The Russian prisoners of war at Lake Balkhash and Jaisan have gathered 40,000 or 50,000 people, while the Russian civilians and Cossacks, Tatars and other ethnic populations who had been circled by the Wehrmacht during the war have been forcibly relocated here, which is more than 100,000.

Of course, it is impossible for all of these 100,000 people to live here today. When it comes to one batch, then another, to the third and fourth batches, but not to the fifth batch, a large part of the Russian prisoners of war and civilians who have gathered before will be relocated to other places.

During the war, cities were built in many parts of the Kazakh steppes in Western Siberia and farmland were reclaimed.

The laborers, of course, are the captured Russian troops and Russian civilians.

This is very inhumane, and I don't know how many depressions have been filled by the corpses that have fallen down, but it has been of great help to Chen Han's immigration and the development of Western Siberia.

……

After checking the number of people, the 1,000 were brought into the camp. The camp was still empty, with nothing erected except for a wooden fence around it. Only the ground was marked with lime lines, and building materials such as wood, reeds, and dead grass were piled up in the corners.

This is not to say that the prisoners of war who had been enclosed here did not build houses, but that after they left, the houses they had built were occupied by the surrounding armies and vassal cavalry and tribes.

The prisoners of war looked at each other with a look of joy in their eyes - as the Kazakh nobleman had said, the camp had to be built by itself! Fortunately, they didn't laze on the road, and they arrived at the camp in the middle of the afternoon. It's still early, and there is some daylight time available, otherwise it will be miserable to do it in the dark.

It's just that many people then touched their shriveled stomachs again, and they hardly ate anything all day, and the prisoners of war were on the way to migrate, only a dry meal of 'quality' in the morning, and a sip of thin rice at noon, and the rice grains in the soup were eager to be counted clearly, and at night they didn't even have this mouthful. They have already traveled thousands of miles like this, and their physical functions have weakened to the extreme, and after walking for so long, their physical strength has long dried up, and it is good to be able to stand firm at the moment, and they have to do heavy work again...... It's a lot of choking.

A few people looked at the Kazakh nobleman, hoping that he could help say a few words, but the nobleman seemed to know what they were thinking, and just waved his hand nonchalantly:

"Don't worry, you've reached the ground, and the kingdom will definitely not let you starve to death." Otherwise, they wouldn't have sent people here all the way and cut off their heads, isn't it? "From now on, your food will be the responsibility of the labor camp, and your food will be much better than when you worked for St. Petersburg."

As he was talking, he saw a big cart in front of him, and there were baskets of multigrain steamed buns piled up on the cart. There were also a number of large wooden barrels, which were steaming when the lid was lifted, apparently filled with hot broth of meat and bones. The captives were all excited at once - they ate, they all ate.

Although they had hardly eaten or even heard of the multigrain steamed buns stacked in those baskets, they could smell the aroma of the steamed buns. And the broth made from the meat bones and potatoes in the soup bucket is also fragrant, and you only need to smell it to know that it is a good thing. None of them knew what it was, but at least they were sure that this meal would be the best meal they had eaten since they were captured!

Feeding them so little before was obviously intentional on the part of the Chinese. It is to make them so hungry that they have no strength, and they can't even escape, let alone dare to escape.

Who can guarantee that if they escape, they will find food immediately? If you can't find something to eat, you'll starve to death if you're hungry.

The men in the labor camps were apparently skilled in doing this kind of thing, and they beckoned the prisoners to line up in the order in which they had been grouped, one group was a team, and at the same time they were assigned in advance according to the division of ten people into small groups, and a random group leader was appointed before they were asked to line up in small groups to receive food. He also told them that they could go to work after eating, and that all future affairs should be carried out as a group as a whole, and that they could not run around the camp alone. For the time being, the establishment of the group is based on today's demarcation, and each person needs to receive an identity tag before going to work.

You need to carry this sign with you for anything, otherwise, if you catch it, you will die.

One house per group, and after the house is built, you can sleep.

Because only people who have lined up in a line can go to receive food, and a team is divided into groups of ten, in this case it is only a waste of time to move slowly or disrupt discipline. Under the temptation of steamed buns and broth, the Russian prisoners of war were extremely cooperative, and after a while, all the 1,000 people were distributed, and each group of people hurriedly ran to the side of the food distribution vehicle to line up, lest the movement be a little slower and be preempted by other teams.

