The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

()Chapter Seventy-Fifth Chapter Great Construction (Part 3693) The high-speed update of the chapter begins, and the number of updated words is [-]

After more than ten days, a large number of peasants felled trees on Longshan Mountain, dug up stones and transported them back. Logs on the Longshui River continued to float and flow down the river, and peasants rushed to repair them twenty miles south of Weizhou. A simple pier was built, and dozens of people stood in the chest-deep river to intercept the drifting logs, and then the horse-drawn convoys on the shore sent them to the city along the official road.

In order to save the time of running back and forth, Su Jin asked Ge Huaimin to send hundreds of military logistics soldiers to cook and eat on the spot on Longshan Mountain. At night, the civilians set up simple tents to rest on the mountain. There is no danger of wind and cold in the sky.

After more than half a month of working hard like this, a small square in the south of Weizhou city has been piled up like a mountain of wood, and there are also piles of large stones. Women, children, old people and children are here to sort and classify the trees. Trim off excess branches and sort them into piles according to size and thickness.

At the same time, on the third day of cutting wood and removing stones, the construction of the urn city at the North City Gate also started. Ant-like peasants dug the foundation and rammed the earth and began to build a urn city with a length of more than [-] feet and a width around the North City Gate. The strength is great, and the foundation has been dug seven or eight days later, and a wall as high as a person has been built; it's just that Su Jin and Ge Huaimin are not very concerned, the design of the city wall of this urn is nearly a step shorter than the main city wall It was more than ten feet long, and the width also shrunk by half, because the Wengcheng was actually the one that could play a role, and neither of them had any idea.

The reason why we want to build Wengcheng is that we hope to help the city defense, and more importantly, what Su Jin said: people are idle when they are idle, and finding something to keep everyone busy can reduce the pressure on public security, and it can also be used to The machine distributes some wages and food to the people to stabilize the hearts of the people.

Su Jin's plan is to bring more timber and stones back to the city during the summer as long as the western thieves don't come to disturb them. The progress of the construction of the house, and needless to say, the northwest in winter is naturally severe and severe. Not only do houses need to be sheltered from wind and snow, but also a large amount of charcoal needs to be burned for heating. These must be prepared in advance.

This day, Su Jin, Ge Huaimin and others came to the foot of Longshan Mountain to inspect the site of cutting wood and taking rocks. At a glance, the trees on the hillside east of Longshan Mountain had been cut down in sevens and eights, leaving only small shrubs and small trees. Trees grow on bare hillsides.Su Jin couldn't help being a little ashamed. The serious soil erosion in the Northwest in later generations was due to the destruction of vegetation. It seems that he also had his own contribution to this, but Su Jin didn't have too much sentimentality. In this era, these resources are useless. It can be replaced, and it can only be taken from nature. At worst, people will be called to plant trees in the future.

"Lord Su, I think the wood and stones are almost ready. Should we withdraw people to the city? The scout team has been sending police reports in the past few days. The western thieves have assembled an army of about [-] and are ready to go. We don't know the direction of attack yet. , but the defenses in the city cannot be relaxed for a moment, I think it is better to let the people go back, and I have to prepare the army." Ge Huaimin said.

Su Jin knew that Ge Huaimin wanted to withdraw the four or five thousand soldiers sent to guard the civilians back into the city. After all, there were only [-] soldiers in Weizhou City. This time, to ensure safety, Ge Huaimin sent five thousand soldiers to patrol day and night. They are also a little tired, and if a big battle comes, they still need to rest for a few days.

"It seems that a big battle is inevitable. Well, after three days, the civilian husband will be withdrawn, and the last three days; besides, General Ge, I don't know much about military affairs, but since you and I guard Weizhou City together, some I'm going to talk about it, I hope you won't be offended." Su Jinke said politely.

"Lord Su just said it, there is no need to be so polite, I said it earlier, everything is according to the lord's order, and I, Lao Ge, will follow the lord."

Su Jin smiled and said: "Then I will be blunt. According to my understanding for so many days, I think there are still loopholes in our city defense in Weizhou. As far as I know, there seems to be no city in the north of Weizhou. In fact, we will All the people gathered in the city of Weizhou are just throwing away a large area of ​​defense in depth, and if the western thieves don't come, it's all right, and when they come, the soldiers will come to the city, there seems to be no obstacle in the middle, right?"

Ge Huaimin said: "That's true. There is no other way. Weizhou is the only strong city that can be defended. We can only rely on this place to resist the enemy. In fact, to be honest, even Weizhou City may not be able to defend it, but we need to defend it. The only thing I need to do is hold on and wait for reinforcements. Once the battle starts, I only need to persist for more than ten days, and the reinforcements from Huanqing Qinfeng and other roads will come to support and rescue the siege. I am still fully sure of sticking to it for ten days or even several months."

Su Jin pondered and said: "Actually, this is a passive strategy. I'm not saying that Master Fan's strategy is not good. In fact, Master Fan's method is very suitable for the case. But for me in Weizhou, it can be done in Weizhou. Build a walled city in the narrow area of ​​the Longshan Pass to the north."

