The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 182
Chongzhen ninth year, December [-]th.

The carts carrying stone and wood were pulled into the newly built Youqianhusuo City in the east of Shiquan City.

Autumn is coming from the east, and the sky is full of fine snow particles.

Such snow particles cannot cause snow to appear on the ground, but they can make the road muddy.

After more than a month of construction, the city of Qianhusuo has begun to take shape.

Most of the Acropolis and Qianhusuo City in the Ming Dynasty carefully surveyed the terrain when they were built, and worked out plans for building the city according to local conditions, in order to maximize the defense of the city.

However, no matter how the city defense changes, the layout and facilities in the Acropolis and the Qianhusuo City are basically the same.

Buildings such as government offices, barracks, granaries, arsenals, stables, and forage yards all need to be built in fixed locations.

The craftsmen responsible for the construction of the city at the beginning had already marked out the foundations of the residential houses, separated the roads for travel and the main roads in the city.

The inner side of the city wall is surrounded by a four-way horse racing track. The cross street in the city runs straight to the east, west, south and north, dividing the city into four districts in the shape of a field, and there are many lanes connected with the horse track. , It is beneficial to transport troops during wartime.

The streets and alleys in the city are designed in a "Tian"-shaped square. The streets and streets are interlinked, and the alleys communicate with each other. They are neatly arranged, and spread to the four streets, and the centers are connected.

The four streets are connected with the horse racing track around the city by means of these streets and alleys, intertwined vertically and horizontally, extending in all directions.

The street inside the institute is spacious, shaped like a chessboard, and the layout is symmetrical.

In addition, in the center of the main street of each street, there is still room for the construction of various market squares and archways.

After determining the location of the street, the artisans immediately drew not the location of the government offices, but the locations of temples.

The "Jade Emperor Temple", "Sanqing Temple" and "Zhenwu Temple" are planned to be built in the northwest corner of the city.

At the end of South Street near the city wall, "Chenghuang Temple" and "Qiyu Temple" will be built.

The middle end of the East Street, where the "Mawang Temple" will be built in the future.

The official office of Qianhusuo is located west of Nanbei Avenue and north of Dongxi Avenue, near the intersection of the two streets.

Chen Wang did not stop the craftsmen from marking out the construction sites of various temples in the first place.

Although Chen Wang doesn't believe in God, he is very aware of how important these things are to people in this era.

What's more, this kind of planning layout is a conventional layout, so it is naturally impossible for Chen Wang to change it without authorization.

However, the craftsmen who built the Acropolis also knew that the immediate priority was to build houses, because the weather had already cooled down and it was already winter.

Chen Wang wore a swastika on his head, a rivet armor, and a collared handkerchief. With his left hand holding the goose feather knife on his waist, and his right hand holding a horsewhip, he walked along the East Street in a broad stride, checking the progress of the construction.

Behind him, Tang Shiping followed closely behind Chen Wang with more than a dozen fully armed soldiers.

When the soldiers on duty and the craftsmen who were working saw Chen Wang's arrival, they all saluted.

Wang Yuankang, who was presiding over the construction of the city, had already received the news that Chen Wang was coming, so he quickly put down his work and came to welcome him.

"How's the fortification going?"

Chen Wang's eyes swept slowly over the buildings in the city, and asked Wang Yuankang.

"In about ten more days, all the barracks can be capped and people can live in them temporarily."

Holding the documents in his arms, Wang Yuankang saw that Chen Wang's eyes had been fixed on the barracks for a long time, so he stepped forward a little and reported to Chen Wang.

Chen Wang glanced at the barracks that were under construction not far away.

The barracks of the garrison had indeed almost been built. The outermost houses had already started to be tiled, and many of the dozens of sergeant barracks in the back had already erected the main beams.

Although many places are still quite simple, but after a few days the roof is closed, they can shelter from the wind and rain, and temporarily live in people, and there is no need to live in military tents.

Living in the barracks, at least this winter will be much easier.

"The progress of the government offices, granaries, arsenals, stables, and forage yards in the city is similar to that of the barracks, and they can be completed almost at the same time."

Wang Yuankang glanced down at the document in his hand, and continued.

"According to your lord's order, the two thousand-household cities on the right and the rear have been expanded by a hundred steps on the basis of the original plan."

