After a day of training with the gunner, the priests returned to the living quarters of the castle.

It was a small fort with a radius of less than a mile, and the city was now inhabited by about 1,300 soldiers, and then more than 1,000 civilians, including the people.

Less than 3,000 people live in more than 300 houses, which is slightly overcrowded.

In the middle of the castle is the barracks, there is a small school yard, and near the city gate is the place reserved by the chamber of commerce, mainly in the warehouse area, there are also shops and repair areas, and then there are small residential areas.

There are rivers that lead to the city, and there are also several wells, so you don't have to worry about cutting off the water supply.

According to the original design, this fort should be garrisoned by about 400 soldiers and soldiers in peacetime, and the inhabitants should be about 1,000 people, consisting of 200 families, plus some passing trading houses, the population will not exceed 2,000 people, and now it is indeed a little crowded.

Zhang Han also patrolled the fort surrounded by Jiang Yi and others, and he focused on preventing plague diseases, and there was a military medical team in the fort, and those who showed signs of cold and fever were isolated.

A woman in her twenties was about to be taken away by the military doctor, and the young man next to her followed her all the way with a little baby, the woman cried and cried, and the child naturally cried too, and the man's face was full of expressions of life and death.

"Well, you don't have to." The military doctor advised: "Either take her to anything, or isolate her, or live in the fort, and come back when she is cured." ”

"I'm not sick, it's okay......" The woman said, "Just tell me to stay, Xiaobao wants to be milked." ”

"You're almost two years old and you're still breastfeeding?" The military doctor said categorically: "Drag people away." ”

There have been many times like this, and several of the soldiers came to be assistants, and at that moment they dragged people away, and the military doctor also left, and the men and children cried so much.

Zhang Han stepped forward and said, "She is going to treat the disease and not to send it to a distant place, why is this man crying like this?" ”

"I heard that in order to prevent the plague, Lord Zhang ordered that all those with fever be locked up together, and then secretly killed and dragged outside the castle to be buried."

Zhang Han was taken aback and said, "How can this be? ”

"How could it be?" The man said with tears on his face: "If we want to fight with the Beiyu, we don't even have a home, and the fort is so crowded that everyone said that the people who were taken away were killed." If they hadn't been killed, why wouldn't they have come back? ”

Zhang Han couldn't help but laugh.

Jiang Yi and the others were annoyed at first, and then they were also laughing, Zhang Han laughed once, turned his head to a military and political officer, and said: "This is your responsibility, and it is also misunderstood if you don't make it clear to everyone." ”

The military officer blushed and said, "It's true that we were negligent. ”

Zhang Han said to the man: "After a while, ask this military and political officer to take you to see your daughter-in-law, and the people who were taken away before can also take a look together. ”

The man opened his teary eyes, looked at Zhang Han in a daze, and said after half a sound: "It turns out that you are Master Zhang, no wonder you can spare my lady." ”

Zhang Han said in his heart: This person is really stupid.

Zhang Han didn't make a sound, he looked at the child in the man's arms, more than a year old, black and thin, not good-looking at all, the hair on his head was also very thin, the hair color was still very yellow, only two eyes were big, and two strings of tears hung on his face.

Zhang Han felt an inexplicable feeling in his heart, as if a soft emotion had been touched, and he said quietly: "Who has sugar on them?" ”

The guards and officers looked at each other, who could bring this thing?

At this time, a soldier came over and said, "My lord, I have meat steamed buns on me." ”

Zhang Han didn't ask why this person hid meat steamed buns on his body, he took it and said to the child: "Your name is Xiaobao, right?" Take it and eat it. ”

The child was a little scared, but the smell of meat attracted all his attention, and after hesitating for a while, he still stretched out his little hand and took the steamed bun.

"Alright, the military officer will take them over." Zhang Han pinched the child's face, and at this time the child was no longer too afraid of him, and smiled at him while eating steamed buns in small bites.

Zhang Han also had a smile on his face, at this time there were already a lot of people around, except for the soldiers to be trained, there was nothing else to do in the fort, and a little thing could easily cause everyone to watch.

"My wife is also pregnant." Zhang Han looked at the crowd: "It's been more than four months now, and now that I'm going to start a war with the Beiyu, I have to stay here with everyone, I believe that when I go back, the child may have been born...... For the sake of the children's good life in the future, they have to defeat the North now. ”

Zhang Han said a few words, everyone's faces have shown a look of respect, and many soldiers have a look of emotion, at this time, Zhang Han has already expressed his attitude when he came to the front line, but everyone did not expect that Zhang Han's eldest son or eldest daughter will be born in a few months, looking at the current situation, it may be really impossible to wait for the arrival of the child at home.

More people pondered the meaning of Zhang Han's words, and the more people thought about it, the more excited they became, just a few simple words, which made people feel that it was very different.

