"Huh?" Li Shimin didn't understand for a while, and glanced at Xia Hongsheng.

"The son-in-law means that if you want to fight, you can fight." Xia Hongsheng said again.

"How?" Xiao Yu came out and asked, "The big food is thousands of miles away, what do you want to fight?" ”

The ministers looked at Xia Hongsheng and seemed to have this question.

"Father-in-law, please show me the world map." Xia Hongsheng knew the thinking limitations of the ministers in the court, so he said to Li Shimin.

Li Shimin nodded, turned his head and signaled, Wang De turned around and went to the apse, and took out a wooden box.

Wang De took out the world map from the wooden box again, spread his arms outstretched, and broke open the map.

Xia Hongsheng took a step forward, while he was gesturing on the map, he looked at everyone, and said: "Set up an ocean-going naval division, gradually replace today's ironclad warships with steam engine power, take Ryukyu as the first phase base, Malacca as the second phase base, and Basein on the west bank of Tianzhu as the third stage base. With these three bases as logistics, Datang's steam warships are enough to reach the Persian Gulf for ocean-going operations. ”

"Ryukyu and Malacca have been in business for a long time, but where is this Basen?" Li Shimin asked.

"Located on the west coast of Tianzhu, Bassain is a natural deep-water harbour and the gateway to the Arabian Sea. By building a garrison here, you can control the gateway to the Arabian Sea. The Arabian Sea connects to the Persian Gulf and is a must-pass for the Persian Gulf. If it is controlled for us, it is equivalent to blocking the sea outlet between the Great Food and Persia. From then on, the Great Eclipse and Persia were equivalent to turtles in urns at sea. Xia Hongsheng pointed out the location of Bombay in the later world on the map, explaining: "The steam warships of the Tang Dynasty are invincible at sea, so to occupy this place is to seize the sea control of the entire sea area up, and Dashi and Persia can only be trapped on land from now on." It can be said that if you can successfully build a garrison in Basein, the first stage of attacking Dashi will be considered a success. ”

"So the first stage of this attack on Dashi is to take Tianzhu and build a garrison here." Fang Xuanling looked at the place Xia Hongsheng pointed at and said.

Xia Hongsheng nodded: "Not bad." ”

"What about the second stage?" Eldest Sun Wuji asked.

"In the second stage, it is two ways to fight." Xia Hongsheng continued to point to the map and said: "All the way north into the Persian Gulf, attack the Great Eclipse from the east coast, all the way through the wingless, enter this bay - this is called the Red Sea, after entering the Red Sea, you can attack the Great Eclipse from the west coast." ”

"That is, only by the forces of the sailors, and not by the land army." Fang Xuanling said.

Xia Hongsheng nodded: "A piece of land is limited after all, and between the land is the ocean, and in the future, the sailor will eventually become the main force of the Tang Dynasty to dominate the world." The land army, on the other hand, is gradually transformed into a defensive force. ”

"Young Master Xia's plan is indeed good. It seems a bit risky, though. Fang Xuanling said: "The sailor is far away from the Tang Dynasty, even if there are these big ports as logistics, but they will eventually go deep alone. And the sailor is not as good as the cavalry, among the sailors, a ship is as many as there are people, if you don't go ashore, if you need to go ashore, it is not only a lone army to go deep, but also to face several times the enemy army of your own, and there will not be many reinforcements. ”

"It's a bit risky." Xia Hongsheng did not object at all: "Originally, in my plan, the alliance between Persia and the countries of the Western Regions could hold off the Great Eclipse for at least ten years. In the past ten years, it was enough for the Tang Dynasty to include all the land from Linyi Road to the west to Tianzhu and stabilize it. It is also enough to build at least one railway to Persia from the Tang Dynasty. At that time, the Datang Navy Division was based on Bas, and the back relied on Tianzhu to Linyi, which was directly connected to the territory of Datang. If there was a need by land, large numbers of soldiers could also be transported by rail to the land of Persia. However, Da Shi now sees that he can't take Persia with the support of Datang in the short world, so it is unexpected to skip Persia and declare war directly on Datang. ”

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that in fact, my Datang can ignore it, and still wait for ten years according to Young Master Xia's original plan." Wei Zheng said: "Dashi is also thousands of miles away from Datang, and declaring war is just lip service, and in fact, it can't help Datang much." ”

As soon as the words fell, many people seconded the proposal.

