Chapter 52: First, Help the Poor, Then Train the Troops
Yang Zhengshan gave the order, and Yang Chengze and the others immediately began selecting people.
“Stand still!”
“Don’t move!”
The scene was chaotic for a moment.
These new recruits were both fearful and panicked, not knowing what to do.
Luckily, Yang Chengze and the others had received training from Yang Zhengshan and were not intimidated.
After two quarters of an hour, the one hundred troops finally formed a messy line in front of Yang Zhengshan.
“I am Yang Zhengshan, and from today on, I will be your Battalion Commander!”
“Remember my face, don’t mistake me for someone else!”
Yang Zhengshan walked along the line, scanning the wax-yellow faces.
“Now, I have three tasks for you!”
“First, eat your fill!”
“Second, clean yourselves up!”
“Third, clean the entire Heavy Mountain Fortress, inside and out. I don’t want to stay in a pigsty, but you’ve made it even dirtier than a pigsty!”
“Do you understand?”
Yang Chengze and the others shouted in response.
However, the others just kept their heads down, not making a sound.
“Are you all mute?”
Before Yang Zhengshan could say anything, Yang Mingzhi spoke up, scolding them.
“Do you understand?”
Yang Chengze and the others shouted again.
As Yang Mingzhi asked, the voices grew louder, but they still lacked energy and momentum.
Yang Zhengshan didn’t mind, waving his hand and saying, “Distribute three pecks of grain to each person!”
These troops used to be refugees, with no savings to their names.
The Heavy Mountain Fortress had been abandoned for many years, and although it had been rebuilt, there was no surplus grain inside.
According to Zhao Yuan, after the refugees arrived, Old Li had distributed a batch of grain, but Yang Zhengshan estimated that they had already eaten most of it, which was why they looked so gaunt and weak.
When Yang Zhengshan announced that he would distribute grain, the originally lifeless troops suddenly came to life.
They stared at Yang Zhengshan with wide eyes, looking surprised and delighted.
Yang Mingwu had already led people to transport the grain.
“Thank you, sir, for your benevolence!” Old Li was the first to respond, shouting loudly.
With him leading the way, the troops knelt down to thank Yang Zhengshan.
Yang Zhengshan gave Old Li an approving glance.
Old Li was a local of Heavy Mountain Fortress, but he wasn’t an ordinary military dependent. He was an old soldier from the Prefectural Banner’s Vanguard, who had followed Zhao Yuan to do odd jobs after being injured in the leg.
He was responsible for the reconstruction of Heavy Mountain Fortress and the resettlement of the refugees.
“Distribute the grain!” Yang Zhengshan shouted.
Yang Mingzhi and Yang Mingwu immediately summoned the troops to come forward and receive their grain.
After the grain was distributed, the troops dispersed, and Yang Zhengshan entered the official residence of the fortress.
It was actually just four mud hut rooms, with a small courtyard behind and seven or eight mud hut houses.
The front part was the office area, and the back part was the residence.
“Is there a Yellow Register?” Yang Zhengshan asked Old Li.
“Please follow me, sir!”
Old Li led Yang Zhengshan to a study room.
The study room was simply furnished, with a desk, two chairs, a bookcase, and a stove.
Old Li took out two books from the bookcase and handed them to Yang Zhengshan, saying, “Sir, these are the Yellow Register and the Fish-Scale Register.”
The Fish-Scale Register focused on land, while the Yellow Register focused on households.
Yang Zhengshan opened the Yellow Register and began to read.
There were one hundred households in the fortress, but only 432 people.
This was clearly not a normal situation, like Yang Family Village, which had over 80 households and a total population of over 700, with an average of 8-9 people per household.
However, considering that these people had experienced fleeing and losing loved ones, Yang Zhengshan didn’t find it strange.
Yang Zhengshan quickly browsed through the Yellow Register, then summoned Yang Mingzhi and Yang Mingwu.
“Tomorrow, you will investigate each household’s situation, including how many people, their ages, whether they can read or write, or have any special skills like needlework, cooking, or weaving.”
“The more detailed, the better!”
“Yes, sir!” Yang Mingzhi and Yang Mingwu responded in unison.
After arriving at Heavy Mountain Fortress, Yang Zhengshan realized that his task wasn’t to train troops, but to relieve poverty.
Originally, he thought that the ten carts of grain given by Zhou Lan would be enough, but now it seemed that he had underestimated the problem.
The refugees given by Zhou Lan weren’t recruited soldiers.
Recruited soldiers, although they might be a ragtag group, were at least a group of qualified young men.
While refugees were just refugees, and the priority was to solve their food and clothing problems.
This didn’t just mean giving them enough grain and clothes, but also finding them a way to make a living.
Giving them a stable foundation to live on, so they wouldn’t worry about their families’ food and clothing, and they wouldn’t have any concerns.
Only then could they accept training and go to the battlefield to fight.
If they were in other places, maybe they could solve the problem of making a living through farming, but the land here was too poor.
Yang Zhengshan was certain that the fortress couldn’t be self-sufficient just by farming.
The night passed quietly.
The next morning, Yang Mingzhi and Yang Mingwu began their household-by-household investigation.
At the same time, Yang Zhengshan, Old Li, and Yang Minghai went on an inspection tour around the fortress.
After the tour, Yang Zhengshan stayed in the study room to write and draw.
First, he drew the planning map of Heavy Mountain Fortress.
The outer wall of the fortress was very sturdy, but the houses inside were built by the refugees themselves.
Simple, broken, and disordered, it was a total mess.
Yang Zhengshan felt that, apart from the official residence, granary, warehouses, stables, and other necessary buildings, everything else needed to be rebuilt.
Of course, he wasn’t going to build lavish houses, just simple mud huts.
The foundation could be built with stone blocks, the walls with mud, and the roof with wood and straw.
He had already seen that these common materials could be found locally and didn’t require spending money.
Yang Zhengshan spent an hour drawing the planning map.
According to his plan, the empty space in front of the official residence would be larger, serving as a training ground for the troops. The military dependents’ residences would be built behind the official residence, with each household having three main rooms and four side rooms, forming a small courtyard.
As for the front part, apart from the training ground, some functional buildings could be built, such as kitchens, dining halls, workshops, and blacksmiths.
First, build the houses, and then think about what to do with them later.
On the third day, Yang Zhengshan handed his planning map to Yang Mingzhi and Yang Mingwu, telling them to lead the construction of the houses.
Building mud huts wasn’t difficult, and Yang Zhengshan had seen it done before in Yang Family Village.
It didn’t require hiring skilled laborers; just finding some strong young men, and the houses could be built in two or three days.
Yang Zhengshan estimated that it would take around 10-15 days to rebuild the entire Heavy Mountain Fortress.
Ten to fifteen days, he could wait.
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