Upon his arrival in Zunhua, Methwald recorded in his diary, "From Lulong to the west, the landscape of northern China changed from plains to hills and towering mountains, and it made me feel like I had come to Scotland."

But compared to the bad road from England to Scotland, which in some places can't even be called a road, the road from Lulong to Zunhua is a wide, flat avenue, and even the narrowest section can accommodate two four-wheeled carriages in parallel.

When building roads, the Chinese made the best possible use of the favorable terrain such as valleys and rivers. Instead of building the road with the shortest distance between the two places, they designed the road with the gentlest slope possible, which allows for maximum comfort for pedestrians and vehicles.

Throughout China, such state-funded roads abound, and the benefits of such roads are obvious. The price of goods transportation was reduced, the development of commerce in various places was promoted, and the decrees of the kingdom quickly reached the hands of the local governors...

The journey from Lulong to Zunhua, although the road is quite smooth, but the speed of travel is close to 25 miles a day, which is no longer a trip, but a rapid march.

Even for a person like me who has been running around all year round, by the fourth day, I already felt like my legs were tied to two iron balls, and it was so heavy that it was difficult to walk normally, so I could only move forward step by step...

Emperor Ming is a young man, 11 years younger than our King, but it seems to me that he is a little more mature than our King. At least His Majesty the Emperor knows how to protect China's maritime interests, while our King only thinks about taking money out of the pocket of the shipowner.

As the first Chinese Emperor to show goodwill to the Company, I thought that the Company's future success in the Far East, and the attainment of trade benefits equal to that of the Dutch East India Company, would depend on our friendship with His Majesty the Emperor.

The young man is now less than 20 years old, and even by the least optimistic estimates, he will be in power for more than 20 years. Therefore, winning and maintaining friendship with His Majesty the Emperor will bring long-term benefits to the company.

To win the friendship of the young emperor, the first thing is to get to know him. It is a pity that, although I have been in contact with His Majesty the Emperor for a year, I still do not dare to assert my knowledge of him, just as I still do not have a basic idea of China.

Of course, this also has something to do with the fact that the Chinese emperor lived in seclusion and was difficult to approach. Unlike our free Majesty the King, according to Chinese culture, His Majesty the Emperor cannot easily leave the castle in the city where he lives, and it is said that most Chinese emperors have traveled far away in their lives to go to the royal mausoleum to worship their ancestors.

However, our young Emperor does not seem to have much respect for such traditions, and he has always been able to bypass the advice of his courtiers and go about his own business. That's why now I'm able to accompany the emperor to military exercises.

On the way to participate in this Chinese ** exercise, I also got a wonderful opportunity to observe the emperor up close...

Although I do not know whether the young Majesty will be able to govern this huge country, through these four days of rapid marching, I think that if Your Majesty leads the army into battle, he will definitely be a good commander.

I say this because during the march His Majesty never gave up riding his horse, and took refuge in the empty carriage in the procession. Even when he limped with his legs every time he dismounted, he didn't give up on his decision. This kind of tenacity is rare even among the aristocracy of our country.

In addition to this, His Majesty also has a passion that can infect others. Many of the Emperor's bodyguards were from Chinese noble families, and their performance in such a rapid march was not even as good as that of His Majesty the Emperor himself.

On the third and fourth days of the march, many of the weaker guards were so tired that they either fell off their horses or had difficulty getting on their horses at all.

His Majesty the Emperor did not use military law to deal with these guards, but let some of the overly tired guards take turns to rest on the baggage wagons at the end of the line, and he himself kept running forward and backward to encourage the guards.

Just by such a few tricks, the whole accompanying guard army recovered a lot of morale, and when we arrived at the city of Zunhua, except for the more than ten wounded lying in the carriage, there were many others..."

When Meswold was working hard to write the book, Zhu Youzhen also discussed a decision with the staff officers and generals. The suggestion of Zhao Shujiao and other generals of Jizhou Town was adopted, and the exercise plan originally formulated by the General Staff Department was revised, and the exercise to be conducted in the vicinity of Baozizhai was now divided into three small exercise plans.

Baozizhai, Santunying and the fork of the Rehe River in the upper reaches of the Luan River were used as the venues for the three exercises. The drill here in Baozizhai was presided over by Mao Yuanyi, and the Santun camp was presided over by Zhao Shujiao, and the last place was supposed to be presided over by Zhou Wei.

However, Chongzhen said at this time that he would personally go to Guanwai to preside, and he also wanted to take a look at the relationship between the immigrants outside Guanwai and the local Mongolian tribes, and the construction of the fortress at the fork of the Rehe River.

Chongzhen's reasons were very sufficient, and the staff officers and generals at the meeting only vaguely agreed with the emperor's order. Mao Yuanyi felt that it was better for the emperor to run to Rehe than to run to Shanhaiguan for safety.

