Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 523: A good omen
"help me!"

"Help!"

"fire!"

"Boom boom boom——"

The waves roared in, and the sinking warships declared the defeat of the Avish dynasty fleet.

They kept calling for help on the sinking warship and on the sea, but what they waited for was not rescue, but shotgun blasts from Ming army artillery.

Hundreds of thousands of stone bullets the size of quail eggs swept across the sea, and the Avish who were calling for help a second ago were shot to death.

Facing the Avish dynasty's fleet, the Ming army sank its main fleet without paying any casualties.

Except for a few supply ships that took advantage of the chaos and successfully broke through, most of the others left their lives in this sea area, including Enrique, who ordered the attack.

This European navigator in the early fifteenth century paid for his stupidity with his life, and the fleet and soldiers he led stayed here forever.

The trend of artillery, sailing and warships was led by the Ming Dynasty, followed by the Ottomans, and was later learned by European countries.

When he saw Qi Sheng and others returning with people, he had a bad premonition in his heart, especially after the fleet sailed into the port and berthed, this premonition became stronger.

Although they equipped warships with large numbers of artillery more than half a century in advance, for the Avish dynasty, a small country with a small population, equipping each warship with two to six cannons was already a luxury.

Even a person with high self-esteem like Meng Ran needs to come to the dock in person to greet Qi Sheng and others.

Although Meng Ran hated Qi Sheng deeply at this moment, he still bowed in return with a smile on his face.

No matter what, Ming Dynasty will always be one step ahead of other countries in the world in all aspects of military science and technology, and it will only keep one step ahead.

After all, there were too many people in the Kunlun Xuanwei Department, and most of them knew what happened. Even if he wanted to frame Qi Sheng, he would not be able to do anything.

As soon as he got on the carriage, his face turned gloomy: "I don't know how to praise!"

When various countries began to produce artillery and sail warships equipped with more than a dozen or more than twenty cannons, they would launch steam-powered ships. When various countries began to produce steam-powered ships, the Ming army would launch ironclad ships.

"Haha, General Qi has done a great job for his hard work. I will have someone hold a long street banquet at the Xuanwei Si Yamen to celebrate the achievements of the brothers. However, I still need to trouble General Qi to interrogate these Western barbarians and write a memorial for me to review before sending it to the capital. "

Since it is impossible for a small ship to fly a large flag, it is more effective to use the flag to evaluate the size of the enemy ship.

He originally thought that this naval battle would last for a long time, so that he could continue to slowly make money in Kunlun Xuanwei Division.

The Ming Dynasty did not pursue the historical treasure ship with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons. It was not that it was incapable of building it, but that it would be difficult to go to sea after construction and required the assistance of other ships.

For this unfamiliar country, after several exchanges with different languages, the Ming army called it "Flangji".

It was precisely because of his decision that Zhu Gaoxu got the news of the French plane's attack on Cape Kunlun in October.

"Yes!"

When Wang Yi handed over the memorial and Zhu Gaoxu read it, he quickly understood the outcome of the Battle of Kunlun Cape.

The war in the west had been known to the people and merchants of Kunlun Xuanwei Division, so when Qi Sheng led the fleet back, they immediately received a warm welcome from all the soldiers and civilians on the dock.

Cursing secretly, he returned to the Xuanwei Si Yamen.

Since there was no one familiar with the Avish language in Cape Kunlun, after Qi Sheng wrote the battle report, he sent a fortune ship and a hundred soldiers to escort several prisoners, the battle report, and the memorial to Khrumos.

"The Western barbarians do not speak the same language as us. It will take a long time to interrogate them. It would be terrible if the Western barbarians invade again during this period and our soldiers are drunk and unable to defend themselves."

Now that Qi Sheng had directly defeated the opponent, how could he make money?

Qi Sheng reminded him dutifully, Meng Ran nodded with a smile on his face and said: "Yes, I didn't think carefully. In that case, just eat and not drink."

After putting down the memorial, Zhu Gaoxu asked Wang Yi. When Wang Yi heard this, he bowed and said:
"Yang Zhan went on a patrol in the Beihai (Sea of ​​Japan). He won't be back for at least three months."

Soon, Qi Sheng completed all the salvage work and returned to Cape Kunlun with several prisoners of the Avish fleet.

