At the beginning of the civil castle, the Ming God of War was a little panicked

Chapter 439 You Can Send a Telegram
Knowing that Tuotuobuhua had been found, Song Guxi suddenly regained her spirits.

Li Shenghe took out the map, which showed the general terrain of the Yacha country, and it was not very clear further north.

Song Guxi listened carefully to Li Shenghe's tactics, but felt a pain in his stomach, couldn't help but frowned, and hummed softly, "Um..."

Seeing this, Li Shenghe hurriedly said: "If the Commander is not feeling well, you can rest first and discuss it later. Forgive that grandson can't escape!"

Song Guxi touched her swollen belly, and said with a smile: "My dear son, my mother is saving military merit for you, don't make trouble!"

After speaking, he pointed to the location marked on the map, and said: "If we attack head-on, the enemy army will inevitably flee to the north, where there is a vast frozen plain, I am afraid that it will be difficult to get rid of the roots, so let him run away again. "

Li Shenghe also had this intention, and said: "It's very difficult to march in the ice and snow. If this dog keeps running, we can't keep chasing it."

Song Guxi felt a little tired, so she lay back on the chair and said, "Don't be in a hurry, you have to think of a perfect plan."

Li Shenghe nodded and said, "Please Commander, please give me instructions!"

Song Guxi closed his eyes and rested his mind. After a long time, he said: "With our own strength, it's very difficult to catch them all. It's time to use the power of the imperial court."

Li Shenghe understood, and said: "Humblely go back to the capital in person, and ask the imperial court to send more soldiers and horses over!"

"The journey is too far, go back, wait for the elders of the imperial court to come to an agreement, Tuotuohua will have already left!"

"Then... what does your lord mean?"

Song Guxi pondered for a moment, and said: "Before going to sea, the emperor promised me that if there is any news from the Tatar tribe, you can turn to Mohewei for help. Now you take my token and go to Mohewei to find the Marquis of Julu. Let’s discuss the matter of dispatching troops together.”

"Yes!"

Juluhou Jingyuan was stationed at the mouth of the Mohe River, covering the entire range of Wu's river guards set up during the Yongle period, as well as the entire Sakhalin Island.

Li Shenghe set off from the Kamchatka Peninsula by boat, and arrived at the Mohewei command post five days later.

A city has been built here to guard the pass from Onan Hebei to Liaodong. It is bound to be difficult for the Tatars to return to the Central Plains.

Jing Yuan saw the token of Beishanwei Commander, but his expression was a little strange.

At the beginning, the imperial court did send a report to the residence, and the newly established Beishanwei was the closest to the Mohewei where he was, so he naturally had to pay special attention.

However, when he learned that the commander of Beishanwei turned out to be a woman, it was very intriguing.

I don't know who spread the news from the capital, saying that this person is actually the emperor's old friend...

These are not the main point. The problem now is to find the traces of the Tatar tribe. During the Northern Expedition, Jing Yuan led the soldiers from the East Route to directly force the Tatar tribe and beat them to pieces.

Ever since Tuotuobuhua fled to the extreme north with his remnants and defeated generals, the Tatar tribe is no longer what it used to be. There is only a tribe of ten thousand people left. It is easy to kill him. The problem is how to do it. .

Otherwise, driving people away today, and coming back to find trouble tomorrow, repeats itself, which is extremely annoying.

Jing Yuan picked up the map and looked it over carefully, said: "If the troops are sent out in two directions, the opponent will definitely flee, this time we must not leave him a way out."

Li Shenghe nodded, and said: "Commander Song also plans to do so, but the extreme north is vast, and to encircle and wipe it out requires a large number of troops."

"exactly!"

Jing Yuan's face was heavy, and he said: "The strength of the two guards of you and me alone may not be enough, if you add the three guards of Duoyan..."

He made a few gestures on the map, nodded and said: "Well, if we divide up the attack together with Duoyan's three guards, it will definitely teach him that there is no way out!"

Li Shenghe hurriedly said: "I also ask Lord Hou to summon the three guards of Duoyan to discuss the matter of dispatching troops!"

Jing Yuan shook his head slowly, and said: "The emperor once ordered that if Beishanwei needs support, this Marquis can send troops directly without asking for instructions, but if he wants to mobilize Duoyan's three guards at the same time, he must go to the court!"

