On the same day, Cao Jue, the general of the Junshui Battalion, ordered his cavalry to bring enough rations for six days, and then took a step forward and led the army to leave the "Yanshui Camp", that is, the vanguard military camp of the former Chuping Yujun.

Before leaving, he was entrusted by Zhao Hongrun to take 500 cavalry to cross Yanshui and turn around to Anling, and brought the 200 officials and craftsmen of the Ministry of Engineering who followed the Junshui battalion to the front line from Daliang to the Yanshui camp.

At that time, Zhao Hongrun had no major events anyway, and when he heard that the officials and craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry had arrived at the Yanshui camp, he personally went to Yuanmen to greet him.

The general of the Junshui Battalion wondered in his heart when he saw it, but when he saw that Zhao Hongrun had gone to greet him in person, he had no choice but to accompany him, so he went to Yuanmen to greet him together.

The dignified King Su and the general of the Junshui Battalion went to the camp to greet him, and this courtesy made Meng Kui, the left attendant of the Ministry of Works, who led the team, a little flattered, and hurriedly bowed back.

During this period, Shen Yu, the accompanying Zongwei, also wondered, after all, the Ministry of Industry was the lowest status of the six departments, and it was clear that His Royal Highness Zhao Hongrun was not pretentious about the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of War, but he was only particularly courteous to the Ministry of Industry, which made him a little puzzled.

In fact, it is very simple, because Zhao Hongrun knows in his heart that although the status of the Ministry of Industry is the lowest among the six ministries in Shangshu Province, this government directly affects the rise and fall of the entire country.

Don't think that the responsibility of the Ministry of Industry is to build gardens for the emperor, in fact, the Ministry of Industry is responsible for tuntian, water conservancy, dam building, road repair, river digging, building the Great Wall, building cities, iron smelting, mining, textiles and many other things.

It is no exaggeration to say that the Ministry of Works is responsible for a wide range of things, and civil engineering is just one of them.

Therefore, in Zhao Hongrun's view. In fact, the Ministry of Industry is the most important government agency for a country among the six ministries, because it directly affects the fundamental national strength of the entire Great Wei.

It's no wonder that the Ministry of Industry is such an important government institution, but it has the lowest status among the six ministries, and it has the least right to speak in the court.

To be honest, Zhao Hongrun was quite upset for them.

"Lord Meng. This time, all the people of the Ministry of Labor have worked hard to get here, and they really have a heavy responsibility. ”

After inviting Meng Kui, the left attendant of the Ministry of Works, to the handsome tent, Zhao Hongrun first bowed respectfully to this person.

Seeing this, Meng Kui, the left attendant of the Ministry of Works, hurriedly returned the salute, and said again and again: "The lower officials can't afford this gift from His Royal Highness King Su, what does His Royal Highness command, although it is said that Meng has nothing to do with the Ministry of Works...... However, the lower officials have said first, Meng is really not good at this war......"

I caught a glimpse of the hesitation and embarrassment on this Lord Meng's face. Zhao Hongrun seemed to have guessed something, and said with a smile: "Lord Meng, don't worry, how can this king be overkill, and let everyone from the Ministry of Industry carry knives to fight with the Chu people?" …… Ladies and gentlemen of the Ministry of Works, your life is very precious in the heart of this king! ”

Meng Kui listened to Zhao Hongrun's compliment happily, and was very happy in his heart, after all, in Daliang, few people would take these officials of the Ministry of Industry seriously.

"Thank you, Your Highness. Even if His Royal Highness asked the lower official to carry a knife to fight with the Chu people, the lower official also admitted it! ”

"Haha." Zhao Hongrun laughed a few times. Holding Meng Kui's arm, he led him to the table in the tent, pointed to a few drawings on the table, and said, "Lord Meng, this king hopes that all of you from the Ministry of Industry can help our army strengthen the defense of this military camp. ”

"I see." Meng Kui suddenly realized, looked down at the drawings on the table, and couldn't help showing a little surprise on his face: "Huh? These drawings ......"

He involuntarily picked up the top drawing and looked at it carefully.

That's a bird's-eye view. It was this military camp that was painted, but to Meng Kui's surprise, this drawing was extremely neat and detailed, and it was by no means a casual drawing, but like a meticulous drawing with a ruler and other measuring tools. Even the length, width, and direction are marked on it, so that Meng Kui, who has been immersed in this road for a long time, can see at a glance the approximate size of this military camp and the buildings in the camp.

“……”

Meng Kui seemed to have seen something unusual, stretched out his hand and carefully touched the straight line on the drawing, and then looked at Zhao Hongrun thoughtfully: "Charcoal? ”

Zhao Hongrun smiled and nodded.

Yes, the drawings in Meng Kui's hands were drawn with charcoal, not that he deliberately showed anything, the reason was that it was difficult to draw a straight line that satisfied him with such drawings with a brush, and besides, the brush was easy to drip ink and pollute the entire drawing.

Therefore, Zhao Hongrun asked the guards to find a few willow branches and burn them into charcoal, and then use a sharp blade to cut the charcoal into the shape of a pen to make the simplest charcoal pen.

Drawing a straight line with charcoal is much better than drawing a straight line with a brush.

Meng Kui curiously picked up a charcoal pen on the table and asked, "Charcoal?" ”

"No, it's the charcoal of the willow branches."

"Oh......" Meng Kui nodded suddenly, and immediately, he found that there were still a few broken dried steamed buns on the table, the broken ones were obviously black, his heart moved slightly, and he carefully picked up the charcoal pen and drew a blank space on the drawing, and then picked up a piece of dried steamed buns and wiped them lightly a few times.

As he expected, the charcoal marks on the drawings were gradually wiped off, and although there were still traces, it was obviously much better than drawing with a brush.