After a long day, these hungry prisoners of war finally received two multigrain steamed buns and a bowl of fragrant hot soup, and the wooden lunch box used to hold the soup and the spoon for eating were assigned to each person, and they were told to take care of it, and if it was lost or damaged, it would be useless next time.

Many people are attracted by the aroma of the hot soup, and before they can find a place to sit down, they take a big sip, and then often they let out a loud 'ah' - so refreshing and comfortable.

The cooks in the labor camp put a lot of salt and chili peppers in the soup, although it smelled fragrant, but after tasting it in the mouth, it was spicy and sweaty, and the taste was extremely strong, which was very suitable for the eating habits of the lower classes of Russians. The upper classes of Russia were very much admirers of France, and the aristocracy not only took pride in speaking French, but also studied mainly French food and cooking techniques. However, after years of evolution, especially the low-level people in Russia, who pay more attention to high-calorie varieties in cooking, have gradually formed their own culinary characteristics. Russians like to eat hot food, the taste is heavier, they like to use oil, and the preparation method is relatively simple. The taste is mainly sour, sweet, spicy and salty, and pickled cucumber and pickled cabbage are often essential foods on the restaurant or family table.

Nowadays, the temperature in Kazakhstan is already below zero degrees during the day, and it is close to minus 10 degrees at night, and it can be said that a bowl of hot potato stew and broth in this cold weather is the most appetizing and sweaty, and the salty taste also helps to replenish the large amount of salt they consume along the way.

In order to make the Russian prisoners of war honest, the food they were given along the way, in addition to the control of the amount, also reduced the salinity, and the taste was sour and sweet.

Now these prisoners of war all have a great appetite, one by one on the hot soup dipped in steamed buns and eat very refreshingly, after eating everyone is sweating profusely, many people look at the car not far away is still piled up with steamed buns and broth barrels, eyes eager to emerge two invisible hands to grab them. However, the surrounding Wehrmacht soldiers with loaded guns and vassal cavalry with swords on their horses and swords made them dare not make the slightest big move.

After eating, I sat down and rested for a while, and the fatigue and fatigue accumulated from the previous continuous journey suddenly decreased a lot. The physical strength has also been restored, so that they can afford to do the heavy work in the future, both mentally and physically.

……

In the process of sorting out the prisoners of war in the labor camp, the escorts did not leave or stand by, but took the initiative to help - they were people of color who knew what to do and when. Sure enough, after all the prisoners of war had been arranged, the commander of a labor camp said that since everyone had not eaten, it would be better to stay and have a light meal together.

The escort team here was waiting for this sentence, and all the soldiers and officers did not play fake politeness, smiled and said 'thank you' one by one, and followed into the camp - everyone knew that the food of the Wehrmacht was good, and the food in the labor camp was better than that of the Wehrmacht, and it would be stupid not to take this opportunity to stay and rub a meal.

What's more, there are already a lot of people who have rubbed this meal here, and if they don't get it, how shameful it is?

The class division in the labor camps has always been very strict, and if it is not rigorous, it will blur the hierarchy of the upper and lower classes, which is very detrimental to the stability of the labor camps and the labor reform. The soldiers ate much better than the prisoners of war - although it was also a steamed bun with mixed grains and a hot and spicy potato soup, not only was there no limit to the quantity, but the meat in the soup was much more than the potato broth of the Russian prisoners.

I'm afraid all the flesh that has been shaved off the bones has come here.

At the same time, it is also accompanied by milk tea and sauerkraut, and canned fruit after the meal.

Of course, the Kazakh nobles and officers of the escort team did not eat such meals, and the officers' meals were still not separated from potato broth and steamed buns, but the steamed buns were replaced by white flour steamed buns, and the broth was no longer horse meat, but beef.

In addition to milk tea, sauerkraut, and canned fruit after the meal, there is also cheese and an egg, and a pack of cigarettes per person after the meal. This is the level of the captain.

At a higher level, there are also battalion commanders, such as those Kazakh nobles who were invited, and they were treated as camps in labor camps.

After being invited to sit down at the dinner table, I saw that the cooks in the labor camp opposite were serving a large silver plate, and I don't know where they got it, it was obviously European-style.

