[MTL] I Built a Territory in Ancient Times

Chapter 142

142. Chapter 142

The construction of the Xiqi Corridor is not a one-off event. It is necessary to build a pass and use the topography to design it so that it is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

In some places with flat terrain, thick and tall city walls were also built, mainly to block the troops and horses of the Suixi Kingdom to ensure the stability of the Xiqi Corridor.

Fortunately, the topography of Xiqi Corridor is very favorable. It is a long and narrow valley between Suixi and Wuliang. There are high mountains and mountains on both sides, and it is not easy to march on a large scale, which provides good protection conditions for the Xiqi Corridor.

Ming Yu only needs to build city walls and passes in weak links, and then deploy troops to protect the Xiqi Corridor.

The valley of Xiqi Corridor is very fertile. It is inaccessible and has never been damaged by human beings. The Xiqi River runs through the entire valley and nourishes this land.

Ming Yu wants to garrison the field here, and the newly recruited new army will be completely different from before. In the previous military household system, soldiers were trained to fight in addition to combat training. The new army is recruited by the common people. In leisure time, it is for the people and can cultivate and support the army; in wartime, it is a soldier and can go into battle to kill the enemy.

After a few years of rotation, the old, weak and remnants can retire with compassionate silver taels, and new recruits will come in again. At that time, all the people of Liangzhou will be soldiers, and they will come when they are called. If they come, they will fight, and they will win the battle! At that time, Liangzhou is really not afraid of anyone!

In addition, all the way west, you can build official residences in suitable places. It is convenient for the caravan to rest, and of course its supporting facilities must be improved. These are all places that need to spend money.

Ming Yu believes that after the rise of the Xiqi Corridor, there will be more caravans coming and going, and people will inevitably live together, and then gradually develop into large and small towns. In this way, the administrative capital of the Xiqi Corridor must also be built, which means that there must also be a plan, so that every part of the construction of the Xiqi Corridor is realistic, and there can be no negligence.

Therefore, not a cent of the money that should be spent in the early stage of the construction of the Xiqi Corridor can be saved. Ming Yu has only roughly calculated a few accounts, and his heart has already started to hurt. These budgets are really like running water! It seems that the first batch of funds he raised will bottom out soon.

However, there are priorities. The most important thing is to train troops and build defenses. This is the top priority. The progress of Mo Jiang's recruiting work is still very good, and many people have responded. So far, more than half of the recruits have been recruited.

He guards the soldiers of the battalion, and can train a brigade of troops by simply pulling one out. If you step up your training, it will only take a year and a half to have a fight.

Although there are so many things, Ming Yu has a plan, as long as the people underneath can implement the details of the plan step by step. Therefore, people up and down Liangzhou began to act, and the entire Liangzhou was like a machine, running rumble.

Gradually, merchants came to send follow-up silver taels, and many well-informed merchants learned the news and had an idea to go to places where food and materials were cheap to buy. Then they will be transported to Liangzhou, and once they are sold, they will be able to cover their half-year trading income in one trip.

The goods from Liangzhou are then shipped to the south, which is another benefit. They traveled back and forth. Although they worked hard, they could think of the money they earned, no matter how much suffering they suffered, they would still be happy.

The Ma family became the biggest winner this time. They waited for about half a month, and when the watermelons were ripe, they took all the watermelons in their pockets. Because of the publicity effect of Ming Yu, after these watermelons were returned to Beijing, officials and nobles rushed to buy them at high prices.

They have all heard that the emperor and the concubines of the harem like to eat this watermelon. Before King Duan presented it to His Majesty, only the royal clan and several important officials in the court were fortunate enough to taste it. Now that some people are selling watermelons, how could they not seize the opportunity to buy them and try them?

It is a pity that it is too expensive, but a small piece will cost more than ten taels of silver. But this is the case. Watermelons are in short supply, and many people miss the opportunity a little later and can't buy them.

In just two days, more than a dozen carts of watermelons were sold out. Ma Jinyu looked at the ledger, dumbfounded. Although they also spent a lot of money to buy watermelons, they earned several times the original amount.

"Father, it would be great if the watermelon trade could be done by our family alone." Ma Jinyu sighed, such a high profit is really reluctant to let go.

Ma Siyong shook his head, "How is this possible?"

Ma Jinyu frowned, "Father, we have already expressed our willingness to follow Duan Wang, and it stands to reason that we are our own people. If we go to Duan Wang and talk to him, maybe we can succeed. What?"

"You're thinking too simply." Ma Siyong disagreed with Ma Jinyu's words, "Not to mention that watermelon is a new specialty in Liangzhou, and how many merchants are staring at this, no matter how strong our Ma family is, it is impossible for us to compete with Ma Jinyu. All merchants are enemies. Besides, King Duan has his own plans, so why would he treat us differently because of our Ma family?"

He paused for a while, then turned his head and said to Ma Jinyu very seriously: "Our Ma family follows the prince, and we do it with our heart. We must not cause trouble to King Duan."

Ma Jinyu looked stern and said solemnly: "Yes, father, son, remember."

