Starting in Saarhu, it is a bit difficult to make a comeback.

Chapter 46 Building Pinglu Fort (please read the new chapter)
Early the next morning, Li Xianzhong asked Zha Zhongwen to take 2500 cavalry to station at Fu'an Fort, 20 miles away from Tielingwei.

The Liaodong Iron Cavalry originally numbered 2000 people. After many battles, there were only 900 veterans left at the beginning.

The 600 people were the cavalry that Li Xianzhong temporarily incorporated into the Liaodong Iron Cavalry at Qinghe Fort, and the latest 1000 people were selected by Li Rubai from the cavalry of the Southern Route Army. These people need to be redressed and trained.

The destination of these border residents was the abandoned Baijiachong Fort, which was located 5 miles southwest of Fu'an Fort, separated only by the Fan River.

A total of more than 1 people were brought back from Jianzhou this time. These people now have nothing. Regardless of whether they were rich or poor before, it is impossible for their past properties to return to their hands.

Except for a few people who still had relatives to seek refuge with, and a few "scholars" who were unwilling to follow Li Xianzhong to open up wasteland in the border areas, everyone else ultimately chose to follow Li Xianzhong in the border areas.

After all, they are now helpless, and at least they will not starve to death under the protection of the Ming army; although the border areas are very close to the Tatars, they have worked hard under the Tatars for so long, and there is nothing to be afraid of. .

Fan Wencheng, who was good at speculating, soon realized that General Li's background was not simple, and he had made such great achievements, and his future would be unlimited.

So he persuaded several "scholars" who were familiar with him to seize this good opportunity.Some of these people were not even admitted to the scholar examination, but at any rate they could read and write.

Soon they became Fan Wencheng's subordinates, and then Fan Wencheng selected some more highly respected people from these border residents and set up his own grass-roots team to be responsible for managing these border residents.

Li Xianzhong selected 50 veterans from the army and 550 strong men from the border residents to distribute weapons to form a escort team.The captain of the escort team is served by his own soldier Yu Wanli, who assists Fan Wencheng in responsible for the security of the camp.

It has to be said that these "coated aha" who were able to survive from the Tatars still have some skills, many of them are craftsmen and miners; the rest are also good at herding horses and farming.

It seems that Jianlu's food does not feed useless people.

Baijiachong Fort is 160 miles away from Shenyang, and the cavalry can reach it in one day. Although these border residents did not have much belongings, it still took two and a half days.

Zhou Yongchun, the governor of Liaodong, allocated 5000 shi of grain as well as some fodder and farm tools.

Ordinary soldiers consume about 1.5 shi of food per month. Ordinary people naturally cannot consume so much, and Li Xianzhong cannot feed them too much, as long as they can barely meet the needs of physical labor.

Therefore, their average supply is controlled at 0.8 shi per month. Even so, the monthly food consumption of these border residents is still about 1 shi. With the food price of 6 to 7 qian silver per shi in Liaodong, there is still an expense of 7000 taels. .

Guard captain Yu Wanli said: "Reporting to Major General Qi, a total of 37 people escaped with excuses along the way. According to your instructions, they have been completely silenced."

After all, it cannot be ruled out that among these border residents there are people who secretly communicate with the rebels. They were given the opportunity to leave in Shenyang before, but they refused to leave on their own. Now that they escaped halfway, they would have to be killed without mercy.

Li Xianzhong nodded with satisfaction and said: "Brothers, you have done a good job. Remember, you must pay more attention to Fan Wencheng. You must send a qualified person to closely monitor his every move. If there is any abnormality, report it to me in a timely manner."

"Of course, the surveillance must be concealed. After all, Fan Wencheng is now the person in charge here, so we still have to pay attention to the impact."

Yu Wanli was a little puzzled by the Major General's arrangement. In his opinion, although Mr. Fan was young, he was quite prestigious among the border residents, was very good at winning over people's hearts, and was a capable person.

However, since the major general gave the order, he did not dare to have any objections and said: "I understand my humble position!"

Baijiachong Fort is located on a high slope on the south bank of Fan River, at the junction of Tieling and Fushun.

