During these days, the people of Yugan worked a lot to prepare for war, but the lake bandits could not keep their composure, making people nervous and exhausted every day. Sometimes even Li Dan himself wonders: Have these thieves changed their targets and stopped coming to work?
But again and again he dismissed the idea. No, judging from the information transferred from all parties, Polygonum Huazi is still gathering his troops and preparing food and fodder. It’s not that he won’t come, but he feels that the time has not come yet!
There is a basis for his thinking. Zhao Jingzi's reconnaissance department has spread its tentacles along the lake. He even contacted two small leaders of the lake bandits, and learned a lot of information about Liao Huazi and Chen Yuanhai through them.
Contact was also established with Zhao Chongbi who returned to Poyang. The exchange of information between the two parties was quite frequent. Almost every day, two small flag officers went out of the city as sentinels and rested in a village in the eastern suburbs of Poyang in the name of inspection and visit. Then he mounted his horse and returned to Poyang with the information obtained.
Then someone from the village went out to the nearby Prajna Temple to offer incense or give alms, and hid the note written in pencil under a stone at the corner of the courtyard wall, waiting for someone to take it away and send it to the staff office of Yu Gan's regiment training headquarters. .
The confidential staff compared a copy of "Wen Xin Diao Long" printed in the third year of Jingwu's reign, translated the Arabic numerals on it into text, and handed it to Zhao Jingzi.
Of course, the busiest one is Jia Mingjiu, deputy chief of intelligence of the Inspection Department (also called deputy inspector). As the war is about to begin, he has to put down his beloved wine bottle and first serve as Feng Shen's deputy.
He receives more than a dozen pieces of information from various inspection departments every day, about someone breaking through, suspicious items found, horses missing and suspected thieves passing by... and so on.
Jia Mingjiu must find useful and true information and report it to Li Dan.
However, he could not discuss all this at home.
"Auntie, they will come, and there will be a lot of them!" Li Dan thought for a moment and told Aunt Qian, "We caught another spy last night. Why do you think they keep sending people here if they don't want to take advantage of us?"
"That's right." Aunt Qian nodded: "Then you should be careful!"
"I have nothing to do in the city, but Uncle Majiu is in Wuni Town!"
"Huh?" Aunt Qian was surprised and immediately scolded him: "He has bad legs and feet. It's so close to the lake. You should send someone else there!"
"Yes, but it is precisely because it is too close to the lake bandits and needs an experienced person to take charge, so he was sent there. Now the residents of Wuni are moving to Leijiawan. When the people leave, he will Lead the retreat.
Don't worry, Leijiawan has built additional walls and built a small village as a corner. It is surrounded by Bu River on three sides. The 500 people stationed there can resist the siege of 2,000 people. "
Li Dan was telling the truth. In Leijiawan, the inspection branch alone plus the militia had a small number of 500 people. In addition, there were about a hundred servants and guards from large households, as well as 3,000 people from surrounding villages.
Anyone who has been to Leijiawan will remember the beautiful five-arch stone bridge outside Dongzhai Gate. It is called Taigong Bridge and it is said that the ancestors of the Lei family built it for the local area.
A stone road arcs southwest from the bridge head to the southern embankment, dividing the entire Leijiawan into two parts, the big one and the small one. The big one is concentrated with the three surnames Lei, Fu and Yu, while the small one comes here later. The surnames of Anju are the main ones.
At the earlier meeting, Han An had pointed out that it was impossible for all the people in the county to squeeze into the county town. In that case, the city's guards would have enough manpower, and food supply would be a big problem.
Although the county has currently received donations amounting to 4,700 taels of silver, more than 13,000 stones of grain, and more than 400 pieces of green and white cloth.
But there are already 40,000 residents in this city, and this food is only enough for the entire army and civilians for one month. If another 30 to 40,000 people come in, food will be tight.
After discussion, everyone decided to set up five fort towns outside the city. Each inspection branch organized the people to clear the country and concentrate on these five forts.
In order of construction priority, they are Mianshan, Leijiawan, Nanxuwei, Yangbu, Nanxiashan and Gubu. These five forts will be strong outer strongholds and absorb about 20,000 to 26,000 people.
Therefore, Ma Jiu, Song Xiaoniu, Song Qian and others brought money and a small amount of food with them when they went to their posts. They would build warehouses in each fort to store local donations or purchases.
food. In order to provide for the people who come to take refuge when necessary.
After Zhu Erye and Chen Sanwen conducted an on-site survey of Leijiawan, they discussed with Li Dan that the Wubao of the original Lei's Manor would be used as the core, and a high place along the river embankment would be selected to build a road wall using the bamboo tendon ramming method. The wall is one foot high and one foot thick, with four doors.
Within fifty steps of the two wings of the gate, it is one foot two feet high and one foot four feet thick. There are two to four enemy platforms and horse faces. The south gate is connected to the outside world by land, so a one-foot-wide protective trench was dug outside the gate, and a horse-blocking wall and a suspension bridge were set up.