"Yes..." Meng Hui bowed in agreement, but Qi Sheng stopped him and said, "Envoy Xuanwei, you can eat, but you don't need to drink."

"Xuanwei Envoy, the last general has fulfilled his mission. He sank forty-five enemy ships and wiped out more than 2,300 Western Yi people. Several other Yi ships escaped and hundreds of Yi people were unable to catch up."

"Okay, Meng Hui!" Meng Ran turned around and told Meng Hui: "Let the chef of the Xuanwei Department arrange a long banquet. If there are not enough people, please ask the brothers to help. We will not go home until we are drunk today!"

There are two types of merit evaluation in the navy, one is for capturing the flag of an enemy ship at sea, and the other is for killing the enemy on land and capturing the enemy's weapons.

In the process of looking for a translator, Chen You decided to first send the news to the Dagula Xuanwei Division. The local officers and soldiers would go to Manmo by land, and then rush to Beijing for 800 miles.

After Qi Sheng got off the ship, he bowed and reported to Meng Ran, the envoy of Xuan Comfort. Meng Ran looked ugly when he heard this.

In May, the warship arrived in Khrumos. The local commander Chen You learned the news and immediately looked for translators from Abadan, Basra and other places.

As for the ironclad, not to mention that the welding skills are not up to par. Based on his habits, he still likes to keep some trump cards.

Zhu Gaoxu planned to wait for the technology of steam engine ships to mature before building a large treasure ship of more than 2,000 tons.

"Qianhu, do you want to surrender some prisoners?"

Looking back, Meng Ran ordered Meng Hui again, then turned and walked onto his carriage on the pier.

Fearing that the Governor's Office would think that their military achievements were fake, Qi Sheng also had the cannons from the sunken ships salvaged.

Franji's fleet had only fifty-two cannons in total, which was far less numerous than the improved treasure ships' cannons.

Under Qi Sheng's order, the eight hundred Ming navy soldiers only captured a few prisoners of the Avish dynasty, and then began to recover the flags from the warships of the Avish dynasty fleet.

"Keep a few of them, and don't worry about the rest. It's enough to capture the flags and cannons of their warships."

"Why didn't Yang Zhan send the message in person?"

"He actually runs a lot." Zhu Gaoxu nodded, and then said:

"Has the Governor's Office sent someone to verify their results? Is it true?"

"Judging from the memorial written by Chen You, the commander of the Persian Guard, the results of the battle are true, and they are already on their way to Nanjing by sea."

Wang Yi answered all Zhu Gaoxu's questions and bowed at the same time: "Your Majesty, since the Western barbarians have started to cause chaos in Kunlun Cape, do they need to increase the defense strength of Kunlun Cape?"

"Of course." Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said: "Let the Navy Commander's Office train three thousand new naval forces. In addition, Qi Sheng's term will be extended for three years. Next year, these three thousand naval forces will go to Kunlun Cape to change defenses. If his military exploits are true, he will be promoted to the commander of the guards."

After finishing his words, Zhu Gaoxu no longer paid much attention to the West.

After all, the West has lost many opportunities, and the strengthening of the Ottomans has also made them exhausted.

According to the intelligence that Zhu Gaoxu asked Xichang to collect, the Ottoman Empire, which was the first to come into contact with the concept of the Ming Dynasty's artillery and sailing warships, launched a maritime war with Venice three years earlier than in history.

Now the two sides have been at war for five years, with Venice losing more than winning.

The steady retreat of the Venetian state left Byzantium alone on land unable to support itself. Although the Ottomans were still at the level of shooting stone cannons, the Ming army's combat concept of using artillery to sweep across Iraq and Persia was probably introduced early.

I am afraid that Byzantium in this plane will be destroyed by the Ottomans in advance. As for the specific time in advance, Zhu Gaoxu doesn't care at all.

The situation now is the same as it was in the eighteenth century. The closer countries are to the Ming Dynasty, the easier it is for them to obtain advanced technology.

In recent years, Japan, Korea, Siam, Timur and other countries have introduced a large number of primary school graduates from the Ming Dynasty openly and privately.

What they want is nothing more than to obtain the Ming Dynasty's artillery and musket technology. However, if these two technologies want to achieve breakthroughs, they must first solve the problem of metallurgical technology.

