Fan Ning walked out of the official office and saw that houses were being built in the southeast corner of the county, and several of them were arguing about something, which seemed to be very loud, attracting many people to stop and look back.

Fanning was a little surprised, so he turned on his horse and urged the horse to the southeast corner.

After all, the circumference of the county seat is twelve miles away, and it is at least four or five miles away from the official office to the southeast corner, so it will be more convenient to ride a horse.

A dormitory is obviously being built in the southeast corner, judging from the foundation that has been built, there are more than 100 large houses, according to the previous plan, this side should be built to build the dormitory of craftsmen and boatmen, and then build the army's winter dormitory in Xicheng, the tent is only used now, and in winter, the tent can not withstand the cold.

The reason why wintering has become a big problem for the Song army is that the army is all naval soldiers, most of whom come from the Jiangnan region, and if they live in tents, they may not be able to withstand the severe cold of dozens of degrees below zero in winter.

Therefore, the construction of winter houses has become a top priority at present.

Frankly speaking, Zhao Zongshi did not do a satisfactory job in building the winter house before, perhaps because he did not realize the seriousness of the problem, and delayed for several months, and now the construction has only started in September.

You must know that September is the lunar calendar, and the solar calendar is already October, and it will snow here in another month and a half, and the amount of snow is very large, that is to say, hundreds of houses will be built in a month and a half, but now only about 20 houses have been built, so Fanning will be anxious and put the problem of wintering in the class A affairs that need to be solved urgently.

Fanning urged the horse to gallop over, and the two leaders of the craftsmen also stopped arguing and came up together to salute.

"Why are you two arguing?"

"Qi Yu Fan Yushi, we are not consistent in our opinions on building a brick house or a wooden house, building a brick house is warmer, but it takes time, and building a wooden house is faster, but it is not warm enough in winter, and it is more suitable to build a brick house for humble considerations."

Another craftsman said: "I'm not against building a brick house, but the main thing is that it's too late, and it takes a long time just to burn the bricks." ”

"It is also fast to burn bricks with charcoal, as long as there is enough manpower, you can burn enough bricks in half a month."

Fanning's heart moved, "Have you found the coal?" ”

"Just three miles to the south, we found a carboniferous mine, which is very shallow and has better calorific value than wood, and can also burn charcoal for heating in winter, and it also burns charcoal in winter in the capital."

Fanning knew that the sulfur content of coal in Japan was too high, and it was not suitable for heating fires, so it could only be used for smelting and burning bricks.

He shook his head and smiled: "Burning charcoal is easy to produce poisonous gas, so it can only be burned outside, and an iron stove must be prepared for burning in the room, and a chimney with iron sheets must be used, which is too luxurious, anyway, there is a lot of wood here, and it is better to burn wood in winter."

So be it! Or build a wooden house, the wood does not need to be sawn, it is built directly with logs, but in each house must be built with bricks against the wall, so that it is convenient to make a fire for heating in winter, so at least one wall should be built with bricks, and the stove and chimney should be made of bricks, and the brick wall can be placed on the north side, you know what I mean! ”

The two nodded, "We understand what Yushi means!" ”

"Hurry up and build a house, I'll go and catch a strong man for you!"

He immediately turned his horse's head and ran towards the barracks, and after a while, Fan Ning came to the big tent of the Chinese army, Di Qing and Lin Rui were discussing something, seeing Fan Ning coming in, Di Qing smiled and said: "Fan Daguan, just send someone to find you!" ”

"I'm looking for you too!"

Fanning walked into the big tent with a smile, "You guys talk first, let's see if it's not a thing that we are considering." ”

Lin Rui bowed slightly and said: "Yesterday I went to find the chief of the Kun clan, and he told me that the winter in Kunzhou is very cold, and the snow is up to the waist of people, and I estimate that it is difficult to live in a tent to survive the winter, so I discussed with Di Shuai that it is best for the soldiers to change their housing." ”

Di Qing said apologetically to Fan Ning: "Two months ago, Fan Yushi reminded us of this matter, but I and the envoy didn't pay too much attention to it, now it seems that Fan Yushi is indeed prescient, I don't know if it is too late to remedy it now." ”

Fanning nodded and smiled: "It seems that we thought of going together, and I am here to talk about this." ”

Di Qing was overjoyed, "Is it too late?" ”

"It's still a month and a half before the first snowfall, as long as you hurry, it should be in time, but I need manpower, at least two thousand soldiers."

"So many people?" Di Qing was a little surprised.

In fact, there are still 5,000 soldiers on the island, of which 1,000 soldiers are stationed in the north horse farm, the other 2,000 soldiers are building warehouses, and the remaining 2,000 soldiers are training in the barracks.

Fanning said lightly: "Actually, I am still too little for two thousand soldiers, but there is no way, one thousand soldiers go to cut wood, prepare for the construction of houses and timber for the winter, and a thousand soldiers participate in the construction of houses, so that I promise to build five hundred wooden houses within a month." ”

Di Qing also knew that there was no time to train now, and it was imperative to ensure that the soldiers and boatmen and craftsmen survived the winter, so he pondered for a moment, then nodded, and said to Lin Rui: "I agree with Fan Yushi's opinion, two thousand soldiers are all involved in logging and building houses!" ”

"Obey the order!"

