Chapter 134: If you want to develop well in the Western Regions, you can only plant grass

When a war is fought, it is economic, and when it is fought, it is strength. Iron and steel resources, in this era, are absolutely strategic materials. And the horizontal knife made of high manganese steel is like a divine weapon.

Every high-manganese steel horizontal knife, for all ethnic groups in the Western Regions, this is a treasure that is hard to find and has no price. However, they soon knew that this so-called divine weapon was only the equipment of the Tang Army.

As soon as they have any unrealistic ideas in their heads, they must think about it. Chen used the so-called divine weapon to temporarily give these Hu tribes in the Western Regions a strong warning. The treasure knife that sharpens iron like clay is a standard equipment in Datang, and if you want to rebel, you must first weigh it yourself to see if your head is hard of steel.

Of course, this is only a palliative rather than a cure.

In order to fundamentally solve the problem of the Western Regions, in fact, it is also necessary to vigorously develop the Western Regions. Without a base with abundant supplies, it is difficult to guarantee that the Western Expedition will be smooth sailing. Once the Tang Dynasty is defeated once, these good Western Regions situations will be quickly broken.

Fear of power but not of virtue is the national characteristic of the Western Regions. The more merciful you are to them, the more tolerant you are to them, and you will only raise a bunch of white-eyed wolves.

Even the war between the strong Han and the Xiongnu relied on strong economic strength, and little by little the Huns were defeated and divided, and when the Huns could not support it, they surrendered to the Han Dynasty. Liu Yuan, the son of Liu Bao of the Southern Xiongnu, was one of the first Hu people in the history of the Western Jin Dynasty to rebel and establish the country.

Historically, the Tang Dynasty did a little smarter than the Han Dynasty. Vigorously developing the border fortress, providing part of the materials from the border fortress and transporting part of the interior, it was enough to support the expedition of tens of thousands of troops, so the Tang Dynasty became the dynasty with the most fierce foreign expansion and the highest achievement in Chinese history. But the Tang Dynasty still had no way to completely solve this big problem, and when its national strength declined, even though there were still hundreds of thousands of fierce elites at the border passes, there was still no way to prevent the Western Regions from being flooded by the torrent of nomads.

There is no food to eat, and no matter how much the army can fight, it will be given for nothing. Because there was no food to eat, the army of Great Qin did not save the Qin Dynasty from destruction, and the Han and Tang armies also ruined the country because they had no food to eat.

Chen Ying has not returned to Chang'an now, and has been stirred into that turbulent thought. In fact, he did not plan to eliminate the Western Turks at the first time, on the contrary, Chen Ying relied on the Western Regions as the foundation, suppressed the Western Turks in the west, and subdued the Tibetans in the south.

You must know that there are three roads in the snow field, one is the Yongchang Road formed in the Han Dynasty, and the Yongchang Road rushes out of Myanmar to Tibet through Teng. This road, because of its twists and turns, has long been abandoned, and it is rare in the classics. The second is that the Tang Dynasty formed the Tangbo Ancient Road, and the so-called Princess Wencheng entered Tibet Road. This principle is the most detailed, and in fact, it is also the road through which the Tibetans invaded the Tang Dynasty the most.

As an expert in later generations, he gave Princess Wencheng a very high evaluation of her entry into Tibet, but in Chen Ying's opinion, this is a real shame. In the end, it was also from Yecheng all the way south to the Kunlun Pass and arrived at Luoqicheng.

As long as the Western Regions are well managed and have a sufficient material base, they can not only threaten the Western Turks, but also threaten the snowfields of northern Tibet from Yecheng to the south, and even along the Kunlun Valley, climb the Kunlun Mountains, and follow the Heishui River (Nagqu River) valley all the way to Lhasa.

