The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 463 Ma Congyi's Labor Corps

Just as Han Shizhong and Yue Yun were beating up the Jin army...

The Northern Song army, which had been stationed in the Tongbai Mountains "farming," "raising chickens," and "raising pigs," and seemed harmless to humans and animals, also sprang into action.

Gong Erniangzi and Yue Wenxuan personally led the main force of the army, leaving the camp in Tongbai Mountain and heading north at high speed, arriving at Xiping County.

When the two arrived in Xiping, they found a large auxiliary force and a large contingent of laborers already waiting in Xiping County for a long time.

The auxiliary troops numbered over ten thousand, a small portion of whom were bald, while the majority had normal hairstyles.

You can tell where they "come from" just by looking at their hairstyles.

If the auxiliary soldiers surrendered from the Jin Dynasty, they would usually be bald.

The auxiliary soldiers who surrendered from the pseudo-Qi state usually had normal hairstyles.

Of course, there are exceptions, but not many.

In addition to 10,000 auxiliary soldiers, there were also 50,000 civilian laborers, all of whom were conscripted from the vicinity of Caizhou.

If large-scale conscription of laborers were carried out in the Jin and Southern Song dynasties, it would easily arouse resentment among the people and even lead to uprisings. However, when the Northern Song dynasty did this, it did not cause resentment among the people. On the contrary, many people were willing to do it voluntarily.

The reason is simple: one pays wages, the other doesn't!
Gong Er Niangzi glanced at the army of 50,000 laborers and smiled: "That child did a very good job on his first time doing something practical."

Yue Wenxuan nodded and smiled, "Indeed, not bad! Such a large-scale mobilization of laborers would likely cause chaos for any adult, but he did a good job. Look at these 50,000 laborers, everything is in order and perfectly organized."

As the two were talking, a boy of about ten years old ran over and solemnly bowed to them: "I am Ma Congyi, greetings to Young Master Yue, the Privy Councilor. I have already conscripted 50,000 laborers as Young Master Yue instructed."

It turns out that this child, who was about ten years old, was none other than Ma Yu, the second-generation leader of the Quanzhen School of Taoism in history.

He is already 11 years old this year. In ancient times, a young man from a noble family of this age would already be out doing some work.

Yue Wenxuan also wanted to give him more experience, so he put him in charge of logistics.

Yue Wenxuan smiled and said, "I only said to get some laborers, but I didn't expect you to get 50,000! That's quite a generous gesture."

Ma Congyi's small face was serious: "I've thought it through carefully. Young Master Yue wants laborers not just to help the main force transport supplies, but also to assist in building defensive fortifications. In the usual way of our Northern Song Dynasty, after conquering a piece of land, we immediately build a large number of forts and passes to defend against the infiltration of Jin cavalry. But this time is different from the past. In the past, the enemy was small, and we had plenty of time to build forts after defeating them. But this time, the Jin-Qi allied forces number as many as 500,000. After our army defeats the enemy, they may quickly organize a counterattack. So... we can't build forts slowly as before. Instead, we have to complete the construction of defensive fortifications within a few days after defeating the enemy."

He then concluded, "Therefore, our army needs more laborers, divided into dozens of groups. Each group will be responsible for building a gray fortress or pass. After the first wave of battle, we need to have gray fortresses everywhere in the blink of an eye, giving the Jin invaders no chance to counterattack." "For this purpose, I have already prepared dozens of group leaders," Ma Congyi said earnestly. "Each group leader will lead a small team of laborers, responsible for building one gray fortress. I am confident that the day after the main force captures Wuyang, I will be able to set up dozens of gray fortresses around Wuyang, and the cement of the gray fortresses will be completely solidified in less than a month."

Gong Erniangzi couldn't help but laugh: "Interesting! It seems that the focus of this attack on Wuyang is not on our main force, but on your laborers."

Yue Wenxuan laughed, "Yes, taking over a small city like Wuyang is a piece of cake. The main force isn't anything special, so I'll have to keep a close eye on the logistics and laborer units."

Ma Congyi clasped his hands in a fist and said, "I will certainly not disappoint you two."

Enough with the nonsense, let's send out the troops!

Gong Erniangzi personally led the main force in front, Wang Hong led the auxiliary troops in the middle, and Ma Congyi led the laborers at the rear.

Yue Wenxuan deliberately lagged behind this time, walking alongside Ma Congyi's army of laborers, to see what kind of skills this second-generation leader of the Quanzhen School actually possessed.

He soon discovered that Ma Congyi was different from others.

As expected of Yue Wenxuan's first student taught in a "modern school," Ma Congyi's style of doing things carries a strong modern flavor.

The army set up camp for the first time, and the entire army prepared a meal!

When Yue Wenxuan saw Ma Congyi summon a servant and give him a few instructions, the servant ran out like the wind and wandered among the laborers. Before long, fifty group leaders gathered in his direction.

These group leaders, still holding their rice bowls, came over and sat down with Ma Congyi.

Ma Congyi pointed to Yue Wenxuan beside him and said loudly, "Attention everyone, Young Master Yue is here today to inspect our labor force. Group leaders, I hope you can report your work plans to me again. Young Master Yue will be listening. I know many of you are not good with words, but I must remind you that there are not many opportunities to change your destiny in this life. It is a rare opportunity to show your talents in front of Young Master Yue. Whether you can seize this opportunity and gain Young Master Yue's favor depends on yourselves."

His opening remarks really excited the labor team leaders. Some of them who were originally not good at speaking and were a bit socially awkward were about to back down, but after hearing these words, they suddenly became more imposing.

One of the bolder men immediately put down his rice bowl, stood up, and said, "I am Li Laowu, the leader of the thirteenth group of the laborers, in charge of a thousand laborers, including more than fifty experienced bricklayers. My mission is to get to the location designated by the leaders as quickly as possible after we capture Wuyang Town and build a gray fortress."

"My plan is this: once we arrive at the location, we will determine the site for the fort as quickly as possible. First, we will have two hundred laborers dig the foundation, while the other laborers will move stones and sandbags nearby to build the breastwork and dig the moat. While the foundation is being dug, we will ensure that several hundred meters of breastwork and moat are temporarily built around the Grey Fort."

"For the next month, Gray Castle will be under construction. If the Jin invaders launch a counterattack during this time, we must ensure that every soldier has breastworks and trenches for cover. After Gray Castle is completed, we will switch to road construction as quickly as possible, paving the road between Gray Castle and Wuyang City to facilitate the transport of supplies to Gray Castle by the logistics team."

(End of this chapter)