Ahead is the valley." Zhu Zhen stood on the hillside and pointed to the valley not far away.
"It's such a tall building! There are so many more!" Zhu Bai stared at those buildings, and a feeling of shock suddenly arose in his heart. Although he had heard Fang Mingqian and others repeatedly say that there were many tall buildings in the valley,
But he never imagined that they would be so tall. These buildings seemed to be made of stone, and the magnificence of the buildings could be felt even from twenty miles away.
Zhu Bai, who has been a prince in Jingzhou for more than ten years, has both money and leisure, and is well-read and considered a scholar. He can't even guess how these tall buildings were built? How were these stones mined and how were they transported to this place?
In the valley?
"Brother Six, it's better to be cautious." After the shock, Zhu Bai said to Zhu Zhen: "These buildings are too tall. The people who can build such magnificent buildings cannot be barbarians. The sophisticated weapons may not be the same as ours."
But we only brought less than 2,000 people here, and the people in the valley will not be less than hundreds of thousands, so we probably can't defeat them. It's better to retreat for the time being, and train when the population under our control increases in the future.
If you have more soldiers, come and capture this place."
"No, twelfth brother, we should continue to advance at this time." It was also the first time for Zhu Zhen to see these buildings. He was shocked for a moment, but he said this after he came to his senses.
"Why?" Zhu Bai asked puzzledly.
"I will explain to you later." After Zhu Zhen said this, he ordered his soldiers to advance. Although the soldiers were frightened, they did not dare to disobey the military order and had no choice but to advance. Zhu Bai's soldiers were in the capital
I looked back at Zhu Bai and saw that he made no move to stop me, so I walked towards the valley.
But all the soldiers walked very slowly, and raised their swords, shields, bows and arrows, and walked forward cautiously, always ready to deal with the enemies who rushed out. But what happened was far beyond their expectations.
"There is no one! This place is empty and uninhabited!" Zhu Bai hung his shield on his horse, walked around the valley and observed over and over again, and exclaimed in surprise: "There is no one, this city is actually empty."
It's an abandoned city, how could it be?"
"As expected." Zhu Zhen said.
He immediately explained to Zhu Bai: "Twelfth brother, when you were on the hillside just now, didn't you feel that the valley was too quiet? If there were really many people living in it, there would be bursts of sound even in the valley.
, it will never be so quiet."
"Moreover, there are many savages who are not even barbarians for dozens of miles around the valley, and there are no large livestock in the Hanzhou continent. If we ride horses all the way from the sea, the news will definitely spread. How can there be no defense in the valley?"
"So I expected that there wouldn't be many people living in the valley. However, it was unexpected that there was no one here. I originally thought there would be some people living there. We met many savages on the way from the sea.
, they all live in tents, why don’t they move here?"
After hearing this, Zhu Bai understood that he had noticed this before ordering the troops to march, and said: "Sixth brother, you are indeed stronger than my younger brother."
Zhu Zhen did not answer him immediately. Instead, he approached the tallest stone building and raised his head to take a look. This hill-like building has five floors and is about 30 feet high.
Hundreds of steps. There is also a walking trail in front of the building, which extends to a straight road that looks like a street. At the end of this straight road, there is a smaller one. There is also a very empty area in front of the building.
The square seems to be a place where sacrifices are held.
Zhu Zhen touched the wall with his hand, then looked at the open spaces, and said: "These buildings have no trace of damage at all. They were definitely not abandoned due to the war. They should have been abandoned by the people who built these buildings."
"Why did they abandon this place?" Zhu Bai also agreed with his judgment, but raised this doubt.
Zhu Zhen shook his head. "You can't tell, you can't tell at all. But it doesn't matter. This place has been abandoned for at least decades, no, hundreds of years. We can definitely occupy this place."
"This place has been abandoned for hundreds of years? How can you see it?" Zhu Bai was a little confused.
"There are no ordinary people's houses." Zhu Zhen explained: "There are some big stone houses, and these two buildings that look like hills, but these cannot be for ordinary people to live in. Most of the ordinary people's houses are made of wood or other materials.
Yes, but there is no trace now, which shows that it was destroyed by wind and sun due to being abandoned for too long. So I say, this place has been abandoned for hundreds of years."
