There is a mountain a few miles east of Mianyang City called Yuan Mountain. The mountain is not very high, about a hundred feet, and there are only dozens of households at the foot of the mountain.

However, in recent times, Hanzhong County has mobilized tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians to build large-scale construction projects on this mountain. They have built city walls with a circumference of several miles, hundreds of houses and flat roads. Over the past few months, the buildings on the mountain have begun to take shape, and they have become a facility.

A neat military city.

It turned out that in order to resist the Wei army's invasion of Hanzhong, Zhuge Liang not only ordered the counties in Hanzhong to strengthen and repair the original city passes, but also personally selected two hilltops to build military cities in Mianyang and Chenggu to strengthen Hanzhong's defense system.

The location chosen here in Mianyang is Yuanshan Mountain, which is more than ten miles east of the city, while on the other side of Chenggu is Shibapan Mountain, which is a few miles south of the county seat.

These two mountains are not high mountains with dangerous terrain. It is only because one is close to the south bank of Mian River and the other is close to the north bank of Mian River. Boats can travel quickly and supplies are convenient. Therefore, Zhuge Liang valued building forts as defensive support in the east and west of Han Dynasty.

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In the morning of that day, Zhuge Liang, accompanied by the Prime Minister Shi Xianglang, the Prime Minister joined the army, and the Hanzhong County Governor Ma Su, came to Yuanshan in a light carriage to inspect the construction progress of the military city.

"I have met the Prime Minister."

Upon learning of Zhuge Liang's sudden arrival, Lu Yi, the magistrate of Mianyang County who was responsible for supervising the on-site construction, quickly ran from the mountain to the foot of the mountain to greet him.

Lu Yi was originally the magistrate of Mianzhu County. Because of his shrewdness, ability and outstanding political achievements, after Yang Xi was promoted to Yongzhou Biejia, he was transferred to Mianyang by Zhuge Liang to take over as the county magistrate.

Since the construction of the military city was the top priority at present, Lu Yi, a local official, was ordered to take charge of all the manpower, material and financial resources. These days, he stayed in Yuanshan for almost half of the month to supervise the construction, which was very hard.

Zhuge Liang saw that he had lost weight and his face had darkened a lot. He nodded secretly, waved his feather fan, and said with a smile: "Ji Yang, there is no need to be polite. I just came here to take a look."

Lu Yi turned toward Lang again, and Ma Di bowed his hands in greeting, and then said: "Then, please invite the prime minister, the chief historian, and the prince to go up the mountain with the humble minister, and the humble minister will report along the way."

"Okay, guests are welcome to do as they please. You are the landlord here, and we will all obey your arrangements today." Zhuge Liang joked.

Lu Yi smiled sheepishly and led everyone up the mountain. As he walked, he introduced: "Prime Minister, most of the city wall has been built. Only the Beishan section has not yet been built. It is expected to be completed by the end of this month.

As for the buildings, all the barracks for the sergeants have been built, while half of the private houses have not yet been built. Most of the private houses built so far are owned by wealthy businessmen with big surnames. They spent their own money and effort to build them faster than our government."

"Well, don't be too anxious. Although Cao Wei has dispatched troops to Guanzhong, I don't expect them to be able to attack in the first half of the year. We still have plenty of time. We must build this city firmly." Zhuge Liang observed the road.

With the construction sites in full swing on both sides, he said slowly.

Lu Yi said: "Prime Minister, don't worry, I will personally monitor the use of stone and wood, and there will never be any cutting corners."

"Prime Minister, Ji Yang is well-known for his strictness in enforcing the law. With him watching the scene, nothing will go wrong," Ma Su said.

Zhuge Liang nodded and said: "That's very good."

In less than a while, everyone had reached the top of the mountain. The top of Yuanshan Mountain was originally flat. After several months of repairs, it had been transformed into an extremely wide platform and two streets hundreds of steps long.

Criss-crossing and dividing the streets, hundreds of houses stand on both sides of the street in a row.

The top of the mountain is the core area of ​​this newly built military city. From now on, most of the residences of the defenders' families and the shops of wealthy businessmen with big surnames will be concentrated in this place.

At present, the buildings, government offices, water wells, arsenals and other buildings here have basically been completed. Zhuge Liang walked around from east to west, from south to north, and saw that the layout was reasonable, neat and clean, and he was very satisfied. He expressed his gratitude to Lu Yi

I gave him a few words of praise.