With the issuance of the military order, the vigorous logging and house-building movement began, and the entire Tang City and the nearby forests became a large construction site in full swing.

Fan Ning took Xu Qing on the boat, and went to the northern pasture with a lot of heart on the big boat, if the horses in the Central Plains have never been able to adapt to the water, soil and climate of Kunzhou, then what is the point of occupying Kunzhou?

...........

Fanning's large boat arrived at the racecourse in three days, a much shorter trip than the first time, which took five days, and it was also a headwind, thanks to the crew's growing familiarity with the nearby seas.

Although the sea road is very convenient, the plan to build a north-south direct road is still listed by Fanning as a Category B plan, that is, a project to be implemented next year, after all, the land represents the residence, once the road is built, a large number of Han people move north to Kunzhou, villages will gradually appear on both sides of the road.

On the other hand, the sea route is also more dangerous, two months ago, a cargo ship transporting grain sank near the coast, losing more than 10,000 stones of grain and more than a dozen crew members, of course, the convenience of sea transport is not comparable with land transport, even if the road is built, land transport can not replace sea transport, but when encountering bad sea conditions, there is one more choice.

On the big ship, Fanning stood on the side of the ship and watched the land in the distance, at this time, Xu Qingxiao asked: "Little official, how many Japanese laborers do we plan to recruit to work here?" ”

Fanning glanced at him and asked curiously, "How did you come up with the idea of asking this question?" ”

"I chatted with the soldiers yesterday, and they talked about it, and several soldiers still want to stay in Kunzhou and settle down, and marry a young and beautiful Japanese lady."

After speaking, Xu Qing added with a self-deprecating smile: "I guess these soldiers were seduced by the little Japanese lady in the restaurant." ”

Fanning smiled and said: "The initial plan is to recruit 10,000 laborers, repair the city, build roads, open mines, issue wood, build docks, and recruit another 1,000 young ladies, mainly engaged in things such as growing vegetables, weaving, milking cows, etc., but I am worried that they may not be able to recruit." ”

"I'm sure I'll be able to recruit it!"

Xu Qing said with a smile: "I heard Yu Xiaonian say that there are many wars in Japan, and there are so many taxes that ordinary people are forced to have no way to live. ”

Fanning nodded, in fact, he also thought so, and waited until next year's spring to recruit laborers.

The boat slowly docked, Fanning got off the boat, and Yang Yunzao, the governor of the racecourse, saw the big boat and immediately rushed to the dock to greet him.

This time, the group of animal husbandry department sent a total of eighteen officials and seven veterinarians to Kunzhou to establish pastures, three of which stayed on Tamna Island, the remaining fifteen officials and seven veterinarians came to Kunzhou, the highest official is a deputy governor, from the seven officials, in addition to fifteen officials, there are also a hundred shepherds, of course, compared with five thousand horses, the number is really not enough, the imperial court's horse raising regulations are every five to match a shepherd and a soldier, fifty horses with a shepherd.

However, the imperial court is in captivity, and this is free-range, which is different, so a hundred Kun people were recruited to help raise horses, and they barely took care of it.

The official office and stable of the racecourse were not far from the seaside, and on a hillside, Yang Yun rode a horse and galloped, he turned over and dismounted and saluted, "See Fan Yushi!" ”

"How?"

Fanning asked anxiously, "How is the condition of the horses, has it deteriorated?" ”

"It's not getting worse, it's getting better!"

Yang Yun looked happy and sighed slightly: "I finally found the reason!" ”

Fan Ning was suddenly overjoyed, and hurriedly asked, "What is the reason?" ”

Yang Yun waved his hand, "Go to the office!" We talk as we go. ”

Together, the two of them walked to the office, which was miles away.

"The horse accident is because of poisoning, there is a kind of grass here, we have not seen it, there should be no Song Dynasty, this grass itself is tender and juicy, horses like to eat it, but in winter it will bear a small white fruit, this small fruit is poisonous, there is no problem to eat a little less, but after eating too much, the toxin accumulates to the limit, the horse will die, after we keep the horse in captivity, there will be no death, and the sick horse will slowly recover, indicating that it is not a water and soil problem, but a pasture problem."

Fanning suddenly breathed a long sigh of relief, as long as the cause is found, there will be a countermeasure.

He asked again, "What then?" Organize people to shovel this grass by hand? ”

"We need a two-pronged approach, on the one hand, we organize people to pick a large number of this fruit, so that its number is decreasing year by year, and secondly, when feeding the horses, we should also add a little bit of this white fruit, so that the horses themselves can resist the toxin of this fruit, and they will not be afraid in the future, in fact, there are poisonous weeds in the grasslands everywhere, the key is to adapt to the horses themselves, most of the horses in the Song Dynasty are in captivity, and there is no physique to survive in the wild, so they can only be cultivated slowly, I believe that after five years, our horses will be able to adapt to the wild survival and become real war horses."

Fan Ning sighed secretly in his heart, it will take five years to adapt!

In fact, Fanning also knows that five years of adaptation is already a very short time, and it generally takes more than ten or twenty years to cultivate a good war horse, and as for the formation of a type of war horse, it will take hundreds of years.