The Sui Dynasty's chess game

Chapter 804 Longing for the Ocean
After leaving the College of Agriculture, Xiao Xia slipped into the neighboring College of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering. Last year, the College of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering was part of the College of Engineering, but this year Xiao Xia separated it and established it as a separate college.

But to be precise, it is a shipbuilding research institute. Almost all students come from shipbuilding families and must take professional exams and have a strong foundation in shipbuilding knowledge.

The Shipbuilding Academy generally does not accept candidates without a foundation in shipbuilding, but there are exceptions. This year, they specially recruited a candidate named Shen Bian, who had a strong interest in shipbuilding. He ranked 30th in the Jiangnan Circuit in the imperial examination and was very outstanding. He did not want to enter the Imperial Academy but wanted to enter the Shipbuilding Academy, so the Ministry of Works specially approved his admission.

There are two shipbuilding institutes, one in Luoyang and the other in Minxian. Luoyang is the base, where students learn the basics of shipbuilding and the construction of small and medium-sized ships. Minxian is for the construction of large ships with a capacity of 5,000 shi (a unit of dry measure). After studying in Luoyang for two years, the students will go to Minxian.

The Shipbuilding Institute was under the jurisdiction of the Ordnance Bureau, and its director was Xu Zhengfang, who was in charge of supervising the construction of the late emperor's dragon boat.

Currently, the School of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering has a total of 260 students, the oldest being over 30 years old and the youngest only 17 years old.

Today, Xiao Xia came to the Shipbuilding Institute to give a lecture to the students. When Xiao Xia entered the hall, nearly three hundred teachers and students bowed and greeted him, "Greetings, Your Majesty!"

Xiao Xia smiled and waved his hand, "You will be my subjects when you become officials. Right now, you are my students, and I will temporarily act as your professor."

The hall fell silent. Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and then slowly said, "Last year, the Shipbuilding Institute was a branch of the Engineering College, called the Shipbuilding Research Institute. But starting this year, the Shipbuilding Research Institute has become the independent Shipbuilding Institute. This is not accidental. Just now, I went to the Agricultural College and we talked about high-yield crops. Many of our crops today were brought back by Zhang Qian after he opened up the Western Regions. Now, Sogdian merchants from the West are constantly traveling back and forth. Our Silk Road has continued for hundreds of years. High-yield crops on land will no longer appear, but what about overseas?"

A few years ago, He Man, the Deputy Commissioner of Maritime Trade, told me that he had crossed the South Seas and there were countless large islands there, inhabited by natives who did not belong to any country. There was also a vast land as wide as the Sui Dynasty, uninhabited by anyone. In fact, there might even be undiscovered continents deep in the ocean, several times the size of the Sui Dynasty. I believe that there must be crops there that yield thousands of catties per mu, which could completely solve our food problem.

Furthermore, there is the homeland of the Kunlun slaves, in the distant southern part of the Abbasid Caliphate, a vast and boundless land inhabited by countless black people like the Kunlun slaves, along with elephants and unicorns. I have heard that there are also fruits growing on trees there, each weighing two or three pounds, enough to eat for several days.”

Xiao Xia smiled and glanced at the students' faces, each one filled with longing.

Xiao Xia continued, “I am just like you, wishing I could send people to search for it tomorrow, but it is impossible. The waves in the deep ocean are hundreds of feet high. One big wave can smash our huge ships to pieces. In other words, our ships cannot withstand the huge waves in the deep sea. Therefore, ships have become the biggest obstacle for the Great Sui to expand overseas and seek wealth overseas. This is the real reason why I separated the Shipbuilding Academy from the Engineering Academy.”

"When I was in Jiangnan, I also had a deep understanding of ships. I know that to find new continents in the depths of the ocean, we need to solve two major problems: the sturdiness of the ships and the power problem. The power problem can be dealt with later, as it can be solved in a short time with sails and paddlewheels."

Therefore, the sturdiness of the ships is of paramount importance. I believe this can be addressed from two aspects: one is the size and structure of the ships, and the other is the materials used in their construction. Have you all considered that iron armor can protect cavalry and warhorses, so wouldn't ironclad ships be even more sturdy?

The crowd erupted in commotion, with many students blushing with excitement. Xiao Xia waved his hand and smiled, "Ironclad ships are a long-term vision. After all, we don't have enough pig iron to build ships. So what you need to do is build bigger and stronger giant ships, such as ships with a capacity of 100,000 shi. Then even the most distant deep sea will be a smooth passage for us!"

After returning from inspecting the Shipyard, time flew by, and autumn arrived in the blink of an eye. Li Jing's army had returned, and the imperial court held a grand triumphant ceremony. The 150,000-strong army was warmly welcomed by the people of the city.

