If the Hexi Corridor is a passage between the mainland and the Western Regions, then Yili Rangli is also a similar passage.

Don't lose Bali City.

The Black Flame Man led his tribe west for thousands of miles to the area of Yili Licheng, and Zhu Di occupied the empty city with tens of thousands of troops.

Chen Cheng, a foreign affairs expert, and his friend Li Xian, a native of Shaanxi, introduced Zhu Di to the terrain of Yili in the hall.

At this time.

Outside the hall, the wind and sand were all over the sky, and people could not walk, so they could only cower indoors.

The windows are blown by the wind, the sand makes a constant noise, and you can feel the power of nature, and the construction site for the restoration of the railroad has been suspended.

Hami and Yili have been building railways for many years, and Hami's main railway was completed last year, but then Hami fell into the hands of Guilichi.

The railways in many places were destroyed by Oni Lichi, but the destruction was not easy.

Just like the Great Wall, although it has been destroyed, the foundation has always been there, and it is of course easier to destroy than to build.

Such a large project can be destroyed, and the materials and manpower needed are not a few, and the areas with backward productivity cannot hold on.

So the Great Wall has always been there.

The same is true for railways.

With the recovery of Hami, the railway has been reopened, and the railway has been built slowly, although it has not been destroyed, but it has only been repaired to Weilumu.

Velum was three hundred miles west of Bessanbal.

The Han Dynasty's Western Regions Protectorate had sent troops here to Tuntian, and the Tang Dynasty set up Tingzhou in this vast area, because the location of the Weilu Mu was the Luntai State of the 36 Western Regions of the Han Dynasty, so it was named Luntai County.

In the Ming Dynasty, because of the interruption of communication for hundreds of years, it was called Weilumu according to the local transliteration, that is, Dihua in the map of the Qing Dynasty, and Urumqi in later generations.

The Qing rulers defeated Dzungerdan and renamed the place Xinjiang.

"Don't lose Bali to the north is a great desert, and to the south is an even bigger desert."

Chen Cheng's hand-drawn map is very sketchy.

Zhu Di now has a headache when he hears about the desert.

In later generations, many people subconsciously thought that the ancients did not understand the world, and could only say that they had entered a misunderstanding, and regarded the social atmosphere of the Qing Dynasty as a whole of ancient history.

Society is dynamic, and there are different differences in different periods.

As you can tell from the way you dress, history is constantly changing.

The ancients' exploration of the outside world has never stopped.

True.

There is a great misunderstanding of the world, but it is not that you don't know everything, and the more you are around, the clearer it is.

The exchange of envoys between the Ming Dynasty and Central Asia and West Asia lasted until the Wanli period, even if it was Turkey in later generations, it was called Lu Mi by the Ming Dynasty, and there were five diplomatic records in the Jiajing period.

Including Zhu Di's five northern expeditions in history, he sent envoys to Central Asia and West Asia to pacify and win over countries, not because he did not understand diplomatic strategies.

The ancients were not fools who were confined to the limitations of the times.

Chen Cheng and Li Xian were famous diplomats during the Yongle period, and they have been dealing with Central Asia, West Asia, and Southeast Asia all their lives.

Although they have not yet appeared on the stage, because of Zhu Gaochi's reasons, as well as Chen Cheng's own understanding of the Western Regions and the Western Regions, Zhu Di still takes a fancy to their talents.

Chen Cheng has been in the Western Regions Province for many years, so he is more familiar with the situation in Yili than Li Xian.

He pointed to a sketch he had drawn himself.

"Only don't lose the direction of Bali to the west, all the way to Alashan, where the Alashan Pass is the only passage into the north, and it can also be seen as the only gap in the north."

Hearing Chen Cheng's words, Zhu Di looked at the map seriously.

To the west of the Alashan Pass is the Alatau Mountains, which are extremely famous in the whole of Central Asia, and to the east are the Baruch Mountains of the Xinjiang region.

The northwesterly winds from Siberia blow southward all year round, and after crossing the steppes of Siberia and Central Asia, they finally reach the gates of Mount Alatau and Mount Baluk.

As the only gap here, Alashankou became the only outlet for such a huge wind.

Therefore, the wind in Alashankou is also famous, which can blow people into the sky.

Every year, only strong winds of level 8 or higher blow for more than 160 days.

After listening to Chen Cheng's introduction, Zhu Di looked at the map quietly, and his face showed some shock.

The endless mountains have prevented the entry of the army, and the only gap is the area where the perennial strong winds can blow people and animals into the sky.

This is the natural risk that manpower is not capable of.

Zhu Di suddenly said: "No wonder Ghost Lichi wants to take Hami." ”

Compared with Hami, shouldn't the temptation of Yili be greater, and Hami has already declared himself a vassal to the Ming Dynasty, and invading Hami will have the risk of attracting the Ming Dynasty to fight back.

Through Chen Cheng's map, Zhu Di understood at once.

If the desert wants to go south to Yili Li, the only passage is Hami, because the mouth on this side of Yili Lili, that is, the Alashan Pass, is too dangerous and difficult to pass.

Only by entering Hami through a gap in the mountains north of Hami can he invade the Yili region from Hami.

Then from the passage between the Junggar Basin and the Tarim Basin in Yili to Yili Li, and from Yili to Igan, follow the route of Timur's march and enter Central Asia and West Asia.

In short, the route of the western expeditions of the Turks and Mongols.

The passages of Hami, Yili Lili, Central Asia, and West Asia are actually routes determined by the natural environment.

No matter how things change, human beings drill back and forth according to the natural environment and the holes left by human beings.

