Chapter 89

To ensure the refugees could leave as soon as possible, the county borrowed several dozen carts and horses from wealthy merchants and arranged for many constables to assist. As the sun rose, the large area of shacks by the moat outside the south city wall had already been completely dismantled. Although Liu Jun had given everyone settlement money, they were reluctant to leave behind anything useful.

A pottery bowl, a wooden basin, even a tattered felt blanket, everything was packed and taken away. The elderly, children, and women with bound feet sat in the carts, while the men carried various household items from the shacks. Older children also carried a few items, following behind their parents.

The scene of over a thousand people moving was quite lively. Outside the south gate, many of the county’s residents also came to watch. They watched these neighbors, whom they often saw but knew little about, leave. Some people looked happy, glad that these poor people were finally gone. Others were envious, as they, though locals, and some even living in the county town, did not live much better than these outsiders.

Things might have been better before, but now, these outsiders were about to have a better life, while they could only look forward to another day of the same.

The distance from the county town to Tiger Head Pass was seventy miles, but fortunately, they were traveling on the Guanghuang Highway, a major trade route connecting Guangzhou in Henan and Huangzhou in Huguang, which was quite flat.

The group moved forward, taking a short rest every five miles and a longer one every ten miles. After walking forty miles, they stopped for a meal.

By the time the group reached the Tiger Head Pass patrol office, the sun was about to set behind the mountains.

The patrol office was quite large, covering several dozen acres with many buildings, but it certainly couldn’t accommodate over a thousand people.

Fortunately, because the patrol office was located at a key point on the road, over the years, many teahouses, inns, restaurants, and warehouses had been built around the official hall, forming a street about a hundred meters long on both sides of the road.

It was late, and there was no time to set up tents, so Liu Jun arranged for the people to stay in the various shops and inns. Most of these shops had living quarters in the back, and with everyone squeezing in, they could manage to stay, especially since it was still summer, and a roof to shelter from the wind and rain was enough.

"Starting tomorrow, we’ll build some simple shelters to give everyone a place to stay, and then we’ll cut trees to build houses," Liu Jun arranged.

Although everyone was very tired after a day’s journey, they were still very happy on their first night at Tiger Head Pass, even without any shelters.

After dark, bonfires were lit on the large open ground outside the patrol office. Liu Jun had the Nine-Headed Bird team, who had moved in earlier, bring out the prepared meat and wine, and everyone cooked and ate together, celebrating this new beginning.

The next morning, as soon as it was light, Tiger Head Pass was bustling with activity. The sudden addition of over a thousand people made this small town unprecedentedly lively. Many smart merchants had already rushed over, like cats drawn by the scent of fish.

They came with horse-drawn carts and hand carts, bringing all kinds of goods. Where there are people, there is business, especially with over a thousand new arrivals, and everyone knew these people had just received settlement money. To settle into new homes, they would need to buy many new household items, such as pots, bowls, spoons, clothes, bedding, and mats.

Even Liu Jun’s father-in-law, Lu Weizhang, came personally, leading a large convoy with dozens of people and over ten carts of goods.

"Tell me what you need," Lu Weizhang said, jumping off the cart and pointing to the goods behind him, speaking with great confidence.

Liu Jun said gratefully, "I will be stationed here permanently, with hundreds of brothers and over a thousand people. We need many things, but first, we need houses. So many people can’t stay outdoors forever."

Lu Weizhang patted his chest, "Building houses is simple. Hire some craftsmen, and as long as there are enough materials, with so many people here, it will take only half a month. Leave this to me. You just focus on your troops, and I’ll take care of the rest."

Liu Jun and his daughter had formally become engaged and would soon be married, so Lu Weizhang’s attitude towards Liu Jun had changed significantly, treating him like family. With his son-in-law serving here, he was determined to support him fully.

With a shrewd businessman like Lu Weizhang in charge, Liu Jun was happy to entrust the logistics to him. Besides the 300 Nine-Headed Bird team members, Liu Jun also recruited 200 workers from the refugees, and all the other men, women, and children, totaling over a thousand people, were placed under Lu Weizhang’s command.

Lu Weizhang became Liu Jun’s chief logistics officer. The first task Liu Jun gave his father-in-law was to build toilets, not just one, but several, with a total of a dozen toilets inside and outside the patrol office, including a few large ones with dozens of stalls.

"Why build so many toilets? Shouldn’t we build houses first?" Lu Weizhang was puzzled.

"Maintaining cleanliness is very important. In the military books of the Tang Dynasty, it is written that the first thing to do when setting up camp is to dig toilets, showing the importance of these small facilities. We now have over two thousand people here, including soldiers, civilians, and merchants. With so many people, but only a few toilets, people will defecate and urinate anywhere, which is not only inconvenient but also unhygienic. The smell can be overwhelming and could lead to disease outbreaks."

