Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

The cold wind in the first month of the year is still biting and chilly.

While people in the capital were immersed in the festive atmosphere, craftsmen in western Beijing had already resumed work.

As one of the projects most valued by the emperor, the bastion in the west of Beijing is small but it concentrates skilled craftsmen.

The group of people who are best at civil engineering in the entire Ming Dynasty are concentrated here.

As the leading carpenter today, Lu Xiang naturally participated in this matter.

He led engineers from the Wensiyuan Construction Research Institute to participate in the construction of the bastion.

Although he was assigned by the emperor to manufacture firearms and his main focus was not on civil engineering, Lu Xiang still used his wisdom.

Based on the wooden firearm model that the emperor asked him to make, Lu Xiang also made a model for the Jingxi Bastion.

And because the design of the bastion had changed several times, he creatively invented building blocks according to the emperor's suggestions, which could be easily disassembled and assembled to change the model style.

Because of this, Xu Guangqi and others who were in charge of the construction of the bastion used these building blocks to experiment with many ideas.

Finally, based on the construction of the Ming Dynasty city, with reference to the Western bastion style and using cement, concrete and other technologies, the final design of the bastion was finalized.

Throughout the New Year, Xu Guangqi and others were busy with this matter. On the sixth day of the first lunar month, they ordered the craftsmen of the Wensi Academy and the engineers of the patrol camp to resume work and start building the bastion.

The location had been selected before, and even the foundation had been laid, and bricks, wood, stones and cement had all been transported over.

However, due to changes in the bastion design, some foundations needed to be rebuilt and the required building materials also needed to be recalculated.

Therefore, Xu Guangqi asked the engineers of the patrol camp to only repair the parts that did not need to be changed for the time being, and to lay the foundation for the other parts before construction.

As an extension of the traditional city construction of the Ming Dynasty, the Western Beijing Bastion naturally used rammed earth walls, that is, the city walls were built using the rammed earth method.

This type of city wall has a long history and underwent a change during the Ming Dynasty. It was covered with a layer of bricks on the outside, becoming a rammed earth and brick-covered city wall.

What Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang called "building high walls" refers to the construction of this kind of rammed earth covered brick wall.

It not only has the defensive power of thick rammed earth, but also uses bricks on the outside to prevent rain erosion, making the city wall as solid as a rock.

Most of the ancient city walls that remain in China were built in the Ming Dynasty, laying the foundation for China's city wall structure for hundreds of years.

The construction of the western bastion of Beijing also retained this method of wall construction. Compared with pure bricks and stones, the cost of rammed earth brick walls is lower, and the thick rammed earth is more resistant to artillery fire, so it can still be used.

However, the shape of the city wall has changed from the square wall to a star-shaped bastion, so as to form cross fire and make it easier for firearms to exert their power.

(Comparison between Beijing City Wall and Fort Zeelandia, one is square and the other is angular)
Under the command of the civil engineer, the engineers of the patrol camp first laid stones on the foundation so that they could tamp the earth on top, so that the city wall would not be damaged when it rained or when water accumulated.

Since the emergence of concrete, this step can be replaced by concrete. However, it is winter now, and the strength of concrete will be damaged after freezing and thawing, so stones are used this time.

Then we use the rammed earth construction technology to build rammed earth walls on it.

Rammed earth material is made by mixing loess, straw, lime, etc., adding appropriate amount of water and repeatedly stirring and pounding to make a rammed earth mixture evenly.

This type of earthen-walled house can still be seen in some rural areas in later generations. It was once very popular in China.

After the rammed earth material is transported to the top, it needs to be clamped and fixed with wooden boards, and then rammed back and forth with a rammer to make it more compact.

The standard for rammed earth walls is called "the cone cannot penetrate more than an inch". This means that if you use an awl to poke the rammed earth wall, the tip of the awl cannot penetrate more than an inch, otherwise it will be considered unqualified.

After the rammed earth wall is completed, a layer of bricks is laid on the outside to better prevent rain and water and resist erosion by wind and rain.

The bricks used in the city walls are also specially fired and follow strict regulations.

The bricks used for the Beijing city wall were Linqing tribute bricks shipped from Shandong.

This kind of brick is very solid and has become a collectible in later generations.

Starting from the Yongle period, the Ministry of Works set up a construction branch in Linqing to supervise the brick-making industry and collect one million bricks for the city each year.

The bricks used in the Jingxi Bastion were tribute bricks taken out from the warehouse.

(Linqing City Bricks)
Bricks were previously bonded together using mortar, which included glutinous rice mortar, tung oil mortar, egg white mortar, etc., and was relatively expensive.

After the emergence of cement, it was undoubtedly replaced by cement.

Engineers from Wensi Institute selected the most suitable type of cement for winter construction from the various cements currently developed for use in bastion construction.

They also developed quick-drying cement that was more suitable for field fortifications in accordance with the emperor's request.

