Due to the arrival of Sun Chengzong, an imminent fire and crisis finally became invisible.

In fact, on the way to Zunhua, Sun Chengzong already knew that Tu Zhong in Jizhou was the closest to Zunhua, but the four doors were closed, and he could not be saved when he saw death. At the beginning, he was also furious, and planned to come to Jizhou in person, ask for Shang Fang's sword, and behead the eunuch Tu Zhong to show the public, and strictly enforce military discipline.

However, when he heard that Man Gui had killed the city gate official with an arrow, and Tu Zhong did not show up, Sun Chengzong suddenly realized that this was a big trap.

Because although he is a superintendent, he can theoretically control all the civil and military generals in Jiliao and Liao, but there is one type of person who is not under his control, that is, eunuchs.

Whether it is the chief military Guan Ning or the eunuch Tu Zhong, they are all sent by the celebrant on behalf of the emperor to supervise officials. Although they had no official position, they were greater than any other official; Although they have no nominal authority, they need their consent, whether it is civil or military, otherwise it will be difficult to move an inch.

Because they have in their hands the token given by the emperor.

Sun Chengzong calmed down and thought about it, if he was as impulsive as Man Gui and led his troops to Jizhou to ask for the guilt, Tu Zhong could first put all the blame on the dead city gate official, and only said that he didn't know. Even if he refuses to give up and ask for Shang Fang's sword, Tu Zhong also has the emperor's token, which is tantamount to letting Tianqi fight with himself, God knows who can have the final say.

Therefore, this trip to Jizhou is destined to be fruitless, so it is better not to go. As for attacking the city by force, as Man Gui said, it is even more nonsense, isn't that equivalent to rebellion!

Under Sun Chengzong's painstaking persuasion, Man Gui finally realized that his recklessness almost caused a catastrophe. Although he was rude, he was not stupid, and he immediately broke out in a cold sweat, and he was convinced by Sun Chengzong's meticulous thoughts.

But he still said angrily: "Master Inspector, is it just that? We led the troops to sacrifice their lives in front, but there was such a birdless birdman in the back, who didn't do anything good except for stumbling and making a trick! If it continues like this, I think the Tartars will have to attack sooner or later, and they won't be able to hold anything! ”

"Man Gui, Hugh is talking nonsense!" Sun Chengzong lowered his face and said solemnly, "How do you know that this superintendent doesn't want to punish Tu Zhong?" However, there are priorities, the current enemy, Shanhaiguan is in danger, the first priority of this superintendent is to quickly lead the soldiers and horses of King Qin to the front line to resist the enemy. As for Tu Zhong, this superintendent will take part in the recital and let the saint dispose of him. If anyone dares to talk nonsense and slow down the hearts of our army, this superintendent has the sword of Shang Fang here, and he will be severely punished! ”

Man Gui was so frightened that he stuck out his tongue and didn't dare to speak anymore.

Zhu Youzhen, who was on the side, saw that the atmosphere was awkward and planned to ease up, so he patted Man Gui's shoulder and said, "I said Lord General Soldier, what do you mean by 'birdman without birds'?" Is there a bird or no bird? ”

Man Gui laughed and said: "Then we have to wait for the decree of the saint, and the last general will catch this old thing in front of His Highness, take off his pants, and His Highness will know it after inspection!" ”

"Man Gui, in front of this superintendent, how dare you be so presumptuous... Hey, hey, hey! Although Sun Chengzong wanted to speak sharply, he was also laughed angrily by these two living treasures.

"Hahahaha!" All the generals in the hall were also amused by this low-level joke and laughed together, only Qi Meifeng was bitter, and she was extremely embarrassed among this group of old men, so she had to flee.

The army rested in Zunhua City for one day, and the next day they marched together. In view of the fact that the Duoyan Department entered the Kou on a large scale without warning, Sun Chengzong was even more worried about the garrison of the border pass, so he no longer turned to Jizhou and other places, but led his Chinese army, Mangui's cavalry and Qi Meifeng's Qi family army, and came directly to the Great Wall in the north.

Zhu Youzhen asked inexplicably: "Master Inspector, let's go to Shanhaiguan, aren't we going east?" How do you go back to the north? ”

Sun Chengzong had a great impression of Zhu Youzhen at this time, and explained to him with a smile: "Our dynasty has always attached importance to the defense of the northern border. Taizu and Chengzu repeatedly supported troops to the north, although they expelled Meng Yuan to the desert, but the Mongols were extremely cunning, and every time our soldiers came, they fled far away; As soon as our army left, they came back again, and they could not be completely wiped out.

"Therefore, since the Hongwu period, our dynasty has rebuilt a long wall along the northern border, according to the direction of the mountains and rivers, using the remains of the Great Wall built by the previous dynasty to resist the invasion of the northern enemy. This long wall starts from Jiayuguan in Gansu in the west, reaches Shanhaiguan in the east, and is more than 10,000 miles long, so it is also called 'the Great Wall'.

Since the beginning of the Jiajing Dynasty, the Jurchens in Liaodong have gradually become a big disaster, so the defense focus of the imperial court has also moved eastward from Xuanhua and Datong, especially paying attention to the line from Juyongguan to Shanhaiguan. Our march this time is to go up to the Great Wall from Xifengkou, march while inspecting, and directly arrive at Shanhaiguan. ”

Zhu You was overjoyed when he heard this, thinking that if he wanted to visit the Great Wall in his previous life, he would have to pay dozens of yuan for tickets. Coupled with the round-trip travel expenses, the tour group fare, and the messy shopping in the scenic spots, this trip will cost hundreds of RMB. It's good now, let's treat it as a public-funded tour!

