Datang Nongsheng

Chapter 755 Crossing the Black Sea

In fact, most of the area under the jurisdiction of Yitier City belongs to the Eastern European Plain. In later generations, this is an important area for the game of many great powers, because its position is very important. A Black Sea connects the entire Middle East, Eastern Europe, Central Europe, and the Mediterranean Sea. , like the Jingzhou area in the Central Plains, is well connected in all directions, and it is a battleground for military strategists.

Therefore, most of the Tang Dynasty's westward armies were concentrated in this area, and they concentrated on building water armies and fleets.

With Xue Li and Xi Junmai's familiarity with Sun Xiangfu, they don't need to do some polite face-saving. The rest of the mission, of course, have been arranged by the sergeant, and the food in the barracks has been prepared long ago. Sun Xiangfu's Li Xiangdie's Yao Hongxiu accompanied him to organize the residence, and he only needed to stay in the camp and concentrate on discussing business.

"Master Sun, the general's intention of building the dock and assembling steam ships in such a hurry is to allow us to establish an absolute military advantage in the Black Sea region as soon as possible. Please see."

Xue Li pointed to Sun Xiangfu on the sand table the cities of the Byzantine Empire along the Black Sea coast and the troops deployed on the sand table. Sun Xiangfu, who was familiar with these things, immediately understood the meaning.

As long as Datang takes advantage of its naval forces in the Black Sea, many important cities of the Byzantine Empire, even their capital Constantinople, may be directly bombarded by Datang's new artillery, and there is no possibility of counterattack.

In addition, Sun Xiangfu also noticed that the south of the sand table, that is, the Middle East, has now all planted the flag of the Tang army, that is to say, in the past few months, Hou Junji has successfully taken over all the territories in Persia , Turning the Caspian Sea into the inland sea of ​​the Tang Dynasty, and the Dashi Empire, in the later generations of Iran, Iraq and Turkey are fully bordered by the line, which is thousands of miles long.

Earlier, it was this line of defense of thousands of miles that brought down the Persian Sasanian Dynasty.

Because Dashi is an alliance empire of nomads, just like the northern nomads of Tang Dynasty before, they can attack anywhere at will. As the defensive side, the Persians have to defend the entire line, and their military expenditure The huge consumption was simply not caused by the Persians.

However, there is no such problem in the Tang Dynasty. As long as the big cannibals with cold weapons dare to appear within the scope of the Tang army's telescope inspection, they may receive a devastating blow. As for the military expenditure.

Datang will basically not have such worries now, because the output of Anxi Dadu Protectorate, which has now expanded to eight towns and 36 states, is enough to support the food and drink expenses of hundreds of thousands of troops. Tang can even mobilize hundreds of thousands of war horses, arm all the soldiers into a mobile force that can be mobilized at high speed, and enter the Dashi territory to fight. If they dare to provoke the Tang army, then they may not even run away, even if they are dispatched With hundreds of thousands of troops, Datang can also fight with all his horses, or even three horses alone, driving them out of the grassland like rabbits.

Under the absolute superiority of force, Datang chose not to launch a war, mainly because the problems of folk religion and culture in the two countries were difficult to deal with, and ruling this area by force would only make this place a bottomless pit that consumed the national power of the Tang Dynasty.

Similarly, there is also the reason that Datang's own military strength is not enough, so it can only be divided into areas one by one, and eat meat step by step. In the past five years, Datang has not increased its troops significantly, and the territory is too large to spread without a million-level army. Going out and stationing in various places will not have any effect.

Now, Hou Junji has established the entire defense line of the Byzantine Empire and the Dashi Empire. Then, slowly digesting the territory of South Asia, stabilizing his own rule over the Middle East, and increasing troops to garrison places, what he has to do Yes, hundreds of thousands of troops, distributed over thousands of miles, and half of the Black Sea Circle, are relatively sparse.

Therefore, during Sun Xiangfu's visit to the Byzantine Empire, Datang even gave Dashi some food, clothing, medicine and other assistance to keep them stable while accepting the goodwill from Datang.

A nomadic alliance empire with a population of over ten million, judging from the current situation, it is very difficult for anyone to take over and govern it. We can only use various means to drive away tigers and wolves. Of course, for the large Tang said, it should be to drive the dog out of the rabbit, because Datang himself is the tiger.

After Sun Xiangfu looked at the sand table as a whole, he smiled and said, "You are telling me that our military is fully prepared, and you will act when I go on a mission to establish a foundation of public opinion in the local area." Is it?"

Xue Li also smiled when he heard this, "Just to let you know about the latest situation. Don't be afraid of Chirac's tricks. Most of their borders face the sea. As long as we go to the sea, there will be retreats everywhere."

After saying this, Xue Li also pointed to the edge of the Mediterranean Sea above. Datang's naval fleet established several island military bases in it as early as two years ago. coastal response.

After reading it, Sun Xiangfu smiled and said, "Don't worry! Heraclius is not such a stupid person. After you go to Byzantium, you should not put on a vicious look, show affinity, and try your best to eliminate their adversity. Our hostility, our wariness, makes people like us, and this is the purpose of our trip."

"Affinity? Besides my wives, who would think I have this thing?" Xi Junmai stroked his bearded chin and said.

