At the Donghai Paper Branch in Xicheng City, Hou Zheng and Yang Chonglan of Chang'an Intelligence Office and Gao Jin, the officer in charge of intelligence, both looked solemn. They were listening to a report from a subordinate.

This subordinate is Ma Yaozong, who is about 24 or 25 years old. He is from Pengcheng County. He is a brigade commander who is carefully selected from the Sui army scouts. He has the magical skill of wearing Yang in a hundred steps. He lurks in Chang'an as a Xuzhou ranger and is nicknamed Star Picking Hand. This is because of his extremely long arms.

It was this subordinate who received a news that Heng'an Martial Arts Hall recruited high-level warriors and actually gave a high salary of one or two gold per month. The unique sensitivity of the scout made Yang Chonglan feel a little alert, so he asked Ma Yaozong to apply for the recruitment. See what was going on?

"The recruitment background of Heng'an Martial Arts School this time is not simple. I heard that only twelve people were hired in total, three of whom were all unknown. But I felt that this Heng'an Martial Arts School was just recruiting people. The people recruited actually had nothing to do with them."

"Have Gao found out about this martial arts school?" Yang Chonglan turned around and asked Gao Jin.

Gao Jin nodded and said, "The predecessor of this martial arts hall is called Sheng Chang Martial Arts Hall. It is famous for cultivating archers in Chang'an. It was opened by Changsun Sheng, the world's number one arrow. After Changsun Sheng passed away, the martial arts hall was renamed Heng'an Martial Arts Hall. It is said that it was taken over by his second son Changsun Wuao. This rumor should be correct, because Changsun Wuao's name is Heng'an."

Yang Chonglan frowned, "Changsun Wuao is currently the left guard general. What is he going to recruit twelve warriors?"

At this time, Ma Yaozong reported: "Maybe it has nothing to do with Changsun Wuao, he is another person from the Changsun family."

"Why?"

"A young man came this afternoon. The owner was very respectful to him and asked him the fourth young master. He would examine everyone he hired, and then ask us to go back and think about it for one night. Once we decide, we cannot regret it. In a humble intuition, this person is the real behind the scenes."

Gao Jin blurted out, "Is he Changsun Wuji?"

"Are you sure he is called the Fourth Young Master?" Yang Chonglan asked.

"You can't hear it wrong."

Yang Chonglan paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back. He seemed to have seen something, but he couldn't see it thoroughly. He seemed to have grasped a little clue, but there was a mess in front of him.

Gao Jin reminded carefully: "Bizhi thinks that the key is to confirm whether this fourth young master is Changsun Wuji."

Yang Chonglan nodded, but Gao Jin could see through it thoroughly.

Changsun Wuji's mansion is located in Anyefang. It is a small house covering an area of ​​five acres. After his sister married Li Shimin, Li Shimin gave it to him. Currently, Changsun Wuji lives here with his wife and several sons. In addition, there are more than a dozen servants.

At night, Changsun Wuji, who had been busy all day, rode his horse home. Because he was extremely important to Li Shimin, Li Shimin specially sent two personal guards to protect his safety.

Changsun Wuji turned over and got off the horse. His eldest son Changsun rushed out of the gate and threw himself into his father's arms. Changsun Wuji hugged his son and laughed into the gate. The guards also led the horse into the mansion, and the gate was closed immediately.

At this time, Yang Chonglan, who was hiding on a high wall across the street, asked: "Is it him who is looking at you today?"

Ma Yaozong nodded, "You will never make mistakes when you look at people with humble responsibilities, you are this person!"

Yang Chonglan gently patted his forehead. He didn't know if he should be glad that he had accidentally discovered a secret of the Tang Dynasty. Needless to say, Changsun Wuji was planning to build a killer organization. No need to consider who the killer organization serves, it must be Li Shimin.

Fortunately, their people were also recruited by Changsun Wuji.

Yang Chonglan pondered for a moment. His top priority was to create a fake hometown and fake growth record for Ma Yaozong. Changsun Wuji would definitely check his background.

At present, Zhang Xuan did not return to Zhongdu, but was in the Zihe area in the north of Mayi County. The terrain was gentle. To the north of Zihe River was endless grasslands, and to the south of Zihe River were mountains with mountains. The towering Great Wall was built on the mountains close to Zihe River. After seven hundred years of erosion of wind and rain and destruction of war, the Qin Great Wall had long collapsed and damaged. There were countless mountain passes between these mountains. For hundreds of years, nomadic peoples went south to kill from these mountain passes to the Central Plains.