The emperor also required that the construction of this bastion be completed within one month.

Because by February or March, the Daling River will thaw, and the navy will transport soldiers from Dongning to build the Daling River Fort.

Now, Huo Weihua has already gone to Liaodong and personally went to the vicinity of the original Dalinghe City to investigate which places are suitable for building a fort. He also explored the foundation and remaining bricks and stones of the original Dalinghe City to see if they can be used.

What Zheng Zhihu saw when he arrived in western Beijing was thousands of craftsmen and engineers working intensively to build a castle.

The Grand Secretary Xu Guangqi also stayed here to supervise the construction of the bastion.

Many civil servants thought this job was difficult and they were unwilling to mix with craftsmen.

But Xu Guangqi was very happy about it, because as early as the Tianqi period, he and his disciples Sun Yuanhua and others proposed to build a Western-style gun platform that would be more suitable for the use of firearms, but unfortunately it was not adopted by the court.

After being reinstated as Grand Secretary, he made this suggestion again and believed it was an urgent task at the moment.

This was consistent with Zhu Youjian's strategy of building bastions for defense and setting up strong camps to fight a static battle, so he got the emperor's support this time and built bastions in the west of Beijing.

His disciples Han Yun, Han Lin and others also participated in this matter.

Even when they were investigating Fort Zeelandia before, they had people going there.

Because of this, Xu Guangqi and others not only had the bastion design drawings learned from missionaries, but also had real objects for reference.

After studying the advantages of Eastern and Western cities, this Beijing Western Bastion, a combination of Chinese and Western styles, was designed.

Western bastions have been around for more than a hundred years and have formed a complete system. They have evolved from the original circular shape to the sharp-angled shape, which is commonly known as the bastion.

Outside the city wall, there are a large number of triangular forts, corner forts, crown forts, concave forts, hidden roads, trenches, protective slopes... forming a huge defense system.

It can be said that this is the culmination of Western fortress technology, which enabled the West to enter an era where defense was stronger than offense in the 16th to 18th centuries.

The bastion built by the Ming Dynasty this time was not so complicated. It just referred to Fort Zeelandia and built the four corners of the city wall into sharp-angled gun platforms.

Then, offensive and defensive exercises will be held, and outer fortifications will be built as needed.

The ten battalions of the new army of the Patrol Battalion have been divided into the attacking and defending sides and have begun to practice. The results of this exercise will determine their rewards and punishments.

After the emperor rewarded the soldiers of the Patrol Battalion with Liaodong land certificates and punished deserters and other behaviors within the Patrol Battalion, the discipline of the new troops in the Patrol Battalion became much stricter and the morale was very high.

Many soldiers hoped to make meritorious deeds and gain wealth for generations.
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For the construction of the bastion, Zhu Youjian sent eunuchs to supervise the whole process and help solve difficulties.

For example, issues such as feng shui raised by some officials were blocked by Liu Ruoyu, who was in charge of the construction.

The Construction Department of the Internal Affairs Bureau also sent people to participate in the project, so as to build a better defense system when renovating the imperial palace and building the royal garden in the future.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian was very clear about the progress of the bastion and was quite satisfied with it.

But what he was more concerned about was the food problem.

No matter how well a castle is built, it still needs soldiers to guard it. If there is a problem with food, it will not be able to survive.

So he asked the ships transporting immigrants to carry more food when returning to the north.

After the construction of Dalinghhe Fort, it was also necessary to ensure that there was at least one year's worth of grain stored inside.

Only in this way can we persist until the change of seasons and find suitable rescue opportunities from the sea and water.

Because of this, Dalinghhe Fort must not be built too large, so as not to require too many soldiers and supplies, which would hinder the defense.

But it cannot be too small, otherwise it will not be able to pose a threat to the Jianlu when they take a detour.

So the Privy Council's final proposal was to build a fortress guarded by a thousand soldiers and capable of accommodating a maximum of two to three thousand people.

In order to strengthen the defense in the early stage, two thousand people were sent to guard, with two groups of people alternating with each other.

As a result, the one thousand soldiers selected by Huo Weihua from the Dongning Guard were naturally insufficient.

In addition, the Privy Council had doubts about their combat effectiveness, so it asked Liaodong to also send out a thousand men.

Huo Weihua's trip to Liaodong this time was not only to investigate the construction site of Dalinghhe Fort, but also to select suitable generals and recruit soldiers from Liaodong.

Moreover, he also needed to gain the support of Liaodong officials, at least so that they would not hinder him in his war.

The Liaodong army was actually very dissatisfied with the fact that Huo Weihua's plan for Dalingh Fort was approved and Sun Chengzong's plan to rebuild Dalingh City was rejected.

Although they were not necessarily willing to fight a big war with the Jianlu, they were generally resistant to the arrival of an outsider like Huo Weihua.

