Why does Li Mu know about the sand table? To understand the truth of the matter, we have to go back to the day of Zhao Dan's private visit.

At noon, when Zhao Jie was busy with all the affairs, Li Mu also happened to come back from General Lian's Mansion. I don't know what happened in General Lian's Mansion, Li Mu was so happy that he didn't notice Zhao Jie who was approaching.

"General Li, what do you want?" Zhao Jie walked over to him and suddenly called. The sound was not loud or small, just like a thunderclap.

Li Mu was taken aback by Zhao Jie's sudden attack, and then with his descending instinct, he immediately reacted. "Didn't think anything?" Li Mu replied hesitantly.

"If you really don't want to say it, then you don't need to say it." Zhao Jiexing took retreat as the way to advance, and said indifferently.

Li Mu was afraid that Zhao Jie would be wrong, so he hurriedly explained: "Your Highness, don't misunderstand, I was just thinking about the solution to a problem just now, so I lost my mind, please apologize." ”

"What's the problem, why don't you talk about it, maybe I can help!" Zhao Jieluo asked with interest.

"The art of war is cloudy: for generals to know astronomy and geography, which means that generals need to know the terrain, water and roads of the location in detail before the war begins. In the course of a defensive war, the terrain in the territory can be personally understood in advance, but in the course of an offensive war, it is highly dangerous to personally go to the enemy's territory in advance to investigate and not to be promoted. If there is a way to show the situation of the enemy's mountains and rivers in a three-dimensional way, the miscalculation of the generals will be greatly reduced. Li Mu said the question gently.

"Not a bad idea." Zhao Jie praised: "In the past, Pang Juan was defeated by Sun Bin, because he suffered a loss of ignorance of the terrain, and after a long-distance attack, he was ambushed and almost wiped out. ”

Hearing this, Li Mu nodded and continued: "I have carefully studied the wars in the Central Plains and the wars in the grasslands, and found that most of the conquests of the Central Plains countries are step-by-step, and there are very few phenomena of wanton long-distance raids in the enemy's territory. The war on the steppe was quite different, the vast steppe gave both sides a huge arena to fight, and the extensive use of cavalry made the battle not confined to a small area. If you win, you will take advantage of the victory to pursue, and if you lose, you will be thousands of miles behind, which is the combat characteristic of the nomads on the grassland, and it is precisely this characteristic that makes the countries of the Central Plains unable to eliminate the border troubles. ”

"Indeed, whether it is the Qin State, the Yan State, or our country, when fighting with the nomads, they can always only 'but', not 'lose'"

Li Mu paused and continued: "If we want to 'defeat' the Xiongnu, I think we must learn the fighting methods of the Xiongnu. It is time to give up the combat mode of fighting step by step to the point of missing fighters, and we must use cavalry to control cavalry, and to use long-distance attacks to control long-distance attacks, which is the most appropriate choice to solve the problem. Long distances, deep into enemy territory, are likely to disperse, so it is important to plan ahead. The routes, meetings and locations of the march, the objectives of the battle, and the arrangement of water supplies all require incomparably accurate geographical information. ”

Li Mu said passionately, and his hand began to point around: "Therefore, it is the most important thing for the general to be familiar with astronomy and geography, otherwise it is still unknown if he will be led into a trap by the enemy." A rough map obviously cannot meet the operational requirements of generals, while a three-dimensional map of mountains and rivers that can be seen at a glance can perfectly meet the requirements. What I'm just thinking about is how to construct a three-dimensional map like this. ”

After listening to Li Mu's impassioned words, Zhao Jie said mysteriously: "General Li, you come with me, and I will show you a good thing." ”

When Li Mu heard this, he followed behind Zhao Jie, and finally walked into Zhao Jie's bedroom. I saw Zhao Jie go straight to the side of the bed, and carefully pulled out a wooden box as big as the bed from under the bed.

"Open it and take a look." Zhao Jie said to Li Mu with a smile, and the room was filled with a sense of mystery.

Li Mu cautiously picked up the lid of the wooden box, and a shrunken Handan city appeared in front of him. "This is Handan City!" Li Mu pointed to the model in front of him and exclaimed.

Zhao Jie nodded and said: "This is the model of Handan that I made and collected, that is, the hundred miles around it, and the simulation model that I and my maids made with beeswax, it took me a total of three years to complete the whole model, and I named it the sand table." Well, it's not bad! ”

Li Mu kept praising when he heard this: "It's not bad, it's completely ingenious!" ”

Zhao Jie looked at Li Mu expectantly, and continued to ask, "What did you think of when you saw it?" ”

Li Mu suddenly realized, patted his head, and said casually: "I can first send the map drawn by the secret room and the scouts, and then use beeswax to make a reduced three-dimensional topographic map of the enemy's territory based on the map." ”

"Three-dimensional topographic maps don't have to be made of beeswax, sand can also be made," Zhao Jie explained: "Beeswax is too expensive to be used on the battlefield. ”

"His Royal Highness Xie reminded you, Weichen understood." Li Mu replied.

