Chapter Twenty-Six: Li Kui's Itinerary to the Western Regions Development Goals to the West

Li Kui has an advantage, he has a clear mind about how much wine to drink, and he is even more excited when he talks about the things on the way to the west.

Zhang Zhimu and the others were also a little fascinated by what they heard, until they woke up the next morning, Zhang Zhimu suddenly felt that he had forgotten one thing yesterday, that is, there were officials in the imperial court who came back with Li Kui, and they should have gone over yesterday to toast a glass of wine and thank you.

So Zhang Zhimu went to the office to make arrangements, and then went to the Yaogang Hotel to thank those court officials. Originally, I wanted to go over with Li Kui, but Li Kui drank too much last night and fell asleep all the time, so Zhang Zhimu had to ask the room to thank him in person. But these court officials also drank too much like Li Kui, and they didn't get up. Zhang Zhimu had no choice but to come to the command center and wait for Li Kui, because Li Kui had to report on the things along the way today.

Seeing Zhang Zhimu, Ouyang He asked, "It's been two days since the Great Living Buddha came, is it okay not to see him today?" ”

Chen Yufeng said: "It's okay! We didn't invite him. ”

"Hmm!" Zhang Zhimu thought for a moment and said, "No matter what, we have to think about the plan of the Western Regions before we go to see the Living Buddha." He sees us with his purpose, and we see him with our purpose. When the time comes, just explain it to him more! ”

Ouyang He got up and came to the map and said, "According to what General Li Kui said, and the intelligence that General Ningde and they probed, the news of the migration of the Moxi Mongols to the west in the direction of the Dayue clan and others is accurate. If we follow them to oppress westward, it is also a good way for them to open up westward. ”

Chen Yufeng and Zhang Zhimu came to the map together, Chen Yufeng said and pointed to the map and said: "Jiang Zhu and Zhou Yuji converged and pressed over to the Ural Mountains here, and this year they will be able to occupy the first line of the Ural Mountains, and along the Ural Mountains to the south is the plain, we should be deployed along the Ural River, which originates in the Ural Mountains and enters the Caspian Sea." We can build ships in the Caspian Sea. With small boat engines, we can find a way to get to the Caspian Sea, and our speedboats can patrol along the shores of the Caspian Sea and enter the Ural River. So that there will be no gaps in our western defense. ”

"Uncle Chen's idea is very right!" Zhang Zhimu said, "In this way, there will not be too many holes in our western defense line against the Russian side." However, there are two problems, one is that the Ural Mountains are all low hilly mountains, not big mountains like Taihang Mountain, just hold a few passes, and there are many places to pass. I don't think Russia will easily give up the places they occupy, and they will definitely have a big battle with us in the Ural Mountains, and as long as we see whether we win or lose, we can sit down and talk. This is one. The second is that we can't be satisfied, and we will be finished when we go west to the Caspian Sea. We must have an outlet to the sea to the west. In this way, we will either occupy a part of the Black Sea coast or a part of the Mediterranean coast. ”

"Huh! Mr. Zhang said two things, one is the fact that we are fighting a big war with Russia. I think we need to take this seriously. I think that if we fight with Russia, it is not a problem to defeat them, the question is, what if we win a big battle? is still guarding the Upper Urals, or take the initiative to attack and completely defeat them. If we don't defeat them, when they recover their strength, they will come back to fight us. We can't be passive in defense like we used to do on the Great Wall. ”

"What Mr. Ouyang said is that we want to stay in the Ural Mountains because our westward strides are too big, and we need a place to stand and breathe. This Ural Mountain and the Ural River are the place to stand. Zhang Zhimu said, "Our big war with Russia will be about to wait until next year, and at that time, we will have to consider whether to enter Moscow?" ”

Ouyang He also said: "The second problem that Mr. Zhang said is the matter of access to the sea, I think the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea are not far away, so it is better for us to start from the Caspian Sea and advance to the Black Sea." If possible, we could also open a canal between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. ”

"That's a great idea!" Zhang Zhimu said, "I think we should listen to Li Kui and their investigation of the situation." ”

"In my opinion, the key for us is whether we can build the railway here!" Chen Yufeng pointed to the Caspian Sea and said, "In the long run, as long as we can build the railway here, we will be able to firmly control this place." When the people here are connected to us, they can live a good life and be of one heart with us. ”

"There is no technical difficulty in building the railway, as long as we are determined, we will definitely be able to do it. However, at present, our strength still has to be concentrated in the country, and only after the completion of the construction of several vertical and horizontal railways in our country can we achieve stability in the country and balance development. But this railway to the Caspian Sea, we can study it first. Zhang Zhimu also began to be interested in this railway. In the past, the Eurasian Railway was a major channel connecting Europe and Asia, and the benefits it brought were immeasurable, both militarily and economically.

Li Kui came to the command center, and as soon as he entered the room, he was embarrassed to say, "Hey, hey! Shame on you, drank too much last night. Mr. Zhang, we didn't wake up in the morning. The officials of the imperial court couldn't eat breakfast. I persuaded them that it was okay, we Mr. Zhang would not care about this. ”

"Yesterday, I listened to you talk about going west, and I forgot that the officials of the imperial court also went with me, I was afraid that I would snub them, so I got up early and went to take a look. I know that you went to Yaogang yesterday to have some wine to relax. Zhang Zhimu explained.

"It seems that several of them also know that you can't get up too early today, so they didn't come over!" Ouyang He said with a smile.

"It's not just Uncle Kui who drank too much," Zhang Zhimu said, "Second Uncle, they all drank a lot yesterday!" ”

After Yan Boju and Yan Xing arrived one after another, Li Kui and the others complemented each other and began to continuously introduce their experiences and experiences along the way.

