Chapter 22: Adventure at Cuiping Mountain
When it was time to take a break, he called Miao Gui to the side and criticized him harshly, saying that he had only been the captain for a few days and he treated his brothers like this. They were all fighting in the same trench, so how could you expect them to fight for you in the future?
If a leader doesn't treat his subordinates well, who would be willing to work for you?
Being a leader means you should be the first to step forward when difficulties arise. Who would be willing to follow you?
After Zhao Yulin scolded him, Miao Gui woke up, turned around and organized the team to continue moving forward.
As dawn approached, Zhao Yulin saw a blue beam of light connecting heaven and earth from the main peak of Cuiping Mountain. It was very dreamy. To be more precise, it was too sci-fi. He was stunned by the scene before him.
Suddenly, he thought of the word time tunnel. Could this be a time tunnel?
Zhao Yulin watched the light column gradually fade away, and ordered everyone to run towards the main peak immediately to search for the base of the time column.
Miao Gui led his brothers to rush forward. They all rushed forward and spread out to search the suspected area.
Soon someone screamed, "Found an alien."
Zhao Yulin rushed over and saw a man lying at the foot of a big tree. He was wearing a grass-green camouflage uniform and carrying an 800 million rifle on his back. He quickly knelt down and picked the man up. He touched his nose and found his breathing was very weak. His feet were emitting bursts of cold air.
Zhao Yulin looked through the camouflage uniform and quickly found out that his name was Zhu Congwen. He immediately called for a stretcher and arranged for people to carry him back immediately. He asked Miao Gui to leave a small team to continue the search, and the rest of the people took turns carrying Zhu Congwen and walked quickly.
From a distance, he asked Miao Gui to run to find a doctor who could treat frostbite, no matter how much it cost.
Zhao Yulin arranged Zhu Congwen to live in the backyard of the yamen, which immediately attracted Chen Xiaomin and Zhao Sihan to watch. He asked Miao Gui to greet everyone, saying that this was top secret and no one was allowed to discuss it or leak it.
When the imperial physician arrived, Zhao Yulin returned to the study and looked through Zhu Congwen's belongings: a rifle with two bullets in the magazine, two full magazines on his tactical vest, two grenades, and a telescope.
Normally, soldiers would carry at least four magazines when patrolling or performing missions. Zhao Yulin judged that Zhu Congwen had participated in a battle.
He was still thinking hard when Li Chuan came to him and said that the imperial physician wanted him to make a decision, that the strange man's feet must be sawed off, they couldn't be saved. Zhao Yulin said he would listen to the doctor and disinfect with our alcohol to save his life.
It's not that he didn't dare to watch, but he couldn't bear it and couldn't make up his mind. A living person's legs were gone just like that.
While Zhao Yulin was busy rescuing people, the Wang family in the county town was in turmoil.
As soon as Wang Dehui entered the Wang family's yard, he started crying and swore viciously that he would kill You Mazi, Zhang Yanei, and Liu Saner.
The county magistrate was still drinking tea with Prefect Xu at that time. He thought that the bandits were too arrogant and must be wiped out, otherwise the bandits who climbed the mountains would be more confident and come down the mountain to harm people.
Prefect Xu said helplessly, "Let's go and suppress them again."
This banditry exposed the basic strength of Xuzhou's officers and soldiers. Most of the 2,000-strong establishment were idle, and the actual number of soldiers was less than 1,200. Even with such a small number of people, they were poorly trained, and their combat effectiveness was worse than the Pacific Ocean.
The next day, the prefect took charge and the judge Xu Chaolin led the troops to set out. Less than ten miles out of the city, they encountered an ambush by You Mazi. The first two hundred people were shot with arrows and fled in fear. The bandits were still shouting slogans and singing in the mountains.
Seeing that the expedition was not going well, Prefect Xu ordered his men to return to the city for repairs.
