Accompanying Zhang Ke to inspect the border is not a pleasant thing, no one knows what this prince will do next, no, it is less than twenty miles away from Datong, and suddenly stopped the war horse.

Zhang Ke walked to the wasteland on the side of the road, lowered his head as if looking for a treasure, looked around, suddenly pulled out his saber, dug hard into the ground, and made sand fly all over the sky.

This frightened Lu Xiangsheng and the others, and hurriedly ran over.

"Lord Wang, how can you do this job, let's do it!"

Zhang Ke had a calm face and said: "Dig this pit out of one zhang for half an hour." ”

"Look, Lord Wang!"

Lu Xiangsheng was full of confidence, waved his hand, and summoned five sappers, all holding shovels, Lu Xiangsheng drew a five-foot square place for them, and five stick boys waved shovels, which were simply small excavators, and the soil on the ground was piled higher and higher.

Zhang Ke straightened up, looked around, shook his head from time to time, and sighed.

"Lord Wang, the officials and people of Datong are waiting, I think you should hurry up and go to Datong, save the auspicious time."

"Auspicious time? This king does not enter the cave room, what is the use of asking for auspicious times? ”

Lu Xiangsheng is this Khan, he has known Zhang Ke for several years, to say that this prince is more shrewd than anyone else, but some people's common feelings, Zhang Ke always doesn't care.

"Lord Wang, you are a prince, and you are a Qincha, of course you need an auspicious time to enter the city, besides, you should rest and rest after working hard all the way."

"I'm not tired."

In a word, I almost blocked Lu Xiangsheng, you are not tired, but we are tired, what are you tossing in the wilderness!

Just when Lu Xiangsheng didn't know how to persuade, a tornado suddenly appeared in the distance, and in an instant, there was a dark yellow pillar between heaven and earth, and the sand, stones, and grass sticks on the ground flew into the sky.

Fortunately, the Yizhou soldiers were well-trained, and the Che battalion hurriedly formed a circle to protect Zhang Ke, Lu Xiangsheng and others. As for the rest of the cavalry, they also gathered.

Suddenly, the tornado came closer, flying sand and stones, hitting the face and causing pain, waiting for almost a quarter of an hour, the tornado passed, everyone had an extra layer of sand and gravel grass sticks, and a few unlucky people had broken skin on their faces.

Zhang Feng's forehead was smashed and bruised, and he ran over angrily.

"Second brother, it's just that you have a lot to do. If we had gone earlier, wouldn't we have avoided it! ”

Zhang Ke ignored the blame of the eldest brother, but sighed: "As the saying goes, thousands of miles of mulberry are only rich Zhuolu." The Xuanfu can raise troops in the fields, but I am afraid that Datong will not succeed. ”

Hearing Zhang Ke's sigh, everyone was suddenly shocked, it turned out that the prince was not nervous, but investigating the situation?

"You all see, this wasteland should be the former tuntian, it seems to have been abandoned for a long time. The reason for this. It should be that the precipitation is not enough, and the wind and sand are too heavy, so I have to give up. ”

I didn't expect that the prince still knew how to farm, but when I thought about it, Zhang Ke cultivated rice in Liaodong. There's nothing surprising, it's just that people keep sighing, I'm afraid there are not many things that Zhang Ke doesn't understand except for giving birth!

In fact, what Zhang Ke said is just some common sense in later generations. After hundreds of years of living and reproduction and non-stop warfare, the vegetation on the front line of the Great Wall was severely destroyed. Take the Ming army as an example, in the autumn and winter. Wild grass was often set on fire to save the Mongols from feeding their livestock. The Mongols also often plundered villages and towns and burned forests and farmland.

By the time of the Xiaoice River, precipitation in eastern Liaodong became more scarce from the deep inland to the Internet, and agricultural cultivation became more difficult. It becomes unrealistic to want to replicate the experience in Liaodong.

By this time, the sappers had already dug the pit.

Zhang Ke brought everyone over, and he jumped down himself, carefully observing the soil at the bottom.

About two feet from the surface, there is very fine sand and gravel, and further down, there is loess silt, some decaying vegetation, and the soil is a little black.

The condition of the soil layer verifies Zhang Ke's judgment, which was originally the site of a canal, which has been in disrepair for a long time, and the amount of water supplied is getting smaller and smaller, almost none. The people had to leave their homes and abandon the land where their ancestors lived. After the people left, the yellow sand quickly encroached on the land, and decades of hard work became a desolate appearance in front of them.

Lu Xiangsheng and Zhang Feng both jumped out of the pit in person, according to what Zhang Ke said, carefully observed, and asked the nearby villagers to ask, and sure enough, it was the same as Zhang Ke speculated.

