang-tae divided the Fenghuangshan reclamation land into two parts inside the valley and outside the valley. In addition to the iron-making shops, arrow-making shops, horse farms, haystacks, and warehouses, about 1,500 shade households were housed in the valley. Charcoal farms, quarries, pottery yards, brick yards, lumber yards, pastures, etc., are all outside the valley. Zhao Xingde was overjoyed that an iron ore had been discovered in the valley to the north, which seemed to have been mined and abandoned, but at the moment there was too little labor, and the progress of iron ore excavation was slow. After that, the recruited shade will be cleared outside the valley, and then retreat into the valley when the enemy attacks. The valley learned from the method of reclamation of sloping fields in Shuzhong, and used every inch of land to grow grain as much as possible, and imitated the method of building canals in the northwest to dig ponds and canals to irrigate the fields. After dusk, when the shadowy households returned from clearing the wasteland, the sergeants let them practice archery according to the teaching method of regimental training.

On this day, Zhao Xingde and Jin Changtai carried heavy rangefinders and climbed to the Cangcheng foundation site on the Jietian Ridge to survey the terrain again. It's not harvest yet, and the so-called Kurajo is just a wooden stake that Kim Chang-tae commanded to be laid by Yodo. A simple shack was built next to the stake, covered with dead branches and weeds, which looked like a weed-covered rock on a mountain ridge from a distance. The Fengsui lookout posts are all guarded by archers with good eyesight," General Zhao. Sergeant Cheng Zhuang stood up and saluted Zhao Xingde. Zhao Xingde smiled and nodded, patting him on the shoulder to show encouragement.

Standing on the Jietian Ridge, the radius of more than ten miles is unobstructed, and the first line of ridges is like the arms of giants firmly protecting the valley in its arms. Everywhere there were people who worked like ants, and although they carried nearly 7,000 people, they were still not too few to be scattered in this valley. Both the hillsides and the valley floors are covered with trees and grass. Except for those on guard, the sergeants took off their armor and personally worked with the shade to weed and prepare the land, and to plant sorghum, soybeans, wheat and peanuts. The pasture fields outside the valley are dominated by alfalfa and wheat grass, and the grass seeds were brought by the Chengying camp from the Xia Kingdom.

"It's a pity that this lonely peak is too far away from other peaks, and the range of our artillery is not enough, otherwise we can control a radius of ten miles by building a cross-firing battery on the mountain peak." Zhao Xingde sighed, "It would be nice if the shape of the ridge was a polygon one or two miles apart. "The Chengying Battalion now only has ten light guns, and has to give up the idea of building a fort on the Jietian Ridge.

Jin Changtai looked at the extremely inclined hillside and said with a wry smile: "How can you have such good luck if you want a group of forts made in heaven, and besides, it is not easy to build a fort here, just pulling up nearly a thousand catties of copper cannons," he paused and sighed, "This Han army's village master is brave in battle, and we can be called shrewd in calculation." Here are three dangerous peaks as walls, and the valley is a city, and at least 100,000 people can be stationed. But we have less than a thousand sergeants, and it is simply difficult to defend. And this is only the remnant of Taibai Mountain, the mountain is isolated, located in the key chong, located between the Liao State, Goryeo, and Jurchen, and the room for power development is also very limited. It seems to be a dangerous place, but it is actually a piece of chicken ribs. ”

Not far from the valley, a large tree suddenly fell, and the figure of the strong man wielding a giant axe was very obvious. "It's still better to use an axe. can usually work, but in battle, he can also break heavy armor. Zhao Xingde said with a smile, "It's a pity that there is still too little iron, and when there is enough iron in the future, the elite iron spears of the regimental training army are all added with an axe, and in the face of the Jurchen iron horse, there is always the power to fight back." ”

Jin Changtai looked at the black smoke rising from the iron shop in the valley, and said indignantly: "The gods and Buddhas and the big bell within a radius of ten miles have been melted for you, and it is still too little." "There are very few folk iron tools in Liaodong, and many of the people only have wooden farm tools, which is not conducive to reclaiming wasteland. Before the ironworks opened, in order not to delay the agricultural season, Zhao Xingde had to order the sergeants to collect bronze tools everywhere, and iron tools were recycled to cast iron plows, shovels, iron pickaxes, iron axes and other tools. The largest source of iron tools is the statues of gods and Buddhas in temples and large bells cast of copper and iron. Although many of them may have a history of hundreds of years and thousands of years, Zhao Xingde is still determined to melt them all.

"Do you know how many monks and Taoists are cursing you to die well." Jin Changtai said with a calm face, he once wanted to pay for these antique Buddha statues and bells, but they were all rejected by Zhao Xingde.

"If you don't have iron farming tools to open up the wasteland, you can't grow enough food, and you will starve to death." Zhao Xingde said in a deep voice, "The gods and Buddhas have the benevolence of cutting meat to feed the eagle and sacrificing their lives to feed the tiger, how can they care about this." His eyes suddenly became solemn, there seemed to be four or five horsemen rushing here on the mountain road in the north, he lowered his head and looked through the telescope of the rangefinder, and recognized one of the three leaders of the cottage, one recognized the Han army in the village, and the other three were fresh faces, and couldn't help frowning.

