Chapter Fifty-Four: War Damage

  At this time, the Luoyi Fort has already become a large factory. The streets are filled with young and strong military households participating in the defense. They assist the soldiers in defending, manufacturing and transporting defensive equipment, running back and forth non-stop. Even many robust women are no exception.

  Luyunbao has already organized them all. Among them, there were more than 300 households, more than 600 men, and 400 young and strong men. Most of the men have been incorporated into the new army of Ye's family.

  In addition, Ye Xuan accommodated refugees and established a new fortress. Except for sending 100 households of new military households to Luoyun Fortress, the new fortress had more than 2,700 mouths, with over 1,300 men. Among them, 500 young and strong men were selected and reorganized into two new military outposts.

  This time, the wall was cleared and the cloud fortress moved in more than 200 households from various fortresses, with over 1,000 people, including more than 500 men. The old cloud fortress already had no surplus young and strong males, so the new fortress's young and strong males, along with the households that moved into the two fortresses, were all organized into auxiliary soldiers. With 50 people as a team, most of them holding knives and guns, they formed more than 20 teams, led by the commander of the new fortress and the heads of the garrisoned fortresses.

  Under the unified command of Zhuge Yu, they jointly assisted the soldiers in defending the city and fighting.

  Each team has an officer as the team leader. Each team has its own assigned tasks. The strong women are also organized into teams, with a team leader appointed. They work together with the men to make defensive equipment and so on. The weaker women do laundry and cooking for the soldiers and civilians, making simple objects, all of them working non-stop.

  Their supervision was led by Sun Yu. If someone was lazy, Ye Xuan ordered Sun Yu to follow the military law of Xi Ning during wartime and behead them on the spot. Moreover, the Jin army gathered outside the city, and it was a matter of life and death for everyone, so no one dared to be careless.

  Everyone in the fortress works together and uses their collective strength to overcome difficulties.

  For those two hundred new households, they were arranged to set up sheds in the vacant areas of the old and new forts, and then organized to work on guard duty every day.

  After arriving at Luoyunbao, their originally tense mood relaxed. The military households and the four sentry soldiers strictly guarded the military discipline, without bullying or lawlessness. They did not rob them of the few family properties they brought from the original barracks. Every day, there was work to do and a full meal to eat, which was a big difference compared to their original life in various barracks.

  If it weren't for the light infantry outside the city, this life would already be perfect, and many have had thoughts of staying in Luoyun Fort after the war.

  After a series of bandit suppression and confiscation, Ye Xuan had more than 40,000 taels of silver in storage, over 10,000 dan of grain. In addition, there were also several thousand heads of pigs, sheep and other livestock.

  Some time ago, he spent over a thousand taels of silver to build walls and bought some grain. However, the remaining silver and grain are enough for this year's expenses for everyone in the fortress.

  Ye Xuan's painstaking efforts finally paid off, and every day, the soldiers could eat and drink freely, and meat was also supplied in large quantities to all the auxiliary military households, men and women, who could all eat their fill. With effective organization and a common enemy to fight against, although the fortress was surrounded by Jin troops, inside the fortress morale was high, especially after the recent victory

  Ye Xuan walked down the street with a large entourage of guards and officers, his strides long and confident. As he approached, the soldiers on patrol and the busy auxiliary troops all turned to salute him respectfully, their eyes filled with admiration. It was precisely because Ye Xuan was in command that Luoyun Fortress had been able to withstand the enemy's attack and protect the safety of its entire military and civilian population.

  At the east gate, Zhou Zhuang's team leader Jia Yong was loudly directing his young and strong men to transport rolling logs and stones onto the city wall under the sunlight. His scalp shone even more with oil, his eyes were sharp, seeing Ye Xuan, he hastily nodded and came over, repeatedly addressing him as General.

  Ye Xuan glanced at him and remembered this person. He said: "So it's Jia Tun, how is the morale of your troops?"

  Jia Duo loudly said: "High morale, extremely high morale. Especially after hearing the news of the great victory at Wencheng Castle. The brothers in the team are all clenching their fists and rubbing their palms, also hoping to go up to the city to fight against the barbarians."

  Ye Xuan nodded and said: "Very good, keep it up."

  Jia Yong repeatedly said: "Your subordinate understands, sir can rest assured."

