Chapter 336 Infrastructure Artifact!

Ministry of Revenue Office.

Wang Qiong was still a little dazed when he looked at the imperial edict in his hand.

General of the Three Borders?

Superintendent of the Three Borders Military Affairs?

Is this considered... a step to heaven?

Wang Qiong was just over fifty years old. He was able to enter the court by bribing Liu Jin, but he was also labeled as a eunuch party and was not tolerated by the literati.

Wang Qiong thought that his career path in this life would end here, but no one expected that His Majesty's edict directly appointed him as the General of the Three Borders and the Superintendent of the Three Borders Military Affairs. In the blink of an eye, he became a real frontier official!

After a brief shock, there was endless ecstasy.

Wang Qiong didn't even bother to think about the responsibilities and duties of the General of the Three Borders. He was very confident in his talents. What he lacked was an opportunity to soar to the sky!

Now, this opportunity has finally come!

Zhang Yong, the imperial envoy who announced the imperial decree, kindly reminded: "Sir Wang, the emperor has ordered that you go to the Dongguan Hall camp immediately to meet with the general of conquering the enemy and the marquis of pacifying the enemy, An Guo, and then immediately go to Shaanxi to take up your post!"

"Thank you for the reminder, Grand Eunuch!" Wang Qiong thanked Zhang Yong with a smile, and then hurried to the Dongguan Hall camp.

Seeing this, all the officials of the Ministry of Revenue looked indignant.

First there was a eunuch party Jiao Fang, who jumped to become the Minister of Revenue, and now there is another eunuch party Wang Qiong, who was directly promoted to the general of the three borders. What kind of logic is this?

Does the emperor particularly love these eunuchs who have no moral integrity and no moral bottom line?

There must be traitors who offer slander!

Not to mention how these officials of the Ministry of Revenue complained, Wang Qiong walked into the general's tent under the leadership of the armored soldiers, and met the fierce and domineering Ming Zhongshan Marquis, as well as Jinglu Bo Anguo and Beijing Army Admiral Xianning Marquis Qiu Yue who stood obediently beside him!

"Meet Zhongshan Marquis!"

Wang Qiong took the initiative to salute.

After all, who doesn't know that this Zhongshan Marquis is the absolute confidant of His Majesty the Emperor?

Even if he has been deprived of military power now, who knows whether it is true or false, and the possibility of a show is very high!

Especially witnessing this scene in front of him, it further confirmed Wang Qiong's guess.

"Okay, take a seat!"

Tang Hao waved his hand impatiently, and after Wang Qiong sat down, he directly gave the task.

"Wang Qiong, Anguo, the court's goal this time is... Hetao!"

On the geomancy map, Tang Hao had already circled the Hetao area.

"I won't say much about the importance and strategic value of Hetao."

"You have three tasks on this trip, listen carefully."

"First, start building a 1,500-li border wall from Dingbianying (Dingbian, Shaanxi) in the west to Huangfuchuan (northeast of Fugu) in the east, and strive to complete it within three years. This task is left to you, Wang Qiong. If the border wall is built within three years, the court will provide money and grain, and the labor will be drawn from the Japanese slaves. Everything is ready for you!"

"Let me be frank in advance. If you can't build the border wall within three years, not only will His Majesty abolish you as the general governor of the three borders, but you will also be dismissed from office and your fame will be completely cut off, and your official career path will be completely cut off. Do you understand?"

Wang Qiong, who was full of joy, was immediately poured with a basin of cold water on his head, and his heart was half cold.

This is not a career advancement at all, this is clearly being dragged to put out a fire!

Build a border wall outside the Great Wall within three years. Not to mention the problem of manpower and material resources, the Mongolian barbarians entrenched in the Hetao territory are not fools. How could they watch the court build a border wall to recover the Hetao?

However, before Wang Qiong could refute, the next sentence of Lord Zhongshan frightened him pale and sweating.

Either build a border wall within three years, or wait to be dismissed from office, and also be stripped of my fame!

Is it so vicious?

It is not enough to be dismissed from office, but also to strip my fame?

Isn't this directly forcing people to a dead end?

Wang Qiong was obsessed with power and wanted to climb up at all costs. Faced with such a threat, there was no chance to resist, so he could only grit his teeth and take on this task.

"As long as the general of the expedition cooperates properly, I will definitely build the border wall within three years!"

Hearing this answer, Tang Hao smiled immediately.

It's worth recommending the notorious Wang Qiong!

Facts have proved that this kind of talent is the most useful.

Wang Qiong is different from Jiao Fang. Although both of them are eunuchs and can do whatever it takes for power, Wang Qiong has an advantage in that he is really capable and not like Jiao Fang.

Historically, Wang Qiong was later promoted to the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. He was quite talented in calculation and good at checking. When he was a palace official, he copied down the documents and rules of the past and fully mastered the income and expenditure, loss and profit of the Ministry of Revenue. When he became the Minister, he became more familiar with the country's financial calculations. When the generals of the Nine Frontiers came to ask for the allocation of grain and grass, he counted with his fingers how much grain and grass there were in a certain warehouse and a certain grassland, how much each county transported each year, and how much grain and grass the border soldiers harvested in autumn each year, and said: "These are enough! Asking for more is fraud." Since then, all the generals of the Nine Frontiers dared not to report falsely, which shows his talent.