The brigade traveled northward, and in a short time it was plunged into the mountains. From a distance, there seems to be a dark iron-colored dragon, winding through the majestic Yanshan Mountain Range.

Sun Chengzong pointed with his hand and said, "Your Highness, that black dragon is the Great Wall." The place in front of which seems to be the gathering of dragons is the Xifeng Pass. This place was called Lu Longsai in ancient times, and in the past Cao * fought against Wu Huan, and the former Yan Murong Xianbei invaded the Central Plains during the Eastern Jin Dynasty, all passed through this. Legend has it that someone in the previous dynasty did not return for a long time, his father inquired around, thousands of miles to meet here, father and son met at the bottom of the mountain, laughed and died of joy, hence the name. ”

Zhu Youzhen was sad when he heard this, and secretly thought that if this was the case, it should not be called "happy peak", but "sad and joyful peak" is more appropriate.

He and Sun Chengzong walked side by side, and the team followed closely, and soon came to Xifengkou.

The Ming army guarding here had just participated in the defense of Zunhua a few days ago, and was temporarily assigned here by Man Gui. Due to the shortage of troops, there were only more than 20 people assigned to Xifengkou. They stayed here in fear for more than a day, fearing a return of the Mongols. At this time, seeing that the team of people who were finally looking forward to their own people came, they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and they all cheered.

Sun Chengzong frowned when he saw it and said, "Why is there only so many people stationed at such an important pass?" ”

Man Gui was busy telling Sun Chengzong about the past. When Sun Chengzong heard this, on the one hand, he praised Man Gui for his proper handling, but on the other hand, he was also worried about the lack of soldiers, and said to himself: "Every pass, even if there are three hundred people, it is still insufficient. I think that unless it is increased to more than 1,000 people, it will be able to prevent the enemy's attack! ”

Zhu Youzhen stuck out his tongue when he heard this, although he didn't dare to say it, he thought in his heart: In Zunhua alone, there are more than 20 passes on the Great Wall. If there were really 1,000 people in each place, it would be more than 20,000 people. If the Great Wall were to be defended like this, wouldn't it be a few million people standing on it? Not to mention that there are not so many soldiers at all, even if there are, there is no need to fight, just eating will make the court poor!

Ascending the Great Wall by the horse road, Zhu Youzhen saw that the city wall here was built very strongly, unlike Zunhua, which was an inner layer of adobe and an outer layer of masonry, but purely made of wall bricks, and each brick seemed to be engraved with dense small characters.

Zhu Youzhen was shocked, and secretly wondered if the wall tiles of the Great Wall had also crossed with him, otherwise there were still words engraved on it? You don't need to look at it, it must be a graffiti like "xxx come here"!

But when you get closer, you can take a closer look, but you can see that the words on it are carved in neat regular script, and the content is: "Xiangtan County, Changsha Prefecture, Daming Dynasty, the official kiln system, the potter Shi San, Jiajing for three years." ”

"Xiangtan County, Changsha Prefecture? Three years of Jiajing? Zhu Youzhen was dumbfounded, it seems that although this brick did not travel from modern times with him, it seems to have traveled from earlier ancient times!

Sun Chengzong, who was on the side, answered this doubt for him: "The construction of the Great Wall is huge, and it can be said that the whole country is powerful. Speaking of this city brick alone, it is from all over the country, select the prefectures and counties with good soil quality and no sand grains, set up official kilns, and send potters to fire.

"A wall brick must go through several processes such as mud, brick rubbing, billet drying, kiln loading, brick burning, brick burning, brick extraction, etc., after about 20 days, it can become a finished product. After strict inspection, those with unevenness, sand holes, and cracks are not used, and they are basically seven out of ten. Finally, the potter then engraves his name on the brick, and if there is a problem such as a fracture in the future, the potter can be traced back to the source and the potter can be held accountable. If you fail once, you will return it for re-fever; If he fails to pass the second attempt, the potter will be beheaded. Your Highness, please see, this brick was fired in Jiajing three years, so far it has been a hundred years, after the sun and rain, it is still very hard, without a trace of cracks. ”

Zhu You listened to it, and while admiring it, he couldn't help but feel the labor and loss of money for this project.

He couldn't help but think of more than a thousand years ago, because of the proverb "Hu who died in Qin", Qin Shi Huang Yingzheng mobilized the strength of the whole country and sent 700,000 prisoners to build the Great Wall. Unexpectedly, this "Hu" does not refer to the Hu people outside the plug, but to his youngest son Hu Hai!

Qin Shi Huang was wise and wise, but he never expected that it was Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, who he sent to the border pass to build a city, to rise up and destroy his eternal foundation. This is called "within the walls of woe"!

Now, the imperial court is following the old path of Qin Shi Huang again. It's just that Zhu Youzhen really doubts that the Great Wall built with great effort can have much practical effect on defending against foreign invaders? This is not a barbed wire grid, the defense surface is so wide, the wall is bare, there are not enough troops, isn't it still an ornament?

He vaguely remembered that in the history he knew, a few years later, Huang Taiji led tens of thousands of cavalry to enter the Kou from Xifengkou and go straight to Beijing, causing the "change of his own side".

At this time, facing the endless plains in the north, Zhu Youzhen patted the wordless bricks of the Great Wall, but his heart felt extremely heavy, as if this brick was not on the city, but on his heart.