After explaining the matter, Zhu Zhen loudly ordered his followers: "Quickly call all the people outside the valley. The soldiers and cavalry in the valley will be stationed on both sides of the valley to prevent savages from attacking. The rest will clean the houses and prepare meals for the evening. Today
We’ll stay here tonight!”
"Yes, Your Highness." After hearing his order, everyone stopped curiously looking around and took action. The cavalry were divided into two groups, taking turns to guard against the savage attack; some of the savage infantry cleaned the house, while the other went into the nearby forest to cut down trees.
Chopping firewood or hunting wild animals for dinner; the people who drove the car took down the big pot and dry food from the car, went to the river to get water and started cooking.
It soon became dark. Brothers Zhu Zhen and Zhu Bai were sitting on stone stools and at a stone table in a house not far from the tallest building, eating and talking.
"Brother Six, this place is really great. There are ready-made houses here, there is a river next to it, there is a forest not far away, and there are mountains on both sides. The place is open. It is such a good place! Brother Six, I am a little jealous.
You." Zhu Bai said half-truthfully. This place is indeed better than Luojincheng and Jinchuan City, and he has been in Hanzhou Continent for four years and has not found anything comparable to this valley. It can be seen that
It can't be found.
"Haha, twelfth brother, you will definitely find a better place than here, don't be jealous of me." Zhu Zhen said with a smile.
"Oh, I have already explored all my territory, and I have never found such a place. It is obvious that there will never be one. If I had known this, my brother should have wanted a place in the south." After Zhu Bai said a few words,
, the conversation changed and he said: "Since this valley is in Sixth Brother's land, my younger brother will not leave. But my younger brother also sent troops to capture this valley, but there is no loot that can be taken away in the valley.
, so brother has to give me some compensation."
The purpose of what he said just now was to make amends. He knew very clearly that he could no longer occupy the space, but he still had to get something else out of Zhu Zhen's hands.
Naturally, Zhu Zhen would not be willing to give him many things. "Twelfth brother, we came to this valley from the sea. We also eliminated many savage tribes along the way, and seized many slaves and things, even cotton. I will give it to you.
Isn’t half the food and population enough? Besides, there was no war to occupy this valley."
They led their troops all the way from the sea. Although it was only a few hundred miles away, it was not a peaceful journey. Instead, they often needed to fight. There was a desert northeast of Yi'an City when he established it, and the population became denser south of the desert until
Near this valley, these savages live in tribes, most of them are warlike, and they often take the initiative to challenge in order to obtain supplies, so they fight very frequently. But as expected, they win all battles, no matter how big or small.
The weapons of the savages here are too poor. They seem to have no bows and arrows, and the only long-range weapons are javelins. The most commonly used weapons are a stone spear more than five feet long and a strange stick. The head of the stick is also inlaid with pieces.
The sharp stones may not necessarily put you at a disadvantage in a close-quarters fight.
But how could Zhu Zhen and Zhu Bai give them a complete chance to fight in close combat with their own soldiers? Whenever he saw the enemy approaching without waiting, Zhu Bai would order his savage soldiers to shoot arrows!
At least half of the 1,500 Jinchuan barbarians use longbows, and those who are their enemies don't even have decent armor. At most, they have a small shield. How can they block the incoming arrows?
After several rounds of missiles, they had suffered heavy casualties and collapsed.
It is useless even if they are determined and do not break up. Although brothers Zhu Zhen and Zhu Bai do not easily use cavalry, even if the Jinchuan barbarian infantry does not have much armor, they at least have wooden shields, and after training, they can form a formation with each other.
If you cooperate and deal with the injured local savages, you can easily win.
However, the savages here are more advanced than the original savages in the Jinchuan area. First of all, they have cloth, and it is cotton cloth. Among the trophies of the Indian Eight Banners are a lot of cotton armor. It is obvious that there are people growing cotton and weaving cloth nearby.
This discovery made Zhu Zhen very happy. He had just established a foothold near Yi'an City and had not yet had time to order people to plant cotton. Now he was using only stocks. Now he no longer had to worry.