Tomorrow, one step is five feet, and one foot for measuring ground is converted into a unit of 32 centimeters in later generations, and one step is 1.6 meters.

The city of Xinqianhusuo, which was built outside Shiquan City, was located on a relatively flat terrain, so the lengths from north to south and from east to west were almost the same, and the city was built in a square shape.

The length of each original city wall was only two hundred paces, or 320 meters, and the circumference of the city wall was just over two miles, covering a total area of ​​about [-] square meters.

Such a size is naturally enough for an ordinary city of thousands of households, but such an area is naturally not enough for Chen Wang.

With each expansion of one hundred steps, each city wall is three hundred steps long, and the total circumference of the city wall reaches Sanming Li.

It can still be regarded as a unit of later generations. The total circumference of the city wall is almost 2000 meters, and the area will exceed 20 square meters.

As long as the perimeter of the city wall of Qianhusuo City does not exceed four miles, it is not considered a violation of the regulations, and it can be built without the approval of the above.

The reason why he wanted to build such a big city was naturally that Chen Wang was aimless.

The city of Youqianhusuo is located in the southeast of Shiquan, not far from the mouth of Chihe River, just at the throat of Hanyin to Shiquan, cutting off the communication between east and west.

In addition to the need to hoard troops, the most important of these is naturally to protect the internal security of Hanzhong Mansion.

The several hundreds of households under the jurisdiction of the Youqianhu Office are basically located in important places, echoing each other and serving as reliance.

In some important places, Chen Wang also selected locations, and built military forts directly on the selected locations after exchanging money and food.

As Chihekou, an important thoroughfare from Hanyin to Shiquan, Chen Wang has already ordered to renovate it, and set up a hundred households on the former site of Chihekou.

If the precautions are not strict, once a bandit enters the mansion, the fields that have been cultivated so hard and the foundation accumulated will be destroyed in one day.

"Hundred-households in other places were built according to the standard specifications of the city. However, because the manpower was concentrated to repair the thousand-households, the progress of the hundred-households in various places was a bit behind. Many people may still need to live in shacks in winter."

Wang Yuankang raised his head and reported in a low voice.

Chen Wang frowned slightly, time was too tight, even if he was in a hurry, it was still too late.

"There is really no other way but to accept..."

Chen Wang looked away from the barracks and looked around.

A complete Acropolis consists of walls, gates, urns, turrets, moats, etc.

However, due to time constraints, none of the four walls were built, and the foundations were still in place.

Many parts of the construction site in the institute are quite messy due to rain and snow, and most of the marked streets and alleys are muddy and difficult to walk on.

Stones and wood can be seen everywhere in the city, and all kinds of messy things are piled up together, which looks quite scattered.

Although the weather was cold and the conditions were difficult, there was no bitterness on the faces of the people working on the construction site.

The reason is simple, these newly built barracks will be where they need to live in the future.

They have been away from home for a long time, wandering all the way, living a precarious life, and now they finally have a place to stay.

Most of them are willing to sign posts to become military households because they are really hungry and can't resist the temptation of the thick porridge boiled in a few big pots.

At first, I just thought that the military households were poor, and I was afraid that it was only a little better than being a refugee, and I was already ready to be a cow and a horse.

Who would have imagined that during this period of time, they would be able to eat enough every day, three meals a day.

In the beginning, it was thick porridge, but now it's dry rice for a few days, and even saw meat for a few days.

When they were wandering around, they never thought that they could still live such a life.

Later, when the city was being built, those people told them that a new city was going to be built, and the house they built now was the house they wanted to live in.

I have enough food and food every day, and I still repair the house for myself, and rewards are given for those who contribute more. Everyone works hard to help, and there are almost no lazy people.

The weather was fine before, and Chen Wang didn't feel anything unusual.

But during this inspection, he noticed a problem.

Most of the people who were building the houses had extremely thin clothes, and there were even those who couldn't cover their bodies with clothes. When the north wind blew, they couldn't help shivering.

Wearing such thin clothes in such a cold weather, I am afraid that many people will fall down before this winter passes.

Every year on the Nine Sides, the number of soldiers who fell due to the cold was not less than that on the battlefield.

Chen Wang clenched the Yanling Saber on his waist, stopped, and cast his gaze to the north.

Counting the time, it has been two months since Lu Xiangsheng took office as Governor of Xuanda.

At this time, Lu Xiangsheng's memorial to the frontier army should have been handed over to Chongzhen's case.