However, Sun Chengzong knew that the emperor was very sensitive about the localization of the Guanning Army. Therefore, he suppressed such voices and his aversion to the eunuch party, and welcomed Huo Weihua's arrival, allowing Huo Weihua to select elite soldiers and generals from the army.

But Huo Weihua was very smart. He soon discovered that although Sun Chengzong welcomed him on the surface, he was actually very cold to him.

The soldiers under his command were even more sarcastic in their words, despising the fighting power of the Dongning soldiers.

After all, in their opinion, the Qin soldiers in Shaanxi were not as good as the Liao soldiers, and the Dongning soldiers who were eliminated from the Shaanxi garrisons were naturally even worse.

Some generals even said openly that Huo Weihua could stand aside and they could lead the soldiers to build the Dalinghhe Fort.

Huo Weihua pinned all his hopes of recovery on the battle of Dalingh River, so how could he be willing to lose the dominant position?

So he quickly decided that he could not choose soldiers from these people.

And he also had a way out, because the emperor had sent someone to remind him that he could let Li Xingzhong, the deputy general of the standard camp under the Liaodong governor, select a thousand men from the standard camp.

These are the troops directly under the command of Sun Chengzong, the governor of Liaodong, and they can naturally be considered elite in the army.

Li Xingzhong is a descendant of Li Chengliang and still has some appeal in the Liaodong army.

However, this person was also sent by the emperor to look after the Liaodong commander-in-chief, and he would not be transferred out unless it was absolutely necessary.

At the same time, because of Li Xingzhong's background, when his merits are assessed in the future, he will have an advantage because of his ancestors' achievements.

So Huo Weihua was unwilling to choose this person.

However, the idea of ​​selecting people from the standard camp also appeared in Huo Weihua's mind.

After observing the standard camp of the Liaodong governor, he went to see the standard camp of the Liaodong protector general, which was formerly the central army of the Liaodong governor, and was now led by He Kegang, who was in charge of the affairs of the deputy general as a lieutenant general.

Huo Weihua knew the general He Kegang. Yuan Chonghuan had attached great importance to him before, as the general of the central army.

Moreover, this person was not involved in the conspiracy case and can be said to be trustworthy.

After Huo Weihua talked with him about some military affairs, he found that this man was indeed very capable, kind and brave, honest and diligent, and had great prestige among the soldiers.

It is no wonder that after Yuan Chonghuan was transferred away, he was again reused by Bi Zisu and was still in charge of the central army under his command.

Huo Weihua had a good relationship with Yuan Chonghuan. Before he was removed from the position of Minister of War, he even asked to give the imperial title granted by the court to Yuan Chonghuan. After he established a relationship with He Kegang, he asked privately:

"General He is so talented, but he is only in charge of a battalion under the command of the Guard General. Don't you think he is underutilized?"

"I was ordered by the Emperor to build Dalinghe Fort. If I make meritorious contributions, I may be appointed as the Minister in the future."

"General He, are you willing to follow me and build great achievements together?"

He Kegang was indeed tempted when he heard Huo Weihua's solicitation.

Because Bi Zisu, who was transferred from the Governor of Liaodong to the Military Guard, was different from the previous Governor of Liaodong held by Yuan Chonghuan.

When Yuan Chonghuan was the governor of Liaodong, he replaced Wang Zhichen, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong. His governor's army was also stationed on the Ningyuan front, so he had many opportunities to make meritorious deeds.

However, the emperor explicitly arranged Bi Zisu, the Liaodong military envoy, to be stationed at Shanhaiguan, and set up the Liaodong Military Guard Office, which was mainly responsible for civil affairs, justice, and logistics.

As long as the Jianlu do not reach Shanhaiguan, he will basically have no chance of fighting.

For someone who wants to achieve something great, he naturally doesn't want to wait like this.

In addition, he was once a close confidant of Yuan Chonghuan, and was not well received in the Liaodong Army after Zu Dashou's collusion with the enemy. It is very likely that he will be transferred to the interior in the future and will no longer have the opportunity to make meritorious contributions.

So after being won over by Huo Weihua, he felt that this was indeed an opportunity.

However, he remained reserved for a while. It was not until Huo Weihua promised that he would be in full command of the army of Dalinghe Fort and he would only be responsible for the military protection that He Kegang said to him:
"To serve Your Majesty, I will certainly not hesitate to die."

"But General Bi has done us a great favor. Please negotiate with us, Mr. Huo."

Let Huo Weihua go to find Bi Zisu, and issue the transfer order after negotiations.

As a result of Huo Weihua's negotiations, he successfully brought He Kegang over, and selected a thousand elite soldiers from the Liaodong Guard Camp and the soldiers from Shanhaiguan who were unwilling to stay in the rear to defend the city. They were ready to build Dalinghe Fort after the spring. (End of this chapter)