The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty.

Chapter 336 Infrastructure Artifact!

Ministry of Revenue office.

Wang Qiong looked at the imperial edict in his hand, still a little dazed.

Trilateral system?

Superintendent of the three-border military affairs?

Is this considered... a quick success?

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

Wang Qiong originally thought that his official career path in this life had come to an end, but no one expected that His Majesty's imperial decree would directly appoint him as the commander-in-chief of the three borders, supervising the military affairs of the three borders. In the blink of an eye, he became a real frontier official!

After a brief moment of astonishment, there was endless ecstasy.

Wang Qiong didn't even bother to think about the responsibilities and duties of the Three-Border General. He was very confident in his abilities, and all he lacked was an opportunity to soar to the sky!

Now, the opportunity has finally come!
The imperial envoy Zhang Yong kindly reminded: "Sir Wang, His Majesty has ordered that you go to the East Palace Camp immediately to meet with the General of Conquering the Enemy and the Earl of Peace and Peace, An Guo, and then immediately go to Shaanxi to take up your post!"

"Thank you for the reminder, Dayang!" Wang Qiong thanked Zhang Yong with a smile, and then hurried to the Dongguanting camp.

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

First there was a eunuch party member Jiao Fang, who was promoted to the Minister of Revenue. Now there is another eunuch party member Wang Qiong, who was directly promoted to the General Governor of the Three Borders. What kind of logic is this?

Does His Majesty the Emperor particularly favor these eunuchs who have no moral principles and no moral bottom line?
There must be a treacherous person who made slanderous statements!
Not to mention how these Ministry of Revenue officials complained, Wang Qiong walked into the commander's tent under the guidance of the soldiers, and saw head-on the ferocious and domineering Ming Dynasty Zhongshan Marquis, as well as Jinglu Earl Anguo and Beijing Army Admiral Xianning Marquis Qiu Yue who were standing obediently beside him!
"Meet the Marquis of Zhongshan!"

Wang Qiong took the initiative to salute and show goodwill.

After all, who doesn't know that the Marquis of Zhongshan is the Emperor's absolute confidant?
Even though he has been deprived of his military power now, who knows whether it is true or not? The possibility of it being a show is very high!

Especially after witnessing this scene with his own eyes, it further confirmed Wang Qiong's guess.

"Okay, take a seat!"

Tang Hao waved his hands impatiently, and after Wang Qiong sat down, he started to give the task directly.

"Wang Qiong, An Guo, the imperial court's target 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. The imperial court will provide money and food, and the labor will be drawn from the Japanese slaves. I have prepared everything for you!"

"Then let me be frank. If you fail to repair the border wall within three years, I will not only ask His Majesty to depose you as the governor of the three borders, but I will also dismiss you from office and remove your honors, completely cutting off your path to officialdom. Do you understand?"

Wang Qiong, who was full of joy, was suddenly poured with a basin of cold water on her head, and her heart sank.

How can this be called career advancement? This is clearly being dragged in to put out a fire!
Building a border wall outside the Great Wall within three years, not to mention the issues 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 words from Lord Zhongshan frightened him so much that he turned pale and broke out in sweat.

Either build the border wall within three years, or wait to be dismissed from office and stripped of your honors!

Is it so vicious?

It’s not enough to dismiss me from office, but you also want to strip me of my fame?

Isn't this just pushing people into a dead end?

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

"As long as the General of Conquering the Enemy cooperates properly, I will definitely complete the border wall within three years!"

Hearing this answer, a smile immediately appeared on Tang Hao's face.

It was well worth it for him to recommend the notorious Wang Qiong!
It turns out 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 to gain power, Wang Qiong has an advantage in that he is truly capable and not like Jiao Fang.

Historically, Wang Qiong was later promoted to the Minister of Revenue. He was quite talented in calculations and good at checking. When he was a palace attendant, he copied down the past documents and rules, and fully grasped the financial income and expenditure, profit and loss of the Ministry of Revenue. When he became the Minister, he became more familiar with the country's financial calculations. When the generals from the nine borders came to ask for the allocation of food and grass, he counted on his fingers how much food and grass there was in a certain warehouse and a certain grassland, how much each county transported each year, and how much food and grass the border soldiers harvested in autumn every year, and then he said: "These are enough! Asking for more would be fraud." From then on, the generals of the nine borders did not dare to be greedy or make false reports, 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. This kind of person who has both talent and no moral integrity 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, that will be the most deadly threat to our Ming Dynasty!"

Is the little 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 royal court system at Buyuer Lake, the Mongolian tribes fell into division. Although many powerful officials who called themselves Grand Tutors emerged afterwards, even a powerful leader like Yesen, the Grand Tutor of the Oirat Monastery who invaded the Ming Dynasty, could not truly unify the grassland. The tribes, large and small, fought endlessly under the leadership of the noble lords, and the chaos was endless. This was the most favorable situation for the Ming Dynasty.

But now, the little 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?

Of course it’s the Ming Dynasty!
It can 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 imperial court sent troops to Hetao to build the border wall!
If we don't find a way to seize Hetao, and wait until the Mongolian prince unifies the entire grassland, and then uses 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 nests. While working with Wang Qiong to build the border wall, you must lead the elite soldiers to go out of the border and into the traps to wipe out the barbarian tribes entrenched in the Hetao territory. Kill them all without leaving any hidden dangers!"

An Guo nodded solemnly.

He was well aware of the importance of these two tasks.

Whether it is contacting right-wing Mongolian leaders such as Yibula and Mandulai, or leading troops out of the border to search and destroy the enemy's nest, it 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, "Come to think of it, we really caught up."

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

Having said that, Tang Hao took the two of them to the craftsman workshop in the military camp.

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

The infrastructure magic weapon that Tang Hao mentioned is naturally cement.

Cement, in its simplest form, is made by putting limestone and clay into a kiln and burning them.

As for the specific proportions, he really didn't know much about it, so he simply prepared three large kilns and let the craftsmen in the military camp continue to experiment.

There is a row of five kilns 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, he squatted down, grabbed a handful of samples, and rubbed them carefully between his fingers.

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

But in this day and age, it is already rare for craftsmen to be able to achieve this.

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

The two of them did not mind the dirtiness either. Instead, they reached out to take it and examined it carefully, but could not make out anything.

"My Lord, how do you use this thing?"

An Guo couldn't help but ask.

Tang Hao didn't waste any time and started working directly.

He did it himself, mixing cement and river sand with a shovel, then adding water to stir it evenly, and then skillfully used the shovel to put it into a bucket.

After the demonstration work was completed, Tang Hao directed the craftsmen to take action.

The requirements are not high. According to his operating procedures, a miniature bastion can be built directly on the spot with cement!
There were a total of fifty craftsmen in charge of the cement workshop. Because they had successfully produced cement according to Tang Hao's instructions, each of them was rewarded with one hundred taels of silver. Now they were ready to go and their blood was boiling. They obeyed Tang Hao's orders without hesitation.

Not to mention building a miniature bastion with this cement, they even dare to build a palace!
Seeing the craftsmen working enthusiastically, Tang Hao turned around and said to the two of them: "It will take about two or three hours for the bastion to be completed and solidified. We have to wait patiently!"

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

However, they noticed one thing, which was the infrastructure artifact mentioned by Zhongshan Hou.

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

"Whether it's building roads, bridges, or cities, cement will be the best material. Not only is it indestructible for thousands of years, but it can also be used in military applications. It is as solid as a rock. Basically, no enemy can easily destroy it. For example, this bastion in front of us, after it solidifies, you can test its solidity!"

(End of this chapter)