A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 42
Since a large pile of wood and stone was removed from the Siqianliang Bandit Village, the materials for building the fort wall and fortress can be said to be sufficient.

However, although there is no shortage of wood and stone materials, a large amount of loess and rammed mud are needed to build the fort wall.

During the tamping process, a large number of people are also required to dig the soil, mix the mud, remove the blank, and dry it in the sun.

Wang Dou just mobilized all the residents of Jingbian Fort to help. Hundreds of people, both male and female, went to the battle, and the families of those craftsmen also came out to work.

"My lord, with the bluestone as the base of the wall, it needs to be polished first, and the fort wall needs to be rammed, and it also needs to be glued together."

In front of Wang Dou, a large number of men and women carrying dustpans and baskets ran back and forth along the fort wall to transport soil. Some craftsmen were instructing the men of Jingbian Fort to polish the stone, and some craftsmen were instructing the men to ram the fort wall.The scene was in full swing.

Beside Wang Dou at this time, besides Han Chao and others, was the old waterwheel maker. Although he was a carpenter, he was also proficient in civil engineering and masonry.

"Slurry bonding?"

Hearing the old craftsman's words, Wang Dou was a little strange, he didn't know that slurry was needed to cement the fort wall, and what was the slurry?
After the old craftsman's explanation, Wang Dou understood.It turns out that the city wall was built in ancient times by mixing loess slurry, river sand, lime, and glutinous rice slurry into a certain proportion to make a compound soil, so that the rammed fort wall is durable and hard to break.Even in some places, dog urine is added when building walls. The locals believe that this can ward off evil spirits. Of course, it's fine for Wang Dou.

Loess and river sand are easy to talk about, but Wang Dou couldn't help but feel heartbroken at the thought of using up a large amount of glutinous rice.Han Zhong and the others next to him also showed regretful expressions, glutinous rice, they are usually reluctant to eat it, but they didn't expect to build it into the fort wall.

However, according to the old craftsman, the fort walls built in this way are durable and can last for hundreds of years, and this is also the most common method of building walls in ancient times. In some big cities or palaces, they ram the fort walls. To wrap bricks, in addition to adding a lot of glutinous rice juice, even a lot of brown sugar, egg white, red beans and other substances are added to make adhesives, which costs countless money.

After hearing what the old craftsman said, what else could Wang Dou say?I have to confess: "We must ensure the quality and quantity."

Then wandered around again.

……

According to the planning and calculation of Wang Dou and all the craftsmen, the fort wall of Jingbian Fort is slightly smaller than that of Dongjiazhuang, with a circumference of one mile and dozens of steps, the height of the fort wall is about ten meters, and the thickness of the city foundation is five meters without bricks.In the south, there is a south gate, with a tower on the gate, an urn outside, and a moat for the city.

Outside the fort, build a field for sergeants to practice, and a martial arts hall for officers to sit in command and rest.

In the castle, the streets and alleys are planned to be paved with rocks, and there are drainage ditches on both sides, which are also paved with stones.Since the topography of Jingbian Fort is high in the north and low in the south, it is easy to drain water if it rains, and there is no risk of rain or waterlogging.At the same time, a stone pit was built outside the south gate. In the future, the accumulated water will be directly discharged from the inside of the fort to the outside of the stone pit through the water channel. The water will be used for people and animals in the fort, and even for future field irrigation.

This idea was conceived by Wang Dou, and after discussion by the craftsmen, they thought it was feasible.

After the street is built, since the fort has planned a piece of land in advance, if the military households or foreign residents in the fort do not want to live in barracks in the future, they can buy land from Wang Dou. They built their own houses on the block, and finally people from the whole castle jointly built temples, theaters and other public buildings.

With the design of Wang Dou and the craftsmen, the military households in Jingbian Fort only need to work hard. Wang Dou and others estimate that it will take about two to three months to complete the construction of the fort wall.

High-intensity labor requires a lot of rice grains. Although Wang Dou can't let everyone eat white noodles, Wang Dou can eat millet grains and black flour pancakes.High-intensity labor also requires meat, otherwise the physical strength will not be able to support it, and it is easy to urinate blood.

Wang Dou also prescribed meat for one day and vegetarian food for five days as when he opened up wasteland last year. He was given breakfast porridge in the morning, and every ten people were given a ladle of wine for seven days.

With a Shangguan like Wang Dou and building his own home, although the work is heavy, everyone is very motivated.However, Wang Dou reckons that if things go on like this, after the fort wall is built, half of the money and rice he got from suppressing the bandits last year will be lost.

……

Since the establishment of the Jingbian Fort, the life of the military households in the fort is obvious to all. Although they have to work every day, everyone can have enough to eat. In this year, this is not easy.

Moreover, Wang Dou and other officials in Jingbian Fort are famous for being considerate of their subordinates, especially Wang Zongqi is still a hero who dared to kill Tartars.He is friendly and capable, and through word of mouth, the more attractive Jingbianbao is to everyone.

Since the beginning of this year, some civilian military households have come to join Wang Dou one after another.

Wang Dou's demand for population will never be satisfied, he accepts all defectors, and asks Zhong Rong to register them one by one, and sends them the military household posts of Jingbian Fort.