"Lord Wang, you are really a god!" Lu Xiangsheng couldn't help but stretch out his thumb and praised: "I really didn't expect that I would see the situation clearly in the past hundred years with simple means. ”

"What if you see it clearly." Zhang Ke sighed and said with a wry smile: "There is no way to get money, if you want to garrison troops in Datong, in addition to asking the imperial court, you have to fill in Liaodong." ”

Zhang Feng said: "The imperial court? The storehouse of the household department is not as deep as Yongzhen's money bag! I think most of the burden will fall on the head of Liaodong. ”

Lu Xiangsheng was still not convinced, and said: "Lord Wang, I used to be able to farm, and now I can also plant, and I think it's a big deal to build an irrigation ditch!" ”

"Easier said than done!" Zhang Ke shook his head and said: "It's difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, God it rains less, and there is no water when the ditch is repaired." ”

Zhang Ke couldn't think of an idea for a while, so he could only smile and say: "Let's go, let's go to Datong and settle down first, there are always more ways than difficulties." ”

……

"Lord Qiyu Zhongcheng, yet, I haven't seen King Anton's honor guard."

"What?" Zhang Zongheng's forehead was sweating, half an hour had passed since the auspicious time, King Anton didn't come with cavalry, why was it so slow?

"Were there any accidents on the way?"

The soldiers under his command were stunned for a moment, but still said, "My lord, there shouldn't be." ”

"What do you mean by should?" Zhang Zongheng roared loudly: "Yes is yes, no is no, I can't even reply, just go home to this official!" ”

"Yes, yes, the adults and the small ones met the dragon swinging tail."

"Dragon tail?"

A terrible picture quickly appeared in Zhang Zongheng's head, could it be that King Anton was blown into the sky by a tornado, this is fatal!

"Quick, lead the way ahead, this official is going to meet King Anton."

Without waiting for Zhang Zongheng to leave, the cavalry on the east road opened the way, the black flag fluttered, Zhang Ke led a large group of people and horses to appear in front of him, Zhang Zongheng finally breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly led people to catch up.

"Zhang Zongheng of the Xuanfu of Xiaguan Datong visited King Anton, the prince worked hard all the way, and the lower official prepared a reception banquet, and invited the prince to go into the city to rest for a while."

Zhang Ke rode on the horse and looked Zhang Zongheng up and down, he had long heard that Zhang Zongheng was a famous old fox, and no one should be offended.

might as well knock on the mountain and shake the tiger first, Zhang Ke thought secretly.

"It's Zhang Zhongcheng, maybe we were still one family five hundred years ago."

Zhang Zongheng hurriedly accompanied the smiling face and said humbly: "If it is true, it is a great blessing for the lower officials." ”

"Hehehe, maybe it's the root of the problem." Zhang Ke suddenly leaned over and smiled: "It's at the reception banquet that this king took Xiong Tingbi down, what does Zhang Zhongcheng think?" ”

In an instant, Zhang Zongheng's face changed, and cold sweat broke out on his back.

forced to calm down, and said with a smile: "The prince is joking, Xiong Tingbi deserves it, and the lower officials dare not say that they are conscientious, but there is no problem." ”

"Oh, Zhang Zhongcheng is quite confident, then the king wants to wish you can stand the test."

Zhang Ke hit the horse, and the soldiers behind followed, passing by Zhang Zongheng, Zhang Zhongcheng was soaked, as if he had been fished out of the water.

"Zhen'er, Zhen'er, you can't fool your father!"

After being stunned for a long time, Zhang Zongheng gritted his teeth and stomped his feet, turned around and followed the team into Datong.

As soon as you enter the city, the situation is very different from the outside, the outside of the city is desolate, you may not be able to see a village or town for dozens of miles, and most of the people who are still holding on are old people, and the young and strong have run away.

When I arrived in the city, merchants gathered, there were many shops on the streets, five elements and eight works, three religions and nine streams, and even many merchants from the Western Regions in strange costumes, who kept coming and going, shouting one after another, such a prosperous scene was not bad at all compared to Liaodong and other places.

Just seeing the decay of the countryside, I didn't expect the city to be so prosperous, after all, as a gathering place for Jin merchants, it is too poor and unrealistic.

Zhang Ke kept observing and thinking, it was his real task to manage the territory well, and the rest of the struggles were just condiments.

Came to the governor's yamen, Zhang Ke under the leadership of Zhang Zongheng, entered the mansion, more than a dozen tables of wine banquet has been set up, Zhang Ke and they entered the city, the master was doing, at this time just right, the new dishes out of the pot filled the table, and the wine jar wafted out of the rich aroma.

Zhang Ke sat on the main seat, and was not in a hurry to eat, but asked with a smile: "Zhang Zhongcheng, you have governed the place for many years, and this king wants to know, do you have any way to make Datong prosperous?" ”

"This ......"

Zhang Zongheng was stunned for a moment, wanting to go to the conversation with Zhen'er yesterday, he stood up suddenly and knelt on the ground.

"Lord Wang, if you want to revive Datong, the only way to open the Chinese law, and only to restore the Shangtun can there be a glimmer of life, otherwise the people of Datong will be exhausted, and it will be right in front of you!" (To be continued......)