It was Lu Da who handed Zhang Han the steamed bun, he wiped his hands on his apron, and looked at Zhang Han with reverence, he felt that he was really lucky, not to mention the comfortable work done by the soldiers, he had enough food every day, and he could be in a fort with Zhang Da, and listen to him face to face, although Lu Da didn't understand much, and he didn't think much about it, he believed in Zhang Han's words.

"It is to ask for a daughter-in-law first, so that there will be children, and then let the babies live a good life. Damn it, Lao Tzu is in his thirties to live a good life, and a king and eight lambs eat meat and steamed buns every day as soon as they are born? ”

Lu Da pondered, and a distorted expression appeared on his face.

"Mr. Tang, are you still used to living here?"

Zhang Han wiped his hands, strode up to Tang Ruowang, and said with a smile: "The living conditions in the fort are poor, and I have wronged you." ”

"Where's the difference?" Tang Ruowang is also in a very good mood, he has lived in Daming for a long time, but it is the first time he has seen a noble person like Zhang Han, and he replied with a smile: "The logistics supply of He Yusheng is really good, I see that the people also have rice and noodles to eat, the soldiers and soldiers have meat supplies, and our priests have beef and mutton every day, I am looking for an opportunity to thank Master Zhang." ”

"It's a matter of duty." Zhang Han clapped his palms and began to climb along the ramp to the top of the fort wall, Tang Ruowang also followed, Zhang Han said as he walked: "I heard that Mr. Tang is teaching the members of the artillery crew an arithmetic class, it is a rare good thing to have a talent like you to teach them, how can it be worth mentioning eating some meat." ”

The level of Tang Ruowang and other priests is really not covered, and the level of geometric arithmetic is not known in later generations, but it must be the highest level of people in this era, not only their own level is high, but also because it is for the convenience of mission, these priests speak Chinese well, and they also deliberately learn the method of teaching, and they teach it is indeed much stronger than the officers and instructors of He Yusheng.

The officer instructors also followed the Xiucai introduced by a few Kong Minxing, and their level was much worse than that of the priests.

Zhang Han had a strong desire at this time, and he really wanted Tang Ruowang and the others to stay.

However, Zhang Han did not say such a thing at this time...... After a long time, he will definitely not be able to keep John Tong if he stays, but those who want to come to preach and settle down in the future may stay, and this is enough.

Everyone walked on the female wall, and after these days, the defense system on the city wall became more and more tight, in addition to the female wall and the straw curtain, a lot of hidden holes were dug under the city wall, and the soldiers could rest directly in the wall holes, without going down to the city, which could save time and physical energy, and the wall holes were supported by hardwood, so there was no need to be afraid of collapsing.

Two four-pounder guns were placed above the urn city that controlled the water source, one in the direction of the south gate, no door was opened in the north, and a dozen Franc cannons were placed in the protrusion, and the rest were placed evenly in the remaining four directions, except for training.

At a distance of more than 900 steps, this city is really small, and the sturdy soldiers who have received long-term military training can run a lap in the shortest time even if they are fully armored.

1,100 defenders, the battlements on the women's wall are one every three steps, more than 300 city discs plus hundreds of perforations, almost everyone can carry out firepower.

Hundreds of muskets were sent from the side, most of them arquebuses, and half of them flintlock muskets, because most of the flintlock muskets had already been distributed to the firearms flag teams, and the newly produced ones were all sent here.

In the corner of the city wall, Zhang Han saw a large barrel of gunpowder, the quantity was about more than 20,000 catties, because each pier and the military platform plus the military fort have firearms, all need gunpowder, the fort here originally only had more than 5,000 catties of gunpowder, and more than 15,000 catties were sent in the past ten days, if you want more, it will take time.

In addition to a small amount of self-made gunpowder, most of the gunpowder of He Yusheng was purchased in the name of the military town and the guard, but the gunpowder was required by all towns, especially Liaozhen, which had a large number of firearms, and its strategic position was also very important.

Recently, the problem of gunpowder has gradually become serious, but fortunately, a route to Japan has been opened, and Zhang Han has already instructed Jiang Kui and others to bring less goods on the return trip, and they can not bring anything like that, but the more gunpowder and copper, the better.

Copper is also very scarce, the Ming Dynasty is not only short of iron, but also very short of copper, the famous Xuande furnace is made of Burmese tribute copper during the Xuande period, the Ming Dynasty's own copper production is very low, because the imperial court has no control, mining is weak, the copper mining volume of the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years is not as good as the Northern Song Dynasty when it was in its heyday, the Northern Song Dynasty is still lacking copper, it is conceivable how serious the lack of copper in the Ming Dynasty is.

The field artillery is all cast in copper, and the Franc machine is cast in iron, but Li Zhuang does not cast the Franc machine himself, so a large amount of fine iron is useless, and the copper for casting the cannon is gradually insufficient, even if you spend money, you may not buy too much.