Xiao Xia then dispatched Li Chun, the Vice Minister of Works, to lead three thousand craftsmen to the northern desert to build the great city of Beian. Xiao Xia appointed the young general Su Dingfang as the first governor of the Northern Desert Governor's Office and Zhang Gongjin as the chief secretary of the Northern Desert Governor's Office.

After repeated discussions, the imperial court finally finalized a plan to form a 30,000-strong Zhenbei Army. Soldiers could bring their families north, and they would be rotated every ten years. In Bei'an City, each household would be given 200 mu of tax-free land. After returning from ten years of border defense, they would also be given 200 mu of land in the Central Plains, with taxes halved.

The imperial court also encouraged merchants to open shops in Bei'an City, granting them tax exemptions and establishing border trade there. Furthermore, the court required all the Tiele tribes of the steppes to come to Luoyang for an audience and receive investiture the following spring.

There were still too many details to handle on the northern grasslands, and at this moment, Xiao Xia's mind was already on the western expedition.

The western expedition was divided into two steps. The first step was not difficult: establishing the Anxi Protectorate and the Beiting Protectorate. The difficult part was the second step: capturing the Yili River Valley.

The Ili River Valley is the most fertile land in the Western Regions and even the whole of Central Asia, covering an area of ​​150,000 square kilometers. It stretches from the Tian Shan Mountains in the east to the Yibo Sea in the west. The Ili River Valley also includes the Suyab River Valley and the Hot Sea to the south, making it an extremely vast area.

In addition, the Yili River stretches for 2,500 li (approximately 1,250 kilometers) and has an extremely abundant water volume, far exceeding that of the Yellow River. Numerous lakes and streams dot the landscape, and the land is so fertile that even a tree branch can easily take root and sprout, making it an ideal agricultural region.
This fertile land is currently occupied by the Western Turks. Although the Western Turks are far less powerful than the Northern Turks, they are still a formidable army. It took the Tang Dynasty more than a hundred years after establishing the Anxi Protectorate, until the Tianbao era, to completely destroy the Western Turks.

Of course, this was also because the Tang Dynasty focused on destroying Goguryeo in the early period and did not pay much attention to the Western Regions. In the middle period, it encountered the Liaodong Khitan Rebellion and the rise of Tibet, which inevitably diverted its energy. It was not until Li Longji ascended the throne that Tibet also began to expand westward and colluded with the Western Turks, which seriously affected the security of the western Silk Road. The Tang Dynasty had no choice but to launch a counterattack in the west, fighting the Battle of Little Bolu and the Battle of Suyab before finally destroying the Western Turks.

In fact, the Tang Dynasty did not care about the Eli River Valley; what it cared about was the Silk Road.

But Xiao Xia was interested in the Yili River Valley. In his grand plan, the Yili River Valley would become the largest settlement of the Sui Dynasty in the Western Regions, with at least hundreds of thousands of Han people to be immigrated there.

Of course, this is contingent on his plan to have 100 million people being realized first.

Inside the Imperial Study, Xiao Xia was discussing plans to establish the Anxi Protectorate and the Beiting Protectorate with Liu Wenjing, Wei Zheng, and Fang Xuanling.

The three agreed that they needed to proceed step by step. Liu Wenjing stroked his beard and said, "Your Majesty, we can first establish the Anxi Protectorate, using Ruoqiang and Khotan as our base. After conquering the surrounding small states, we can establish a military garrison system. Once the Anxi Protectorate is established, it will be much easier to establish the Beiting Protectorate."

The Beiting region was mainly centered around the Gaochang Kingdom. There was a special reason for this: the Gaochang Kingdom was a dynasty established by Han Dynasty soldiers who guarded the border and had close ties with the Central Plains dynasties. The Gaochang Kingdom played a significant role in the recapture of the Hexi Corridor.

Fang Xuanling also said, "Your Majesty, I suggest that while establishing the Anxi Protectorate, we should first send envoys to the Kingdom of Gaochang!"

Xiao Xia nodded and then asked Wei Zheng, "Does Vice Minister Wei have any good ideas?"

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The beginning of the new book has finally been approved by the editor. After three revisions, it's finally approved. Now I'll be writing the new book at the same time. I'll be writing the old book and the new book together, and I'll try to save up 100,000 words for the new book. That means I can only update the old book twice a day. I'll use my evenings to write the new book. The new book is set in the Three Kingdoms period. Everyone has their own Three Kingdoms, and so does I.

Starting today, I can only update twice a day.

(End of this chapter)