Mid-July.
It was midsummer at this time, and the fierce sun was high in the sky, venting its heat like crazy, almost baking everything on the earth, squeezing out no moisture left.
Early that morning, Liu Yan got up early and came to the salt drying field. He originally thought it would be cooler, but the weather was still hot in the early morning and there was nowhere to hide.
At this time, Liu Yan readjusted all aspects of Dapan Fort. Chen Xun returned to take charge of the military camp. Wang Yue still stayed in Dapan Fort. Wang Bo was responsible for supervising the craftsmen who built the fort walls and internal facilities. Zhang Yi was Liu Yan was sent to supervise the work at the salt drying farm.
At this time, Liu Yan was already sweating profusely as he stood under the scorching sun. His clothes were wet with sweat and tightly wrapped around his body, making him very uncomfortable.
The woman who was cleaning the two salt-drying ponds was also sweating profusely, struggling to clean up the sand. Zhang Yi was also shirtless and was digging hard. Every move seemed to use up all his strength.
Liu Yan wiped his sweat and walked downstairs. Everyone put down their tools and saluted. Liu Yan smiled and encouraged everyone, and then let everyone rest for a while.
This salt drying pond was originally built on the beach, so it is not very difficult to clean up. In the past few days, the two salt drying ponds have been basically cleaned, but the manpower in Dapanbao is definitely insufficient. Now, the men have to farm during the day and train at night, and the women have to keep an eye on the soap workshop and provide logistics for Dunjun and the men. Except for the elderly and children, everyone in Dapanbao is busy every day, without a moment of leisure. .
"How long until it's completed?"
Zhang Yi wiped his sweat with his damp coat, and then said: "It will take at most two days. The main reason is that there are not enough bamboo tubes, so we need to wait. As long as there are enough bamboo tubes, the diversion canal can be cleared, and the rest can be dried." The salt pond isn’t that difficult either.”
Liu Yan nodded and said: "When you go back tonight, remember to prepare some light salt water and bring it with you when you go to work tomorrow. The weather is hot now. You must stop to drink water and rest every half an hour of working, otherwise you will get hot. questionable."
Zhang Yi said movedly: "Don't worry, Commander A, your subordinates will definitely remember this."
Liu Yan inspected here for a while and then returned to Dapanbao. Along the way, Liu Yan was always thinking about the problem of insufficient manpower. Although Dapanbao now had a population of several hundred, Liu Yan still felt stretched when allocating manpower.
So when the military camp was finishing work that night, Liu Yan asked Wang Bo, Zhang Yi, and Wang Yue to lead the team for training, while he called Chen Xun back to the house.
"Tomorrow morning, don't go to the military camp. Take a few people with you and go to the surrounding forts."
Chen Xun was stunned for a moment, then grinned and said, "Chief A is poaching!"
Liu Yan glanced at Chen Xun and said, "What else? Now our Dapanbao has insufficient manpower. What other good ideas do you have?"
Although Wang Wenzhen and Zhang Hailin both promoted Liu Yan and attracted many refugees, neither the quantity nor the frequency could meet the development needs of Dapanbao.
Therefore, Liu Yan had to take a different approach at this time and directly grab people from various forts. Of course, this was not Liu Yan's first initiative. This was not only the case in Wangjiazhuang, but also in all the forts in Lingshan Guard. Things like poaching people from each other happened frequently, and the superior officials had long been used to it.
Who knows that there is now a serious shortage of vacancies in various military stations, military households have fled frequently, and without manpower, various forts have to find their own solutions.
Chen Xun said with some worry: "Captain A, my subordinates are worried that it will cause trouble."
Liu Yan said nonchalantly: "If we had developed honestly, Dapanbao would still be a small Dapandun, and we would still be living in poverty! I just want to take a different approach. Before, I was making soap. , now they are recruiting people to poach them, as the saying goes: a horse does not grow fat without night, that is the truth!"
"But there were several military families who escaped from other places before, and many people have already had problems with us. If we want to rob people openly this time, someone might come here to fight."
Liu Yan laughed loudly when he heard this and said: "Then I will take you to fight the general again. Now we have more than 70 Dunjun in Dapanbao. During this period, the general has been well raised and trained very solidly. What are you afraid of? We have too many people to fight. Not enough, enough group fights!”
Chen Xun was stunned when he heard this.
Early the next morning, Chen Xun and others set off. For several days, Chen Xun and others left early and returned late. They continued to publicize in the surrounding Tunbu and Huolu Dun, working very hard.
After a few days, military families from all over the place moved in with their families. Some were single families with a few people, some were more than a dozen families, or dozens of people. The largest group was 22 families, a total of 70 people. Many people!
During this period, there were a total of 113 military households from various places who came to Dapanbao, more than 500 people!
This number was something Liu Yan had not expected. Nowadays, military households in various camps and Huolu piers were on the run. It was really a miracle that they could still recruit so many people. Liu Yan looked at the large number of military households and felt a little nervous. After all, there were too many people. Now the population of Dapanbao was around a thousand, surpassing Wangjiazhuang and ranking first among the 100 households.
