But soon Wang Quan was not happy at all, not afraid of thieves coming to steal, but fear of thieves thinking about it. There were dozens of Liangshan bandits around the Tucheng that he had finally built, which was not a good thing. It seemed that the seized ships would have to be dragged ashore and pulled back into Tucheng to be safe. Otherwise, the water bandits might come back to grab the ship at any time, and even if they couldn't, they would burn them all.

They have offended these water bandits. When the wasteland around them is reclaimed, these water bandits come to harass them from time to time, and the refugees will not be able to rest in peace in farming.

Crazy in the Tucheng to farm? The area is too small, how many crops can you grow?

He took the initiative to come to wipe out the water bandits? The surroundings were full of rivers, lakes and terrain. Even the officers, soldiers and navy had no choice but to find the water bandits' nest. Wang Quan believed that on the shore, the water bandits were not his opponent. But when he got into the water, it was the world of the water bandits.

In the end, Wang Quan had no choice but to make one decision, temporarily farming in Tucheng, organize the fishermen in the surrounding villages who were deeply affected by bandits, and form a navy; at the same time, he sent someone to find Zhao Feng and asked him to send food.

The first phase of the plan for the large-scale military camp of Li Guodong in Xiangling, Shanxi has been completed.

Cao Lei held an account book in his hand and flipped it out and said to Li Guodong: "Brother, the population has been registered and compiled. We have 1,000 cavalry and 400 infantry. The number of refugees has reached 5,000. Among the remaining 4,000 refugees, there are 2,821 males, 136 young men under the age of twelve, 647 women over the age of twelve, 89 young girls under the age of twelve, and 216 elderly people over the age of 50."

"Most of them are young and strong men." Li Guodong nodded.

The advantage of most young and strong men is that they have enough labor and more people can join the army. The disadvantage is that few people can afford to marry their wives, and most of them can only be a bachelor. However, Li Guodong is powerless. Most of the refugees who are trapped by the bandits are males, and many of the women and children are eaten up.

"Brother, since we are garrisoning troops here, can we give up the city outside the pass?" Han Dashan asked.

"We can't give up for the time being!" Li Guodong shook his head, "After a while, we will have to go back to the outside of the Great Wall. Perhaps Jiannu will start a war on the grassland. We need to cause some trouble for them and not let Jiannu develop too quickly. The two cities we stay outside the Great Wall are nails on the road that Jiannu must pass. Advance can harass the Korqin people, retreat can defend, and can also join forces with the Chahar people, Tumote people and Mobei Mongolia to deal with Jiannu together."

"It is a good thing for our Ming Dynasty when Jiannu fought with the Mongolian Tartars!" Han Dashan said disapprovingly.

"It's not a good thing! If Jiannu conquered Mongolia, then Jiannu would be the one who brought the Mongols to invade and rob, and the Ming Dynasty would be even more troublesome."

"Okay! As long as the elder brother says something, we will follow you!" Han Dashan patted his chest and said.

Li Guodong suddenly thought of something and asked, "Brother Cao, are there any craftsmen among the refugees we recruit?"

"Yes! There are still many. I have registered it, but there are 183 people who are craftsmen." Cao Lei replied.

"Take me to see them." Li Guodong couldn't wait to stand up.

The Ming Dynasty did not pay attention to craftsmen, but every craftsmen was a treasure in Li Guodong's eyes. Only with craftsmen could they produce steel and have various weapons.

Li Guodong and Cao Lei walked out of their houses and walked towards the camp. The residential areas of a group of senior military officers such as Li Guodong, Han Dashan and Cao Lei looked similar to the buildings in the camp where refugees were placed. They were all built with rammed earth, with wooden beams and straw on them, and built thatched huts. But the structure inside was very different. The barracks where Li Guodong lived were connected with two houses, outside was a hall, inside was his own bedroom and study. The same was true for Han Dashan and others, both of which were built in one bedroom and one living room. When they had dinner, they went to the public canteen.

In the camp where refugees are placed, each barrack is covered with a large kang, which can accommodate ten people. When sleeping at night, ten people lie on the large kang. The number of people living in the women's camp is small, and one room can accommodate six people.

Some refugees also have families, so they arranged for their family to live in a thatched hut.

Everyone eats in the canteen. Li Guodong built a brick-and-wood building, which is the largest building in the city, the canteen. Next door to the canteen is a bathhouse, which can provide hot baths in winter. There are also toilets specially built in the city, and all the feces are concentrated. Li Guodong also tried to build a biogas pool, but there was no rubber in this era, so it was very troublesome to make pipes, so he finally gave up this idea.

He can also extract unearthed nitrate from feces, but the quality of the earth nitrate is too poor. He is not a chemical engineering and does not know how to purify the earth nitrate, so he never thought about using earth nitrate to make gunpowder.

Walking on the road, through Cao Lei's introduction, Li Guodong realized that among the 216 registered elderly people, 134 were craftsmen! This surprised him. He originally thought that he was taking in the elderly among the refugees and doing good deeds, but he didn't expect that most of the elderly were craftsmen. Moreover, the elderly craftsmen were more precious and they had rich experience.

One hundred and eighty-three craftsmen were gathered in the canteen. Li Guodong stood in front and looked at these ragged craftsmen happily, as if they were seeing mountains of gold and silver. Among the craftsmen, except for the 134 old craftsmen, twelve of the other 49 were strong men and thirty-seven were half-old children.

"Everyone, you are all craftsmen. When you come to me, each of you is a treasure! I will not let you farm, nor can you pick up weapons to go to the battlefield. What you have to do is to build weapons, produce various tools, and build better houses in the future. You must use them." Li Guodong opened his voice.

Among the 183 craftsmen, there were ninety-one blacksmiths and twenty-two gunpowder craftsmen, the rest were carpenters, brick tilers, and fifteen were craftsmen who made bows and arrows.

"I have thirteen craftsmen outside. The living conditions here are poor, and there are no iron ore or coal mines. I will send you out of my Shabeigou Village outside the border, where there is a ready-made blast furnace. If you come there, you can help me build weapons. As for your salary, I will pay you two taels of silver every month. If you can improve and create new things, as long as they are practical, I will reward you." Li Guodong glanced around and said.

"General, are you going to send us out of the Great Wall?" a craftsman in his fifties and grey hair stood up and asked.

"Yes, I have built a solid city over there, living in brick and tile houses, the conditions are much better than here, and there are no thieves coming to harass you."
Chapter completed!