In addition to cloth, they also seized a lot of corn from the local savage tribes. By relying on the seizure, they could eat fresh grain instead of chewing dry and hard grain. As for other seizures, there were also many, especially those that were taken carelessly by them.
The gold thrown around as bricks was filled by everyone, and everyone was satisfied.
"Brother Six," Zhu Bai continued: "That's not what you said. Although the valley is empty, this was not something that could be expected in advance. Besides, if it weren't for these soldiers in my brother's hands, brother, you would not be able to survive in a few years.
We will send troops to this valley, and my brother helped you advance a few years, which is a great help."
"That's not what you said." Zhu Zhen retorted again. After repeated discussions, the two finally agreed on Zhu Zhen's compensation for Zhu Bai.
"Twelfth brother, did you secretly open a pawnshop when you were in Jingzhou? Otherwise, why would you be so calculating?" said Zhu Zhen, who was very distressed about what he had to pay.
Zhu Bai laughed and said: "Don't tell me, when my brother was in Jingzhou, his servant actually opened a pawn shop. But after I learned about it, I asked him to withdraw his shares and not to interfere."
As soon as these words came out, Zhu Zhen couldn't help but laugh, and the atmosphere became harmonious again.
By this time, dinner had been finished. The two of them got up and walked out of the house. Listening to the noise coming from the houses on both sides, they slowly started walking on the street.
"Brother Six, you are so satisfied with this valley that you must have moved the capital from Yi'an City to this place." Zhu Bai said.
"This is natural. In addition to not being close to the sea, this place is much better than Yi'an City. Of course I want to move the capital here."
Zhu Zhen continued: "Of course, the place where we have been operating in the north cannot be lost. The place where we dock is also a good port. Brother Wei plans to build a track from this valley to make the connection more convenient. Of course, Chidao
It also needs to be repaired."
"It's about six hundred miles from this valley to there. This is no small project. It's farther than the journey from Yi'an City to Jinge City, and there are a lot of mountains along the way." Zhu Bai commented.
"Even so, we have to repair it. If we don't repair it, we won't be able to control the area to the north." Zhu Zhen thought to himself: 'If I don't repair this track, it's hard to say whether the two cities in the north will belong to me.
.';
Zhu Bai probably knew what he was thinking, so he didn't say more about it, but asked again: "What is Brother Six planning to do next?"
"Naturally, I use this as a basis to attack from all sides, attack, no, civilize the nearby savage tribes, let them recognize me as their master, willingly donate money, food and other goods, and voluntarily repair the big city in front of me."
"As for continuing to expand, it won't be too late until all the savages in the area are civilized."
"But," Zhu Bai said, "Sixth Brother, as you told your younger brother, this year Yunwen will set off from the Central Plains to the Hanzhou Continent. Where will his fiefdom be arranged?"
"Yun Wen," Zhu Zhen had forgotten about him during this period, but now he remembered that Yun Wen had sealed him to the Hanzhou continent. He pondered for a moment and said, "I heard from the prisoners captured these days that at the bottom of this valley,
There is still a large area of land to the east and south, so just seal Yunwen there."
"This promises a lot of land." Zhu Bai also listened to the interrogation of the prisoners.
"The Hanzhou continent is so big that we can't occupy it at all. It's better to let others occupy it than to let people of the same clan occupy it." Zhu Zhen said.
Zhu Bai heard what he meant and said, "Brother Six, do you mean those Japanese people?"
"There is also the businessman named Yan. They are very close, and they may have the same intention." Zhu Zhen said: "There are also many Japanese who came to the Hanzhou continent during this period, although they are all very obedient and obedient.
, but they are Japanese after all."
"Those poor people are nothing. We can't understand what the Cantonese and Fujian people say. The poor people just give them food, no matter who gives it to them. But those warriors need to be more careful." Zhu Bai said.
The two of them discussed how to guard against Japanese samurai. Zhu Bai thought for a while and advised: "Brother Six, the most important thing is to be prepared with weapons. Since there is such a valley here, it means that the locals are also civilized."
. Although they moved away from here for unknown reasons, they may not come back. It’s better to be on guard."
"Don't worry, I won't forget my weapons. I have a hunch that sooner or later I will have to deal with those who have moved away." (To be continued)