"This is not bad, my Ministry of Engineering can follow suit......

Meng Kui thought happily, after all, for all the officials of the Ministry of Industry, drawing drawings has always been their biggest headache, because the drawings drawn by the brush dipped in ink do not have the function of modifying, and often the entire drawing is scrapped if it is drawn wrong.

The method used by Zhao Hongrun can obviously greatly improve the fault tolerance rate.

When he came back to his senses, Meng Kui, who was happy to see the hunting heart, saw Zhao Hongrun, the king of Su, looking at him with a smile on his side, he couldn't help but be a little embarrassed, and laughed at himself: "Xia Guan is like this, he forgets when he sees good things...... Your Highness, how do you plan to strengthen this camp? ”

Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun picked up another drawing, pointed to the drawing, and said, "Lord Meng, please take a look." ”

This second drawing is a section of the wooden wall of the camp, because Zhao Hongrun drew it very well, so Meng Kui could understand what he meant after a few glances.

"Your Highness, what are these slanted external fixes to the outside of the wall?"

"That's right, our army has just won a great victory. Countless instruments of the Chu army were confiscated, and the king planned to use those spears of the Chu army here and fix them outside the wall to prevent the Chu army from approaching and climbing the camp wall. ”

"Hmm...... These ...... on the wooden wall"

"It is also a sword confiscated from the Chu army, and this king intends to test it from the inside of the camp wall. Embedded in it, the blade rushed out, also to prevent the Chu army from climbing the camp wall. ”

Meng Kui pondered for a moment, nodded and said, "This is not difficult. …… It's just that the collected enemy equipment is enough? ”

Zhao Hongrun smiled when he heard this, and in his heart it was the swords and guns of the sixty thousand Chu army.

"Look at it, first ensure that the south and east and west sides, and the north can be ignored."

"The north of the camp is facing near Yanshui. Xia Guan had already noticed it when he came. Meng Kui nodded knowingly.

Immediately, he reached for the third drawing.

"This is...... Ballista? ”

"No, no, no." Zhao Hongrun waved his hand again and again, and explained with a smile: "That's the case, among the instruments collected from the Chu army, many of them are longbows, and this king saw that these longbows were stacked and useless anyway, so he wondered if he could transform them." Used in the defense of the camp...... Lord Meng, you see, this longbow cross shape is fixed on a square log. The square wood was carved with grooves to accommodate the flying arrows, and these objects were fixed to the walls of the camp in a timely manner, so that the soldiers only had to add arrows to it......"

"And how do you aim at it?"

"You see here, the front section of the square wood is not fixed, and the horizontal height of the archery can be adjusted up and down slightly......"

"Hmm. Similar to a crossbow, but depending on the range of the longbow, it seems to have a much longer range than a crossbow......

Meng Kui summed it up in his heart, nodded and said, "It's not difficult. ”

With that, he took the initiative to pick up the last drawing on the table. However, this drawing made the expression on his whole face much more serious and solemn.

"Chariots? …… No, it's ...... Well car? Well, it's kind of like ...... But this, that's too high, right? Sanzhang? ”

"Sanzhang." Zhao Hongrun nodded: "The detailed requirements are all indicated on the drawings, and I believe that everyone in the Ministry of Industry can understand it at a glance." ”

"Hmm......" Meng Kui nodded slowly, and said thoughtfully: "It's not difficult to strengthen the defense of the camp, but it's ......not easy to build this well car."

"There's no rush to this." Zhao Hongrun waved his hand and said with a smile: "The next wave of Chu troops will attack, it will take about six days, during this time, let's first cut down the nearby forests, transport them to the camp, first strengthen the city wall, and slowly rebuild." ”

"Understood." Meng Kui nodded, folded a few drawings and put them in his arms, and said, "Then without further ado, please ask Your Highness to allocate some soldiers to your subordinates......"

"How many people?"

Meng Kui pondered for a moment, frowned, and said: "If it is according to what His Highness said, I am afraid that there will be more than 10,000 people, and only more than 10,000 manpower can cut down enough trees in these six days and transport them to the camp." Speaking of this, he paused, and added: "In just six days, unless you rush to work day and night, it will not be enough to complete the entrustment of Your Highness." …… In other words, more than 20,000 people. ”

At this time, the general of the Junshui Battalion listened quietly, and frowned when he heard this: "20,000 people? Your Highness, we only have 35,000 in total...... No, Cao Jue's 5,000 men have already left the camp, in other words, there are only 30,000 left. Of these 30,000 people, 20,000 people are allocated to strengthen the camp, which I am afraid will directly affect the future garrison matters. ”

The implication is that if 20,000 people are used to cut down trees to strengthen the camp, and they are exhausted, and when Xiong Tuo, the king of Chu Xuancheng, leads the army to arrive, this battle still has to be fought?

"The general misunderstood, Lord Meng meant that 10,000 people during the day and 10,000 people at night......"

"That'...... too"

Zhao Hongrun raised his hand to interrupt Baili Ba's words, and said with a smile: "General, don't forget, there are 30,000 prisoners of the Chu army in our camp, and the 10,000 people during the day can save at least seven or eight thousand ......."

"A sharp weapon for chopping wood for the captives?" Bailiba frowned and reminded: "I'm afraid of accidents." ”

"Of course not. …… Our soldiers were responsible for cutting down trees, and the prisoners were responsible for carrying them, and the soldiers of the Junshui battalion were in charge of the whole process, and if anyone took the opportunity to flee or cause chaos...... Kill! ”

"Hmm." Bailiba nodded and said, "It's not bad to arrange like this." ”

After that, he glanced at Zhao Hongrun thoughtfully, a little curious in his heart.

"Keeping those 30,000 Chu army captives, is this just for this? I always feel that this Highness has other intentions...... (To be continued.) )