Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 284: Chapter 275 Ice House

This early morning, Yang Zhenshan left the city with his Personal Followers.

He wanted to personally check the disaster situation of the military households.

The snow on the road was thick, even riding a horse could only proceed slowly.

Red Cloud disliked such thick snow, taking small steps and continuously kicking the accumulated snow on the road.

Yang Zhenshan looked at the vast expanse of whiteness, his mood growing heavier.

He had anticipated this heavy snow, but was unable to make perfect preparations.

Tenglong Guard had been in poverty for a long time, and many issues couldn’t be resolved in a short period.

Take the houses, for example, in this freezing weather, it was impossible to renovate them, only simple reinforcements could be made.

And the so-called reinforcements were merely supporting the houses with a few more tree trunks.

Nothing else could be done.

After spending more than half a two hours, they traveled almost twenty miles and reached a garrison.

This garrison was different from the ones in Chongshan Town; those had outer walls to fend off the Hu Clan, while the Tenglong Guard’s garrisons looked more like villages.

This garrison was called Nanling Village, with over thirty military households, previously a Hundred Households but now only maintained the General Flag establishment.

When Yang Zhenshan arrived at Nanling Village, the military households inside were busy building houses.

Someone saw Yang Zhenshan and his group coming, and quickly a man in a leather jacket ran out from the village.

”Commander Sir!” the man said, somewhat uncertainly upon seeing Yang Zhenshan.

”Hmm! Are you the General Flag Officer of Nanling Village?” Yang Zhenshan dismounted and asked.

The man straightened up, hurriedly clasped his fists in salute and bowed, saying: ”Nanling Village General Flag Officer Zhang Hu pays respects to Commander Sir!”

Zhang Hu was originally a General Flag in Tenglong Advanced Guard. Recently during a major reshuffle in Tenglong Guard, he was transferred to Nanling Village.

The major reshuffle in Tenglong Guard mainly involved the officers at the level of Hundred Households and Deputy Thousand Households, but some General Flags were also redeployed to other garrisons.

The reshuffling of Hundred Households and Deputy Thousand Households was to prevent those originally close to the Lan family from causing troubles, while transferring some General Flags was due to Xie Yuan selecting a batch of competent personnel.

The Lan family controlled the Tenglong Advanced Guard primarily by controlling senior officers, using their own people as households officers, then cultivating other Deputy Thousand Households and Hundred Households as confidants.

As for General Flag and small flag, the Lan family didn’t care much about them and didn’t have the energy to attract these lower-level officials.

Therefore, in Tenglong Advanced Guard, there were still some capable and responsible flag officers that could be re-utilized.

The flag officers selected by Xie Yuan were also intended to be trained, as those who proved capable could be reused in the future.

Xie Yuan had already reported this matter to Yang Zhenshan, and Yang Zhenshan was aware of the situation.

”How is the situation in the village?” Yang Zhenshan walked towards Nanling Village and asked.

Zhang Hu spoke in a somewhat somber tone: ”Currently, Nanling Village has thirty-three military households, with a population of one hundred and sixty-eight people, sixty-seven adult males, thirty-three soldiers on the roster, and twenty-six reservists!”

Adult males refer to males aged between sixteen and fifty, considered the main labor force among military households.

Soldiers on the roster referred to registered soldiers, while reservists were ready to step in.

Each military household must have one registered soldier; if the soldier dies in battle or is unable to serve, a reservist would take over.

Reservists were also the main labor force for plowing fields, as registered soldiers sometimes went on missions, attended training, or were stationed at city defenses and passes.

Thirty-three military households with only one hundred sixty-eight people, averaging merely five per household, was clearly unreasonable.

It only meant poverty prevented these military households from having and raising children.

If a battlefield situation arose, many of these households would likely be wiped out.

Yang Zhenshan paused in his steps, noticing a collapsed house.

”Did anyone die?”

”No, we were prepared; after the house collapsed, we immediately rescued the people!” Zhang Hu quickly replied.

After the house collapsed, then rescuing people!

Yang Zhenshan took a deep breath and then asked, ”How many houses have collapsed?”

”Uh, not many, only four families’ houses couldn’t hold up!” Zhang Hu said, somewhat ashamed.

Previously, there had been multiple orders from above to reinforce deteriorating houses, and he had earnestly done so, but unfortunately, there were still cases of houses collapsing under the heavy snow.

Yang Zhenshan nodded slightly but did not speak, continuing to observe around the village.

The military households in the village approached Yang Zhenshan, one by one retreating to the side, their eyes filled with fear.

Compared to the collapsing houses, the full-fledged fear in their eyes made Yang Zhenshan feel even worse.

Fear, it indicated that they had been oppressed before, and not just slightly.

That oppression had crushed their spirits and morale, leaving them without the slightest notion of resistance when facing officials.

Yet how could a group lacking morale become fierce soldiers?

