Outside is goose feather-like snow, but the palace of the prince is still warm like spring, since the stove is widely popularized in Chang'an, the two palaces of Changle Weiyang can also be as warm as the greenhouse hall, the palace door is covered by a curtain made of thick fur, so that the maids and eunuchs in the palace can also avoid the pain of wind and snow, ordinary eunuchs and maids have no power and are in a humble position, and they will be grateful to Dade if they can get a little benefit, so Cao Shi is really famous in the palace.

Zhang Qian and Sima Tan followed Cao Shi to make a map and sand table in the palace, a few days ago when discussing the disaster of the death of Qin with the prince, he proposed a map and sand table deduction, the prince grabbed Cao Shi and asked him to make a map and a sand table, this request can make the two of them tired, every day in this side hall barefoot rolled up his sleeves and sand as a companion, pinched a stack of piles in the west and worked for more than 20 days and almost couldn't straighten his waist, all relying on his young body to support it.

Cao Shi's work is much simpler than theirs, hanging a pair of large mulberry paper on the wall next to the sand table, produced from the map paper carefully prepared by the Pingyang Hou Mansion, the surface of the paper is simply coated with kaolin, and the finish of the paper surface is immediately qualitatively improved, and such a huge paper is used for drawing maps.

In more than 20 days, Cao Shi had already drawn five maps, and he was reluctant to throw away the wrong places, so he took a small piece of mulberry paper and pasted it with glue and continued to draw, until the whole map was full of patches and messy everywhere before tearing off and redrawing one, so he redrew a full five maps, which was a bit satisfying.

The old man was tired for a long time and came down to rest for a while, and the waiter who had been waiting next to him came over with some sweets and tea, and flattered: "Doctor Taizhong and the two Lang officials have worked hard for a long time, and the slave maid was ordered to prepare some pastries for a few people. ”

"Well, this is good, it's hard work." Zhang Qian shook off the water stains on his hands, grabbed more than a dozen pastries with a grab, and asked with a smile, "Do you want to eat one?" ”

The little eunuch hurriedly shook his head: "The slave maid doesn't dare, a few people slowly rested, and the slave and maid retired." ”

Idle and bored, Cao Shi instructed the technique of making a sand table for two people, and the sand table made of sand and yellow mud should not be the slightest difference, especially in the places within the territory of the Han Dynasty, otherwise it would create a wrong impression on the prince and it would likely lead to a wrong judgment in the governance strategy of the empire.

The three of them squatted in the corner of the sand table and pointed: "What you are doing is very important, it is related to the cultivation and growth of the prince's military quality, if you make a mistake and lose the credibility of the entire sand table, it will be a huge loss, the more common mistake is to draw the mountains and dense forests where there is no way out, as plains or hills that are easier to march, similar mistakes must be avoided." ”

In the interval between making the map, Cao Shi consciously instilled the geographical knowledge of the Western Regions to Zhang Qian, and drew several routes that could be traveled to Hexi and further places with his experience of walking through most of the Western Regions.

Hobbies are the biggest motivation, what is surprising is that Sima Tan also expressed a strong interest in the Western Regions, and what is even more surprising is that he can also say a few words of Xiongnu dialect, and after careful questioning, I learned that he and Zhang Qian are friends who are irreversible, Sima Tan is knowledgeable and can often be convincing in one sentence, Zhang Qian is smart and studious, and can speak and respond sensitively.

The two of them were originally close friends, coincidentally they were selected to be Cao Shi's assistant Lang official, with the tacit understanding of many years of friends and easy to learn the simple dialogue of the Xiongnu spoken language, Sima Tan has a deep personal plot for the story of the territory, as soon as he is free, he will find out the bamboo slips and write and paint on it as if he is making a personal diary, Cao Shi also specially approved him two large stacks of paper as a notepad, so that he was grateful for a long time.

Sima Tan is 23 years old this year, just three months older than Zhang Qian as his brother, compared to Zhang Qian's single-person life where the whole family is not hungry, Sima Tan not only marries a wife and has a happy small family, his son Sima Qian is three years old this year, and has already recognized 100 words under Sima Tan's careful education.

The two big figures in history are still Xiaolang officials at the moment, squatting in this small room every day with mud and sand, not only do not have the negative feelings of impatience and dissatisfaction, but indulge in it and enjoy themselves, under the intentional guidance of Cao Shi, the two gradually got used to the daily Xiongnu oral dialogue training.

