After more than 20 days of emergency construction of 30,000 soldiers, the pass of the North Tiger Valley has begun to take shape, completed ninety percent of the progress, you can see the huge and majestic city wall in the distance, standing high in the narrowest part of the North Tiger Valley, which makes Zhang Xuan extremely happy, the North Tiger Valley Pass is progressing so fast is Zhang Xuan did not expect, he even can't take a break, as soon as he arrives in the city, he will be accompanied by Su Dingfang and Li Chun to the head of the city to inspect. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The construction of the North Tiger Valley Pass was originally in charge of Mai Mengcai and Taishou Li Yi, Zhang Xuan was adjusted after Li Chun's arrival, Mai Mengcai turned to be responsible for the height and widening of the Lulongsai city wall, and the North Tiger Valley Pass City was changed to Su Dingfang and Li Chun in charge, the facts proved that this decision was correct, Su Dingfang had strong control over the army, and the efficiency was extremely high, coupled with Li Chuncai's ingenious design, so that this pass city only took 20 days to take shape, which can be called a miracle.

Outside the city wall, Su Dingfang pointed to an arch bridge at the bottom, and praised sincerely: "Li Shangshu's planning for the bottom of the city pass is like a stroke of genius, which not only solves the problem of Baoqiu water passing through the city, but also greatly saves the amount of work, speeds up the construction, and is willing to obey!" ”

Zhang Xuan also noticed that the bottom of the city wall was actually a crescent-shaped flat arch bridge, only half a person high, with sharp steel thorns thick at the wrist below, the ice had been chiseled, and the cold and clear river water flowed under the bridge, Zhang Xuan squatted down and looked at it for a while, and asked, "Can people drill through?" ”

Li Chun said with a smile: "People can dive over the bottom of the river, but the war horses can't pass, and without the war horses, what combat effectiveness does the Turkic army have?" ”

This creative idea made Zhang Xuan nod and praise, "Li Shangshu is right, the Turkic army is one, and without war horses, Turkic soldiers are nothing." ”

He looked at the towering city wall again, and asked with some concern, "Can the arch bridge below withstand such a heavy wall above?" ”

Li Chun hurriedly said: "Your Highness doesn't know, Wechen made full use of the pig iron in the warehouse of the mutual market, and made an iron frame in the city wall with pig iron, and there are eight thick iron piles below to support, in fact, the iron frame is supporting the wall, Wechen does not dare to guarantee that it will be safe for ten years, but at least it can be guaranteed that it will not collapse within five years, and we can rebuild this city after three years, and then Wechen will take another year to build it carefully, and it will be safe for hundreds of years." ”

Zhang Xuan smiled, "As long as we can guarantee that it will not collapse for a year, our plan can be realized." ”

At this time, Zhang Xuan suddenly found that there was no city gate in this one-mile-long pass, and he couldn't help but ask a little strangely: "Where is the city gate?" ”

"Your Highness, the city gate is in the easternmost part, only seven feet wide, just enough to accommodate a carriage to pass through, but now it has been sealed with more than a hundred boulders, and when the war is over, we will drag the boulders away, and the caravan will be able to pass."

Zhang Xuan nodded, he turned around and climbed to the top of the city five zhang high, which is equivalent to the five-story height of the later generations.

Although the Turks had received more than 10,000 fugitives from the Central Plains a few years ago, including some craftsmen, they brought the Turks the manufacturing methods of siege weapons, and there was also a certain development in bow-making technology, but with the strong rise of the Northern Sui, a large number of outstanding craftsmen from Hebei defected to Qingzhou instead of the Turks, and the technological progress of the Turks was still limited, and the five-zhang high city wall made it difficult for the Turkic army to attack.

"Your Highness, give this city a name!"

Li Chun smiled slightly: "The city gate is almost completed, but it doesn't have a name yet, and it's not easy for the imperial court to file it." ”

Zhang Xuan thought for a while and said, "Since this trade road is called North Tiger Valley, then let's call it Tiger Valley Pass!" ”

Li Chun and Su Dingfang praised each other again and again, and Li Chun said with a smile: "Wechen will arrange for someone to prepare the name of the pass tomorrow, and I also implore His Highness to give him a Mobao." ”

Although Zhang Xuan's calligraphy is average, he can barely see people, and more importantly, if he doesn't write an inscription, then who dares to go beyond the bounds? Zhang Xuan nodded and agreed to Li Chun's request.

At this time, Zhang Xuan suddenly saw a low wall a mile away, which made him a little surprised, at that time he was worried that the Chengguan would not be able to complete the construction before the arrival of the Turkic army, so he decided to build a low wall with mud bags first, but now that the Chengguan has been completed in nine layers, the low wall is actually not of much significance, but it has been built.

"When was that low wall built?" Jang Hyun asked, pointing to the low wall in the distance.