Ge Huaimin said in amazement: "What's the use of that? The small city can't stop the attack of the western thief army at all, it's just a waste of manpower."

Su Jin shook his head and said: "No, it seems so, but in fact this is a strategy of active defense. If you think about it, if the soldiers of the western thieves can't drive straight in, if they approach the city of Weizhou, they must first conquer the walled cities along the way. What does it mean to us?"

Ge Huaimin asked puzzled, "What does it mean?"

Su Jin was a little dumbfounded, it seems that this Ge Huaimin is more than brave but doesn't like to use his brain, and Su Jin doesn't plan to make a detour, so he said: "It means that we have plenty of time to deal with it, if Xixia soldiers are blocked on the road and delayed for more than ten days , we can know the news early, then we can invite reinforcements to arrive in advance, without having to stand by and wait for reinforcements. This reduces the risk of reinforcements being intercepted halfway, and we can also take the initiative to set up traps to catch him by surprise. We only have 2 people, but in fact we already had [-] or even [-] troops when they arrived at the city of Weizhou, wouldn't that make them mess up?"

Ge Huaimin said slowly: "There seems to be some truth, but the current situation is tense, and it will take at least a few months to build a city to defend against the enemy. It is probably inappropriate to say these things at this moment."

Su Jindao: "I'm not saying that we need to build it now, but that we must build it in the future. We need to build more than ten camps in the north of Weizhou, covering them layer by layer to form a cross guard. If the western bandits don't come, let it go. Consume vigor and energy on these strongholds first, just like the ripples of the lake, very imposing at first, but after going through layers of obstacles, it will be the end of the battle at the foot of Weizhou city. I don't need to say how important the morale of the two armies is. "

Ge Huaimin opened his eyes wide and said: "That's not bad. The Western bandit soldiers give me the feeling that they are very imposing. Compared with them, our soldiers seem to have a lot lower morale."

Su Jindao: "That's because they haven't experienced too many blows. Every time they come to disturb our Song Dynasty, it's like taking a walk in our own backyard. They don't come to attack the strong city, and we dare not go out to fight, so they are right The soldiers of the Great Song Dynasty are dismissive; build a support network for the city wall to support each other, and the small groups of western thieves will work together to wipe out when they enter, and the attack of the large army can be blocked layer by layer, giving the main city behind enough time to prepare. That's what I mean."

Ge Huaimin raised his big finger and said: "Master Su has better insight in fighting than I do. I am convinced by Lao Ge. I only think of soldiers coming to cover up water and soil, but I never think of ways to kill the opponent's morale and attack the opponent's arrogance. , this should be an attack on the mind."

Su Jin smiled and said: "Don't flatter me, I'm just guessing, it's hard to say if it's right, but it's not a loss for us, it's just a waste of manpower to build the city wall, they destroy us and rebuild, anyway, we have a lot of people What is..."

Ge Huaimin said: "To be idle is to be idle..."

Su Jin laughed loudly and said, "Yes, being idle is also idle."

Su Jin said again: "The city can't be built now, but we can build the beacon tower to the north first. It doesn't take much effort, just send two cavalry to guard every day. At least we can know the enemy's position faster. There is no need to wait for news from the scouts every day, if the direction of the attack is Weizhou, we will know the news at least a hundred miles away."

Ge Huaimin said, "I'll do it right away."

Su Jinyou put forward several suggestions, and talking about them solved a lot of military "doubts" in Su Jin's mind. Ge Huaimin was also impressed by Su Jin's keen observation skills, many of which he himself had never As soon as Su Jin mentioned what he thought of, he suddenly realized that it not only convinced Ge Huaimin, but also made Ge Huaimin ashamed.

The two rode their horses out of the mountain pass, and came galloping again from a distance, and shouted from a distance: "Where is Master Su? Where is Master Su?"

Su Jin was startled, and was very anxious to hear the shout, could something have happened?

Ma Han said loudly: "What are you shouting for? Is the magistrate here?"

The cavalryman said loudly: "Please hurry back to the government office, there are people from the capital."

Su Jin was surprised at first, and then overjoyed: "Finally, it must be the emperor's imperial decree. General Ge, let's go and receive the decree quickly."

Ge Huaimin's head buzzed, if the imperial decree arrives, it is also time to judge his fate, Su Jin naturally understood his mood, patted him on the shoulder and said: "General Ge, the ugly daughter-in-law will eventually see her in-laws, what can she do?" I have done everything for you, and the emperor will not punish you too much; in fact, if I say something that is not pleasant to you, you are a real man who dares to act bravely, and you don't need to think too much at this moment."

Ge Huaimin breathed out and said: "Master Su's lesson is, let's go to receive the order immediately, I only ask the emperor to allow me to make meritorious deeds, now a big war is about to start, I really want to prove my loyalty and repentance to the imperial court in this battle , but I beg the emperor to give me a chance to prove it."

Su Jin laughed, whipped the horse and galloped away.