[Today's third update.] Tomorrow's first shift, it will be rushed out at night, please read it tomorrow when you get up. Ask for a red ticket and collect it. 】

Near nightfall, Han Gang and Wang Zhongzheng returned to Weiyuan Fort. Wang Shao was standing in the hall with his hands in his hands, looking down at a square wooden plate.

Wang Zhongzheng looked over with it. This thing is said to be a bonsai, but there is no grass, no wood, and no strange stones. But there are houses with walls, and on the bottom surface of six feet square, they are arranged one after the other, like two concrete and micro houses...... No, Wang Zhongzheng took a closer look, it was not a house at all, but two walled forts.

"Is this the sand table in that place?" Wang Zhongzheng asked. When he was still in the capital, he had seen dozens of sand tables built by Zhao Ji in the Wuying Palace. Although the piece in front of him was not quite the same as the one he had ever seen, it should be the same kind of thing.

"New Weiyuan Fort." Wang Shao replied.

Han Gang's invention of the sand table made Wang Shao feel like a bypass, and the purpose of his visit to Weiyuan was to select a site for Xinbao and decide on the size range and style. In order to be more intuitively confirmed, he hired a carpenter to create a mock-up of the castle.

"The current Weiyuan Fort can only be used as a sentry, but it is just a slightly larger beacon tower. The previous time, Dong Yu drove straight into Weiyuan Fort, but there were no soldiers in the fort to cut off his way back. Han Gang explained to Wang Zhongzheng, "Building a new fort in Weiyuan, hoarding grain, and stationing a large army is to stretch the defense line forward to the foot of Bird and Mouse Mountain. The Guwei area can be reclaimed with peace of mind. ”

Wang Zhongzheng looked down at the sand table again, and in the corner of the sand table there was a cross arrow marking the east, west, north and south, and there was a scale bar on the side to determine the distance. For the knowledge on the sand table, in order to be able to speak in front of Zhao Ji, there is no eunuch in the palace who does not learn, and Wang Zhongzheng also knows how to use the scale to convert the actual distance.

The two walled forts on the sand table are arranged about half a mile apart, one east and one west, and the Weishui flows through the south side of the west fort, but passes through the north side of the east fort. Wang Zhongzheng asked strangely: "Why are these two new castles so far away and separated from Weishui?" ”

"Weiyuan Fort is lonely and hangs outside, and sets up two, according to both sides of Weishui, and sets up a rope bridge or a pontoon bridge to connect the two sides of the river, it can become a horn of the momentum, can protect itself. And half a mile, a distance of one hundred and eighty paces, is not far. Wang Shao pointed to the west side of the fort on the north bank and smiled bitterly, "Actually, it would be best if it could be built directly opposite the river, but on the north bank of Weishui, the nearest suitable place to build a fort is here, and there is no other choice." ”

Wang Zhongzheng frowned and asked, "What if the Weishui floods?" Under the torrent, the bridge is difficult to navigate, so the horn between the two forts will not be successful, right? ”

"It's really well thought out." Han Gang praised first, "But when the flood is flooding, it is mostly after heavy rain, the ground is muddy, and it is difficult for thieves to attack. ”

"I see." Wang Zhongzheng nodded and muttered a few words. The most embarrassed queen looked up and smiled: "But I asked more." ”

Wang Zhongzheng asked Weiyuan Fort a little more, and Wang Shao felt that there were some questions when he heard it. Cast his eyes on Han Gang with questioning, Han Gang immediately nodded lightly in understanding.

And so it was! Wang Shao's spirit is a boost: "I know that I can come to Weiyuan in person, which shows that I also care about the affairs of the military state." It's much stronger than Deputy Chief Dou. Whether it is Xiang Xuan or Deputy Chief Dou, they have not been to Weiyuan Fort once since they took office. And Li Jingluo was also not interested in expanding Weiyuan Fort, and pressed many papers. ”

"The official family has always taken the matter of Hehuang to heart, whether it is Weiyuan or Guwei, they are often on their lips. Since I have arrived in Qinzhou, I have come to Weiyuan for a trip, and after returning to Beijing, I have something to say back to the official's house. With the attention of the official family to the matter of Hehuang, I am afraid that everything will be asked. Wang Zhongzheng said two sentences as if he was clear, but his words were full of his own concern about the opening of the border.

"Alas!" Wang Shao let out a long sigh, sighed at the east, and almost shed tears in his eyes: "The Son of Heaven values it so much, in the past three years, Wang Shao has only had a little merit to repay the kindness of the Son of Heaven, it is really ashamed, ashamed!" ”

"The courtiers are slandered internally, the marshal's mansion is depressed externally, Zuo Zhengyan can still win many victories, how can it be difficult to repay the Son of Heaven?" Seeing this, Wang Zhongzheng hurriedly persuaded Wang Shao: "If Zuo Zhengyan's words go out, I don't know how many people will be embarrassed." ”

Watching the performance of the two of them, Han Gang stood next to him and didn't say anything. Wang Zhongzheng's intention has been revealed, and Wang Shao's purpose has been achieved.

Wang Zhongzheng is interested in side affairs, Wang Shao is old and sophisticated, Wang Zhongzheng only asked two more words, he saw it, and confirmed it from Han Gang, so naturally he would not let it go easily. He really wanted to bring Wang Zhongzheng, the big mink, in, not only to better get the support of the Son of Heaven, but also to fight against Gao Zunyu.

Wang Shao has always hoped that there will be a help who can speak in front of the Son of Heaven, Gao Zunyu is the uncle of the Queen Mother, the uncle of the Son of Heaven, of course, it can be counted. But Gao Zunyu's own character is too greedy, which makes Wang Shao jealous. Maybe his place will be squeezed out by Gao Zunyu that day.