When Li Kuita went west, he took the middle route of the Silk Road, starting from Jiayuguan to Loulan (Lop Nur), and then to Yanqi, Luntai, Qiuzi (Kucha), Gumo (Aksu), Shule (Kashgar), Samarkand, Bukhara, Mashhad (Iran), Malu, Siluo (Baghdad), Palmyra, and from Palmyra to Lijing (Alexandria, Egypt). Along the way, they had to stop for a certain period of time in each place, and in the name of conducting trade, they sent people to investigate and reconnoitre. Therefore, this time, Li Kui and the others brought back a large number of maps for field exploration. They went to the Mediterranean coast and traveled to many places, and the people there were also very welcoming of the silk and other goods they brought, especially the industrial products of the kiln gang. A box of matches is worth about the same amount as a horse. In order to get more practical insights into the situation on the Silk Road, they took the northern route of the Silk Road on their return trip. The route is separated from the route of Malu and Go, along the northern foot of Kunlun Mountain, to Kashgar Kurgan, Shache, Khotan (Hotan), Niya, Chemo, Ruoqiang, Yangguan, Shazhou (Dunhuang), Jiayuguan. Li Kui: The materials they sorted out required a lot of time for the General Staff Department to sort out. Fortunately, the one who followed Li Kui out was originally sent out by the General Staff. The information they collected was purposeful and organized. This time, the General Staff will draw up a detailed military map.

Militarily, Li Kui believes that it will not take much effort to reach the Mediterranean. But the problem is that it is too far away, and governance will be a big problem in the future.

Chen Yufeng said: "If you want to consolidate the occupied area, you have to migrate. It can't rely on the army completely, the Han and Tang dynasties were stationed in the Western Regions, but as soon as there was an internal problem, they couldn't manage it over there. This is not a long-term solution. ”

"Huh!" Ouyang He smiled and said, "The problem is that we people are not willing to leave our homeland. Mr. Zhang was unwilling to take a coercive approach. In the past, immigrants from Shanxi could only be sent away in bundles. ”

"It's actually about our culture, and we can promote it purposefully. For example, publicize more examples of Jin merchants and Hui merchants who came out of their hometowns to make a fortune, and make movies for publicity. Uncle Kui, the films they made on the Silk Road should be compiled into movies as soon as possible and shown to everyone. It is necessary to let the people have the concept of the world in their hearts, let them know that the world is very big, and there are more opportunities outside. Slowly, everyone has the idea of going out and having a good time. We are giving a certain amount of gold and silver material support, so that the immigration will not be too difficult. ”

"I don't know about immigration," Mr. Li said, "but I think the Green Mountains [Pamirs] are a natural barrier to the west." We can set up a base in the Green Ridge (Pamirs), build a castle, and from there we develop westward. In the future, it would be better to build the railway there. When I returned to Shazhou (Dunhuang), I almost burst into tears when I saw the train. If we can build the railroad, we can easily hold it. ”

"It is not possible to rely entirely on the railway, after we build the railway to the west to Loulan, we will build a base in Loulan, and then develop along the Tarim River to the west, and we can go directly to Shule (Kashgar) along the Tarim River. Build a westward forward base at Shule (Kashgar). Let's get this out of the way first! Zhang Zhimu said.

Chen Yufeng said: "General Ningde also happened to be back, you and Li Kui will participate in Liu Yun's work together, formulate a few plans for westward expansion together, and then you will compare them together to see which plan is more suitable for us to implement." In the future, it will be up to you to carry out the westward expansion together. ”

"Good! I've been looking forward to this day. Ningde said, "I do have an idea, now the northern Mongols can no longer pose a great threat, and the Northwest Frontier Army, the Northern Border Army and the Datong Border Army are not necessary." This line only needs to hold a few key roads, and it is enough to leave some soldiers and garrison troops. It is quite possible to move the border guards west to the Western Front. The place in the Western Regions is too big, and there are not enough troops. ”

"Huh!" Ouyang He smiled and said, "What General Ningde said is also something we are considering, our defense to the north must move forward to the north. And it's true that so many troops are not needed. We have to defend a few points, but we need to deploy an army that is always mobile and can strike quickly if something goes wrong. This is also something that we must seriously study, and we must also adjust it in line with the westward expansion. However, the army they brought over, plus your army, it is enough to develop westward. When you are finished militarily and send border guards over to take over, the field army can be withdrawn. ”

"So many field armies are drawn out, and there is still a war to be fought?" Ningde asked.

"Huh! Mr. Zhang's eyes are already here! Ouyang He pulled the globe and pointed to the North American continent and Australia.

"Oh my God!" Li Kui was surprised and said, "The place over there is bigger than the Western Regions!" ”

"In fact, there is another place on the Silk Road that you didn't go to this time, and this is Tianfang (Saudi Arabia)." Zhang Zhimu pointed to the map and said, "The underground here is full of oil, and the oil extracted here does not need to drill deep oil wells, and the quality of the oil produced is very good." Here we also have to take it down, and we want to leave an inexhaustible wealth to future generations. I want to tell you that there is also a lot of oil and gas coal underground throughout the Western Regions. No matter how hard we try, we have to take it down. I can also tell you that even if we spend all our silver back to the Western Regions, we will make more than a hundred times as much. ”

Zhang Zhimu's words surprised everyone, but no one dared to ask Zhang Zhimu, how did you know?

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New progress in "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty": the Battle of Yashan, the defeat of the Yuan army, the counterattack of the Song army, and the landing in Fuzhou.