Li Shenghe also realized at this time that Beishanwei has the privilege of acting independently in the country of Liugui, which was specially approved by the emperor. Now, it is necessary to use large-scale troops and horses, and it must be approved by the court. Why do you forget this? up.

only……

He hesitated for a moment, and said: "I'm going to the capital for thousands of miles, and the memorial will be sent to the imperial court. It will take at least two months to go back and forth. I'm afraid that Tuotuo will get the news and slip away early. What should I do?"

Jing Yuan smiled lightly and said, "It won't take that long, just send a telegram."

Li Shenghe was a little confused, and asked, "What is the telegram...?"

"The telegram is..."

Jing Yuan suddenly thought that Bei Shanwei probably hadn't seen a telegraph yet.

"You have been overseas all year round, but you don't know that this telegram is a novelty researched by the Academy of Sciences. It needs to lay lines, and it was only connected to Mohewei last month. Ben Hou wrote the memorial, and it only takes half a day to send it to the capital. "

Now that the territory of Ming Dynasty is expanding rapidly, information transmission has become a big problem.

Although there is a railway now, it is impossible to reach every corner. Moreover, the strength of the railway lies in its transportation capacity, not the transmission of information.

Once there is a war on the front line, it is necessary to transmit the information to the capital as soon as possible. In the past, it was nothing more than that. Now the territory is expanded and expanded. It reaches the Onan River in the north, and there is no border in the south.

In such a territory, when a war breaks out on the front line, how can information be passed on quickly?
In response to this problem, Zhu Qizhen had been having a headache for a long time, so he ordered the Academy of Sciences to develop a telephone. However, the telephone is too complicated, and the key problem has been difficult to solve. He did not expect to make a telegraph by accident.

Although this thing is not as convenient as a phone, at that time, it was already called a magic tool.

Therefore, Zhu Qizhen immediately issued a decree to lay telegraph lines in all major state capitals and guards.

However, the telegraph at this time was still very primitive, and the failure rate was relatively high. In addition, the technology of the wires was not mature enough, and the longer the laying distance, the easier it was to be damaged. Time consuming.

Therefore, under the suggestion of Tong Xuan and others, the imperial court adopted the method of laying in sections to set up telegraph stations in important state capitals and guards.

These point announcement stations are like express delivery shops, passing information from one station to the next until it reaches the destination.

For example, if you send a telegram from Mohewei to the capital, you need to send the telegram to Haixiwei Station first. After Haixiwei Station accepts it, you must first check the coded font size in the header of the telegram.

Each station will correspond to a code, and the codes of all stations will be included in the password book.

When Haixiwei saw that the code number in the header of the telegram was Jingshi, he would not decipher the telegram, but make a copy, keep it as a file, and then send the original telegram to the next station.

Repeat at the next stop until the telegram reaches the capital.

It is more than five thousand miles from Mohewei to the capital, and [-] telegraph stations have been set up halfway, and even some places are not important towns, and there are no guards stationed there, just because the strategic position of Mohewei is too critical, the imperial court specially decreed it for them. A line was opened.

Li Shenghe didn't know what a telegram was, and he didn't believe that the distance of thousands of miles could be reached within half a day. The person who could say this was either a god or crazy!
However, he took a closer look at the Juluhou in front of him, and there was no sign of madness...

He secretly pinched his thigh again, it felt very real, not a dream.

"It's not too late, Ben Hou will play immediately!"

Jing Yuan ordered someone to bring a pen and paper, and wrote the telegram himself.

Since guarding Mohewei, small-scale cavalry from the Tatar tribe occasionally came to harass him, but the main force never showed up. Of course, he was unwilling to give up this excellent opportunity.

After a while, he put down the pen and paper, and greeted: "Come on, hurry up and send the report!"

"Yes!"

Immediately, a special sender took the message away, and the text had to be converted into numbers before it could be sent.

Li Shenghe took the opportunity to take a look, but saw that there were only a few dozen words, and his expression became even more bewildered.

This is a memorial to the emperor, at least it should be polite, with a beginning, for example: How are you, the emperor, have you eaten, how is your health recently...

After the polite words, and then the narrative.

At this time, it is necessary to be as detailed as possible, because it is not easy to send a memorandum all the way. If some details are not clear, and the emperor asks, it will be too troublesome to write a new letter.

However, on the piece of paper that was taken away just now, there were only a few dozen or so words.

Roughly: go find Lao Mo, I want to eat fish!

A sentence like this, this is not a memorial to the emperor, it is clearly giving orders to his subordinates!

