Chapter 1413: 1330 Build a House Yourself

The refugee camp built by the Qin Army is actually quite good, as the Great Tang Empire demanded that they construct it to be very sturdy.

For the Tang Country, this is essentially a large-scale infrastructure project: the POW camps built by the prisoners are like small villages, and once these prisoners leave, these leftover facilities can be immediately put to use.

Indeed, the Great Tang Empire has already arranged small-scale facilities: power plants, repair shops, chemical plants, and manufacturing plants have all been put into operation, with workers from the Tang Empire responsible for teaching these Qin soldiers how to use these machines and how to learn a skill to make a living.

It’s no joke, these POWs from Qin Country are astonished by the treatment they receive; they eat better than before, live in the houses they built, and though the surrounding courtyard walls aren’t very tall, surprisingly no one wants to “escape” from this place of captivity.

At first, some of them would steal from the canteen, but after being educated, or after realizing that they can actually get enough to eat, theft nearly disappeared.

Everyone is just ordinary folk; in truth, most people have a certain sense of decency and shame, and when they find out they can lead a comfortable life through work, they quickly adapt to this familiar state.

The young soldiers didn’t snatch the chocolate bars from the veterans; when they arrived at a POW camp, they found it bustling with activity inside.

Those who arrived first were frantically adding bricks and tiles to their houses; beside the temporary tents, the Qin soldiers were helping to build larger tents to serve as hospitals and canteens.

In the distance, soldiers each held a sapper shovel—these shovels were standard gear for the Qin Army, and they still have them now to dig the foundations for houses.

The entire camp’s foundations were dug by the prisoners, and the guard troops of the Great Tang Empire weren’t even worried about them leaving a tunnel to escape.

Because someone had tried that before, but as the weather grew colder, the Qin soldiers in the barracks felt the half-dug tunnel greatly affected the indoor temperature, they filled it in themselves…

Some people of Qin are digging a trench, which is meant to connect sewers and electrical wires; this place is to be developed into a village in the future, with a cement factory and brick kiln planned nearby, making the scale look quite large.

The transport convoy of the Tang Army continuously passed by on the nearby highway, with occasional tanks and tracked vehicle repair cars, the size of the troop seemed immense, seemingly without end.

All the Qin prisoners here knew, just by looking at the scale and equipment level, and the logistical support and soldier quality, that they knew these Tang Country troops were not opponents they could defeat.

The young Qin soldiers followed the group and walked forward; at the end, the first thing they found was to take a bath and change clothes.

The uniforms of Qin Country were too dirty, prone to breeding infectious diseases, hence must be replaced. The Tang Army prepared a batch of work clothes for them.

These were stockpiled supplies, originally intended for Orc laborers, but due to the war the entry volume of Orc laborers decreased, so these work clothes were shipped to the frontline to serve as “POW camp uniforms.”

To facilitate management, all prisoners had their hair cut into “ball heads,” known as the jail labor hairstyle. This was useful for tracking runaway prisoners and made the POW camp more hygienic.

Qin Army prisoners didn’t resist too much on this aspect, as they couldn’t have long hair after enlisting, which is one of Qin Country’s measures learned from the Tang Army’s progress.

Next, they were taken to the still-open-air camp canteen, where Qin prisoners were responsible for serving food to the newcomers; the chefs were dispatched from the Tang Army, many even from Dahua.

Honestly speaking, the food here certainly couldn’t match the Tang Army’s field kitchen standard, but for the Qin Army, this treatment was already very good.

They didn’t expect to snag a good meal at the front, and after walking for half a day, they started eating again; the young Qin soldiers couldn’t believe they were receiving this treatment as prisoners.

Frankly speaking, if Qin Country treated Dahua prisoners like this, their recruitment speed would likely triple when rearming surrendered soldiers.

Qin veterans didn’t think they would have another decent meal; he sat next to young Qin soldiers at the long wooden table, watching his own bowl being filled with steaming fried rice.

This dish wasn’t available in Qin Army camps; despite appearing simple, fried rice actually required quite a few ingredients: carrots, eggs, onions, and oil, which was fairly luxurious on the frontline.

The steaming food immediately dispelled the chill, and everyone around them ate heartily. They were indeed hungry, and this meal was truly delicious.

“Slow down! If you’re not full, you can have another bowl! There’s enough food! Don’t rush! Don’t waste!” The Qin prisoner serving food loudly shouted, clearly familiar with the job as he had done it for some time.

“In a few days, the building at the canteen will be built, conditions will improve, and it won’t be as cold anymore,” the Qin prisoner explaining after shouting.

In his view, eating in cold conditions wasn’t ideal; previously, the POW camp he trained in had decent conditions. But for Qin soldiers accustomed to eating in trenches under field conditions, these conditions were already quite good.

Since suddenly receiving around 1 million prisoners, the Tang Army did run into some problems with supplies prepared for the prisoners; however, the transport capacity of the Tang Army was very high, allowing them to temporarily allocate resources to ensure frontline consumption, which the Qin Army couldn’t…

A group of new Qin prisoner recruits nervously asked about the hardships they might face, but the answers were surprising. They would be responsible for building their own POW camp, as well as nearby pipelines, water supply systems, and digging channels for next year’s planting.

Additionally, they had to build roads, cooperate with Tang Army Engineer Corps to construct some basic infrastructure, and learn skills: including simple machining, fitting, milling, and some handcraft skills.

In short, the POW camp of the Great Tang Empire doesn’t keep idle people. Everyone must prove their value for their existence, contributing to the construction of the Great Tang Empire.