Chapter Seventy-Nine: The Arms Race 1300 Years Ago

Although it is said that Yang Guangsan's expedition to Goguryeo had a very negative impact on the ruling regime of the Sui Dynasty. The three large-scale conquests not only seriously depleted the national strength of the Sui Dynasty, but also caused the common people to live in poverty, seriously stimulated class contradictions, and finally led to the outbreak of the peasant uprising at the end of the Sui Dynasty.

However, after all, Goguryeo was a small country and a widow, and after three national wars, the Sui Dynasty failed, but Goguryeo was not comfortable. This is the most typical fat pig smashing sheep. After the three wars, the Sui Dynasty lost a million troops, but Goguryeo also suffered heavy losses.

Since the eighth year of the Great Cause, Yang Guang's first eastward expedition to Goguryeo, although in Ezhi Wende in the Hunshui (Datong River), in the way of dam storage on behalf of the army, flooded Yuwenshu and other nine armies, this battle Sui army 35,000 troops, lost completely. However, Goguryeo suffered more than 50,000 casualties in the battle.

By the time of the Third Crusade in the 10th year of the Great Cause, there were only 270,000 households left in Goguryeo, with a population of less than 2 million. If you follow the example of Laihu'er and attack Goguryeo by water, you don't need a hundred Wuya warships, because Goguryeo's naval division is extremely weak.

Although the Goguryeo naval division claimed to have more than 1,000 warships, most of them were small boats with 100 stones, and even if the Tang Army dispatched ten Wuya warships, the Goguryeo naval division was powerless to resist and could only retreat to the water village.

Even if the Tang Dynasty attacked Goguryeo, the water war would definitely not occur, and the biggest role of the navy army was to act as a transport team.

In terms of transportation, in fact, the transoceanic boat is far more capable of carrying than the Wuya battleship, and the cost is cheaper. As early as the Sui Dynasty, the Hengyang boat built by Jiangning could carry 20,000 stone materials, and even if it was carrying soldiers, it could transport more than 1,600 people. However, the cost of this kind of transoceanic ship is less than one-third of that of the Wuya battleship, and it only takes less than 40,000 to build one.

Why do you spend more than 15 million yuan when you can do something that can be done for 2 million yuan?

Li Jiancheng hesitated for a moment and did not explain too much to Li Jing.

Li Jiancheng's purpose in building the Wuya battleship was not to deal with Goguryeo. It's to deal with Li Shimin.

Li Shimin is tens of thousands of miles away in the Fusang continent and has a good foundation. As Li Jiancheng got more and more information, the more frightened he felt.

In just over three years, Li Shimin has owned more than 100 cities and 2 million Dingkou. It is almost equivalent to most of Guanzhong, and the actual territory is far more fertile than Guanzhong.

Under Li Shimin's rule, he had corn with a yield of up to five stones per mu and sweet potatoes worth more than ten stones, and even if there were only two million people, he could easily feed an army of no less than 200,000.

The Tang army wants to expedition to the Fusang continent tens of thousands of miles away, and the ship is too small to face the wind and waves, and there is no ability to resist, only the kind of 10,000-stone ship can barely protect itself.

Even if it is an elite expedition to the Americas, the number of people cannot be too small, and if it is too small, it will only deliver food.

Therefore, at all costs, the construction of Wuya battleships and transoceanic boats is the most important thing in Datang at the moment.

……

After Li Jing received the order, he bowed and retreated.

He expected that Wei Zheng and Fang Xuanling could use the right of the province to refute Li Jiancheng's rebellion.

However, it was beyond Li Jing's expectations.

This holy decree was successfully passed in Menxia Province, even Fang Xuanling, who has always been known for being harsh and fastidious, did not get in the way.

Li Jing really couldn't figure it out, but he had no choice but to go south to Jiangning as the right servant of Shangshu and the governor of government affairs in accordance with the holy decree, and went to Jiangning to recruit craftsmen and carry out shipbuilding work.

At this time, the ministers of the province already knew about Li Shimin's situation in the Fusang Continent, although Fang Xuanling knew that at this time, the Tang Dynasty was not suitable to build the Wuya battleship at all costs.

However, Fang Xuanling had no way to stop it. After all, the biggest enemy of the Tang Dynasty at the moment is not the extinct Eastern Turks, nor the dying and struggling Western Turks, but Li Shimin, who is eyeing the Tang Dynasty.

With the passage of Li Jiancheng's holy decree by Menxia Province, Datang's war machine, before it cooled down, was back at full power and running rapidly.