Of course, some of these people are still registered as deserters from other thousand households. Accepting them will inevitably cause a series of disputes in the future, but if they come into his own mouth, how can Wang Dou push them away?Accept it.

Some of the people who came to seek refuge were single women. These women were very familiar. Wang Dou remembered that they were one of the women rescued by the Jin army after the night attack by himself and Han Chao and others last year. After hearing that they were rescued and returned Most of the days were difficult, and several people committed suicide because they couldn't bear the rumors.Recalling what Wang Dou said to them that day, and asking whether the benefactor of that day had been promoted to the general banner and built a fort at Jingbiandun, they came to join them one by one.

Wang Dou accepted them, and ordered Tao and Liu's two daughters to arrange them well, and the two women agreed wholeheartedly, especially Tao, who agreed even more resoundingly.During these hours, the women in the castle are all under the command of the second woman, and they arrange the laundry, cooking and other sundries, which makes the two women feel quite proud.

At the beginning of March in the eighth year of Chongzhen, it was the day of Grain Rain, and more than a dozen families of refugees stood in front of Wang Dou with hope, hoping that Wang Dou would take them in.

At that time, Wang Dou was discussing affairs with the people in the official hall of the General Banner. When he heard that another group of refugees had come to seek refuge, he hurriedly led the people out.

Seeing this group of refugees, Wang Dou was taken aback. He saw that this group of refugees consisted of more than ten households and more than fifty people.Seeing that they are all ragged, yellow and thin, and they all speak the same accent, they seem to be from the same village.

These people stood in front of the south gate, looking at everyone around them with fearful eyes, and at the same time, their eyes were full of hope.

Around them, some working Jingbian Fort military households pointed and talked to them from time to time. Looking at these miserable refugees, the Jingbian Fort military households discovered their happiness. They thought they were the same as them back then, but now Being fed and clothed makes their voices even louder.

When Wang Dou and his party came out, they saw those refugees surrounded by people, Yang Tong went up and shouted loudly: "What are you doing, don't you have to work?"

All the military households dispersed with a bang, and continued to do their own work, but everyone's ears were pricked up, and they were always paying attention to the movement here.

When the refugees saw a young military leader stepping out to scold them, he seemed to be very powerful, and they shrank subconsciously.However, seeing that this man looks majestic, but his mouth is missing two front teeth, which makes his speech a bit leaky and his speech is unclear.

Looking at the past again, the refugees saw Wang Dou surrounded by everyone like the stars holding the moon. Although he was young, he was tall and burly, with extraordinary momentum. The army leader who scolded everyone just now was also full of smiles. stood back beside him.

Knowing that this is the well-known Lord Wang Dou, all the refugees knelt down and begged, "Please take him in, Lord Wang."

Wang Dou smelled the sour smell of these people who hadn't bathed for many days, and then glanced at these hungry people. From men to women, from old people to children, everyone's eyes were full of expectation. He asked, "Where did you come from?" ? Where are you from?"

One of the old men came out to kowtow, and he said in a trembling voice: "The little one came from the bosom. There was a disaster at home, and the land tax was heavy, so I had to escape from famine. Hearing the benevolence of the lord, I came here to seek refuge. I hope the lord will take him in."

Immediately there was another sound of kowtowing and pleading.

Qi Tianliang has been paying attention to Wang Dou's expression, and seeing him nod his head, he immediately stepped forward and said loudly: "My lord is kind, I am willing to take you in, but you have to bear in mind the rules of our Jingbian Fort, come to the fort, All must join the military households, and those who do not want to be expelled immediately!"

"In the future, our Tunpu will organize you to reclaim wasteland, and borrow oxen and plows to divide the fields in the future. In the first year, everyone in the fort will be exempted from taxation. In the second year, one bucket of grain will be requisitioned per mu , to pay for the previously borrowed cattle equipment and other silver. From the third year, two buckets of grain will be collected per mu, are you willing?"

These refugees from Huailai have all heard the rules of Jingbian Fort beforehand. In the current world, it is important to have enough food and clothing. What is the advantage of civilian households over military households?Not to mention that at that time there will be their own fields and cattle allocated, and everyone will be able to live a stable life in the future. Those military households in front of them are examples.

Everyone kowtowed and said, "It's all up to the adults!"

Wang Dou asked Qi Tianliang to arrange these people, cook some porridge for these people first, and then let them go to the river to take a bath, so as not to bring any bacteria into the castle.In addition, he ordered Zhong Rong to register these people one by one, and sent them military household cards. From now on, they will be the military households of Jingbianbao.

Wang Dou arranged barracks and dormitories for these new military households. After these people rested for a few days, he asked them to build the fort wall and work. With these new people, perhaps the construction of the fort wall can be faster, etc. After the fort wall was built, it was time to organize these new people to reclaim the wasteland.

Finally, Wang Dou took a look at Zhong Rong's documents, and couldn't help being surprised. From the beginning of the year to now, there are more than 100 new military households with more than 400 people.Even the original military households and artisan households now have hundreds of households in Jingbianbao, with a population of more than [-].

Now the population size of Jingbianbao has surpassed that of Xinzhuang, and is equal to that of Dongjiazhuang.

(End of this chapter)