The fiercest soldier of the border army

As a modern person, how could Tang Shun not know the horror of reinforced concrete?

Bamboo groves can be split into bamboo strips, which can replace steel bars.

Limestone and clay can be mixed and fired in a coal-fired kiln to make cement.

Although it is not as hard as later ones, it is much stronger than rammed earth walls!

The key is that it can be learned quickly!

As long as you build a framework with bamboo and fill the middle with rammed earth, you can build a formidable pass!

Zhu Hang was stunned, yet felt it was utterly absurd. "What did you say?"

Tang Shun repeated: "We will build the city ourselves."

"Are you crazy?!" Zhu Hang practically jumped up. "Look at all of us! There are only about twenty of us in total, a few broken knives and bows, and we don't even have a shovel."

"You want to build a city on this wasteland? Do you know how long it took to build Xiushui Town? Thousands of people carried earth and laid bricks for more than two months! You think you can build a city on your own?"

No one agreed with him, but no one spoke up in his defense.

Wei Zong frowned, staring at the canyon for a long time. "Are you serious?"

Tang Shun nodded. "This place is only about two hundred paces from east to west, and it is deep enough from north to south. The mountains on both sides are steep. As long as we build two walls on the north and south sides, it will become a pass."

A moment of silence.

"laugh--"

Zhu Hang sneered, looking at Tang Shun as if he were a fool.

"So young, so very young!"

"Building a city is easier said than done."

Do you know how difficult it is to make wall tiles?

"From selecting soil, maturing, kneading, and shaping, to air-drying, loading into the kiln, firing, soaking in the kiln, and unloading from the kiln."

"Just the air-drying process alone takes one or two months! Now that it's winter, it might take even longer!"

"By the time you twenty-odd men have worked your butts off to fire these bricks, the Xiongnu will have already come eight hundred times over!"

"Besides—" Zhu Hang pointed to the surrounding area of ​​the canyon, "two hundred zhang outwards, there's a gentle slope. Even if we build a city here, the Xiongnu could easily circle around and surround us. They wouldn't even need to fight; they wouldn't be able to escape!"

"Do you think the military governor is a fool? If that place were truly defensible, it would have been repaired long ago!"

Tang Shun shook his head: "What I want is a place that nobody else would want."

"What do you mean?"

"Because it's easy to get around, no one will bother to put in the effort to build a perimeter around it."

"But they can fight!"

"Then let them fight." Tang Shun's gaze darkened. "As long as the wall is thick enough, unassailable, and we have enough food, it won't matter if they fight for a year."

"What are you going to use to repair the wall?" Zhu Hang sneered. "You'll be digging with your hands?"

Tang Shun didn't answer. He bent down and picked up a grayish-white stone from the ground, covered with fragments.

"There is limestone here."

"And bamboo, which can be used to make frames."

Tang Shun's lips curled up. "In less than a month, I will be able to build a city."

Zhu Hang still looked at him like he was a fool. "You have the money to hire someone to dig?"

"no."

Do you have the tools?

"no."

"Then what gives you the right?"

Tang Shun looked at him and finally spoke: "Because we don't want to die."

After he finished speaking, the surroundings fell silent.

Zhu Hang was so excited that his face turned purplish-red, but he couldn't refute the statement.

"We just want to survive. To survive, we first need a place to live."

Tang Shun's gaze swept over them one by one. "We can't enter Xiushui Town, we can't return to Datong City, and going anywhere else means encountering mutinous soldiers, whom the people call traitors!"

"We'll build our city right here!"

"Twenty-odd people wanting to build a city is obviously a pipe dream, but—"

Tang Shun turned his head, his gaze fixed on Xiushui Town in the distance. "There are people in the town and the surrounding villages!"

"Hire them, and everything will be fine."

"What are you going to use to hire them?" Zhu Hang roared. "Wang Xianghong gave you seven hundred taels of silver, do you think you're rich now?"

"You've already received dozens of taels of silver before you even got out. If you want to survive, you still need to buy grain and salt."

"Do you intend to conscript them by force? Who would listen to you?"

Tang Shun glanced at the crowd, most of them frowning in confusion.

"Gentlemen."

Tang Shun explained softly, "I know you're wondering why we have to stay and do a task that seems impossible."

"I, Tang Shun, never do anything I'm not sure I can do."

He held up his finger, "Half a month."

"If you see no hope in half a month, you can come here, collect your money, and run away."

"If the Xiongnu attack within half a month, you can escape on your own and don't have to risk your lives here."

"However, for the next two weeks, you must obey any orders unconditionally."

"Are you going to listen or not?"

A strong wind suddenly arose, causing the bamboo forest to rustle and bamboo leaves to fly everywhere.

Tang Shun stood against the wind, and the group remained silent.

After a long pause, Wei Zong stepped forward again, "Squad Leader, our lives have long been tied to yours."

"I'll do whatever you say."

Cheng Feng and Liang Enyi responded together, "That's right, Captain, we'll listen to you."

"What the hell are you all standing there for?" Cheng Feng roared, turning around. "Your squad leader is your direct superior. As a mere auxiliary soldier, you don't even know military orders?"

The soldiers looked at each other, then slowly clasped their hands in greeting, saying, "We await your command."

"Then let's set a timeframe of half a month. The Xiongnu probably won't come within this half-month."

Zhu Hang said mockingly, "I'll wait here for you for half a month and see what tricks you can come up with."

Tang Shun did not respond, but looked at Wei Zong and said, "Wei Zong, go into the town."

"Go into town?"

Tang Shun nodded, "Change your clothes, disguise yourself as a merchant, and you should be able to get in."

"Go to the town government office to report that you want to contract this area of ​​mountain forest for reclamation."

"We want to contract out the stone quarries in the canyon, the bamboo forests along the sides, and the clay soil by the river."

"Take planting medicinal herbs, raising sheep, and hiring people to do the work."

"Take thirty taels of silver with you. Ten taels is the deposit for a year's contract. Tell the magistrate that we need to hire someone and ask him to do us a favor."

"The other ten taels were all replaced with counterfeit silver."

"Fake silver?"

The group was stunned again, completely unaware of what Tang Shun was up to.

Counterfeit silver is something ordinary people would avoid at all costs, yet Tang Shun actually went out of his way to buy it.

"Just in case," Tang Shun said without further explanation.

"After that, we'll go recruit the townspeople."

"If the town won't let us in, then let the people inside come out on their own."

Tell them that a traveling merchant wants to reclaim barren mountains and invites them to work there; the number of workers is unlimited.

"Ten coins a day, paid daily."

As for Liang Enyi—

"You're quick on your feet, take a few clever brothers and go to Linhe County."

"Take ten taels of silver and three carts to buy enough food for us to eat for a month. It doesn't have to be fancy, but it must have meat."

The soldiers in the team were emaciated and malnourished year-round. If their food supply was inadequate, their combat effectiveness would never improve.

Linhe County is under the jurisdiction of Xiushui Town, and the county seat has everything you could want.

With everything arranged, Zhu Hang exclaimed in surprise, "You're really going to hire people to make bricks and build the city?"

"Zhu Hang, how about we make a bet?"

Tang Shun held up a finger, "At most one month, I can build a formidable pass that rivals Wuguan."

Wuguan Pass was a crucial passage for the Northern Court to advance south to Chang'an. The pass was majestic and imposing, with the ability of one man to hold off ten thousand.

"A pipe dream." Zhu Hang didn't believe a word of it, continuing to sneer. "I'll be right here watching. If you can do it, I, Zhu Hang, will kneel before you in the highest rites, and I'll even lead your horse from now on!"

"Then it's a deal!"