There are ferries and wooden piers outside the north and west gate walls where boats can dock. The north gate is also a water gate, and small boats can be rowed directly inside to berth. The entire village wall stretches for two miles and can accommodate up to 5,000 people.
A wall was also built on the outside of the residential area in the south, six hundred steps long, one foot high and eight feet thick. There was a gate in the southwest. There was no wall near the pond in the northwest, only two wooden fences were used to block it. Xiaozhai can accommodate about 1,500 people.
After the construction of these two villages, it will be a complete defense system. Now Leijiawan, led by Zheng Sunliang of the third district team, is supervising the work of 3,000 people. Seeing that the hillocks for collecting soil are getting shorter and shorter, the village The wall also showed its appearance.
Li Dan knew that people knew about the danger of the lake bandits, so they were working hard. "In ten days, the Leijiawan Dazhai will be completed, and the small village may not be able to make it in time..."
He thought: Otherwise, the rest of the project would be to add a wooden fence to the completed foundation. Would it be faster? But in that case, they would have to send them a batch of axes, saws, nails, etc.
"Brother Dan, Brother Dan."
Li Dan suddenly woke up and found that he was distracted.
Food was already placed on the table in front of her. Aunt An looked at him and shook her head with a sigh and walked out. Li Dan heard her mutter: "He is still a brother! Such a heavy burden..."
"It's almost time to finish eating. Let's take a rest." Aunt Qian patted him on the shoulder. Seeing him tilting his head and looking out, she immediately said, "Don't worry! Your little soldier just finished eating and fell asleep leaning against the door frame."
Li Dan then smiled, picked up the bowl and started to devour the food, making his aunt and Zhen'er stunned.
"Auntie, don't you want to eat outside?" Zhen'er asked softly in fear.
"This silly girl!" Aunt Qian said angrily, "He is an official, how can he have no food to eat?"
Listening to their conversation, Li Dan found it funny, waved his hand, swallowed something and said, "I always hung out with officers and soldiers in the army, so I learned to eat like this."
After saying that, he shouted twice outside to call Mao Zaidi in, and told him to go back and send a message to Master Ba to immediately send thirty axes, twenty saws, and five hundred pairs of nails to Leijiawan, and told him The renovation plan of their small village.
"There is terrain on the side facing the river that can be borrowed. It would be faster to build half a wall and add a wooden fence. Just make the southwest village gate better. If it is not enough, add a fence on the inside..."
The palisade is a wooden palisade standing on the ground, ten paces long and six feet high, similar in shape to a weapons rack. When necessary, several people can lift and move it together to adjust the distance between the two grids.
This thing has the function of blocking the enemy's attack and disrupting its offensive formation. For our own side, it can be adjusted and placed according to the situation to facilitate defense and kill the enemy.
Mao Zaidi went back immediately after receiving the order. After completing the order, he went back to his godfather Lao Ji's place to stay tonight and came back to meet Li Dan tomorrow morning.
After dinner and a good bath, Li Dan lay comfortably on the bed, with his hair hanging loose, listening to Bei Xi telling him interesting stories about the city recently. Listening, listening, I fell asleep involuntarily.
Beixi noticed that he was snoring and covered him with a quilt. When she lowered her head and saw the brocade bag hanging around his neck, she couldn't help but sigh secretly and quietly went back to her bed.
In his dream, Li Dan saw a figure. I don't know who it is, and the surroundings seem to be foggy and confusing, making it difficult to see clearly. Is it Meng'er? Yes, it must be her!
Just like her name, come and meet yourself in dreams. Li Dan felt happy in his heart and walked a few steps. Suddenly he felt that it was not Meng'er and his heart tightened.
When he woke up, Beixi was wearing a small coat and a short jacket in front of the bed. "What's wrong?" Li Dan asked.
"My brother is here. He said there is military information waiting in the yard."
Li Dan stood up, took a large cloak from Bei Xi and put it on, rubbed his eyes and asked, "Now
At what time? "
"It just struck quarter to four," Beixi replied.
Opening the door, I saw Ma Jiu's wife bringing a bowl of something for Mao Zaidi to drink. "Thank you, Auntie!" Mao Zaidi gave a military salute, which made Ma Jiu's wife laugh: "How come this kid is on the same page as my Mavericks?"
"Everyone is inspecting, good morning!" Mao Zaidi saluted again when he saw Li Dan busy.
Li Dan returned the courtesy and asked, "What's going on?"
"Two pieces of news were sent to the Nanmen Camp at night. They were handed in as soon as the doors opened this morning. Chief of Staff Zhao asked me to send them to you immediately for your review." Mao Zaidi answered and took out two pieces of news from his right pocket. Hand over the paper.