However, Liu Yan was now eager to develop his strength, so he accepted them all with a gritted teeth, and asked Wang Yue to be responsible for the arrangements for these new military households.
"Hygiene, you must pay attention to hygiene!"
Liu Yan called Wang Yue to him and told him: "Let all the newly arrived military households take a bath by the Nanhe River. After cleaning, they will be assigned residences. Remember, if any sick people are found among them, they must be placed separately." Isolate and be very careful.”
Wang Yue nodded and bowed and said, "Don't worry, Commander Jia, your subordinates must be careful."
"In addition, please inform Mr. Zhao to register these people as soon as possible and issue military household stickers."
Wang Yue said with a smile: "My subordinates understand that the military household stickers will be distributed today and tomorrow to avoid long nights and dreams."
"Um."
It has to be said that Wang Yue's ability to be considerate is really good. Liu Yan nodded with satisfaction, and Wang Yue asked: "Chief A, how will we arrange these people after they settle down?"
Liu Yan thought for a while and said: "There is a shortage of people everywhere now. When Mr. Zhao finishes the statistics, you can take a look. Qingzhuang was sent to Juntun to open up wasteland. Now our cultivated land in Dapanbao is no longer enough. We must continue to open up wasteland." , let Chen Xun be responsible for the specific matters."
"All the strong women will be sent to the salt drying fields. The remaining old people and children will do whatever they can in the fort for the time being. If there is a shortage of manpower in the soap workshop, let the Chen family's brothers and sisters pick out some older women."
Wang Yue responded and wrote them down one by one.
In the evening, Liu Yan gathered several small flag officials into his room and held a small meeting for everyone.
"Each team of soldiers should be more vigilant during this period. With so many military households coming here these days, there must have been riots in all the forts. We have to be on guard against anyone coming to cause trouble."
Chen Xun and others agreed very much. No one expected that Dapanbao would attract so many military households to join the army after publicizing it in the surrounding areas.
Zhang Yi said doubtfully: "When we started the military camp, we recruited people before, but we never saw so many military households coming. Why do so many people suddenly appear now?"
Wang Yue was the first to say: "What's so strange about this? When we first settled in the military camp, everyone was poor. As long as they couldn't survive, who would be willing to come here and suffer? It's different now. Our Dabanbao is in the whole The Wangjiazhuang is one of the richest, every household has enough to eat, and they can even get money from the soap workshop. Who wouldn’t envy these days? Military households elsewhere would dream of joining us!"
Chen Xun nodded in agreement and said with a smile: "I guess if it weren't for the strict control of the commanders and garrison officers everywhere, there would be even more military households coming to seek refuge!"
Liu Yan said: "No matter what, while everyone is focusing on production, they must be prepared for others to knock on the door."
Then Liu Yan began to deploy the mission: "The military camp is full of young people, so I'm not too worried. We also have a fort wall in the fort. Although it has not been completely completed, there is no problem with the defense, and there are enough people in the fort. What I’m worried about now is the salt drying field.”
Now Liu Yan has started to clean up the salt drying field, and several surrounding villages are aware of it. After all, the salt drying field occupies a large area, and it is just there. Liu Yan has no choice but to keep it secret.
So Liu Yan simply went straight to work. Anyway, Wang Wenzhen, the team leader in Wangjiazhuang, was guarding him, and he also had dozens of Dunjun troops in his hands, so there was nothing to worry about for the time being.
"The salt drying field is basically full of women. If someone really comes to visit and suffers a loss in the military camp and the fort, they will probably go to the salt drying field to cause trouble, so starting from tomorrow..."
Having said this, Liu Yan looked at Zhang Yi and said: "From tomorrow on, your team of Dunjun troops will no longer go to the military camp to work. Let Chen Xun recruit some elderly men from the fort. The Dunjun troops in your team will Let others help with the farm work at home."
"Early tomorrow morning, you will take your Dunjun troops to the salt drying field, build some simple shelters, and stay there temporarily."
Zhang Yi accepted the order and then asked: "Commander A, aren't we coming back at night?"
Liu Yan thought for a moment and said: "It is not easy to restore the two salt ponds and the diversion canal in the salt drying field. You should work hard and not come back. You can also live there directly at night to prevent anyone from causing damage."
"yes."
"Remember, if you are really attacked by a large group of people, don't fight hard. Send people back as soon as possible to report the news. As long as you wait until I arrive with my people, it will be a great achievement. Of course, if everything is safe during this period , that’s the best.”
"yes."
Although Liu Yan said this, he was smiling bitterly in his heart: "You robbed so many people at once, how can you stay safe?"
At this time, Liu Yan had already prepared for the worst, and it was just a big fight. Anyway, he would never give away the people he had already obtained, and it would not be easy for anyone to do it!