Seeing that his entire face was almost distorted, Jing Yuan asked in puzzlement, "Is there any problem?"

"The telegram that Lord Hou just mentioned...what is it?"

Jing Yuan smiled, then waved to the side, and immediately a scribe stepped forward.

"Old Cao, take Li Tongzhi to the telegraph station!"

"Yes!"

The clerk surnamed Cao turned to look at Li Shenghe and said, "Li Tongzhi, this way please!"

Li Shenghe resigned and followed the scribe to a separate barracks.

At the door, there is a sign of "Telegraph Station". The strange thing is that there is a wooden pile not far away, and two painted lines are pulled out from the barracks, tied to the top of the pillar, and then extend south to the lower A pillar, and then continue to the south, as far as the eye can see, there is no end in sight.

Cao Shuli stretched out his hand to signal: "Li Tongzhi, this is the telegraph station of Mohewei, please!"

When Li Shenghe looked up, he saw a sign at the door of the barracks, with eight large characters written on it:

Military important place, no approaching!
"This……"

Seeing his hesitation, Cao Shuli said, "Master Hou has specifically ordered you to enter!"

"That's good!"

When Li Shenghe walked into the barracks, he saw another scribe head-on, holding a note written by Cai Jingyuan in his left hand, and a book of cursive characters in his right hand, and he was flipping through it while recording something.

Cao Shuli explained: "This is the first step in power generation. First, the text is converted into numbers."

Li Shenghe scratched his head and asked, "How to transform?"

"The conversion of the telegram requires the use of a special code book. The principle of this is relatively complicated. I will explain it to you later. Look, the sender is ready to send the report!"

Li Shenghe followed the sound, and sure enough, the clerk was already fiddling with an instrument just now.

beep beep...

The instrument made a rhythmic beep, but I didn't know what it meant.

Knowing that Li Shenghe saw the telegraph for the first time and didn't understand anything, Cao Shuli explained: "This is debugging, and the other party needs to respond to the message to verify whether the line is smooth and to ensure that the telegraph sent by the other party can be received by the other party." received."

Li Shenghe nodded half-understood. At this time, everything he saw was new. Although he couldn't understand it for a while, he felt... very tall...

"The nearest telegraph station is Haixiwei Station, about three hundred miles away."

"Three hundred miles?"

Li Shenghe frowned. For a distance of three hundred miles, even the fastest horse would take a whole day to go back and forth, but he didn't know how the telegram conveyed the message...

beep beep...

The telegraph was silent for a while, and suddenly the sound came out again.

"Hey, it's ringing, it's ringing..."

Li Shenghe yelled, but saw that the person guarding in front of the telegraph was listening intently, taking a pen to transcribe while listening.

Cao Shuli smiled and said, "This is the other party's response."

"So fast?"

Li Shenghe turned pale with shock. They exchanged information in less than a cup of tea?

Three hundred miles!

The fastest official document of the imperial court is called six hundred miles urgent!
The so-called six-hundred-mile rush is to deliver official documents to the capital with the fastest speed and the shortest time.

Generally speaking, the shortest time refers to no more than one day!
The courier can't rest during the whole process, and he can't change horses in the middle of the journey.

Such urgent documents are basically the result of running a dead horse.

It even often happens that the messenger died of overwork after delivering the message to the destination.

Therefore, unless it is a last resort, the imperial court will not enable the express delivery of six hundred miles.

What kind of beep did you press, it only took a cup of tea, and it was over?
Li Shenghe couldn't understand how such an important court event, how many people and horses would be exhausted to pass the news, how could it become a leisurely job for you to drink tea and chat?
Cao Shuli knew what he was thinking by looking at his expression.

"Li Tongzhi, look at the pillar outside."

Li Shenghe looked outside, nodded, and asked, "How is it?"

"This is the wires. The telegrams sent just now are transmitted along these wires."

"This thing is so thin, it can still hold documents inside?"

"It's not loading documents, it's sending telegrams!"

Li Shenghe asked again: "Isn't a telegram a document?"

Cao Shuli had no choice but to explain: "It's a document, but it's not the kind of document you think!"

"What kind of document is that?"

"It is a document after compilation and transformation."

"The content has changed?"

"That's not it."

Li Shenghe still couldn't figure it out, and said, "After all, isn't it still a document? What's the difference?"

"The difference is huge..."

Cao Shuli sorted out his thoughts, and then started from the beginning.

(End of this chapter)