Li Jinglong was speechless for a while, and then stopped talking. Zhu Ao saw his thoughts and said: "Cao Guogong has a heavy responsibility, and he wants to stay in Pingliang to mobilize troops and horses and raise grain and grass, so don't follow this time." ”

Li Jinglong's face was light, and he breathed a sigh of relief, but his posture still had to be expressed, and said, "How can this be?" How could I let you, Your Highness, go to such a dangerous place alone? ”

The corners of Zhu Ao's mouth raised slightly, and he said in his heart: I really don't feel at ease with such a big pit as you, and said with a smile: "Cao Guogong doesn't have to be polite, revolutionary, oh, no, the work of the court always has to be divided, if you also go, who will stay here to raise grain and grass for the king and collect the army?" ”

Li Jinglong saw that Zhu Ao had said this, so he hurriedly got off the donkey and said, "Okay, if the prince is in danger, he must quickly send an envoy to report to the minister, and the minister will definitely support the prince with all his might." ”

Zhu Ao smiled: "It's easy to say, it's easy to say." ”

After the banquet, Zhu Ao reclined on the Luohan bed (a sofa in the Ming Dynasty) and read a book. Dai Nu knelt on the side to wash his feet and asked, "Lord Wang, do you really plan to go to Zhangye (Ganzhou) the day after tomorrow?" ”

Zhu Ao removed the book, stared at her and smiled, "What? Are you scared? ”

Dainu's cheeks turned red when he stared at him, and said, "How can the slave be afraid?" There is a prince in the slave, and he is not afraid of anything. ”

Zhu Ao picked at her peugeot face with a book, and said, "I also said that if you are afraid, I will give you to Cao Guogong, so that you can enjoy happiness in the rear." ”

Unexpectedly, when Dai Nu heard this, he became anxious, knelt on the ground and pointed to the sky and swore an oath: "Isn't the prince disloyal to the slave?" The slave swore that he would only follow the prince at this time, and if he had two hearts, the heavens and the earth would be destroyed. If the prince suspects the slave, the slave has to die here, and he will die in order to die! "With that, I really stood up and slammed into the pillar.

"Hey, hey, hey." Zhu Ao was so frightened that he couldn't even wear his shoes, rushed up with an arrow step, hugged her small waist and said, "Why are you so funny, I'm talking to you." ”

Dai Nu said with a crying voice: "The prince is a nobleman, how can the slave guess the prince's thoughts." The prince suspected the slave, and the slave had no choice but to die. ”

Zhu Ao was speechless for a while, and said with a straight face: "Don't do such stupid things in the future, since you are my slave, then your life is mine, I won't let you die, you have absolutely no right to die." ”

Dai Nu said quietly: "The prince suspects that the slave is unfaithful, that is, let the slave die." ”

Zhu Ao was completely defeated, but she didn't expect this little girl to be so dead-eyed, and said, "Good, good, good." Dainu, you are the most faithful slave in the world, and this king will never give you to anyone else, okay. ”

Dai Nu burst into tears and laughed, and said, "Lord Wang, you are hungry." The slave will cook you a bowl of porridge. ”

Zhu Ao said: "Go ahead." With that, he sat down again, leaned back on the Luohan bed, and continued to enjoy the privileges granted to him by the evil feudal society. In later generations, he has always had the habit of eating supper, and this habit was naturally brought to the Ming Dynasty by him.

The day after tomorrow, Zhu Ao led the troops to pull out, and there were 5,600 soldiers in Ganzhou's Zuo Weiguang alone, plus his more than 10,000 guards and thousands of prisoners, there were about 20,000 people, not counting military families. With so many people gathered together, the first thing to solve was the problem of eating. Although Lao Zhu will transport grain to himself from the mainland, after all, the roads in Hexi are remote, and it is not easy to transport grain. His own dignified vassal king Sui Lu was only 500 stones, which was twenty times worse than the others, not to mention that he was an ordinary sergeant who could only eat one full meal a day. After the implementation of the opening of the Chinese law, in order to make profits, merchants set up a large number of merchants on the border, but there are still very few who are willing to come to Hexi. Therefore, we have to solve the food problem by ourselves.

