Last night the west wind entered Hanguan, and the moon filled the Beishan beside the clouds.
At dawn, the starry sky was still vast and the sky was clear. But as soon as it dawned, God changed his face.
Looking to the west, I saw the moon setting in the west and black clouds rolling in.
The west wind shook the branches, rolled up the leaves and withered grass and flew around. It also blew through the ruins of Guancheng, making a whining cry like a ghost crying.
The wooden armor on the soldiers' bodies fluttered in the wind, and the hems and corners of their skirts hit each other, making a popping sound.
From time to time, strong winds whip up messy things and slap them on the face, but among the thousands of armored soldiers, not even a single person frowns?
Everyone's eyes were wide open, staring at the high platform not far away with burning eyes.
The manpower is exhausted and the sight is beyond the reach. The wind is so strong, and under the yellow sand, more than 80% of the soldiers can only see many figures standing on the general platform, but who is it and which one is Li Chengzhi?
, but couldn’t recognize it at all.
But directly behind the high platform, the large bamboo pole fluttering in the wind is as dazzling as the sun in the sky.
It's still so broken, still so dirty, but this broken flag has become a sacred place that will never fall in the hearts of these soldiers.
It’s the handsome man!
Only if the commander-in-chief is here, will this Li family flag be erected in the camp.
Looking at this flag, thousands of soldiers naturally remembered the past when they fought with Li Chengzhi, and their eyes wet involuntarily...
Li Chengzhi rubbed his sore cheeks that were slapped by gravel and grass blades, and stared at the dark sky.
Damn it, don’t you even give me this little face?
In weather like this, let alone speaking loudly, I am afraid that if you open your mouth, you will be able to fill a mouthful of wind and sand.
He sighed sadly and waved his hand: "Go ahead!"
Li Song nodded, and then the captains of each battalion and brigade came on stage, took away the sorted bead boxes, and then distributed them to each soldier.
The beads are not big, roughly the size of later checkers, but they are definitely not that round.
However, the quality is better, just like opal, not only are there any colors, but there are four or five colors among them.
This is also due to the fact that Li Chengzhi had all the tools and raw materials at hand when refining these glass beads.
There is iron, copper, silver, tin, and some gold and aluminum. If you mix them in randomly, you can naturally find them in all colors.
Li Chengzhi didn't think so, but in the eyes of these soldiers, such beads were truly rare treasures.
I thought that even though they were thousands of miles away, the commander-in-chief had not forgotten them. Not only did he come to comfort them, he even used pearls that were rare in this world as payment...
What's more, in two or three months at most, the commander will bring in women to help them start a family...
When they thought of this, 80% of the 100 soldiers shed tears, knelt on the ground involuntarily, and kowtowed to Li Chengzhi respectfully.
No wonder these soldiers were grateful.
Most of them were rebel soldiers captured by Li Chengzhi. It’s hard to say whether their hands were stained with blood, but they followed Li Wenzhong and definitely looted a lot.
Even if Li Chengzhi was surrendered in the end and helped him quell the Jingzhou Rebellion, when it comes to awarding merit and rewards in the end, it remains to be seen whether the charge of rebellion can be leveled.
But even if it can be equalized, what's the use?
The most likely outcome is that he will be absorbed by the imperial court and become a military household.
Military household?
Hehehe...
Once you enter a military household, you will be a military household for generations. No better than those monk households who were forced to follow Liu Huiwang in rebellion.
Anyway, Liu Huiwang's family had already been given military rations, and they were all alone. Instead of being a military household and having nothing to eat, it would be better to follow Li Song and others to try to survive.
At least I can have a full stomach, and I don’t have to be looked down upon by others.
But who would have thought that the commander-in-chief is still the same as during the war, not to mention the military pay, but it is still such a valuable thing?
I never thought that there would be a day in this life when I would be able to have a family and have children of blood?
So these soldiers are grateful to Li Chengzhi from the bottom of their hearts...
Li Chengzhi felt that he was just doing his duty and never thought of making the soldiers of Baijia Camp grateful.
But think about last night, and then look at today. I just showed up and shared a glass bead with each person, but the effect is so good?
It can only be said that without comparison, there is no right or wrong... The common people are actually very easy to be satisfied. They just want to have enough food and clothing. It’s just that the Yuan and Wei dynasties did a terrible job!
Li Chengzhi sighed with emotion in his heart, breathed a long sigh of relief, and waved his hand: "With such a strong wind, it might rain again later, so don't let the soldiers suffer here, go back to camp..." Li Song responded and asked the soldiers to wave the flag.
Shouts came from the audience one after another, and the camps dispersed one after another. In just half a quarter of an hour, all five thousand soldiers had returned to the camp.
