Chapter 175 An unexpected surprise

Author: Gongsun Wujiu

Chapter 175 An unexpected surprise

Although the thing was extremely ugly, Zhang Yue recognized its identity at once.

It is indeed a piece of iron. Although it is ugly and has many impurities, it is indeed a piece of iron.

"Junhou, this is the iron smelted by Yanqi..." Tao Qi said proudly

Zhang Yue nodded, but felt a little disappointed, "How long does it take to refine such a piece of iron?"

Tao Qi said, "It will take three days!"

Zhang Yue sighed and was about to leave, when he unexpectedly turned his head and glanced at the collapsed stove.

"What is that?"

"What is that?" Zhang Yue stepped forward quickly.

Ignoring the surprised looks from the people around him, he directly pulled out the sword from his waist and fiddled with things on the ground.

"Carbon!"

That turned out to be stone carbon!

"Where did you find this stone carbon?" Zhang Yue suppressed the excitement in his heart and asked the craftsman next to him.

"Carbon?" The craftsman was a little confused at first, but when he saw what Zhang Yue was pointing at, he understood.

However, the craftsman did not speak Chinese, and just babbled a lot of words that Zhang Yue could not understand at all.

At this time, Tao Qi quickly translated: "Junhou, there is a large amount of stone carbon five miles away from here!"

Zhang Yue nodded, "Take him with you and go have a look..."

"promise"

Tao Qi agreed, turned around and chatted to the craftsman.

Then he headed north under the leadership of the craftsman.

At this time, Wang Hu saw that Zhang Yue was leaving and quickly followed him.

"Your Majesty, where are you going?"

Zhang Yue said, "Let's go and have a look ahead!"

The group of people walked for about half an hour and arrived at an open-pit mine.

I saw that the ground here had been dug into pits, and black carbon was exposed in those dug places.

"Good...great good!"

Zhang Yue's face was full of surprise.

He did not expect that there would be such a huge open-pit coal mine here.

With these coal mines, some of the things he had always envisioned were finally possible.

“This is truly a geomantic treasure land!”

Zhang Yue couldn't help but clapped his hands and sighed.

"Wang Hu, you will immediately send someone to call all the people in the camp..."

"promise"

Just as Wang Hu was about to leave, Zhang Yue called him again.

"Send an order to Guo Kai and ask him to send an officer immediately..."

Wang Hu did not agree immediately this time, but asked, "Do you have any other orders?"

Zhang Yue thought for a moment and said, "Immediately send a message to Hui Lun Tai and ask Pang Yi to bring his group of master craftsmen to come quickly..."

"promise!"

This time Wang Hu agreed, immediately jumped on his horse and took a few soldiers to Yuanqu City.

After Wang Hu left, Zhang Yue couldn't sit still. He first led people to patrol around the two mines.

While patrolling, think about the defense of this place.

In the evening, Guo Kai, Wang Hu, Wu Tong, most of the Han army and General Wang Hu's camp arrived at the mine.

Because it was already evening, after eating, Zhang Yue asked everyone to set up camp and rest first.

Early on the next morning, Zhang Yue sent out all the people who would be in charge of the camp to inspect the surrounding mines.

He took Guo Kai, Wu Tong, and Tao Qi to the top of a nearby mountain and began to discuss the defense issues here.

After a few people explored the surrounding environment, they finally found a small hill with a spring.

"Gentlemen, how about we build a fort here?"

Zhang Yue asked everyone

Guo Kai took two steps forward, looked back and looked around, and suddenly sighed:

"Junhou's place is quite similar to Longjiao Castle!"

Zhang Yue was reminded by him and looked around carefully, and couldn't help but sigh.

At this time, Wu Tong said, "Junhou, this place is quite good. It has a wide view, is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and there is no shortage of water. However, from a certain perspective, it is difficult to garrison a large army!"

Zhang Yue nodded and said: "This is defenseless. This fort was originally used to guard the army. It is only 7 or 8 miles away from Yuanqu. If an enemy attacks, you only need to hold on until Yuanqu's soldiers come...

Guo Kai also echoed, "I estimate that after the fort is completed, more than a hundred troops can be garrisoned. There can also be a garrison of troops at the foot of the mountain. I think it will be enough."

Zhang Yue also said at this time: "I visited yesterday and found that there is a valley on the west side of this place. The land in the valley is fertile and can be used for farming and herding horses. If nothing happens, it can support more than a thousand people."

"really!"

Everyone was overjoyed when they heard this. They had food in their hands and were not worried. What the border guards were most worried about was having no food and clothing.

Nowadays, there are dangerous places with mountains and rivers, fertile fields enough to feed more than a thousand people, as well as stone carbon and iron ore. It is truly a God-given land for the Han army in the Western Regions.

"Your Majesty, there is a good land to the east, why not build a fort there?" At this time, Tao Qi also made a suggestion.

"Oh, where else can I go?"

"Your Majesty, please come with your servant!"

Under the leadership of Qi Qi, everyone quickly arrived at a place four miles away to the east.

Zhang Yue looked around and felt that it was indeed a good place.

"What do you think of this place?"

Everyone did not answer immediately, but complained to Zhang Yue one by one, first carefully observing the surrounding geographical environment, water sources, etc.

After about two quarters of an hour, everyone returned one after another.

"Junhou, this is also a good place!" Guo Kai was the first to speak.

After Guo Kai spoke, the others also agreed.

Now both places are good, so where should we build the fort?

Zhang Yue was thinking and weighing it in his heart.

After a long time, he finally smiled. This place is so important, so why choose one of the two and just build two forts?

Having made up his mind, he spoke out to ask for everyone's opinions.

Everyone naturally chooses to agree.

In Zhang Yue's plan, the two piers on the east and west sides were enlarged according to the standards of the Longjiao Fort built that year.

The city wall is about 1.5 feet high and 1.5 steps (2.25 meters) wide.

The planned total length of the fort is about 200 steps, and the spring is right in the center of the fort. Inside the fort, barracks, stables, warehouses, beacons and other buildings need to be built for soldiers to live.

Although the fort is small, don't underestimate its defensive power, because if you want to attack the fort head-on, you first have to climb a hill of nearly 100 meters.

As for the construction materials, loess mixed with reeds was used as the main material according to local conditions.

Zhang Yue remembered that in later generations he had seen beacons built like this when he was traveling.

After making a good plan, Zhang Yue ordered Tao Qi to recruit 1,000 Yanqi people to assist the Han army in building forts.

After receiving the order, Tao Qi immediately returned to Yuanqu to handle the matter without hesitation.

The next day, he returned here with more than a thousand people.

It turned out that he did not conscript the people at all, but directly brought over the disarmed soldiers of the original Yanqi Kingdom.

Zhang Yue encouraged him with a few words of satisfaction, and then handed the matter over to him and Wu Tong.

…

On the other side, the general camp also received good news after detecting the surrounding area.

Both iron ore resources and stone carbon here are richer than expected, and the most important thing is that mining is not difficult.
Chapter completed!