At the end of the next day, Wang Yuan and his entourage of soldiers and horses, together with a thousand Fanyang soldiers and horses led by Yan Zhuang and An Qingxu, formed a huge team and went out of Youzhou City to Jizhou. In the evening of the same day, the brigade arrived in Jizhou and camped overnight, and left Jizhou in the early morning of the next day to go to Huangyaguan, 30 miles to the northeast, and Anlushan, and the Xiongwu City that took more than three years to build was on Huangyaguan.

Ten miles away from Jizhou, the eyes are already winding and undulating mountains, the peaks are continuous, the east and west are vertical and horizontal, like a natural barrier to block the truth from north to south. The mountains here are characteristic, not high but steep, and there is no end in sight. The valley is large and thick, with dense trees and shrubs, and crumbling gravel, which may seem easy to traverse, but once inside, it will be difficult to move an inch.

Since the third year of Tianbao, An Lushan has been working this natural line of defense, and the north of the mountains is the front line of the war with the Xi people, and the passage connecting Danzhou and the rear is the Huangya Pass. The Yellow Cliff Pass is the only north-south traffic artery in this mountain.

In order to not only quickly support the military supplies of Yanzhou and Danzhou, but also to have an impregnable Xiongguan to resist the attacking Xi people once Yanzhou and Danzhou are lost, An Lushan proposed to build Xiongwu City at the Huangya Pass, hoard materials and horses, enter to support Yanzhou and Danzhou, and retreat to ensure that the southward pass is not lost, and play the role of connecting Shannan and Shanbei from the previous and the next.

Of course, Xuanzong agreed with this plan, the tranquility of the border has always been the emperor's most concerned thing, not to mention An Lushan patted his chest and promised that as long as Xiongwu City is completed, the northeast border of the Tang Dynasty will sit back and relax. Xuanzong trusted An Lushan and approved the establishment of the city.

The manpower and material resources spent to build a city can be imagined, which is an extremely large expenditure, but Xuanzong responded to almost all of An Lushan's requests, and a large amount of material resources were continuously transported to Fanyang County to support An Lushan's city building needs.

Of course, An Lushan did not dare to be sloppy, because this majestic city was not just a city to ensure the safety of Fanyang County in An Lushan's heart, and An Lushan built it for another purpose. Xiongwu City has been completed this summer, An Lushan is constantly stuffing the war horses, weapons, grain and grass materials requested from the imperial court into the city to hoard, which has now become the largest hoarding warehouse of grain and grass materials and war horses in An Lushan, and it is still outside the scope of the imperial court.

At noon, the group finally arrived at the small hillside in the southwest of Huangya Pass, Wang Yuan stood on the top of the hillside, looked at the undulating mountains in the northeast direction, and under the guidance of Yan Zhuang, Wang Yuan saw the majestic city under the mountain pass.

"Wang Qin's envoy, that is the Xiongwu City, An Shuai painstakingly took three years to establish this city, during which he encountered hardships and difficulties, which ordinary people could not imagine. However, since the establishment of the city in the summer, there has been little fighting in the north. Because in July, when the Xi people invaded Yanzhou, the soldiers and horses of Xiongwu City quickly went out to rescue, and more than 700 thieves were killed at that station. The Xi people know that our Xiongwu City has been built, and they can quickly support the two northern states at any time, and they will never dare to cross the border again. Yan Zhuang pointed to the smoke-filled Xiongwu City in the distance and introduced.

Wang Yuan smiled and nodded: "What a majestic city, it can be seen that An Shuai's handwriting is so big, and it is really incredible to build such a majestic city in this mountain range." I think it's a lot of manpower and material resources. ”

"Needless to say? I can't count how much money was spent. Tens of thousands of people were requisitioned alone. All the bluestone is quarried from the bluestone mountain in the south of Youzhou and hauled here. An Shuai said, 'If you want to build the strongest Xiongcheng, you can ensure peace for 10,000 years, and you don't need to worry about the money and manpower you spend, and long-term peace and stability is the goal.' ’。 Look, this is An Shuai's spirit. ”

Wang Yuan nodded heavily and said, "An Shuai has a long-term vision and is very admirable. The scale of this majestic city is not small. ”

"That is, eight miles long, seven miles wide, and 100,000 male soldiers. In addition, there are urn cities in the south, south, and west, eleven arrow towers on the city wall, and there is an enemy fort on the top of the mountain according to the mountain situation. To the north, along both sides of the Huangyaguan Valley, there are 28 beacon towers, which stretch to the northern foot of the mountains, and are guarded by special personnel. In the battle in the north, or if there are Xi bandits attacking the cliff mouth, the beacon smoke can be transmitted to the city overnight, and the response can be made immediately. Yan Zhuang's tone was sonorous, obviously very proud of this.