"Show you one more thing, he'll make it a lot easier for the secret room and the scouts to draw maps." Zhao Jie walked to the table, took out the paper again, and handed it to Li Mudao: "This is paper, used for writing and painting." It won't be long before a paper shop will open in the Northland, and you will go directly to the store to pick up the paper, and you will not have to pay for it. ”

"Thank you, Your Highness, I can't thank you enough." Li Mu thanked again.

At this moment, Li Mu, who had already begun to show his demeanor as a famous general, would never have thought that his name would be closely associated with the sand table and forever passed on in history.

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Li Mu left, and three days later, the day when Li Min left Zhao Zhihan also came. Upstairs in Fengyue, Zhao Jie, Gao Le, Xu Yang, and Fei Jin saw off Li Min together.

"Have a nice trip!" Gao Le patted Li Min on the shoulder and wished with tears.

Li Min also patted him on the shoulder when he heard this, and then said with a smile: "People have joys and sorrows, this matter has been difficult since ancient times, don't be a daughter crying." ”

"Come back soon!" Xu Yang hugged Li Min and choked up and blessed.

Li Min also hugged Xu Yang, and then said with a smile: "The future is unpredictable, only by fighting hard can you control your own destiny." I encourage you and me. ”

"Glory and wealth!" Zhao Jie held Li Min's hand tightly and encouraged him affectionately.

Li Min also stared at Zhao Jie affectionately, and then said with a smile: "Thank you, Your Highness, for giving me the opportunity to make contributions, I will definitely seize the opportunity to revive the family." ”

"Make a difference!" Fei Jin stared at Li Min's eyes and said excitedly.

Looking at each other, Li Min also said to Fei Jin with high morale: "When a man is alive, he should do a great career vigorously, although he dies without regrets, you must not lag behind me too far!" ”

A bowl of parting wine, a parting feast, all participants are sad. After the banquet, Li Min, who had been smiling and laughing, left a tear of parting outside everyone's sight.

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After sending Li Min away, Zhao Jie got up with nothing to do again. Arranging for people to sell Mojia paper and going to the ironsmith workshop to study the creation of weapons has become almost the only thing he can spend time doing every day.

One morning a month later, Zhao Qidou of the ironsmith workshop reported to Zhao Jiedao: "I have communicated with the Handan Zhuo clan at a deep level, and they want to invite you to Zhuo's mansion as a guest. ”

"You tell them that I'll be there on time tomorrow!" Zhao Jie commanded: "But I won't make a big fuss, I hope they can understand!" ”

"Humble and orderly, go and inform the Zhuo family." Zhao Qidou saluted respectfully, and then exited the room.

The next day, an inconspicuous car drove into Zhuo's mansion, and it was Zhao Jie sitting in the carriage. And Zhuo Mansion is the whole family together, waiting for Zhao Jie's arrival.

Stepping out of the carriage, Zhuo Bufan, the head of the Zhuo family, stepped forward to greet him. "The grass people are extraordinary, and I will meet His Royal Highness the Prince." Zhuo Bufan bowed.

"No need to be polite." Zhao Jie hurriedly stepped forward to help Zhuo Bufan, and said: "This time, Gu did not come to visit as a prince, but as a collaborator of iron smelting to discuss cooperation. ”

"The grass people understand, please come into the house to talk in detail." Zhuo Bufan respectfully led Zhao Jie to the lobby of the inner mansion.

While moving forward, while looking, Zhao Jie found that Zhuo's mansion was not luxurious, the utensils were commonly used by ordinary people, and the houses were as simple as ordinary people's buildings, there were very few maids and servants, and their clothes were simple but quite neat.

After a while, Zhao Jie came to the lobby of the meeting under the leadership of Zhuo Bufan. In the hall, the five generations were in the same hall, and Zhuo Bufan first introduced Zhao Jie one by one.

"This is the old father who is below." Zhuo Bufan pointed to an old man with gray hair and said to Zhao Jie.

"The younger generations visit the old gentleman, and I wish the old gentleman happiness like the East China Sea and longevity than Nanshan." Zhao Jie respectfully greeted the old man.

"Your Highness is gracious." The old gentleman greeted Zhao Jie and said: "The grass people can see the face of the prince today, which is a blessing that has been cultivated for several generations. ”

"This is Uchiko." "This is the son of the grass people." "This is the daughter of the grass people. "This is my granddaughter. "This is my grandson. ”……

Zhuo Bufan introduced everyone in the hall to Zhao Jie one by one, and Zhao Jie made cordial greetings one by one, perhaps because of Zhao Jie's approachable temperament, the people of the Zhuo family quickly became one with Zhao Jie.