By the time they break through this problem, Ming Dynasty will already have more advanced technology.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu looked at Wang Yi and said at the same time: "The existing armor is no longer suitable for our army's operations. The Ordnance Bureau uses machine-made iron breastplates with arm armor and short skirt armor. The leggings and other armor weigh only twenty-two kilograms.”

"Go and see for a moment, which kind of armor or cloth face armor has better protection, and which one is more convenient for armies."

With the use of various machines based on the steam engine, mass production of sheet metal breastplates was no longer a problem.

However, due to the different climate, there is still room for discussion as to whether sheet metal breastplates or cloth face armor are suitable for Ming Dynasty.

For now, the Ming army cannot put an end to hand-to-hand combat, so it is still necessary to equip them with armor.

Just the equipment of armor also depends on the situation. The heavy forty or fifty kilograms of armor from the Hongwu and Yongle years, although strong in hand-to-hand combat, is too heavy and not suitable for the current Ming army.

Reducing the burden as appropriate is something Zhu Gaoxu needs to consider for the soldiers.

"I take my leave." After receiving the signal, Wang Yi also bowed respectfully and retired.

After he left, Zhu Gaoxu turned to Zhu Zhanhe and asked, "Has the West Factory reported on the situation in Hezhong, Persia and Dashi?"

"Yes!" Zhu Zhanhe nodded and said: "After the military parade, Ulugh Beg led hundreds of Confucian scholars who graduated from primary school and studied Confucianism back to the Timur Kingdom."

"After Shaharul, the leader of his country, found out about it, he immediately took these Confucian scholars to the capital and allocated money and food to them to study doctrine."

"Although I don't know what this group of people have researched specifically, Shaharul has given them very high treatment."

Zhu Zhanhe said this, and Zhu Gaoxu didn't find it surprising.

"Timur would not dare to be an enemy of the imperial court. If they rise again, they will naturally attack the white sheep and black sheep in the west and take back the territory of Iraq from them."

"Their policy is to advance westward, which is also good for the court."

Zhu Gaoxu commented like this, but Zhu Zhanhe asked doubtfully: "Father, if a powerful country appears in the river, then even if the imperial court regains the Western Region in the future, it will need to border it and take precautions. Is this a bit of a tiger-raising risk?"

"Raising tigers will cause trouble?" Zhu Gaoxu chuckled and said: "Be more confident in yourself. If you are weak, you will cause trouble by raising tigers. If you are strong, you will raise dogs to protect your family." "The Northwest Railway still has four years to go. When we reach Hami, we cannot stop and go to Turpan for construction.”

"We can't take the initiative to start a war with Yilibaili, but they will definitely not be able to help but hinder our construction of the railway."

"Once they get in the way, you don't need to say anything, you should know what to do."

"I know!" Zhu Zhanhe nodded and said, "Take this opportunity to recover the Western Region."

"How to manage it after it is recovered?" Zhu Gaoxu asked again, to which Zhu Zhanhe also replied:

"Build a railway to connect the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains. According to what you said, father, Yili (Ili) is rich in water and grass, so we can use this place to transport food to the entire Western Region."

"Based on the number of miles recorded by Xichang, the imperial court only needs to move hundreds of thousands of local people into the Central Plains or Hetao, and then move hundreds of thousands of people from Hankou to the Western Regions to effectively control the entire Western Regions."

"However, I have carefully inquired about the West Factory. It seems that it is very difficult to build a railway in the Tianshan Mountains. This will require a detour. If the court wants to control the Western Regions, the money and food invested will probably be an astronomical figure. This..."

Zhu Zhanhe showed a hesitant look, but Zhu Gaoxu heard this and said: "There is no need to detour through the entire Western Region. It is enough to build a railway to the Yilipali Valley."

"Although it is a long way from Hami, the more than 2,000 miles of railway is not impossible to complete."

"You don't have to worry about money and food. I will accumulate money and food."

The meaning of Zhu Gaoxu's words was already obvious, that is, the throne would be passed to Zhu Zhanhe in the future. Upon hearing this, Zhu Zhanhe said quickly:
"My father is so tired, how dare I bother him again..."

