Cheng Zhixian is still very reliable, and on the third day after Zhong Hao returned from Yincheng County, more than 20 craftsmen from the prison camp and Yincheng County arrived at Jingqiang Village. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

There is a big difference between the prison camp in the northwestern border state and the prison camp in the interior. The prison city camp in the northwest border state is also the military camp, which is basically the same status as other box military camps, and its management and use are basically the same as those of the box army. The prison camps in the interior are generally hard labor camps, that is, labor camps, and there is basically no way out.

Although the box army is generally used to do military work, if there is a war, when the forbidden army is tight, it is also possible for the box army to participate in the war. If the sergeants of the Xiang Army have killed the enemy and made meritorious contributions, they will also be promoted. You can be promoted to the forbidden army, and you can be transferred to Cexun. Today's famous general Di Qing of the Western Army of the Great Song Dynasty was killed from the military camp, and he is also the idol of the soldiers and lowly fighters. Therefore, in fact, there is still a way out of the barracks, although the probability is very small.

If a person has some hope, he will not act too carelessly. Zhong Hao originally thought that this military camp was composed of prisoners, which was very unruly and difficult to train, and it was very difficult to manage, but it turned out that there was basically no difference between the peaceful Western Army. Of course, even if there are a few rebellious ones, but the military camp is also an army, and if a mistake is made, it will be dealt with directly by military law, and if the crime is serious, it will be cut directly, but I am not afraid that they will blow up the thorns.

In this northwestern border state, the general of an army can basically decide the life and death of his subordinates. Although Zhong Hao is not a general, his power is not less than that of a general, and even if he really wants to kill a few criminals, it is estimated that no one will care. As for the soldiers in the military camp to escape, that possibility is not very large, there are gold seals on their faces, unless they go to the grass to become a coward, otherwise the world is so big, there is no place for them.

The configuration of the military camp and the box military camp is the same, and there are also commanders and deputy commanders, and the following is also divided into five capitals.

Zhong Hao asked the military camp and the three battalions of the Pingxi Army to dig the trench of the wall, and by the way, he called Han Hu, the commander of the military camp, and asked about something.

Zhong Hao mainly wanted to ask Han Hu if he knew Zhong Cheng's whereabouts, Zhong Hao remembered that Zhong Chengcheng was sent to Linzhou to fill the army in the autumn of the previous year. But in this prison camp, there is no Zhong Cheng. Zhong Hao learned that the prisoners who were assigned to the border states to fill the army did not necessarily fill the prison camp, and many of them were directly filled into the camp with a shortage of staff. Zhong Hao also held on to the hope of what happened, hoping that Han Hu would know Zhong Cheng's whereabouts.

As soon as Han Hu heard Zhong Hao inquire about Zhong Cheng, he really knew it, and he still remembered it deeply. At that moment, Han Hu couldn't help but say: "Old Zhong, this kid is horizontal enough, and he is lucky, last year, the prison camp went to Linzhou to help repair the city wall, and he was just in time for the western thieves to attack and disturb." As soon as we all saw it, we all ran away, but Lao Zhong went to cut off the two heads of the West Thief, and I don't know how he did it. He was lucky, carrying the heads of the two western thieves happened to be seen by Yang Defense, and he was lifted into his own army by Yang Defense, tsk! ”

The Yang defense envoy in Han Hu's mouth is Yang Wenguang, the defense envoy of Linzhou. Zhong Cheng is in Yang Wenguang, it should be a good place to go. Zhong Hao knew his news, so he was temporarily relieved, and he didn't have to worry about his brother. Since they are all in Linzhou, there will definitely be a chance to meet in the future.

Zhong Hao grew up listening to the stories of the Yang generals in his later life, and he wanted to see Yang Wenguang, a character in the Yang family. Zhong Hao secretly thought: Now that he is in the land of Linzhou, he is afraid that he will have the opportunity to deal with him in the future.

……

In addition to building the Jingqiang Wall, there are many things that Zhong Hao needs to solve as a whole, mainly because there is a lack of everything here in Jingqiang Village.

Take digging trenches as an example, there were certainly no excavators in this era, and they could only be dug by hand with pickaxes and shovels. Although the Pingxi Army used to be mainly a service battalion, and there were some tools of various kinds, it was far from enough. At present, the three battalions of the Pingxi Army, plus the prison camp, have 1,000 people digging trenches, but the various tools are not enough for even two people, and the efficiency must be very slow.

Since the trench is excavated, it is not efficient to play with more people, Zhong Hao asked Cui Feng to select some strong soldiers to form a war battalion. These people don't have to participate in the construction of Jingqiang Village for the time being, let Cui Feng train them well, and strive to have some combat effectiveness. Otherwise, if the Xia army comes, I am afraid that these people will have no resistance.

Cui Feng finally selected 300 soldiers with decent physical fitness, pulled them out and began training.

