In the middle of March of the eighth year of Chongzhen, Xie Xiuniang came to Jingbian Fort again.

It turned out that Xu Yue'e was indeed insulted by the Houjin Army last year, and she had a body, and by the end of the year, her stomach could not be covered, and on Chinese New Year's Eve, she was kicked out of the house and lived alone in a hut outside, and she didn't know what to live on.

The Zhuang people are all gossip, ignoring her life and death, only the Zhong family has mercy on her, and from time to time asks Xie Xiuniang to send her some rice and silver money to live. This time when she came to Jingbian Fort, Xie Xiuniang went to see Xu Yue'e and persuaded her to move to Jingbian Fort to live.

Jingbian Fort took in a group of tragically robbed women, which also caused a lot of criticism outside the fort, and Wang Dou certainly ignored the interest.

As for Jingbianbao's actions, Zhong was very appreciative. The mother-in-law's words and deeds inevitably affected Xie Xiuniang, and Xie Xiuniang also felt that Wang Dou's approach was very good, providing a place of refuge for those poor women.

However, for Xie Xiuniang's persuasion, Xu Yue'e just shook her head stubbornly and lived silently in the hut alone.

"Mother is a kind-hearted person."

Talking about these things, Xie Xiuniang said with reverence.

Wang Dou nodded silently, this Xu Yue'e is just one of the many victims of the Houjin Bingxie, many captive women rescued by himself and Han Chao and others that day, as well as those women rescued from the Four Leaning Liang bandits, most of them had a hard time after they went back, and many people committed suicide one after another, and most of these women came to Jingbian Fort afterwards.

Listening to Xie Xiuniang's words, Wang Dou sighed and said, "They are all neighbors, if you can help, you can help, mother did the right thing, and you did a good job." ”

After listening to Wang Dou's praise, Xie Xiuniang smiled.

……

In the middle of April of the eighth year of Chongzhen, the construction of the fort wall of Jingbian Fort was still in full swing.

Zhong Rong seemed to have his son sick, so he took leave to go home to take care of him for a few days, and a few days later he returned to Jingbian Fort, but his expression was ugly. At that time, the son of Wanli Tian, the civic novel "Warning the World" honored him as the king of the Holy Ming.

After the death of the Ming Dynasty, the "History of Qiao" written by the remnants still misses the grand occasion at that time:

“…… Passed on from Wanli, don't say other benefits, just say that firewood, rice, oil, salt, chicken, goose, fish, and meat are all kinds of food, which one is not cheap? If a family of several people spends only two or three dollars a day, it is extremely rich. There is also that small family, who carries the burden on his shoulders, earns twenty or thirty yuan a day, and he can live for a day. In the evening, I have to eat some wine, get drunk and tell jokes, sing Wu songs, listen to and listen to stories, bake the fire in winter and cool off in summer, and play in every way. At that time, everyone was so unhappy, and the same was true of the thirteen provinces in the north and south. To this day, when my father talks about that season, I don't sigh and sigh. ”

The two sighed with emotion for a while, Zhong Rong's face turned ugly, and he sighed: "It's over, it's all over, since the emperor appeared, this day is getting worse and worse, and now the Ming Dynasty is even more dangerous!" ”

He took out a newspaper heavily, pointed to it and said: "Xingyang has fallen, Flood has fallen, Gushi has fallen, Fengyang has fallen, the thieves are so powerful, my country has been in a country for three hundred years, will it not be able to fall?" ”

Although Wang Dou has a better understanding of the history of the late Ming Dynasty and knows these things in Chongzhen's eight-year history, he still has a shocking feeling on the newspaper in black and white, and he still feels shocking with his own eyes. At this time, Wang Dou knew why Zhong Rong's face was so ugly, for them literati, the fall of Fengyang, the central capital, was a great blow to them.

And Wang Dou also suddenly realized that although he knew more about the history of the late Ming Dynasty, he should also collect the intelligence of the time at any time, such as the collection of this newspaper, so that he could understand the dynamics of the world at any time, so that he could make the most correct response.

