Just when Liu Tan thought Jiang Chong was really capable of talking nonsense, he looked up and found that everyone was looking at him in shock. Even Huo Guang's eyes were full of surprise and doubt.

He couldn't help but knock on the table and said, "I say...you really believe it?" Then he looked at Jiang Chong and said, "Stop talking nonsense!"

Jiang Chong couldn't help but shrink his neck. This was not nonsense. If it wasn't magic, how... could this be done?

Li Buyan circled around curiously and asked, "If this isn't a magical technique, how did Your Highness do it?"

Liu Tan glared at him and said, "Didn't you hear the noise inside my tent?"

The soundproofing of the tent is almost non-existent. He has been making so much noise in there for so long, could it be that none of these people heard it?

Jiang Chong whispered, "That's why I guess His Highness is using magic."

Casting a magic spell... Liu Tan felt a little uneasy. Who casts a spell by hammering nails? What kind of magic is that? That's witchcraft!

Sorry, it’s not that he has a wild imagination, it’s just that when he sees Jiang Chong, he can’t help but think of the witchcraft disaster.

Huo Guang, standing by, saw Liu Tan's face turn pale. He looked at Jiang Chong in disbelief. He didn't react at first, but after a while, he seemed to realize something and turned to Jiang Chong, saying sternly, "Don't talk nonsense!"

Jiang Chong was also stunned for a moment. He was about to say something, but then he seemed to think of something. His face turned pale, he slapped himself silently, lowered his head and stopped talking.

Wei Buyi, who had been silent the whole time, couldn't help but say, "This...can't be said carelessly. Mr. Jiang, please be cautious..."

Wei Buyi was not particularly familiar with Liu Tan, but he quite liked the Fifth Prince. He was humorous and had no airs. Most importantly, he was on good terms with the Crown Prince. From what the Crown Prince had said, the Fifth Prince would always think of the Crown Prince.

For the Wei family, those who are good to the prince are their friends, so even if he is usually silent, he couldn't help it.

The atmosphere in the room suddenly became tense. Only Li Buyan asked with a bewildered look on his face, "What? Did Jiang Yezhe say something he shouldn't have said?"

Liu Tan glanced at Li Buyan and thought to himself, "The only way you can get into the army is to get into the imperial court. If you were to go to the imperial court, you'd probably be eaten alive in a few days. I wonder if this guy is only growing in size but not in brains."

Liu Tan changed the subject and said, "This is what I made today based on the map. I'm not sure if it's exactly the same as the terrain. Since Wei Guan is not here, I can only make do with it. However, as long as he didn't make any mistakes, the difference should be pretty close."

Even Huo Guang couldn't help but exclaim: "Your Highness, this is truly... a masterpiece of divine skill."

Liu Tan laughed and said, "It's difficult for those who can't do it, but it's not difficult for those who can. This is not some kind of miracle. If you stand by and watch for a day, you'll know how to do it."

Huo Guang immediately became alert: "Is this easy to do? In that case, Your Highness must keep this item under close watch and not show it to anyone."

Liu Tan said, "Even if we show it to others, how many people can actually do it? To do this, you either need a map or a thorough understanding of the geography of mountains and rivers. Anything else... is impossible."

Huo Guang knew that the map Liu Tan was talking about must be the one he had Wei Guan draw using the new method. Thinking about it this way, it was indeed not that easy to copy.

For those who are familiar with the geography of mountains and rivers, there will be no problem without a sand table.

Huo Guang looked down at the sand table carefully, comparing it to the map in his mind. Suddenly, he realized something was wrong. He pointed at a tiny model that looked like a house and asked, "What is this?"

Liu Tan was relieved that someone had finally noticed something was wrong. He said, "I want to build a city here."

Huo Guang's hands trembled, and he looked at Liu Tan in shock and asked, "Your Highness, do you not want to go back?"

Liu Tan was stunned for a moment: "Huh?"

Huo Guang said with some uneasiness, "Your Majesty has not yet granted you a fief, so how can you build a city on your own?"

Liu Tan knew he had misunderstood and quickly explained, "No, no, no, the city I want to build is just... temporary. Take a look at this information first, and you'll understand why I want to build this city."

Huo Guang took it and glanced at it before asking, "Is it from the young Kunmi for Your Highness?"

Liu Tan nodded, and then, fearing what Huo Guang might say next, he quickly said, "I traded Ruyi Gold Powder with him, not the formula."

Li Buyan glanced secretly at Liu Tan. He felt a strong desire to survive from Liu Tan's words.

Huo Guang stopped complaining and began to concentrate on reading the information. After finishing, he compared it with the sand table and suddenly realized, "Your Highness is worried that the supply line is too long?"

Liu Tan asked, "What do you think..."

He originally thought he would try to persuade Huo Guang, but to his surprise, Huo Guang said, "It's not difficult to get there, but we must make a quick decision and not delay it too long. If we wait until winter comes, I'm afraid the journey will be extremely difficult."

Liu Tan almost couldn't sit still after hearing this: "Winter? No, no, no, don't delay it that long."

If it really takes that long, I'm afraid Liu Che will explode.

Huo Guang asked, "How big do you plan to build, Your Highness? Building a rammed earth city is not something that can be done overnight."

Liu Tan shook his head: "No, we can't build a rammed earth city."

