In the late Ming Dynasty, rising from the grassland

Chapter 9 Digging trenches and building walls
After more than ten days of hard thinking, the two finally used the Tatar's horn bow to transform a crossbow that Lin Rui was barely satisfied with.

After several attempts, Lin Rui couldn't wait to arrive at the shooting range when he saw that the feather arrows were successfully launched, encountered limited resistance, and would not fall out even if he held them while running.

The archery targets were made of straw, and wooden boards would damage the arrows too much, so when practicing with swords and guns, they were all made of straw.

Sister Niu and the others were still practicing their bows and arrows. When they saw Lin Rui coming over, they immediately stepped aside and watched him play with them.

Lin Rui stood thirty steps away. He first wound up the string, then took out an arrow and put it in the slot. With a slight press, it was fixed by two buckles. Then he held the crossbow and put the crossbow in the holder. On the shoulder.

The only advantage of this crossbow compared to ancient crossbows is that Lin Rui introduced a modern stock design, which greatly improved the stability of shooting. As for the aiming rear sight, it was designed long ago.

call out…

Aiming at the target, pulling the crossbow, the two clamps on the front and back of the crossbow were released at the same time, and the arrow shot out with a whoosh, nailing the edge of the grass target.

"Brother Lin, the crossbow you and Lao Wang made is not very good. It's not as accurate as my sister-in-law! Look..."

Sister-in-law Niu smiled, bent her bow and arrow, and shot two rings with one arrow.

Everyone nodded frequently, bent their bows and shot arrows, and almost all of them hit the target.

"Haha, how about you watch my arrow again?" Lin Rui strung up the string again, inserted the arrow, and took aim. He had basically mastered the flight path of the arrow just now, so he aimed slightly downward.

Sure enough, the second arrow was much better than the first one and hit three rings. The next few arrows were more accurate than the last. The last arrow actually shot ten rings and hit the bullseye, causing everyone to burst into shock. call.

"Brother Lin, it seems that crossbows are useful. Can you make one for me too?"

Wang Gouwa licked his face and ran up. Everyone else also looked eager, feeling that the bow in his hand was no longer fragrant.

"Don't worry, Lao Wang and I will change all our bows to crossbows." Lin Rui smiled and waved his hand.

Isn't the reason why he worked so hard to create the crossbow just to improve everyone's hit rate in a short period of time?
With the experience of making the first crossbow, it only took the two of them half a month to transform all the bows in the hands of others into crossbows. Then everyone started practicing like crazy, shooting at least hundreds of arrows a day, and the bow string If it breaks, replace it with a new one, since there is a lot of tendon anyway.

Under such hard training, after a month, I can almost hit the target within thirty steps, and I can shoot eight or nine shots from forty steps away. I can guarantee that I will not miss the target from fifty steps away. There is no need to go further. .

Although the Tatar's horn bow can shoot at a hundred paces, it is difficult to break through double-layered leather armor from fifty steps away, let alone iron armor and cotton armor. And everyone's protective gear is double-layered leather armor, breastplate and helmet. It is also made of three layers of cowhide.

"Everyone, it's already early February, and the weather has gotten a little warmer. The snow will probably melt in a while, so I'm going to take you to practice equestrian."

"Brother Lin, aren't we going back to the Central Plains?"

Although they have lived in the grassland for several months and have a pleasant life, everyone still wants to go back. After all, the beef and mutton will eventually be eaten out.

"Spring is not as good as winter. The Tatars have to graze everywhere. If we rush south without checking the situation clearly, we will definitely die if we meet the Tatars, so we may have to stay here in the short term."

Lin Rui sighed and said.

He knows that staying here in the spring is definitely safer than running around.

"Brother Lin, do whatever you say, we will all listen to you."

"Correct!"

After Mrs. Niu finished speaking, everyone nodded in unison.

"Okay, then let's practice equestrian skills while exploring the surrounding situation. Lao Wang and Lao Liu, you two are responsible for using the remaining iron to build some hoes, shovels, and wooden hammers. After the trolley is thawed, we will be at the station. Build an earthen wall outside first, so you don’t have to worry about wolves attacking.”

Lin Rui announced when he saw that no one objected.

When Mrs. Niu heard that she was going to make a hoe, she thought about it and said: "Brother Lin, we have almost eaten enough food. We are all tired of eating meat every day. There should be a small river to the northwest of us. The terrain there is wide. It is better to wait for the thaw to open up some land and plant wheat, and there will always be some harvest in the fall."

