Feeling extremely resentful, Li Shanchang looked at Fu Youde with a hint of disdain.

He was nothing more than a traitor, a mere marquis. Although he is now the Duke of Shenying, it is only to maintain a balance of power in the court. To say that Fu Youde's achievements qualify him for the title of Duke is an exaggeration.

Fu Youde had no idea what Li Shanchang was thinking, but he did see Li Shanchang.

The bold and valiant Fu Youde cupped his hands in greeting and said politely, "Master Li."

Li Shanchang immediately returned the greeting with a cupped hand, but his words seemed to have a hidden meaning, "Your Excellency is too kind. I am but a lowly criminal..."

"Father, His Highness wants you to go there quickly." Just then, Fu Rang shouted.

Fu Youde immediately strode away, which only fueled Li Shanchang's dissatisfaction. The Fu father and son were both uncouth brutes, seemingly riding high now. But in time, they might face some suppression.

But then Li Shanchang began to worry about himself. Was the Crown Prince giving him a warning, or had he really forgotten about him?

Zhu Xiong Ying naturally didn't care about these things; he had many other matters to attend to. If Li Shan Chang could be more sensible, he might actually have a chance to be reinstated. Even if he didn't become a Duke, a peaceful death wouldn't be a problem, and he might even receive some decent posthumous honors.

However, if Li Shanchang continues his arrogance and self-importance, then he shouldn't blame Zhu Xiong Ying. There are many talented people in the world, and Zhu Xiong Ying won't be solely focused on subduing the aging Li Shanchang.

Fu Youde was quite excited at this moment, feeling that he was now the number one general under the Crown Prince.

"Your Highness, the border wall is divided into the outer border, the inner border, and the three inner passes," Fu Youde explained earnestly, pointing to the map. "The inner border starts west of Pianguan and extends all the way to Juyongguan..."

Zhu Xiong Ying listened attentively. In fact, he naturally knew these things. The "border wall" they were talking about was the famous Great Wall. However, the Ming Great Wall at that time might not have reached a truly perfect stage yet; it was only just beginning.

Fu Youde continued, "In the twentieth year, the Duke of Song and the Duke of Liang took charge of the Northeast, while the Tatars and Oirats retreated to the northern desert."

Zhu Xiong Ying nodded, then asked with a smile, "Duke Ying, I have heard that since the Prince of Zhongshan recovered Beiping, our Great Ming has been repairing and reinforcing the border walls. In the first year, Juyong Pass, Gubeikou, Xifengkou and other places were repaired. In the fourth year, the border walls were repaired and reinforced again. In the eleventh and fourteenth years, the border walls were also repaired and reinforced respectively."

Fu Youde nodded immediately and said, “Your Highness, our Great Ming army has been building and reinforcing the border walls for several years, and is about to launch a northern expedition. Our Great Ming attaches importance to the defense of the north, but only strengthens the patrols of the border generals. There is no need to build a large border wall!”

That's really true. The Ming Dynasty doesn't really need to invest too many resources in building the Great Wall.

Leaving aside the current construction of Beiping City and Tianjin, and the dredging of the Grand Canal, the Ming Dynasty is already short of craftsmen and laborers. If it were to build the Great Wall at this time, it would be even more strained.

Moreover, it seems that the Great Wall built by the Ming Dynasty at present will not have a particularly significant practical effect.

Zhu Xiong Ying thought carefully for a moment and said to Fu Youde, "Duke Ying, now our Great Ming Dynasty is powerful and strong, and the Tatars and Oirats have been driven to the northern desert. But if future generations are unfilial, and there is no border wall, I'm afraid that the plains will be wide open for those barbarians to ride their horses."

This is the reality. Although the Ming Dynasty is training cavalry, it doesn't yet possess the mounted archery strength comparable to that of the northern desert armies. The value of the Great Wall isn't to permanently eliminate the northern desert armies, but rather to defend against their mobile cavalry.

The significance of the Ming Great Wall was to deal with small groups of a hundred or so nomadic cavalrymen. With the Great Wall and 20,000 beacon towers, normal production and life on the North China Plain could be maintained. As for large-scale invasions by nomadic tribes, the Great Wall certainly couldn't withstand them, but it could allow for the mobilization of large armies during those times.

After discussing many things with Fu Youde, Zhu Xiong Ying did not express any further opinion, but simply kept some things in mind.

These are matters for which Fu Youde has no right to offer further opinions; it's something that Xiao Zhu needs to discuss with Lao Zhu and Da Zhu.

"Most of the Great Wall that followed was built during the reign of my grandfather, and it seems that it was expanded in the middle and later stages of the Ming Dynasty. The Great Wall we have now is still somewhat dilapidated," Zhu Xiong Ying muttered to himself. "In my opinion, I definitely won't repair the Great Wall, at least not on a major scale."

So here's the question: the Great Wall, a source of pride for countless Chinese people, might not be as magnificent as it once was. After all, what most people will see in the future is the Ming Dynasty Great Wall, a terrifying structure built during that period.

Zhu Xiong Ying couldn't help but laugh, saying with a hint of self-deprecation, "Well, building the Great Wall isn't something that can be done overnight, and we can't guarantee what will happen in the future. But I can be sure that the nine border regions of the Ming Dynasty cannot be destroyed!"

This was also Zhu Xiong Ying's true feeling. In fact, the situation of the nine border regions of the Ming Dynasty was really good, and they held absolute initiative.

Throughout history, dynasties have indeed had to worry about invasions from nomadic tribes in the north, but the Ming Dynasty at this stage does not need to worry about these things.

The Ming Dynasty is now powerful and controls many military strongholds in Inner Mongolia. Among them, the three major towns of Jilin Shipyard, Yijinai Old City, Daningwei, Kaipingwei, and Dongshengwei form a triangle.

The Ming Dynasty can now take advantage of the terrain in southern Mongolia to cultivate land and raise horses to provide military supplies, in order to launch a counterattack in northern Mongolia and inherit the last remaining province of the Yuan Dynasty. The many garrisons set up in southern Mongolia are all far north of the Great Wall.

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