Wang Dou looked at it blankly, Zhong Rong pointed to the newspaper in Wang Dou's hand and said: "The thieves are more powerful, and the officers and soldiers have been defeated in a row, but they have suffered the local people!" ”

Zhong Rong raised his voice and said, "Killing, looting, slaughtering the city, what can't these bandits do?" ”

The more he spoke, the more excited he became: "When the thieves attacked Shucheng, the officials and soldiers held on, and the thieves plundered thousands of naked women under the city. ”

He cried out, "What is the woman's sin? Naked? The thief is so vicious, but is there a conscience? ”

He cried loudly: "The situation is like this, Emperor Gao knows underground, and he must cry bitterly."

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the military discipline of the officials and soldiers was corrupted, and it was common to kill the good and take the merits, but like these peasant armies in the late Ming Dynasty, they killed people and slaughtered the city at every turn, and they also arrested women to collect prostitution, and if they resisted a little, they would divide their bodies under the city, which was really appalling. Looking around, only the Tartars outside can be compared with them.

In the three hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, to the present, there are Hulu raging outside, and there are rogue gangsters running rampant inside, which makes Wang Douping worry about the situation a lot. He couldn't imagine what would happen to his family in the future. Thinking about the Qing army next year, Baoan Prefecture will rush again, and there will be a lot of urgency in my heart.

……

In the end, Zhong Rong staggered away, and sang sad songs all the way, as if he was drunk.

And Wang Dou sat for a long time!

……

"My lord, the little ones have made a total of thirty-five bird guns, fifteen waist knives, and seventy-four spears in the past few months, please take a look."

Although the construction of the fort wall outside was in full swing, Wang Dou still asked Li Maosen to lead those blacksmiths to make weapons in the armory.

These weapons in front of them are the fruits of their labor in the past few months.

Wang Dou's weapon manufacturing ideas are simple, atmospheric, no tricks, and practical. When I looked at them one by one, sure enough, whether it was a bird gun or a spear, it was sturdy, thick, and sharp. Wang Dou nodded with satisfaction, under his own reward and punishment system, these craftsmen are still hardworking, and the weapons they make can be said to be of the highest quality.

Wang Dou ordered these weapons to be retrieved back to the arsenal, and immediately rewarded these craftsmen, and everyone was happy.

This time, Wang Doulai asked Li Maosen to make a batch of armor, and the first batch of ten pairs of armor, five pairs of leather armor, and five pairs of iron armor.

Li Maosen naturally has no problem, when he was in the Acropolis, whether it was firearms, knives and guns, or armor, he had made them, and the level was first-class ().

However, Li Maosen then had a difficult color, whether it was to make leather armor or iron armor, a large amount of leather and iron materials were needed, and it was obvious that there were very few stocks of these two things in Jingbian Fort, and they needed to be purchased from outside, and there were a lot of them.

Wang Dou learned about Li Maosen's method of making armor, when they made leather armor, they first cut cowhide or other animal skins into strips, then stacked three or four strips of leather together, coated with resin, and finally connected them with leather ropes, so that they were both strong and durable.

When making iron armor, the iron is first made into thin sheets, one finger wide and one palm long. A number of small holes were drilled into each piece of iron, and each of the two pieces of iron was stacked on top of each other, and the pieces were attached to three belts, so that iron armor could be made, and in the same way, horse armor, or human breastplate.

This method of making armor is somewhat similar to that of the Mongols in the border areas, simple, practical, and not fancy, which can save a lot.

However, according to Li Maosen's estimate, even so, a pair of iron armor needs a lot of iron. At present, the price of ordinary wool iron in the Ming Dynasty is about three cents of silver, but after repeated calcining, the price of a pound is at least one penny and six cents of silver.

A pair of iron armor requires at least dozens of catties of such good iron, five pairs of iron armor, five pairs of leather armor, and the money for raw materials, which is not a small amount.

However, Wang Douji was determined to make ten pairs of armor. In the past few months, he has purchased several batches of iron from Dongjiazhuang and Shunxiangbao. This time, there are many leather and iron materials, obviously Dongjiazhuang does not have them, it seems that he must go to Shunxiang Fort.

Before leaving, Wang Dou suddenly heard the news that Xu Zhongjun, the defender of Shunxiang Fort, seemed to be seriously ill.

※※※

Old White Bull: There is another chapter in the evening, before twelve o'clock.