When Grand Marshal Xu first saw Liu Yun, his expression was quite interesting.
Li Yao's mischief of running to the frontier was bad enough.
But Liu Yun was the Prince of Yizhou!
Princes were not allowed to leave their fiefs without an imperial edict, violation of which would be deemed an act of rebellion.
This kid really had guts, coming here himself and even bringing thousands of troops, using the excuse of transporting grain!
"Prince of Yizhou, why do you have to go through all this trouble?" said Grand Marshal Xu. "If His Majesty finds out, it would be...difficult to handle!"
"What's the issue?" Liu Yun laughed. "I've donated so many things from Yizhou to you guys. Can't I even come take a look?"
His words left Grand Marshal Xu speechless.
During this time, the entire army had been eating Yizhou's grain. The construction materials for the city walls were also all transported here from the Yizhou government, without asking for a single penny.
Even if asked, no one would give any.
So it was reasonable that he came to take a look.
"Alright, it's best for the Prince of Yizhou to stay in camp. Don't wander around," said Grand Marshal Xu. "It's best to leave after a few days and hurry back."
Liu Yun looked up at the hot air balloon floating in the sky and said enthusiastically, "I actually want to go up and take a look."
"It's cold up there."
"I'm not afraid of cold!"
Liu Yun finally got his wish and went up in the hot air balloon, flying over 800 meters high. He then froze like a dog.
When he came back down, his hands and feet were all stiff.
But he was still very excited, because this was way more thrilling than mountain climbing and gazing afar.
Most importantly, this could effectively prevent raids from the barbarians.
"If I wasn't barred from returning to the capital, I would have to find His Majesty and plead merit for Li Yao."
Regarding pleading merit for Li Yao, both Liu Yun and Grand Marshal Xu were very adamant.
But Li Yao didn't care at all. She had already started commanding people to install the small steam engines brought by Xia Xian, along with the matching stirrer drums.
It took a day to install and debug twenty of the most primitive stirrer machines.
After testing, the efficiency was off the charts.
The only downside was the need to manually pour in the materials, but it was still dozens of times faster than mixing on the ground.
When sand, rocks and water sources were transported in, Grand Marshal Xu had already gotten people to dig the foundations for the city walls. They first laid down a thick layer of concrete and compacted it with thick wooden boards instead of vibrators.
After the foundation dried, more materials were transported from nearby and Yizhou. Thousands of soldiers turned into steelworkers and carpenters, starting to make steel bars and formwork.
With thousands working simultaneously, even Li Yao had never seen such a scene before. Fortunately these tasks weren't difficult, and the soldiers quickly got the hang of it.
After clipping on one layer of formwork, they could pour in the concrete.
In just three days, the first three-meter-high wall layer was poured all around. Next was the second and third layers.
Half a month later, the city walls were capped.
Looking at the city walls that were built so swiftly all around, Grand Marshal Xu and Liu Yun were shocked every day.
If not for Li Yao, who else in the world could have come up with such methods?
It was cold in winter, so the concrete dried slower. To be safe, they waited a full twenty days before Li Yao allowed the wooden boards to be removed.
Stepping atop the tall city walls, standing on the brand new concrete ground, Li Yao suddenly felt as if she had returned to her past life.
But she knew this was no cement road, but a fortress to defend against foreign invasion.
As for Grand Marshal Xu and Liu Yun's feelings, there were no words to describe them. Such tall and sturdy city walls could probably withstand three days and nights of barbarian ramming even with giant trees, without even a crack appearing.
Especially the four huge steel gates. When they arrived, they were still half-zhang square iron plates. But with something Li Yao called screws, she connected them to the massive steel frames, turning them into indestructible steel gates.
Such ingenious skills, other than Li Yao, who else could accomplish this?
With Xiu City's walls built, the soldiers poured into the city in high spirits.
Although there were no houses yet, only tents pitched within the city, the tall city walls could block the cold winds. They also didn't have to be on tenterhooks every night, worried about barbarian raids.
When free, everyone could casually sit in open spaces, bask in the sun, and even play cuju or have riding and archery competitions.
This was unimaginable in the past.
With the other four small cities built next year, this northern frontier would become impregnable!
In a blink, two months had passed since leaving home. In another month, it would be New Year's, and it was the coldest time of the year in the north.
Overnight, more than a chi of snow covered the ground. Everything in the fields seemed to be frozen, and even the barbarians had retreated hundreds of li, hiding in the big mountains to hibernate.
The Xiu City troops also used the leftover construction materials to build some houses and warehouses. The grain for wintering over was stored inside the city walls, well protected.
Every day within the massive walls, there were sounds of laughter. Fragrant meals drifted around.
It was as if the whirling snow outside had nothing to do with them.
Liu Yun had already returned some days ago, taking all the Yizhou troops with him.
Xiu City could be built so quickly, Liu Yun and the Yizhou troops deserved the most credit.
Of course, he couldn't request merits himself, since he had illegally traveled outside his domain, without even reporting the grain to the court.
Li Yao really liked such icy weather, but couldn't stay for long either.
But just as she was preparing to return to Yizhou, several luxurious carriages with striking banners slowly arrived at Xiu City despite the snowstorm.
The carriages stopped outside the east gate. An elderly eunuch alighted, looked up at the tall city walls and gates, as well as the powerful "Xiu City" characters above the gates. The wrinkles on his originally crinkled brow seemed to deepen further.
Since no one came to greet them, an attendant guard called loudly at the top of the walls, "Hurry and notify Grand Marshal Xu, the imperial edict is here!"
Upon hearing of the imperial edict's arrival, Grand Marshal Xu put down what he was doing and hurriedly came to the city gates.
"So it's Master Liu! Coming to deliver the decree despite such heavy snow, it must have been tiring."
"Serving His Majesty, how could it be tiring?" Seeing Grand Marshal Xu, Master Liu finally squeezed out a smile. "Grand Marshal Xu, hurry and receive the decree."
Everyone immediately knelt in the snow. Master Liu took out and read the imperial edict.
"His Majesty the Emperor decrees: Grand Marshal Xu has merit in resisting the barbarians, but he did not report to this throne before building cities in the north. This has greatly angered the dragon countenance! Grand Marshal Xu is hereby ordered to immediately return to the capital and await punishment by His Majesty! Obey this decree!"
Upon hearing this, Grand Marshal Xu's heart turned icy cold, even colder than the swirling snow.
He had worked hard fighting in the borderlands, and worked hard building a city, yet just because he didn't report it in advance, he would be punished?
But the decree was right before his eyes. Even if he was dissatisfied, he could not openly defy it.
"Your servant complies with the decree."
Master Liu folded up the edict and had someone pass it to Xu Zhan. "Grand Marshal Xu, hurry and tidy up to return with us."
"I'll have people prepare right away."
"Mm," seeing his agreeable attitude, Master Liu added, "Additionally, His Majesty has heard that a young lady Li from Hundred Streams County's Hewan Village in Yizhou is also at the military camp. Is this true or false?"
What else could Grand Marshal Xu say?
Since it was already known, there was no use hiding it.
But he wasn't worried. Li Yao only had merits, no wrongs, so there should be no issues.
"She's here."
"His Majesty has decreed that young lady Li should also return with us. His Majesty wishes to see her."
The Emperor wants to see me?
Li Yao, hiding in the crowd, felt her heart skip a beat.
If only she had left with Liu Yun earlier. Now there was big trouble!