Frontier Army Warrior

Chapter 450: Gold-Eating Beast

After sending Ren Duoliji away, Lin Feng decided not to wait for Deputy Commander Zhang Enyi anymore.

He immediately ordered the entire army to break camp and march towards Hongqing Lake.

The entire Qingshui Army was divided into two parts.

The heavy armored battalion and Li Donglai's light cavalry battalion returned to Dadur City along the same route to prevent Master Tie from counterattacking.

Lin Feng only brought Lin Qiaomei's long-range attack battalion and escorted various supplies and prisoners to the Hongqing Lake construction site.

Countless simple workshops were built along the road extending southeastward along Hongqing Lake.

Tens of thousands of laborers participated in the construction of the canal project.

This simple workshop that looks neat and clean was also designed and produced according to Lin Feng's ideas.

The four corner pillars and the roof are made of wooden materials in advance.

The wall planks and doors and windows are also prefabricated in advance.

All you have to do is use a horse-drawn carriage to reach the destination, clear the ground, and you can set up a workshop in less than half an hour.

The personnel involved in the entire canal project construction are divided into four levels.

The first level is composed of two water conservancy experts who are in charge of the planning and implementation of the entire project.

The second level is the construction leaders and technicians, who master the specific construction methods of the project and direct the laborers on how to carry out the construction.

The third level is the laborers who do the hard work.

The fourth level is the captured prisoners, including the Black Turban Army and Tatars.

The laborers who do the hard work are provided with food and accommodation, and they are paid. After work, they can get together to play.

As for the captured prisoners, although they did the same work as the laborers every day, they were only provided with food and shelter and had no freedom.

The team responsible for the safety of the canal project is a team of one thousand people sent by Sun Yang from the provincial capital.

Focus on guarding the prisoners and supervising their work.

The army also had an important task, which was to prevent the surrounding Xixia villagers from causing trouble.

Most of the towns and villages around Hongqing Lake are fishermen who make a living by fishing.

There are strong objections to the construction of a canal to divert water from the west of Dazong Town.

Once the water diversion is successful, the water level of Hongqing Lake will definitely drop sharply, which will have a great impact on their fishery resources.

Therefore, fishermen from all around often organized themselves to cause trouble.

Interfering with the smooth construction of the canal project.

The garrison commander sent from the border town was named Ji Fucheng. He was a captain of a thousand men and a tall man in his thirties.

After all, they belong to two different countries, and when nearby fishermen make trouble, they can only resort to means of driving them away and intimidating them.

Don't dare to cause any loss of life.

We drove them away today, but they came back to cause trouble in a couple of days.

It makes Ji Fucheng very headache.

When Ji Fucheng received the report that Lin Feng was coming to Hongqing Lake, he was very happy and finally had a backbone.

Two water conservancy experts and Ji Fucheng accompanied Lin Feng, talking as they walked along the excavated canal.

Lin Feng didn't have cement, so the canal could only be built with stones. The amount of work and stone used was huge.

It took nearly two months of construction by a construction team of over 10,000 people to pave a canal less than ten miles long.

Either there is a shortage of stones or there is interference from nearby fishermen.

The progress of the project is not smooth.

This time, Lin Feng sent several thousand Tartar captives to join the construction team.

Ji Fucheng grinned secretly.

There were already nearly 20,000 captives, and now there are several thousand more.

If you don't manage one of your thousand soldiers well, you will get into big trouble.

Lin Feng also had a headache. The canal project in front of him was a giant money-eating beast.

It not only consumes a lot of manpower and material resources, but also financial resources.

After the main canal enters the west of the town, branch canals must be built to lead to various areas.

Without mechanical assistance, all excavation has to be done manually, which not only slows down the construction progress but also takes a long time.

I was too busy to concentrate on my research as I was busy conquering other places.

We can only continue to work with the current method.

After the two water conservancy experts finished introducing the construction situation, Ji Fucheng quietly signaled Lin Feng to talk aside.

The two men came to the side, and Ji Fucheng bowed and said.

"General Lin, I have a difficult question."

Lin Feng nodded and motioned for him to continue.

"The fishermen around Hongqing Lake often come here to cause trouble. We drive them away once, but they come back within two days. They have injured our workers many times and have stolen a lot of stones and thrown them into the lake."

"Oh?"

Lin Feng just learned about this and looked around with a frown.

Indeed, their own canal project has hindered the water resources on which the surrounding fishermen depend for their survival.

Anyone can see how wide the canal is. Once the canal is opened to divert water, the water level of Hongqing Lake will definitely drop significantly.

Seeing that Lin Feng didn't say anything, Ji Fucheng continued.

"General Lin, since this involves issues between two countries, I dare not go too far, so..."

Lin Feng nodded: "It's indeed a bit difficult."

After receiving Lin Feng's understanding, Ji Fucheng secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Just don't blame him for his poor performance.

"General Lin, I only have a thousand soldiers here. Every day, I have to look after over 20,000 prisoners. Not only do I have to prevent them from escaping, but I also have to prevent them from organizing and causing trouble. I'm already exhausted. You see..."

The meaning of "Ji Fu Cheng" is just one thing: there are not enough people.

Lin Feng looked at the simple workshop nearby. He didn't have to worry about these laborers because they were under the control of the foreman.

But there are indeed too many prisoners and they are difficult to manage.

Thinking of this, Lin Feng patted Ji Fucheng's shoulder.

"Okay, I understand, go and do your work."

After Ji Fucheng left, Lin Feng turned to Cheng Liang and said.

"Write a letter to Li Jiping, the commander of Yinzhou, and ask him to send someone to control the nearby fishermen. Then send someone to the border town to deliver a message, asking General Sun Yang to send another thousand soldiers to maintain law and order."

Cheng Liang bowed in response and turned to find the officer in charge of paperwork.

Cheng Liang and Wen Jian, two personal bodyguards, are not only skilled in martial arts but also have quick minds and responsiveness.

Cultural knowledge is a shortcoming and I cannot complete the writing work.

Of course, Lin Feng also understood that there was no such comprehensive talent.

Except myself.

He planned to stay at the canal construction site for a few days, solve all the problems, and then go to Dadur City.

The letter written by Lin Feng was soon delivered to the desk of Commander Li Jiping.

Li Jiping naturally had nothing to say about such a small matter.

Lin Feng helped me out of trouble, and I haven't expressed my gratitude for such a great favor yet.

"Come here, have the magistrate of Qing County come to the city to see me immediately."

The messenger turned and went out, but came back in a hurry after a while and reported in a low voice.

"Commander-in-Chief, the magistrate of Qing County has died a martyr."

Li Jiping held his forehead and said, "Oh, I forgot about this. Please ask the Left Guardian, Lord Wu, to come over."

Wu Sheng arrived very quickly.

After hearing Li Jiping's question, Wu Sheng smiled bitterly.

"Sir, this Hongqing Lake is jointly managed by three counties. There are seven townships and sixty-eight villages around it, and they all make their living by fishing."

His meaning was very clear: the issues involved were too numerous to handle.

Li Jiping nodded in thought.

This is indeed a difficult problem. Fishermen rely on Hongqing Lake for their livelihood.

Once the canal is built, it will inevitably affect their livelihood, and it would be strange if they don’t make trouble.