The spring of the forty-sixth year of Wanli was long overdue. 【】

Now, it is already March, and the northwest region of the Ming Empire is still cold in spring, and I don't feel the slightest warmth. Gusts of north wind continued to howl, bringing a shivering chill. If you ride a horse slowly, you can barely endure it. However, if you ride your horse and the cold wind blows in front of you, it can directly freeze you.

One day in early March, the Lion Cavalry troops stationed at Jiayuguan received a notice very early that a big man was coming to inspect it. According to the regulations for greeting their superiors, they did a good job of hygiene early, prepared meals, lined up in line, and waited for the arrival of their superiors. At this time, the wind and sand around Jiayuguan are still very large. Gusts of north wind continued to roll up the sand and dust and threw it over, falling a thick layer on the ground. Visibility is not very good, only less than 100 zhang.

On the roof of the city tower in Jiayuguan, after the dust fell, it was blown away by the north wind. And the dust fell, and was blown away by the north wind. And so on and so forth. Sometimes, there is only wind, no sand, and the roof of the city tower in Jiayuguan is blown by the strong wind as if it has been washed by water, and it is not as clean as words. It's no wonder that Jiayuguan looks so clean and new all the time, and this north wind is a free sweeping aunt. The person who designed Jiayuguan in the first place was definitely a genius.

Oddly enough, no one knows who this big man really is. The white-clothed soldiers in Suzhou City have not been revealed. Except for a few highest-ranking officers in the Lion Cavalry, everyone else knew nothing about his identity. As a result, when this big man appeared, all the Lion Cavalry warriors were obviously taken aback. Because, this person is actually Xu Xingxia! Xu Xingxia actually came to Jiayuguan thousands of miles away!

"This damn place! It's finally here. Zhang Tianhao patted the dust on his hat and said stupidly. In the town of Gansu in March, there is still a lot of wind and sand. No matter day or night, there are winds and sand from time to time to greet each other. You can't hide if you want to. The only thing you can do is endure, endure bitterly.

There is no problem with ordinary white-clothed soldiers, but literati like Zhang Tianhao are a little uncomfortable. is also uncomfortable, as well as Liu Hanwu and other staff officers. Indeed, they had never seen such a battle. When they first arrived in Liangzhou City, they were also choked by the wind and sand, and they were almost choked to death. From then on, they no longer dared to be careless.

"Just get used to it." Xu Xingxia said indifferently.

For the wind and sand in Gansu Town, Xu Xingxia has no feelings. The vegetation of Gansu Town is not much, and a considerable part of it has been destroyed by the Tatars, facing the great desert in the north, it is absolutely impossible to avoid the invasion of sandstorms. Since you control this place, you must be mentally prepared enough to bear the shortcomings of this place.

Speaking of which, he still has to be glad that the environmental damage in this era is not as serious as in later generations. At the very least, places such as Zhenfanwei (now Minqin, Gansu) have not been swept away by the wind and sand, and there are still a large number of people living there. As long as he makes a certain amount of effort, he can rejuvenate the Hexi Corridor and become green again, reducing the harm of wind and sand as much as possible.

Xu Xingxia's biggest regret is that he feels that he has been delayed on the road for too long and wasted too much time. He came from Xi'an Mansion and walked for half a month. In this small half a month, I don't know how many things can be handled. Even if you don't do anything and use it to give birth, it is estimated that you can get several women pregnant. It's a waste of time.

Along the way, he was sighing that if there was a plane or something, it would be the best. From Xi'an to Urumqi, it is only a few hours. Half a month and a few hours, the gap in the middle can be imagined. A hundredfold time. It's a pity that there are no trains in this era, let alone others.

I don't know if there has been any progress in the matter of the steam engine being tinkered with by the people in the Science and Technology Division? I spent a lot of money on it, but I never saw the results. Thundermercury too. Countless pieces of silver were spent, and there was no news at all. He really wondered if all the research funds he had invested in were taken home by those guys to feed the pigs. In this day and age, why is it so difficult to develop some useful technology?

From Xi'an Mansion to Hamiwei, the road in the middle is quite difficult to walk. Especially in places such as watersheds, rugged mountain roads can make people desperate. Fortunately, the road from Gansu town to the mainland has been expanded as much as possible with a lot of manpower. The watershed roads will be completely renovated. The people of the engineering department decided to abandon the original road and open a new road to completely connect the town of Gansu with the hinterland.

