Chapter 23: Two Months

Wei Fangyun picked up the official document but did not look at it.

"Did you get into an argument with Lord Cao of Weishan County?" His expression was casual, as if mentioning something trivial.

"I did indeed clash with Lord Cao a few words," Meng Changqing said. "But I imagine Lord Cao wouldn't hold a grudge against a child like me."

Wei Fangyun gave a helpless smile. "You don't know, but he came to me to complain about you."

"I wonder what Lord Cao said? And I wonder what my uncle thinks of me now?"

"Cao Hongxing has always had a bad temper. He was quite renowned in his youth; he passed the provincial examination in his teens and the metropolitan exam three years later. However, it took him seven more attempts to pass the imperial examination, and even then, his ranking was quite low. Although his family had some money, they lacked the connections to pull strings, which is why he came to Liangzhou to serve as a county magistrate. Therefore, he cannot stand..." Wei Fangyun stopped himself in time.

Meng Changqing interjected, "He cannot stand people like me."

Wei Fangyun said, "He has a misunderstanding of you."

"If it is a misunderstanding, it can be resolved in the future."

On the surface, Meng Changqing smiled, but in her heart, she thought: *This Cao Hongxing has no strong connections and lacks the ability to endure. Even his direct superior thinks he has a bad temper, and he has no backing in the imperial court. Unless he achieves some extraordinary feat, he can forget about any promotion for the rest of his life.*

Wei Fangyun nodded and opened the document in his hand. By the fifth line, his brow was already furrowed.

He hesitated several times, wanting to speak, but he waited until he had finished reading before saying, "In your writing, you state that the poverty of Beishan County is largely due to man-made disasters. I, too, believe this. Its poverty is entirely the result of war. Even though the last two years have been good harvests—with Quping and Luojiang counties collecting their full grain quotas—Beishan County is frequently harassed by the Yan army. Even when seeds are extended on credit to the people, they are unable to reap a harvest."

Wei Fangyun sighed and continued, "Some clever people have fled to the mountains, using the terrain to build walls to resist the Yan army's looting, which allows them to maintain a livelihood. The refugees you see are those who could not make it to the mountains or were driven out of them."

"I have observed the obstructions on the mountains from a distance," Meng Changqing said. "The Yan army cannot ascend them, and I fear the Liangzhou army cannot either."

"Indeed. Most of them are the descendants of criminals; they already harbor resentment toward the imperial court, not to mention their years of struggling through war."

Wei Fangyun tapped the essay on the table. "Therefore, I agree with your idea of bypassing these treacherous mountains to select a new site for the city walls."

Previously, there had been ideas to build walls in the Wild Ditch. Firstly, it would mean the people living there would no longer be harassed by enemy forces; secondly, it would provide an additional layer of defense outside the walls of Yangmen County.

The old site for the walls lay between several treacherous mountains. Originally, one only needed to build a wall seven miles long to connect the two mountains, which would be enough to repel the Yan army. To most, that was an ideal location for construction.

But for any undertaking, one needs the right timing, the right location, and the right people; if any one is missing, the task becomes difficult. Building the walls there lacked the "right people."

It was hard to predict the true nature of the people currently living on those mountains. On several occasions, the Liangzhou Prefecture had organized wall construction, only to have it sabotaged by them, ultimately failing to complete the project.

Wei Fangyun shared these past examples with Meng Changqing. He said, "Building the walls for Beishan County is something that must be done, yet it is an extremely difficult task."

*Indeed,* Meng Changqing thought, *to entrust such a thorny matter to a fourteen-year-old child—I wonder what you and the Emperor were thinking.*

Meng Changqing spoke smoothly: "Since it must be done, why worry about whether it is difficult?"

"Good!" Wei Fangyun stood up. "You truly are General Meng's son!"

He walked around his desk and pulled Meng Changqing down to sit in a nearby chair. "Tell me, where do you plan to site it? And how will you build it?"

"I plan to start at the point where the Weishan Pass is two miles south of where it intersects with the Weishan County walls, and build it to the start of the Hongjia County walls."

"What!" Wei Fangyun's eyes widened. "Do you know what you are saying?"

"I do. I have estimated the distance; the two locations are about forty miles apart."

Wei Fangyun stood up and paced several circles. He glanced at Meng Changqing from time to time, and seeing her calm expression, he asked, "Are you confident you can complete it?"

"I am!"

Wei Fangyun turned abruptly and walked quickly to the wall, where a map of Liangzhou was posted.

"Changqing, come here."

Once Meng Changqing stood before him, Wei Fangyun's finger began to trace the map excitedly. "If you build this wall, Liangzhou will have three hundred and thirty thousand mu of land!"

"Yes." Meng Changqing's finger also moved to a position on the map as she explained, "If the walls are built at the original site, setting aside other unfavorable factors, the area would only be about one hundred and forty thousand mu, and much of that would be mountainous terrain. Why not include the plains outside the treacherous mountains to serve as farmland? That land originally belongs to our Great Liang."

"Exactly! If the walls are built where you say, not only will the area of Beishan County increase significantly, but the western side of Hongjia County will no longer be harassed by the Yan army's marauders."

"You are quite right, My Lord."

Wei Fangyun took a deep breath. "Very good! Your idea is excellent! But can it be done? It took two years to build the walls of Weishan County, and that wall was only fourteen miles long. The wall you want to build is forty miles! How many years do you plan to take?"

Meng Changqing said, "Two months."

"What did you say?" Wei Fangyun doubted his own ears.

"I said it will take two months," Meng Changqing repeated.

Wei Fangyun shook his head with a laugh. "You must be joking."

"Uncle, I am not joking," Meng Changqing said. "Completing it in two months is not impossible. I only require two hundred thousand piculs of grain, forty thousand laborers, three thousand to ten thousand sets of various tools, one hundred thousand tons of coal, and fifty thousand catties of frostbite medicine, wound medicine, and fever medicine, along with one hundred thousand catties of cotton wadding and cloth."

As Meng Changqing listed the requirements, she watched Wei Fangyun's smile slowly fade.

"Uncle," Meng Changqing emphasized, "though I am young, I am not someone who jokes about matters of state. I am not setting a two-month deadline out of mere bravado; rather, the Yan army is only leaving us two months. They will never allow us to erect a wall in this position. The terrain outside the wall is rugged and intersected by rivers, which would make it difficult for them to deploy their troops in formation. Therefore, once the winter passes, the Yan army will have the capacity for large-scale sieges, and our walls will never be built."

"You make sense," Wei Fangyun mused, rubbing his fingers. "It is indeed true. We can only do it during the winter, when they are preoccupied with the harassment of the Jie Maru and have no time to worry about us..."

Wei Fangyun fell into deep thought for a long while before looking up. "I know you must have spent a great deal of effort calculating these things, and I know that if everything goes according to your plan, it will be of immense benefit to the State of Liang. But what you are asking for... I truly cannot provide it."