When I lifted the lid on the silver platter, it was full of oily barbecue.

The eating habits of the Kazakhs are very similar to those of the Mongols, and the big meal is hand-held lamb and barbecue. There are many types of dairy products, such as milk gnocchi, milk skin milk tofu, cheese, ghee, etc. Ghee is mostly made from cow's or goat's milk, and is stored in the stomach of the sheep that has been washed after slaughter.

They also like to drink milk tea, and the practice is not much different from that of the Mongolians.

The only difference is the pasta, there is naan, baour sak. The dough is made into a fermented dough with milk or brine, then twisted into strips, cut into diamond shapes with a knife, put in a pot of boiling butter or mutton fat, and fried until yellow. The Baur Sak is mostly made for festivals or to entertain guests. Naan is exactly the same as the same kind of food in Xinjiang.

Now this plate is full of large pieces of barbecue, fresh meat, and bacon.

The food is served with spicy cabbage, pickled cucumber and dried shrimp and winter melon, fish ball and tofu soup, and a delicious seaweed soup.

Milk tea is not accepted by most inland people, but Mi Xing tea is okay. Mixing tea, which is made by stir-frying millet and brewed with water, is said to be tea, but it is actually a thin soup. It is especially pleasant to drink after eating meat.

These Kazakh nobles often enjoy such dinners, but now they are being entertained by Chen Han's officials, which makes the Kazakh nobles present very moved.

Even though there were a few Chinese dishes in this dinner, the main meal was completely Kazakh-style, which was a great respect for them.

The fragrant roast lamb was originally an ordinary question, but in their mouths, it became incomparably delicious at the moment.

……

Eat and drink enough, and then it's time to get to work. The labor camp fed the stomachs of these prisoners of war at a great cost, but it was not for them to lie comfortably on the ground and chat after they had eaten.

Groups of captives who had come to receive their badges were gathered again and again, and then they were shown to watch a demonstration of setting up a camp: first a pit was dug in the ground, a wall of earth was built around the perimeter with the excavated earth, and then a roof was covered with straw mats made of wood and yellow dead grass and reeds. In general, it is a bit like a nest in the northeast, but because it is close to the water's edge, you can't dig too deep, otherwise it will seep water.

There were ten people living in a nest, and when it was built, it was also a group of ten people, just a small team.

The Wehrmacht soldiers who were demonstrating it took only a short time to set up their shacks, and then the interpreter loudly proclaimed to the prisoners:

"You can see it all, right? You're going to be living in it for a while, so give me snacks when you build it, especially waterproof! The price of laziness is your own bad luck. In addition, you should also hurry up the speed, if you can't finish it before dark, then it's dark! ”

Soon, the houses would be sold to the Kazakhs, Mongols, and Yan'anji people who had gathered around the city of Broken Leaves at a very low price. In exchange for a fresh livestock. It's a 'small profit, quick turnover' deal.

After receiving the tools and materials, the captives began their work. The guards of the labor camp patrol around, and if they encounter someone who does not know how to do it or who uses the wrong method, they will come forward to help guide them. This surprised the prisoners of war, and compared to the terrifying impression they had left on the battlefield before, these Chinese seemed to be a different person.

Seeing that these soldiers were more kind, some people asked the question they were most concerned about - what do the Chinese plan to do with them? The guards did not answer immediately, but only said that they should quickly settle down tonight, and that there would be a meeting, and these questions would be explained at that time.

At most, they say that honest and obedient people will be rewarded.

The prisoners of war were skeptical, but they were all quiet, since the other party gave them such good food and sent them materials to build camps, they would not easily kill them?

- Actions are always more convincing than nice words.

Early the next morning, all the prisoners of war were gathered and divided into five labor camps in the form of 'squads'. An officer from the camp came up to them and told them about the discipline, the precautions, and the rights they were entitled to—the last of which was fresh to the POWs.

As captives, they still have such benefits? This is definitely something they didn't dare to imagine before.

- The camp will tell them unequivocally that if there is a difference in their treatment and if there is a clear disagreement with the regulations, they can report it to the military judge in the camp.

And once the report is formalized, then they have a credit - they dug up the moth for the Wehrmacht. Then the whistleblower will not only receive a material reward, but also be elevated.

From ordinary prisoners of labor camps to small leaders at the bottom, or simply front-line overseers.