The strength of a soldier, most importantly, is not how capable he is in fighting, but whether he has the spirit, the ferocity, and the willingness to lay down his life on the battlefield.

The strength of a person, no matter how formidable, means he is a coward on the battlefield without a willingness to face death.

The reason why the soldiers of An Yuan City’s garrison camp dared to fight was firstly because Yang Zhenshan met their living needs, leaving them without worries. And because they possessed the determination to face death, ready to plunge into fire and sword at a command.

Clearly, the people in front of him fell far short.

In spirit and will, as well as in personal strength, they had a huge gap compared to elite soldiers, a difference that could be described as heaven and earth.

To train these people into elite soldiers, Yang Zhenshan had much work to do.

But the most pressing matter now was to get them through this cold winter.

”Do they have a place to stay?” Yang Zhenshan looked at those still rummaging through the ruins.

These houses didn’t just collapse one room, but the entire building collapsed.

They were all earth houses with wooden beams. Once one room collapsed, the connected rooms would also follow suit. If lucky, the room next to it might still stand; if not, the whole house of four or five rooms would collapse together.

”This, if we squeeze a bit, we could still fit people in,” said Zhang Hu.

”Squeeze!” Yang Zhenshan frowned.

What he meant was that there were no vacant houses to accommodate those who had lost their homes, but that was to be expected since Nanling Village was poor and lacked surplus housing.

As for squeezing, accommodating one person per household should at least provide a place to sleep.

But this would be very inconvenient.

This wasn’t squeezing for a couple of days, but for several months.

It’s only November now, and building new houses would have to wait until early March next year; that means squeezing for over three months.

People who lost their homes would feel uncomfortable, and those helping them would feel uneasy too.

The longer it lasted, the more likely conflicts would arise, and more conflicts could lead to bigger troubles.

Yang Zhenshan fell into deep thought, feeling that it would be better to arrange separate housing for these four families.

Definitely can’t build houses right now!

”Let’s build some ice houses!”

If earth houses can’t be built, then build ice houses.

Considering the weather in Liaodong, Yang Zhenshan felt that these ice houses could last at least until February next year.

By then, the temperature would rise slightly. Although it would still be very cold, there should be ways to endure it.

Living in an ice house is naturally not as comfortable as in an earth house, and you can’t setup a heated kang, but it can block the wind!

”Just add a few more layers of blankets, and living inside would still be bearable!”

”Eh, if there are no blankets, then add more straw!”

Yang Zhenshan tried to explain the situation of the ice houses in simple terms. It was tough, but they would have to make do.

However, the more Zhang Hu listened, the brighter his eyes became. Although he had never built an ice house, after hearing Yang Zhenshan’s description, he knew the method was feasible.

”Sir, you are brilliant!”

”The ice house idea is very good. Not only for them, but others could also benefit. We can use ice blocks to reinforce the houses!”

Zhang Hu said excitedly.

Yang Zhenshan, however, was stunned.

Reinforce houses with ice blocks!

That seemed feasible too!

Now, with the frozen ground, digging up soil to build houses was impossible.

As for timber, there weren’t dense forests around Tenglong Guard, and timber was a scarce resource.

That was also why they previously struggled to reinforce the houses.

But with ice blocks, it would be much simpler.

Which village does not have a well?

Making ice would require molds, but if there aren’t suitable molds, that’s fine—there are always water buckets and wooden basins. If they aren’t the right size, they can be chipped or joined together.

With the coldness of Liaodong, a night is enough to solidify a bucket of water thoroughly.

This Zhang Hu is not bad, making analogies from a single example. Yang Zhenshan only mentioned building ice houses, but he thought of using ice blocks to reinforce the houses.

Yang Zhenshan stroked his beard and glanced at Zhang Hu.

Damn, why didn’t I think of that before?

If I had thought of it earlier, then these houses might not have collapsed under the heavy snow!

Zhang Hu thought Yang Zhenshan was brilliant, but Yang Zhenshan felt Zhang Hu was clever.

Yang Zhenshan’s brilliance came from seeing some short videos about ice houses in his previous life, but Zhang Hu’s cleverness was genuine.

Using ice blocks to reinforce houses was something Yang Zhenshan had truly not considered; in fact, even the ice houses were a spur of the moment idea.

Of course, Yang Zhenshan would definitely not admit it openly; he was also a person who cared about saving face, how could he expose his own shortcomings.

”Well, since you have figured it out, go ahead and try it!”

”Yes, Sir!” Zhang Hu responded with some excitement.

Yang Zhenshan did not stay in Nanling Village any longer. He could not be of much help here; on the contrary, he would make these military households hesitant and restrained.

Originally, he had planned to continue inspecting other thousand households and garrisons, but thinking of the methods of building ice houses and reinforcing houses with ice blocks, he immediately returned to Guard City.

He immediately wrote down the two methods and had the clerks in the government office transcribe dozens of copies, which were then sent to various thousand households.

This was a good method, maybe not a perfect one, but it could help many military households get through this cold winter.