Chapter 175 Building a New City Beyond the Great Wall
The First Division of the Guards has left Datong Mansion and set up camp at the old city site of Yulinwei.
No matter how the little prince retaliates against the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty's own military strategy remains unchanged, that is, following the principle of "hit you, I will fight mine", the Ming Dynasty has been pursuing its own strategy of external expansion from beginning to end.
Because the main purpose of the Ming Dynasty now is to build cities outside the pass and develop minerals and land, rather than looking for opportunities to annihilate the enemy, so the First Division of the Guards did not move around after setting up camp at Yulin Guard.
Also coming to the Yulin Guards with the First Division of the Guards was Zhang Cong, the first magistrate of Yulin County, and thousands of people. Most of these people were hungry people recruited from the Huaiyang area.
Now, they will become the first batch of Han people to settle in Yulin County.
Yulin is located on the east side of the Hetao and outside Datong Pass. It is currently an area controlled by Tatars. Therefore, Tatars often appear in this area. Therefore, after Zhang Cong arrived in Yulin with thousands of soldiers and the First Division of the Guards , the first thing to do is naturally to build cities and roads.
The first is to build the city.
Through the work-for-relief method, Zhang Cong turned all these hungry people in Huaiyang into migrant workers, allowing them to directly participate in the city construction work.
The First Division of the Guards was responsible for guarding the new city.
For the city wall, Zhang Cong plans to build it directly with cement concrete.
In the city, Zhang Cong no longer uses cement concrete for construction. After all, Daming cement production is limited.
Naturally, cement and concrete were also transported from the capital. These hungry people served as transporters, and it was impossible for them to eat in vain along the way.
Even if the outer city is built, only bamboo reinforced concrete can be used. Reinforced concrete is not possible for a while. After all, Ming's steel production is still limited.
Using bamboo as ribs and then casting cement concrete can achieve the same strength as reinforced concrete.
Building a city wall with cement concrete is naturally faster than using tamped soil, and the efficiency is directly increased several times. Moreover, the built city wall can quickly solidify in a day and become a hard city wall, and will withstand long-term exposure to the air. It will continue to undergo physical and chemical reactions and become a harder stone.
Within three days, Zhang Cong led all the migrant workers to build an extremely strong outer city wall.
Feng Junxian, the governor of Datong, had received an order from Zhu Houzhao to fully cooperate with Zhang Cong's city construction project in Yulin. Therefore, when the outer city of Yulin City was completed, he also came to Yulin City to inspect the Yulin City wall construction project.
In fact, Datong Governor Feng Junxian did not expect Zhang Cong to build the city wall so quickly. He had also been an official in the border town for a long time and knew that building the border wall was not a simple project. It was naturally impossible to use all blue bricks. The cost is too high, usually only Blue bricks are only used in important passes and large cities in Kyoto, and most of the side walls are half-built with soil and covered with bricks. However, new cities outside the pass such as Yulin City can only use soil to build walls first, and let several migrant workers work together to compact the Sanhe soil, hammering it little by little. Strike and tamp out the city wall.
But he didn't expect that Zhang Cong built the outer wall of Yulin City in three days.
Feng Junxian, the governor of Datong, said he came to inspect Yulin City, but rather to question Zhang Cong. He was worried that a young county magistrate like Zhang Cong was too eager for quick success and did not let the migrant workers hammer the Sanhe soil hard, resulting in insufficient compaction. In this way, the city wall can be cast quickly and successfully.
But Feng Junxian knew that once the city wall was built cunningly, it would directly lead to the city wall being unable to stop the Tatar cavalry in the future, and even some city walls that were not strong enough could be directly cut open by the Tatars.
But Governor Feng was immediately surprised when he saw the appearance of the walls of Yulin City. He did not expect that the soil used to build the walls of Yulin City was so smooth, and looked like ice from a distance. Therefore, he couldn't help but ask Zhang Cong. : "Zhang Zhixian! What kind of soil are you using for this city wall? Is it strong?"
"Back in Futai, the cement concrete used in Xiaguan uses southern good bamboo as reinforcement, which can save a lot of manpower, but it can achieve a stronger effect than Sanhe soil. Futai can try it personally," Zhang Cong said with a smile.
Feng Junxian, the governor of Datong, was not polite. He pulled out the sword from the soldier's waist and slashed directly at the city wall!
A sonorous sound!
Only a little dust was splashed on the city wall, leaving a small opening less than half an inch deep, but the steel knife in Governor Feng's hand was missing!
"How is this possible! My soldiers are equipped with hundreds of steel knives! They can break armor and poles, but why are they not as strong as the Yulin city wall! And I am not sparing any effort!"
Governor Feng was so surprised that he couldn't help but shake the numb tiger's mouth, and returned the knife to his own soldier, and his private soldier showed a rather depressed look on his face. After all, he had finally become the governor's soldier, and he had hundreds of The steel-making knife, but who knew it was missing a hole!
Of course, neither Governor Feng nor Zhang Cong cared about the feelings of a soldier. Moreover, Governor Feng still couldn't believe the results of his experiment just now. After all, even a city wall made entirely of blue bricks would take a long time to become very hard. Yes, but the Yulin City Wall only lasted three days!
"The hardness of the city wall does not mean it is strong. Ice is sometimes hard, but isn't it still brittle? Rong Shouwei, you have always been brave. Go and try to hit the city wall!" Governor Feng said and couldn't help but ask Zhang Cong: "Zhixian Zhang, you won't mind if my men knock down your city wall."
Although Zhang Cong was just a county magistrate, he was personally appointed by the emperor. Feng Junxian also knew that he was a favorite of the emperor, so naturally he did not dare to be disrespectful to Zhang Cong because he was a superior official. However, Zhang Cong still calmly replied:
"Even if Futai can be bumped by people, it can be bumped by more people. Even if it is bombarded with artillery, it is just a good idea to test the strength of the city wall."