You Mazi won again and became famous. Small gangs of bandits from all over the place came to join him, and Denggao Mountain suddenly became lively.
Zhang Yanei suggested to You Mazi that he should take the wharf with him, because that was where the goods were transported in and out, and they could get whatever they wanted if they occupied the wharf. Some bandit henchmen also shouted to occupy the beggar chicken in the bamboo forest, so that they could have a good meal of beggar chicken and drink a bowl of Wu Gu Feng.
You Mazi became a little concerned.
Liu San knew that Zhang Yanei was seeking revenge on Zhao Yulin, but he knew how powerful Zhao Yulin was. Liu San quickly said that it was impossible, because the dock was too close to the county town, and the soldiers could get there as soon as they got on their horses. There were also guards on the dock, and if they got entangled, they would not be able to escape.
Zhang Yanei felt itchy and wanted to go to the dock to cause trouble.
Ever since he kidnapped the second daughter of the Wang family, not only did he make You Mazi happy for twelve hours, but he also easily got a ransom of 12,000 taels of silver. Now, all the minions, big and small, look at him with admiration and praise him highly. He has gathered more than 200 people under his command.
But no matter how fun it is, this hornet's nest cannot be taken away, You Mazi still has a sense of propriety.
He said that it was like this before the New Year, and that he would go down the mountain again after the New Year to enforce justice and rob the rich to help the poor.
These bandits were all bullying the people under the pretext of acting on behalf of the heavens and robbing the rich to help the poor. The county magistrate felt helpless and felt that he had let down the people, so he took the chief clerk Yang Zhishan to his house to drink alone.
Yang Zhishan told him that there was news that the second daughter of the Wang family was redeemed with money and that the Wang family was in cahoots with bandits.
The county magistrate said that the officers and soldiers could not defeat the bandits, so it was reasonable for them to spend money to rescue people. He now felt that the guards on the dock were quite capable. When Zhang Baopi led hundreds of officers and soldiers there, they only fought to a draw, and they only had bamboo sticks and wooden clubs in their hands.
The next day, the county magistrate and the chief clerk crossed the river to inspect the construction of Sanjiangkou.
After only a few months, Zhao Yulin had already built a dock that was large enough for cargo and passenger ships to dock.
Walking up the stone steps, Zhao Yulin demolished almost all of the flooded city, leaving only a few stone buildings as a memorial. The area more than 100 meters above the pier had been cleaned up, and the construction waste was piled together to form large and small rest platforms and planted with trees.
The loading and unloading tools on the dock include large gantry cranes and independent swing-bars. Cargo is transported up and down by slideways, which makes the operation very simple and convenient. The cargo ship is being loaded.
The county magistrate was watching with great delight when Zhao Yulin hurried down to catch it.
The Shenwei Army had a watchtower on the high ground above the new city, and they saw what was happening from afar and reported it to him.
The county magistrate said that he had thought it through carefully, and the new city of Cuiping was taking shape.
Zhao Yulin said with a smile that this is a time of great reconstruction, there are many things to do and it is still a long way to go.
The county magistrate was very happy to see that the restored old county government office was bustling with people coming and going.
Zhao Yulin told him that it was the end of the year and the salary was being settled. Anyone who worked here would receive an income that was not less than the minimum living wage. The idea of the labor agency was to ensure that everyone had food to eat and a good night's sleep.
At this point, the county magistrate's face turned grim. He said that all the taxes this year had been used to suppress bandits, but the problem was getting worse and worse, and he couldn't sleep well sitting in the city.
Zhao Yulin accompanied the county magistrate and visited the iron workshop along the way. He said he had something to report. He planned to equip the Shenwei Army with swords and make some bows and arrows. The banditry was increasing. If the bandits attacked the dock, he was worried that the guards would not be able to withstand it and suffer heavy losses.
The county magistrate nodded in agreement with a worried look on his face. Chen Xian handed over a Zhuge crossbow and said that it had a short range. He planned to modify it and make some more for the Shenwei Army to use for self-defense.