Sun Xiangfu glanced at his rough appearance now, and it was true, but he smiled again and said, "You can't rely on your face to eat, you rely on physical strength and mobility. Our mission this time is to lead the The common people are just farming, you have been farming in Anxi for so many years, you should be familiar with these tasks!"

It is said that Xi Junmai looked up at the sky, with a look of lovelessness on his face. He has clearly practiced a peerless martial arts, but he has to farm all day long. After planting the fields of the Tang Dynasty, he also has to go abroad to farm. It is really me It's useless!

Xue Li, on the other hand, thought a little more than he did, and said with some doubts, "However, we helped Byzantium increase its productivity and strengthen their national power. Wouldn't it make it more difficult for us to rule them?"

Sun Xiangfu smiled and said, "That's not how the accounts are calculated. We have never waged war with the Byzantine Empire! Moreover, we have always maintained trade and friendly exchanges with them, and we have also borrowed a lot of money from them. domestic economy."

Hearing this, Xue Li's eyes lit up immediately, and he understood a little bit.

The Byzantine Empire, with a population of more than 4000 million, has never been the target of Datang's conquest by force. Dashi is the ultimate opponent selected by Datang. Before that, Dashi's role should be to push Byzantium to Datang As an assistant, Persia was dragged down by Dashi in this way, and finally returned to Datang. The same routine is still useful in Byzantium.

Therefore, Sun Xiangfu’s visit to Byzantium this time is to really help Byzantium develop and win the hearts of the people. Over the years, Byzantine students who have returned from studying in Chang’an have begun to help Sun Xiangfu advocate and build momentum in China. These strategic designs, Li Shimin Already done.

After figuring this out, Xue Li felt relieved.

Because Sun Xiangfu is too important to Datang, and he cannot tolerate any damage. He only takes 3000 people to protect him in an empire with more than 100 million troops, which makes him feel more pressure than a mountain. After all, Datang incorporated After conquering many of Byzantium's vassal states and bordering them on a large scale, although the two countries did not go to war, they were still in a state of mutual alert.

After settling down, Sun Xiangfu did not set out in a hurry, but made some plans for the agricultural area near Yitier City. This is a plain area with lush water and grass, and it is a bit wasteful just for grazing.

Because, Sun Xiangfu knows that in the non-technical era, only agriculture can stabilize a nation. Nomadic people must rely on farming people to live a better life. It is not right for them to continue to live in a nomadic way. stabilizing factor.

After the Khazar Khanate in this area merged with the ancient country of Oz and Pevineg into the Tang Dynasty, the combined nomadic area was even no less than that of the original Xue Yantuo. It included the land between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea in later generations. All countries, as well as half of Ukraine, and parts of Russia, are at least as large as the two state roads of Datang.

Only by promoting the transformation of the local people to an agricultural society can the local area be more stable. The current place is too much like Xue Yantuo more than ten years ago. Compared with the current Tang Dynasty, the civilization is much behind.

No matter in that era, advanced civilizations can quickly affect backward civilizations. After a lot of work, Sun Xiangfu left some agricultural students to continue to follow up the development of farming in the local area. Arriving at the dock near Hei Han, Feng Zhidai had already received a group of envoys from the Byzantine Empire here.

"Heraclius wants to bring hundreds of thousands of Byzantine people to hold a grand welcome ceremony for me?" After hearing the envoy's intention in pure Chinese, Sun Xiangfu in Feng Zhidai's tent was a little confused. He looked at the messenger named Tukel unexpectedly.

"Yes, but the level of this kind of ceremony in our Byzantine Empire cannot be compared with that of the Tang Empire. His Majesty will personally accompany you to parade the streets on floats and watch the dances of the people along the streets. Then, in the palace, With the highest standard banquet, I just treat you to a meal." Tukel said with a little inferiority.

Unlike when the Tang Dynasty held a sports meeting, tens of thousands of singing and dancing actors were often called together to create a top-level audio-visual feast. The Byzantine Empire was able to gather hundreds of thousands of people to the streets of Constantinople without chaos. It was quite a difficult matter, and it was mainly because Heraclius, who had been to Datang several times, was afraid of losing face, so he forced the organization and spent a lot of money.

Of course, there are also reasons for the promotion of those overseas students who returned from studying abroad in the Tang Dynasty and have now formed a relatively large political force in the Byzantine Empire.

Entering the Byzantine Empire with a better attitude is naturally what Sun Xiangfu wanted, so he also arranged for some preparations according to Heraclius' intentions. The mission of more than 1 people collected materials along the way But quite a few, those dignitaries who gave them to the Byzantine Empire were blind, and it should appear in the hands of civilians.

In mid-July, eight steam ships, dozens of wooden water ships, and nearly a hundred cargo sailing ships collected locally set off from the port of Sebas towards Constantinople.

Tukel, who was on a steamship for the first time, felt very magical. This boat has no sails at all and does not require livestock to pull the gear disc. In just one or two hours, he can see all those sailboats. It's gone, maybe this is the gap between the Byzantine Empire and the Tang Dynasty!
Fortunately, he is now a member of the Tang Dynasty, and he hopes that Byzantium can really be included in the Tang Dynasty in three to five years, as Lord Qutu said.

(End of this chapter)