Chapter 27: Leisure Time

  By late June, Pang Gang had led people to dig ten wells in Wanghai Castle, which basically solved the problem of drinking water for the military households in Wanghai Castle. After the city wall and sowing work on the already cultivated land were initially completed, Pang Gang led the crowd again to continue opening up wasteland.

  Early summer morning, the sky was just bright, and the military households of Wanghai Building got up one after another. At this time, you can already hear the sound of the river flowing through Lingshanwei. On both sides of the river, in Qiu Hong Building, Thousand Days Building, and several nearby villages, in the thatched cottages of the vast paddy fields, the roosters' calls echoed each other. On the road of the vast plain, the sound of the river and the crowing of chickens were so elegant, which made the quietness before dawn even more vivid. The air was so fragrant that it made people feel exceptionally cool and comfortable in their chests.

  The military dependents got up and hastily ate the leftover food from last night, then immediately went out. They followed their respective leaders to the newly opened wasteland, with an eager expression, because their hundred households had promised them that after they finished opening up all this land, each household could get twenty mu of land.

  Pang Gang was also among these people, carrying a hoe and wearing bare feet, he now looked completely like a farmer. No one could see that he was actually a dignified hundred households. At first, the military dependents were all shocked by Pang Gang's move to personally work in the fields. Who had ever seen a hundred households lord working in the fields? Wasn't this a joke?

  Li Xian and others refused to let Pang Gang go down personally, saying that it would lose his identity as a hundred households. However, under Pang Gang's insistence, the crowd could only compromise reluctantly. At the beginning of plowing the land, Pang Gang was also awkward and didn't even know how to use a plow. Finally, under Li Xian's guidance, he slowly learned how to hold the plow, how to exert force, how deep the plow should be, and how to make the oxen more efficient. This allowed Pang Gang, who had never been in contact with farm work before, to have a deeper understanding of the hardships of farmers.

  For many days, everyone got up with the sun and went to bed with the sunset. Every day was a hard workday. Seeing Pang Gong leading the way out every day, sweating profusely and working extremely hard, some of the soldiers were surprised and moved at the same time, feeling that such a superior officer like Pang Gong was rarely seen.

  Actually, what Pang Ge is doing is also to set an example. He's sending a signal to everyone that if even the hundred households are working hard on the ground, then anyone who still dares to slack off will have no one to blame but themselves.

  The power of a model is infinite. Seeing that Pang Gang led the way, the other military households naturally didn't dare to slack off. The hundred-household leader had drawn a big pie for them, and each household's 20 mu of land was just the foundation. If a household performed well, the hundred-household leader would reward them with more land. On the other hand, if anyone slacked off or loafed around... Hmm, sorry, Wanghai Fort doesn't welcome you!

  He pulled out the bamboo tube from his waist, opened the plug and poured a big mouthful of water into his mouth. He looked around at the soldiers who were working hard to cultivate the land and nodded in satisfaction. On the barren land, some women carried baskets, hampers and other objects to the canal to clear up the silt and carry it to the side of the barren land, which would be used as fertilizer later. Li Xian led a group of men driving oxen to plow the land. These people were all skilled in farming, and with the help of the oxen, they could each cultivate about one mu (about 0.0667 hectares) of land per day. At this speed, it wouldn't take long to finish cultivating the nearby barren land.

  Pang Gang took another close look at the young and middle-aged men and women who were working hard, and saw that their expressions and complexion had improved a lot compared to when they first arrived at Wang Hai Lou. The original pale face had also regained some blood color, it seemed that his own efforts had not been in vain. The effect of each person having one or two pieces of fatty meat and fish every day was still pretty good.

  "I don't know when Huayan arrived at Pangang's side, with some emotion, he praised: 'Sir, by the end of the year, this place will be a scene of harvest, and then our Wanghai Fortress will no longer have to worry about food problems.'"

  "Yes!" Pang Gang nodded and smiled: "As long as we have food, we don't need to fear anything. Then there will be a large number of refugees coming to Wanghai Fort to settle down, and our strength will become stronger and stronger!"

  Hua Yan nodded repeatedly with a hint of excitement, wearing a short-sleeved shirt today, with a hoe slung over his shoulder and his goatee fluttering gently in the breeze. His lean body remained straight, having recovered significantly after more than a month of recuperation, no longer giving off the impression that he would topple over at the slightest gust of wind like when he first arrived at Wang Hai Lou.

  As for Hua Yan, this weak scholar can also work personally with the military household, Pang Gang also feels a bit unexpected. He attaches great importance to this pen holder who is currently the only one in Wanghai Castle. Since Hua Yan came, he took over the writing work inside the castle. For this able writer and accountant, Pang Gang is very concerned about exhausting him, but Hua Yan doesn't mind at all, instead following behind Pang Gang every day.

  Now, several main subordinates under Pang Gang have their own division of labor. For example, Da Zhuang leads dozens of soldiers who are familiar with water to catch fish along the coast, Li Xian and his son are responsible for opening up wasteland and sowing seeds, while Wang Zhi is in charge of clearing water channels, and most things are on track.

  Looking at the piece of wasteland in front of him that had been reclaimed and the countless people busy on it, Pang Gang's face revealed a satisfied expression.

  "It's time for dinner! It's time for dinner!" At this moment, a dozen or so women in charge of delivering meals arrived at the field with their carrying poles, calling out to everyone to come and eat.

  The soldiers who were working hard put down their farming tools, gathered together to eat, lifted the lid of the bucket and saw that it was a big bucket of rice, a big bucket of clear soup, several plates of vegetarian dishes and one plate of meat dishes. The meat dish had fish and some fatty meat. The fragrant food made everyone smile with joy. After working hard for a whole morning, what Military Tiger Gate enjoyed the most was being able to eat a delicious meal.

  The soldiers were very grateful to Pang Da for his kindness. During their stay in Wang Hai Lou, the food standard of the military gate was as follows: porridge in the morning and dry rice at noon and night. Although each person's share of meat dishes was not much, the dry rice filled their stomachs. Moreover, Pang Da also stipulated that officials were not allowed to beat or scold soldiers. Such a kind and generous captain could not be found within hundreds of miles, so the soldiers' support for Pang Da was rising rapidly day by day. Compared to their previous miserable days, the soldiers now even smiled in their dreams.

  Pang Gang casually scooped a bowl of rice, added a few chopsticks of vegetarian dishes to the bowl and started eating with big mouthfuls. Before long, Li Xian's father and son, Wang Zhi and Hua Yan, etc. also sat down beside Pang Gang, forming a small circle.

  "Sir, I never thought that we could live such a good life. We can eat our fill every day thanks to you!" Wang Zhi said contentedly while eating his meal.

  Li Yuan said on the side, "Dog Leftover, are you satisfied now? You should know that your wife is still unsettled."

  Wang Zhi curled his lip: "What am I afraid of? Lord Pang hasn't married a wife either, if he's not afraid, why should I be?"

  "Haha!" Pang Gang laughed, "Are you men afraid of not having a wife? Li Yuan, Wang Zhi, as long as you do well, I guarantee that within two years, you'll both be able to marry wives and bring them home with dignity!"

  Pang Gang's words made everyone so happy that they couldn't close their mouths, but Pang Gang's tone suddenly changed, "But before that, we still have one more thing to take care of."

  "What's wrong?" everyone asked in unison.

  Pang Gang raised his head and gazed at the scorching sun in the sky, saying lightly: "Nothing much, it's just that I've decided that starting next month, we'll officially begin our military training!"

  "Training troops?" The crowd exclaimed in unison, and it's no wonder they were surprised. After all, the term "training troops" was really too far away from them.

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