The battle village could not be repaired for the time being, and Cui Feng just asked the selected 300 people to strengthen the temporary camp that had been set up on the dirt slope in the war village. Building a camp is also a skill that soldiers must master, and if the camp is well built, it can better resist attacks and sneak attacks.

Zhong Hao chose the place to rebuild Jingqiang Village, which is very close to Tiantai Mountain. There is no shortage of trees on the mountain, but it is convenient to harvest trees to strengthen the camp. Under the command of Cui Feng, these three hundred soldiers quickly strengthened the camp.

The camp built under Cui Feng's command is still decent and sturdy in Zhong Hao's opinion, not only has a walled wall built by rows of wood, but also has a complete set of towers in the camp, and a trench has been dug outside the camp, and horses and antlers have been set up.

After Zhong Hao looked at this camp, he felt a little relieved, in case the Xia army came, at least there was a place to hide from resistance, so that he would not be trampled directly by the Xia army.

……

The construction efficiency of this era is slow, Zhong Hao can be regarded as a real insight. Jingqiang Village only took two months to excavate the trough.

Fortunately, now we have finally entered the steps of building the wall.

The lime kiln built by Zuoying has already burned a lot of lime. There is a lot of limestone on the rooftop, and the raw material of burnt lime is easy to get from local materials. As for the fuel for the kiln, Zuo Ying originally cut down trees to make fuel, but Zhong Hao remembered the carbon.

This place in Linzhou is the Shenmu County of later generations. Sixty percent of Shenmu is covered with coal, and many places even have surface coal seams. Some of the coal seams are said to be shallow and even washed away by rainwater, leaving them bare on the surface.

So Zhong Hao asked people to look for coal near Jingqiang Village. As a result, as luck would have it, I found an exposed coal seam, and it was not far north of Jingqiang Village.

Zhong Hao immediately organized people to excavate. In those days, there were no safety measures, and coal mining was still dangerous. In recent years, drilling a roadway or something is an open flame like a torch, and if it encounters a place with a high gas concentration, an explosion is inevitable. Therefore, Zhong Hao only asked people to dig the coal seam on the surface, not to dig deeper. In the surface coal seams, the concentration of gas is generally not high, and it is quickly dissipated. Fortunately, the coal seam cover here is wide enough, and it is enough to dig only the surface layer.

Of course, Zhong Hao was not satisfied with his own use, Zhong Hao also asked people to dig out a large amount of charcoal, and asked Hou Quan and Wang San to take people to Lanzhou to sell it.

In this era, many blacksmith shops used charcoal to melt, of course, not only blacksmith shops, such as food shops, restaurants, and boiled shops. Of course, the time to make a lot of money has to wait until winter.

Zhong Hao is going to promote the kind of tin stove with chimney in Hedong this year, and the charcoal will definitely sell well by then.

The wall of Jingqiang Village is built with loess mixed with lime and river sand into a triple soil, and is tamped and tamped with a stone.

After the excavated soil from the trench was mixed with lime and river sand and tamped, the foundation of the walled wall was basically completed.

Zheng Wentao also commanded the Pingxi Army and the prison camp to dig a ditch outside the wall to extract soil, and the soil was used to ram the wall. And this large ditch for soil will be used as a trench in front of the wall. At that time, water will be brought from the Kuno River as a moat. The proximity to the Kuno River is so convenient, and the water of this moat can be easily attracted.

Zhong Hao here plus the prison camp, there are only more than 1,500 laborers, among which there are 300 of the strongest physique, who have to be combat soldiers and train on time. For the construction of the wall, there is still a shortage of manpower, so the construction of the village is too slow.

Zhong Hao felt that he had to find a way to get some manpower. If you have time, you have to go to Linzhou to see if you can get people from Linzhou. came to Jingqiang Village by himself, and brought a letter written by Fan Zhongyan to Yang Wenguang, Yang Wenguang should give himself some face. However, Linzhou is at the forefront of the Song-Xia border, and I am afraid that Yang Wenguang is afraid that there will be not enough manpower, and it will be difficult to give himself how many manpower, and he will have to think of more ways by himself.

To the north is Fuzhou, which is the private territory of the Zhejia, and the population of Fuzhou is also very small, so I am afraid it will be difficult to get manpower. To the south is the Jinning Army (administrative division), which belongs to the Yongxing Military Road, and it is not easy to talk all the way to get people there. After thinking about it for a while, Zhong Hao still felt that he had to go to Lanzhou to recruit people.

Now it is early summer, and the farmers in the fields have nothing to do, and many states and counties are organizing people to serve the summer at this time. Those who have not been transferred to serve Xia Xi are afraid that they have nothing to do, and they are also eating idle meals at home. Coming out to work and eat without having to eat food at home is still attractive to them.

Zhong Hao sent people to Xingxian County, under the jurisdiction of Lanzhou on the other side of the river, to hype up: Jingqiang Village works here to eat well, and they are all dry, there is a meat dish every three days, and there is a salary of ten yuan a day.

