Li Jinglong found that Xining Guard was even shabbier than other guard houses. Even the city walls were repaired and wolves could be seen wandering outside the city through the holes in the rooms at night.
The northwest wind blows in from the hole and makes a "wuwuwu" sound, as if someone is howling. If you listen carefully, it seems to be just the sound of wind.
Even with the guards accompanying him, he didn't dare go out to pee.
Li Jinglong cursed in his heart and did not dare to stay for a long time. He only rested for one night and then went after Zhu Bai despite the pain all over his body.
Li Jinglong chased Gansu Wei.
The commander of the Gansu Guard did not dare to say that Zhu Bai had gone to Suzhou and left Jiayuguan and came back. He only said: "Your Highness has left. I heard that he will go to Xi'an on his way back. Why don't you go directly to Xi'an to wait for Your Highness."
Li Jinglong collapsed.
Logically speaking, shouldn't they meet Zhu Bai on the road?
Why can't I see any trace at all?
Will Zhu Bai be invisible, or is he deliberately avoiding him?
Gansu Wei kindly reminded them: "Going from Xining to Xi'an is not the same way as following Hezhou to Xining."
Li Jinglong's guards were also exhausted: "Master Li, are you still chasing me?"
Li Jinglong: "Try your best. I really can't run anymore."
-----
At this moment, Zhu Bai was on his way from Xining to Xi'an.
The names of Xining and Xi'an differ only by one word. They were named in the hope of "peace on the western front", but the straight-line distance between the two places is more than 1,600 miles.
Even just from Xining to Lanzhou is more than four hundred miles. The whole way is a path between canyons, with rocks everywhere, making it impossible to run fast.
On the first day, Zhu Bai and the others only walked more than two hundred miles.
He still had to stay in the guardhouse at night.
This was nothing, but the commander of the guard station reminded Zhu Bai that if he wanted to reach Lanzhou, he had to cross the Yellow River.
Zhu Bai stood by the river and realized a serious problem: Dozens of them could just find a few boats to cross. But if you want the army to advance suddenly, you must build a bridge.
The Yellow River was not only a natural barrier for the Ming Dynasty to resist the Mongols' westward expansion, but also an obstacle to the northwest expansion of the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, Lao Zhu's guards in Xining and north of the Yellow River always used local chieftains as commanders.
The health centers across the Yellow River were dominated by Han people.
The reason why the bridge was not built before was because the Yellow River was originally a natural moat for defense. Building the bridge would make it easier for enemies from the northwest to attack directly from the bridge.
Now that the northwest is no longer a threat, it's time to build the bridge.
It's best if this bridge can be installed and removed quickly.
In case of any emergency, you can adapt accordingly.
That's the floating bridge.
Use boats as the bridge. Driving iron piles on the shore, and then using iron chains fixed at both ends to the iron piles across the two banks, hooking the boats to each other and between the boats and the iron chains, covered with wooden boards.
As long as it can pass livestock and horse-drawn carriages.
Unlike the Yangtze River, the Yellow River has no loggers releasing water, and there are no commercial ships going up or down, so there is no fear of pontoons impeding navigation.
Floating bridges have an advantage. During dry and rainy seasons, the bridge can float up and down with the river water without fear of being washed away.
Although the river where they crossed was wide, the water was relatively gentle upstream and downstream, so boatmen chose to ferry here to do business.
It is also the best place to build a floating bridge.
If there is a floating bridge, silk trading can also be done in Lanzhou.
If the enemy invades, the pontoon bridge will be burned directly.
Zhu Bai suddenly asked Zhang Yu: "Master Zhang, how many boats would you need if you want to use boats to cover the river side by side here?"
Zhang Yu thought that Zhu Bai was remembering that day when they blocked the Japanese pirates on the river in the middle of the night. He turned around and looked at it: "At least there must be more than 20 boats. It depends on how big the boat is."