……

Fang Xuanling suddenly came back to his senses and found that Wei Zheng was staring at him seriously.

Fang Xuanling smiled bitterly: "Xuancheng, is there a flower on a certain face?" ”

Wei Zheng spread his hands and said, "You have been standing here for half an hour!" ”

Fang Xuanling smiled bitterly: "This ...... The world, if you want peace, why is it so difficult? ”

Wei Zheng said silently: "Xuan Ling, you don't have to worry about ......"

Fang Xuanling smiled: "What are you worried about? ”

Wei Zheng shook his head.

Fang Xuanling said: "Xuancheng, you are too worried, Xuanling is an old minister of the Qin Palace, but he is not a slave of the Qin Palace, but a minister of the Tang Dynasty!" ”

Wei Zheng was stunned.

……

Just when Li Jiancheng mobilized all the forces of Datang to develop the equipment of the sailors, the Forbes Island Shipyard on the Fusang mainland was also rushing to build big ships.

The Yin Forbes people, who are also the descendants of Yin merchants, have actually become a fishing and hunting people. One-third of the people are neither farming nor nomadic, but rely on fishing for their livelihood.

However, they could only build small boats of about 100 stone stones to develop offshore fishing. Such a small boat simply has no way to go to sea.

When Li Shimin took Du Ruhui and others to Forbes Island to inspect, when he was still more than ten miles away from the wharf, he suddenly scout excitedly said: "King, I saw it, I saw it!" ”

Li Shimin's boat was full sails, and the battleship gradually approached the two big ships, and everyone exclaimed.

The Thousand Stone Warship looked so small in front of these two giants, and Li Shimin was also very shocked, although he had seen the same huge Yang Guang dragon boat, but these two transoceanic boats seemed to be larger than Yang Guang's dragon boat.

It is about 30 zhang long and more than 10 zhang high, which is equivalent to 1,500 tons of ships in later generations. At this time, there were hundreds of craftsmen on the big ship who were busy.

Cleaning the cabins, painting the decks or sides with tung oil, reinforcing the masts, and weaving sails (in ancient China, the sails of sails were not made of canvas, but of bamboo strips)

The construction of these two transoceanic boats began when Li Shimin took the city of Qin Wang. After two years and seven months of busyness, it was finally nearing completion.

Du Ruhui looked at the two transoceanic boats that were about to be completed, and said excitedly: "I think I can't go back to Chang'an in this life and this life, but now I ...... In your lifetime, you can also return to your roots! ”

Li Shimin nodded and said, "I have never given up returning to Chang'an, we will definitely be able to return to Chang'an!" ”

Speaking of this, Li Shimin continued: "I have decided that we need to build fifty transoceanic boats in Fusang Datang......"

Du Ruhui shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, fifty transoceanic boats can't go back to Chang'an!" ”

In fact, according to Zhang Zhongjian's fleet, more than a dozen transoceanic boats are enough to cross the ocean and reach the mainland. What he meant was that fifty transoceanic boats that could carry 40,000 horses could not take Guanzhong.

Li Shimin said with a smile: "Fifty ships are not enough, then we will build a hundred, and if a hundred ships are not enough, then build two hundred......

Chen Ying, who was far away in the Western Regions, didn't know that the appearance of his otherworldly butterfly had triggered an arms race in advance.

In order to completely eliminate Li Shimin, Li Jiancheng vigorously developed the sailors, and prepared to eliminate Li Shimin before Li Shimin was fledgling.

But Li Shimin is the same, for the dream of returning. Desperately building, to the surprise of the two brothers, they built a transoceanic boat that was the pinnacle of the big ships of the Sui Dynasty.

The only difference is that Li Jiancheng focused on building the Wuya battleship, while Li Shimin focused on building the transoceanic boat transport ship.

……

Li Xiuning and Chen Ying continued to move west, but Li Xiuning found an interesting story at this time.

Although these homeless people were wearing new clothes, they all had printed words on them. This dye is the same as the dye used to dye cloth, and it does not wash off.

"Wu Ji scissors are the best in the world!"

"Dai Kee Warehouse is of high quality and low price."

"Niu Kee tillage tools are sturdy and durable."

"Liu Ji credits small profits."

……

Li Xiuning was stunned for a long time, looking at the people with beaming faces.

"Dare to love these Wei businessmen, and actually hit the advertisements on the heads of the homeless?"

