"Grain?"

In the Qilin Palace, facing the important concerns raised by the generals about the Western Expedition, Li Yunze, who had not appeared here for a long time, simply spread his hands, "Food is everywhere." ”

Wang Jian said helplessly, "Taifu, it is said that the land in the extreme west is barren, except for the wasteland, which is savage. If the army marches westward, how can the grain and grass be transported thousands of miles? ”

Daqin has a train, but the large river has become a moat.

When faced with a river as wide as the Yellow River, which was hundreds of paces wide, Daqin did not have the strength to build bridges across the river at all.

Therefore, when encountering a larger river, the track can only be interrupted, and a new one is built after crossing the river, which naturally affects the transportation capacity.

Then there is the railway to the west built by Daqin along the Tianshan Mountains at this time, that is, to Khotan.

If we continue to the west, the manpower and material resources required will be doubled.

Wang Jian and other veterans are all opposed to this.

After the Qin State pacified the world, although there were still Yue tribes in the south, as well as the remnants of various countries, etc., the world had generally stabilized.

Young people who aspire to make a difference, want the war to continue.

But Wang Jian and other veterans who have reached the peak of their titles naturally have no interest.

"The Far West is not all deserts, there are prosperous cities and fertile land, and there is no shortage of food." Li Yunze earnestly explained: "It doesn't matter if the grain in the rear can't be transported, just eat it to the enemy." ”

His meaning is very simple, if the army has no food, then it will be robbed directly in the local area.

When you encounter farmland, you will grab grain, and when you encounter tribes, you will grab cattle and sheep, as long as you are willing to find a way, you will definitely be able to solve the problem.

Ying Zheng on the high platform opened his mouth and said, "Taifu, how did that person surnamed Ya do it?" ”

"Naturally, I grabbed it wherever I went." Li Yunze immediately responded, "They have also traveled thousands of miles, and it is impossible to rely on their hometown thousands of miles away to send grain and grass." ”

Ying Zheng nodded his head, "In this case, then there is no need to discuss this matter, the Western Expedition must be done." ”

The increasingly authoritative king has spoken, and naturally no one will object anymore.

This expedition, with Wang Ben as the vanguard, led 50,000 horses out of Khotan to the west.

Wang Ben immediately came out of the queue and saluted, "Hey! ”

It is naturally impossible for hundreds of thousands of troops to rush over in one go, the Qin army is not so stupid, Wang Ben This is the advance force to make a forward station, open roads and build bridges in the mountains and rivers, and build an advance base.

The matter of the western expedition has been temporarily arranged, and then it is the highlight of the day.

Many of the noble clans of the Qin State of Wenwu and Wu flocked to Yingzheng to worship the heavens and ancestors, because their great king today wants to announce to the ancestors of heaven and earth that he will become a meritorious and virtuous and three emperors, five emperors with high merits, and an unprecedented emperor!

The arrogant Ying Zheng felt that the kings of the countries who were as stupid as pigs could actually be called kings like himself, which was a great humiliation for himself.

So he specially created an unprecedented title, that is, the emperor!

Moreover, he also stipulated that from now on only the emperor could call himself me, and no one else was allowed to use the word.

If you have the strength and merit to do this kind of thing, everyone will naturally praise it and feel that it is worthy of it.

If you change to a certain emperor of the Song Dynasty, and go to Mount Tai to seal Zen after cutting the land and paying compensation, it is a humiliation for yourself.

Even if no one dared to say anything when he was alive, but after his death, he would only be infamous for tens of millions of years!

Li Yunze witnessed this historic scene throughout the whole process, and even took his mobile phone to record and film the whole process.

This kind of thing is rare for him, unless it is a moment that really has an extremely important influence, such as the first emperor's accession to the throne, Huo Qu's illness and the sealing of the wolf Juxu, etc., Li Yunze is too lazy to record other historical fragments.

The lively ceremony lasted for three days, and there was jubilation inside and outside Xianyang City, especially at night, when the sky continued to explode with dazzling fireworks, which pushed the atmosphere to the peak.

With black powder, the appearance of fireworks is naturally not difficult.

Especially after Ying Zheng studied chemistry, he knew that the addition of various elements caused by the change of color, which promoted the further development of fireworks.

Of course, at the beginning, it was also used in the military, using different colors of fireworks to convey different military messages, as a means of transmitting information over long distances.

It wasn't until after dominating the world that it gradually changed its role.

However, this thing can only be played by the royal family now, because it is not sold to the public at all.

Fireworks are naturally a good thing to fool the people, and of course they can't be easily leaked.

Although Zulong has a strong scientific foundation after years of study, he still preaches superstitious worship to the outside world.

This is also something that can't be helped, when he is in this position, he naturally wants to go on for thousands of generations, and the people of Qianshou are naturally as stupid as possible.

So even if Zu Long was very scornful of this set in his heart, he was still doing it on the surface.

Li Yunze didn't care about this, he just wanted to push Zu Long to surpass the surname Ya and achieve the glorious moment of the captain.

Just a month after Zulong completed the transformation ceremony from king to emperor, Wang Ben, who was full of confidence, left Guanzhong with tens of thousands of troops and started the journey of the westward expedition all the way to the west.

