A few people walked past the yamen, looked at the guards standing at the door, and whispered: "Those people are very fierce, and they will beat people with muskets in their hands!" If you hit it from afar, you will die, so scary! Let's stay away and don't get shot! ”

Another said: "If we don't mess with them, why should they beat us!" ”

The others said: "This is Song Jun, you know what their rules are!" Leave far away, and you're done! ”

While muttering, he walked away quickly, and hurriedly walked past the yamen.

Zhao Zi saw it on the second floor, and said to Chen Yuanpeng beside him: "There are few people in Yizhou City, and now everyone knows me when I go out. It was already cold, and I heard that the place where the railway was being built had been suspended, and the trouble was so great that the workers refused to do anything. It hasn't been repaired to the foot of Horsehair Mountain yet, when will it be repaired next year! ”

Chen Yuanpeng had never taken a train, and he didn't know what the railway looked like, so he just comforted Zhao Zi casually: "The general doesn't have to worry, Juyan is only more than a thousand miles here, and the road is in a hurry, and the twenty days are always up." There are so many livestock in the army, and there is no shortage of supplies. ”

Zhao Zi couldn't help but smile when he heard it: "Twenty days, and there are not many goods transported, what can you do?" City Lord, without a railway, how useful is Yizhou to the imperial court? It's been more than a month since I brought my troops here, and there are no more court officials, that's why I did. If the railroad had been here, you see, there would have been court officials coming every few days. This is the gateway to the Western Regions, not comparable to other places, how can it be so calm! ”

Chen Youpeng just smiled, he had never been on a train, and it was hard to imagine what it was like. Zhao Zi has a noble status, and Chen Youpeng just wants to sell all the family's properties as soon as possible, so that he can enjoy happiness in the capital, just to accompany him.

After complaining, Zhao Zi said: "Shengzhou came to the official document, let me figure out what is going on in Gaochang now." There are no trade routes between the two places, and few people go back and forth, how to spy on Gaochang? City Lord, how is Gaochang, you should be clear. ”

Chen Youpeng said: "What I know is the previous Gaochang, after you defeated the party in Hezhou, what is the situation in Gaochang, then I really don't know." I heard that this spring, Gaochang also sent envoys to Shangjing to pay homage to the Khitan. Now it seems that Gao Chang should have considered himself a Khitan vassal state and deliberately did not contact the Celestial Empire. This matter will not be achieved overnight, and the general does not need to be too anxious. ”

Zhao Zi shook his head: "What am I anxious about, I'm not in a hurry at all, what I'm anxious about is the Hequ Road Passing Division." If Gaochang in the west is not open to trade routes, Yizhou is a useless place, how can the Economic Strategy Division not be in a hurry? With the railway, the goods of the Central Plains are unimpeded here, but they cannot be sold, and the imperial court is also in a hurry! ”

Chen Youpeng couldn't help but asked, "General, if the railway really leads here, how many goods can it transport?" Is it really possible to transport goods in large quantities without horses and camels? If that's the case, you can't fix it all the way to the edge of the sky! ”

Zhao Zi said: "Of course it's true!" Not only do they not need horses and camels, but they also carry more goods. The grain and grass of my tens of thousands of troops will not cost much to transport from the Central Plains, and they can be directly stationed in Yizhou. There is no railway, the army can only be stationed in Yan, I went to Yizhou, but I only brought 3,000 people. The railway was opened, and tens of thousands of troops were in Yizhou, and there was no shortage of food, drink, and clothing. ”

Chen Youpeng nodded, half understanding. Far away here in Yizhou, if he hadn't seen the guns of the soldiers led by Zhao Zi with his own eyes, he wouldn't even have imagined this, let alone a railway train. Without horses and camels, it is already great to be able to transport goods, and there are many more, what kind of artifact is that?

