Li Dan asked Zhu Qing to come closer and mouthed to the crowd: "I see there are a few refugees and beggars over there who are a little older, but have strong hands and feet. They should be able to do things well. You can pick a few of them and keep them as service soldiers. There is no salary. But take care of three meals. Start training in the afternoon!
Now, you arrange for Mao Zaidi to take them to the dormitory to take a bath, buy clothes and trousers for each person, trim their hair and beard, and take them to eat something, four biscuits and a bowl of mutton soup for each person.
Prepare pen and paper to register their names, place of origin, family members, and who will receive the pension if they are killed in action. The registration of others begins at no time. "
He explained, and Zhu Qing agreed "yes". Li Dan was very satisfied and suddenly asked: "Why don't you ask about money?"
"Sir must have made arrangements, why should a villain comment?"
Li Dan said "ha", reached out and took out a few banknotes from his pocket and put them in his hand: "You can use these first and record them at any time. If they are not enough, go to Su Siniang of Renli Inn to withdraw them." "
"The villain has a suggestion."
"explain."
"Please...sir, allow me to engrave a seal for the sole purpose of marching."
"March secretary, just for the exclusive use?" Li Dan's eyes lit up: "Well, that's a good suggestion! I agree, go and do it quickly!"
"yes!"
Looking at Zhu Qing's back, Li Dan couldn't help but be surprised. This man could not only raise horses, but what else could he do?
This afternoon, training officially began. For the next two days, the school grounds were noisy, with scoldings from the corps commanders and senior officers constantly heard.
These guys, all the thorns that Li Dan beat on their arms and legs were returned to their subordinates in double the amount.
The number of people clinging to the wall and watching continued to decrease, and they gradually lost interest.
"Hey, what's the point of them lining up, walking, turning, and standing apart like this all day long?" Some people felt bored.
"Yes, this is called military training? But it looks good when they run in the morning. There are so many people with the same footsteps, which is very impressive!" said another person.
"I think people are just training for physical fitness, not for fighting. You see, they didn't use swords, guns or sticks at all? To transport food and grass, you need to be able to run fast and walk. It's not what you said at all!"
"It seems to make sense!"
County government office.
Mr. Fan received Zhou Dutou, who had come back after a long journey, and urged him very happily and nervously to help General Zhaoyi recruit the five hundred people.
Hearing that bandits had entered the county, Zhou was shocked: "Only two were caught? Are they all Jiang Bin's confidants? These thieves are so bold! Fortunately, Li Sanlang was alert, otherwise..."
"Otherwise, this county may have been captured by the lake bandits." Mr. Fan sighed:
"This kid's strategy of averting the enemy seems to be working. The newspaper reported that the Lake Bandits are gathering in Raozhou North and are hesitant. It seems that they have noticed the night patrol on the top of the city at night."
"Where did the team training come from?" Zhou Du was confused.
"Ahem, it's actually the one hundred and twenty people under Li Sanlang and Zhao Cheng. One of them patrols the north city, the other patrols the south city, and they go to and from the city wall in three shifts at night. This is also Li Sanlang's idea."
County Magistrate Fan introduced: "But they are about to leave for Ten Thousand Years, so they must recruit regiments and train them as soon as possible. The county is in a hurry. After 500 regiments were trained, they only recruited more than 100, which is a big difference!"
"Oh?" Zhou Dutou was even more surprised: "The Li and Zhao families actually cooperated? This is really..."
"Where!" Magistrate Fan couldn't laugh or cry: "They are still doing their own thing. Originally, I arranged for them to train together at the Chenghuang Temple, but who knows, the Zhao family delayed it for several days and never went!"
"Training? Training for what?"
Magistrate Fan laughed and said you can see it tomorrow morning. This situation made Zhou Du dizzy and curious.
He was worried that Li Dan would do something outrageous, but also wondered what he wanted to do. Well, it seems that I have to find an opportunity to visit the Chenghuang Temple.
From the beginning of training, Li Dan asked Song Xiaoniu to go home and move bedding into the school grounds. Not only does he live in the Chenghuang Temple, but everyone does!