Governor Feng was naturally reluctant to use the cannon for fun, but he still asked his subordinate Rong Guards, who was born with supernatural power, to try hitting the city wall.
Rong Shoubei used all his strength to run dozens of steps away before crashing directly into the Yulin city wall.
Bang!
The Yulin City Wall still stands as solid as a rock.
Rong Shouwei was directly thrown to the ground. Under the reaction force, he was dizzy and felt as if someone had punched him hard on the shoulder.
Governor Feng asked a dozen strong soldiers to attack together, but the Yulin city wall still stood.
At this time, Governor Feng had to believe in the solidity of the Yulin City Wall. However, he suddenly grabbed Zhang Cong's lapel in excitement, changed his gentle attitude just now, and asked almost roaring:
"Since the capital has such magical soil, why didn't it be used in border towns earlier! If it had been used in border towns earlier, in the 18th year of Hongzhi, how could the Tatars easily destroy the newly built castle near Datong and massacre no less than three thousand of our border residents! Then! But more than three thousand lives! ”
Zhang Cong did not expect that Governor Feng would suddenly be so excited. After Governor Feng finished yelling and loosened his clothes, he straightened his official robe:
"What Futai doesn't know is that the material used to build the wall is called cement. It is a new product of the Royal Industrial Company. Currently, the cement produced is not much, and part of it is used to build the road from Datong to the capital for the purpose of transporting grain and recovering food in the future. The other part of the Hetao was brought by Xiaguan to build a new city outside the Great Wall. Therefore, there is no way to use all of it in the border town. ”
After listening to Zhang Cong's explanation, Governor Feng regained some composure. He suddenly realized that he seemed to have lost his mind just now, and couldn't help but cup his hands to Zhang Cong and said:
"Forgive me! My behavior was a little rude just now! I really can't bear it for a moment when I think of the tragic situation of the Han people massacred by the Tatars in the past! If there had been such a magic weapon for city building, why would the Tatars be able to seize the pass as if they were returning home? Spend so much money and people on this city wall.”
"I understand Futai's painstaking efforts! However, His Majesty said that it is better to defend than to attack, and bandits cannot be defended against. The Ming Dynasty should have the advantage of having a strong army to expand outside the fortress, and should not waste the power of thousands of people to stay within the nine borders!
Nowadays, Yulin City is only the first step to gain benefits outside the Great Wall. Next, cities such as Dongsheng and Zhenlu will appear one after another! Now the official has a ruthless request. He implores Mr. Futai to summon the military and civilians in Datong to repair the road from Yulin to Datong, so that the food, livestock and ore from Yulin can be transported to Datong in the future! ”
Zhang Cong then explained why he suggested this. The reason is that the Yulin area is close to the river and has a stable terrain, so the land is fertile and rich in minerals. Datong is also a fortress of the Ming Dynasty, and there are many soldiers and civilians. In the future, Yulin will really develop. , it can be used as Datong’s food and mineral supply base.
Governor Feng nodded. The imperial court intended to regain the Hetao and build a city outside the pass wall. Naturally, he could not violate it. Moreover, he also knew that once the city of Yulin was built, it would become the gateway to the right guard of Datong. The roads would naturally be repaired and widened. Not only to facilitate the replenishment of military supplies, but also to facilitate mutual support in the future.
"There are many guards and auxiliary soldiers in Datong Mansion. Although they cannot go into battle to kill the enemy, they can still build roads. Rather than letting them idle for white-collar food, it is better to let them work. I agreed! However, I want You and I will submit a memorial together, requesting the imperial court to allow Datong to also manufacture cement to strengthen the border town!”
Governor Feng is still obsessed with the cement mentioned by Zhang Cong. What he wants to do most now is to ask the court to allow him to hire people to develop cement in Datong Mansion. He believes that as long as cement is used in Datong Border Town, the border preparations in Datong Border Town will Strengthened several times, even if the Tatars attack with 100,000 cavalry, he is no longer afraid.
But Governor Feng didn't know whether cement was something that the central court prohibited from firing locally in order to control local border towns, so in order to get His Majesty the Emperor's permission, he wanted Zhang Cong, the emperor's favorite, to go to the cave with him.
Zhang Cong did not reject Governor Feng's proposal because he knew that the imperial court only restricted cement manufacturing areas to avoid polluting the waters and affecting the essence of the mountains and rivers, but it did not restrict local and private cement manufacturing.
Governor Feng returned to Datong with the memorial written jointly with Zhang Cong.
Zhang Cong continued to devote himself to the work of building Yulin City.
Naturally, the streets and buildings in the city no longer use cement, but are directly compacted with soil. Even the main streets are only paved with stones.
However, these migrant workers are still working very hard.
Because Zhang Cong has clearly told them that they will resettle here, and the court will allocate them farmland outside Yulin City, and both men and women will have a share.
Thank you to the book friend Distant Mountain for the 100,000 starting coin reward for adding an additional leader to this book. Thank you to the book friend for the 1,000 starting coin reward for smuggling an aircraft carrier. More updates will be added this weekend, because the author has a job and it is every day at the end of the year. Six thousand to eight thousand words This is the limit. I can only add more updates on weekends when I have more free time, so I will add more updates on weekends. Thank you all for your support. It is you who give me the motivation to persevere. Although the follow-up subscription is about to drop, and my performance is still behind that of other authors, but Every day there are people who give rewards and people who vote monthly, which is still very happy. In the later stages of the Emperor's novel, the plot may be too broad and the excitement of the plot may decrease, while the farming plot may increase. I tried my best to write something different, fresh and exciting.
(End of chapter)