The coalition forces have used the village of Machi as a temporary transit base for information and supplies.

Every morning, the front line sent a few fast horses from Machi Village to gallop for two days, and the latest battle report could be sent back to Qingshanzui the next evening.

The raft of the Langshan River starts from Wuyuan Township every morning, passes through Hesheng Township and Changsheng Township along the Shennong River, stops at Qingshanzui Township in the afternoon, and then flows down the Yellow River from Qingshanzui in the evening. In the evening of the next day, Ma Chi was able to receive explosives, gunpowder, armor, milk lumps, food, various supplies and letters produced by Langshan River the day before.

According to the latest information, the wave of refugees moving west along the Yellow River has arrived at Qingshanzui. After resting and disinfecting in the area designated by the Qingshanzui Medical Center, the refugees and livestock went north by land to Shulinzi Township, Changsheng Township, Hesheng Township, and Wuyuan Township, and were continuously resettled along the way.

The Yellow River has become a major artery for the coalition forces.

Most of the young and strong people in Machi Village went to Shimen to help in the war, and the women and children moved to the west of Shimen Water for temporary refuge, and the men who stayed in the village were basically men in their forties and fifties.

The rain is getting heavier and heavier. The old man in charge of Machi Village placed everyone in each house and invited Sun Yi and several important people into his house.

It is a small courtyard with two entrances. The backyard is someone's backyard, so it's inconvenient to disturb. Sun Yi and the others suggested taking a seat in the front hall.

There were not enough chairs, so the old man hurriedly went to the neighbor's house to borrow a stool. Sun Yi had been back in the Ming Dynasty for a while, and he knew some of the etiquette at this time, so he vacated the main seat and sat down in the guest seat.

When the old man and his neighbors come back with stools and chairs, and see that the main seat is reserved for themselves, where will they sit?

There was a lot of pushing, and finally Geng Xiucai forced the old man to the main position, and said: "Old man, Tabu is different from other princes, we are very casual on weekdays, so you can sit at ease." ”

Sun Dingliao had the intention to resolve the tense atmosphere, and quickly changed the topic, pointed to the outside of the house and praised: "Good rain!" ”

Yang Ritian immediately smiled and agreed: "Good rain! Now the stone gate is about to rise! ”

The old man sat down a little and said, "Isn't it, it's been dry for so long, and it's finally raining." ”

Sun Dingliao asked the old man about the harvest of planting and spinning hemp in the village this year, and the old man talked about the crops, and the conversation gradually increased, and the people relaxed.

Sun Yi took the opportunity to ask: "Old man, our chief of staff wants to bring his family members to settle in your village after the war, I wonder if the people in the village will agree?" ”

The old man was immediately stunned.

Sun Yi didn't want to force the old man, so he then made a condition:

"The chief of staff did not settle in Machi Village in vain, but he came with a big gift. Two days ago, we had a battle with the Manchurian soldiers in the mountains, and we found a valley in the mountains overgrown with biting grass. That kind of biting grass, called nettle in my hometown, can also spin hemp. ”

The database in Sun Yi's mobile phone shows that ancient Europeans used nettle fiber to weave clothes very early. The stem bark of nettle contains a large amount of long coarse fibers. Nettle fiber has good toughness, strong tensile strength, good luster, easy to dye, can be made into hemp rope, fishing nets, woven carpets, made of coarse cloth similar to linen, and can also be used for papermaking. What the coalition forces urgently need at the moment is woven linen shoes.

Several representatives of the local people who accompanied him were taken aback, and there was a lot of discussion at the moment.

The valley is notoriously wild and grows wild, year after year, and the locals are afraid to approach it.

If the biting grass can spin hemp, wouldn't it be a huge natural hemp field from God? The nettles that are full of valleys, I'm afraid that there are not enough people in Quanmachi Village!

Sun Yi turned around and asked Wen Shen Damuzuo, who was the representative of the people of heaven and earth in Erli and Ban Village:

"Wen Muzuo, the kind of water-powered spinning wheel that can spin thirty-two spindles at the same time, will you do it?"

The water-powered spinning wheel mentioned by Sun Yi is a large spinning wheel for spinning hemp that was commonly used in the Central Plains in the "Book of Agriculture" written by Wang Zhen of the Yuan Dynasty in 1313 AD.

According to Wang Zhen's "Book of Agriculture" on the structure of the large spinning wheel, the structure of the large spinning wheel can be divided into three parts: twisting and winding, transmission and original motive. The twisting and winding part is composed of frames, spindles, yarn guide rods and yarn frames, and 32 spindles can be spun at the same time! And it's completely hydraulically powered!