In the afternoon, Liu Che took a few people to look at the sand table with great interest: "What does this red, red, green and green mean?" Is there also a bulge that is topography? ”

"The green is marked with plains, the blue is the river, the light yellow is the hills, the reddish-brown is the plateau, and finally the white is the snow line, which is the natural dividing line of the high mountains, the top is snow-capped all year round, the following is the green mountains and the green water flows for a long time, the high mountains with an altitude of more than 4,000 meters have snow all year round, the further north the weather is severe and the snow line will be lower, and the desert surface in the extreme north is the snow line."

Cao Shi's sand table is very accurate, at least it can completely explode the best military map of this era, when he pointed to the endless flow of the river out of a gap of "several", a black tower represents the capital of the Han Empire, Chang'an City.

"This is Chang'an, this is Xingyang, Luoyang, and Linzi, Qi is surrounded by the sea on three sides, Liaodong in the north, and Weimeng's North Korea, as well as the land of Sanhan, these islands in the east are Penglai!" Liu Che was very excited, pointing and drawing on the map, and the legend that Qin Shi Huang sent a priest to Penglai Island to find immortal medicine made him very fascinated.

The prince likes the legend of the fairy road, this is not a good sign, Cao Shi hurriedly persuaded him: "Your Royal Highness doesn't know, that Penglai Island is not an immortal island, the island is inhabited by dwarf Japanese people, when Zhou became the king, the more ordinary people offered pheasants, and the Japanese people paid tribute to Changcao, and this Japanese people came from Penglai Island in the East China Sea." ”

"Huh? Just a short widow? Liu Che looked incredulous.

Guo Sheren quipped: "No wonder Fang Shi didn't dare to come back, it turned out that there was no elixir for life on Penglai Island, only the widows who donated Chang Cao." ”

Liu Che still had a look of regret, the ** power of immortality is very great, I heard that there are no immortals, Han Yan stared at Penglai Island for a while and suddenly said: "There are a lot of green plains on the island, could it be that Doctor Taizhong has been to Penglai Country before, it won't be a random picture to deceive His Highness, right?" ”

"Some errors in the map outside the Han land are also in the normal category, I just draw the approximate shape with experience, even if there is something wrong, you can change it again, the map is gradually added and deleted by the ancestors of the past dynasties, and the changes in rivers and water and soil will affect the accuracy, which is within the acceptable normal range, and it is understandable that the Hanshe people do not understand." Cao Shi explained lightly.

And Han Yan was ridiculed again, and she almost jumped up in anger.

Prince Liu Che stared at the Han-Hun border and asked, "Doctor Taizhong, do you think the Huns will invade our Han family?" Our Han land is much warmer than the desert outside the Saiwai, what if the Huns go south to occupy the land and do not leave? ”

"The Huns are not accustomed to the warmth and humidity of the Han land, the cattle and sheep that tolerate coarse food and bitter cold are not used to the water and soil in the south, the Huns do not have the wisdom and ambition to work together vertically and horizontally, they drink blood to graze cattle and sheep for a living, and they have a Mao Dun Shan Yu has been thousands of years of accumulated luck, it is impossible to be as talented as my Han people, as long as His Royal Highness uses the famous generals of the virtuous ministers and treachery villains, the defeat of the Huns is just a matter of time." Cao Shi kept glancing at Han Yan, making the prince's face flushed, but he didn't dare to refute it.

"Hehe, I'm just talking, don't take it seriously." Liu Che also heard that the words were wrong, and he was sloppy.

After all, he is still a child who has not grown up, and he is not very interested in maps and sand tables in the past, and Cao Shi explained to him that he must be familiar with the time and place to deal with the Huns, and Liu Che became happy: "The Huns will never think that I have a map sand table and understand their geographical advantages!" If every general had a map in hand, wouldn't it be much easier to fight the Huns! ”

Cao Shi said with a smile: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is interested in practicing riding skills, not only can he strengthen his body and broaden his mind, but he may also be able to expedition to the Xiongnu in the future and make immortal feats like Emperor Taizu Gao." ”

"Good! Just listen to you, I will personally lead the army to fight the Huns in the future! Liu Che danced happily, as if he had really become Liu Bang, who was in charge of the world by destroying Qin and Chu, and at this moment, his true thoughts and ambitions were revealed.

——

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