Chapter 56: Sweat More, Bleed Less!
“Get running!”
“No stopping!”
At the small riverbank below the Mountain Fortress, a hundred soldiers were running under Yang Zhengshan’s supervision. They wore thin, short shirts, each one dripping with sweat, gasping for breath.
“You’re soldiers, and you’ll be going to war in the future!”
“On the battlefield, if you’re stronger, you’ll have a higher chance of survival!”
“Sweat more, bleed less!”
“Better to sweat now than to bleed on the battlefield later!”
Yang Zhengshan followed behind the troops, shouting loudly as he ran. He held a short rod in his hand, ready to punish anyone who fell behind, no exceptions, not even Yang Chengze and the others.
After half an hour of morning running, the soldiers returned to the garrison to have breakfast. After breakfast, at precisely 7 am, the hundred soldiers gathered again in the training grounds.
“Not bad, compared to half a month ago, you’re now a decent bunch!”
“Your bodies have gotten stronger, and your strength has increased!”
Yang Zhengshan walked leisurely among the troops, occasionally patting their shoulders.
“You need to understand, real training has just begun, and the hard days are still ahead!”
He grinned, “Let me give you a hellish training, are you ready?”
Basic training had ended, and now it was time for Yang Zhengshan’s devilish training. As for the training content, it was similar to that of special forces.
“Have you eaten pork, but never seen it run?”
“Assign weapons and equipment!”
Until now, these soldiers had never touched a blade.
“Yes!”
The arsenal was fully stocked.
There were many training projects to come. Physical training wouldn’t decrease, but would instead increase, along with night training, various martial arts practices, and more.
Training these soldiers was different from training the youths of Yang Family Village, who were all skilled in marksmanship. Yang Zhengshan had only taught them to practice shooting. Now, he needed to train these soldiers in various martial arts, including swordplay and archery.
Each small banner needed to have a squad leader, a saber-wielder, a gunner, and an archer. On the battlefield, each small banner was the smallest combat unit, led by a squad leader and ten soldiers.
Yang Zhengshan helped each soldier choose their weapon based on their strengths. Marksmanship training was the easiest, as Yang Zhengshan, Yang Mingzhi, and Yang Mingwu were all skilled in it.
As for saberplay, Yang Zhengshan wasn’t too familiar with it, as his previous life hadn’t left him with relevant martial arts skills, and he hadn’t practiced it before. However, this wasn’t a problem, as this was the Heavy Mountain Fortress, where martial arts were plentiful.
In his study, Yang Zhengshan had many military martial arts manuals and books on warfare, all prepared by Old Li.
The soldiers were training, and Yang Zhengshan was learning too. He needed to learn martial arts, warfare, and more.
…
“Sir, here are the profits from selling shoes for this period,” Old Li said, handing Yang Zhengshan a few silver coins.
“Where’s the ledger?” Yang Zhengshan asked, taking the coins.
Old Li handed over the ledger.
Yang Zhengshan nodded in satisfaction as he saw the numbers on the ledger.
As he had expected, the shoe-making business was still profitable. In about 15 days, the women in the garrison had sewn nearly a thousand pairs of shoes, most of which had been sold.
The profit per pair of shoes was around 15 copper coins, without calculating labor costs. Yang Zhengshan took three copper coins, and the women who made the shoes took 12 copper coins.
With a thousand pairs of shoes, Yang Zhengshan earned about three silver coins, while the hundred-plus women earned 12 silver coins, averaging over 100 copper coins per person.
Each person earned less than 10 copper coins per day, which was a low income. However, for those women, it was already a hard-won extra income.
Moreover, they weren’t always making shoes; they had to take care of their farmland, their elderly, and their children, and making shoes was just something they did in their spare time.
With this income, they now had some extra money, and didn’t have to worry about not having a single copper coin.
Actually, the one who earned the most was Luo Jin, who made eight copper coins per pair of shoes sold. In half a month, he earned around seven or eight silver coins.
The demand for shoes from the soldiers was greater than Yang Zhengshan had expected, and even exceeded Luo Jin’s expectations.
Now, Luo Jin was very enthusiastic about this business and wouldn’t need Yang Zhengshan to deliver the goods; he would arrange for people to come and pick them up himself.
The first stage of poverty alleviation had been a complete success, and it was time to move on to the second stage.
“Have the pigsty and chicken coop been built?” Yang Zhengshan asked.
“They have,” Old Li replied.
Yang Zhengshan handed the coins back to Old Li and said, “Go buy some piglets and chicks, and hire some half-grown kids to take care of them!”
“Once they grow up, we won’t need to buy meat anymore!”
Yang Zhengshan often supplemented the soldiers’ rations, buying pork and other ingredients every few days.
Although it didn’t cost much silver, it was still his own money.
As the garrison official, he didn’t take money from the soldiers, but instead spent his own money to help them.
“I understand,” Old Li replied.
Yang Zhengshan continued, “Take some time to go find Zhao Yuan and ask him to send us another batch of grains.”
The previous ten carts of grain were almost gone, and it was time to distribute them to the soldiers.
The remaining grain wouldn’t be enough.
“Will Zhao Yuan agree?” Old Li asked worriedly.
“He will,” Yang Zhengshan said confidently.
Old Li was slightly relieved.
In the afternoon, Old Li returned with ten piglets and over a hundred chicks from the town. The pigsty and chicken coop were bustling with activity, filled with the sounds of oinking and clucking.
Yang Zhengshan nodded in satisfaction.
“Build another sheep pen and raise a dozen sheep!”
He thought of lamb skewers, lamb soup, sautéed lamb, and lamb dumplings, and couldn’t help but salivate.
Although he had already solved the problem of hunger, he still hadn’t achieved a satisfying diet.
“I’ll go arrange it,” Old Li replied.
Yang Zhengshan nodded, turned around, and headed to the stables. He led out Red Cloud, his horse.
The Heavy Mountain Fortress now had 13 horses, including three they had brought and ten good breeds from the north, arranged by Zhou Lan, which were suitable for training cavalry.
Zhou Lan had arranged for these ten warhorses, likely for training the soldiers in horsemanship.
However, until now, the soldiers still hadn’t touched a horse.
Mounting Red Cloud, Yang Zhengshan rode out of the Heavy Mountain Fortress.
The surrounding fields had sprouted a layer of green, vibrant wheat, but upon closer inspection, it was clear that the growth was not very robust.
Although the soldiers had taken good care of the land, they couldn’t make up for the soil’s poverty.
Yang Zhengshan had already given up on saving this wheat, or rather, he had no way to save it, as he couldn’t manufacture fertilizer.
As for farm manure, ha ha, the old farmers in the garrison were experts in using it, and their skills far surpassed Yang Zhengshan’s.
With his limited knowledge of agriculture, Yang Zhengshan couldn’t compare to the old farmers, not to mention Yang Mingcheng and Yang Mingzhi.
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