Although these idlers may earn thirty or forty wen by doing a hard job in Xingxian. But if you have a lot of effort and eat a lot, otherwise you won't have the strength, and if you don't have the strength to eat, you will be able to leave less than 20 Wen.

But it is not so easy to find a job in the city, and there are not many jobs in Xingxian County. Besides, the recruitment of workers in other commercial banks and warehouses is generally long-term, and these farmers generally have to go home to work on the crops when they are busy in the field, and those commercial banks are not willing to use this. In fact, most of those farmers are idle and have no work.

The person sent by Zhong Hao to publicize said: Come to Jingqiang Village to work, you can leave at any time, and ensure that the salary is settled when you leave.

Xingxian County and Jingqiang Village are only separated by a river, and many places come to Jingqiang Village than to Xingxian County.

Many farmers in the countryside of Xingxian County have moved their minds, they can have a full meal every day, and they can also have ten yuan of wages, which is much better than eating idle meals at home, and it is not far away, but it is just a river away, and it is arrived after the Hehejin ferry, and they can also pay their wages at any time to go, and this condition is still very good. Anyway, they have a lot of strength, and they are idle.

As a result, many farmers who were idle at home in Xingxian County came to Jingqiang Village together, planning to work and eat.

Zhong Hao set up a reception office on the east bank of Hehejin, and every day there were farmers from Xingxian County who signed up. Jingqiang Village rented a large boat, and every evening would deliver the harvests received to Jingqiang Village on the west bank of the river.

However, in a few days, more than 1,000 farmers came to sign up to work in Jingqiang Village. These people are not only from Xingxian County, but also from Lan County and other prefectures and counties.

Zhong Hao hadn't really thought that this trick would recruit so many people, and he couldn't help but be overjoyed. With these people, the work of building Jingqiang Village should be much faster.

It is estimated that most of these croppers will leave during the autumn harvest. Zhong Hao felt that he should strive to build Jingqiang Village before these people left in the autumn harvest.

Zhong Hao wrote to the pacification envoy and asked the pacification envoy for money and food. How to say that this appeasement makes the adult also his own Taishan father-in-law, and he can't throw himself away. If you can't give it to people, you have to give enough money and food.

He Taishan is also very face-saving, and he is still very supportive of his work, and soon after his official document was sent to Shuaisi, he let people transport a large amount of grain and grass.

It's just that there is less money, but Zhong Hao is not good to always open his mouth to ask for it, and he has to think of some ways by himself.

Zhong Hao really thought of a good way to make money. Anyway, he Taishan gave him a lot of food, and Zhong Hao was ready to make wine and sell it.

Zhong Hao felt that his distilled high-grade soju should still be very marketable in this bitter cold land in the northwest. This thing is an exclusive monopoly of oneself, and when the price is set high, it will definitely be profitable.

Zhong Hao felt that it was good to take the wine to Yinxing and the market to sell, Xixia was even more bitter and cold than Linzhou, and this high level of soju must be very popular. It would be good to come back with some horses and hides.

The Pingxi Army still has to have cavalry, and in this northwest place, without cavalry, this battle cannot be fought. Now the entire Pingxi Army adds up to only a dozen old horses, all of which are old horses and horses that are unbearable to fight. Therefore, the war horse still has to buy some.

Of course, the Khitan side is further north, and it is estimated that this Khitan man will also fall in love with his soju, and he will have to find a way to sell the Khitan at that time.

The cold wind and snow, one hand of spirits, the other hand of the whip, drink a few sips of soju, generous and singing. When charging in front of the battle, first come a bag of spirits, and then rush to kill without mercy, how impassioned.

Zhong Haojue, the Khitan and the men of Western Xia, will definitely like to distill soju.

Zhong Hao built a large brewing workshop in Yingpan. Of course, in order to keep it secret, Zhong Hao put a wall around the workshop. The manpower here is mixed, and this secrecy work must be done.

Zhong Hao's most reliable manpower now is Cui Feng, Wang San and Hou Quan brought from Qingzhou.

Cui Feng was busy training the war barracks, and the management errand of this brewing workshop naturally fell on Wang San and Hou's body.

In fact, Wang San and Hou Quan are also martial arts, and it is a bit condescending to always do some chores. But Zhong Hao didn't have real manpower, and many chores could only be handed over to them.

Zhong Hao asked Wang San and Hou Quan to select more than a dozen honest and single soldiers from the Pingxi Army and let them work in the brewing workshop.

In addition to the storehouse and feed room, there are also accommodation barracks in this brewery, and the soldiers in this brewery are not allowed to enter and leave easily, and they have to live in the barracks in the brewery, of course, this is also for secrecy.

Zhong Hao's treatment of the soldiers working in these breweries is still very high. Eat well every day, live well, and work is much easier than building a wall. Although they are not allowed to come and go freely, they are more than happy to do so. The Pingxi Army used to struggle all day long, and it was difficult to eat enough every day, but now the conditions are much better than before, and they will not have other thoughts for a while. (To be continued.) )