Li Chun hurriedly said: "Back to Your Highness, the low wall was built three days ago, and it took us less than five days, and the number of people who participated in the construction was only a thousand, which did not affect the construction of Hugu Pass." ”

"Is it mud bags?"

Li Chun shook his head, "It's not mud bags, we use giant wood and pig iron to build a frame, and then lay a thick layer of slabs inside, which is filled with gravel on the riverbed, and then lay wooden planks and fences on top to facilitate the soldiers to defend above, although it can't be compared with the Guancheng built with huge stones, it is the same strong and durable, not so easy to destroy, even if the Turkic army captures, it will have no effect on them, but for us to prevent the Turkic army from launching a sneak attack on Hugu Pass." ”

"The last sentence gets to the point!"

Zhang Xuan said happily: "Whether it is to build that low wall or we build a beacon to prevent the sneak attack of the Turkic army, this is a tactic that the Turkic army has always been good at, I believe they will also use it against us, so we must take into account all kinds of details, so that we can calmly face the sneak attack and long-distance attack of the Turkic army." ”

Su Dingfang next to him was thoughtful, and said in a low voice: "Marshal Qiyu, I heard that General Pei sent a lot of cavalry scouts to the grassland, and now although there is still snow in the grassland, it can already be marched, can we also send scouts here to go deep into the grassland, once the Turks have a stir, our scouts will be able to send news immediately?" ”

Zhang Xuan pondered for a moment and said: "It is my order to send scouts to the grassland over there in Yuanqing, but they only go to the area of Fuqibo and Dingxiang County, the eastern grassland is the territory of Tiele, once the Turkic army attacks, someone will notify us in time, so there is no need to send scouts to the north, besides, once they encounter wolves, the losses of the scouts will be great, we don't need to take this risk, as long as the beacon is built, there will be eyes two hundred miles away." ”

"Ignorance, understood!"

Zhang Xuan said in a deep voice: "The top priority now is to train the army, there are still twenty days at most, the grassland will be in full bloom, at that time, the wind and rain of war are coming, seize all the time!" ”

Su Dingfang nodded silently, and Zhang Xuan immediately said to Li Chun: "Although Lu Longsai's side is easy to defend and difficult to attack, it also needs to strengthen the construction of fortifications, please Li Shangshu go to Lu Longsai again to see what defense loopholes there are." ”

"Tomorrow, after Weichen finishes explaining the rest of the things, he will go to Lulongse immediately."

Zhang Xuan nodded, he slowly walked to the city wall, looking at the north from afar, now that the snow in the steppe is beginning to melt, the Turkic troop transfer should have begun.

.........

In February, the warm breath has also spread to the grassland, although the glacier has not yet thawed, but the snow has begun to melt, and the waist-deep snow only covers the instep, and the war horse can already gallop on the grassland.

At the confluence of the lower reaches of the Egen River and the Suoling River, there is also an endless and beautiful grassland, but the Turks of this steppe gave it to the Sijie Department of the Nine Divisions of Tiele.

On the one hand, this has always been the homeland of the Sijie tribe, if it is forcibly taken away, it will trigger strong resistance from the Tiele tribes, on the other hand, the Sijie tribe is also the most pro-Turkic tribe among the Tiele tribes, and the Turks have made a favor and allowed the Sijie tribe to continue to graze here, but the Qimin Khan forcibly married his daughter to the Sijie chief Danting as his wife, and Danting's original wife died of illness shortly after being abolished, which also led to a struggle within the Sijie.

On this morning, a group of more than 100 Turkic cavalry appeared near the big tent of the Great Chief of Sijie, and the galloping horses kicked up patches of mud on the snow.

The Turkic centurion at the head raised a golden wolf-headed arrow, and shouted: "Khan wolf-headed order, I want to see the Great Chief of Danting immediately." ”

The Golden Wolf Head Order is the highest military order of the Turks, generally issued by the Turkic Khan himself, only for the chiefs of the various departments, the Sijie warriors saw the Golden Wolf Head Order, but did not dare to slack off, so they led the Turkic cavalry to the front of the big chief's tent, at this time, the big chief Sijie Danting has come out of the big tent, followed by his sons.

Sijie Danting was about fifty years old, which is considered a high life expectancy in the grassland, where the average life expectancy is less than thirty years, his eldest son and second son had died of illness last year and the year before, and his three daughters had also died, but the great chief was still alive and well.

Sijie Danting is not tall, but he is very strong, with an extra-large nose, which looks like a purple eggplant growing directly on his face, which is unforgettable.

"What's the matter?"

The Turkic centurion stepped forward quickly and raised the golden wolf's head order, "Pass the Khan's order, Sijie's army will be assembled immediately and go to the royal court to listen to the dispatch!" (To be continued.) )