I feel a lightness on my body. The feeling of being pushed by the wind and wanting to retreat seems to have disappeared?
Li Chengzhi subconsciously raised his head.
The flag seems to have stopped flying...
Um, no... the wind has stopped?
Li Chengzhi looked at the soldiers who were already entering their accounts one after another, and was so angry that he wanted to curse.
You didn’t stop when I wanted to talk, but you stopped as soon as the person left?
It feels like God is deliberately going against him?
Is it possible to call all the soldiers out of the camp and train them again?
Forget it, no more fuss...
Li Chengzhi took off his cloak and threw it to Li Rui beside him. He pointed to the felt tent in the camp and said to Li Song:
"There are strong winds in the west of the Hexi River, so it's no problem in summer and autumn. People can live in tents. But in winter and spring, there are strong winds, so felt tents are not very suitable... You still have to make plans early and prepare for a rainy day."
"How windy?"
Li Song was suspicious, and looked up at the sky again, "It has rained twice in the past ten days, but today is the first time there is a strong wind... and it's not that big?"
Not sure how old it is?
Li Chengzhi couldn't help sneering.
That's because you have never seen the power of a sandstorm.
There have been records of sandstorms since Hexi began to belong to the Han region.
Slips from the Western Han Dynasty unearthed in Hexi recorded: The sun is not visible because there are many dark clouds, the moon is not visible and the wind is not sandy...
There is also: When I sent the envoy Quli Xiaowei to the shogunate to move, there was a strong wind, and fifteen of the eaves were broken, and the emperor decided to fix the injury...
In the middle of February, when I was sending the envoy Huang Jun, there was a strong wind, and one of his horses was frightened and killed...
Especially the last two paragraphs clearly record how the army encountered a sandstorm halfway through the journey. The strong wind first ripped off the hood, then overturned the carriage and killed the horses...
In comparison, the wind just now was not even a drizzle.
The strong wind is coming, don’t be too easy if it blows away a few felt tents.
I also saw a ghost.
From ancient times to the present, whenever the poems written down from ancient times mention the wind, it will change according to the seasons. For example, if the east wind refers to spring, the south wind refers to summer, the west wind refers to autumn, and the north wind naturally refers to winter.
But as long as it is the turn of poetry to describe Hexi and the Western Regions, there are only three hundred and sixty-five days in a year: west wind, west wind, west wind...
Either it's north wind, north wind, north wind...
No exceptions!
The same applies to later generations. From childhood to adulthood, Li Chengzhi could count the days when the wind was not blowing from the west.
On sunny days, the wind blows from the west, while on cloudy or rainy days, the wind blows from the west.
When there is a gentle breeze, the west wind blows; when there is a strong wind, it is still the west wind when there is a sandstorm.
When the mountain breeze (south wind) or east wind comes back one day, Li Chengzhi will feel like celebrating the New Year...
"Just do what I tell you, otherwise you won't even have time to cry when the strong wind comes in late autumn..."
Li Chengzhi scolded Li Song and then mused: "Even if the refugees are here, there are tens of thousands of soldiers, but if they want to build the barracks in late autumn and early winter, it will be too late... Then we can only use local materials.
The kiln is being dug..."
Digging a kiln?
Li Song's eyelids twitched involuntarily.
"Lang Jun, I have already tried it... This place is not like Guanzhong, which is full of loess. Instead, there is sand in the soil. No matter how deep the kiln mouth is dug, as long as it goes deeper than ten feet, the top of the kiln will collapse..."
"It's not a Heng kiln, but a Jian kiln, like this... Well, you should also come and see..."
Li Chengzhi waved and called Li Liang, Huangfusong and others over. He drew out his saber and drew a map for Li Song and others on the spot: "Choose a high and flat place, dig downwards to form a pool, and put a load of water on the top."
If the wooden rafters and branches are covered with wet mud and the roof is covered with damp mud, how can it collapse?
If you are still worried about the kiln wall collapsing, then use bricks and stones to build it, or directly paste the wall with clay. Then dig a ramp at the exit for people to go up and down..."
Everyone's eyes lit up when they heard this.
It sounds like it can be prevented no matter how strong the wind is?
Unless the wind is strong enough to blow rocks as big as wheels and collapse the roof.
And it’s more than twice as simple as building a house on flat land. You don’t even need to build walls, and you don’t have to worry about finding big trees to build beams and buildings.
Although this was their first time hearing about this kind of underground kiln, they had dug the cellar used to store vegetables in winter in Lijiabao. Naturally, they knew how much less effort it would take to build this kind of underground kiln than to build a house.
