Chapter 146: Garrison
After the five hundred Pei Family Army settled in, the common people of Changping County Town felt at peace. Every morning, watching the Pei Family Army run training became a pleasure for the common people.
The selected common people also had to rise early every day, follow along practicing formation and lineup, and run a lap around Changping County Town. By noon, each could receive half a catty of grain to take home. Mixed with some wild vegetables, it could be boiled into a big pot of gruel, enough for the whole family to eat one meal.
Such treatment was truly enviable. Every day, common people came begging to join the ranks of training troops.
Pei Yun looked troubled: “The number of people training troops is already full and cannot be increased. Now there is only work repairing the city wall, but it requires a full day, and it’s also half a catty of grain per day.”
The city wall of Changping County Town was very old, and the city gate had been battered broken and tattered by Xiongnu barbarians. After Pei Yun arrived, she planned to repair the city wall and city gate. Conscripting labor to make the common people work for free was not right; half a catty of grain per day could recruit sturdy and willing adult men.
Pei Qinghe also approved of this matter.
Shi Yan fiddled with the abacus for half an hour, calculating over and over; the bricks and stones needed to repair the city gate and city wall were a huge expense, and the common people recruited daily for work needed half a catty of grain each, so the number had to be controlled, at most two hundred people.
These expenses, the Changping County Office had to cover half, and the other half would have to be covered by the Pei Family Army.
The wall in Pei Family Village was also being built higher and higher. This sturdy tall wall protected all the villagers like a hard shell. The villagers living inside the wall did farm work in the morning, trained in the afternoon, and were busy reading and writing at night; their days were busy and fulfilling.
Grain prices were rising everywhere, and grain prices within Youzhou had risen another twenty percent. Pei Family Village temporarily did not lack grain, but it still needed to be eaten frugally. In the past, it was supplied generously, but now it was still three meals a day, one bowl of porridge and two mixed flour steamed buns per person per meal.
Occasionally, some who were dissatisfied would mutter privately: “I have a big appetite; two steamed buns aren’t enough to fill me.”
They were immediately sprayed disheveled and dejected by those around them: “If you think it’s not enough, then leave. We Pei Family Village doesn’t lack your kind.”
“If you’re leaving, go quickly and make room for those who come later.”
Those grumbling would not leave and immediately shut their mouths.
It was very chaotic outside. It was said that the Liaoxi Army was grabbing able-bodied men everywhere; if caught, who knew how many days one could live. The Fanyang Army and Guangning Army were also recruiting soldiers. In these times, being a soldier meant always risking one’s head. Better to follow Sixth Sister Pei!
Sixth Sister Pei had unmatched divine arrows, and her long saber was fierce and unstoppable. In suppressing mountain bandits and fighting Xiongnu barbarians, Sixth Sister always charged ahead, leading the crowd in fighting to the death. She had not lost a battle yet.
Two steamed buns per meal was actually pretty good.
Every few days, Sixth Sister Pei would organize a hunting team to enter the Yan Mountains. The birds and beasts in the nearby mountain forest had long been eaten up, so now they had to go deep into the mountains. Each team of a hundred men, fully equipped with weapons and bows and arrows, also carrying five or six days of dry rations.
Such deep mountain hunting could first hone skills and temper courage, and second cultivate tacit understanding and coordination with teammates. The hunted wild game was also an important source of meat for the Pei Family Army. It could also bring back some refugees from the deep mountains. It was killing several birds with one stone.
On this day, Pei Qinghe led the hunting team down the mountain with a large haul of prey.
Pei Xuan and Pei Feng also went into the mountains to hunt this time. After a year, both had grown a year older, and their heights had shot up quite a bit. Eleven-year-old Pei Xuan had round eyes and a sweet smile, but struck black and ruthless. Ten-year-old Pei Feng was few words in front of outsiders, with a look of I’m very cold, very cool, don’t mess with me.