The group came to the west city wall and looked up into the distance. They saw that although the mountain was not too high, the field of vision was extremely broad. They could see the Han River to the north and the Yang River to the south, as well as the east-west roads and Mianyang County to the west.

It was clear that no matter where the enemy came from, they could not hide it from the defenders of Yuanshan, and they did not dare to easily bypass Yuanshan and attack Mianyang directly. This artificially built gateway was very strong.

"Is that Dingjun Mountain over there?" Zhuge Liang raised his feather fan and asked, pointing to an east-west mountain range in the southwest.

Xiang Lang replied: "That's right, that's Dingjun Mountain."

"Back then, the late emperor personally led an army to kill Cao's general Xia Houyuan at Dingjun Mountain, laying the groundwork for victory in the capture of Hanzhong. This Dingjun Mountain can be said to be a blessed place for our great Han!" Zhuge Liang had a look of nostalgia on his face.

"Yes, Yuanshan Mountain is connected to the main peak of Dingjun Mountain. This place will definitely be blessed by Dingjun Mountain and protect me, the great man." Xiang Lang said.

Zhuge Liang smiled and said: "Yuanshan belongs to our army's second line of defense in Hanzhong. I hope that the Wei army will never reach this place."

"What the Prime Minister said is absolutely true. If the Wei army really invades Hanzhong, they will still be stopped at the peripheral passes. The city fortress built here in Yuanshan is just a precaution." Ma Su agreed.

Zhuge Liang nodded and asked again: "By the way, Ji Yang, are the wages of the craftsmen and laborers paid on time?"

"Don't worry, Prime Minister, wages are paid on a daily basis. I personally supervise and distribute them under my humble position, and I won't deduct a single penny." Lu Yi cupped his hands and replied.

Zhuge Liang said: "What about rations? Is there any shortage? Artisans and laborers must be given full rations, and those who serve in corvee must be well fed."

"Don't worry, Prime Minister, the daily rations are fully rationed. At first, there were cases of corruption from time to time, but after I severely punished those traitors in my humble position, this situation has never happened again."

Zhuge Liang nodded with satisfaction and said: "That's good. The custom of the corvee bringing his own rations was abolished and the government provided it free of charge. This was the first regulation in the Ming Dynasty. Now it seems that this move is quite effective in preserving the vitality of the people's livelihood."

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "This policy can indeed reduce the burden on the people, but it also puts considerable pressure on the country's annual money and food expenses." Xiang Lang said.

Zhuge Liang said: "So now the imperial court is only implementing this policy in the large-scale construction corvee, and the rest of the corvee is beyond its ability for the time being. It can only be left to the future when the country is unified and the world is at peace."

"But this alone is an extremely benevolent policy. Since the Zhou, Qin and Pre-Han Dynasties, our court has been the only one to implement this policy. When people from all over the world heard about it, they all praised the court's kindness." Ma Di said.

Zhuge Liang was quite proud when he heard this, smiled sincerely, and said: "By the way, Youchang, have you finished selecting the Yuanshan garrison?"

Yuanshan is under the rule of Hanzhong and is located in the belly. The defensive pressure is smaller than that of the outer front line. There is no need to deploy elite troops and generals, so Zhuge Liang leaves the defense here to the Hanzhong County soldiers.

"Don't worry, Prime Minister, the two thousand county soldiers have been selected and manned. They can move in as soon as the military city is completed. As for the military relatives from other places who are willing to live in this city, they have all been relocated and temporarily settled on the other side of Huangsha."

Zhuge Liang nodded and said, "That's good."

"By the way, Prime Minister, the city fortress will be completed in a month at the earliest. Isn't it a little inappropriate to call this place Yuanshan? Would you like to give it a new name?" Ma Su said.

Zhuge Liang pondered for a long time and said: "It's time to change the name of the place. This city was built to defend the Han city. I think it should be called Hancheng."

"Seoul? This name is of great significance. The Prime Minister has achieved great success." Xiang Lang said.

Ma Su said: "The military city on the other side of Chenggu is almost completed. Will the Prime Minister also change its name?"

"It seems like you are going to make me waste my time today." Zhuge Liang smiled heartily.

Ma Su also smiled and said: "Prime Minister, this means that one thing does not bother two masters." After saying this, Xiang Lang and Lu Yi also laughed.

After laughing, Zhuge Liang said: "The construction of these two military cities has the same purpose. I think the military city on Shibapan Mountain should be called Lecheng. It is for the sake of protecting the Han family's foundation."
Chapter completed!