Xu Haijun took five men and set up camp in Big White Poplar Gully beside Small White Poplar Gully.
The two gullies were separated by just one mountain and were quite close; all they had to do was cross it.
Liang Wenyu had not chosen this place because there was almost no level ground, making it difficult to dig earth cellars.
The stream in the gully carried quite a lot of water, which was inconvenient.
Some of the men did not understand why Xu Haijun had picked this spot. They also felt that staying here would certainly make weaving taibazi difficult.
"What's the problem? Find somewhere convenient to work. As for the earth cellars, I'll tell you how to dig them."
Xu Haijun found a slope with fairly good soil and relatively few stones and began digging.
"Are you... digging a cave dwelling?" By the time Li Long came over to look, Xu Haijun had dug more than a meter into the slope, though he was still some way from his goal.
"Sure. We're living in the earth either way. An earth cellar goes down; mine goes in. And we won't have to worry about rain flooding it. Isn't that great?" Xu Haijun said as he dug.
The others had clearly already been persuaded and were digging along with him.
Li Long thought Xu Haijun had a point. Keeping out water was one advantage a cave dwelling had over an earth cellar. In heavy rain, at most a little water would blow inside. If they covered the entrance properly with sacks, they would have nothing to worry about.
Northwesterly winds predominated in summer, and with their caves dug into the western slope of the gully, they really did not need to worry about rain.
The geology here was rather complicated.