Liu Jun not only wanted to build toilets but also baths.

However, he only planned to build three baths. One would be inside the patrol office, a large public bath for the soldiers. The other two would be at the north and south ends of the street outside, one for men and one for women, each capable of accommodating dozens of people.

"Maintaining personal hygiene is very important for preventing diseases," Liu Jun’s reasoning was sound and important.

Lu Weizhang had no objections, but Liu Jun also got involved in the design of the baths. "We can’t just build large baths; we also need shower rooms." Liu Jun explained in detail to Lu Weizhang and the craftsmen he had hired. Adding showers was not difficult, but the challenge was how to get the water.

However, this was not a problem for Liu Jun. He planned to build a few water towers. Water would be drawn from wells and then lifted to the top of the towers using pulleys. From there, bamboo pipes would carry the water to the baths, providing running water due to the height difference between the towers and the baths.

Although the water still needed to be drawn to the towers, there were plenty of people available for this task.

Toilets and baths were the first to be built, followed by a dining hall, and finally, the houses.

Considering the location of Tiger Head Pass, Liu Jun personally designed the houses.

His design was similar to the Hakka Tulou, a circular fortress-like structure. The houses would be four stories high, with 53 rooms on the ground floor and 56 rooms on each of the upper floors. The ground floor would be used as kitchens, the second floor as storage for grain, and the third and fourth floors as bedrooms. The entire building would have 72 staircases connecting the floors, with no windows on the ground and second floors, and a central courtyard with inner and outer ring corridors.

This was essentially a fortress, also known as a round fort.

Each building would be a fortress, capable of housing over 50 households. Liu Jun planned to build nine such buildings. Once completed, these nine fortresses would surround the Tiger Head Pass patrol office, forming a fortress complex. Even if bandits attacked, they would find it difficult to capture the area easily.

The Tulou was not a rare design; the craftsmen recognized it immediately and knew how to build it. It was just a matter of rammed earth walls, which required more time and labor. The building would be four stories high with over 50 rooms per floor, making it quite large.

"This will be much more expensive than building wooden or earth houses."

"Can you build it?"

"Of course," the craftsman said confidently.

"Then build it as designed," Liu Jun was not wasteful but had to consider multiple factors. In the coming years, Huguang would be a battleground, with various forces fighting. Building wooden houses would be easily burned down. Since they were building, it was better to construct something more solid while they had the time.

Spending more now would definitely be worth it.

Building such a structure was not difficult; the key was the labor required to fill and compact the rammed earth walls. However, labor was the cheapest resource, and Liu Jun saw no problem with it.

After confirming these tasks, Liu Jun handed over the logistics to Lu Weizhang and focused on training his troops.

The higher-ups had already responded, and Liu Jun was officially appointed as the Deputy Commander of the Macheng County Militia, a rank of 8th grade.

In just a few days, Liu Jun had been promoted from a 9th-grade patrol officer to an 8th-grade militia commander. However, according to his agreement with Lu Jinxin, Liu Jun would still serve as the patrol officer of Tiger Head Pass and oversee Taiping Post. In short, the entire Taiping area was now under Liu Jun’s control.

The flag of the Macheng County Militia was already flying high over the patrol office, which now served as both the patrol office and the militia camp, with two signs on one gate.

The Nine-Headed Bird team members had become militia soldiers. However, Liu Jun retained the Nine-Headed Bird flag, which now became the symbol of the Macheng Militia. The Macheng Militia was also known as the Nine-Headed Bird Militia.

On the drill ground inside the patrol office.

Over 500 people stood solemnly on the field. In the center, the original team members stood the straightest.

On the left were the 120 new recruits from Taiping, who, despite their short time, had already proven themselves by defeating 50 bandits with their long spears. They stood there, still seen as new recruits by the old members, but in their own minds, they were now part of the old guard, looking at the 100 new recruits on the right with the eyes of the Nine-Headed Bird veterans.

The 100 new recruits from Macheng, dressed in their new uniforms, were still a bit restless, their eyes darting around.

Behind these three groups was another group of 200 people from the shacks in the county town. Liu Jun had recruited them as workers and now they stood as part of the militia. However, they were not yet official members of the Nine-Headed Bird, only considered as reserve members. They would train regularly but would primarily work in the workshops, training occasionally on the 5th and 10th of each month.

Standing on the platform, Liu Jun scanned the over 500 faces, most of which were unfamiliar.

He looked to the side but saw no one, then remembered that Li Chunjiang had already left Huguang for Nanjing.

From now on, the Nine-Headed Bird would be under his command alone!

This was his new team!

...

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