Ma Siyong sighed, "Our Ma family seems to be full of flowers, but we can only know when we are the head of the family. Flowers are full of brocade, and we must be careful with every step under the fire. If you take half a step wrong, it may be We will be smashed to pieces. We must know that the higher we stand, the harder we fall. It is just a merchant, too many people can step us into the mud."

Ma Jinyu was stunned, he had never seen his father like this before . I was helpless, and I never heard my father worry so much about the situation of the Ma family.

For a long time, their Ma family was at the top, but he never realized that even if the merchants stood at the top, their status was still the lowest. There is a saying that the wood show will be destroyed by the forest wind. If the Ma family does not restrain their sharpness, what good ending can they wait for?

Ma Jinyu's face was pale, and he was at a loss. Ma Siyong couldn't bear to see it. After all, it was his son, the future head of the Ma family, who realized these problems early on. For him, he didn't know whether it was right or wrong.

Thinking of this, he touched the top of Ma Jinyu's head lovingly, "Don't worry, my father can endure for a few more years, and he can help you pave the way. But now you have to grow up, you have to watch more and learn more, etc. One day, when the Ma family is handed over to you, the Ma family will be stable."

Ma Jinyu was touched and nodded, "Yes! Father!"

"For King Duan, we must always remember our duty. Since the Ma family follows King Duan, Duan Wang knows that he will not treat us badly. Don't underestimate Duan Wang, Duan Wang is a man of great wisdom, and I am not as much as him." Ma Siyong taught.

Ma Jinyu naturally kept these words firmly in his heart.

Suixi Kingdom,

in the hands of General Tuoba Ren of Wang Ting After reading the newspaper over and over again, I finally closed the book and pondered. Seeing this, the servants around didn't dare to make a sound at all, and they all relaxed their hands and feet.

After a long time, Tuoba Ren woke up from his contemplation. He coughed twice, stood up and walked two steps. Just as he was about to say something, he heard the sound of laughter coming from outside, he looked up, his eyes were gloomy, and he clenched his fists.

He took two steps in a hurry, and when he got to the door, he wanted to open it, but he put his hand down, coughed a few times, and turned back.

"Is the king entertaining anyone again?" Tuoba Ren asked the servant in the room pretending to be calm.

The servants glanced at each other, and one of them carefully came over and saluted and replied, "Yes, King Khan entertained King Liangu of the Zuobu today."

Tuoba Ren closed his eyes, clenched his fists and loosened them several times before he calmed down and calmed down. "Well, I see, you go and call Mr. Song over."

"Yes, my lord!" The maid wiped away a cold sweat and hurriedly did as instructed.

Tuoba Ren sat back to his original position. In the few months since he came back, the royal court has also undergone earth-shaking changes. The original Zuobu general was promoted to the Zuobu Liangu King by Tuoba Hongze.

This person was his Zongbo Helianbo, and he never dealt with him. This time he was promoted to king, and he was already on an equal footing with his Hunle king, and even his left king was even more powerful than his Hunle king.

This time, Helianbo was even more unscrupulous, and he would stab him every time he met him, even though he never bothered with him. However, this person is getting more and more arrogant. Relying on his seniority, even his eldest brother Tuobahong doesn't pay much attention to him.

There is no way, now the Suixi country has a strong left side. Since a few months ago, they have been defeated and returned, their vitality has been greatly damaged, and no one can suppress the left side's forces.

And Helian silk king, is also the eldest brother Tuoba Hong after thinking about it all the way. The last time he was defeated by more than 10,000 troops at the hands of more than 1,000 King Duan of Dayan, the name of his God of War, King Hunle, has been greatly reduced. Everyone on the grassland regrets that the eagle can no longer fly. There is a saying among them that a phoenix with feathers is not as good as a chicken. And he Tuoba Ren is this phoenix.

People on the grasslands worship heroes. A few years ago, Tuoba Ren was injured by Xie Yixiu of the Great Yan Kingdom. Since then, he has fallen sharply. He wanted to get back on his feet for countless days and nights, but what was the truth? His tens of thousands of people were actually defeated by a thousand people, and when he was several times more than the enemy, he was beaten to the ground and fled back to the royal court like a bereaved dog. Hunle King Tuoba Ren has become a real waste.

In order to appease the important ministers, Tuobahong could only deal with it coldly, and promoted the original general of the left guard to the king of Liangu. It was used to appease the dissatisfaction of the courtiers with Tuoba Ren.

Tuoba Ren knew that eldest brother Tuoba Hong was for himself, but he clenched his fists, he would rather eldest brother convict him than eldest brother compromise for him. However, Tuoba Hong had made up his mind, and only comforted him a few words, for fear that he would be embarrassed by the situation, or would be ridiculed by others, and he was not even allowed to participate in the ceremony of conferring the king.

In the past few months, he has been living in a secluded place in the royal court, and he has never asked about the affairs of the court. It's just about the size of the border, and whenever there is a little trouble, he pays attention to it. Especially the matter of King Duan of Dayan, he sent people to investigate secretly.

Tuoba Hong naturally knew that the last battle had almost caused an indelible psychological shadow on this younger brother. In fact, he didn't want to understand why the tens of thousands of Dasui cavalry could not be defeated by thousands of infantrymen.

This was something that had never happened before in the history of Suixi, and it was no wonder that Tuoba Ren was hit so hard.