The first year of Chongzhen - the first day of May.

The weather was fine and the sun was shining brightly. Jin Yuniang was busy drying medicinal materials, almost covering the entire yard.

Qin Feng, in the name of relaxing, went out of his yard and wandered around the Seven Kills Castle. He said that he had not taken a good look at the castle after traveling through time.

Qisha Fort was built in the sixth year of Hongwu. It is a typical square fortress with a bluestone foundation and loess ramming walls. It has a circumference of 220 feet, a height of 15 feet, a width of 8 feet and 4 inches, and opens to the south.

, the two northern gates, trenches, suspension bridges, arrow stacks, smoke piers... everything is available, forming a complete military defense system!

When the fort was being built, the military households dug out an ancient stele from the ground. There was no inscription on it, only the two characters "Seven Kills" were engraved on it, so the military fort was named after it.

According to the law of the Ming Dynasty: the garrison fortresses along the border must be repaired once every three years. The required money, materials, and craftsmen are allocated by the general military office of each town, and there are also dedicated personnel to inspect and inspect the forts. If the military fort fails to meet the standards, the military commander shall

Law beheaded.

In fact, Qisha Fort has not been repaired for more than 40 years. It has become dilapidated due to the erosion of wind, frost, rain and snow, especially the wall on the east side, which collapsed with a large gap four to five feet long.

When the enemy came to attack, they didn't even use ladders and rushed in directly... This is roughly the case for other surrounding fortresses.

The military fort is so dilapidated, why not repair it?

Because there is no money!

Why is there no silver?

Because the Ming Dynasty's treasury was empty, it had been in arrears with the military salaries of the Jiubian Army Town for many years. A little bit of it was occasionally paid, but it was embezzled by officials of all sizes. As for the border defense issue, no one cared about it at all!

Today's Ming Dynasty border defense, except for the Liaodong area, can barely see through, other places are leaky and weak!

"Jiao Lang, are you feeling better?"

"Thank you Aunt Li for caring about me, I'm getting better now!"

"If you survive a catastrophe, you will be blessed later. Mr. Jiao is a blessed man!"

"Haha, thanks to the auspicious words, if I ever become prosperous in the future, I will definitely not forget my fellow villagers."

…

"Brother Feng, when are you going to drink your wedding wine with Sister Yuniang?"

"It's coming soon, it's coming soon, there will be a big banquet then, treat everyone to a good meal and a drink!"

All the people living in the fort were military households. Everywhere Qin Feng went, people greeted him warmly. The elders called him Jiao Lang, and his peers called him Brother Feng.

The military households are very enthusiastic and busy.

They are not busy practicing martial arts, but busy making a living. Some people are forging iron, some are weaving baskets, and some are repairing farm tools... Everyone is tired and sweating but still reluctant to rest. Even the six or seven-year-old children are helping as much as they can.

The adults work.

Despite such hard work, the military households had a very hard life. They lived in low-rise houses, wore tattered clothes, and had two meals a day. They could only eat coarse grains and wild vegetables, and they could not eat a meaty meal for several months!

It’s very hardworking and very hard, isn’t it a bit contradictory?

In fact, there is no contradiction. There are reasons for the hardships experienced by military households: one is natural disasters, and the other is man-made disasters.

To the north of Yulin Town is the famous Mu Us Desert, which is six hundred miles from east to west and four hundred miles from north to south. There is sparse vegetation, yellow sand everywhere, strong winds, and the sky is dark and the earth is dark.

What’s even more frightening is that due to various reasons, the desert continues to expand to all directions, swallowing up a large amount of fertile farmland cultivated by the military. In addition, in recent years, the weather has been cold and there has been very little rainfall, so that food production has continued to decrease, even one-third of normal years.

Neither of them existed, which seriously affected the lives of military households.

The Mu Us Desert is known as one of the three pests of Yulin Town!

Natural disasters are terrible, but they are nothing compared to man-made disasters.

After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, military posts were set up all over the country and enough land was allocated so that military households could farm the land and be self-sufficient while practicing martial arts and defending their country. It could be said to be the best of both worlds.

Zhu Yuanzhang, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, once boasted: "I raise millions of soldiers without costing the people a grain of rice!"

However, after the "Ren-Xuan Dynasty", the Ming Dynasty's officialdom became more and more corrupt. Senior military officers colluded with local tyrants and profiteers to continuously embezzle military fields and enslave military households, which made the military households miserable and fled one after another.

Taking Yulin Town as an example, nearly 40% of military households fled.

The situation in Yulin Town is not the worst. In many places in the mainland, the number of military households fleeing is generally around 70 to 80%. There was even a case of a thousand households fleeing collectively, leaving only one thousand households and one deputy thousand households.

situation.

'Alas, the life of the villagers is too hard. It seems that we have to think of ways to improve everyone's living standards.' Qin Feng originally thought that it would be enough to take good care of Jin Yuniang, but now, he has to expand the scope.

.

After sighing, we walked out of the north gate of Qisha Fort and walked about two miles before we saw a river - Baisha River.

…

The Baisha River stretches for tens of miles from east to west, with a surface of three to four feet wide and a fairly abundant water flow. It is one of several branches in the middle reaches of the Yellow River.

