Chapter 18: Setting Up Camp

The refugees were at a loss.

Meng Changqing stepped onto a pile of firewood and continued, "As long as you stay alive, I will give you half a bowl of hot porridge every day. But if you want to eat more, if you want to be full, you must work harder.

We will rest here for the duration of one stick of incense. After that, work begins."

As soon as Meng Changqing finished speaking, Bafang immediately thrust a stick of incense into the ground.

"Brother Zuo," Meng Changqing handed him the paper in her hand, "use this break to count the people and see how many haven't caught up."

"Yes."

"Captain Yang, come with me for a moment." Meng Changqing led a man to a cart. When she pulled back the oilcloth, she saw that the cart was loaded with tools like hoes, shovels, and iron chisels.

Bafang: "Young Mistress, this won't be enough, will it?"

"Of course it isn't." Meng Changqing stepped onto the cart and began tossing the stacked tools downward.

Bafang understood her meaning instantly; he jumped onto the cart and began tossing them along with her.

Only Yang Zheng stood below, reaching out to catch them. "What are you doing?"

"Captain Yang, I am counting the various tools. Please step aside for a moment."

The cart looked full of tools, but upon counting, there were only thirty hoes, and the other tools totaled less than thirty.

It was clear there were more people than tools, so they would have to rotate people in shifts to keep the tools in constant use.

"Master Meng." Zuo Datou approached holding paper and a brush. "Another ten haven't caught up. We have exactly two hundred people now."

The initial count had been two hundred and twenty-five; twenty-five people were now missing.

There was no telling how long it would take for those people to catch up, or if they would ever catch up at all.

Meng Changqing simply divided the two hundred people into twenty-five groups of eight. Each group of eight would share one set of tools.

"The most urgent matter now is to find a place to settle," Meng Changqing said. "It is cold and windy here, and tents are not enough to ward off the chill.

If those commoners don't have a place to shelter from the cold, even if we feed them three meals a day, they will freeze to death sooner or later."

Yang Zheng nodded.

She looked around and finally set her sights on the ground beneath her feet. "Captain Yang, after you distribute the tools to them, have them dig pits in the locations I designate."

"Digging pits?" Bafang asked. "Are we going to live in holes?"

Meng Changqing countered, "What is wrong with living in a hole? Dig down to a depth greater than a person's height, cover the top with tent cloth, and it will be easy and warm."

"That's a good idea! Back when we were ambushing the Yan army, we once squeezed into a deep pit for a night, and it was indeed warmer than being on the ground," Zuo Datou said excitedly. "This way, we can save our tarpaulins and use them to provide shelter for the commoners."

"Captain Yang, while the incense hasn't burned out yet, I have something to say."

"Go ahead."

"After the farm tools are distributed, select sixteen soldiers. Have them oversee four groups each, with two soldiers per group, working in day and night shifts. Assign specific soldiers to specific groups so that if any problem arises, I only need to find the corresponding soldier."

"That is only right. I will issue the orders immediately."

"And two more things, remember them well. First, all soldiers must keep their hands on their blades while patrolling. Second, all soldiers must maintain a distance from the commoners holding the farm tools; they must never turn their backs on them."

"Understood." Captain Yang nodded solemnly. "I will make sure they remember."

"Thank you, Captain Yang. We shall each attend to our own tasks." Meng Changqing picked up a hoe herself and went to mark out the boundaries for the various pits.

Since they were divided into groups, she would first have them dig out their own shelters.

It was only when Meng Changqing's hoe struck the ground that she realized how much effort it took to dig through frozen soil. Fortunately, she had practiced martial arts since childhood and had strength in her hands.

First, she scratched out twenty-five squares on the ground, each large enough for eight people to lie down.

After marking the areas for the commoners, she marked the areas for her own side.

Between the Imperial Guards, the soldiers, and Meng Changqing's own family, there were over fifty people.

She had to mark out several more areas.

The twelve Imperial Guards maintained a constant distance from Meng Changqing; as she moved, they moved with her.

"Lord Bai, the area Lord Meng is marking now... it won't be our pit, will it?" Wang Xun tried to accept it, but he truly couldn't, so he asked. "Do we have to live in a pit too?"

To be honest, he really wanted to return to the capital.

When the troops were gathered to leave the capital, the commander had warned them in advance that conditions would be harsh, but he never imagined they would be this grueling.

Before Chu Mufeng could respond, the perceptive Zhou Qiwen spoke up, "Lord Meng just said that tents aren't enough to ward off the cold. You've already spent two nights on the road; haven't you had enough of the cold?"

"It's a necessary evil," Chu Mufeng said, patting Wang Xun on the shoulder. "I've never experienced what it's like to live in a pit. Let's go experience something new with Lord Meng."

"Lord Meng is able to endure such hardship at such a young age; what can't we endure?" Zhou Qiwen looked toward the future. "By enduring real hardship with Lord Meng now, we will have a bright future later."

Two Imperial Guards laughed upon hearing Zhou Qiwen's words. "Qiwen, you are quite the careerist!"

"What's wrong with being a careerist? Who doesn't want a promotion?"

As they spoke, Zuo Datou suddenly ran past them. "Young Master Meng, in the seventh square you marked, human bones have been unearthed."

Hearing this, Wang Xun shuddered violently.

"Are there many bones?" Meng Changqing asked.

"So far, we've only seen one set."

Meng Changqing didn't even look up. "Then move them and find a place to rebury them."

The expression on Wang Xun's face looked as if he were about to cry. "Lord Bai, perhaps we should just endure the cold and set up tents instead. Let's not fight the deceased for space."

Meng Changqing finished marking the boundaries and walked over with her hoe. "Brother Wang, don't be afraid. Setting up a tent and living underground is much the same; it's there regardless. Moving them is better than sleeping on top of them, isn't it?"

Wang Xun: "..."

In the seventh square marked by Meng Changqing, the group of people was struggling to dig through the frozen earth.

A set of tools consisted of only five items, so there were always two or three people idle. Once idle, they naturally wanted to talk.

"I heard the soldiers say this place was being dug out so we could spend the night here," a man who had just sat down to rest said. "Human bones were dug up in our plot; who can sleep peacefully now?"

"What's there to be uneasy about? What do we have that those bones don't? Just a layer of skin," a man said as he hammered at the earth. "One day, when our eyes close and never open again, we'll be exactly the same as them."

The man was so hungry he felt dizzy, and he could barely stay upright while leaning on his iron chisel. A girl sitting nearby rushed up to support him. "Father, what's wrong?"

"I used too much force. Someone, come take over for me."

A man who was resting took the tool from his hand. "Go rest for a while."

"Yu Youcai, you need to do more. You treasure your daughter so much that you won't let her do anything, but we can't keep doing her extra work for her."

"Don't you worry about that; I'll naturally do her work myself." Yu Youcai sat to the side, breathing heavily. Since he couldn't eat food, he might as well eat a few mouthfuls of the cold wind.