For the common people of the marketplace, building a house was a top priority, and erecting a beam to signify the completion of a new house was also a top priority. Thus, on the day a country, prefecture, frontier fortress, city, or military town was completed, the meaning behind the hanging of a plaque was equivalent to the raising of a beam for the common people. As a result, the significance was extremely important.
Today, the day for the hanging of the plaque for the city outside Liangzhou Pass had arrived. They did not deliberately choose an auspicious day. Instead, when the last main wall was completely completed, they unanimously passed a resolution that the hanging of the plaque on that day could not be delayed. It was not that the large group of Beiliang bosses supervising the construction of the city did not care. It was truly that the situation was urgent, and they could not afford to care about such things as adding flowers to the brocade. Otherwise, the group of civil officials led by Beiliang's Daoist Administrator Li Gongde had spent almost an entire year in this godforsaken place. Practically everyone had to eat the yellow earth and drink the wind and sand with the soldiers and laborers every day. After investing so much effort, how could they not want to find an auspicious day to hang up the plaque? This kind of deep affection was perhaps no less than when a daughter was married off.
The construction of this city could be said to be unprecedented. Not only was it larger than the first border city in the northwest, Hutou City, it also took less time. Apart from the ten thousand Great Snow Dragon Cavalry and the nine thousand or so heavy cavalry of the "Wei Xiong" and the "Zhihu", almost all of the Liangzhou Border Army took turns participating in the construction of the city. Of course, all of the young and strong soldiers and craftsmen in the Pass, Liangling, and Serene Provinces were conscripted. In addition to the endless stream of Beiliang commoners who went to Liangzhou Pass on their own, the number of people building the city was always maintained at around a hundred thousand. In history, the so-called 'using the entire nation's power to build a majestic city or a huge town, oftentimes the emphasis was on conserving the people's labor and not delaying the farming time. Most of the time,' in thirty days, quickly build a wall ', and then intermittently take several years to complete the construction. But this time in Beiliang, the Xu family on Mount Qing Liang had nearly exhausted all of their wealth to build the city's main wall; it was simply a magnificent feat of cutting off the cauldrons and sinking the boats. Just the loess used to build the main wall had already hollowed out two small hills south of the city, Longshou and Huwei!
At dawn, Li Gongde and his neighbor, Song Changsui, the Mohist School's Deputy Supervisor, got up early together. After ascending the city wall and strolling on the wide horse path, the Administrator, who had lost 20 pounds at some point, subconsciously stamped his feet out of habit. The old man with white hair smiled proudly. "With me, the miser Li Gongde, keeping an eye on them all day long, who would cut corners?" Besides, no one would dare to slack off. This was not a matter of money. Instead, it was the most obvious principle in front of everyone. "If this city exists in Liangzhou, it will exist. If this city dies, it will perish!" He was the leader of Beiliang's civil officials, who had lived a smooth life in the officialdom. Although he had lost a lot of weight, his body looked much more robust. If the officials of Lingzhou could come here, they would be shocked to see Official Li. They might not even recognize him. The slipperiness that Li Gongde had accumulated for most of his life in the officialdom had completely disappeared. Instead, it was an invisible heroic spirit that could only be possessed by someone who came from a family of generals. The old man was a scholar after all. He reached out his hand and touched the inner wall. He chuckled and said, "In the past, in the conference hall of Qingliang Mountain, where there were more martial arts than literature, I could never understand what the general was talking about with those rough men. Something about a horse path or a parapet. It was only when I came here that I realized. Just like this parapet, I had actually read about it in books a long time ago. Many frontier poems have sung about it. It's called 'Disdainful Gaze'. Parapet, parapet, it's still better to call it that way. Every time I walk around the city, I will think about that little girl at home who makes people worry. In the past, it was that fellow from Hanlin Academy that made us feel helpless. Now that I think about it, it was the general who had foresight. He said that in the world, when a father and a daughter raise a child, it would be easier to raise a son and more troublesome to raise a daughter. "
Song Changsui said in a deep voice, "Old Li, you also know that I am not the kind of person who likes to praise people. Your Hanlin Academy is really not bad. The battle on the Longyan Plains was beautifully fought! Beimang, Dong Zhuo's elite scouts, including Crow Palanzi, were all wiped out. This battle was really satisfying! "
Li Gongde, whose lips were chapped, twirled his beard and smiled. "That's right. This kind of thing only feels comfortable when an outsider praises it. As a father, no matter how much I say, it always feels wrong. To tell the truth, Old Song, you really can keep your composure. I've been waiting for you to say these words for quite some time! It's been so stifling that I'm about to suffer internal injuries. "
Song Changsui said helplessly, "Before this, I was so busy that my head was in a mess. How could I have the slightest bit of energy to chat with you?"
Li Gongde sighed with emotion. "That's true. I boast that I have quite a lot of experience as an official in this life. In short, I ponder and ponder all day long about other people. Although it can't be said that I don't do anything at all, to personally attend to everything like this is unimaginable. It feels like in just one short year, I have repaid all the practical experience that I, Li Gongde, owe in officialdom for a lifetime."
Song Changsui smiled knowingly.
