Chapter 269: Suppressing Bandits and Building Roads
Wang Ping
Qin Sheng took the lead and led the crowd to launch the final general attack.
After eliminating the main force of the Black Dragon Village, Qin Sheng handed over the remaining cleanup work to Qin Zhao.
Qin Sheng looked at the map for a while, then put it down and fell into a daze. Well, he had been away for several days and was missing his wife.
After working for a while, Zhou Da took a break and sneaked up to Qin Sheng.
"Sixth Master, this Black Dragon Stronghold can't hold out for much longer. Where should we attack next?"
Qin Sheng glanced at him. They were thinking about the next pheasant as soon as they put it in their mouths. Very good. It was very typical of him.
"How about we attack the Black Bear Village in Gaoxian County first?" Zhou Da heard that the Black Bear Village was relatively wealthy. Thinking of this, he almost drooled.
However, these bandits are truly uneducated. Look at the names they chose! Black Wind Village, Black Dragon Village, Black Bear Village! All black, they think they are so powerful, but in reality, they are just unlucky! Black represents bad luck, and they are extremely unlucky. Isn't that destined to be eradicated?
Zhou Da thought with disdain.
"Don't attack Gao Xian." Qin Sheng looked down at the map.
Could he tell them about his wife's plan?
My wife wants to build a road that can quickly connect Houcheng to Liaoxi County. The route has already been determined. It will start from Chencun, where Wuliu County borders Liaoxi County, connect to Liaoyang and Wangping, and finally end in Houcheng. After connecting these official roads, they will need to be widened and leveled.
Therefore, he must first eliminate the bandits and robbers in the four counties of Houcheng, Wangping, Liaoyang and Wuliu.
Zhou Da asked again, "Is that the Qixingzhai that attacked Liaoyang?"
Qin Sheng shook his head, "No, this time we will attack the Skull Village in Wuliu County."
Bandits would also share what they had. They had wiped out two strongholds in succession, and according to scouts, the two nearby strongholds, Black Bear Stronghold and Seven Star Stronghold, had strengthened their defenses.
Then let's make a feint to the east and attack in the west. Anyway, the Skull Village in Wuliu County will be eliminated too, it's just a matter of order.
Zhou Da: "The Skull Village in Wuliu County is also fine." Anyway, no one can escape!
After Black Dragon Village was completely captured, the cooks who came out with Qin Sheng and his men shouted that it was time for dinner.
Do the rest of the work after dinner.
All the surviving bandits were tied up, and Qin Zhao and his men arranged for people to guard them, and then the majority of the troops went to line up for food.
There were so many people queuing up for food that even the chef came down to scoop food for them.
Hu Guangcong arrived late and saw that there were few people queuing at the master chef's place, so he was about to walk over.
The chef, who was tall and strong, glanced at him and scooped a spoonful of stew for him.
"Hey, Master, don't shake your hands!" Hu Guangcong saw that a piece of meat was shaken out!
The chef who served the food rolled his eyes at him. He treated everyone equally and gave everyone a mediocre spoonful of food, but the one he got had spikes on it. Did he deserve it?
The master chef turned his nose up, "Next!"
A skinny soldier stepped forward and said shyly, "Master chef, give me a spoonful."
Hu Guangcong noticed that the dishes that the chef prepared for this person were all outstanding. This was too much discrimination!
Noticing his gaze, the chef said confidently, "I like him. What's wrong with giving him a little more? What, are you still not convinced?"
He knew this soldier. He was thin, but very brave in fighting.
Zhou Da and Ma Jin, who had been watching the show for a while, came over and held Hu Guangcong. "Alright, don't feel wronged. Master Chef Chen cooks delicious food. Apart from being a little compassionate and sympathetic to the weak, there's nothing wrong with him. Please be tolerant."
Hu Guangcong: What can we do if we are not tolerant? He can’t afford to offend.
A few people found a seat and started eating.
