The Military Governor in Dream of the Red Chamber

Jia Chen did not linger at Zhenqiang Fort and soon headed to Qianshandun.

He Liding told Jia Chen that the laborers building Qianshan Fort would arrive tomorrow, and Wang Baisheng and others were already at Qianshan Mound.

When Jia Chen returned to Qianshandun, he indeed found Wang Baisheng and the others already waiting there.

Wang Baisheng and his men had previously been assigned to several watchtowers around Zhenqiang Fort. After making meritorious contributions, they needed to be rewarded, and the meritorious soldiers could no longer be left in dangerous places like Qianshandun.

So when Liu Tianwang gave the order, they returned to Qianshandun almost immediately.

Looking at the familiar people in front of him, Jia Chen felt a surge of emotions.

Although I didn't spend much time with Wang Baisheng and the others, we went through life and death together, so our bond is different.

It was safe in Deshengbao, but there was no such atmosphere.

The imperial court was very generous this time; both Wang Baisheng and Zhao Zheng were promoted to the rank of General.

Sun Tiechong and his group were junior officers.

Of the soldiers who were rescued earlier, only Ding Heihu became a junior officer; the others were not promoted.

However, everyone still received silver rewards from the imperial court, and they were all very satisfied.

"You ingrates! Duntou... no, the centurion summoned everyone, and they didn't even come? This is outrageous!" Wang Baisheng suddenly cursed.

The group that returned to Qianshandun this time included Jia Chen and two others, totaling fifteen people.

Of the 22 people who survived, seven did not return.

"Everyone has their own choices and ideas. The conditions at Qianshandun are harsh and extremely dangerous, so it's not their fault if they don't come," Jia Chen said with a slight smile.

To be honest, he never expected everyone to be able to get there.

After all, he didn't mean to force anyone.

In his opinion, it would be very good if half of them came.

This still exceeds his expectations.

The presence of Wang Baisheng and the others brought Jia Chen some comfort.

"A bunch of spineless cowards, and I even considered them brothers before," Wang Baisheng said, still somewhat indignant.

"Sir, we've heard that the Qian Shan Dun is going to be expanded, but how many people are there?" Zhao Zheng pointed to the dozen or so people present, his face showing some doubt.

"Of course we can't rely on just our few people. Commander He of Zhenqiang Fort will arrange for laborers to help build the fort," Jia Chen said with a smile.

"Old Zhao, what are you thinking? This isn't like digging some trenches before, it's a fortified village. If Zhenqiang Fort doesn't send three to five hundred people over, it probably won't be completed this year," Wang Baisheng said.

"You really dare to say three to five hundred people?" Sun Tiechong couldn't help but ask.

"What's wrong, old man? You got a problem with that?" Wang Baisheng glanced at Sun Tiechong and said.

Sun Tiechong ignored Wang Baisheng and instead asked Jia Chen, "Sir, did the military commander say how many laborers would be sent to participate in the construction of the fortress?"

Jia Chen shook his head and said, "It wasn't explicitly stated, but it was said that Zhenqiang Fort would coordinate manpower."

Upon hearing this, Sun Tiechong couldn't help but sigh and say, "In that case, I'm afraid we won't have enough manpower."

"How so?" Jia Chen frowned.

"Zhenqiang Fort is also short of manpower. The Chahar tribe destroyed too many beacon towers and villages during their southward march. These all need to be rebuilt and repaired, and I'm afraid we can't spare many laborers to come to Qianshan Beacon Tower," Sun Tiechong said.

"Second Uncle, isn't that terrible?" Jia Mao's face showed anxiety. "If we don't have enough manpower, when will we ever finish building the fortress? Why don't you quickly report the situation here to the military commander and ask him to send more manpower?"

"Nonsense!" Liu Cheng couldn't help but scold. "We don't even know what happened yet, and you're already going to see the adjutant general?"

"That's right. Even if we're really short-handed, we can't just go to Lord Liu without doing anything," Jia Chen said. "Some things we have to solve ourselves."

Jia Chen believed that Liu Tianwang couldn't possibly be unaware of what was happening at Zhenqiang Fort.

In other words, the manpower situation may not meet their expectations.

But I can't go to Liu Tianwang over such a small matter.

No wonder Liu Tianwang said before leaving Deshengbao that he could choose some of his men, not only from the Beijing garrison when he returned to the capital, but also from the border troops.

The meaning is already very clear: if there are not enough civilian laborers, some manpower can be selected from the border troops or even the locals. They can not only participate in the construction of the fort, but also be directly used as garrison troops for the Qianshan Fort in the future.

The next morning, Zhenqiangbao sent the laborers to build Qianshanbao as scheduled. There were 80 laborers in total, less than a hundred.

What's even more outrageous is that one-third of them are older and in poor health.

The people sent over were from the garrison headquarters. He said that this was the limit that Zhenqiang Fort could do, and that it was only after the garrison commander personally intervened that they were reluctantly transferred from other places.

After saying that, he left in a hurry.

Jia Chen had no doubt that Zhenqiang Fort was short of manpower.

Sun Tiechong also said so.

But Jia Chen didn't believe that they could only gather 80 people.

How could such a small number of people build a fortified village in just a few months?

But that's reality.

You can't just get whatever amount they tell you to receive.

Liu Tianwang was indeed a lieutenant general, but he was an outsider and had never established any prestige.

He Liding is a local border military force with deeply entrenched connections.

Liu Tianwang wanted his subordinates to be completely obedient and wanted to control the entire situation in Beidong Road, but that wasn't going to be easy.

Jia Chen couldn't help but recall Liu Tianwang's preparations to return to the capital and select men from the Beijing garrison, something Liu Tianwang needed to do to strengthen himself.

Only with these fully controllable forces can we better suppress local border troops.

In He Liding's eyes, he was an outsider, someone from Liu Tianwang's side.

It's good enough that he doesn't cause trouble for himself; expecting him to fully carry out Liu Tianwang's orders in the short term is unrealistic.

Having someone is better than having none; let's use these eighty people for now.

Jia Chen didn't want to dwell on this.

We'll figure out a way to deal with those who don't have enough later.

Jia Chen's plan was to complete the construction of Qianshan Fort before the Lunar New Year. It's already early September, so it's only about four months at most.

Actually, it took less than four months. Then the weather got cold and the ground froze, making it difficult to extract soil.

The actual effective construction period is probably less than three months, even under the condition of little rain in winter.

The biggest part of building a fortress is the city walls.

The size of Qianshan Fort is much smaller than that of Zhenqiang Fort, so the wall height is designed to be about two zhang (6 meters).

The city wall is not enclosed; it is made of rammed earth and has a trapezoidal cross-section, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom.

Based on a base width of 5 meters, a top width of 3 meters, a height of 5 meters, and a perimeter of 500 meters, the required earthwork volume is 1.2 cubic meters.

Jia Chen already knew that a strong young man in Da Hong Chao could complete about 2 cubic meters of rammed earth work a day, including the whole process of soil extraction, transportation, and compaction.

If the city wall is to be completed in three months, then it will require nearly 70 people.

Besides the city walls, there are other moats, houses and other miscellaneous items inside the fort, all of which require manpower; more than 100 people are needed.

These are all under ideal circumstances. In Jia Chen's view, to build Qianshan Fort within his expected timeframe, at least 300 people would be needed, and they would have to be able-bodied laborers.

We currently have less than a third of the manpower here; the shortage is too great.