Li Xiuning looked at Chen Ying and said with a smile: "Now that I understand, I think these new clothes may not be distributed by the government for free, but sponsored by those businessmen." Businessmen pursue profits, and they can't imagine that they will be so benevolent? …… Even if it's advertising, but these people are illiterate, what's the use! ”

Chen Ying said with a smile: "It doesn't matter if the homeless people are illiterate, there are always literate people." After these displaced people enter the Western Regions, they will be assigned household registration, they will definitely work hard, and they will also move around, as long as people move around, the effect of this advertisement can be revealed. Merchants and scholars from other places will interpret these advertisements, and word of mouth will spread them, and the advertisements will be printed. ”

In fact, Li Xiuning's guess was right. Most of these clothes were provided by merchants for free to advertise. In this era, the status of the merchants was very low, even inferior to that of the freedmen, and no matter how rich they were, they had no political status.

However, after Chen Ying established the Datang Royal Business Alliance, he set a benchmark for the Datang Royal Business Alliance. At this time, the businessmen found that they could actually be like the Tang Royal Business Alliance, combining strong forces and sharing resources.

These businessmen also need a backstage, but the gate valves are all geographical restrictions, even if it is the Taiyuan Wang family, no matter how strong the strength is, it is impossible for them to go to Xingyang to compete with the Zheng family, which is a waving of the line.

However, Chen Ying is different. Although he belonged to one of the eight pillars of the Western Wei Dynasty, he was a good official residence. is not limited by geography, after all, whether it is in the Western Regions, Lingzhou, even if it is Henan Mansion, Chen Ying's name is very good, even in Xingyang, the Zheng family has to sell Chen Ying face, unless they don't want to cooperate with Chen Ying.

Ma Zhou established the Tang Anxi Business Alliance in the Western Regions. As the political backstage of the business alliance, at the same time, Chen Ying also gave the businessmen a hope that their children could enter the Datang University of Technology founded by Chen Ying, or the various academies in the Anxi Duhufu, and after completing their studies in the future, they could have the opportunity to become officials in the future.

This offer can be said to be the most exciting for businessmen.

Chen Ying is now the first and only powerful person in the world who does not discriminate against businessmen. These businessmen slowly formed an alliance of interests with Chen Ying.

They want to get benefits from Chen Ying, especially political benefits. Chen Ying wants to get financial and talent support from businessmen. After all, Chen Ying's Chidao network was not something he could build alone. The construction of the road is a bottomless pit. Now 70% of the profits from Chen Ying's creation are invested in the construction of Chidao.

When the business alliance was founded, Chen Ying drew a big pie for these businessmen, and these businessmen had a similar mind.

They support Chen Ying, even if it is a loss, they must support Chen Ying's political moves. Because these predators who are up and down in the business sea want to emulate Lu Buwei.

Naturally, after Ma Zhou's reconciliation, Chen Ying reached a consensus with the Business Alliance. Those who have made outstanding contributions to the benefit of society can be crowned officials, although they are all minor officials from the eighth rank or from the ninth grade.

Merchants go crazy all at once, but no matter how rich they are, they want to gain the respect of the world. When an opportunity arises, won't they seize it?

In this way, in Anxi's move to attract displaced people, large and small businessmen have contributed their own strength.

Even Chen Ying himself did not realize that, in fact, he had formed a political party himself. The core backbone of this political party is mainly composed of craftsmen, soldiers, farmers, and businessmen from all over the world, with Chen Ying as the core.

Just like in the process of developing the Western Regions, the Anxi Business League donated 3.5 million stone of grain, 130,000 sets of ready-to-wear clothes, and 800,000 yuan of money to the Anxi Protectorate.

Especially Yang Rong of the Wu firm. Yang Rong took advantage of Li Jiancheng's favor to auction and resell the proven reserves of steel, coal, salt, and other mineral resources in Xiazhou, Yanzhou, and Gyeongju, which she had purchased.

In just half a year, 2.7 million yuan was cashed out. After earning this money and grain, Yang Rong invested all of it in the development of the Western Regions.

In the eyes of the Tang Dynasty businessmen, Chen Ying actually became the God of Wealth. Follow Chen Ying to definitely make a fortune.

There is no need to publicize the following things, businessmen are competing to contribute, and you don't want me to pay, and I am in a hurry with you.

With the development of commerce, the credibility of Datang Tongli Money Village has also been established.

At this time, there are more and more people using money, and even ordinary people are reluctant to use heavy copper coins to buy vegetables.