However, since the beginning of summer this year, the weather has been extremely hot and there has been very little rainfall. As a result, the water volume of Baisha River has dropped sharply, and the river surface has narrowed by more than half. Corn is planted in the fields on both sides of the river. Because the water level is too low, it is difficult to divert water for irrigation.

They are all half-dead, and production reduction has become inevitable.

Of course, Qin Feng is not here to inspect water conservancy today, but to 'fish'.

How can you fish with your bare hands and without even a fishing rod?

It's simple, just do it yourself.

There are many poplar trees on both sides of the Baisha River. I folded a straight branch and trimmed it a little to make a fishing rod. I took out a thin hemp rope from my pocket to make a fishing line, and a bent embroidery needle to make a fish.

A hook, a small wooden stick as a float, and an earthworm dug from the wetland as bait... Even with his left arm injured, Qin Feng only used one right hand and still did these things well.

"Whoosh...pop!"

As a special forces soldier, survival in the wild is a required course, and fishing is even more childish.

In less than a pack of cigarettes, Qin Feng caught a crucian carp, which was about a palm long and weighed less than half a catty. It was a little too small to stew, but it was still good for soup.

The weather is hot, and if the fish is left alone, it will die soon, which will not taste good.

So, Qin Feng dug a small pit on the shore, poured in some river water, and put the fish in, so that they could be kept alive.

With the first article, there is the second article, the third article...

In less than an hour, a total of eleven fish were caught, all of which were small crucian carp, melon seeds, small silver carp and the like... There was no way, the water here was too shallow to support big fish!

"Um?"

Seeing that the sun was at its peak and it was time to go home for lunch, Qin Feng fished out the fish from the pit, strung them up with a straw rope, counted them, and found that the number was wrong.

I obviously caught eleven fish, but now I only have nine, which is two less.

Could it be that I remembered the wrong number?

Impossible, my memory is very good. I can memorize dozens of pages of code books word for word in a very short time, let alone memorize a simple number.

Then there is only one explanation: someone stole his fish.

Who is it?

When I was fishing just now, I always maintained a high degree of vigilance. I looked around and listened in all directions. I was very sure that no one was near the river bank.

If there is no one, then who stole it?

Looking carefully around the pit, he suddenly discovered a series of bamboo leaf-shaped footprints, as well as a few fallen golden-brown feathers... Lifting his legs high and landing lightly, Qin Feng followed the footprints and searched forward, and found them in a bush.

The fish thief... turned out to be a golden eagle!

Golden eagles are large raptors that mainly inhabit northern grasslands, deserts, and river valleys. They are ferocious, powerful, and can fly as fast as lightning. They can hunt roe deer, wild deer, goats, and other large prey.

The prairie wolves are no match for the sharp claws of the golden eagle, and he is the undisputed king of the air among them!

An adult golden eagle can be up to three feet long, with a wingspan of eight feet... The golden eagle in front of you is only over a foot long. Its golden-brown feathers are mixed with some white down, indicating that it is a strong and strong golden eagle.

A young eagle that has just emerged from the nest.

The left wing is injured and bloody. It is estimated that during the hunting process, due to experience and lack of strength, it was injured by the prey that resisted desperately.

After its wings were injured, the little golden eagle lost its ability to fly and had to hide in the bushes. Because it was unbearably hungry, it ate its own fish. Otherwise, the golden eagle's proud character would not bother to steal.

…

Before crossing over, Qin Feng participated in a training camp on the northern prairie, met several local Mongolian elders, and learned many skills from them, including how to tame raptors, so he was very familiar with the habits of golden eagles.

In the eyes of the Mongolians, the golden eagle is not only the king of the sky, but also the messenger of the Immortal God. It is a spiritual symbol of freedom and bravery. If you encounter an injured golden eagle, you must treat it, so that you can get the blessing of the Immortal God.

Qin Feng took off his robe and slowly moved closer: "Little guy, don't be afraid, my brother won't hurt you!"

"Chirp - chirp!"

Seeing someone approaching, the little golden eagle immediately became alert, its feathers exploded, and it pecked at the little golden eagle with its beak as strong as an iron hook... Qin Feng struck like lightning, grabbed the little golden eagle's neck, and wrapped it in a robe.

It was so tight that I couldn't struggle anymore.

Next, holding the little golden eagle in his arms and the fish he caught, he happily returned home and asked Jin Yuniang to rescue the little guy.

After inspection, it was found that the injury to the little golden eagle was not serious. It was just scratched by some kind of beast under the left wing. It looked bloody and bloody, but in fact no bones were injured. After a little cleaning, I applied golden sore medicine and Shengji powder.

Just bandage it again.

During the treatment process, new discoveries were made.

Most of the golden eagle's claws are dark brown, but this little eagle's claws are actually pure white, like mutton-fat jade.

The Jade Claw Golden Eagle is the king of the golden eagle family. It is beautiful in appearance, brave in character, and extremely powerful in combat. It is far beyond comparison with ordinary golden eagles, and its number is very rare. It can only be encountered but not sought after!

I went out fishing and picked up such a treasure. What a blessing!
Chapter completed!