In the end, the Duan brothers did not escape, and were captured by Wang Ping and others, so that the Jinglong Jindian Kingdom completely disappeared in the long river of history, and the entire Indochina Peninsula was also owned by the empire.

After solving the Jinglong Jindian Kingdom, the territory of the empire is now all connected, from the Australian Province in the south, to the Changbai Mountain bordering the Jin Kingdom in the north, to Tibet in the west, and to Goryeo in the east.

In fact, there is an island country to the east, although it is now considered a colony of the empire, but because there is still a regime of island people on it, it is not yet the territory of the empire.

For this small island country, the government and the opposition of the empire hope to take it into their pockets, but Li Nan feels that the situation in the island country is still stable, so he put this matter aside for the time being.

Since southern Xinjiang is stable, both the emperor Li Nan and the ministers have invariably shifted their attention to the west and the north.

In order to control the flooding of the Yellow River, the empire issued treasury bonds to raise a large amount of funds, plus the infrastructure in Tibet and the country, so there was no spare funds to launch a large-scale war for the time being.

Originally, Li Nan and his ministers planned to keep the peace for a few years, so that the people could rest and recuperate for a while, but the heavens did not fulfill people's wishes, and something happened in the west at this time that made the empire angry.

Because there are people in the empire such as Li Nan and Natasha with advanced ideas in later generations, under their influence, all walks of life in the country have developed extremely rapidly, and it can even be said that they have made leaps and bounds.

The rapid development of light and heavy industries has brought more jobs to the empire, and it has also brought related industries to the world, especially mining.

The newly invented steam engine is used in many industries, so it requires a large amount of iron ore to cast machinery, and a large amount of coal to supply these machines.

As a result, the empire needs to extract more iron ore, coal mines, and other minerals, so there are many professional exploration teams roaming the empire's territory.

In later generations, the northwest region of China was rich in mineral deposits, among which coal, oil and natural gas were among the top in the country.

Non-ferrous metals such as nickel, copper, lead, zinc, and chromium, rare metals such as palladium, iridium, manganese, beryllium, lithium, niobium, and tantalum, precious metals such as gold, silver, and platinum, chemical deposits such as salt, potash, boron, and sodium saltpeter, as well as non-metallic deposits such as gypsum, asbestos, mica, limestone, and silicon, all occupy an important position in China.

Northwest China has 300.9 billion tonnes of coal reserves, accounting for about 30% of the country's total, mainly in Shaanxi Province, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

Li Nan and others are not professionals, so they can't remember the specific distribution of minerals in later generations, so they can only give some tips to the mineral department.

Therefore, several exploration teams came to the northwestern provinces to search for mineral resources, but they did not expect that something happened to them in the empire.

Originally, these exploration teams of the Imperial Mineral Department were working in the Lanzhou area, because it bordered Western Xia, so they were protected by a company of Imperial Patrol Forces.

However, these people who are engaged in scientific research have a different thinking from ordinary people, for example, the captain of the exploration team always feels that these patrolmen have too many restrictions on them, and always set safe areas for them.

The patrol army did not expect that this exploration team actually said goodbye and secretly entered the border area.

It stands to reason that the Western Xia Kingdom is currently attacking each other with the Mongols and the Jin Kingdom, and will never dare to provoke a powerful empire, but after years of conquest, this country has also experienced a rare drought, and under the poison of natural and man-made disasters, the people of Western Xia can no longer live.

In the history of the world, if the people of most places could not survive, then they would rise up in revolution, such as the Yellow Turban Rebellion in ancient China, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, and the Arabs in the Middle East.

In addition to the strange Indians who have created a deep-rooted belief in the people because of the caste system, believing that poverty is a kind of practice, and the poorer the better, the people of other countries will work hard to survive, and this is also the survival instinct of human beings.

When the Western Xia was strong before, the leaders of the various departments and the people naturally kept their respects on the orders of the lord Li Qian, but at this point, survival was their first priority.

At the peak of the Western Xia Kingdom, the population was 3 million, and the conventional army was maintained at that time, and the Empress Dowager Liang of the Western Xia had mobilized 600,000 Western Xia troops to conquer the Great Song Dynasty.

Why was the Western Xia Kingdom able to recruit such an amazing army?

The answer is very simple, because the Tangut people are really all soldiers, where men between the ages of 15 and 70 have to bring their own weapons to join the army during war, so it can be said that all the men in this country are soldiers except for children under the age of 15.

It is said that 10-year-old children in Western Xia are considered reserves, and they may also go to war in times of emergency, and there are about 100,000 female soldiers in Western Xia. In times of emergency, they also go to war.

Although everyone knows that there must be some water in the huge army of Western Xia, and the temporarily recruited soldiers cannot compare with the elite Iron Harriers and garrisons, they still have a certain combat effectiveness.

In the past, Li Qianshun could control his own people, but when he could not provide the resources for the tribes and people to survive, these people began to develop outward, looking for food and resources to survive.

The Western Xia State was also loyal to the tribal leaders of the lord Li Qianshun, leading his own army to attack Mongolia and Jin, plundering the resources of the two places to maintain the survival of his tribe, and some leaders attacked the Western Regions, Western Liao and Tubo further west.

At present, among all countries, the people of China have the best living environment.

Taxes are low, the cultivated land is large, and there are many job opportunities, as long as there are people who can work with hands and feet, they will never starve to death, and those who are a little more industrious will have a lot of surpluses every year.

The Mongols, the Jin, the Western Regions and the Western Liao were all about as poor as the Western Xia, so in terms of cost performance, plundering the people of the empire was the most cost-effective deal.

Although Li Qianshun, the lord of Western Xia, repeatedly ordered that his people were not allowed to provoke the empire, there were always some desperate guys.

The Tangut people living in Xining Prefecture set their sights on the rich and oily empire.

Xining Prefecture in the Western Xia Kingdom borders the Shanxi Province of the Empire, and this time the Tanguts encountered this mineral exploration team when they invaded the territory of the empire and plundered.

When the patrol in charge of protecting the exploration team found them, all that was left of the site was a extinguished campfire and the bones of the gnawed humans.

Everyone in the expedition team was killed, and even the corpses were eaten by the hungry Tanguts, and as soon as the matter was reported to the imperial capital of Changsha, it immediately caused an uproar.

Today's empire's newspaper industry is developing rapidly, and in addition to the Huaxia Imperial Daily, which was first founded by Fu Tianqiu, there are also many private newspapers.

The news that the entire expedition had been slaughtered by the Tanguts and brutally eaten by the Tanguts was quickly made headlines in these newspapers and distributed throughout the empire.

The national pride of the people of the empire was rising day by day, and at this time, when they heard that the Tangut people had done such a horrific evil thing, they were immediately excited, and the imperial troops stationed in various places also set off a vigorous wave of active war.