Zhao Jingzi's position was Chief of Staff and Chief of Reconnaissance. One time Li Dan blurted out and called him "Chief of Staff". He thought it was a good call, so he had everyone call him "Chief of Staff".
Li Dan unfolded the two pieces of paper and looked at them. He nodded after reading the first one, then frowned and thought deeply after reading the second one.
Seeing him sitting motionless at the stone table, Aunt Qian looked a little nervous through the window paper.
She turned her face and looked at Zhen'er. Zhen'er didn't say anything. She poured two cups of tea and went out. She handed one to Mao Zaidi and placed the other in front of Li Dan. She asked softly, "Are you in trouble?"
Li Dan raised his head and looked at the women in the yard. He smiled, got up and went to the window and said:
"Don't worry, aunt, it's not a big deal. Yang Baihu went to Meigang, and he told me about the situation there. Don't worry, I'll come back to see my aunt in a few days."
After saying that, he returned to his room, changed into an arrow-sleeved gown, tied up with a leather belt, and came out to say goodbye with a knife on his shoulder. Aunt An gave him two more pieces of braised beef wrapped in lotus leaves and asked Mao Zaidi to hold them, and they hurried back to the City God's Temple.
"I think something has happened, but it's not convenient for me to reveal it." Zhen'er said softly to Aunt Qian who walked to the door.
"Auntie, don't worry, at least my brother slept soundly last night." Bei Xi also explained: "With his temper, he would have jumped up if there was bad news. If he can sit still peacefully, it means that the matter is not serious. !」
Aunt Qian laughed out loud: "You girl knows how to observe, okay, okay, let's not worry. As long as everyone does their job well, that will be the greatest support for him, right?"
Before he even reached the street where the inspection department was located, several waves of sentries and messengers were already coming towards him.
The atmosphere of war suddenly became much stronger, and the residents on the street talked quietly, but when they saw Li Dan, they immediately bowed out and did not dare to say anything.
Entering the small courtyard, Li Dan saw Master Ba giving some hurried instructions to one of his men. When he saw him coming, he stepped forward to greet him:
"It's early for the inspection. You sent my brother back yesterday to spread the word. I collected the quantities from various construction sites overnight. I have sent people to load the ships and will set off immediately. All the blacksmith shops are rushing to work, and all the vacancies on the construction sites can be filled tomorrow. together."
After speaking, he sighed: "It was a bit hasty, there is nothing we can do."
"This is already very good." Li Dan nodded, looking at his darkened pupils: "You guys should also pay attention to your health, don't make sure someone falls down at this time and miss the important event!"
Just as he was talking, he saw Zhao Jingzi walking in from outside, looking down at the paper in his hand as he walked. Li Dan called him: "Xianfu, what's the news?"
"Oh, you're here?" Zhao Jingzi looked up and saw the two of them, and said hello quickly: "Come on, come on, Mr. Han is waiting for the translation manuscript in the hall, let's go in and talk."
All three entered the lobby. It's not as lively here as it is outside. Han An stood alone in front of the map with his arms folded, meditating. When he saw them come in and say good morning to each other, he turned around and came to the table and told Mao Zaidi to get four breakfasts.
Then he pointed at Zhao Jingzi's hand and said, "Xianfu, please tell me, what does the higher-up say?"
It turned out that this was a message that had just been sent, and the translated manuscript was to the effect:
The Liao tribe raided the surrounding areas and plundered three thousand stones of newly ripe rice. Hearing that Bailang was humiliated and said that he would raise troops to snatch the bride, he decided to send troops before the Mid-Autumn Festival;
The Liao tribe's seven thousand troops marched from north to south, and Chen Yuanhai's and other troops' three thousand navy troops marched from Santangkou to the east.
Li Dan listened, got up and walked to the map to look at it carefully.
The first news he received this morning was that Yang Dayi told him that he had received a total of 200 soldiers from the remnants of the army.
Forty-nine people, he also went to Meigang to negotiate with local militia leader Yu Zhiyong. The other party stated that he would obey the unified command of the southern metropolitan inspection and accept the arrangement of setting up an inspection branch and the sixth and seventh district teams locally.
Yang Dayi then awarded Yu Zhiyong the seal of inspection of the branch. The teams of the two district teams are waiting to be assigned by the county, and the deputy teams are served by his wife's brother Yu Meiguang and Hu Congxi of the Hu family.
In addition, Hu Congxi is the father of Hu Juren. According to him, this child went to Anren to study with Mr. Qian Huaiyou last year and has never returned. He is probably still in the city now.
Another news came from Ma Jiu, saying that the enemy in front of them had moved. Since most of the local residents had been evacuated, two thousand of them had entered Leijiawan, so the inspection branch was also preparing to evacuate.
At the same time, he also reported that a lake bandit of less than 2,000 people had gone east from Shikou Town. He estimated that the purpose of this team was to harass and contain the Poyang garrison so that it could not support Yu Gan.
