The most arrogant in history

Chapter 830 Wolf Hunting Operation.

"Soldiers of the three armies, thank you for your hard work!"

Ye Kun rode on his horse and clasped his fists in return: "I have not forgotten your perseverance in the ice and snow, and I have not forgotten your struggle for the country. Today, I came to visit you all specially!"

All the soldiers, with tears in their eyes, welcomed Ye Kun to the camp.

Ye Kun entered the camp and began to inspect.

It is called the Beihai Camp, but in fact, it has now been built into a small city.

It is divided into inner city and outer city, and is extremely strong.

The entire camp covers an area of ​​400 acres and has residential areas, warehouses, training grounds, horse farms, and cattle and sheep breeding areas.

I also raise pigs, dogs, and a lot of chickens.

The city walls and houses are all made of stone and are one meter wide.

Without this width, we cannot withstand the severe cold in winter.

The roofs of some houses adopt the dome design of Roman architecture, and are also made of stone, so they are very solid.

In order to improve the conditions here, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue specially sent a lot of glass and built a sunroom here for growing vegetables.

But apart from meat, all food, grain, tea, dried vegetables, salted fish and dried fruits are supplied by the imperial court.

Ye Kun came to the central military camp and asked about the specific situation.

The garrison general Qin Siyuan, the nephew of Qin Erwu's family, clasped his fists and said:

"Your Majesty, the Beihai Camp is as solid as a rock, please rest assured. In recent years, we have gone out to harvest straw every summer. We have beaten the remaining Xiongnu nearby to the point where we can't find any trace of them. We have guns and cannons, but we are the only ones fighting against others, no one can fight us!"

There are only one thousand permanent troops here, but the rank of the general leading the troops is not low, he is a second-rank military officer.

Previously there were two thousand defenders, but because there was no war, in order to ease the supply pressure, the number was reduced to one thousand soldiers.

Ye Kun smiled and said, "Our soldiers are invincible. I am relieved about this. I am just worried that the conditions here are tough, and you don't have enough food or warm clothes."

Qin Siyuan smiled and said, "Su Wu herded sheep here for nineteen years. His conditions were much worse than ours. Now, we live in a warm house with stored food and liquor, and coal for heating. It's not hard at all."

Half of the year, we don’t go out, we just stay in the house, warm ourselves by the fire, sing and drink.”

In winter, the lowest temperature in the North Sea can drop to minus 40 degrees Celsius.

If you are not careful, you will get frostbite.

Some soldiers have just arrived and don't know how dangerous it is. They don't wear hats and go out for a walk. When they come back and touch their ears, a layer of skin will fall off!

So throughout the winter, the soldiers rarely went out.

Even if you go out, you must wear full body protection, including a hat, leather boots, coat, mask and warm gloves.

Ye Kun was a little amused: "The winter here is very long, six months. It is not okay to spend the whole winter roasting fire and drinking. We need to organize the soldiers to participate in cultural education and labor skills training.

In this way, everyone can learn a lot during the three-year military service and become talented people when they return home."

Qin Siyuan nodded: "Your Majesty, we have the "Technical Guide for Military and Civilian Dual-use Talents" here, and all the soldiers know it by heart. In winter, drinking is also once every five days, not every day."

The deputy general on the side said: "In fine weather, we also have training in winter and organize military exercises. There are many wild wolves here, and we often organize wolf hunting operations to replenish meat and wolf skins."

Ye Kun nodded: "In the summer, we need to work harder to prepare food and supplies for the winter. Although there are no Huns in the North Sea, this Acropolis must be preserved for a long time.

You also need to explore long-term survival experience here and find a way to become completely self-sufficient.

Only by achieving complete self-sufficiency can we, the descendants of Yan and Huang, occupy the North Sea permanently. Otherwise, once the court's supply is in trouble, you will not be able to survive here and will retreat to the south. At that time, this land will still be occupied by nomads, and eventually become our enemies. "

To be honest, Ye Kun himself had no confidence that the Beihai Camp could survive.

It’s too cold here, and our food supply depends entirely on support from the imperial court.

Once the situation becomes turbulent and food supply is cut off, the garrison here will have a hard time living.

You can't eat beef and mutton every day, right?

Even if you eat beef and mutton every day and your body can handle it, there are not so many beef and mutton.

Ye Kun also thought about immigrating some families of convicted officials to live here permanently.

However, this would increase the population of the Beihai Camp and put greater pressure on supply. These criminal officials harbored resentment towards the imperial court and would not be close to their motherland in the future. They might even cultivate a group of enemies.

Therefore, Ye Kun could only retain the garrison here and not arrange for immigration.

Qin Siyuan said: "Your Majesty, judging from the current situation, we only need to keep 500 people here to ensure safety. We have guns and cannons, and 500 people can fight against 10,000 elite soldiers. The remaining Xiongnu now have only 200 to 300 soldiers, and they can't organize themselves."

Reducing the number of troops stationed there will greatly reduce supply pressure.

Reducing the number of staff by 500 could save the imperial court 50,000 taels of silver every year.

Because the comprehensive living cost per person per year for the garrison here is one hundred taels.

"I have also considered this issue. We can reduce the size of the garrison." Ye Kun nodded: "But this matter needs to be done slowly. Every year when the old soldiers retire, we can just add fewer new soldiers."

In order to understand the life in Beihai Camp, Ye Kun stayed here for three days.

The weather is good and the temperature has risen.

Ye Kun called Qin Siyuan and Huo Qing:

"Beihai Lake is vast, comparable to the Yizhou Basin. The water here is very clean. In later generations, the water here will be particularly precious because it is free of industrial pollution.

If we continue to control this place, this lake will be as important as the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, and will become a source of drinking water for the north. We can even supply water to Zhuo County."

Huo Qing pondered and said, "Your Majesty, there is no way that the water from the North Sea can flow to Zhuo County. It's thousands of miles away."

In the ancients' understanding, it was nonsense to want to send water from Lake Baikal to Zhuo County.

"General Huo, your vision is not long-term enough."

Ye Kun laughed: "We have a fairly large-scale South-to-North Water Diversion Project on the Han River and the Yellow River. There are dozens of steam pumps at the water diversion site, pumping water day and night. After three levels of water pumping and aqueduct construction, we have successfully opened up two artificial rivers, which can deliver water to a distance of 200 miles. The water flow is large and can ensure the navigation of small boats.

Our technology and national strength are still developing rapidly. In a hundred years, it will be entirely possible to deliver water from the Yangtze River to Zhuo County.

Beihai Lake is located at a high altitude. When we have a population of 500 million and there is not enough fresh water resources, we can dig a canal from Beihai Lake directly to Yinshan Mountain, and then divert water from Yinshan Mountain to Zhuojun.

We cannot see or do this, but our descendants will definitely see and do it!"

Qin Siyuan grinned and said, "It would be great if we could dig a canal here directly to Yinshan Mountain."