Later scholars often said that because China is located in East Asia, the mountains block the Chinese civilization.

In other words.

These mountains protect the world and block the outward spread of Chinese civilization.

The Huns failed to move westward.

The Xianbei people failed to move westward.

The Turks failed to move westward.

The losers went to new lands, conquered the localities, and established one state after another in Central Asia and Western Asia.

Timur chose to go west to establish the Timurid Empire, and on the other hand, he chose to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, proving which side was more powerful.

The losers of the competition between the desert and the Central Plains contributed to a steady stream of westward expeditions, and then resurrected from the west, while the losers of the competition between Central Asia and West Asia and the West did not succeed in the eastward crusade.

Zhu Di suddenly understood.

Although Hami and Yili are very large, the area that actually needs to be controlled is not large, as long as they can control the long and narrow plain area in the middle, because there are not many rivers here, and the rivers are all inland rivers, and the surrounding endless basins and deserts can be under the rule.

After thinking about the reason, Zhu Di did not rush to the west, but started planning.

The Tarim Desert is a no-man's land, and the place where people can live out of the desert is the West Sea.

The West Sea was later known as Bosten Lake, which was the largest freshwater lake in China in later generations.

Bosten Lake belongs to the Yanqi Basin, a closed mountain basin, and only one checkpoint needs to be built.

Therefore, Zhu Di asked to build a checkpoint in the West Sea.

Expand Tulupan, commission Lumu, don't lose the three major cities of Bali, reclaim barren land in three places, and relocate 50,000 military households from the interior.

Zhu Di's plan was soon sent back to the capital.

At this time.

Zhu Gaochi was discussing the affairs of Huguang with Shang Shu and Jin Chun of the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Industrial Planning, the Ministry of Economic Regulation and Control, the Joint Office of Military Industry, and Gao Zhen, the chief treasurer of the China Heavy Industry Headquarters, in the Wenhua Palace.

Gao Zhen was a little anxious.

The emperor's grandson requested the establishment of the Daming Iron Smelting Center in Wuchang Mansion, Huguang, and the iron smelting industry can be said to be one of the core foundations of China Heavy Industry.

The Ministry of Works' Shangshu Jin Chun supported the plan of the imperial grandson.

The cost of strip material transportation in Beiping is high, and only Huguang Province extends in all directions, which belongs to the middle zone of the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty.

The output of the steel industry, with the construction of the railway, is rising every year, whether it is for the demand for production capacity or transportation demand, Huguang is more suitable.

The railway was opened to traffic, and the water transportation was developed.

Radiate the entire hinterland.

"The differentiation of production capacity industries is conducive to the development of the national economy." Zhu Gaochi did not arrange it randomly.

The benefits of a unified country allow the economic cycle of production capacity to be released to the greatest extent, which brings a larger economic cycle.

Establish Daming's iron-smelting center in Huguang, promote Shaanxi iron-smelting industry, Fujian iron-smelting industry, and build Daming's industrial steel framework.

Zhu Gaochi's iron smelting industry in Beiping had long planned to be divided and keep Miyun's iron ore industry.

Although Gao Zhen resisted in his heart, what he was in front of was the founder of China Heavy Industry and the grandson of the Ming Dynasty.

Even if there were 10,000 unwilling, he couldn't refuse.

This is Zhu Gaochi's prestige.

He can easily build according to the blueprint in his heart, and the people below can't object, and it's not so easy to change people.

"The iron-smelting industry in Miyun sub-district remains unchanged at present, and China Heavy Industry has organized a capable team of workers to support the construction of the iron-smelting industry in Huguang area, absorb local iron-smelting workers, and recruit new workers to create an iron-smelting center with a scale of 300,000 iron-smelting workers."

The Huguang area was developed in the middle of the Ming Dynasty.

With the saying that Huguang is ripe and the world is full, it replaces the agricultural pattern of Jiangsu and the world is full of the Song Dynasty.

However, Zhu Gaochi did not plan to develop Huguang's agriculture on a large scale, but only on a small scale.

Resources are everything, including land resources.

With resources, a lot of contradictions and problems can be solved.

Huguang Province is the later Hubei and Hunan, Zhu Gaochi does not plan to split, through foreign immigration, and retain the hinterland land resources.

Leaving it to future generations a hundred years later, I believe that the Ming Dynasty at that time will undergo earth-shaking changes in the population.

With the land of Huguang and the immigration from abroad, it will not be a problem to continue to hold on for a hundred years.

A period of two hundred years of upward development.

It is enough to support the height that Chinese civilization can reach and lay the foundation for the world pattern.

And if there is still an accident that cannot be controlled, Zhu Gaochi will not be able to do anything, at least he has built a good foundation.

In Zhu Gaochi's blueprint.

The hinterland of Huguang will be the supply of steel for the Ming industry, the Shaanxi iron smelting industry will become the steel supply center for the northern development of foreign countries, and the Fujian iron smelting industry will become the steel supply place for overseas development.

At the same time, Shaanxi Province and Fujian Province have also become an additional supplement to the demand of Daming Iron and Steel.

With the development of Tianjin's fertilizer industry and the large well system, agriculture has not only increased its income, but also used more advanced and efficient agricultural machinery.

In the case of a large increase in food, rotting in the warehouse is a great waste.

Use the inexhaustible food to feed more workers.

The production capacity is not enough to make up the head.

When the blueprint of the Huguang Metallurgical Iron Center is completed, the bottleneck of Daming's industrial development will be greatly broken.

The number of workers who built the railroad could be expanded to 1.4 million.

Nowadays, it is not that people cannot be allocated, but that the output of the iron-smelting industry cannot keep up.

(End of chapter)