So as soon as Wang Zhongzheng came, Wang Shao set his sights on him. In order to get closer to the Son of Heaven, Wang Shao didn't mind bringing in a eunuch who supported the strategy of opening the border to be the overseer. With eunuchs as the supervising army, there were both Tang and Song dynasties. If you take on a position, you can even directly participate in local affairs. And there are many eunuchs who lead troops and repair rivers in the local area.

At this time, the scholars were extremely discriminatory against the eunuchs, and they had to beat them if they had nothing to do. However, it is accustomed to the eunuchs' participation in political and military affairs, and they say a few words when they are needed, and let the eunuchs lead the troops and serve as officials in the local area when they are not needed. Han Gang, on the contrary, does not discriminate against eunuchs, but he is not accustomed to eunuchs participating in state politics.

Therefore, Han Gang was noncommittal about Wang Shao's thoughts, and in his heart, he was still mostly opposed. In his mind, Wang Zhongzheng may not necessarily have the same heart as Wang Shao, maybe he will get along with Gao Zunyu, and Wang Zhongzheng's own conduct is also a problem. It's just that he doesn't plan to say what he thinks in his heart, because Han Gang also has some scruples about Gao Zunyu. It is difficult to say which is more important than the other.

accompanied Wang Zhongzheng to dinner and sent him to rest. Wang Shao pulled Han Gang and Wang Hou to stand by the sand table again. He wanted to hear Han Gang's opinion.

"Yukun, do you think it's appropriate for the two forts to be arranged like this?"

"If there is enough money and manpower, it would be nice to build a little bigger." This is Han Gang's answer.

Han Gang didn't actually know much about the military wall, he only knew that the higher and thicker the wall of the city, the more grain and ordnance stored in it, the more difficult it was to conquer. But he also knows that the first thing to consider when building any project is the budget, and then the manpower problem, as for what it will look like, it will depend on these two items.

"Where did you get the extra money? There is no need to think about the village with more than 500 steps! If the money and food are enough, wouldn't it be better to directly expand Weiyuan Fort into a thousand-step city?! Why bother to make some horns and build another fort on the other side? There is no ancient Weizhai and Gangu City, and it is not An Ansheng. ”

Han Gang's words detonated the bomb that Wang Shao hid in his heart, he patted the edge of the sand table and scolded loudly: "The political hall is also funny, I asked them for money to repair the city, and they are good, let the second brother bring back two hundred blank degrees." I don't want to think that this is Qinzhou, not the capital, how many people will take two or three hundred yuan to buy a degree?! It is also said that it is worth 50,000 yuan, and if I can sell it for half the price, I will burn incense and chant Buddha! ”

Wang Shao's complaint has its own merits.

Because there is a degree, you can be exempted from tax, you can travel the world without passing by, and there are countless businessmen who want to get one to protect themselves. And some rich families want to keep their children safe, and they also need a degree to shave a stand-in.

Therefore, it is equivalent to a security, which can be sold at a high price. Sometimes, when there is a famine in the local area, the DPRK and the central government cannot come up with money to provide relief, so they issue a degree of relief as a disaster fund. On the other hand, many monks who really eat fasting and recite the Buddha can only be a novice for life because they cannot afford to shave a degree.

The price of a non-excess, like a security, is volatile. Sometimes it's high and sometimes it's low, some places are high, some places are low. For example, in the rich places of Beijing and Jiangnan, they can often be sold at a high price, and they have been sold for 200 or 300 yuan. But in Qinzhou, Wang Shao just asked people to ask for the price, and at first the price was 120 yuan, but when he heard that Wang Shao had 200 copies in his hand, he immediately fell to 90.

The government affairs hall issued 200 zhang as 50,000 yuan to allocate money, but in fact, it could only sell less than 20,000 yuan, how did Wang Shao not be angry? This kind of thing, it's not easy to find someone to pay it hard, so you can only sell it one by one.

Wang Shao scolded for a while, and then stopped. At this point, I can only explain the matter to the central government, and continue to ask for money and grain - it takes less than 20,000 guan to build a walled fort, which is good to say on the edge of Qinzhou City, but in Weiyuan, which is more than 300 miles away from Qinzhou, the grain and grass required by the people who have been requisitioned can eat half of the consumption of transportation on the road.

"It would be nice to get another twenty or thirty thousand." Wang Hou brought him a cup of herbal tea to dissipate his anger, and Wang Shao's heart calmed down. He is still a little confident, with his current status in the heart of the Son of Heaven, it will not be a problem to get another twenty or thirty thousand.

Han Gang looked down at the sand table model: "If you can add another twenty or thirty thousand, according to the pattern, expand the current Weiyuan Fort, and build a new one on the other side, it will barely be enough." At that time, a conductor will be placed on each side. Three or four hundred men were enough to hold the fort. ”

Wang Hou interjected on the side: "The forbidden army only has three or four hundred under one command, but the box army does not. ”

"It's impossible to let the Xiang army come to defend it!" Han Gang shook his head, and his raised tone was full of disdain, "Even if you recruit the archers of the township soldiers to come here to be guarded by Tian Shu, it is better than the Fang Xiang army." ”

According to the establishment, a commander is generally about 500 people. But this is only the number on the soldiers' ranks, minus the proportion of empty salaries, and some old and weak people who are unbearable to go into battle, but have backers later, and there are only more than 300 people who can really be put into battle in a command

- This refers to the ordinary forbidden army, if it is a box army, half of it is empty, and the remaining half is mostly running around in the official's house to obey orders. Their combat power is not even as good as that of the village soldiers in Kansai. If Han Gang had escorted the army to Gangu City at the beginning, he would have been accompanied not by the people who had been archers, but by the Xiang army, and he might have run away early.