The Queen Mother did not make everyone surprised for a long time, and said directly: "I hope you can sketch the situation of Tao's mountains and rivers."
The King of Qin immediately ordered the prince: "Get the cloth and ink pen!"
The Queen Mother said: "It is ready in the palace, just call someone to get it."
The prince hurriedly went out and called the servant to get the cloth and ink pen. The young prince brought it in, along with a cup of water.
Tao Cheng and Tao Wei discussed in a low voice. Tao Cheng wet the pen, licked the ink, looked at the white cloth, and started drawing on the cloth. Since the white cloth was spread on the ground and was not small, everyone sitting around could see the painting process of the two people; the prince stood behind the two people and watched carefully in silence. Over a meal, the two of them discussed and finished the painting: Tao Cheng mainly painted the general situation, while Tao Wei added some small details. The two of them bowed down and said, "I have worked hard to achieve this, but I dare not say it all, but I have an elephant ear!"
The prince took the newly drawn map and placed it on the Queen Mother's desk.
The Queen Mother looked at it and said: "The two of you are just talking about the situation of marching into the army and suppressing bandits, as well as the feelings of other countries." The two of them said a few words, and the Queen Mother was a little impatient and said: "The two of you are going forward and following the plan. Word."
The two of them scrambled to climb up to the Queen Mother's case, and were a little cautious at first; but the Queen Mother's well-timed questions gradually dispelled their restraint. As the discussion progressed and they began to get deeper into their roles, things became smoother and smoother. The Queen Mother and the King of Qin always leaned forward and listened carefully to what they were saying. Marquis Rang did not dare to get too close at first, but later he was fascinated and could not help but come closer. The prince stood silently behind the two of them, and slowly Mi Rong, Jingyang Jun and Gaoling Jun also stood up and gathered around the table to watch.
Seeing everyone's interest, the Queen Mother turned the question to Marquis Rang and asked Marquis Rang to express his opinion. Ranghou was naturally scheming, and after carefully asking the two of them a few questions, a set of methods came out. As soon as Wei Ran opened his mouth, everyone's thoughts started to change. Mi Rong, Lord Jingyang, Lord Gaoling and even the Crown Prince also participated in the discussion. At this time, the Queen Mother did not speak much and just kept the discussion going. During the discussion, King Qin listened intently. Not only did he not express his opinion, he even rarely said a word.
After some brainstorming, it's time to go to bed. The Queen Mother stretched out her body at the right moment and said, "I am deceiving my grandson by talking too much about men's affairs with you! You should retreat, but you can take a closer look at the tributes with my grandson."
Everyone quickly stood up and left. The prince seemed to have just passed his thirties, and his personality was as gentle as his father's. Seeing that the Queen Mother is happy, she will stay. The Queen Mother said, "I want to take a rest at noon, and the prince will return home." She also drove the prince away. After everyone left the Ganquan Palace, King Qin said to the officials in Taoyi: "Do you have what the princes said?"
The two of them chattered incessantly.
The King of Qin said: "After returning to Tao, I will discuss the strategy with Tao Shou in detail and report back to Xianyang!"
Tao Cheng hurriedly said: "If it's a trivial matter, it's okay to send a postman to report it; if it's a confidential matter, it's inconvenient to send it thousands of miles."
King Qin pondered for a moment and said: "Let us discuss it later!" The few people separated. Before parting, King Qin casually asked Wei Ran: "What can I do about the affairs of Shu?"
Wei Ran said: "We have reached the Han River. It may be done."
The King of Qin asked: "Is there any obstacle between him and the prisoner?"
Wei Ran said: "Mr. Wu'an personally supervises the prisoners, and there is no obstacle to transporting grain to the five counties!"
The king of Qin asked: "Who leads the prisoners?"
Wei Ran said: "Wu'an Lord personally sent his company's chariot Sima Jin to lead him."
The King of Qin said: "The affairs of Shu Road are urgent, and the criminals may use him!"
Wei Ran said: "Here!"
Zhang Lu's team set off at the same time as Ke Qingzao's team. They first followed the road that Sima mistakenly entered Shu nearly half a century ago, entering from the Xie Valley. The broken roads and dilapidated plank roads they saw deeply stimulated them, but they also felt the hope of success: it is not that there are no roads here, it’s just that No one has walked for a long time, and the road is gone. As long as I start walking, recovery is quick.
Although the road was broken and dilapidated, it was still passable for such a small army. The group of people carefully set foot on this dilapidated road, moving forward day by day. They had long ago learned that this mountain road was difficult to pass not only for cars but also for cattle and horses, so they carried all their supplies on their backs. They only moved forward less than 200 miles before they discovered that the road was not a matter of repair, but a matter of renovating. This greatly simplifies the task content and engineering volume. They drafted a plan on the way, and after a day of calculation after returning to Xianyang, they came up with a project outline. They decided to use 10,000 prisoners as a unit to enter the construction site in turn to complete different construction tasks.
