Chapter 100: Fengyun will meet Lanzhou

Zhao Zongshou came to Beijing all the way. Immediately received by He Xi.

If Zhao Zongshou hadn't gotten Mei Yin's hint, it would have been impossible for him to see He Xi immediately. After all, He Xi is busy with affairs, where can I have time to see him.

If not even if there is something else going on. Even if he knew about Mei Yin, He Xi would not see Zhao Zongshou immediately.

After He Xi met Zhao Zongshou, he first inquired about some of Mei Yin's thoughts, and He Xi immediately asked Zhao Zongshou about the latest news from King Yan, and said, "You have just come back from the northwest, what do you think of King Yan?"

This matter should not have been asked to Zhao Zongshou, but the land of Gansu is very important for national defense and security. But for the world's competition, that is leftovers. It's not that important at all.

He Xi didn't have much to look at it.

There are also too many uncertainties about the conditions proposed by King Yan.

He Xi needs someone who understands the northwest, at least comes back from the northwest, to ask.

This is also the preparation work before He Xi's decision, at least listen to the judgment of the people on the front line.

Zhao Zongshou looked at the conditions on King Yan's side.

It was the hope of King Yan that the two armies would meet in Gansu, so he could mobilize tens of thousands of cavalry to attack Gansu from Hami. The Northern Army only needs to advance westward, go down to Ningxia, and join Lanzhou.

There are not only these things, but also some after-the-fact benefits. King Yan hopes to occupy Gansu for a period of time, and then give up Gansu after the world is settled.

In He Xi's view, Gansu is a leftover, but in the eyes of King Yan, it is not.

Gansu is a traditional Han land, with Han people settled, and there are guards stationed in the army, with hundreds of thousands of Han people. It doesn't seem like much, but for King Yan, this is already a very important population. After occupying it for a few years, it is of great significance to Yan State to be able to recruit tens of thousands of Han people from Gansu to join the army.

After all, the ruling class of the Yan State is Han Chinese. But the main ethnic group is the Mongols. The number of Han people directly determines the stability of Yan rule.

Moreover, Gansu is a Han land, and the grain output is sad for most places in the Ming Dynasty, and those who see it are sad, and those who see it cry. But in any case, there is still a steady output of food. But the Western Regions is different. It's not that the Western Regions can't farm. However, the Mongols had no idea of building the Western Regions at all, and they did not have the habit of the Han people going to a place to see if they could farm the land.

Many places in the Western Regions are very suitable for farming if they are reclaimed.

But now it's a barren land. It is simply impossible to farm.

Whether it is population, food, or even commerce, it is what King Yan needs to run the Western Regions. And what Beijing doesn't need.

For He Xi, after laying Guanzhong, the northwest can be determined, so why bother attacking. But for the king of Yan, Timur was eyeing the tiger and could advance eastward at any time. One more day of Gansu business road is beneficial to King Yan. And it would be even better if you could make a fortune from Gansu.

Therefore, after the Battle of Yulin, King Yan immediately sent someone to discuss this matter with He Xi.

As far as He Xi himself is concerned, he is actually unwilling to make extraneous branches, and honestly follow his original plan, break through the Yulin Forest to Yan'an, enter the Guanzhong Plain, Guanzhong must be the Central Plains, then there will be no problems in the north.

Why bother to fight in Lanzhou.

But He Xi had to consider the meaning of King Yan's words.

That is, King Yan has already said it. Beijing, for its part, did not agree. Then King Yan will take it for himself. If Gansu Province falls into the hands of King Yan, it will be much more troublesome if he wants to get it back in the future.

It even caused a major war between the imperial court and the Yan State.

After all, as far as border defense is concerned, Gansu is absolutely indispensable. Without Gansu, the situation in the northwest has changed dramatically. The imperial court needed to maintain a very long line of defense, like the Hengshan defense line between the Song and Xia dynasties, and more importantly, the northwest entrance to Tibet was likely to be controlled by the Yan state. At that time, the Yan Kingdom will not only be Mobei, the Western Regions, but also Tibet.

Although it is said that the strength of Yan Guo is still within the allowable range of He Xi. But with He Xi's previous plan, there was already some out of control.