The two rooms were converted from wing rooms, and the smaller one was given to Zhu Qing, Li Biao and Mao Zaidi. A row of bunks and a table became their temporary home.
On the other side of the wall, Li Dan was given a straw bed against the wall, and the calf slept near the door. A door panel was set up in the middle of the room as a tabletop, and a few benches were placed around it. This became the meeting hall.
The remaining bricks and tiles were used to mend the wall, so Li Dan asked people to repair the remaining parts of the side hall. After all, he felt that he still needed a safe place to use as a warehouse.
At the same time, he taught Gu Danashi how to make brick molds and dry mud bricks to prepare them for building dry bridges and barriers. These are equipment for training everyone to overcome obstacles. Yes, if you have extra wood, you can build a horizontal bar or something.
When Li Dan walked in and saw his grass patch, he thought that so many people couldn't sleep in the open air all the time. Since he had occupied this piece of land, he should make full use of it.
He walked back and forth on the demolished house foundations, stroking the broken walls and wondering how to use the waste to build a few simple barracks.
This also reminded him of the problem of camping on the march.
Li Dan thought about drawing a schematic diagram of a military tent, using oilcloth as the top and bottom, bamboo poles and strips as bones. It could be stretched open to accommodate five people, and could be bundled and placed in the carriage during the march.
He gave the picture to Mao Zaidi and asked him to show it to Lao Ji and order fifteen heads first.
In fact, from the beginning of repairing the wall, Li Dan discovered that construction can exercise everyone's collaboration and help everyone get familiar with it quickly.
So after the meeting hall was built, Li Dan led everyone to use bamboo to make tendons, chopped hay and mud to build two rows of rammed earth houses on the foundation of the empty side hall.
This is fast, and the wall was up in two days.
Just when everyone was worried that the thing would collapse when it rained, Li Dan sent people out of the city to collect more than a dozen carts of firewood, piled them inside and outside the wall, and set them on fire.
When the fire went out and the wall cooled, the bamboo inside was burnt black, the wall became like red clay pottery, and even the ground became hard.
"Okay, now let's find wood to make the beams, split bamboos to use as rafters, put tarpaulin and thatch on top, and then we can live in it! There is enough room for all of us to go in," Li Dan said.
The old doors and windows are ready-made and can be repaired. The positions have been reserved during the initial construction and can be installed.
In addition to everyone's admiration, Li Dan's prestige in this small team increased a bit.
The greater the changes and the better the conditions, the higher the enthusiasm of everyone, and the changes in the team are also very obvious. The pace of the morning jog every day is more regular and the slogans are louder.
Queue training progresses from individuals to pairs, to the whole team, to the whole team, and finally to the two teams and the whole team.
Not only did everyone learn to distinguish between left and right, front and rear commands, and learn to turn left, right, and backward, but they also learned how to use their peripheral vision to pay attention to their position in the entire team.
Zhou Dutou had already been frightened once in the morning when he heard the sound of running outside. When he rushed out, he only had time to see the backs of the people and the team who were watching the excitement in the street.
He was stunned for a long time, and finally decided that he must go to the Chenghuang Temple today. Hearing that it was busiest before noon, Zhou Dutou took advantage of the time and quietly came outside the school grounds.
Here, there are three layers of people around, and three layers outside. Zhou Dutou found several guys from Nancheng poking their heads. When they found Zhou Dutou, they either shrank their heads or grinned sheepishly.
It turns out that we have to test the training results at noon.
Zhou Dutou was shocked when he saw those generous boys from Beicheng marching in unison, swinging their arms, holding their chests and heads high, and marching in a line of ten, marching in columns, marching in pairs, marching in full team, and stepping and turning midway. Speechless.
Li Dan had seen him a long time ago and immediately sent Mao Zaidi to invite him after the training.
"Sir Zhou, I am Mao Zai, the messenger. Our team will invite you to come to the meeting hall to speak." This little guy not only had a rosy face after eating for a few days, but also became smarter in his speech.
