Chapter 220: Happiness

Three more days have passed, and during this time, over a hundred flintlocks have been manufactured.

Meng Yifan had the soldiers of the Salvation Army take turns using this new type of weapon, firing a few rounds, ensuring that every soldier knew how to correctly use a flintlock.

The Imperial Guard Company uses the AK47 Assault Rifle; this weapon can fire continuously and has fierce firepower.

However, the ammunition Meng Yifan brought over is limited, and there is nowhere to replenish it once it is spent, so weapons and equipment brought from Earth like the AK47 can only be treated as a trump card, to be used at the most critical moment to deliver a decisive blow.

Ordinary battles still have to rely on the ordinary soldiers of the Salvation Army, using flintlocks to resolve them.

A batch of Congreve Rocket Launchers is also being rushed into production through overtime work; Meng Yifan selected ten soldiers with the best marksmanship from the Imperial Guard Company and had them use the Congreve Rocket Launchers to strengthen their firepower.

During this period, a large number of refugees have arrived from all directions; they were all in rags, starving to skin and bone, and were already on the verge of death by the time they reached Luolong County city.

On the city walls, the Labor Camp, which was still busy at work, looked at these newly arrived refugees and felt that they were very happy.

Most of the people working in the Labor Camp were originally refugees who had fled; they had also lived very bitterly before, often starving to death, but ever since Meng Yifan took charge of Luolong County, their lives and work have changed a great deal.

Previously, when refugees in the Labor Camp worked themselves to the bone for a day, they could only get a single steamed bun and had to endure the foreman's angry curses and whips.

But ever since Meng Yifan took control of Luolong County, the laborers in the Labor Camp have been able to eat their fill while working.

Meng Yifan understands a very simple principle: that with an empty stomach, one has no strength to engage in heavy manual labor, so the Labor Camp now provides two meals a day, and they are both solid food, not the deceptive steamed buns and thin porridge.

The new foremen of the Labor Camp also rarely use whips to lash the laborers; if they do not work well, they are simply driven out of the Labor Camp.

If it were the old Labor Camp, the laborers might have been overjoyed to be driven out, thinking, "I didn't want to work anyway," but the current Labor Camp allows them to eat their fill, so for these laborers, it is a good job.

The refugees fled here with nothing, and their whole families, young and old, all rely on the food they earn from manual labor to survive; if they were driven out, their families would all curse them for being useless.

Therefore, the refugees in the Labor Camp do not need the foremen to lash them with whips; every single one of them works very hard.

In particular, with the major construction currently underway in Luolong County, the city wall has been expanded outward by a large circle, not only enclosing farmland but also protecting the refugee camp that was originally outside the inner city; even if the refugees still live in the refugee camp, they now have a sense of security.

However, the refugee camp is like a haphazardly built shantytown; it is dirty, chaotic, and poor, with sewage flowing everywhere, making it easy for plagues to breed.

These former refugees are already Meng Yifan's subjects, and their Loyalty is even higher than that of the common people inside the city; within his capabilities, Meng Yifan naturally cannot watch his own subjects suffer.

Meng Yifan waved his hand and directly issued an order to build small concrete apartment buildings in the outer city area; every worker in the Labor Camp, as long as they work hard, can be allocated a room.

Heavens, since ancient times, as long as one has a house to live in, one has a home and has put down roots, and can even be considered a city dweller.

These refugees fled to Luolong County city and never dared to dream that they would have a house of their own; now, as long as they work hard, they can be allocated a house—anyone who wouldn't work desperately for that would be a fool.

Just a small thirty-square-meter room in a tenement building completely ignited the work enthusiasm of the laborers.

Every day, before dawn, the laborers would appear at the construction site early, and they would be reluctant to leave even after dark; as they watched the houses that belonged to them being built bit by bit, their eyes were filled with longing and hope, and their Loyalty to Meng Yifan in their hearts was also increasing with each passing day.

The work in the Labor Camp is all heavy manual labor and is actually very tiring; after working for a day, they are exhausted.

Yet these laborers do not feel it is bitter; they can eat their fill, their children are learning to read and write in the city, and they will soon have their own houses—all of this makes them feel it is worth it, and no matter how bitter or tiring it is, they feel completely satisfied.

The newly arrived refugees saw the tall city walls, the dark muzzles of the cannons on the walls, and the fully armed garrison troops with straight backs and sharp gazes, and they were all discussing it in whispers.

"Hey! When did Luolong County expand its city walls?"

"I don't know. I remember coming here a month ago, and at that time, there was no such ring of walls."

"Brother Zhang, I heard that Luolong County was occupied by a group of rebels. If we enter the city, will we also have to become rebels?"

"I can't worry about that much anymore. In this godforsaken world, as long as I can let my family eat their fill, if it means I have to be a rebel, then so be it."

The refugees knelt on the ground facing the city walls, begging:

"We are refugees from Xiaojin City. Military lords, please open the city gates and let us in."

"We are refugees from Sanchahe Town. The town mayor ran away with the guards, and the Monster Army is coming. Please have mercy and let us in."

The defense officer for this section of the wall was Xu Le; he and Zhang Shagen are good friends. Zhang Shagen is now the company commander of the Imperial Guard Company, and Xu Le is also doing well; because of his bravery in battle and repeated meritorious service, he was promoted to a company commander in the Salvation Army, in charge of one hundred soldiers, becoming a mid-level officer envied by many.

During this time, refugees have been coming to seek refuge in Luolong County city one after another, and Xu Le was already familiar with the procedure. He focused his Qi into his dantian and shouted, "The city gates cannot be opened! We will lower baskets. You line up; women, children, and the elderly in front, the young and strong in the back. You will all enter one by one sitting in the baskets!"

Fifteen large baskets were thrown down from the top of the city wall; each basket could hold one adult or two children.

The refugees outside the city came from different places, and they were chaotic, all wanting to get into the baskets first; after all, no one knew when the Monster Army would return, and one had to know that there were flying creatures in the Monster Army, and their flight speed was extremely fast, so entering the city earlier meant being safer.

Some honest and simple refugees wanted to line up, but there were also some refugees who insisted on pushing to the front, which led to great chaos under the city, and some elderly people and children were even pushed down.

"Fire a warning shot!" Xu Le ordered with a grim face.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Ten soldiers raised their flintlocks and fired into the sky.

The crisp sound of gunfire left the refugees under the city stunned on the spot, not daring to move again.

"I warn you, if you want to seek refuge in our Luolong County, you must abide by the rules of Luolong County. Anyone who dares to cut in line again will be severely punished without exception!" Xu Le shouted.