"Yes, yes, we have so many horses. We can ask Lao Wang to build a few plows, plow more land, and plant hundreds of acres of them. From now on, everyone can eat white mutton buns every day..."

When they heard that they were going to open up wasteland for farming, everyone immediately became excited, and everyone drooled when they talked about the mutton buns.At first, everyone liked to eat mutton, but as they ate, they felt that food was still delicious, especially the buns, dumplings and noodles made with flour.

"There is no rush to open up wasteland for farming. We will wait until the wall is built. After all, safety comes first, and there is no shortage of food for the time being."

Lin Rui waved his hands and said, building walls is more important than farming.

"Okay, let's build the wall first." Everyone thought about it and it was right.

Obviously in ancient times, the Han people liked to farm, but they also liked to build walls.

In the next few days, the snow on the grassland is melting almost at a speed visible to the naked eye, and everything is recovering.

By the end of February, small grasses were sprouting from the ground, and the entire grassland was full of vitality.

Lin Rui and everyone else were able to trot on their horses. After some investigation, they found that no other Tatar tribes were found within a hundred miles, which undoubtedly made everyone feel relieved.

At this moment, by the small river in the northwest, more than 200 horses were leisurely eating young grass. A few hundred steps away on the other side, Lin Rui and others were sweating.

After repeated weighing, Lin Rui decided to build the new station next to a river. Firstly, it has a wide view, and secondly, it has convenient access to water.

The terrain between the two hills is too low, which is not conducive to defense. The Tatars probably wanted to avoid the wind and snow, but the top of the hill is condescending and easy to defend. However, there is no water source, which is a dead end for soldiers.

There are less than 20 people in total, including only six men, five hoes, four shovels, two wheelbarrows, and ten wooden hammers, so Lin Rui only plans to build a circular earth wall with a diameter of 40 meters.

According to a pi ratio of just over three times, the total length of the earth wall is only about 130 meters, and the area of ​​the station is only about [-] square meters.

The earthen wall is two meters high and half a meter wide. Behind the wall is a ladder one meter high and half a meter wide. People stand on the ladder, which is just convenient for defense.

The required soil is excavated five meters outside the wall, so that a circular trench can be excavated and water from the creek can be introduced to form a natural moat.

Except for Xiaocui, the youngest, who is responsible for observing on the top of the mountain, and Zhang Xiuying, who is responsible for cooking, Lin Rui and the others work almost from morning to night every day.

But at the end of the day, we only built about five meters, and 130 meters could be completed in a month at most. So although it was tiring and hard, everyone was very motivated and almost no one was lazy.

.........

"Brother Lin, I think we should not go back to the Central Plains. After the wall is built, we will build a few more houses and cultivate a hundred acres of land. From now on, you will be the landlord, we will be tenant farmers, and Xiaocui will You be a maid, let Xiuying be your wife, and have a bunch of babies, and we can live a happy life here, what do you think?"

"Yes, yes, Brother Lin, if Sister Xiuying is not enough, you can choose one of us to be your concubine..."

"I don't think there's any choice. Just you, Chunni. Anyway, you've been missing a man all day long."

"Who wants a man? You are the one who wants a man? Don't think that everyone doesn't know, what did you do to Liu Si last night?"

"I, I asked him to help me repair my bow, what else can I do? Don't talk nonsense, but you, Guihua, went to dig wild vegetables with Gouwa the day before yesterday. They dug for more than two hours. I want to say that you two didn't secretly do anything bad. Son, I don’t even believe in ghosts!”

Zhang Xiuying came to deliver lunch as usual. Seeing that Lin Rui was sweating profusely from exhaustion, she subconsciously took out a handkerchief and wiped it for him, which made Mrs. Niu on the side couldn't help but laugh again.

And this teasing was like poking a hornet's nest, and other people followed suit, and finally there was a roar of laughter.

Lin Rui was also helpless about this. As the saying goes, when the man and woman are full and warm, they want to be lustful. If nothing happens, these men and women will become saints if nothing happens.

The other five men also stayed silent and watched the fun with silly smiles on their faces. Zhang Xiuying would be made blushing every time.

"Okay, stop making trouble and go wash your hands and eat!"

In the end, it was Lin Rui's words that ended the laughter. Everyone looked at the dried meat in the basin and their appetites were greatly reduced.

(End of this chapter)