Jin Changtai's tone was stagnant, and he sighed in a low voice: "The situation in Liaodong is a battle between two tigers, and the Han army will be able to achieve everything in vain, and the plan to coerce the people is also unavoidable. You have issued land deeds, land deeds, iron farming tools, and seeds, and now many people are full of hope, and if they fall in the future, will they not be in despair, and they will only feel that life is better than death. He also saw that the cavalry was approaching, and the cavalry scouts on the top of the hill in the distance had already raised flags in this direction. Jin Changtai thought of the Liaodong people who joined the Brotherhood of Volunteers, full of hope and death-oriented faces, and always felt a little guilty in his heart, just a day ago, he personally watched these people being captured into the Khitan people's surrender to Junzhou.

"It's better to have hope than no hope," Zhao Xingde said in a deep voice, "as long as there is one percent hope, there is still the possibility of victory." If we don't have that hope, we're losing from the start. He straightened up and began to disassemble the rangefinder and angle meter with Kim Chang-tae, all the commanding heights and paths within a radius of ten miles were marked by them on the clearest map, but unfortunately the number of Sergeants Chengying was too small now, and this place, which should have been defended by tens of thousands of people, was now like a sieve full of holes.

Xu Detai came to Sanyin Village in front of him, but was blocked by a thick wooden fence, the sergeant in the watchtower in front of him clearly recognized him, but he still followed the rules, and wanted to go back to Zhao Xingde and then open the gate of the village, Xu Detai's face couldn't help but sink. Xiong Renyue of the Five Female Village behind him smiled: "These guys can really pretend, and they still think they are court officials." ”

He also glared at the sergeant on the arrow tower of the wooden fence. The Jurchen tribes in the area of the Yalu River either moved to the west with the Liao people, or waited for a price between the Jin State and Goryeo, Sanyin Village is now a place where the Liao people reclaimed the border, since the Liao people withdrew, it has become an ownerless place, although the Jurchen tribes in the south covet this place, but because the population is not large, they have not had time to occupy it, who expected that it was occupied by this group of Han people in January.

After a while, the sergeant guarding the wooden fence to the north was allowed to open the gate with a winch, and he wanted to rush in and give them a good look. Unexpectedly, the passage behind the gate of this village turned in a concave shape, and the cavalry could not rush in at full speed, so the four or five horsemen had to enter slowly, and the wooden fences on both sides were as high as seven feet, and there were battlements for archery between the sharpened wooden stakes above, and there were square windows at the level of the horse's belly below. He also saw the cold light of some blades from the window, and couldn't help but secretly say in his heart: "What a sinister Han man." ”

The owner of this place was already waiting at the exit of the passage, Zhao Xingde bowed his hand, and said with a smile on his face: "The good wind has blown my distinguished guest here!" Xu Detai was not easy to support, turned over and dismounted, and after Zhao Xingde and a few others introduced each other, he led Ma Lai towards the camp tent built not far away.

Xu Detai looked left and right while walking, and couldn't help but be secretly frightened, but he didn't expect that in just over a month, the people of Xia Guo had already managed this valley impressively, and the neat acres of fields had begun to take shape, the people's shacks were evenly distributed between the fields, the frames of some wooden houses were being built, and the hillsides were built like stairs, I don't know what the intention was. On the other hand, the villages of the Han army are still a mess, it is the spring ploughing season, and the heads of each village can only take care of the people in the resettlement and reclamation places in various valleys, so that they can fend for themselves. There were many people who came with them, but there was a lack of food and clothing, some died of starvation, and some of the soldiers were powerful, and the fields were spread and reclaimed, and the people began to flee continuously.

Zhao Xingde saw these people looking around, frowned slightly, and said in his heart, it is necessary to build a wooden fence behind this narrow road and the camp tent, forming a defense line similar to the urn city, and the Chinese military tent is located in the center of the wooden fence, like a city tower. It not only strengthens the defense, but also prevents outsiders from peeking into the reality of the valley.

"What do you see, haven't you seen the Hu people in Liaodong?" Sergeant Cao Bai said loudly, and several shaders immediately bowed their waists and continued to level the land. Zhang Fu controlled a horse-drawn plough and muttered secretly: "It's really strange that this soldier can also do a good job." ”

Cao Bai ignored him as well, leaning down to carefully inspect the depth of the ploughing of these shaders.

In accordance with the rules issued by the agricultural and animal husbandry Cao, the soldiers ordered the shaded households to interplant sorghum, soybeans, wheat, and peanuts in a certain proportion. The distance between the spacing and the planting density are fixed, and there is no sloppiness at all. In this way, the combined benefits of grain and horse feed should be the greatest. Although the irrigation ditches between the ridges have not been dug up, they have been marked with white lines according to the fixed number of agricultural and animal husbandry trees. The shaders will be skeptical, and they will not dare to disobey, so they can only secretly pray that what these military masters say is true, and that there will be a good harvest in the future.