Zhao Zi stood up, looked at everything in the city, and said to Chen Yuanpeng: "Yizhou City is located at the edge of the desert, at the foot of the Tianshan Mountain, and it is really a place made in heaven. City Lord, the place where Yizhou meets Gaochang is Guigukou Shelter, is it now under Gaochang's rule? ”

Chen Yuanpeng said: "There was a post station there, but after the trade route with Gaochang was cut off, the post station had already been revoked. From Yizhou to Gaochang, you must take the Guigukou, take shelter from the wind at the post station, and wait for the wind to stop before you can travel. ”

Zhao Zi said: "So, there is no one there now?" ”

Chen Yuanpeng said: "It should be no one." At the beginning of the year, the army patrolled there and found no one. ”

Zhao Zi sighed: "If you don't want to come to the trade route, Gaochang doesn't bother to send people there." How big is the area around the Guigukou wind area? ”

Chen Yuanpeng said: "It's a hundred miles away." There is often a strong wind, and the wind flies together, and the sand and rocks are irresistible. Where there is no shelter from the wind, it is a dead end. Between Yizhou and Gaochang, Guigukou is the most difficult. ”

Guigukou is the boundary between Yizhou and Gaochang, at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains, and it is very windy for most of the year. The caravanserais there, hence the name "shelter post", were places where caravans came and went to take shelter from the wind. A section of the trade route between Yizhou and Gaochang did not come and go, and the post station was also abandoned.

"There are no birds above, no beasts below, and no water and grass, and such a place sounds like a bad place. In a few days, I'll take people out there to see how it goes. Zhao Zi looked at the city, imagining the badness of Guigukou. Before coming here, Zhao Zi looked for the historical materials he could find and learned about the environment in this area. The most important thing is, of course, the "Tang Dynasty Western Regions" left by Xuanzang. In the records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty, Xuanzang's record of Guigukou is that there are no birds on the top, no beasts on the bottom, and no water and grass, which is extremely difficult. With this natural danger, unless Gaochang is particularly strong, it is difficult to form effective governance of Yizhou. Yizhou was self-reliant, and Gaochang did not send troops to attack, the biggest reason was not the distance, but the harsh climatic conditions in Guigukou. The army is out of the mouth of the Ghost Valley, and if it can't quickly occupy Yizhou, it will be easy to be blocked here.

In the past, Guigukou was guarded by Gaochang and set up a post station, but now the post station has been canceled, and it has become a no-man's land.

Chen Yuanpeng said: "General, this is the case in the Western Regions. Between the cities, there are many difficult places to walk, and they are separated by natural areas. Between Yizhou and Gaochang is Guigukou, which has been a difficult area since ancient times. Without a strong force, the trade routes could not be passed, and these places were naturally abandoned. ”

Zhao Zi said: "Now that the imperial court has re-entered the Western Regions, it is to open trade routes and attract merchants to come and go. No matter how bad Guigukou is, it is nothing more than a post station to provide business travelers to rest. Did Gao Chang think that with such a natural danger, the imperial army would not advance westward? ”

Chen Yuanpeng said: "The Uighur clan, the imperial court came to the west, of course they will not give up the place, but not for anything. ”

Zhao Zi smiled when he heard this: "The army has arrived in Yizhou, and no matter what the Uighurs think, they can't stop the army from advancing westward. Speaking of which, the festival marshal and the imperial court are really patient, and when I arrived in Yizhou, I didn't send envoys to walk around. An envoy arrived, see what else they could say. ”

This is not because Du Zhongxiao has good patience, but because he has the idea of entering the Western Regions. Gaochang and Hei Khan did not take the initiative to send envoys to the imperial court, and the Song Dynasty would not send envoys to them. Just wait for the railway to reach Yizhou, and then the army can go straight forward. Supporting Wei Chi Saburo and re-establishing the state of Khotan was such an idea. The pattern of the Tang Dynasty, Du Zhongxiao did not intend to admit it, and the imperial court obviously thought so.

The current Song army has an overwhelming advantage over a small force like Gaochang, and there is no need to compromise with them at all. If the railway enters the Western Regions, what follows the railway is the powerful national power of the Song Dynasty, which can crush everything here.