Like the Nanxiang River, the Daochuan River also originates from the Sun Moon Mountain, but unlike most of the rivers in Xiningwei, it does not inject Huangshui into the east, but flows into the West Sea, hence the name "Daochuan River".

Zhou Kun had just returned from fishing in the West Sea, and when he heard that Lord Qianhu had come to the fishing ground in person, he didn't have time to clean up, so he came to visit him with a fishy smell, "Subordinate Zhou Kun, knock to see your lord!" ”

"No need to be polite," Li Zicheng turned over and dismounted, and immediately smelled a strong fishy smell, he said with a smile: "You osprey, I'm afraid that the West Sea has been emptied, how about it, the fish in the West Sea are abundant?" ”

"Lord Hui, the West Sea is almost boundless, and the fish are endless, in addition to supplying various military forts every day, my subordinates have stored tens of thousands of catties of salted fish." After Zhou Kun got up, he stood beside Li Zicheng with his hands down.

"Ten thousand catties?" Li Zicheng laughed and patted his arm that exuded a strong fishy smell, "Mr. Zhou, hard work!" ”

Zhou Kun's eyes rounded, and he said: "This is the duty of his subordinates!" ”

"Duty? Well said," Li Zicheng laughed, "Let's go, go to the beach and see what kind of fish you are caught." ”

"My lord, in the West Sea, the most is the pike, there are many of them, and they are big, but today they have caught a few more big loaches, which are also extremely rare in the West Sea. Zhou Kun took the lead and led Li Zicheng to the dock.

"Haha, Mr. Zhou, I have a heart!"

The wharf is above the mouth of the river, and the perimeter is very neatly packed, with more than a dozen small boats and rafts lined up, and many soldiers are loading fish in rattan frames and carrying them to the shore.

Seeing these fresh fish jumping around, Li Zicheng was in a good mood, relying on the mountains to eat the mountains, relying on the sea to eat the sea, and the West Sea, although it is a saltwater lake, she still spares no effort when raising her surrounding children.

Zhou Kun came to the dock and shouted at the soldiers: "Brothers, Lord Qianhu has come to visit us!" ”

"Senho-sama?" These fishermen, who were busy and bearing the title of soldiers, were suddenly shocked, they already knew that Lord Qianhu had already controlled Xining, and was the highest military commander in fact, and they were busy going ashore to salute, and two soldiers rushed ashore along the side of the boat, trampling the boat to shake.

Looking at the soldiers kneeling in a row, Li Zicheng's heart fluctuated, because of the title of soldiers, these fishermen who came and went in the wind and rain could only get half a tael of silver every month.

Of course, this is also to blame others, who let them be eliminated by the army? If it weren't for the fishing man, I'm afraid he would have been driven home long ago, and if he caught their fault during the training, he would probably be in the sand.

"Get up!" Li Zicheng waved his hand and asked them to get busy, but their eyes were on the West Sea in the north, under the sunset, the West Sea was as calm as a mirror for women's dressing, only when the fishing boat swayed, it would produce water waves, and gradually ripple into the distance, but suddenly it was calm again.

Looking from afar, the sea surface seems to have a layer of mist, hazy, "smoke and waves", Li Zicheng's heart moved, only a large enough water surface will produce this kind of spectacle, for tourists, it is a rare landscape, but the people who fish in the West Sea all the year round, just like these soldiers, I am afraid there is no good mood to enjoy the scenery here, they have to face every day, is the number of fish, and the cold wind blowing on the sea, with a salty smell.

Zhou Kun has picked a few big loaches, ready to let a soldier send them back, Li Zicheng looked at it, not like the fat loach with a golden belly in the ditch pond, but more like the horse carp that grows in the Yangtze River and can be seen in various tributaries, the abdomen is milky white, and there are faint patterns between the abdomen and back, this loach is particularly large, each with three or four weights, and said with a smile: "Zhou Zongqi, is this still a loach?" Such a big one? ”

"My lord, this is still a loach, we call it 'alpine loach' locally, it grows in the West Sea, much larger than ordinary loaches, after cooking, not only the soup is delicious, the meat is also tender, if it can be transported to Xining, it will be sold at a good price."

Dinner is used in a small hut on the west coast, the first dish is the big loach soup, Li Zicheng tasted it, the fruit is very delicious, the soup is not only fresh, but also milky white, as if mixed with milk, is the meat soaked in the soup, both tender and solid, by no means the kind of water tofu that melts in the mouth.

There are two dishes that are also very special, the same is braised fish maw, the fish maw is both many and large, served in a clay pot, it should kill a large number of pike, ready to pickle, there will be so many fish bladders, Li Zicheng likes the refreshing taste of the fish bladder, but the next dish, he didn't dare to eat, the fish intestines were cut into a half-foot-long ribbon, mixed with fish oil, made into soup, called 'fish sword soup'.

"Zhou Zongqi, this fish intestine has not been cut, can it be washed?"

"My lord, in winter, the pike has long stopped eating, there is no debris in the fish intestines, there is no need to wash it at all, once it is cut and washed, it will lose its original flavor!"

"No washing?" Li Zicheng's eyes widened, there seemed to be a large amount of mixture in the soup, although Zhou Kun repeatedly said that it was not the excrement of the pike, he still didn't dare to eat it, he could only shake his head and smile bitterly, he didn't taste this original blessing.

