Jiang Jin had just returned to the county magistrate's office when Liqiu came in to report, "My lady, Craftsman Xia is here."
Jiang Jin replied, "Let him in."
Xia Zhong was a little nervous. Only after bowing to Jiang Jin did he hand over the blueprint of the brick kiln he had drawn.
The drawing was very rough, but it was understandable. Xia Zhong was just an ordinary bricklayer, and drawing was merely a way to clarify his own thoughts.
Jiang Jin wasn't disappointed. Although his drawing was crude, she understood it and gained a general understanding of the brick kilns of this era.
She took out the blueprint she had drawn the night before. "This is what I drew. See if it's feasible."
She didn't know much about brick kilns, but she had countless resources in her interspatial dimension. She had studied them last night and roughly figured out the principles of a brick kiln.
Then, she selected a design from her database that suited the local terrain and matched the construction level of this era, and drew it out herself.
Xia Zhong took it carefully and examined it closely.
Although he didn't know many words, he had dealt with firing bricks and tiles all his life, so he naturally knew brick kilns very well.
The more he looked at it, the more he felt that the brick kiln drawn by the lady was incredibly ingenious, more reasonable, and allowed for a much more even distribution of heat.
After a moment, he looked up, his face showing excitement. "You are truly brilliant, my lady."
Jiang Jin did not feign modesty. "You will be in charge of this matter."
Xia Zhong was a bit hesitant. "Just the few of us bricklayers? This brick kiln is going to be large. If we rely solely on us, I'm afraid it will take a very long time to build."
Jiang Jin pondered for a moment. "How about this: go find Dong Si and have him assign some manpower to you."
Jiang Jin had a total of nearly 300 people. Excluding the 150 or so soldiers, there were over 100 people left.
These people were respectively assigned to the kitchen, cleaning, tending horses, feeding livestock, and so on.
However, pulling out another ten or twenty people shouldn't be a big problem.
Although most of these people were women, the majority of them were used to hard labor and had endured hardships, so they were no less capable workers than men.
Just as Xia Zhong and his men left, Zhou Sui, Yao Ji, Xie Nanxiao, Yun Ci, Yun Yu, and Xia Chanyi walked in.
Xie Nanxiao was a bit curious. "Are you going to build a brick and tile kiln, my lady?"
They had just run into Xia Zhong.
Jiang Jin nodded. "Yes."
Xie Nanxiao was puzzled. "By the time the bricks are fired, our barbican will be almost finished, won't it?"
Jiang Jin said, "Who said the fired bricks are for building the barbican? I have other uses for them. You will find out later."
She looked around at the group and asked, "What did you come to see me about?"
Zhou Sui hesitated for a moment before asking, "My lady, since we now have our own city, shouldn't our army have a name?"
Jiang Jin was stunned for a moment. She really hadn't thought about this question. She lowered her head in thought and said after a moment, "Let's call it the Jinyang Army."
Jin means beautiful jade, which carries a wonderful significance.
Yang means born toward the sun, tenacious and bright.
Her title was actually quite nice. It was given by Empress Ji Yue, which showed Ji Yue's love and expectations for the original owner of this body, but it was a pity...
A look of joy appeared on the faces of the group. With a name, they finally felt a sense of stability.
Except for Yun Ci, who had mobility issues, everyone stood up almost simultaneously and bowed to Jiang Jin as subordinates. "My Lord!"
Jiang Jin paused, and after a moment, a smile spread from the depths of her eyes. "Rise."
"Yes, my Lord!"
Jiang Jin looked around at everyone. "Zhou Sui, I appoint you as the commander of the 912th Regiment of the Jinyang Army, and Yao Ji as the deputy commander. You will be responsible for the training of the soldiers and the daily defense of Gefeng City."
Although they only had the strength of a company right now, she believed her troops would soon increase. There was nothing wrong with appointing a regimental commander first.
Zhou Sui and Yao Ji bowed. "Yes, my Lord."
Jiang Jin added, "You must also pay attention to the female soldiers. Women are no less capable than men. Train them exactly as they should be trained!"
Although Xia Chanyi had practiced martial arts with her father and was quite skilled herself, she had never led troops and had a lot to learn.
As soldiers of the 912th Regiment, Zhou Sui and Yao Ji had a responsibility to their subordinates.
The two bowed again. "Yes, my Lord!"
They discussed the situation around Gefeng County, especially the numerous bandit lairs along the official road. Once Jiang Jin had some free time, she would definitely have to wipe them out.
First, for the safety of the traveling commoners.
Although Jiang Jin's journey had been smooth, it was because they had a large group that the enemy couldn't easily chew on, so naturally, fewer people came out to rob them.
Second, for troop training.
Actual combat was the absolute truth, especially since she needed to turn these green recruits into veterans in the shortest possible time.
Third, naturally, to confiscate their money and provisions.
These bandits might not have much money or food, but no matter how small a mosquito is, it's still meat, and any meat should be brought home.
Fourth, for the labor force.
Jiang Jin lacked labor, very, very much. Since that was the case, why be bandits and rob? They should obediently work for her.
Speaking of troop training, Zhou Sui explained his training plan to Jiang Jin.
As a veteran general, he knew exactly how to train soldiers.
However, during the soldiers' training on the road recently, Jiang Jin had provided many suggestions, such as the most prominent and effective weighted long-distance running.
He had incorporated all these events into the plan.
Jiang Jin made a few more suggestions regarding the training plan, adding several routine modern exercises, such as frog leaps, crawling, push-ups, log-carrying runs, and sit-ups.
Jiang Jin emphasized again, "In addition to these basic exercises, siege warfare, and especially city defense warfare, must be trained immediately."
Everyone nodded in agreement. Right now, no one knew when the Quzhao people would come to attack the city. It was like a sword hanging over their heads, motivating everyone to work hard.
Jiang Jin continued, "Remember to keep an eye out for good prospects. I want to form an elite special operations team."
"What is an elite special operations team?" Zhou Sui asked, puzzled.
Jiang Jin looked at them and explained, "It's a branch of troops that executes special missions, such as reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance, infiltrating behind enemy lines to complete decapitation strikes, and so on."
"It is generally composed of multiple branches, such as scouts, high-precision archers, formidable soldiers who can fight ten men alone, and so forth."
"What we need is the elite of the elite, the strongest of the strong. The physical fitness of special forces soldiers must not only be stronger than ordinary people, but their daily training intensity will also be much greater."
Surprise appeared on the faces of Zhou Sui and the others. Their army used to have elite troops, but they never had small teams composed of various branches carrying out missions.
Remembering something, Zhou Sui's eyes lit up. "The camouflage techniques you used before, my Lord?"
Jiang Jin smiled. "Camouflage is also one of the skills."
Xia Chanyi murmured, "Can such a team really be trained?"
Jiang Jin nodded. "Of course. But there's no rush. We'll wait until we have more soldiers and the training is on the right track before discussing the formation of the special operations team."
When the matters were mostly discussed, Jiang Jin looked at Zhou Sui. "Zhou Sui, you will come with me to the Gesi Mountains to take a look in a little while."
Fifteen minutes later, the two rode their horses out of the North Gate and headed toward the Gesi Mountains.