Facing his words, Zhu Gaoxu did not answer directly, but turned to look at Yi Shiha who was standing in the corner.

"Where are the Great Emperor and the Great Grandson now?"

"Your Majesty, I'm probably in Ningxia or Liangzhou. I heard that the Emperor is going to Ganzhou this time."

While Yishiha was answering Zhu Gaoxu, the voices of the two people mentioned in Zhu Gaoxu's words also rang out on the vast sandy land more than two thousand miles away from Beijing.

"Grandpa, do you think trees can really survive if they are planted like this?"

"How will you know if you don't try?"

When Zhu Qiyue's voice and Zhu Di's voice sounded one after another, their figures also appeared on a vast sandy land.

Behind them, a railway ran from east to west, and from time to time, trains transporting materials appeared in the background.

In front of them, patches of sand fixed by grass squares stretched for hundreds of steps.

Rows of Haloxylon ammodendron trees, poplar trees and tamarisk trees are planted on both sides of the railway.

They are only about ten steps away from the railway. Since it is winter, their colors are not bright enough now.

This is the 400-mile uninhabited land from Zhongwei to Liangzhouwei in Ningxia. Although it seems to be uninhabited, in fact, during the railway construction, coal and water stations for adding coal and water were set up every ten miles.

In addition, there are two underground water channels on the left and right under the rows of trees on both sides of the railway.

There are coal and water stations on both sides of the 400-mile railway, and they are also equipped with water pumps.

In addition to filling water and coal for trains along the route, these coal-water stations also pump groundwater to flow through underground canals every morning, dusk and midday.

The water permeability of the ditch is not good, so the pumped water will seep out of the ditch and be absorbed by the trees outside.

In addition, because it is built along the mountains, the mountains are covered with snow every winter, and the accumulated water melts in the summer to form a water source.

Underground, the Ministry of Industry also built numerous karez wells to store water to ensure that the trees along the four hundred miles of road could grow, with grass grids to resist wind and sand.

At this moment, Zhu Qiyue was holding a small shovel in his hand and following Zhu Di in laying out the grass grid.

The so-called grass grid actually uses wheat straw to spread bunches in a grid shape on the sand, and then rolls it into the sand with a shovel, leaving 1/3 or half of the wheat straw standing naturally on the four sides, and then the center of the square is The sand moves the roots of the surrounding wheatgrass, making the wheatgrass stand firmly on the sand.

In later generations, wheat straw was not very useful, but in this era, one thousand kilograms of wheat straw can still be sold for a lot of money, but it can't be laid on a few acres of land in the desert.

The grass grid is combined with underground ditches and karez wells, trees, and water pumps. It has to be said that in the early Ming Dynasty when the deterioration of the desert was not serious to the extent of later generations, this combination was still useful for punching.

In recent years, the sandstorms that plague Beijing have gradually become smaller due to afforestation efforts in Daning, Shanxi and other places.

If future generations could pay as much attention to desert control as Zhu Gaoxu did, then even if many deserts were formed, they would not be as big as later generations.

Among them, the Mu Us Desert in the south of the Right Wing Hetao is the most famous.

Historically, agriculture was developed in the Mu Us area. It was mainly a nomadic area after the Han Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, due to unreasonable reclamation, the local vegetation was destroyed and quicksands continued to expand. By the Song Dynasty, the desertification of Mu Us expanded to the southeast. By the late The Great Wall will already need to be sand-blasted every year.

It is now the early Ming Dynasty, and the Mu Us Desert is one of the highlights of desert control in the north. At least in terms of area, its current area is less than a quarter of what it was in the 20th century. Although it is difficult to control it, it is by no means impossible.

In addition to it, desert control projects in other places such as Daning and Monan are also continuing.

With the completion of railways, cheap coal from various places has been continuously transported to various places via railways. Coupled with the "Prohibition on Logging" issued by the imperial court, firewood in the north can no longer be sold on the surface.

Even if it is sold privately, the price has reached a sky-high price of 200 cents per quintal. In comparison, the price of coal has dropped to 60 cents per quintal.

With the low price of coal and the emergence of briquettes and matching briquette stoves, people in the north have begun to switch from firewood to coal.

