After Gu Qingcheng reorganized and repositioned the seven departments, everyone's division of labor and responsibilities became clearer, and the direction of village affairs became more defined.
Dai Fa must have sensed that Gu Qingcheng not only wanted to be an ordinary village elder, but perhaps harbored more ambitious goals.
Sometimes, looking at Gu Qingcheng's somewhat slender frame, Dai Fa couldn't help but sigh, who would have thought that such a frail body housed such a formidable soul.
The first step to strengthening the village is to have a population.
Of the 18,000 villagers, two-thirds were occupied with land reclamation and farming, while less than one-third of the remaining population was dedicated to the armed forces.
Considering the current grim situation, the village's armed forces were far from sufficient to protect the village.
However, this problem could not be solved immediately. After all is said and done, it was still the village's slow population growth rate.
Gu Qingcheng had not expected the flood to come so quickly. Even though it had resulted in many displaced disaster victims, due to the blockage of waterways and the undeveloped information network, even if the disaster victims wanted to settle in Phoenix Village, they could not reach it without boats to ferry them.
Since help from afar could not solve an immediate problem, Gu Qingcheng had to turn her attention to the existing villagers and continue to tap into their potential.
She had previously required all young and middle-aged villagers between the ages of 16 and 45 to participate in the rotational training of the hunting team.
This system had gradually fallen into disuse after a period of rapid population growth in the village, with only a portion of villagers who were genuinely interested in martial arts voluntarily participating.
But now, it seemed, this system had to be revived.
Gu Qingcheng specifically instructed Yan Xin to ensure that all young and middle-aged villagers between the ages of 16 and 45 participated in the rotational training of the hunting team, following the training steps she would subsequently devise for the entire duration.
This was the so-called universal village conscription system.
As a result, Gu Qingcheng could summon at least two-thirds of the village's population to defend the village at any time, effectively adding over 10,000 soldiers to Phoenix Village.
Once this system was established, 200 people would be selected each day for a week-long training session, which would quickly provide rotational training to all the young and middle-aged villagers.
Mi Guo volunteered to be the archery instructor, while Yan Xin selected ten of the best martial arts hunters from each group to serve as instructors for martial arts and formations.
For this reason, the hunting team's excursions into the mountains were suspended, and all personnel were involved in the rotational training.
Gu Qingcheng designed the martial arts training model for Phoenix Village based on modern military training methods.
1. Basic formation movements and drills. Including: standing at attention, at ease, saluting, squatting, sitting, marching, running in place, running, and standing at attention.
2. Internal affairs organization. This primarily included hygiene, folding quilts, and arranging various indoor items, thereby cultivating the villagers' self-discipline.
3. Archery practice.
4. Physical fitness training: including five-kilometer cross-country runs, 400-meter obstacle courses, 100-meter sprints, frog jumps, push-ups, single-leg step-ups, and combination exercises.
To rapidly enhance combat effectiveness, Gu Qingcheng also devised a plan. She shared her idea with her father, and Gu Chaobei found it feasible. He said:
"The signs of chaotic times are already apparent. The most important thing is to improve the combat effectiveness of the entire village. Since their loyalty is assured, this is a viable way to enhance their combat strength."
Gu Qingcheng's idea was to dissolve the Strength Enhancement Pills into a health-preserving herbal soup and have those with high loyalty values drink it to improve their combat power.
Through thorough dilution, although the Strength Enhancement Pills could greatly improve their physical fitness, it would not exceed the physical strength values currently possessed by the Gu family's four members.
Gu Chaobei approved of this idea, and Gu Qingcheng began to implement it.
She could not openly have them drink it directly, so she placed a water bucket by the training grounds and dissolved the Strength Enhancement Pills in it. When everyone was thirsty, they would naturally drink it.
Thus, all those participating in the rotational training drank the Strength Enhancement Pill water.
On this day, Gu Qingcheng came to the training grounds to inspect the martial arts training.
Yan Xin said to Gu Qingcheng with surprise:
"Young Master Gu, people truly need to train. Now that everyone has undergone specialized practice, their physical strength is actually much better than before. You originally stipulated that each person run 5 kilometers a day, but now they can run 10 kilometers without feeling tired.
Not to mention anything else, even their hands are steadier when shooting arrows, and their accuracy has improved."
Gu Qingcheng coughed lightly and smiled:
"This is the effect of long-term persistent training. Have them continue to persist."
"Yes, with such good results, everyone's confidence has greatly increased. If zombies or bandits were to attack, they are confident they can handle it."
Yan Xin was not boasting, as he had discovered that the villagers' physical fitness had greatly improved since participating in the rotational training, and the weight they could lift for the practice stones had increased by at least 30%, which was why he dared to make such a statement to Gu Qingcheng.
He had no idea of the underlying reasons. Besides the effect of lifting practice stones, the Strength Enhancement Pills played a significant role in improving their physical fitness.
Otherwise, with natural disasters and chaos occurring frequently, these villagers were formerly disaster victims whose physical fitness had been severely damaged. Without the Strength Enhancement Pills, it would have been impossible for them to improve so quickly.
Based on the villagers' performance in the rotational training, Yan Xin confidently stated that within three months, Gu Qingcheng would surely have a formidable practical combat team.
Under Gu Qingcheng's command, the brothers Dapeng and Xiaopeng personally took to the field to recruit new villagers from various places below the mountain.
They went out with great confidence, carrying full loads of grain and salt, sometimes exchanging them for cloth, cotton, and weaving machines, tools urgently needed by the village.
Other times, they brought back people, men and women, generally younger, mostly under 35 years old.
To be honest, finding elderly people was not easy nowadays, as many elderly people had not survived the wave of natural disasters. Those who did survive were naturally the strong and healthy young people.
However, after years of devastation from natural disasters, even young people's physical conditions were not as good as before.
Many people had lost contact with their villages while fleeing, or had even witnessed the destruction of their villages with their own eyes.
Therefore, when Dapeng went out to recruit people, most of them would unhesitatingly board his boat and return to Phoenix Village with him, as they were destitute and had nothing to hold them back. The most important thing at the moment was to survive.
Of course, the same quarantine policy was still implemented for these new villagers. They were required to undergo a 7-day quarantine before entering the village.
The conditions at the quarantine location had also improved significantly. Individual wooden houses had been built, sanitation had been greatly improved, and there were separate bathrooms for men and women.
Meals were prepared and delivered to their doors three times a day.
When these people first arrived at the quarantine point, some were still resistant, feeling like they were being held as prisoners.
However, upon discovering that they were served white rice twice a day with meat dishes, and meat buns for breakfast, their resentment vanished instantly.
Regardless of anything else, for the sake of being able to eat and drink their fill, they were willing to pay the price of temporary loss of freedom and stay at the quarantine point.