Ningxia Zhongwei Station, Yang Cong stood on the high city tower, holding a telescope, slowly scanning the desert in front of him, his brows furrowed slightly.

This is the nearest guard in Ningxia Wuwei to the West Set, and there are more than 100 miles away from the Ningxia avant-garde that the railway extends to, of course, this distance is not a problem at all, as long as he gives an order, tens of thousands of guards can repair the railway in a month.

The main problem is that this western set is too big, from Ningxia Wei to Hamiwei for more than 3,000 miles, it can be called a western set, and I don't know how many Tartar tribes there are.

If the railway is repaired from Ningxiawei, let alone three years, it may not be possible to complete it in five or even ten years.

He sighed slightly, then lowered his binoculars and set his eyes on the map in front of him.

The reason why this railway is difficult to repair is not because of the terrain, although the area from Ningxiawei to Hamiwei is mostly desert, it is not a problem to repair a railway, the main problem is that Hamiwei is no longer under the control of the Ming Dynasty at this time.

Since the change of Tumubao, the national power of the Ming Dynasty has been declining, and the vassals who were originally subordinated to the Ming Dynasty are also ready to move, not only the Northern Yuan Dynasty departments have entered the prison from time to time, but even the small forces in the Western Regions such as Tubo have begun to fight the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty Hall is either a eunuch or a courtier infighting, and he does not care much about border affairs at all, so that the border defense of Hamiwei quickly fell into the hands of Tubo.

At this time, the westernmost power of the Ming Dynasty can be extended to Ganzhou Town, and it is still more than 2,000 miles away from Hamiwei!

Yang Cong also thought about recovering Hamiwei, but not now.

At this time, Zhu Zaikun has just succeeded to the throne, and the Ming Dynasty can be said to be in ruins, and it is too time-consuming to recover Hamiwei, and after the recovery, a large army must be sent to garrison, which will increase the burden on the imperial court, so this is not the best time to recover Hamiwei, and it is necessary to wait until the Ming Dynasty is revived and the national strength is strong again.

If Hamiwei cannot be recovered, then it will be impossible to build a railway for more than 2,000 miles from Ganzhou Town to Hamiwei, which is the biggest problem at present.

So, what exactly to do?

He thought hard for a long time, but still didn't come up with any good way, as for what to gather the army to be hard, it is absolutely undesirable to rush directly into the West to find the main force of the Tartars for a decisive battle, because the road is too far away, and it is too dangerous to transport grain and grass without a railway, and if the grain road is cut off by the Tartars, no matter how large the army is, it will collapse!

The so-called "one person counts the short, and the other counts the long", it seems that this matter has to be discussed carefully.

He glanced back at the military general Wenchen who was following him, thought about it again, and then asked Chen Jiuchou, the governor of Ganzhou, "Lord Chen, do you still know anything about the western set?" ”

This Chen Jiuchou was originally the governor of Ganzhou, and at the beginning of Jiajing, he had repelled the attacks of the Tartars and Tubo in office, but unfortunately, at that time, the infighting between the DPRK and China was fierce, and he belonged to the first assistant Yang Tinghe and a line, and he was not treated well by Jiajing, so as soon as Zhang Xuan and Gui Cao and others were impeached, he was dismissed and investigated, exiled for 3,000 miles, and was at the extreme.

Yang Cong still heard that Mao Bowen, the secretary of the Ministry of War, mentioned that there was such a person, and it happened that the imperial court was now using troops in the northwest, and he urgently needed officials who were familiar with the situation in the northwest, so he played Yongqing, reinstated his officials, and re-appointed as the governor of Ganzhou.

Chen Jiuchou is also quite grateful to Yang Congna, you must know that it is not an ordinary hardship, many people die after a few years, if he is not in good health, he would have died at the extreme.

Originally, he thought that this life would be over, and he would die silently in a few more years, but he never thought that the new emperor would suddenly issue an order to reinstate him as an official!

When he came back and inquired, he found out that it was this Lord Yang who told him in front of the emperor that he could get out of the sea of suffering and be reinstated, how could he not be grateful.

Just now, Lord Yang frowned at the map and pondered, and he knew that this Lord must be a tartar who didn't know how to pack up his suit.

For this reason, he was also pondering, and just as he was thinking of a little eyebrows, Lord Yang suddenly asked him, this timing is too good!

If you don't repay the favor now, when will you wait?

He hurriedly arched his hand and said, "My lord, the lower official dares to ask, are you worried about the tartar of the suit?" ”

Sure enough, he asked the right person, Yang Cong heard this, and couldn't help but say with interest: "Oh, do you have a way to clean up the tartars of the suit?" ”

Chen Jiuchou hurriedly said modestly: "This subordinate doesn't dare to boast about Haikou, after all, the Tartar has been entrenched in Monan for many years, and it may be difficult to clean it up in one fell swoop." However, the lower officials have a plan to make the Tartars collapse. ”

If you want to completely eliminate the Tartars, it is naturally impossible, after all, Monan is as vast as a sea of smoke, and the area is even larger than the Ming Dynasty, the two capitals and thirteen provinces, not to mention that there is a larger area of Mobei, if you want to run in and clean up the Tartars, don't even think about it.

Yang Cong just wanted to weaken the strength of the Tartar as much as possible, so that he would not have the ability to enter the northwest of Kou.

This is actually the same as what Chen Jiuchou said about making Tartar slump, and he hurriedly asked, "What way, you say." ”

When Chen Jiuchou heard this, he hurriedly stepped forward respectfully, pointed to the map and said: "My lord, the water and grass in the west are not abundant, only near the middle of the Yellow River is suitable for tartars to thrive, and other places can be said to be deserts, and water and grass are very scarce. In other words, as long as we take this piece back, it will be difficult for the Tartar to multiply. ”

Yang Cong looked in the direction of his finger, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

This place is not big, not even half the size of the Hetao, that is, a small piece of land in front of the Yellow River, less than 500 miles horizontally, and less than 300 miles longitudinally.

Yang Cong said a little excitedly: "What do you mean, as long as you take this piece, the tartar will collapse, right?" ”

Chen Jiuchou hurriedly explained: "This is still not safe, because the rest of the area is not without pasture at all, but the problem is not very big, because the areas with pasture are basically near the Yellow River and its tributaries, not very far from Ganzhou Town, as long as we organize a large army to harass these places from time to time, the Tartars will not be able to live." ”

Yang Cong took a closer look, and the few places pointed out by Chen Jiuchou were indeed not far from Ganzhou Town, and the farthest was only two or three hundred miles, so it was no problem to organize a large army to harass it.

In other words, it is not very difficult to make the Tartars collapse, as long as they occupy the largest grassland and organize a large army to harass a few small grasslands from time to time, the Tartars will not be able to multiply.

Yang Cong thought carefully for a while, then nodded and said: "Very good, Lord Chen, your merit, the official has written it down, and on the day of the achievement, the official will definitely reward you for your merit and deed, and give you a first credit." ”

When Chen Jiuchou heard this, he couldn't help but be excited, but he didn't get carried away, he still arched his hand again and again: "Don't dare, don't dare, the lower officials are just moving their mouths, and they don't dare to take credit." ”