When He Xi and Zhu Yuanzhang discussed, the entire Western Regions had to seal several kings. They kept each other in check, and one king led the other kings westward. In this way, the imperial court could rule indirectly, and even set up certain prefectures and counties directly under its jurisdiction, such as the model in Nanyang today.

It's just that for various reasons, the layout of the Western Regions has completely collapsed.

Fortunately, with the Industrial Revolution, the decline of nomads has become a foregone conclusion, and it is difficult for large empires to emerge in Central Asia.

He Xi can still bear it, but the premise is that the strength of the Yan Kingdom is limited to a certain range, not the current state. If Yan Guo becomes a behemoth in his imagination, it will pose a threat to the Central Plains from all strategic directions. This made He Xi absolutely unbearable.

In the current battle between the north and the south, the battle of Lanzhou is redundant.

But looking to the future, from the perspective of the complete Ming court, the scale of the Yan Kingdom has passed the line. It's just that sanctions can't be imposed for various reasons, but it is absolutely intolerable that King Yan will stretch his hand to Gansu.

It's just a principle.

How to deal with the specific situation depends on the front line.

Even if you take a step back now, it is not okay to leave it to the future.

After all, He Xi only asked for restrictions for overseas vassal kings, and had no idea of uprooting, and King Yan was also a smart person. Smart people can communicate, they can communicate. Not to the point of irreversibility.

Everything depends on what the situation is at the front?

He Xi asked not only about Zhao Zongshou, but also about many other people, all of whom were from the northwest, or had done work related to the northwest before.

Zhao Zongshou's heart moved, and he said, "My lord, there is a godsend. Xia Guan has seen that there are only two soldiers in the northwest at this moment, one is all over Yanbian, and the other is the front line of confrontation with our army. And the soldiers of Yanbian have reached the extreme."

"Go south to Yan'an and attack its strong walls. And the west into Ningxia, but swept away the remnants, more importantly, the morale of the army was insufficient, Nanjing was heavy in the pass, and Ningxia and Gansu were light. Most of the soldiers in Guanzhong were favored by Nanjing. The soldiers of Ningxia and Gansu are not. These people have been on the border for many years, and they are not looked down upon by Nanjing at all."

"The decision can be decided in a battle."

"What's more, there's a plum horse. If there is a plum horse to help, this is a simple matter."

Xiningwei and Lanzhou are not far away, if Mei Yin suddenly attacks Lanzhou, Lanzhou will definitely be. The rest of the armies in the northwest also collapsed. After all, as the capital of Gansu Province later, Lanzhou's geographical location was very important. It is the core of the Northwest. Speaking of geographical factors alone, it is still above Guanzhong.

He Xi pondered for a moment and said, "Can you say that Mei Yin is moving?"

Zhao Zongshou said: "My lord's words are bad, it's not that I can say that Mei Yin can be moved, but it depends on what kind of conditions the adults offer."

He Xi secretly said in his heart: "With Mei Yin here, the battle of Lanzhou is not impossible to fight." He had also asked Qu Neng and the General Staff about their thoughts before, and their ideas were that there was no problem in military affairs, but there were two points, the first was time, and the second was consumption.

After all, the Northwest Shatter has said it before. Many places cannot be said to be deserted. But there were not many people, and the march of the army required a lot of people from the rear to transport the baggage. Because of logistical reasons, Yulin's style of play is impossible to reproduce.

If the siege lasts for a long time, time becomes a problem.

In other words, the worst result is only to pacify the northwest this winter. After all, this battle will occupy logistics materials and launch the Battle of Lanzhou, so don't even think about attacking Guanzhong.

However, if Mei Yin assists. Then maybe you can try. It can cause a large number of defections, and maybe, the 13th Army can be organized and trained in Gansu. And it will not affect the plan to attack Guanzhong this year.

It's just that Mei Yin can do it? He Xi was not sure.

He pondered for a moment and said, "You can go to Xining and talk to Mei Yin. If he can raise Xining to surrender to the imperial court, he will be crowned Marquis of Xining. If they take Lanzhou, they will be crowned as the Duke of Liang, and let him preside over the formation and training of the army, and be under the command of the Thirteenth Army."

"In addition, tell him what King Yan thinks about Gansu. Let him know where the difficulty of this Liang Guogong is."

Zhao Zongshou was overjoyed and said, "My subordinates understand."