The place guarded by Zhu Ao is roughly equivalent to the place of today's Gansu Province from Lanzhou to Jiayuguan, that is, the legendary four counties of the five counties west of the Western Han River, they are arranged from southeast to northwest are Jincheng County (Lanzhou), Wuwei County (called Liangzhou in the Ming Dynasty, today's Wuwei City), Zhangye County (called Ganzhou in the Ming Dynasty, that is, the place where Zhu Ao took the domain, today's Zhangye City), Jiuquan County (called Suzhou in the Ming Dynasty, today's Jiuquan City, including Jiayuguan), and the westernmost Dunhuang County was called Shazhou during the Ming Dynasty, This fashion was not under the control of the Ming Dynasty. For the sake of convenience, this book uses the ancient names of the five counties of Hexi, namely Jincheng, Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Dunhuang, of course, this is also related to the author's personal preferences.

Zhu Ao held a whip on a horse in this vast land, and his chest was full of pride, where is this place where soldiers are fierce and dangerous, this is clearly a treasure given to him by God.

There is Qilian Mountain in the south of Hexi, towering into the clouds, so as long as you defend a few key passes, in the era of cold weapons, no army can climb over the Qilian Mountain at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters to win by surprise, this is purely death.

Although there are also Longshou Mountain, Heli Mountain, and Mamanshan Mountain (North Mountain) from east to west in the north, the terrain is generally flat and vulnerable to attack. In Zhu Ao's memory, most of the guards, forts, and piers in Gansu in the Ming Dynasty were distributed in the north. The terrain in the north and the construction of the fortress and pier must be investigated in the future, and the matters related to safety must not be careless.

The Hexi Corridor is located between these two mountain systems, with hundreds of kilometers in width and only a few kilometers in its narrowest place. It belongs to the accumulation plain area, the terrain is flat and vast, and the land is fertile; Although there is less precipitation in the inland, due to the abundant ice and snow melt water in the Qilian Mountains, there are many rivers, and the irrigated agriculture is very developed (of course, it is very desolate in the early Ming Dynasty), it is a famous prosperous and rich place in the Han and Tang dynasties, and it is also the most important commercial grain and cash crop production base in the northwest region in later generations, providing more than two-thirds of the province's commercial grain, almost all of the cotton, nine-tenths of vegetables, two-fifths of the oilseeds, etc., known as the granary of the northwest.

There are many rivers in the Hexi Corridor, but from west to east, they are divided into three major water systems: the Shule River (the main river basin is in Jiuquan), the Heihe River (the main river basin is in Zhangye), the Shiyang River (the main river basin is in Wuwei), and further east is the Yellow River flowing through Lanzhou.

The most important thing is that there is also the largest military horse farm in Asia and the second in the world - Shandan Military Horse Farm, which is located in Shandan County, Zhangye City. I don't think I need to say much about the importance of military horses in ancient warfare. The reason why the Han and Tang dynasties were able to dominate the four seas largely relied on the military horses produced here, and the Song Dynasty has been beaten, largely because it did not occupy Hexi, and there were no good horses in the country.

Of course, the Shandan Military Horse Farm is just a prominent representative, and there are too many places suitable for grazing in the Hexi Corridor. Animal husbandry, represented by military horses, is also one of Zhu's key plans.

Zhu Ao thought as he walked, and unconsciously passed Wuwei and arrived at the city of Zhangye (Ganzhou).

"Zhangye, Zhangye. Zhang Guo's arm is tucked to pass through the Western Regions. What a good name, the ancients were wise. Zhu Ao sighed. Let's start here, I will base myself in Hexi, open my arms, and embrace the world.