The county magistrate said that weapons manufacturing must be done with caution and must be reported truthfully.
This is exactly what Zhao Yulin wanted to hear.
After seeing off the county magistrate, he went into the iron workshop and worked with Chen Xian on the Zhuge crossbow, which was a repeating crossbow design. He suggested to Chen Xian that the arrows should be shortened, that a blood groove should be cut into the arrowhead, that the bow back should be made of fine steel and made into an elastic back, that the bow string should be made of steel wire using the gold thread production method and then that the spring he designed should be used to assist the trigger.
Chen Xian had been stunned by him for a long time. When he heard him say this again today, everything he said was unimaginable, but it was achievable through hard work.
Chen Xian believed it without a doubt and immediately put it into practice. He made a spring on the spot and immediately felt the effect of rebound force. He was as happy as a child. However, the iron workshop will not see much effect in the short term. It will be good enough if everyone can have an anti-Japanese sword.
Zhao Yulin placed his hopes on the new blast furnace he built by the river. It was designed based on the optimization of the new iron-smelting furnace in Jiangnan. It used hydraulic blasting and could produce thousands of kilograms of refined iron, which became steel ingots, at one time.
Zhao Yulin also designed new molds and forging workshops in the mountains, which utilized large water wheels to drive the forging of iron parts, which was completely different from the simple manual swinging of arms and hammers.
If you want to do your work well, you must first sharpen your tools.
But it is easier said than done. The first thing was to repair the dam and get water, and the second was to build a large waterwheel. He put a lot of thought into it in order to get a bearing on the central axis, which was like the pinball wheel that children played with. You have to know that it was impossible to make it in the Song Dynasty.
However, Chen Xian's two apprentices insisted on making it according to the design. Although it was still very crude, after it was installed on the waterwheel, the small water power made the waterwheel turn, which had an unexpected effect. They then made several more according to their needs.
These are all huge technological advances.
As soon as Zhao Yulin returned and sat down in the study, Chen Xiaomin came over and leaned against him. He kept writing while asking her what was wrong.
The girl said it was not fun to play and asked him to play with her.
Now that Xiao Min is studying here, it’s definitely not as lively as in the county town, and of course it’s not fun to have fun there.
Zhao Yulin said he was busy, so she could go to Master Qu to ask how to have fun at the end of the year. Chen Xiaomin immediately took his arm and told him: her father said that the shopkeeper Ju of the porcelain shop would give us a boatload of firecrackers, and we would set off fireworks on the dock during the New Year.
Zhao Yulin agreed. He asked his father to call everyone together to discuss the matter. Cuiping Mountain should also be lively. The girl found the starting point and ran to find her father.
Zhao Yulin continued to write his work, and just as he was absorbed in it, he heard a burst of hurried footsteps. He looked up and saw that it was Wu Yuqi coming in. The young woman went over and whispered in his ear that Mr. Zhu had woken up, but he didn't want to eat or drink, and wanted to see him.
Zhao Yulin was stunned, and immediately stood up and followed her, asking her where Chuan'er was as they walked.
It turns out that it wasn’t Li Chuan who was guarding it.
She said that Li Chuan had taken people to look for his mother, and that she was now guarding the backyard, so she was completely relieved. Zhao Yulin was of course relieved, and he sat down in front of Zhu Congwen's bed, and the people in the room immediately left.
Zhao Yulin got straight to the point and said , "What's the matter? You feel like you've become a useless person and don't want to live anymore, right?"
Zhu Congwen said nothing, just glared at him.
Zhao Yulin continued to fire: "You are still a Chinese soldier. You are scared by such a small difficulty. You should be glad that you are still alive. You have come to the Southern Song Dynasty, don't you know?"
Zhu Congwen suddenly burst into tears, and he kept repeating: "Everyone is dead, what's the point of me living? What's the point of living?"