After all, after a year of operation, the area west of Rehe and south of Hara Qingcheng has been controlled by Han Chinese immigrants and Mongol tribes loyal to the Ming Dynasty. The Mongol tribes under the control of the Later Jin had retreated to the Longshan region, near the upper reaches of the Daling River.

From Zunhua City to the Rehe fork of the city on Wednesday, there are about 220 miles, and 7 military stations are set up in the middle. From the fork of the Rehe River to the Gubeikou in the north of Miyun, the distance is more than 180 miles, and there are 5 military stations in the middle.

Although there is a distance of more than 300 miles from Zunhua to Gubeikou, most of the roads are in the Yanshan Mountain, which is difficult and difficult to walk. On the contrary, it is not as good as turning around from the fork of the Rehe River, and it is easier to walk. Therefore, after Wednesday built the city at the fork of the Rehe River, the merchants who came out of the customs from the two places quickly fell in love with the road protected by the military station.

Although the Western-style castle at the fork of the Rehe River has only just appeared as an outline, the 800 Ming troops stationed here and the five nearby Han villages have made the Ming Dynasty firmly control this area.

Since Emperor Yongle withdrew from Daningwei, the power of the Ming Dynasty once again penetrated into this area. From the fork of the Rehe River to Fengzhen, the area outside the Guan, along the line of the Great Wall, became the first line of defense of the Ming State against the steppe nomads.

Standing on the hill of the Rehe fork, Zhou Wei was looking at the road to the south, and at the same time, he was also thinking about the emperor's intention of visiting the Rehe fork in person.

As a top student of the Army Military Academy, the longer he stayed at the fork of the Rehe River, the more he understood the importance of this place to the Ming Dynasty. The construction of the castle at the fork of the Rehe River not only advanced the defensive ring of Beijing nearly 200 miles to the north, but also made it impossible for the nomads who went south from this place to directly attack the Great Wall until the fortress was removed, otherwise they would be cut off by the Ming army.

In addition to the above benefits, when the Ming army was stationed at the Rehe fork, from this place to Gubeikou and to the boundary of Zunhua, it was equivalent to being completely included in the control of the Ming Kingdom. To the north of the Rehe River is the plateau area, and to the south of the Rehe River is mainly hills, but the cultivated land that can be developed south of the Rehe River is not less than 200,000 hectares.

In contrast to the overdeveloped land in the Kansai area, the land outside the Kansai is still in a primitive state except for grazing. The fertility of the land here is quite good, and if you dig a water channel, you can develop a lot of fertile land.

It's just that in dozens of immigrant villages outside the Guan, the local Mongolian tribes have increasingly shown a tendency to move closer to the Ming Dynasty. If more than 100,000 people can be immigrated, then this predominantly nomadic area may soon become a predominantly sedentary agricultural area.

Once the number of Han Chinese equals the Mongol population here, then the area will become a Great Wall defense line without the Great Wall. The Great Wall behind Rehe has become the mainland.

For the emperor's arrival and inspection, Wednesday was excited and a little uneasy. The excitement lies in the fact that he hopes that his efforts over the past year can be recognized by the emperor. The uneasiness is that in the present situation, the resettlement and construction of castles, military stations, and maintenance of roads are extremely large inputs, and the economic benefits obtained are only taxes from some passing traders, and the input and output seem to be extremely different.

Wednesday was terrified that the emperor would retreat when he saw the huge spending. Now, if these projects are curtailed, it will be a disaster for the garrison of Rehe, and it will also be a great blow to those Mongol tribes who rely on trading with the garrison of Rehe.

Just as Wednesday was thinking about it, dust and army flags finally appeared on the road he was looking at.

Unlike Lu Long's haste to Zunhua, after leaving the customs from Hongshan Pass, Zhu Youzhen slowed down the speed of his march. Although all the cavalry troops he brought with him this time were cavalry troops, two regiments of the First Guards Division, two regiments of the First Cavalry Division of the New Army, about 800 people from the Eight Banners of Zhongyi, 250 imperial guards, 150 brocade guards, and a number of baggage troops, totaling about 5 or 6,000 people.

Under Zhu Youzhen's orders, this army, which looked to be quite large outside the pass, was advancing at a speed of more than 30 miles a day. Whenever he went to a campsite, Zhu Youzhen would order the elders of the nearby Tunken village and the leaders of the Mongolian tribes to be summoned to drink and feast with them, as if he was just out to play this time.

In addition to drinking and feasting, Zhu Youzhen also ordered the Han and Mongol tribes of these villages to introduce the best warriors and hunters, compare their martial arts with their own guards, and reward them both in victory and defeat. Some of the most outstanding warriors were directly ordered by Chongzhen to be admitted as his guards.

In just three days, the news that the Ming Emperor had selected warriors as imperial guards on the grassland spread. All of a sudden, the young men who were unwilling to be lonely in the various Mongolian tribes rode their mounts and rushed towards Chongzhen's team, and the outside of Jizhou Pass was lively for a while.