Chen Ying said with a smile: "At the end of today's year, the Protector of the Metropolitan will reward each of them with a sword, and in the spring of next year, the Protector of the Metropolitan will reward them with a shield and some cloth, and then after the summer, they will take the young and strong of their various tribes to fight a battle against the Western Turks in the Ile River Valley!" ”

If Chen Ying wants to stay in the Western Regions and not go back, he has to keep fighting, otherwise Li Yuan will definitely transfer him back, at this time, if he returns to Chang'an, Chen Ying will definitely be pulled into the water, after all, Li Jiancheng is good to him, he knows that Li Shimin has prepared a net for Li Jiancheng, Li Jiancheng doesn't even listen to Wei Zheng's words, and he may not be willing to listen to his advice, and if he doesn't do it well, it will cause Li Jiancheng's dissatisfaction.

Getting out of the matter is Chen Ying's established consideration.

Chen Ying pointed to the map and said: "This year, we have achieved good results in reclaiming wasteland in Jinmancheng, and next year we must expand the scope of reclamation and land, and will combine Luntai, Quli, Yanqi, Qiuzi (now Kucha), Cheshiqian (now Turpan West), Loulan (around Lop Nur today), Yixun (now Milan Town, Tiemenguan City), Gumo (now Aksu), Chigu (Wusun Guodu, now southeast of Issyk-Kul Lake), Yingshachuan (now Shihezi), Yeqiang (now Alar), Bachu (now Tumshuk), Baishi (Kekedala), The fourteen cities of Heishui City (now Huyanghe City) were set up as the commander of Tuntian Zhichong. ”

Speaking of this, Chen Ying turned to look at Duan Zhigan and said, "Old Duan, you took out fourteen Zhechong Prefectures from the Hebei New Army, moved forward to the above-mentioned cities, and built cities to establish Kentian District. ”

Hearing this, Duan Zhigan felt a little uncomfortable in his heart.

He is an ambitious person, and the key is that Chen Ying made him the general of the Tuntian Army, which made Duan Zhigan feel quite uncomfortable.

Looking at Duan Zhigan's wry smile, Chen Ying smiled and said, "General Duan, are you afraid that you won't be able to complete the task?" ”

Duan Zhi said: "It's not that the task can't be completed, if Dadu Hu gives the order, the last general will guarantee to complete the task, but if the last general chooses, the last general is willing to lead the army to fight in front of the battle!" ”

Chen Ying nodded, not reluctantly.

As the so-called twisted melon is not sweet, since Duan Zhi is not happy. Chen Ying really didn't want to force him.

As the number one general under the East Palace, Chen Ying was destined to be impossible to stay in the Western Regions for a long time. Even if he uses the method of raising his own respect, he can't avoid returning to Chang'an. At most five years, the changes in Chang'an Xuanwumen will definitely be staged. No matter who comes to power, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin, they will not allow Chen Yingjun to be outside, but hope that he will return to Chang'an to preside over the overall situation.

In this case, the person who stayed behind would become the second Grand Protector of the Western Regions to succeed Chen Ying.

This is an official position from the second grade, and there will be opportunities to worship the prime minister in the future. According to the tradition of officialdom, in such a special place as the Western Regions, it is impossible to parachute a new Dadu Protector over, and he must be promoted from within the Western Regions Metropolitan Protectorate, but Chen Ying's attitude is very important, although the imperial court may not fully implement Chen Ying's opinion, but Duan Zhigan At that time, there was definitely a great opportunity.

However, Duan Zhi felt a hundred reluctant looks, which made Chen Ying a little angry. He said: "Since you don't want to, then lead the right army of the Yue cavalry, together with the troops of the ten Zhichong Prefecture of the Hebei New Army, a total of 30,000 horses, after the end of spring ploughing, all the way to the west in early May, sweeping the Western Turkic tribes along the way, and before the first snow arrives in winter, take the Green Ridge Glo Ridge Valley!" ”

Duan Zhi said excitedly: "The last general guarantees to complete the task!" ”

Chen Ying looked at Guo Xiaoke and said, "The matter of Tuntian is handed over to you!" ”

After all, Guo Xiaoke is a newcomer under Chen Ying, and he said without hesitation: "The end will guarantee the completion of the task!" ”

Chen Ying pointed to the area near the edge of the desert and said: "This place is close to the desert, there is very little precipitation and rain, and there is no river around to irrigate, so it is not easy to buy a field, but you can grow grass here!" ”

Guo Xiaoke said in surprise: "Planting grass? ”

"Not bad!" Chen Yingdao.