Eight years ago, Emperor Yang Guang, who had realized that the Turks had ambition to invade the south in order to block the Turkic cavalry from the south, forcibly recruited 300,000 civilians from four counties to rebuilt nearly a thousand miles of Great Wall in the Zihe to Yulin area. This section of Great Wall became an insurmountable obstacle for the Turkic cavalry.

However, after Liu Wuzhou ruled Mayi County, under the repeated requests of the Turks, Liu Wuzhou demolished a section of the Great Wall about 30 miles from the Zihe Mountain Pass, so that the Turkic cavalry could drive south along the Zihe Mountain Pass.

The Zihe Mountain Pass is actually the Zihe River. The Zihe River, which originally flowed from east to west, turned south and north to south. After years of erosion, the Zihe River flowing between the mountains rushed out of a valley with a widest area of ​​more than twenty miles. This valley that lasted for dozens of miles was a famous Mayi business road in peacetime. Zhang Xuan passed through this business road when he went to the grassland for the first time.

A month ago, the Sui army ambushed the Turkic cavalry and also happened in this valley.

The Great Wall built by Emperor Yang Guang of Sui also passed through this section of valley. More than twenty miles of Great Wall was built on the low flat ground, forming a pass called Zi Pass. He sent heavy troops to garrison here. Unfortunately, this pass that lasted more than twenty miles was demolished by Liu Wuzhou.

In order to restore this pass, Zhang Xuan collected 30,000 civilians in the three counties of Mayi, Loufan and Yanmen, and together with 20,000 Sui troops, they rebuilt a Great Wall of more than 20 miles, connecting the Great Walls on both sides of the mountains.

Although it was the busy season of autumn harvest and farming, in order to defend against the Turkic invasion, the people of the three counties still signed up enthusiastically, and they could also include food and accommodation, and also have a daily wage of 500 million yuan. In addition, as long as they participated in the construction of the Great Wall, they would no longer be held accountable for the crime of followers. Such good conditions, how could the people of the three counties not flock to them?

Many people drove mule carts. The Sui army lacked the means of transportation and promised to rent people's livestock carts at a price of 300 cents a day.

The construction site that lasts more than twenty miles is particularly lively, with the sound of chiseling stones everywhere, mule carts line up in long queues, transporting a large amount of stone from the south, woodworking workers make large defensive weapons, stonemaids dig square stones, and bricklayers build city walls. If they really don’t have the skills, they can only sell coolies to transport square stones.

Fifty thousand soldiers and civilians transported stones day and night to build city walls. Fortunately, although Liu Wuzhou destroyed this Great Wall, most of the bricks were still there and could be used. In addition, the civilians picked large stones from nearby mountains and chiseled them into large stones to tamper the foundation, making this Great Wall more solid than before. However, the Sui army not only had to build the Great Wall, but also had to build beacon towers on the mountain every thirty miles. The beacon towers were divided into two routes, one to Shanggu County, and the other to Shanyang County. In addition, five beacon towers were built on Wuzhou Mountain in the north to monitor whether the Turkic army went south.

Despite the huge project volume, with the full cooperation of the military and civilians, the Great Wall and Beacon Projects were approaching the end in just half a month.

It was late September, the autumn wind was bleak, the trees were withering, and frost was rising sooner or later, and the cold was overwhelming. An endless tent was built on the grassland on the north bank of the Zihe River. Within dozens of miles to the north, the Sui army deployed thousands of scouts to pay attention to every move in the north.

In the central army's tent, Zhang Xuan stood in front of the sand table and looked at the counties in Bingzhou silently. He had already obtained information from Chang'an. Li Yuan and Wuchuan reached a compromise, suspended the plan to open up the Nanxiang Road, and sent people to Luoyang to reconcile with Wang Shichong. The Tang army would fight with the Sui army for Bingzhou with all their might.

This result disappointed Zhang Xuan. He hoped that the Tang army would fight on both sides, compete with Wang Shichong for Xiyang County, and confront him on the northern front in Taiyuan, causing the Tang army to be in huge national power consumption. In this way, the Tang Dynasty's economy and people would be dragged down by the war in just one year.

But Zhang Xuan did not expect that Li Yuan was not deceived, but instead reconciled with Wang Shichong. He would rather endure the great shame of the envoy being killed and instead concentrate his efforts on dealing with him. Although it would also consume national strength, focusing on the front line would make resources well utilized. With the current national strength of the Tang Dynasty and the support of the Guanlong nobles, they could still support the confrontation between Bingzhou.

However, Zhang Xuan himself will face a serious situation, that is, the Turks, and they may be attacked from both sides, which makes Zhang Xuan really worried.
Chapter completed!