The two bickered every day, giving Pei Yan a headache; she scared them: “If you keep arguing, I’ll throw both of you back into the mountains.”
Pei Xuan was not afraid of Pei Yan and grinned: “What you say doesn’t count.”
Pei Feng coolly replied: “I’m not like you who doesn’t know the way; I can go back myself.”
Pei Yan was angry and turned to complain to Pei Qinghe: “Pei Xuan and Pei Feng are arguing again.”
Pei Qinghe’s glance swept over, and Pei Xuan and Pei Feng immediately shut their mouths, each showing obedient and endearing smiles.
Pei Yan vented her grievance and smirked at her cousin brother and cousin sister: “Cousin Sister Qinghe likes me the most; you two have to wait behind.”
These words poked Pei Feng right in the heart. When Pei Feng felt aggrieved, he stayed silent and quietly followed beside Pei Qinghe. Pei Xuan, the clever one, also stopped bickering with Pei Yan and looked at Pei Qinghe pitifully.
Pei Qinghe rubbed her temples: “Pei Yan, don’t bully those two.”
Chatting and laughing, the journey was very lively.
Not long after going down the mountain, people from Pei Family Village soon came to welcome them, joyfully taking over the large pile of wild game, carrying or shouldering it.
In the past, the hunted wild game would be eaten up in the next two or three days. After Shi Yan took charge of money and grain, he set a rule: of the hunted wild game, eat half, and make the other half into cured meat or air-dry it, storing it in the storeroom. He even specially built two large storerooms for this. Even through the wall, the aroma of cured meat and dried meat could be smelled.
The gluttonous children loved playing outside these two storerooms the most. Some villagers also deliberately squatted nearby to eat, and with the meat aroma, even the mixed flour steamed buns tasted especially good.
Now with so many people in Pei Family Village, no matter how much wild game was hunted, it wasn’t enough for everyone to eat their fill.
Bian Shulan used over a dozen wild chickens to make soup, and the meat porridge boiled in chicken soup was fragrantly steaming. She then cleaned the wild game, chopped it into large pieces, and braised it red; each person could get a large piece to satisfy their craving.
Pei Qinghe, like the villagers, lined up for food, and also got only one piece of meat. Then she squatted together with Pei Yan, Pei Xuan, and Pei Feng, burying their heads in big bites.
Shi Yan had already blended in, his squatting posture especially dashing.
Dong Dalang and Dong Erlang sighed softly: “In the past, Young Master was very picky about food, but now he eats anything, and his appetite is even a bit bigger than before.”
“Running training and exercising every day, his body is also better than before. He hasn’t been sick for over half a year.”
“With Sixth Sister so powerful, our Young Master can’t carry on his shoulders or lift with his hands; he is indeed a bit weak. He can’t be sickly anymore.”
At this moment, a youth ran quickly to deliver a message: “Sixth Sister, there is a group of people outside the village, claiming to be from Quanzhou County.”
This youth was Zhai Sanlang from Anle County. Zhai Sanlang was originally literate and clever; after entering Pei Family Village, he quickly stood out. He was assigned to the sentry post team, and besides daily training, he guarded sentry posts outside the village.
Pei Qinghe raised an eyebrow: “Search them first, confiscate all weapons, then let them enter the village.”
Zhai Sanlang received the order and left.
Pei Qinghe stood up, and Pei Yan swiftly stood up with her. Pei Xuan and Pei Feng, these two little followers not willing to fall behind, also followed.
Over twenty people from Quanzhou County had come. The leading youth was sixteen or seventeen, with clear brows and handsome eyes, full of scholarly air.
The youth cupped his hands in salute: “Ji Junze has come on my father’s orders; greetings to Sixth Sister Pei.”
The youth had excellent appearance and temperament, elegant and graceful, pleasing to the eye.
Pei Qinghe couldn’t help looking a bit more: “Young Master Ji, no need for formalities.”