Li Gongde suddenly slapped heavily on the arrow pile and said loudly, "If such a good city wall can't be defended, not only will they be killed by the Beimang barbarians, but they will also be scolded half to death by me!"
Song Changsui was stunned and then looked around. The inside and outside of the city was the most familiar scene of the construction of the city. The chanting rose and fell one after another. Although the huge city under his feet could already be hung with a plaque, there was still a considerable amount of work to be done. The Mohist scholar asked softly with a smile, "Can you really bear to scold them?"
Li Gongde, who was originally aggressive, suddenly lost his arrogance and only whispered softly, "There are so many Beiliang Frontier Army men … I, Li Gongde, can bear to scold my son, but I can't bear to scold them."
— —
The newly appointed Provincial Governor of Liangzhou, Bai Yu, could go to Mount Wudang to meet friends and slack off. However, as the Transport Officer and Deputy Provincial Governor of Beiliang Road, a certain someone could not rest for a moment. He traveled nonstop from Qingcang City in Liuzhou to Qingyuan Army Town at the western gate of Liangzhou until he lifted the curtain of the carriage and could see the outline of the magnificent city outside the pass. It seemed that ever since Xu Beizhi left Mount Qingliang for Lingzhou, he had been constantly on the move. As the Provincial Governor of Purchasing Rice, he had built granaries all over his territory and served as the Transport Officer of a Road. He was in charge of strategizing about the transport of grain. In between, he had gone to Lianghuai Road to meet with Han Lin in private. Not long ago, he went to Mount Lantuo in the Western Region to bring 20,000 monk soldiers to the defense line of Qingcang City in Liuzhou. This time, after attending the plaque hanging ceremony, he immediately went to Lingzhou and personally watched the grain cooling before he could be at ease.
In these years, he did not have a fixed residence. It seemed that if he was not on horseback, he was in the carriage. In any case, it was always bumpy.
Outside this carriage, there was not a single elite cavalry of the Beiliang Frontier Army escorting it. Logically speaking, with Xu Beizhi's high rank and his great importance to the upcoming battle of Liang Mang, even if they sent him a thousand Beiliang cavalry as a retainer, it would not be an exaggeration.
However, it was precisely because of this that the position of this young strategist in the Xu family's Mount Qingliang and in the hearts of the young kings was even more unparalleled.
This was because there were only 80 people escorting the carriage.
80 riders, all carrying swords.
80 people of the Wu family's Sword Tomb!
The current generation's Sword Crown Wu Liuding, the swordsman Cuihua who carried the ancient sword Su Of Gojoseon on his back, the demon Zhu Huang who was notorious even in the Sword Tomb, Helian who had a deep understanding of the way of the sword, the Sword Maniac, Zhang Luantai, Gongsun Xiushui, Nalan Huaiyu …
If this could not be considered as extravagant, then there was probably no retainer in the world that could be considered as elite.
Although Xu Beizhi, whose face was full of exhaustion, was extremely sleepy, he still could not fall asleep. Several times, he closed his eyes but did not open them for a long time. He simply sat cross-legged, took out Li Yishan's old handbook from his bosom, and gently flipped through it.
He had heard from Hsu Fengnian that the Tide-listening Pavilion's large golden signboard was personally written by the old Emperor Li Yang. The four large characters of Beiliang Palace on the gate of Mount Qing Liang were written by Princess Consort Wu Su. After that, when the first city outside Beiliang's pass needed to be built, Xu Xiao's original intention was for a boor like him to not make a fool of himself, so he wanted Li Yishan to do it for him. However, Li Yishan did not agree, so Ren Tu could only go to Wutongin to seek advice on writing from His Royal Highness. In the end, who knew how many baskets of waste rice paper were filled with it. Only then did the three words "Hutou City" appear. Xu Xiao had once joked that he, Ren Tu, had even finished writing the words for his next life. Later on, for example, the signboard in the Liuzhou Provincial Governor's Mansion within Qingcang City was the words chosen by the young vassal king from his master Li Yishan's writings. This was because Li Yishan's contributions to Beiliang went without saying, and Li Yishan's contributions to Liuzhou were even more profound. Before the Tide-listening Pavilion and Wutongin's treasured antiques were scattered all over the Central Plains.
Xu Beizhi and Hsu Fengnian once had a very relaxed and leisurely conversation.
"You don't feel sorry for them?"
"Who do you think I, Hsu Fengnian, am? I am Xu Xiao's eldest son! What kind of good things have I not seen in this world? When have I ever been such a stingy person? Back in the day, when it came to those wandering heroes from other places, those poor scholars who could write beautiful poems, and those fortune-tellers who set up stalls, I would always throw away a thousand gold without even blinking an eye! "
"Oh? Then why was it that when I casually picked up the 'Toddler Climbing Urn' painting and threw the 'Mountain Journey' inkstone into the box, your eyes were blinking so hard that they could fan up a great wind? "
"I was just reminding you to be a bit more gentle. If you bump into something and damage its appearance, it won't be easy to sell it."
"Appearance? It's nothing more than the cheap price of a few dozen or a few hundred dan of grain. Isn't it a bit pretentious to talk about appearance? "
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