Zhu Xi smiled: "Yes, even though it is made of compacted loess, it is very solid. This is made of pure loess, which is screened and mixed with lime, fine sand and wheat straw, stirred evenly and then tamped. The thickness of each layer About three or four inches. And it's not just rammed earth. There are also horizontal 'Yongding pillars' and vertical '絵木' in the middle. The last layer on the top is made of loess, lime and glutinous rice juice, with a thickness of About a foot and a half.”
Zhu Bai: "I don't understand. The soil used for the city wall will disappear as soon as it rains. And grass will grow."
Zhu Fang: "We also want to use blue bricks, but blue bricks are expensive. But we calculated that not to mention using all blue bricks, even if it is covered with a layer on both sides, it will cost at least 25 million yuan. Only blue bricks are enough. So now we can only intensify patrols, constantly pull out weeds and saplings on the walls, and repair the areas damaged by rain."
Zhu Bai nodded slightly: The cost is indeed too high.
Besides, Xi'an does not need to defend itself against foreign enemies for the time being, so this matter can be slowed down.
Zhu Fang pointed to the city wall and continued: "In the third year of Hongwu, my father ordered the expansion and renovation of the city wall of the Tang and Song Dynasties, and ordered Geng Bingwen, Pu Ying and Feng Sheng to lead the army to supervise the construction. However, it took a while until I came. It took two years to be considered basically complete. In total, it took a full eight years."
Zhu Bai increasingly felt that building with rammed earth was the best choice. It has been eight years since the rammed earth work was completed. If it were made of blue bricks, I don’t know if it would be repairable in another eight years.
Zhu Ping and the others rode slowly along the city wall.
Zhu Ping said: "The current Xi'an city wall is a regular square. The total length is about twenty-seven and a half miles. The north-south direction is slightly longer than the east-west direction. There is an enemy tower every thirty-six feet, a total of ninety-eight. Each enemy tower There is a garrison tower and a turret in each corner of the city. There is a city gate in the east, south, west and north. My father named these four gates "Changle", "Yongning" and "Yongning" respectively. 'Anding' and 'Anyuan' also express his expectations for Xi'an. We are walking through the Anding Gate now. There are gate-protecting urns built outside each gate, and there is a city tower and an arrow tower built on the urn."
Zhu Bai asked: "My father always told me that Xi'an Mansion is very big. How big is it?"
Zhu Chong was somewhat proud and replied: "Xi'an Prefecture now has jurisdiction over six states and thirty-one counties."
Zhu Bai smacked his tongue: "My dear, Fengyang only has six counties, nine prefectures, and eighteen counties under the jurisdiction of the state. Yingtian Prefecture only has eight counties, and Xi'an Prefecture is actually bigger than Yingtian Prefecture and Fengyang Prefecture."
You must know that Fengyang is Lao Zhu's hometown, and Yingtian is the heart of Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Xi sighed: "Despite the large area, there are actually few people. This is the northwest after all. The main battlefield of the Song and Jin Dynasties was here. All those who could escape ran away. Those who couldn't escape later encountered a severe drought and starved to death. 70 to 80 percent of the time. It is exactly what the saying goes, 'After repeated wars and revolutions, the people are sparsely populated and the land is vast, and the fields are full of weeds'."
Zhu Bai pursed his lips: Indeed. Wars came and went. During the Northern Song Dynasty, they were fought here non-stop. Later, the Song Dynasty moved south, and many people left. The Yuan Dynasty didn't care at all whether there were people farming or not. Only a "prosperous Chang'an" could become like this.
Zhu Xi said: "Before I came, there were even fewer people. In the ninth year of Hongwu, my father ordered to move the people of Fen, Ping, Ze and Lu in Shanxi to Hexi, where they could cultivate their land and build their own families." There are so many talents now.”
Zhu Bai smiled: "So, the people under the second brother's jurisdiction actually moved from the third brother."
Zhu Fang also smiled: "Of course my place is not as rich as my third brother's."
Zhu Bai: "Isn't that right? Third brother's place is the richest place in the north of Ming Dynasty."
Thanks to Lao Zhu, he was forced to read the annual tax reports of all government offices in the Ming Dynasty.
So know these things very well.
Zhu Bai suddenly realized that even though Lao Zhu didn't say it, he still preferred Zhu Xi and Zhu Fan in his heart, and was a little afraid of Zhu Di.
Otherwise, he would not have sent Zhu Xi and Zhu Fan to Xi'an and Shanxi, respectively, the best capitals in his mind.
Zhu Di was obviously younger, but he was kicked to remote Peiping.
Even if Zhu Di rebels now, if he comes from Peiping to fight against Yingtian, he has to go through the hurdles of his two brothers, Zhu Fan and Zhu Feng.
In the future, Lao Zhu will probably deploy more people to intercept Zhu Di.
Someone once said that Zhu Di is the most like Lao Zhu among all his adult sons.
This is Zhu Di's luck and his misfortune.
Because Lao Zhu knows himself better than anyone else.
If you are more like him, you will not be willing to be inferior to others.
All Zhu Di needs is a reason and an opportunity.
Just like Lao Zhu's own reason back then was that he was going to starve to death, and the opportunity was that the whole world was anti-Yuan.
Zhu Xi said: "So, when the twelfth brother sees Xi'an City later, he may be a little disappointed. After all, it is impossible to return to the grand scene of Chang'an City during the Tang Dynasty."
"That's natural," Zhu Bai said.
Not to mention the previous vandalism, smashing, and looting in Anlu Mountain, even the subsequent ravages of the Yuan Dynasty were enough to destroy this prosperous and beautiful ancient city.
It hurts to think about it.
This is also the reason why he hates the Hus and Mongols from the bottom of his heart.
They wander around and are born aggressors, capable of anything but destruction and destruction.
They are blemishes and viruses in human civilization, so their numbers must be controlled so that they can only wander on the grasslands and Gobi.
They call themselves wolves, but they don't know that wolves only eat slow sheep and will not destroy the sheep.
They are more greedy and shameless than wolves.
Zhu Bai suddenly said: "Second brother, let's work together to destroy Wang Baobao."
Zhu Xi was startled and turned to meet Zhu Bai's firm eyes.
Does this guy know about my relationship with Wang Baobao and my plan?
For a moment, he didn't know how to answer.
But Zhu Bai turned around and said, "Plan carefully, and one day we will destroy these beasts."
He tried to persuade Zhu Xi with such good intentions, but I wonder if he would listen?
Zhu Xi said: "Well, one day."
A thick layer of cold sweat broke out on his back.
I was also surrounded by deep shame.
So many soldiers of the Ming Dynasty died and spent so much energy fighting Wang Baobao.
My father asked me to guard Xi'an against the Mongols.
What am I doing?
We are sending him food so that he can live freely outside the Great Wall! !
What's the difference between me and those cowardly Song Dynasty officials who only spend money to eliminate disasters?
I am a pustule, a coward, and have tarnished my father's honorable name.
Zhu Bai suddenly changed the subject and asked Zhu Ping: "Is there a curfew in Xi'an now?"
Zhu Xi replied: "Yes. Before Xi'an followed suit, it was divided into 108 squares. Soldiers would patrol at night. People could not go out at will, otherwise they would be severely fined. The main reason was that they were afraid that the Mongols would sneak into the city and steal and rob. However, the curfew will be lifted on the 15th day of the first lunar month and the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, and people can go out to play and watch lanterns."