Explosives were also used for the first time on roads. When encountering a stone section that is difficult to excavate, resolutely take explosive measures. The road-building site in the watershed rumbles all day long. It's all the most violent way to use blasting. Thanks to the method of blasting, the mountain road, which used to take months to split, can be completed in a few days. This greatly improves the efficiency of road construction and greatly reduces the cost.

Of course, black gunpowder is not as powerful as TNT explosives, and cannot be used for blasting. However, I don't know how the Science and Technology Department did it, but it actually made some very strange explosives, which are very powerful, but the surname can be very unstable. The power of one pound of this explosive is almost equivalent to hundreds of pounds of black gunpowder. With just a little bit, you can blast a boulder apart. No matter how hard a big stone is, as long as you put five catties into it, it will definitely crack the sky.

Xu Xingxia was very skeptical that these explosives were the legendary black Suojin or something. In his impression, there was really no explosive other than Black Sorkin, and it had such great power. It's a pity that he doesn't know much about Black Sorkin, so he can't make an accurate judgment. What's even more regrettable is that the surname of this new type of explosive is very unstable, and even the people in the Science and Technology Department have not mastered it well, how to stabilize it. There is no way, so I have to temporarily apply it in the civilian field, and continue to explore its surname step by step.

"My lord, there is Jiayuguan ahead." The sentinels of the chasseurs came back to report.

The towering Jiayuguan is in sight, but Xu Xingxia's gaze has crossed the city tower of Jiayuguan and put it farther. Because, for the future of New China, Jiayuguan can only be regarded as a historical monument, not a military fortress. It is already in the core hinterland of the new China map. In Xu Xingxia's planning, Jiayuguan, in the future, is estimated not to even be a place of interest. Because, there are many places of interest that are more famous than it.

"The wind here is very smelly!" Sawanna said with emotion.

"This ......" Zhang Tianhao suddenly felt embarrassed. Savanna, a perverted woman, actually likes wind and sand? It's hard to describe with common sense. Is the Kingdom of Khorasan, where she lives, also washing her face with wind and sand every day? It's weird. If you wash your face in the sand every day, how can you still look so beautiful?

"Captain!"

At this time, Gao Yigong had already arrived to salute.

Xu Xingxia turned over and dismounted, returned the salute seriously, and then said with a smile: "This Jiayuguan, has you specially repaired it?" It looks brand new! ”

Gao Yigong shook his head with a smile and said, "Of course not." This is what it was, it hasn't changed at all. We're just cleaning the floor. The reason why the roof is so clean is because it has been washed by the north wind for a long time. ”

Xu Xingxia said with admiration: "The quality of this building is really good. ”

Gao Yigong said with a smile: "Yes, our soldiers, the first time they came here, they all felt very strange. Ganzhou City, Suzhou City or something, are all dilapidated and old, but Jiayuguan is so intact. At first glance, I thought it had just been built. ”

Xu Xingxia nodded and said seriously: "It's really unexpected to find such a good place." Tell the warriors to be careful. In the future, this will be an attractive place of interest. There may be a lot of hungry tourists, and you can make a fortune just by charging tickets. ”

Gao Yigong and the others all laughed. For Xu Xingxia's words, they didn't think so. Damn Gansu Town, so much wind and sand, people can't stand it, in addition to the war, there are also business travelers, who wants to come and visit Jiayuguan?

Xu Xingxia didn't see Zhang Yunbao, the deputy commander of the Lion Cavalry, so he asked, "What about the leopard?" ”

Gao Yigong said: "There was something wrong with Hamiwei, and he dealt with it personally. ”

Xu Xingxia frowned and asked, "What's wrong?" Tell me? ”

Gao Yigong said: "According to the latest intelligence, the Mongols of Handong Zuowei have gathered and tried to keep Hamiwei. We're just going to kill them in one fell swoop. ”

Xu Xingxia said with great interest: "Very good! Kill it all at once, so you don't have to trouble later! Let's go in! ”

The group then entered Jiayu Pass.

The main forces of the Lion Cavalry were already scattered outside the Hamiwei to compete with the local Tatars. Garrisoned at Jiayuguan, there was only one squad of troops and sixty musketeers. It can be seen that the use of force by the Lion Cavalry has reached its limit.

Xu Xingxia did not hesitate at all, and immediately ordered the chasers to send a brigade and four squadrons of troops to join the battlefield. By his side, it is enough to leave a squadron. Since being assassinated in Xi'an Province on Chinese New Year's Eve, Xu Xingxia has carried a bow and arrow every time he goes out. Even if you encounter an attack by the Mongols, you don't need to worry at all. Even Mo Yuegen, the original arrow god of the Tatars, was not his opponent, what did he need to worry about?

(To be continued)