On April 2, the town of Friendship was finally completed with the assistance of the base camp. Until the completion of the project, the nomadic tribes did not realize that a military fortress had been quietly built to the south of them.

In order to further strengthen the defense capability of Friendship Town, Ouyang Shuo sent an official letter to Zhou Haichen, asking him to start the Friendship Town moat project from now on. The scale of the moat refers to the base camp, starting from the Friendship River in the west and reaching the Shui River in the east, forming a large arc that envelops the Friendship Town.

In this way, Friendship Town is surrounded by water on all sides, and with the help of the sailor battalion, it can be defeated and defended, and it will be invincible first. Before Friendship Town was completely built into a military fortress, Ouyang Shuo was not prepared to come into contact with the nomadic tribes.

After dealing with the affairs of Friendship Town, Ouyang Shuo, accompanied by Ge Hongliang and Tian Wenjing, set off for the Xuanniao Tribe. Li Mingliang led the first squadron of the cavalry battalion and was responsible for the security guards along the way.

When passing by Lushui Town, Ouyang Shuo stopped for a short time to listen to Zhao Dexian's report on the recent work of Lushui Town, and also took time to review the newly formed Lushui Town Cavalry Garrison Squadron.

Seeing that the Qingming Festival is approaching, as the grain base of the territory, Zhao Dexian has begun to make various preparations for spring sowing. The original 20,000 acres of farmland have been reclaimed, and all of them have been turned into fertile farmland under the effect of spring breeze and rain. All of the 20,000 acres of farmland will be planted with rice.

In addition to clearing farmland, the town has also built a large lumber yard in the southern wooded area. The wood here is of higher quality than that of the base camp, the wood is dense, and the storage capacity is more abundant. Today, the timber needed by the high-end shipyards across the river is supplied entirely by the lumberyards in the town of Swimwater.

Because it was about to enter the busy farming season, the city wall project of Shui Shui Town had to be temporarily put on hold. Wait until the end of spring sowing before starting construction. Fortunately, this area is quite calm, and it doesn't matter much if it is built later.

At eleven o'clock in the morning, after a two-hour trek, Ouyang Shuo and his party finally arrived at the Xuanniao Tribe. Different from the cold reception he received last time, this time the tribal leader Shi Xiong personally greeted Ouyang Shuo and his party outside the village.

"Lord Lord, welcome to the Xuanniao Tribe!" Shi Xiong said enthusiastically.

That's the magic of food. Since the Xuanniao tribe cooperated with Shanhai Town, the food was sufficient, and no one in the tribe was starving, and the leader of Shi Xiong naturally changed his attitude and no longer dared to put up a fight against Ouyang Shuo.

However, if Shi Xiong knew that what they had obtained was less than one-thirtieth of the output of the Wolf Mountain Mine, I don't know how he would feel.

Ouyang Shuo, a capitalist, smiled quietly and said, "The leader is fine, the great wizard is fine!" ”

"All well, please!" Shi Xiong led the way in front, and Ouyang Shuo walked into the cottage side by side with him.

After the meeting between the two sides in the cottage meeting hall, Ouyang Shuo left Tian Wenjing to discuss with Shi Xiong about the in-depth cooperation between Shanhai Town and the Xuanniao Tribe, and got up and went to the cottage temple to visit the Great Wizard.

Zongmiao is built at the highest point of the cottage, there are more than 200 steps, climb the steps, and the great wizard greets Ouyang Shuo at the gate of Zongmiao. This is an old man in his last years, his eyes are cloudy, and he is about to enter the grave. is such an old man, who serves as the spiritual leader of the Xuanniao tribe and is admired by the clan.

"Welcome guests from afar!" The archwizard's voice was hoarse.

Ouyang Shuo didn't dare to slack off, and said sincerely: "Meet the Great Wizard." The gift given by the Great Wizard last time did Shanhai Town a great favor. In order to express his gratitude, a small gift was specially prepared, and I hope that the great wizard will accept it with a smile. Ouyang Shuo took out a Night Pearl from his storage bag and handed it to the young wizard beside the Great Wizard.

This pearl of the night was obtained when the large-scale rogue camp was exterminated. The young wizard had never seen such a treasure, and he was astonished and did not dare to catch it.

"Your Excellency is gracious, such a valuable gift is really well deserved." The Great Wizard motioned for the young wizard to accept it, and at the same time led Ouyang Shuo forward, saying, "Lord, please come with me." ”

The temple of the Xuanniao tribe is completely made of stone masonry, and it is a relatively complete building complex. Of course, an outsider like Ouyang Shuo couldn't enter the main hall of the Zongmiao, and the two came to the reception room next to the Zongmiao.

"Great Wizard, Shanhai Town is willing to establish friendly and cooperative relations with various tribes in the mountains, I wonder if the Great Wizard is willing to coordinate in the middle?" After the greetings, Ouyang Shuo went straight to the point.

The Great Wizard opened his cloudy eyes, and with a flash of light, he said, "Our Xuanniao Tribe has contacts with the four surrounding tribes, and since the Lord has this idea, the old man will invite them here. ”

"So, thank you, Grand Wizard!" Ouyang Shuo was overjoyed.

When leaving the Xuanniao Tribe, Ouyang Shuo left Tian Wenjing behind, and he was responsible for negotiating with the representatives of several other tribes, and the specific content of the cooperation could be implemented with reference to the Xuanniao Tribe.

At the same time, in order to express his gratitude to Ouyang Shuo for presenting the Night Pearl, the Great Wizard presented Ouyang Shuo with a pair of hummingbirds from the Xuanniao tribe. This hummingbird is extremely psychic and can deliver messages remotely.