Zhou Dutou followed him to the door. As soon as he noticed that the word "Meeting Hall" on the wooden board beside the door was written by Li Dan, he saw himself appearing at the door and clasping his fists and saying:
"Zhou Dutou is back, it's been a hard journey!"
"Li Sanlang, you did a good job. That night when I came back, I will tell you what San Lang is doing and what I am doing. Okay, anyway, just think about it."
After speaking, he sat down at the table and told Li Dan roughly what happened before the Chen family's mother and daughter boarded the ship to Yingtian. He told him that everything was fine and that the two Tiqi did not do anything excessive. Li Dan is relieved.
Then he asked Li Dan why he wanted to train these people. Li Dan explained that he wanted to keep everyone safe. Zhou Dutou thought for a moment and said: "If this is the case, I'm afraid we should teach them some martial arts, right?"
"Martial arts is a personal skill, and I don't have enough time, so I have to learn team protection. The more people can survive, the better." Li Dan replied.
Then when asked about the situation in the surrounding prefectures and counties, Zhou Dutou roughly told what he knew.
"Why, the Zhao family didn't bring anyone from Nancheng to join you? It seems they still have some unresolved things in their hearts."
Li Dan smiled: "I mean well, forget it if they don't appreciate it. Maybe they will say behind my back that I have other ideas, so don't force it!"
"You have to be careful along the way, Zhao Cheng is not easy to deal with." Zhou Dutou warned.
Li Dan moved his chin: "Don't worry, I have these people around me, he won't get any advantage when he comes!"
Before parting, Zhou Dutou said softly: "I just saw a few people from Nancheng poking around."
"I know." Li Dan nodded: "I saw it earlier, but I guess they will find it boring after two days and won't come again."
"Aren't you afraid that they will learn this trick?"
"You can't learn from it." Li Dan shook his head confidently:
"You can't learn the essence even if you study superficially. You see, my people are concentrated in the school grounds, which is easy to mobilize and command. Therefore, patrols in the west and north are very regular, and defense changes are timely.
But that's not possible in the east and south. Some of their people are too lazy to come, and some look for a place to take a nap at night. Our people don't.
If you eat well, live securely, and be happy and secure with your brothers, your spirit will be different.
Even if Zhao Cheng comes to see it in person, it won't matter. He will definitely disdain it and won't see any benefit from my approach. Do you believe it or not? "
Zhou Dutou nodded, walked a few steps and then turned back and said:
"There are nearly three hundred soldiers recruited. Your people should hand over the city wall tonight. This way everyone can concentrate on training and have a good sleep at night! After all, we should set off in a few days."
Li Dan was overjoyed. Zhou Dutou's prestige in the county was so high that the number of soldiers recruited increased so quickly. He quickly clasped his fists and thanked her.
In the past few days, people have been coming to the county to report. Li Xiong talked with those who could not afford to pay for the work and selected seven or eight people to make up for it. Adding in the refugees and beggars that had been absorbed before, Li Dan felt that he had enough people.
A few days later, Chen Salmon reported that the first carriage had been built. Li Dan ran over and saw that it felt good, so he ordered Zhu Qing to find four people from the refugees to serve as coachmen to practice getting familiar with the new car.
I selected two animals from the mules that I had purchased recently and put them on the bridles for trial use. Everyone said that this car is easy to learn and easy to use.
The cart was loaded with five or six large unused stone slabs from the temple. The total weight was over a thousand kilograms. The two mules could run easily, and turning and retreating were easier than ordinary two-wheeled carts.
Li Dan took a test ride and decided to improve the brake pads by using iron sheets wrapped with thick leather instead of wood. But this car can be used first.
Chen Gang estimated that it would take an average of three days to build one car with the existing manpower. If more craftsmen were added, it might even be faster. Li Dan said that he would add five or six people and let Chen Gang choose them himself.
After all, he could have four new cars before departure, and Li Dan was very happy.
Now the northwest corner of the school grounds has been converted into a carriage and horse shed, which already has six mules and two donkeys (used to pull the original two-wheeled carts). Zhu Qing teaches his disciples and manages accounts every day, so he is very busy!
