NCCnovel 105 City Building
105 City Building
Cai Mao looked at the colorful glass beads in his hand with great affection and agreed immediately: "What are you talking about, Han Xing? We are all family. If you have any difficulties, your uncle will naturally help you with all his strength!"
"Alas!" Zhuge Tian sighed. "Although the world is relatively peaceful, as you know, Uncle, Cao Cao has always been eyeing Jingzhou covetously. He even captured Wan County last time."
"Wan County is only a hundred miles away from our Deng County. Look at the number of elderly, children, women and children in our Wolong Village. I am really worried."
"So Hanxing wants to ask my uncle if he can allow us to build a fortress in Wolong Village?"
In this era, many branches of the aristocratic families had their own castles.
Although it is not named a city, being in it is not much different from being in a city.
But this fortress cannot be built just like that.
Unless your family is the largest force in the local area, you always need to get the approval of the princes to which you belong.
Zhuge Tian and his men were located in Jingzhou. If they built a fortress without Liu Biao's approval, it would be a provocation to Liu Biao.
"A fortress?" Cai Mao was not too surprised by this request.
At that time, the Cai family had their own fortress on Caizhou. The houses were very luxurious, with bluestone corners on all four walls, and there were hundreds of maids and concubines in the house.
He hesitated for a moment, then saw the light of the seven-colored glass beads from the corner of his eye, nodded and said, "I will go back and see the general about this matter. It shouldn't be difficult."
Although Liu Biao was the General of Zhennan, half of the military and political affairs were handed over to Cai Mao.
What he told Liu Biao was that it was just about building a small fortress, which was not a big deal.
"In that case, Hanxing thanks my uncle."
Zhuge Tian saluted respectfully.
They have always wanted to build their own fortress here. As long as there are city walls, Zhuge Tian is confident that they can defend it even if tens of thousands of troops come.
Instead of doing as they did in the past, when Cao Cao attacked, they would have to make plans to withdraw to Deng County.
After the serious business was discussed, all that was left was to flatter each other.
Zhuge Tian just doesn't like to talk, but that doesn't mean he doesn't know how to flatter each other in business.
But within just one morning, the two became as familiar as relatives who had known each other for many years.
There was no problem on Zhuge Liang's side. Although Zhuge Tian was called over later, it was actually the two sisters who took care of everything. Zhuge Tian and Zhuge Liang only had to nod their heads.
All the miscellaneous matters and etiquette before the wedding were negotiated by the two sisters and Huang Yueying's mother.
Only after the Huang family and Cai Mao left did Liao Hua and others have the opportunity to talk to Zhuge Tian.
"What's going on? What is Cai Mao doing here? He wants us to be on the way..."
Liao Hua made a gesture of wiping his neck with his hand.
Zhuge Tian rolled his eyes at him and said, "That's not necessary, but you guys, please stop playing with glass beads for a while!"
"Why?" Liao Hua said angrily, "My glass beads are almost all won by those three. You can't stop me from making a comeback!"
As he said this, he pointed at the proud Gan Ning, Zhao Yun and Xu Chu.
The colorful glazed Dzi bead that Zhuge Tian gave to Cai Mao was just a glass bead.
He played this thing with his master when he was a child, and left behind a big box with at least more than a hundred of them.
And you can also buy it at the system cashier.
This thing is worthless to Zhuge Tian, but it is still intimidating enough in this era.
Didn’t you see that Cai Mao was fooled by this glass bead?
In other words, Zhuge Tian remembered his master's teachings and had some conscience so he didn't sell this thing directly as a treasure.
But it can still be used to fool Cai Mao.
I told you the general content of the conversation between the two today.
"Hanxing, do you really want to follow Cai Mao and support Liu Cong?" Liao Hua asked.
When Liu Qi and Liu Cong came to Wolong Village, he had the most contact with them.
The two people were of similar age and had similar interests, so they became friends after a few interactions.
If he had to choose one, he really wouldn't be willing to do so.
"I just said that we should listen to the elders, but I didn't say who these elders are!" Zhuge Tian said with a smile: "You usually call him Old Man Huang, but please don't treat him as an elder!"
Once their fortress is built, it won’t matter much to Zhuge Tian who inherits Jingzhou after Liu Biao dies.
However, he knew that Liu Cong would surrender to Cao Cao after inheriting Jingzhou, so compared to that, he still hoped that Liu Qi would take over.
It is most beneficial for him to do business if the several princes in the world maintain a balance between them.
As for the glass beads given to Cai Mao, let him be happy for a while.
That thing belongs to Zhuge Tian. If it is valuable, it is valuable, and it is very easy to lower the price.
Cai Mao accepted the benefits and worked very quickly.
A few days later, someone came with a message, saying that Liu Biao agreed to let them build their own fortress at the location of Wolong Village.
"Brother, how big should this fortress be?"
Zhuge Liang asked.
"What do you think?"
"Hmm..." Zhuge Liang thought for a moment and said, "Although building a larger fortress can protect more of our farmland, the larger the fortress, the more expensive it is and the more difficult it is to defend."
"I think it should be this big." Zhuge Tian drew a square on the sand table map of Wolong Village.
"What do you think?"
"I don't understand. It's whatever size you say." Liao Hua said.
Then Zhao Yun, Gan Ning and others nodded and handed the decision-making power to the Zhuge Tian brothers.
Zhuge Liang looked at the area circled by Zhuge Tian and said, "I think it could be a little bigger."
He also drew something on the sand table map: "Our city wall can be expanded to here."
"This place is close to the Yu River. If the enemy wants to attack from this side, there won't be enough depth for them."
"Also, it will be more convenient for us to travel from Yushui."
"Yes!" Zhuge Tian nodded: "Then let's do as Kong Ming said!"
After saying that, he took out a lot of books.
These were some of the city construction techniques from the Tang and Song dynasties that he bought from the cash register system, including blueprints and so on.
Wolong Village is located on two sides with mountains on both sides and close to the Yu River on one side.
Only one side is flat and level.
This is the direction they must defend first, because only in this direction can large siege machinery be deployed.
How to make city walls stronger and more resistant to attacks from siege machines has always been studied by the ancients.
Early city walls were mostly built with rammed earth. During the Han Dynasty, city-building technology developed greatly, with the addition of watchtowers on the city walls, the construction of "村城" outside the city gates, and the earliest use of cement mortar to build cities.
It was not until the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties that the earliest brick city walls appeared. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, due to the use of artillery, the entire city wall was gradually covered with bricks.
This is the kind of brick wall that Zhuge Tian planned to build.
After Zhuge Liang, Xu Shu and others looked through the technical books Zhuge Tian took out, their eyes lit up.
With such a city wall, ordinary catapults, battering rams and the like would hardly pose a threat.
"As for building city walls, I have a more advanced technology!" Zhuge Tian said, "but we may need to study it together."
"Is there anything more advanced than this?"
Zhuge Liang and others looked at Zhuge Tian in surprise.