"Nearly ninety percent of the maritime merchants in the Tang Dynasty today are heading west, and all of the maritime merchants heading west will stop in the Persian Gulf for distribution, procurement and supply, and then some will continue to sail to the Sanlan Kingdom, and then return to the Persian Gulf." Xia Hongsheng said: "It can be seen that the Persian Gulf is important to the Tang maritime merchants. Da Shi's move in the Persian Gulf brought devastating consequences to the Tang maritime merchants. If Dashi is allowed to do this, it is equivalent to giving up Datang's maritime business. Without the maritime business, you know what damage it will bring to Datang. Therefore, even if the Great Eclipse cannot be destroyed this time, at least the sea power of the Great Eclipse should be extinguished, and the sea control of the Persian Gulf and the waters beyond the Persian Gulf should be obtained to ensure the maritime interests of the Tang Dynasty. And we must not remain indifferent. And after gaining the right to control the sea, Datang can still only control the sea, without setting foot on land, so that Dashi and Persia are like two caged cockfights, and I, Datang, only watch the fire from the other side. ”

"If it's just to destroy the sea power of the Great Eater, then you might as well fight." Fang Xuanling said: "Now Datang has three harbors in the Persian Gulf that are horns of each other, and if there is a seaport in Basen to control the gateway, it can indeed trap the power of the Great Food on land. However, just to eliminate its maritime power, there is no need for sailors and soldiers to go ashore, and there is no need to go deep alone, so as to avoid the weakness of logistics and the lack of rear troops. And the Tang Dynasty controls the sea, and Da Shi and Persia can only jump on land and bite each other. With our Datang watching from the sea, neither of them can jump out of this cage. ”

"What Fang Xiang said is extremely true." Xia Hongsheng hurriedly said: "Moreover, Dashi is rich in good horses and has the best war horses, so its military strength is no stronger than cavalry. And its naval warships are vastly different from the naval warships of our Tang Dynasty, and they are not the same. The water master of the Tang Dynasty wants to destroy the water eater, and it is easy to do it. ”

"Please also ask Your Majesty to decide." Fang Xuanling turned around and saluted and said to Li Shimin.

Everyone also saluted and asked Li Shimin to decide.

Li Shimin stared at the map, and there was silence between his eyebrows. After a while, he spoke: "Spread the decree, transfer the troops of Lingnan Dao and Jiangnan Dao into the land of Tubo and come to the aid of Tianzhu." Ordered Niu Qing to meet the Tianzhu coalition army head-on, dragged the Tianzhu coalition army, Cheng Qing bypassed the Tianzhu coalition army and marched west to Tianzhu, captured Basein, and immediately stationed troops to build a port. The sailors departed a section to go around to the west bank to assist in the construction of the port. Again, the steam engine will be put into mass production immediately, and all parts must give priority to the needs of the military aircraft workshop for mass production of steam engines. As soon as possible, the ironclad ship of the Sailor Division was converted into a steam warship and headed for Basein. In addition, after Chu Qing went down, he immediately planned to tell the world, saying that the big food country was rude, killing our maritime merchants, and seizing our sea ships, and since he declared war on the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty was naturally not afraid. If you want to fight, you can fight. If he takes the initiative to surrender, the Tang Dynasty will be benevolent and righteous, or his sins may be forgiven. Otherwise, those who offend my Tang Dynasty will be punished even if they are far away, don't say that they are unpredictable! ”