That night, Li Zicheng rested in the cabin, and when the sky was bright, he was about to leave and go to Fuqiang Fort, and Zhou Kun naturally wanted to see him off.

"Zhou Zongqi, how far is it from here to Fuqiang Fort?"

Zhou Kun lowered his head and thought for a moment, and said: "About one hundred and ten miles, along the inverted river, go up to the Sun Moon Pass, if you follow the Nanxiang River, you can reach the south bank of the Huangshui, adults want to go to Fuqiang Fort, so that walking will go around dozens of miles, in fact, as long as you go east through Huashi Mountain, it is Fuqiang Fort, this Sun Moon Pass, I heard that it is the key point of the Tangbo Ancient Road, and it must pass through." ”

"Tangbo Ancient Road?" Li Zicheng thought thoughtfully, "The last time the Mongols raided Fuqiang Fort, did it come from the Tangbo Ancient Road?" ”

"This ...... The subordinates didn't know, but the subordinates estimated that since they raided Fuqiang Fort from the west, they would definitely have to pass through the Sun Moon Pass. ”

Li Zicheng pulled out the map of the army and spread it out on horseback, "You mean that if you want to go east from the south of the West Sea, you must pass through the Sun Moon Pass?" ”

"This ...... The subordinates are not exact, but the old man said so, this was once the place where Tang Fan was divided, according to legend, when Princess Wencheng entered Tibet, she walked the Sun Moon Pass, and the poured river was her homesick tears. ”

Li Zicheng fell into deep thought, he knew that Zhou Kun was familiar with the terrain of this place, and he should have talked all night last night, from his words, it can be basically determined that Sun Moon Mountain is the only exit of Xiningwei in the southwest direction, Fuqiang Fort guards the south of the West Sea, Zhenhai Fort guards the east of the West Sea, and the design of the Daming Wei is not unreasonable.

With the undying relationship between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo, if Riyue Mountain is not the only communication artery between the two sides, it will be difficult for the two sides to achieve a balance between offense and defense, and finally use this as the dividing line.

If Riyue Mountain is the main road of transportation between Tang and Fan, then the design of Fuqiang Fort, there are some problems, Li Zicheng looked at the marching map, between Fuqiang Fort and Riyue Mountain Pass, there are sixty or seventy miles, is it possible to put the enemy into Riyue Mountain and then block it? Unless you are sure of victory and can completely annihilate the enemy who will attack in the future, then the battlefield is on your own land, and it will be your own people who will be harmed.

Fuqiang Fort should be moved west to the Sun Moon Pass, when the road is about to rush, with a small number of troops, the enemy can be blocked, with the Han nation above the surrounding alien race for hundreds of years, it is impossible not to see this, he looked at Zhou Kun, "Zhou Zongqi, Sun Moon Pass, can there be soldiers stationed in the past?" ”

"The subordinates don't know, the subordinates were originally just a small flag officer, and such a major event as military deployment is a matter for the guard, where is the turn of the subordinates to know?"

Although Zhou Kun did not give an answer, Li Zicheng was not disappointed, at least he understood the importance of the Sun Moon Pass, not only the dividing line between farming and nomadic areas, but also the key to Xiningwei's blocking of nomads from the southwest.

Mountains and rivers, for the nomadic people, are grasslands, especially the grasslands that can provide the change of seasons, but for the farming people, they are barriers, and they are the key nodes to block the infiltration of nomads, Li Zicheng's historical knowledge is not rich, but he also knows that many important and steep passes are built on the mountains, blocking the border wall of the northern nomadic people, that is, connecting a series of mountains and rivers in the north with stone walls.

Li Zicheng suddenly remembered that during the time of the unification of the Central Dynasty, the two Song Dynasty were the weakest, and the northern nomads such as the Khitan, Western Xia, Jurchen, and Mongolians seemed to be able to bully her, which was related to the fact that she did not control the Yanshan Mountains in the northern "Youyun Sixteen Prefectures".

His heart is tight, there is a plan, around Fuqiang Fort, there is the river Nanchuan, which can be reclaimed as arable land, and it will be called "Nanchuan County" in the future, Nanchuan County's biggest advantage over Beichuan County is that there is a ready-made military fort, unlike Beichuan County, which is completely self-made, and it is necessary to set up a county seat on the grass, and now the only lack is the officials, it seems that after returning to Xining, I will have a good talk with Feng Keng, hoping that hunger and detention can make this stubborn donkey learn to compromise.

Li Zicheng originally wanted to establish a county in Zhenhai Fort, which had lost its role as a military fort, and if it weren't for He Xiaomi's local recruitment, it would have become an undefended empty city.

However, the layout of Zhenhaibao is too small, the available arable land around it is too small, it is difficult to withstand the population required by the county, and it is only 40 miles away from Xining, which is too close geographically, which also determines that it is difficult for this area to form a local economic center.

If Zhenhaibao must be changed to a civilian army, it is more suitable as a small town, and the population will not be too much, but it is a one-day journey from Xining and the future Huangyuan County, just to build a bridge on the road between the two.

Li Zicheng finished his calculations, picked up the marching map, stepped on the war horse, bid farewell to Zhou Kun and headed east, and in less than two hours, he came to the Sun Moon Pass.