When Guo Xiaoke heard this, he felt that his brain was a little insufficient. He was surprised and asked, "Does this grass still need seeds?" ”

The Western Regions are very large, and they have not been destroyed by later generations, and the amount of grassland is very large. Millions of herders have been reduced, and there is still no pressure. It can be said that the first most abundant in the Western Regions is mountains, and the second most is grass.

Chen Ying said solemnly: "Of course you have to plant, it is extremely difficult to divert water for irrigation in these lands, and the only water source is brought from the Tianshan Mountains hundreds of miles away, and there is not much left after meeting the needs of residents and livestock, and this little water cannot irrigate the farmland." Therefore, I asked them to plant wolf's tail valley in these fields, this kind of grass can be fed to cattle and sheep, and the fruits can also be eaten, although each mu can only harvest fifty or sixty catties, but it is better than drought tolerance and insect resistance, the harvest is stable, and planting ten or twenty acres can also make the family have enough to eat. ”

Wolf's Tail Valley has a nickname called "Angry Dead Bird", and the grain birds that produce it can't be pecked at all, and have to be scraped off with a sickle. The grain produced by the wolf's tail valley is rich in starch, and it can be eaten after removing the skin and cooking, the taste is not necessarily very good, but the nutrition is still guaranteed, and the most important thing is that it is easy to feed, similar to wild grass, and it is not necessary to plant it, so it is an ideal crop, and it was planted in large quantities in Yan'an during the Anti-Japanese War.

Wolf Tail Valley can not only be eaten by people, the key is that this kind of seed has another specialty, as long as it is not harvested, even if it is exposed to the sun in the sand for three or five years, as long as there is a little water, it can be fed.

Most importantly, Wolf Tail Valley can be fed not only to pigs, but also to cattle, sheep, horses, chickens, ducks and other poultry.

In fact, this is not Chen Ying's real purpose, the desertification in the later Celestial Empire was very serious, and the cultivated land was decreasing year by year, even in Jiangxi in later generations, desertification appeared.

However, at this time, the desertification of the Western Regions was not too serious, and nearly two-thirds of the desert in later generations was desert, and at this time it was actually less than one-third of the desert. There are even large areas of virgin forest.

Chen Ying thought that once the Wolf Tail Valley spread in the Western Regions and form a natural Wolf Tail Valley grassland, even if he didn't eat it, this plant with tenacious vitality would go crazy to the desert for the right to survive.

Guo Xiaoke's characteristic is that he has a strong learning ability, especially after being promoted by Chen Ying, he regards himself as Chen Ying's disciple, in his opinion, Duan Zhigan is ignorant of practice. He won't embarrass Chen Ying, anyway, someone has to do this thing.

After becoming the general of the Western Regions reclamation, Guo Xiaoke, regardless of the severe cold, immediately mobilized the fourteen commanders of the department, held a meeting to study the stations of each department, and then took advantage of the heavy snow to mobilize a large number of snow climbing plows, prepare farm tools, seeds, iron ploughshares, etc., and then began to embark on the journey.

Just as he was sending the Tuntian army to set off, Zhou Qing took the battle report and told Chen Ying: "Dadu Guard, Liu Tongjun of the Weiwei Army sends an urgent report!" “

Chen Ying hurriedly glanced at the battle report, with a smile on his face.

PS: The third watch has been sent, a little late!