Wild North America 1846

Chapter 14

the next morning
When the sky was just getting bright, Chinese from five nearby Chinese villages gathered one after another, and soon reached the scale of more than 5 people, and this number is still growing.

Before construction

According to the traditional customs of China, Li Cha led the crowd to set up an incense table, on which were displayed pigs, cattle and sheep. They lit the incense, prayed to the heaven and the earth, and prayed for the blessings of the ancestors and gods.

After leading the crowd to worship
Li Cha turned around and looked at the crowd of thousands of people behind him, all of them were excited for a big fight, and his heart warmed, so he waved his hands and shouted;
"Shanhaiguan... starts work..."

The bright light in the morning, with the chill of spring, reflected on the faces of every Chinese, and it couldn't hide the fiery look on everyone's faces. After hearing Li Cha's announcement of the start of work, the crowd burst into cheers that resounded through the valley.

according to prior arrangement

According to the different tools, half of these thousands of people are divided into logging team, branching team, chainsaw team, transportation team, kitchen, etc., and the remaining half are responsible for leveling the site, digging trenches, and building wooden fences. Walled.

Unlike building a defensive parapet, which is only 1 meters high, Shanhaiguan is 4 meters above the ground, using straight and tall North American redwood trees.

After the branches are removed, one end is sharpened and buried deeply in the soil, and they are closely arranged.

Shanhaiguan is located on the outside of the hill at the mouth of the valley. It is necessary to build a 170-meter-long village wall, a village gate and a diaodou to close the entire passage into the valley, all the way to the Yudai River, and go deep into the river for more than 10 meters.

In this way, Datang will rely on the Shanhaiguan wall to establish a complete defense facility at the mouth of Putao Valley.

have to say
After all, there are more people and more strength. By noon, the well-leveled ground was already full of logs like hills. A rough count, at least three or four hundred.

On the other side of the construction site, a 4-meter-high log fence has been erected and is more than 30 meters long. Cross-bars and support logs have been placed at the rear, and patrol trails on the wall have also begun to be built.

This is a wooden plank road with a width of only one meter, which is used by patrol soldiers to patrol back and forth. If foreign enemies come, they can use the wall to cover the battle, similar to the Roman wooden city thousands of years ago.

When the white people first set foot on the North American continent, they built many of these crude wooden fence fortresses.

The disadvantage is that it is difficult to stand the test of time, it is not resistant to fire attacks, and it cannot withstand continuous attacks from large-caliber artillery, so it can only be used as a stopgap measure.

Even so, it's pretty good.

Li Cha led a cavalry team of more than 20 people to patrol the vicinity, reaching as far as the outskirts of the new town. Under the vigilant eyes of Sheriff John and others, he circled around a few times before returning.

at this time

He just needs to show the power of the Great Tang Society. Presumably those with ulterior motives in Xinshi Town will carefully consider it, and it is not appropriate to over-irritate the other party's sensitive nerves.

near noon
There are busy figures everywhere on the construction site of the camp. On the cleared site, more than a dozen large pots are lined up side by side. The firewood is burning fiercely, and the soup in the steamer is boiling and tumbling endlessly.

This is a cow slaughtered in the morning, a big fat pig and two sheep, which have turned into endless beef and potato soup, mutton and potato soup, and the working guys come to eat a bowl when they are hungry. Once the rice bowl is lost, continue work.

Gai Wangshan saw the horse team returning from a distance, and greeted him graciously; "Master, are you tired, a big pot of mutton soup just happened to be cooked, eat something to fill your stomach."

Li Cha rubbed his belly and laughed, then turned around and greeted everyone; "Don't say you're really hungry, then brothers, take a break, take care of the horses and come over for dinner."

"Follow the order!" Everyone responded loudly.

For the cavalry cavalry, the war horse is not only a mount, but also a weapon, and it is also a life and death partner on which to gallop on the battlefield. It ranks first in importance at any time.

It doesn't matter if you are a little hungry, you must take care of the horse first.

Lead the war horse to the river to drink some water, eat some black beans carried in the horse bag, let it gnaw on the fresh green grass by the river bank, leave the two men to take care of it, and the others swarm towards the direction of the kitchen.

The strong aroma emitted by the cooking broth has already aroused the gluttons in everyone's stomachs, how can they bear it?
A large bowl of potato and beef soup, sprinkled with chopped wild onions, salt and pepper immediately has a soul, it is really fragrant, and it makes people move their index fingers.

Li Cha is the same as everyone else, except that his bowl contains large chunks of mutton, which is more delicious when served with flatbread.

The diet of the Chinese has always maintained traditional features, which is quite different from that of the whites.

The most common food eaten by white gold prospectors is hard cake and dried apples. Hard cake is a kind of flatbread baked into a square shape. It does not need to be fermented and is baked with water and flour with a little salt.

Hard biscuits and dried apples are easy to carry, easy to make and can be stored for a long time, but the taste is not flattering, and it is very tooth-intensive, it tastes like eating wood chips.

There is also a slightly better food called potato sourdough, which is flour and water, and mashed potatoes with wild yeast to ferment and bake.

If poppy seeds are added, it is called poppy seed potato bread. It is a widely circulated specialty food in San Francisco. It is soft and delicious when baked, with a strong taste.

In the family bakery workshop opened by French military instructor Mike Rabiot, it is famous for baking poppy seed potato bread, which is widely welcomed by the white residents of Fang Meadow, and the business is quite good.

But these foods are obviously not in line with the Chinese appetite.

Li Cha had a large bowl of mutton soup with soft flatbread. He felt unsatisfied, so he poured another half bowl of mutton soup and ate it with a splash. He felt very warm and comfortable all over his body.

He patted his round belly and stood up, couldn't help belching twice, and said to Gai Wangshan next to him with satisfaction;
"Wangshan, this mutton soup tastes really good. It's very delicious. I think you can open a restaurant specializing in beef and mutton soup. The business must be booming."

"Thank you for your praise, Master. Actually, there is nothing to say about this thing. It is nothing more than cooking well and adding some poppy seeds. I, Lao Gai, would rather work with Master. How majestic it is!"

"Oh, that's fine..." Li Cha was speechless when he heard the reason.

He nodded, picked up the cowboy hat and put it on his head and walked forward, continuing to say; "Go ahead, I'll go to the construction site above."

"Hey...young master, go slowly." Gai Wangshan responded graciously.

Li Cha waved his hand and walked up the hill without saying anything.

The Shanhaiguan construction site is divided into two parts, one part is to build a wooden fence-style wall with a length of more than 170 meters, and the other part is to build a camp at the top of the hill behind, including wooden houses, walls and so on.

To build a wooden fence-style wall, freshly cut logs can be used. It does not need to be dried naturally, and the branches can be cleaned.

However, it is not possible to build a wooden house. A large number of baked planks, wooden squares and naturally shaded logs are needed. The logs are mainly used in important parts such as house beams, and the amount used is not much.

Grape Valley is rich in wild forest resources, and there are a lot of logs in the village, which is enough to build dozens of wooden houses, and all of them have been shipped up now.

As soon as Li Cha reached the hill, he suddenly turned his head and looked into the distance, only to see a group of five riders approaching quickly from the direction of Xinshi Town.

look carefully

He stopped involuntarily, and his face became serious, with one hand resting naturally on the revolver at his waist...

(End of this chapter)