How long would it take to really build a rammed earth city? The so-called rammed earth city requires the soil to be compacted, which requires a lot of manpower and material resources.

Huo Guang looked at Liu Tan without asking if he had any ideas. He said directly, "In that case, the city shouldn't be too big. It should be enough to accommodate a thousand people. This place... is very close to a water source, which is indeed a good place."

Liu Tan's eyes suddenly lit up, and he turned to look at the others: "What do you think?"

Li Buyan thought hard for a moment before saying, "Father... I think he once said that the most important thing when marching to the Western Regions is not to advance slowly but to attack quickly. Our supply lines are longer, so we need to be fast. That's why Marquis Changping Lie and Marquis Jinghuan favored rapid attacks."

Wei Buyi suddenly said, "If we choose this place, I'm afraid we can't hide it from the little Wusun, right?"

Everyone looked at Liu Tan. Liu Tan's attitude on this matter was very important, but everyone could see that there seemed to be something wrong between the Kunmi of the little Wusun and their fifth prince. Of course, the key point was that the look in the little Kunmi's eyes when he looked at their fifth prince was not right, so Liu Tan had to speak.

Liu Tan said, "If you can hide it, then hide it. If you can't, then forget it. Jiang Chong, I have a mission for you. Go through the customs and buy some things. I need them."

Liu Tan set the tone, so they didn't say anything. They were just curious about what Liu Tan wanted.

What else could Liu Tan want? Quicklime!

How could a city be built without quicklime? Actually, he'd like some steel bars if he could, but that was only in his dreams, unless he went back and got them now.

Since it doesn't exist, it doesn't matter. It's just a temporary city anyway. The purpose is to prevent it from collapsing during the process of looting the country.

The next day, Jiang Chong went through the customs to buy things, while Liu Tan took Huo Guang and others to inspect the land.

After arriving there, Huo Guang looked at the scene before him, then turned to Liu Tan and asked, "Your Highness, is this the place you chose?"

Liu Tan: ...

He looked at the huge rock standing in front of him in some confusion, as well as the dry valley next to it that was washed out by the river, and even a huge animal skeleton exposed on the ground below.

Liu Tan pondered how he could choose such a place so accurately.

Liu Tan thought he was quite amazing, as he just clicked on such a place casually.

Facing everyone's gaze, Liu Tan couldn't help but smile awkwardly and said, "This isn't... I don't know. It's all Wei Guan's fault. He didn't even draw such an important terrain!"

Huo Guang grumbled, "The Kui Guan has been drawn, but Your Highness has forgotten the proportions."

Liu Tan was immediately enraged. He rolled up his sleeves and said, "For the sake of sacrifice, there are great ambitions. I dare to change the sun and the moon to a new sky! Do you believe that I can build a city here?"

Huo Guang was confused when he heard this, and felt that his prince had probably started talking nonsense.

After Liu Tan finished speaking, he felt as if he had let something slip and coughed lightly: "I was just talking nonsense. Anyway... if I say it can be built, it can be built!"

Wei Buyi, who was standing by, said, "It's just for support and supplies, can't we just move to the side?"

Everyone: ...

Oh yeah, what are they doing here fussing over this?

It's such a large area, and there's a vast Gobi desert next to it. Why should we worry about this?

Liu Tan led his men to move their position again, and finally chose a relatively flat place. He stood there and looked around, and couldn't help but sigh that the Western Regions was really big.

On the map, this place is very close to the robbery country, but when you actually stand here, you can only see an endless Gobi desert.

After Liu Tan selected a place, he began to let some people settle there first. The main thing was to measure the approximate scope of the city, then lay the foundation, and even lay the rammed earth layer.

It is necessary to pave the city. The Gobi Desert means there is a lot of sand and gravel, which also means that the land here is prone to subsidence. The most important thing in laying the foundation is to stabilize the city structure as much as possible and prevent subsidence from causing the city to split.

However, this is a problem of terrain and environment, and Liu Tan doesn't have a good solution. He can only do as much preparatory work as possible. For example, the pile foundation must be laid as well as possible to ensure the stability of the city.

Because the quicklime had not arrived yet, Liu Tan had people dig out the foundation of the city first, and then make it into cement and bury it as pile foundations when the quicklime arrived.

But ideas are beautiful, but reality is cruel.

After being dug out, Liu Tan was thinking that maybe God helped him when he was too young and gave him a chance to start over.

That night, Liu Tan felt the power of the sandstorm in the Gobi Desert for the first time.

Sandstorms are actually common in the northern inland areas when greening is not done well. Liu Tan didn't find it strange. However, he never knew that in such an open place, sandstorms could actually make people feel scared.

The howling wind outside really perfectly illustrated what ghosts and wolves howled. The sound combined with the sound of sand hitting the tent made Liu Tan tremble with fear.

He knew that his tent was actually very sturdy, but he couldn't help but worry that it would suddenly blow away if he fell asleep.

Almost no one could really sleep that night.

Liu Tan's tent was the best, but it made it difficult for him to fall asleep, let alone anything else.

After the wind and sand finally stopped, Liu Tan wanted to go out and take a look, but he found himself trapped in the tent - the sand blown in by the wind outside was already up to his calves, and he needed to clear it before he could go out.

When Liu Tan heard the news, he suddenly had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, when he was able to go out, he found that the neat foundation pit that he had previously dug was gone!

Liu Tan: Damn!