Li Yunze did not continue to work on technology in Liyang, but followed the army with great interest, recording this spectacular moment that did not exist in history along the way.

Crossing the river from the pontoon bridge outside Jincheng, you can take the railroad tracks built by the Qin people along the Tianshan Mountains to Khotan.

There will be a beacon tower every thirty miles on this railway, and there will be a tun of men and horses stationed there.

Their main job is to patrol the railway lines along the way to make sure they are not destroyed by the scattered nomadic tribes and the ubiquitous horse bandits.

The Qin people were strong, and after entering the Western Regions, they began to sweep everywhere.

The herdsmen with sticks, leather jackets, and bareback horses were beaten and could not find the north, and they were all killed with a blank face.

Later, the rest of the people learned wisely, and when they saw the Qin army, they ran into the mountains, into the Hanhai, and ran in

Anyway, even if they run away when they encounter a regular army, they rush over to fight when they encounter the people of Qianshou who have migrated.

But the people of the Qin people are not vegetarians, they are also active or reserve soldiers, whether it is scattered tribes or horse bandits, whether it is attacking migration teams or settlements, they cannot take advantage.

After that, they began to attack the steel behemoths that were at first frightened into prostration, thinking that the gods had descended.

Hitting the steel behemoth directly is looking for death, and when they realize that the steel behemoth can only run on the rails, they set their sights on the rails.

The population of Qin is still too small.

Thousands of miles from Jincheng to Khotan, there are flaws almost everywhere, and there have been many times when the railroad tracks have been hollowed out of the roadbed, and there has even been a major incident of train derailment.

Later, Ying Zheng became angry and directly began to build beacon towers along the railway line to garrison troops.

Thirty miles of troops and horses were stationed in one cantonment, and two teams of 500 people were stationed in 300 licanton, and they were basically cavalry.

Once it is detected that someone is sabotaging the railway, the number of people is small, and the garrison will solve it, and if the number is large, fireworks will be set off to summon a large group of people to come and exterminate it.

And the main force of the Qin army stationed in the Western Regions made large-scale attacks every once in a while, dealing devastating blows to the tribes everywhere.

It's brutal, of course, but it's also a step up to security.

At least the train that Li Yunze took was not disturbed.

Coming to Khotan, a city on the edge of the desert, it has become the largest and most prosperous place in the entire Western Regions.

The number of civilians living in and around the city is said to be close to 100,000!

And that's not even counting the Qin army.

If it weren't for the fact that this is the largest oasis within a thousand miles of the vicinity, and the snow that flows down from the Kunlun Mountains, this large population alone would have caused the city to collapse.

The most important reason why the population is so large is that Khotan is the end point of the Qin people's westward railway line.

Although the Qin people's railway to the west has been being repaired, it is obvious that even the most important station in Khotan is also the location of the Qin people's Western Regions Protectorate.

Almost all the traders in the west concentrated on Khotan, and then sold their various goods in the market outside the city, buying silk, porcelain, tea, rhubarb, cloth, grain, ironware, salt, handicrafts, etc., and then transported them to distant places by camels.

The jade jewelry, spices and wines, coconut grapes, medicinal herbs and leathers, horses and camels, and even male and female slaves they sold were sent to Guanzhong on the train.

It is precisely because of such a well-developed trade stimulus that the city is so prosperous.

Li Yunze got off the train, and everywhere he saw was people, leading camels, horses, and sisters.

After the Qin State pacified the world, those meritorious people began to enjoy life.

Wines from the Western Regions, as well as exotic beauties, are their favorites, and they are very sought-after in and around Xianyang City, and it is said that a number of them have been occupied in Zulong's palace.

Li Yunze didn't care too much about it, and went straight into the city.

As the emperor's concubine, it was natural to get a set of courtyards, and Yang Duanhe, who was the protector of the capital, even arranged a team of exotic girls for him.

The quality is very high, and a few of them can even have a little bit of the style of the three beauties of later generations.

It is rare for Yang Duan and a piece of filial piety. Ahem, Li Yunze also reluctantly took care of one or two of them, so that the girls' lives were more comfortable.

Of course, he came to the Western Regions this time not to look for beauties, he came to consider the logistics and supply capacity of the army, and at the same time to inspect the progress of the construction of the westward railway.

As for the war, it is natural that Wang Ben will do it.

The railway line from Khotan to the west goes around Hanhai in a northwesterly direction.

Because further west, there are the Karakoram Mountains and the Green Mountains (Pamirs).

In terms of railway technology in this era, it is impossible to build it directly, and it can only be detoured to the northwest.

Although it is said that all the way to the southwest, it only takes a few hundred miles to reach the Great and Small Bolu (Kashmir), and after the Great and Small Bolu is the Indus River, which is Tianzhu.

But to the southwest is Kunlun Mountain, the ancestor of all mountains.

This stretch of Kunlun Mountain, no kind of railway can pass.

It is possible for the army to cross the mountains and mountains, but the logistics cannot keep up, and the migration of the people cannot keep up.

Therefore, it can only be built in the area of Broken Leaf City in the northwest direction.

And over there, is the territory of the Wusun people.

And the Wusun people further west, that is the country of Dawan, and it is also the closest position to the east when Alexander went west.

After taking the Great Wan Kingdom, it can be regarded as the official start of Daqin's journey to the west!