No clothes hanging on the body, full of daily fresh food...

Nowadays, there are more and more dispatches from all over the country, and it has become the norm to over-expropriate and indiscriminately expropriate.

Not only the frontier army is suffering, but the civilian households are suffering as well...

Chen Wang raised his head and glanced at the sky, seeing the snow particles falling in front of him, he couldn't help frowning.

The weather is getting colder and colder now, and after a while, after the first month, it may be difficult to go to work, so they can only rest in the barracks.

In the past, the winter in Hanzhong Mansion was not too cold, and it could be survived after a while, but now the weather is getting colder and colder, and it is difficult to survive.

Raising soldiers costs money like running water, and everything needs money for basic necessities of life.

Counting the price of cotton and labor costs for a winter coat, it costs at least one tael of silver to keep warm, and the subsequent armaments and ordnance are even more expensive, often requiring tens of taels of silver.

The two thousand households are only considered as the main army, and the full staff is 2000 people. Sun Chuanting will definitely not allocate the equipment for these 2000 people.

When the Weisuo system was established in the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the military bureaus of the Weisuo, the capital of the world, to set up military weapons bureaus to produce weapons for their own use.

But up to now, most of the military bureaus of the inland guards have been abolished.

The Ordnance Bureau in Hanzhongwei has been abandoned for many years. Most of the military craftsmen's tasks in previous years were only to repair broken ordnance, and the rest of the time was basically making kitchen knives and farm tools.

That is to say, due to civil upheavals and turmoil in various places in recent years, the inland guards such as Hanzhongwei resumed their function of making ordnance.

However, due to the problems of raw materials, money, food, and corruption, these weapons made by the Military Weapons Bureau of the Guards can only reach a usable level at best.

The military craftsmen of the first-level guards of Baihu and Qianhu only have the power to repair ordnance.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were no gun factories among the people, and both blunderbuss and cannons could only be produced by the military bureau. Ordinary guards did not have the right to cast cannons and blunderbuss guns at the beginning.

When it really had power, it was still in the orthodox 14th year. Because of the need to counter the rebellion, the guards in various places were released to make copper cannons and firecrackers by themselves, but they must be approved by the court before starting work.

But now these systems are almost abolished, and there are not many craftsmen in ordinary inland guards who can make cannons. It is not difficult to make guns, but Chen Wang doesn't need them to make guns now.

The guards in some small places made a few guns and no one would manage them, but the artillery was still very strict.

Chen Wang, an important organization like the Military Weapons Bureau, naturally wouldn't hand it over to others.

When he was in Hanzhongwei, Chen Wang directly demanded that the military craftsmen in Hanzhongwei be reorganized and the Military Weapons Bureau be reorganized on the grounds that most of the ordnance produced by the craftsmen in Hanzhongwei was too inferior to be used.

Most of the people in Hanzhongwei's Weapons Bureau were basically brought to Shiquan by Chen Wang. It can be said that the entire Military Weapons Bureau has actually been moved to Shiquan by Chen Wang.

The first building built in the city was not a government office, nor a barracks, but a military bureau.

The Arms Bureau was set up by Chen Wang next to the arsenal, and the arsenal was in the northwest of the official office of the Qianhu Office.

Chen Wang didn't stay in the barracks area for long, and after a little inspection, he took Tang Shiping to the direction of the Weapons Bureau.

The construction site in the city is still under construction. Not only has the first-built military bureau been completed, but the craftsmen in the bureau have even started to produce military equipment and weapons.

Before entering the game, Chen Wang could already hear the sound of hammers beating iron blocks, and at the same time, there was the sound of wind blowing fire.

The inside of the Military Weapons Bureau was as busy as the outside. As soon as Chen Wang walked into the workshop behind the Military Weapons Bureau, he felt a rush of heat.

In the workshop, a group of craftsmen are constantly busy. In the huge workshop, everyone performs their duties in an orderly manner without any panic.

Standing in front of the workshop gate, Chen Wang watched as pieces of forged iron armor were put on the work table one after another.

A group of children about eight or nine years old stood on both sides of the work table, and they were holding ropes through the armor pieces of the iron armor to connect them together.

What they did was the iron shield arm that was widely equipped in the Ming army, and dozens of iron shield arms were already installed in the basket under the table at this time.

(End of this chapter)