In addition, if wood is needed for the construction of houses in various places, it must be purchased from local government-run lumber mills, and the wood from local lumber mills is transported from the Northeast, Jiaozhi, Ryukyu and Nanyang where the land was opened.

These various policies, coupled with the penalty of not being employed in government-run factories if caught cutting down trees privately, it is true that people in the North rarely give up their government-run jobs of dozens of cash per load for two hundred cash per load of firewood.

In recent years, the vegetation in the north has slowly recovered.

Of course, the restoration of vegetation mainly comes from the low price of coal, and this price was set by the court as a result of not making money.

Because of this, after many private coal mines fought price wars with government-owned coal mines for several years, none of them were merged by government-owned mines.

Since Mobei Mongolia has been solved, smuggling naturally no longer exists in Shaanxi, Shanxi and other places.

After all, if they wanted to smuggle, they would have to cross thousands of miles of desert to Western Siberia.

Precisely because Mobei Mongolia was resolved, armies in many places had to be mobilized according to the imperial court's arrangements.

Zhu Di came to the northwest this time just to see what the situation was like in Gansu, and at the same time to go out for a walk, which was good for his health.

Zhu Di could not even imagine that he could live to be sixty-seven years old. He thought that he would die in his forties like his eldest brother, second and third brother.

Now it seems that he and Lao Wu are normal, both living into their sixties.

After stroking his beard, Zhu Di looked at the vast desert in front of him, nodded with satisfaction and said:
"In a few decades, this place should also become an oasis."

He stretched out his other hand and patted Zhu Qiyue, who was kneeling in the sand and throwing sand. Zhu Qiyue understood this and followed his great-grandfather to the railway with the shovel in his shoulder.

A few hundred steps away, they saw many people assigned to plant trees.

Just visible to the naked eye, there are no less than a thousand people planting grass squares and trees.

"The Supreme Emperor..."

When Wang Yan and Zheng He saw Zhu Di coming back, they immediately saluted and asked for his favor. Zhu Di also said:

"Let's wait for the next train to Liangzhou. Also, where is the Northwest Railway being built now?"

"It has been repaired to Zhangye, the headquarters of Ganzhou Prefecture." Wang Yan replied.

"Arrived in Ganzhou Prefecture?" Zhu Di did not expect that the construction of the Northwest Railway would be so fast. Hearing this, he said:

"Now that we have arrived in Ganzhou, let's wait for the next bus and go directly to Ganzhou. Let's take a look at the situation in the northwest. We can talk to the second brother when we get back, otherwise he will be stuck in the Forbidden City all day and won't know what's going on outside. How has it changed?"

Zhu Di was very conscientious. Even when he was on patrol, he would not forget Zhu Gaoxu sitting in the Forbidden City. However, he said this in the wrong place, because there was a kid next to him who was dedicated to causing trouble.

"But grandpa is in the Forbidden City. Isn't it because you and dad are always running around?"

Zhu Qiyue performed normally as usual. He just opened his mouth slightly and forced Zhu Di to take a few breaths.

"Uh...you don't know what's good and what's good. If Grandpa doesn't come out, can you follow me here?"

Zhu Di glared at his beloved great-grandson. Fortunately, he was still in good health, otherwise he would have been very angry with this kid.

"Grandpa, if you don't want to bring me here, I can come by myself in the future."

Zhu Qiyue grinned. When Zheng He saw this, he stepped forward and said with a smile: "Your Highness, you can't just run around. You are a man of gold."

"My great-great-grandfather is running around with a body worth millions of dollars." Zhu Qiyue was so angry that Zheng He was speechless. Zhu Di could only smooth things over and said:

"If you talk too much, say a few words less, or someone will send you back."

Seeing Zhu Di say this, Zhu Qiyue quickly closed his mouth, and at this time a train was slowly approaching here.

The soldiers waved their flags, and the train immediately began to slow down.

As he slowed down, more than a hundred soldiers began to get on the train and move the people to other carriages, leaving one carriage for Zhu Di and Zhu Qiyue to ride.

Fortunately, there are not many passengers on the Northwest Railway. Otherwise, many people would have to stand and walk the entire distance.

"Woo-"

The piercing whistle sounded, and the train began to move northwest along the railway.

Not long after, its figure left this busy tree planting and sand control construction site...

(End of this chapter)