Wang Yuan had to admit that he had the capital to be proud of, this Xiongwu City was built in all directions, armed to the teeth, and it could be heard from his tone like a few treasures that Yan Zhuang had definitely made a lot of efforts to this city. However, the picture that emerged in Wang Yuan's mind was that tens of thousands of people were driven to carry stones on their backs and build the city like ants. I don't know how many people's flesh and blood have been soaked under the foundation of Xiongwu City.

"Still can't go? What are you doing standing here? It was not too late to speak when I entered the city, and my stomach was growling. A man behind him interrupted their conversation by interjecting rudely.

"The second prince is in a hurry, Wang Qin, shouldn't we go into the city?" Yan Zhuang smiled.

Wang Yuan nodded and said, "Okay, the second son's stomach is hungry, this is a big deal." Let's go, into town. ”

The cavalry of the brigade rolled down the slope, and rushed to the Xiongwu City in the distance in the smoke and dust. The distance was several miles away, but listening to the horn in the city, countless heads appeared on the south city wall, and then the city gate opened, and a team of soldiers and horses rushed out of the city gate, straight to Wang Yuan and others.

A moment later, the group of soldiers and horses arrived in front of them, led by a burly man, with a dark complexion, a helmet and armor, and a very martial man. The man stood dozens of steps away, rolled his saddle and ran all the way to everyone, bowed to An Qingxu and said: "The humble Sun Xiaozhe saw the second prince and Mr. Yan, I just received the news that the second prince and Mr. Yan are coming, and the humble post is patrolling the defense in the northern valley, welcoming the late, hoping to pray for forgiveness." ”

An Qingxu snorted and said, "General Sun, is the meal ready?" ”

Sun Xiaozhe said: "The banquet has been prepared, please invite the second son and Mr. Yan into the city." ”

Yan Zhuang frowned and said, "General Sun, Wang Qin's envoy is here, why don't you pay a visit?" ”

Only then did Sun Xiaozhe notice Wang Yuan, who was sandwiched between An Qingxu and Yan Zhuang and sitting on a black horse, so he arched his hand and said, "I've seen Wang Qin's envoy." ”

Wang Yuan bowed his hand and saluted: "General Sun doesn't need to be polite, it's hard for General Sun." ”

Yan Zhuang introduced Wang Yuan with a smile: "This one is General Sun Xiaozhe Sun who is stationed in Xiongwu City. The general I am talking about who led the troops to defeat the Xi cavalry in the summer was him. ”

Wang Yuan smiled and said: "Sure enough, he is a member of the fierce generals, Your Majesty has An Shuai and so many brave generals under his command to guard the border, and he will definitely be able to sleep peacefully." ”

"Sun Xiaozhe, why don't you lead the way into the city?" An Qingxu shouted.

Sun Xiaozhe hurriedly said: "Obey orders." Turning and trotting onto their horses, they turned their horses around and ran toward the wide open gates. Wang Yuan and others rode their horses to follow, and in the rumbling of hooves, a group of soldiers and horses galloped into the city through the long doorway.

The lunch banquet was very rich, and there were many delicacies that Wang Yuan had never eaten, and it was said that they were all wild meat infested in the nearby mountains and forests, and Wang Yuan ate it with relish. The atmosphere at the banquet was also harmonious, although An Qingxu didn't like Wang Yuan, but An Lushan said that day that Yan Zhuang was the official identity of accompanying Wang Yuan, and he was just assisting on the side, so Yan Zhuang was polite to Wang Yuan, and An Qingxu didn't dare to make too many mistakes, just said some cool words sourly.

When the banquet was about to end, Wang Yuan said to Yan Zhuang and the others: "Mr. Yan, after the meal, I want to take a walk around the city to see the style of this majestic city. ”

Yan Zhuang smiled: "Of course you can, I will accompany the envoy to visit in the future." The envoy is reassured. ”

Wang Yuan smiled and nodded in thanks, Yan Zhuang thought for a while and said: "There is something that must be explained to the envoy, Xiongwu City is a military important place in Fanyang, and the envoy of the Qin has a large number of soldiers and horses and his entourage. This is a death order issued by the marshal, and without the marshal's permission, anyone who trespasses on the place where the military supplies are stored in the northern city will be killed without mercy. Wang Qin's envoy must make this clear to his brothers, I am afraid that there will be misunderstandings. ”

Wang Yuan nodded and smiled: "Don't worry, I will strictly restrain them." ”

Yan Zhuang seemed to be afraid that Wang Yuanyan would not be sincere, and further explained: "Beicheng is a place where ordnance materials are stored, and it must be strictly guarded. If anyone can go in and hang out, they will make trouble. If it is mixed in and a fire is ignited, it will be terrible. This is also the reason why An Shuai strictly ordered it to be listed as a forbidden area, and it was understood by Wang Qin. ”

"Understand, understand, of course." Wang Yuan smiled and nodded: "I don't have much interest in the warehouse where the materials are stored, I just want to see the heroic appearance of the Xiongcheng and the surrounding mountains. Nothing else. ”