  After Ye Xuan left, Jia Yong smiled complacently at Chu Yang, the garrison commander of the Tea House Fort beside him: "Brother Chu, how was my performance just now? It seems that the adults were praising me."

  Chu Yang and Jia Yong were in charge of a team of young men. He rubbed the big lump on his chin and said, "Look at his expression. The master is still satisfied with Old Jia, this is Old Jia's cleverness, and also our good luck. We were just working hard when we met the master."

  He pondered and said: "It seems that the adults have already taken notice of us. If this continues, perhaps in the future, we brothers will have a chance to rise up."

  The two of them burst out laughing and then loudly urged the soldiers to get back to work.

  Ye Xuan arrived at the Qianhu government office, this area of land is open and has many large trees with dense branches and leaves. It's quite cool so the treatment place for wounded soldiers was set up here. After bandaging the wounds, soldiers who were not seriously injured would be carried into the military camp to rest. Every few days, they would change the dressing until the wound healed.

  When Ye Xuan arrived, under the oak tree in the courtyard, several simple beds were laid out. A bloody smell and intermittent cries of pain came from inside. Hua Zhen and many medical apprentices were busy at work. They had already prepared many hot water containers, wound medicines, sharp knives and other equipment to dig out arrowheads, clean wounds, apply medicine and bandage the wounded soldiers.

  There were over thirty seriously wounded people being treated here. Seeing Ye Xuan and the others arrive, many of the injured soldiers struggled to sit up, and Ye Xuan hastily told them to lie back down. Hua Zhen also came forward to greet them, and Shi Li paid his respects to Ye Xuan.

  Ye Xuan asked: "How are the soldiers' injuries?"

  Hua Zhen shook her head and sighed: "The others are fine, but the more than ten seriously injured people may not be able to be saved. The students are also powerless."

  His voice was laced with a hint of exhaustion, and his robes were more wrinkled than ever. Since the start of the war, he had been busy non-stop and was extremely tired.

  Although the weather was scorching hot, due to timely treatment, most of the wounded soldiers with lighter injuries did not become infected. After being cleaned and bandaged, many were able to survive. These soldiers would become precious assets in the army.

  However, the thirteen seriously injured people were either shot in the eyes, throat or neck, or deeply cut or stabbed by the Jin army's weapons during the fierce battle on the city wall. The injuries were extremely severe, and it was unlikely that they would survive. Several of them died on the spot while being carried away.

  Ye Xuan comforted the wounded in front of him, telling them to rest assured and recover from their injuries. The soldiers were all nodding enthusiastically. Ye Xuan looked at some of the seriously injured men in front of him. They were crying out loudly, many of them on the verge of collapse.

  Ye Xuan felt a deep pain in his heart, these were all good soldiers he had trained with great effort, never thought it would end like this. Especially when he still had to watch them die with his own eyes. For the first time, he felt his own helplessness.

  A low cry sounded from beside, and two seriously injured soldiers could not hold on and slowly choked to death. Hua Zhen sighed, waved her hand, and let several auxiliary soldiers carry their bodies away, collect them in one place, and bury them together later.

  Ye Xuan stared blankly ahead, when he suddenly heard a soft calling voice: "Sir, sir."

  He was a heavily injured crossbowman, with eight sharp arrows shot from his forehead to his face. His face was densely covered with arrows, and even his eyes were blinded by the shots. In this state, there was no possibility of rescue, but he was very tough, after being lifted up, he struggled and refused to give up his breath.

  He fumbled with both hands, and Ye Xuan stepped forward to hold his hand, saying softly: "I'm here."

  The seriously injured crossbowman tightly grasped Wang Dou's hand, with an arrow lodged on either side of his lips. Speaking was extremely difficult for him, and he said in a stuttering tone: "Sir, you allocated land to my family. I am willing to die in battle for you. However, my household only has my young wife and our daughter who is not yet one year old; I hope that sir will take care of them."

  Chen Fei wiped away his tears. He suddenly jumped up and said loudly, "Don't worry, brother, I'll take care of your wife and daughter for you."

  Ye Xuan also said in a soft voice: "Don't worry, I'll take care of it."

  As he spoke, his words suddenly stopped, and the seriously injured Lian Gun's hand had already lost its breath, with only a faint smile on his lips.

  Ye Xuan let out a long sigh as he stood up, after this battle, how many more brave warriors will die?