The main reason why we did not choose to station on the edge of Tieling was because Tieling Guard's location was relatively close to Mongolia and far away from Jianzhou, which was not conducive to timely support of Fushun Pass.

In addition, Fushun is a famous coal city with abundant coal and iron resources and a large number of open-pit coal mines and iron ores that are easy to mine.

The reason why we chose this place as a camp is because there are some small coal mines and iron ores that can be mined in the mountainous area east of Baijia Chongbao.

The Fan River to the north has sufficient water to irrigate the fields in the southwest, and the geographical location is quite good.It's a pity that because it is close to the Liaodong border wall, it is often attacked by Jianlu, so that the fields near here are gradually becoming deserted, and even the Baijia Chongbao is now abandoned.

Li Sanshun, who had gone north with supplies from Fushun Pass, had been waiting here for a long time. According to Li Xianzhong's instructions, he withdrew 1 shi of grain from the Li family in Tieling in advance, as well as some living supplies such as tents.

Baijiachong Fort is just a square garrison with a single wall 500 meters long. Even if it is not abandoned, there will be hundreds of garrison troops stationed there, and it cannot accommodate tens of thousands of residents.

Therefore, the fort is mainly used as a warehouse for storing supplies and some weapons manufacturing workshops. Most of the border residents still have to be stationed outside the fort.

So a large open space was planned on the west side of Baijia Chongbao for camping.

Soon it turned into a large construction site. Horses dragged trees cut down from the nearby woods here one by one. The border residents methodically said that these trees could be used as wooden piles to build the fence of the camp.

Some people on the other side drove horse-drawn carriages to transport coal dug out of the mountains to the east and nearby stones to the camp.

Within the camp, many people were digging large holes in the ground with hoes; in order to shorten the construction period and save building materials, they built this semi-cellar-style shelter.

Fan Wencheng pointed to several kiln entrances in the distance and said: "That is the workshop area we planned. Now the blacksmith shop, brick kiln, and kiln entrances for burning paper pottery have been built. It is estimated that production can start tomorrow."

Li Xianzhong saw thick smoke billowing everywhere in the camp and asked: "Why is there so much smoke in the camp? Should we pay attention to fire prevention?"

Fan Wencheng said: "The camp is currently being set up and there is a huge demand for wood, so we directly use the dug coal to make fires for heating and boiling water and food, so the smoke is relatively large."

Li Xianzhong said: "You can mash coal and mix it with clay and water to make it into balls. After drying, it can be used for burning; such briquettes have low smoke and can burn for a long time."

"Mr. Fan might as well send someone to try it. I can't remember the specific ratio. Anyway, there is more coal and less clay."

"But these things must be placed in a ventilated place, otherwise people will be easily poisoned."

Fan Wencheng said: "The young general is really knowledgeable. This method is wonderful. I will send someone to make it."

In fact, briquettes and coal stoves have prototypes in the Northern Song Dynasty. It is impossible for ordinary people to use good charcoal for heating. Briquettes are still very practical. It is not a new invention. People of this era also know it.

If he has time, Li Xianzhong would like to upgrade the briquettes to "briquettes", so that the combustion efficiency will be higher.

Li Xianzhong said: "Are there any difficulties now?"

Fan Wencheng said: "The camp has not yet been built, so many people can only be crowded into one tent. The living conditions are relatively difficult, but these are temporary and everyone can still overcome them."

Li Xianzhong was quite satisfied with Fan Wencheng's work efficiency. He said: "Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Fan. Let's change the name here to 'Pinglu Castle'. Although life is a little harder now, when we have output in the future, everyone's life will be better." It will be fine."

Although Fan Wencheng still longs for the imperial examination in his heart, he is doing well here now, with more than 1 people in charge.Although the conditions are a little more difficult, everyone has hope at least, and it is much better than the inhumane life they had in the Tatars before.

He said: "Don't worry, Major General. It won't delay the spring plowing. It's just that those large-scale iron ore and copper mines you mentioned before are probably not within the Liaodong border wall of Ming Dynasty."

He pointed to the mountain peaks in the distance and said: "There should be larger iron mines in the mountains at the junction of Jianzhou and Yehe. Many of the border residents who were kidnapped before were sent there."

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(End of this chapter)