The boatman chuckled: "This young master. If you want to fix the boat on the river and build a pontoon, you don't know how thick the iron chains and the iron rods fixed on both sides need to be."
Zhu Bai grinned: "Then hit him as hard as you can."
Only then did Zhang Yu and the others realize that Zhu Bai wanted to build a pontoon bridge, and they exchanged thoughtful glances: They only lived this once, so why build a pontoon bridge? This kid's mind is spinning so fast, I really don't understand what he is thinking.
After crossing the Yellow River, we arrived at Lanzhou.
If the bridge is relocated outside Lanzhou City, the cost will be high because the water is more turbulent and the river is wider. Secondly, the threat to Lanzhou's guards was too great.
Standing outside Lanzhou City, Zhu Bai pointed to the brand-new city wall and asked Zhang Yu: "Why are the city walls here so new? Mr. Zhang, please tell me."
He is so poor at history that he has no idea about the battles and allusions of each city.
Zhang Yu said: "In the second year of Hongwu, Wang Baobao besieged Lanzhou. Yu Guang, the commander of the Yingyang Guards in Longxi, came to rescue and was ambushed. Lanzhou defender Zhang Wen held fast, and Wang Baobao killed Yu Guang in front of the Lanzhou city gate. In March of the third year of Hongwu, Yu Guang was killed. Lord Xu Daxu led a large army to reinforce and defeated Wang Baobao in Lanzhou. In April, the emperor set up a guard in Lanzhou, which was under the jurisdiction of the Shaanxi Dusi. This new city wall was built in the 10th year of Hongwu when Wang Zhu, the commander of the Lanzhou Guard and the prefect, added to the original Song Dynasty city wall. . Now Wang Zhu has been promoted to commander."
In fact, he kind of beautified Xu Da. At that time, Wang Baobao caused Xu Da a lot of suffering and even ambushed Yu Guang, which shows that he is a man who is good at fighting and planning.
Xu Da fought for several months and enforced military law on several officers who were not effective in fighting, which boosted morale.
That's why Lao Zhu always wanted to recruit Wang Baobao to surrender.
Zhu Bai said: "Lanzhou was an important town on the Silk Road in the Tang Dynasty. Unfortunately, it was defeated by the Yuan Dynasty."
The Yuan Dynasty had no economic acumen. In addition to being good at smashing, smashing and looting, it did not know how to engage in culture and economy.
Moreover, Lanzhou was an inland city for the Yuan Dynasty, not a border gate, so the court would not repair the walls at all.
Lao Zhu now adopts a policy of giving up on the west of Jiayuguan. Lanzhou has become an important border town of the Ming Dynasty, and only then has the matter of building a city wall and increasing the population been put on the agenda.
Wang Zhu went out of the city to meet Zhu Bai.
Zhu Bai was surprised that Wang Zhu was so short and lean, almost as tall as him, with a sparse beard and mediocre appearance.
Logically speaking, Wang Zhu should be a fierce general, otherwise he would not be placed at such an important juncture by Lao Zhu.
As expected, people cannot be judged by their appearance.
The banquet Wang Zhu entertained Zhu Bai was relatively simple.
Dried buns, wolfberry leaf soup, and dried fish made from small fish caught in the Yellow River.
Wang Zhu was embarrassed and frightened, and murmured: "Your Highness, please forgive me. It's really..."
Zhu Bai grinned: "It's already very good. Gong Changwei only has thin corn porridge."
After all, Lanzhou is still on the Yellow River, and the climate is much better than that of Hezhouwei. At least one season of wheat can be grown.
After dinner, Zhu Bai asked Wang Zhu: "In addition to wolfberry, cattle, sheep, and wheat, what other specialties does Lanzhou have? It's best if it's easy to transport, so that I can help the commander transport it out and make you rich."
Wang Zhu thought for a moment and said, "There is also Gu Gu Rong."
Zhu Bai murmured: "Gu Gu Rong..."
what? Similar to flannel, or wool?