Compared to Jiao Fang, who only knows how to curse his mother every day, Wang Qiong has no moral integrity, but he has worked hard to climb up. Such a talented but unethical person is naturally a good candidate for Zhu Houzhao to entrust with important tasks.

Tang Hao then looked at An Guo, a famous general in history.

"I intend to allocate 30,000 elite soldiers to you. You have two tasks. One is to try to contact the right-wing Mongolian leaders such as Yibula and Mandulai. Whether it is to support or divide them, we must not let the Mongolian prince completely defeat them and unify the entire Mongolian grassland, otherwise it will be the most deadly threat to my Ming Dynasty!"

Is the Mongolian prince going to unify the entire grassland?

Hearing this, everyone present was shocked and realized the seriousness of the problem!

Ever since Lan Yu destroyed the Northern Yuan Dynasty court system in Buyuerhai, the Mongolian tribes have fallen into division. Although many powerful ministers who claimed to be Taishi emerged later, even the powerful Wala Taishi Yesen who entered the Ming Dynasty could not truly unify the grassland. The tribes of all sizes fought endlessly under the leadership of the noble lords, and the chaos continued. This is the most favorable situation for the Ming Dynasty.

But now, the Mongolian prince is about to unify the entire grassland and integrate the strength of the Mongolian tribes!

If he really completes this step, who will be the next target of the Mongolian prince?

Naturally, it is the Ming Dynasty!

It will only be the Ming Dynasty!

A unified grassland force is a fatal threat to any Central Plains dynasty!

It was not until this moment that Wang Qiong finally understood why the court had to send troops to Hetao to build a border wall!

If they don't find a way to seize Hetao, wait until the Mongolian prince unifies the entire grassland, and then use Hetao as a springboard to attack Shaanxi, Shanxi, Ningxia and other places, the Ming Dynasty will sooner or later face the desperate situation of the Tumu disaster again!

"The second task is to search and destroy the nest. While cooperating with Wang Qiong to build the border wall, you must lead elite soldiers to go out of the pass and into the trap, clear out the barbarian tribes entrenched in the Hetao territory, kill them all and leave no one behind, and never leave any hidden dangers!"

An Guo nodded solemnly.

He knew the importance of these two tasks.

Whether it is to contact the right-wing Mongolian leaders such as Yibula and Mandulai, or to lead the army out of the pass to search and destroy the nest, this is not an easy task.

But since the Marquis believed in him and gave him this opportunity, An Guo would definitely not let his Marquis down!

After the discussion, Tang Hao suddenly laughed and said, "Speaking of which, we really caught up."

"This Marquis will provide you with a kind of infrastructure material for building the side wall, which can greatly shorten the construction time!"

As he said, Tang Hao took the two to the artisan workshop in the military camp.

These artisans are military artisans, responsible for making military equipment.

The infrastructure artifact that Tang Hao mentioned is naturally cement.

Cement, in a simple way, is to put limestone and clay into the kiln to burn.

As for the specific proportion, he really didn't know much, so he simply prepared three kilns and let the artisans in the military camp keep trying.

There is a row of five kiln mouths at the outermost edge of the workshop.

At this moment, a steady stream of cement is being produced, but the scene is full of dust, which makes people frown unconsciously.

Tang Hao didn't mind the dirtiness, squatted down, grabbed a handful of samples, and rubbed them carefully between his fingers.

This thing feels very smooth, and the color is correct, but it is still only a clinker, not a finished product. It has to be mixed with iron powder to be the real cement.

But in this era, it is already rare for craftsmen to be able to do this.

Tang Hao handed the sample to An Guo and Wang Qiong, and chuckled: "This is the infrastructure artifact!"

The two also didn't mind the dirtiness, but reached out to take it and looked at it carefully, but couldn't see anything.

"My Lord, this thing... how to use it?"

An Guo couldn't help asking.

Tang Hao didn't waste any words and started to work directly.

He personally mixed cement and river sand with a shovel, then added water to stir and mix, and then skillfully put it into a bucket with a shovel.

After the demonstration work was done, Tang Hao directed the craftsmen to act.

The requirements are not high. According to his operation process, a miniature bastion can be built directly on the spot with cement!

There are a total of fifty craftsmen in charge of the cement workshop. Because they successfully made cement according to Tang Hao's instructions, each of them was rewarded with 100 taels of silver. At this moment, they are ready to fight and their blood is boiling. They obey Tang Hao's orders.

Not to mention using this cement to build a miniature bastion, they dare to build a palace!

Seeing the craftsmen working hard, Tang Hao turned his head and said to the two: "It will take about two or three hours for the bastion to be built and solidified. We have to wait patiently!"

An Guo and Wang Qiong didn't understand what "solidification" meant.

But they noticed one thing, that is, the infrastructure artifact mentioned by Zhongshan Hou.

"This thing is called cement. As for its use, it can be described as indestructible!"

"In the future, cement will be the best material for building roads, bridges, and cities. Not only is it difficult to be destroyed for thousands of years, but it is also used in military affairs. It can be said to be 'solid as a rock'. Basically, no enemy can easily destroy it. For example, this bastion in front of you, you can test its solidity after it solidifies!"