Although each person is only given one spoonful of vegetables, there is plenty of wild vegetable steamed buns and two-grain flour steamed buns, and each spoonful of vegetables is half a bowl, so there is no need to go hungry.
The soldiers started talking while eating.
"It's delicious, but it's still fun to work out."
"This dish is so oily and delicious!"
If Master Chen heard this, he would definitely hum. How could this stew not be greasy when an entire fat pig was used in one meal?
"Although this steamed bread is mixed with wild vegetables, it is still delicious."
"It's mainly because of Chef Chen's cooking skills."
Ma Jin ate his meal with big mouthfuls, while complaining in his heart, "Of course you guys are eating comfortably, but don't you see who they came with? How can the Sixth Madam let their Sixth Master starve?"
After they came out, every meal would include at least one fat pig, and there was also an abundant supply of various grains and vegetables.
Even the chef, Chef Chen, who cooked the meal, was personally invited by their Sixth Madam.
The old man who cooks is very arrogant and ordinary people can't hire him.
The Sixth Madam invited him here because she was worried that their Sixth Master was fighting outside and was suffering from hardship and not having enough to eat.
On the road construction side, the men who came to build the road are now preparing to eat.
April was the time when there was a shortage of food. Although they brought their own dry food, the food they could bring was very little. During the month of labor service, they had two meals a day, and they were considered lucky if they could eat until they were 50% to 60% full with each meal.
Ding ding ding!
A burst of gong sounds was heard.
Everyone looked towards the sound.
They saw their new chief clerk of Houcheng, Lord Xue, standing on a slightly higher place with nearly ten wooden barrels in front of him.
He greeted everyone with a smile, "We are starting to build a road in Houcheng today. Lord Lu appreciates everyone's hard work and has allocated some money from the county government to purchase food and provide everyone with two meals of soup every day."
"Now, everyone can bring their bowls over for soup! One bowl per person, free from the government!"
Hearing this, the crowd started talking.
"The government is so good to us?"
"Let's go and try a bowl."
On the first day, they served kelp bone soup and seaweed egg drop soup.
"What's this?"
"I know this. I once went to my aunt's house and ate it. It's called kelp. It was a bit fishy and not very tasty."
"I heard from the commander that this is called seaweed."
"Don't mention it, the soup they make is quite delicious."
"Is this an egg?!"
"The people above are willing to give us eggs to eat?"
“I got some meat!”
Xue Xu, who was passing by, heard this and his smile deepened. Actually, there were only two or three eggs in this bucket of seaweed egg drop soup. The bones weren't worth much. But it was really effective in winning over the people.
During the following period of service, the soup provided by the government at every meal tasted very good and was eaten with dry food. It was what these men who were doing labor service looked forward to most.
These people clearly felt that this service was more comfortable than before.
Firstly, the food was better, with an extra bowl of soup at every meal, so they could at least be 70% to 80% full.
I don’t know if it’s an illusion, but I always feel like I have endless energy after drinking the soup.
In addition, there is also herbal tea, which is made by boiling herbs such as Prunella Vulgaris, Centella asiatica, Isatis root, mulberry leaves, etc. Its main function is to quench thirst and prevent heatstroke.
In the past, government officials would not take care of anything except assigning tasks and supervising their work.
Secondly, the government assigned the most difficult work of road construction to the captured bandits. For example, the roadside on both sides was lined with large stones, which were either dug from the river or mined from the mountains.
This job is also the most difficult. Currently, it is being carried out by the bandits who were recently captured.
Except for those who had actually killed someone, were extremely vicious and refused to repent, and were beheaded, the rest were sentenced according to the severity of their crimes. But without exception, they all had to do heavy labor to atone for their crimes.
In this way, everyone worked very hard and the road construction progressed very quickly.
Sometimes Lu Songli couldn't help but sigh that the common people at that time were so hardworking and helpful that she couldn't bear to bully them.
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