……

On April 3, the town of Shanhai harvested potatoes. Because of the barren land, the yield of potatoes per mu is only about 1,000 units. 2,000 acres of land, a total of 2.1 million units of potatoes are produced. The territory was levied in the form of agricultural tax to 70,000 units of potatoes, all of which were allocated by Ouyang Shuo to the War Preparedness Department as military rations.

With this batch of potatoes, together with some grain and meat, the food crisis in Shanhai Town has finally been resolved, and there is no need to purchase grain from the market on a large scale. After harvesting potatoes, Ouyang Shuo did not plant rice on the 2,000 acres of land, but instructed the Department of Agriculture to arrange for all farmers to plant cotton.

As the saying goes, food, clothing, housing and transportation are indispensable. Now in Shanhai Town, cloth is still very dependent on purchasing from the market, and there is no self-sufficiency ability. As for the colored silkworm industry being cultivated by the Textile Association, one industry has not yet taken shape, and the other is that silk is a precious cloth and is not suitable for large-scale promotion in the territory.

Cotton is different, with it, the territory can cross the linen cloth and use cotton cloth directly. Therefore, it is imperative to grow cotton. It just so happens that these 2,000 acres of farmland are not fertile, and if you grow rice, the income is limited, and it is better to grow cotton with low soil requirements.

……

On April 4, through the coordination of the Grand Wizard of the Xuanniao Tribe, three more mountain barbarian tribes agreed to cooperate with Shanhai Town. The scale of these three tribes is smaller than that of the Xuanniao tribe, with only more than 2,000 people. Another tribe turned down the Grand Wizard's invitation. That tribe was called the Wind Tribe, and the tribe was larger than the Xuanniao Tribe, with more than 5,000 people. After learning that the Xuanniao tribe was attached to Shanhai Town, he seemed to regard himself as the spokesperson of Shanhai Town, and was very resentful, so he refused to cooperate with Shanhai Town.

The joining of the three tribes increased the number of miners in the Wolf Mountain Mine to 5,000. Basically, with the capacity of the Wolf Mountain mine, it has reached a saturated state, and if you add miners, there will be some redundancy.

Because the Wind Tribe refused to cooperate with Shanhai Town, Ouyang Shuo had to strengthen the garrison of the Wolf Mountain Mine. Three hundred young and middle-aged people were selected from various ethnic groups, and together with the previous two squadrons, they were reorganized into the Wolf Mountain Garrison Battalion, with the stone wolf of the Xuanniao tribe as the head of the camp. Another squadron leader, Shi Leopard, was transferred to the base camp of Shanhai Town.

In addition to participating in the operation of the Wolf Mountain Mine, the three tribes sent a total of 500 of the most elite mountain barbarian warriors to join the army of the base camp of Shanhai Town. To this end, Ouyang Shuo selected two hundred soldiers from the residents of Shanhai Town, and combined them with the previous three infantry squadrons to form two infantry battalions at one time.

In the meeting room of the barracks in Shanhai Town, Ouyang Shuo announced the personnel adjustment of the infantry.

"Zhao Sihu!"

"Here!"

"I order you to take the first squadron of the original infantry battalion as the core, plus the two hundred soldiers of Shanhai Town, and then select two hundred people from the mountain barbarian warriors supported by the tribe this time to form the Shanhai Town City Defense Battalion." Ouyang Shuo said.

"The city defense battalion?" Zhao Sihu was a little puzzled.

"Not bad. The main responsibility of the city defense battalion is to be responsible for the security of the base camp, and the military camp is located in the city. In order to meet the requirements of defending the city, the city defense battalion consisted of two teams of archers, two teams of crossbowmen, and a squadron of sword and shield men. The original first infantry squadron was a squadron of sword and shield soldiers, two hundred people from Shanhai Town were trained as crossbowmen, and mountain hunters were good at archery and trained as archers. Ouyang Shuo explained.

"Understood, don't worry, I promise to complete the task!" Zhao Sihu said loudly.

Ouyang Shuo turned his head to look at Shi Wansui and said, "General Shi! ”

"The last general, my lord, please command!"

"I order you to take the second and third squadrons of the original infantry battalion as the core, plus the three hundred elite warriors supported by the tribe this time, to form a hoplite battalion composed of pure mountain barbarian warriors."

"Hoplites? But we don't have heavy armor! Shi Wansui was also puzzled.

Ouyang Shuo shook his head and said, "Who said no?" The Jiafang Division is stepping up the forging of infantry armor, and the weapon workshop is also forging Tang Dao, and these two main battle equipment will be prioritized for heavy infantry battalions. ”

The other generals immediately looked at Shi Wansui with a look of jealousy. Not to mention the step armor, that thing weighs 29 kilograms, and only the mountain can hold it. But the Tang knife is standard equipment, whether it is a cavalry battalion, a city defense battalion or a sailor battalion, it can be equipped with a Tang knife, but unexpectedly, it was taken by the hoplite battalion.

Shi Wansui smiled and said excitedly: "Then it's no problem, thank you for your support!" ”

"The camp of the hoplite battalion is located outside the city, and during this time, the general will strengthen the training of them, especially the training of the load. I don't want your soldiers to be able to carry it when the time comes, and then it's a joke. Ouyang Shuo continued.

"Don't worry, the last general will definitely train them fiercely."

Ouyang Shuo nodded and said, "Then I'll wait and see." When you are truly equipped to form combat effectiveness, I will personally give the name to the hoplite battalion. ”

This is a great honor, and no battalion in Shanhai Town has its own exclusive number so far, which shows the importance that Ouyang Shuo attaches to the hoplite battalion.

The soldier regards honor as his life, Shi Wansui's blood boiled, and he said loudly: "I will live up to the trust of the lord!" ”