The road to Shu passes through the Qinling Mountains. Unlike the Loess Plateau, the Qinling Mountains are not loess piles and cannot be compacted to build roads. Originally, there was no other way to climb the long mountainous terrain. However, there is no perfect road, and among the high mountains of Qinling Mountains, there are still some gaps - valleys. The existence of these valleys allows people to reach the other side of the mountains without having to climb high mountains. There are currently five such valleys in the Qinling Mountains, which are called Qishan Road, Chencang Road, Baoxie Road, Tangluo Road and Ziwu Valley Road from west to east. They all have a common feature: rugged mountain roads and rapid rapids coexist, so a road like a bridge must be built artificially - a plank road. This is the basic route through the Qinling Mountains.
The report was sent to the Prime Minister's Mansion, and after review, it was reported to the King of Qin. The King of Qin sent out military symbols without looking carefully at all; at the same time, he sent Wang Ji to Zhang Lu to assist in the coordination of various departments.
When the military talisman arrived in the hands of Lord Wu An, Bai Qi personally experienced the multiplication effect of the road connection on military strength, and immediately mobilized himself. The first batch of 10,000 people was quickly mobilized. Bai Qi once again appointed Sima Jin to use the public transport by one level to command these 10,000 people. Five counties, including Chencang, Xixian, Wugong, Taixian and Guoxian, supply grain and fodder.
Construction began in the cold December. Just like building the road to Tongyi Canal, Zhang Lu first spent more than ten days leveling the highway connecting several county towns, which not only benefited each county, but also provided convenience for future transportation.
The engineering equipment shipped out of Xianyang was transported up the Weishui River to the construction site. The paving of the road starts from where Xianshui enters Weikou. Ten thousand people were divided into logging, renovation, construction, and earth ramming groups, each doing their own thing. There are not many places on the inclined valley road that require rammed earth, and plank roads mainly need to be built. Felling and trimming wood became the most important jobs. The basic structure of the plank road is still there. All that needs to be done now is to strengthen and renovate them. Although it is not easy, it is still much better than starting from scratch. The work of repairing plank roads was a technical job. Thousands of residents who knew how to repair plank roads were recruited from various counties, and each was given a first-level qualification. Experienced prisoners were also immediately exempted. They were assigned as corps commanders, leading the ingenious criminals to work up and down the plank road. Prisoners who knew carpentry were also appointed as corps leaders, leading their own prisoners to cut and trim wood. As the plank road extended, the slightly gentler ravines became temporary camps for these criminals, and the newly built plank road became a transportation lifeline.
The plank road moves forward section by section. It only took a month for the first section of the plank road to finally reach the source of Xieshui.
The exhausted prisoners returned along the plank road and were sent back to Xianyang by boat to rest; while the second batch of prisoners who had been prepared set foot on the construction site again. Along the newly built plank road, they transported the grain and fodder from the Weishui River to the source of Xieshui River. They set up camp here and started building the second section of the plank road. Those skilled workers only ate, drank and slept in the main hall of Xi County outside Xiegu for five days, and then returned to the construction site with new prisoners.
Zheng Anping was responsible for delivering news at various construction sites, while Mr. Che You assisted Zhang Lu in engineering actuarial calculations. Chen Si's job was both simple and arduous: he wanted to draw the mountains and rivers he saw every day. To do this, he had to climb up the mountain and look around every day. Mang Wei is an excellent logistics support personnel. He is responsible for the food, clothing, housing, transportation, and even medicine for the team of more than 100 people. Gai Nie hung a short sword on his waist and never left Zhang Lu's back. Zhang Lu is the busiest. He is hunched over, coughing and wheezing, and always appears in areas where his neck is stuck. Sima Jin's burly figure became dark and thin in a month. The difficulty of this area was beyond his imagination. There were no roads, no human habitation, and no even flat land. If you wanted to rest, you would be lucky if you could find a dry stone. This made his tactics of advancing camp by camp useless when building Tongyi Canal. The prisoners could only rest on the spot at night, with a long bonfire burning until dawn. When the temperature drops and the rain and snow fall, there is no telling who will fall ill, die, or flee - of course, running back from the mountains is not an easy task.
Amidst such difficulties, Sima Jin also found a happy thing: teaching Gai Nie swordsmanship. In addition to giving birth to a great military strategist and politician Sima Cuo, the Sima family is also a famous swordsman, especially their swordsmanship theory that is valued by the world. Sima Jin discovered from the details of Gai Nie's sword that his swordsmanship was unique. After a brief conversation, he discovered that he was quite talented in swordsmanship. Sima Jin was fond of swordsmanship and never left his side with the sword. He was extremely happy to see his fellow swordsmen. Every day after leaving camp, he hung out with Gai Nie, sparred with each other in swordsmanship, exchanged experiences, and devoted himself to tutoring.
Ge Nie is a child. He runs around with Zhang Lu every day just to exercise. He is not serious and doesn't care about anything. I practiced swordplay with Sima Jin at night, and I had to think carefully about the gestures, and then I fell asleep. In one month, not to mention Zhang Lu, everyone in the team including Zheng Anping fell ill, and only Gai Nie was alive and well.
It is about five miles from the source of Xieshui River to the east source of Baoshui River. Although there is no water here, it may be an old river channel with rugged rocks and it is basically impossible to build a road with rammed earth. It is still difficult for people to walk, and it is basically impossible to walk when riding in a car. Zhang Lu simply built a plank road on the mountain ridge, mainly to facilitate driving.