Later generations of intellectuals around the world unanimously voted that the Jenny machine made in Europe in 1764 with eight spindles was the beginning of the modern industrial revolution.

As everyone knows, the 32-spindle hydro-powered spinning wheel that appeared in the Yuan Dynasty in China is four times that of the eight-spindle Jenny machine that appeared only 400 years later!

In fact, ancient Chinese textile technology has always been far ahead of Europe, and it was only in the Qing Dynasty that it lagged behind the West.

In the fourth century AD, the Eastern Jin Dynasty painter Gu Kaizhi appeared in a painting with three spindles on his feet;

At the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, Huang Daopo changed the pedal hemp spinning wheel to a pedal three-spindle cotton spinning wheel;

Wang Zhen's "Book of Agriculture" of the Yuan Dynasty records this kind of pedal-type three-spindle cotton spinning wheel, as well as the pedal-operated three-spindle linen spinning wheel, the pedal-type five-spindle linen spinning wheel, and the water-driven thirty-two spindle linen spinning wheel.

It is a pity that the text of Wang Zhen's "Book of Agriculture" is too simple, and the drawings are also distorted, and the production process of 32 spindles of hemp spinning wheels in later generations has been lost.

However, it is now the fifth year of Chongzhen, and according to Wang Zhen's "Book of Agriculture", it has only been 300 years since it was written, and hemp is still the main clothing fabric of ordinary people.

Sun Yi estimated that the big spinning wheel was still running somewhere in China. Moreover, the "Ziren Legacy" biography of Wen Mu was also written in the Yuan Dynasty, and there must be a large spinning wheel production process in it.

Sure enough, Wen Mu replied, "Although I haven't done it all over again, I know how to make it. You might as well start with the easy and then the difficult, starting with the three-spindle and five-spindle spinning wheels that you pedal. ”

The old man of Machi Village, who was sitting on the main seat, did not hear everyone's talk about nettles and the big spinning wheel, he was so excited that he burst into tears, and asked:

"What does Tabu mean, does it mean that Jiuyuan is kept, and we don't have to move?"

Sun Dingliao exchanged this question with Sun Yi and Yang Ritian.

As soon as it rains, the stone gate will be defended. If you want to hold all of the Jiuyuan region, then the defense line becomes a narrow strip of land between Daqingshan and the Yellow River.

Yang Ritian's opinion is that now that the coalition forces have explosives and ballistas, Erli and Ban Village are trying to make iron mines, and Erli and a half can try to defend it.

Sun Dingliao has concerns, Langshanchuan is doing his best to support the frontline materials and personnel, whether Erli and a half can hold it does not depend on the front line, but on the supply capacity of Langshanchuan.

After much consideration, Sun Yi decided to defend the two-mile half-defense line.

There are several reasons for this.

First, there are only 30,000 refugees that can be accommodated by Langshan River. If Jiuyuan is held, the Yinshan Shannan Plain from Jiuyuan to Qingshanzui can accommodate refugees. Moreover, there are mature fields in the Jiuyuan area, which can accommodate a higher density of refugees than the Wolf Mountains and Rivers.

Second, there is a ready-made industrial base in the Jiuyuan area, and there is a textile industry in Machi, and a coal, iron and ceramic industry in Erliban. Moreover, the Kuhara region is rich in mineral resources, and in later generations it was a manufacturing base for everything from mine grenades to tanks, armored vehicles, and atomic bombs.

Third, Jiuyuan is located in the north, south, east and west of the grassland.

But Sun Dingliao's concerns are very reasonable, and the current supply capacity of Langshanchuan has reached its limit. After Sun Yi weighed it, he decided that he could only tap the potential from the Jiuyuan area and levy supplies on the spot.

Sun Yi then explained his thoughts and the concerns of the chief of staff to several representatives of the local people.

The representatives of the people immediately said excitedly that if they want people and food, they will fight all the young people and defend their hometown to the death.

Sun Yi said with a smile: "Not only do you have to produce people and food, but more importantly, you have to produce dung - human dung and animal dung, which are used to make nitrate and gunpowder." ”

The representative of the people solemnly stated: "The people will freeze to death in winter, and this summer there will not be a single dung left, all of which will be made of nitrate!" ”

- The local people burn dung for heating in winter.

Immediately, Yang Ritian, the commander-in-chief, announced that as soon as the Manchurian soldiers in Shimen withdrew, the people of Machi Village and Erliban Village who participated in the war would be the backbone, and the young and strong people in the vicinity would be recruited to enlist in the army, and then two battalions would be set up, called Machi Battalion and Erli and a Half Battalion respectively, and they would go to Erli and a half defense line.