Everyone looked at Li Chengzhi with burning eyes, admiring them in their hearts:
Lang Jun is indeed a man ordained by God. He can turn decay into magic with just a finger?
Although this was not the first time he was worshiped by these people, Li Chengzhi's face still felt a little burning.
What turns decay into magic is like forging steel, this is the wisdom of our ancestors.
In later generations, this kind of cave dwelling was commonly known as Diwozi, which was specially designed to solve the residential problems in areas with severe geological desertification. It was extremely common in the northwest.
From here, more than 100 kilometers northwest, is Lop Nur, which will later be known as the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Base. Before it was made public, there was only one name there in official documents and private messages: Diwo Castle (pronounced 'Pu')!<
/p>
Founders such as Qian Xuesen and Qian Sanqiang lived in such dens and built atomic bombs and missiles.
Directly west of this, about two hundred kilometers away, is Yumen, which was also called Diwopu in those days. The iron man Wang Jinxi lived in Diwozi and developed the Yumen Oilfield.
Further west, all the way to Xinjiang, there are not too many places called Diwopu along the road, and they are all named after this.
For example, Urumqi's Diwopu Airport...
It felt like Li Zhang was always a little slower than others. Li Song, Li Liang and others were already planning which battalion would cut wood, which battalion would pull clay, and which battalion would dig kilns. Only then did he figure out this "underground kiln"
"What is it?
He frowned and asked abruptly: "There is no wall outside the kiln. If it rains, wouldn't it all flow in?"
Li Chengzhi is absolutely defeated.
Although the weather is dead, people are always alive, right?
He sighed helplessly: "Dams can be built around the underground kiln to block water, or canals can be dug to divert water... As long as there is breath, who can watch the water flowing into their home?"
Li Zhang was stunned for a moment, and in the blink of an eye his face turned purple with embarrassment.
No one had any objections, and everyone unanimously decided to build this kind of kiln.
Then Li Chengzhi told them how to prevent fire and how to prevent carbon poisoning (carbon monoxide) when heating in winter.
After he finished speaking, he heard the sound of horse hooves hitting the ground. Li Chengzhi subconsciously turned his head and saw a horseman running from the north of the camp.
When I got closer, I saw it was Li Cong.
Wasn't Li Cong sent out by Li Song early in the morning to watch the iron manger (old blacksmith) take his apprentice to build the blast furnace?
It has only been half a day. At most, the furnace has just been built and it will be dark after waiting for the furnace to burn out.
Li Chengzhi's heart skipped a beat: Could it be that the furnace exploded?
Otherwise, it would be impossible for Li Cong to come back so early and still be in such a hurry?
Damn it, it’s probably because the clay’s fire resistance isn’t strong enough...
The journey alone would take ten days. Li Chengzhi did not dare to stay here for too long. Naturally, he did not have time to wait for Li Song to bring high clay from Linze (one of the counties under the jurisdiction of Zhangye, more than a hundred miles away).
Then teach the blacksmith how to set up a blast furnace to smelt iron ore.
As an expedient, he asked the old blacksmith to dig some red soil on the river bank, and mixed some graphite into it to use it to burn bricks and start a furnace.
This thing was washed down from the Qilian Mountains, and the content of kaolin in it is not low, so it should be enough.
But who can guarantee that there will be no accidents?
I don’t know if anyone was hurt, let alone how many...
Li Chengzhi's heart sank slightly, and he looked at Li Cong running closer and closer, feeling suspicious in his heart.
I thought what I heard would be bad news, but looking at Li Cong, his face seemed to be filled with joy?
"Lang Jun, the iron juice is out..."
Li Chengzhi was stunned and almost cursed.
What bird eggs are you talking about?
The furnace has not been built yet, and the ore has not been smelted yet. Where will the molten iron come from?
Besides, it’s iron, not wax?
He has not yet taught the old blacksmith how to make coke or add flux during ore refining. Besides, there is no coal in the camp and only a few handfuls of dry firewood. How can he smelt molten iron? p>
"Lang Jun, it's true..."
Li Cong bared his teeth and smiled so unhappy, "When the furnace was being sealed, the iron man said he was idle, so he threw a few magnets (ore) in to see if they could be refined... p>
But who would have thought that in less than half an hour, iron juice actually flowed out from the bottom of the furnace... It was real iron juice. Even the iron waiter exclaimed a miracle, and his disciples almost knelt down..." Li Chengzhi was shocked: Is it true?
Have you seen a ghost?
He was puzzled.
"Go and see!"
Seeing Li Chengzhi jump off the general platform, Li Song, Li Liang and others followed closely behind, riding towards the Zhengyi Gorge two miles away.