Chapter 4: Wintering (Part 1)

  In addition to training, hundreds of people were also organized by Yang Yingqi to participate in various tasks, which can be broadly divided into three categories: manufacturing weapons, building thatched huts and searching for fuel.

  What comforted Yang Yingqi was that the coal they found not only supplied ironwork, but also guaranteed this winter's heating problem. Yang Yingqi and a pottery worker named Wang Dahui studied for half a day and finally made a stove that could be used for heating, and also produced honeycomb coal. When Zhe Yan Chong led people to build all the grass sheds, the reserve of honeycomb coal was almost done.

  The first severe cold after entering winter did not pose any threat to the healthy people in the valley, but it sent away the remaining few patients who were struggling to survive - in fact, their epidemic had already subsided, but in the fight against the epidemic, their physical functions had been severely damaged. After burying his compatriot in the light snow, Yang Yingqi knew that unless the Khitan people harbored evil intentions, this would be their last burial.

  After the beehive coal was made, the living standard in the valley also greatly improved. Those women used the simplest stoves and pottery to make those miscellaneous grains as delicious as possible. Ouyang Yi contributed his own two treasured North Pearls, which were exchanged for a batch of hemp cloth through Khitan soldiers. More than half of the twenty or so women knew how to sew clothes, among whom Gu Dajie was particularly skilled. They collected all the extra clothing in the valley and made a batch of new clothes together with the hemp cloth. With these new clothes, hundreds of people could go out of the grass shed on good weather days, and if they encountered bad weather, they would hide and huddle around the stove to warm up.

  Zhe Yan Chong's martial arts skills have become more refined, and Ou Yang Shi and Ah Ru Man, who already possess considerable strength, have also made progress. Yang Kai Yuan had the worst foundation in martial arts, so he has made the most rapid progress, and after practicing for several months, his hand-to-hand combat and archery skills have reached a high level.

  Yang Yingqi was only "twelve or thirteen" years old, and he didn't have the innate strength of Ah Ru, so he just practiced some basic skills. However, after Zhang Lao gave him a light crossbow, he became interested and, under Di Yu's guidance, his marksmanship improved significantly.

  In these months, while Di Quan was training 500 men in martial arts, Yang Yung-chi also trained them in literary skills.

  Among the 500 people, more than 60 were roughly literate, exceeding one-tenth of the total. Among them was even a man named Hu Mao who had taken the imperial examination in Liao State. Yang Yingqi selected 50 relatively quick-witted ones from among them and, after daily military training and work, would call them over to teach them some simple arithmetic and writing - actually these people were already literate and knew arithmetic, so Yang Yingqi was helping them review while teaching them new things like the Indian method of counting with 1234. He also taught them how to teach others. These people had a foundation to begin with, and what Yang Yingqi taught wasn't difficult, so they picked it up quickly.

  Then he had Zhe Yan Chong assign these fifty people to various small teams. After several months, the hundreds of people in the valley basically recognized simple characters and some calculation methods.

  When they were free, Zhe Yan Chong would gather everyone to listen to Yang Yingqi tell stories - this was the best entertainment in the valley. Yang Yingqi told the most about the stories of Han heroes who shook the four seas, and he also asked people with different surnames to report their names, and almost all surnames had outstanding ancestors! Many people listened and became excited, and the numbness on their faces decreased day by day.

  As they watched all this, Diwu and the others' evaluation of Yang Yingqi grew higher and higher. Even Ouyang Zhan was quite convinced, because although Yang Yingqi was younger than him, his learning was actually superior - when the two talked about some overseas experiences, there were things that Yang Yingqi mentioned that Ouyang Zhan had never even heard of. The people in the valley also came to revere this "prodigy", no longer treating him as an ordinary child.

  Half a month before the Spring Festival, the weather turned fine. A deputy captain named Chen Ahou climbed to the top of the highest peak in the valley - although this peak was the highest, it was actually the gentlest on the side facing the valley, so Chen Ahou was able to climb up. He found a stone corner at the top and tied a grass rope to pull Zhe Yan Chong, Ouyang Shi, and Di Yu up. At this time, Di Yu's body had basically recovered, and his martial arts strength had also recovered by 60-70%. He looked around from the top of the peak, but after finishing, he couldn't help but shake his head, looking very disappointed. It turned out that on the other side of the peak where he was standing, there was a cliff, and it was impossible to go down.

  Ouyang Yi pointed at the mountain in the southwest and said, "The side of that mountain facing outside the valley seems to be quite gentle. If we can climb up that mountain, there's a good chance we can get out!"

  Di Yu said: "But the side of that mountain facing the valley is very steep, ordinary people are probably unable to climb up." As he spoke, his eyes were fixed on Chen Ah Hou.

  Chen Ahou nodded in agreement, saying: "I've climbed that mountain before, but I could only make it halfway up. There's a particularly steep section in the middle! It's as smooth as a mirror and as straight as a city wall, impossible to pass."

  Ouyang Yi listened to Chen Ahou's description and pointed: "Is it that place?"

  Chen Ah Hou said: "That's right."

  Ouyang Shidao said: "The lower part of that precipice seems to have a platform where one can set foot, hmm, perhaps we can think of a way at that place."

  After a few people came down and told Yang Yingqi about the situation, Yang Yingqi ran to the southwest mountain and observed for a long time. He then asked Chen Ahou to climb up onto the platform and use ropes to pull himself up. At close range, he looked at the cliff that was about 10 zhang high and thought: "This platform has someone helping me get up, so it's even easier for others. As for this cliff, the soil quality isn't very hard..." He asked Chen Ahou: "If there are a few fulcrums, can you climb up?"

  Chen Ah Hou said: "That depends on whether the fulcrum is stable or not."

  Yang Yingqi and Zhang Laoyu deliberated for a long time, spending nine whole days to create a waist crossbow. The waist crossbow is a type of infantry crossbow with extremely strong single-person shooting force. When firing, the crossbowman sits on the ground, with both feet pushing forward against the bow, using the rope tied to the hook at the waist to pull the string and draw the bow. Due to the use of the combined strength of the waist and two legs, the shooting force is extremely strong.

  After practicing several times, Zhe Yan Chong climbed up the platform with his waist open, shooting special iron arrows at the cliff, but they didn't penetrate deep enough. He threw the rope up to wrap around and pulled twice, only to find that it was impossible for it to bear the weight of a person.

  The Spring Festival is approaching, the weather suddenly turns cold again, and it starts snowing. A serf named Zhou Sheng who is good at observing the weather comes to tell Zhe Yan Chong that the weather may become very cold and there may be heavy snowfall, so it's best to make some preparations.

  Yang Yingqi, after listening to the conversation, suddenly had an idea, gathered all the relevant materials in the valley, and made a dozen or so water bags that were not too leaky. He also made several special iron arrows - these arrows all had thin wings, like a fan.

  Zhe Yan Chong aimed these arrows and shot them up, nailing them to the cliff wall in a vertical row. The thin wings were somewhat windy, so the depth of these arrows was shallower than before. Zhe Yan Chong also followed Yang Yingqi's intention and shot those arrows connected to the water bags, nailing them above each winged iron arrow. The water bags hung just above the wings of the iron arrows. However, these arrows, carrying water bags, were even shallower in the wall, swaying in the wind, and it was unclear what effect they had.

  Chen Ahou thought to himself, "These arrows with water bags are probably going to fall off as soon as they're pulled, if I had to climb up using these arrows, I wouldn't do it even if you killed me!"

  Fortunately, Ryōhiko didn't have that intention either, and he didn't explain it to Chen Ahou. After finishing this matter, he went down.