According to the geographical location, the location of Lushun is not the best sea route at this stage, after all, the Han army now needs a lot of supplies in the northwest inland, if the materials are transported to Lushun by sea from the south, then it will have to go thousands of miles to transport to Woye, so what is the difference between transporting materials directly to Woye by land from the mainland?

There are not a few natural ports in mainland China, and the so-called natural ports are naturally geographical locations that do not need to be transformed too complicated, and the underwater depth there cannot be a slowly inclined environment on the continental shelf, but a water environment where large ships can still be docked at the shore position.

Lu Zhe does not remember many natural ports, the three natural ports in the south have been utilized, the natural ports in the north are mainly concentrated in the modern Qingdao area, the most impressive nature is Jiaozhou Bay, after all, in modern times, there was an incident of Germany leasing Qingdao, the reason why Germany forcibly leased Qingdao is because Jiaozhou Bay is a natural port.

The area to the north of Jiaozhou Bay also has a good coastline in modern Tianjin, which is not a natural port, but can become a huge seaport with a small transformation. The problem is that it currently belongs to the junction of Guangyang County and Julu County, and now both Guangyang County and Julu County belong to the area affected by the plague in Linzi County, so even if it can become a port after a slight transformation, it will not be able to mobilize manpower to build.

“…… Gradually controlling the Liaodong region, Liaoxi County, Liaodong County, Youbeiping County, Yuyang County, Shanggu County, and Dai County that were not in the plague area, the counties in these areas also needed grain from the south. Xiao He said and looked at Sima Xin.

Sima Xin understood, took over and said: "We encountered cavalry from Donghu during the conquest of Qiyan, which shows that Donghu is also concerned about the situation in the south, so it is imperative to carry out the necessary vigilance against Donghu, so it is necessary to dispatch legions to Yandi in the later stage." ”

Generally speaking, the consul Xiao He and the Taiwei Sima Xin are both talking about the necessity of Lushun becoming a maritime port from the perspective of practical needs, not only for the sake of the foreign war situation in the northwest.

A plague broke out in Linzi. The Han army has been working hard to keep the plague in the area where it has already broken out, preventing it from spreading. There is nothing wrong with the practice of sealing off the plague area, and there is no cruelty in it, after all, this is irresponsible for the non-plague area if it is not blocked. Subsequently, especially under the premise that the Han State continued to support the food in the plague area, it was much better than the practice of the previous dynasties, which not only carried out blockades, but even sent large armies to kill, and the last army to kill was basically abandoned.

Lu Zhe is a modern man no matter how he says it, he may not have the professional medical knowledge to cure the plague, but he should always be able to take some sanitary restrictions to prevent it.

In fact, there are already ways to avoid the spread of the plague. That is to restrict the movement of people and control the source of water, and later Lu Zhe stipulated that only boiled water can be drunk, and a large amount of lime, sulfur and other materials are sent to the plague area, and the sanitary conditions are targeted to be required, and the blockade is supplemented, and the plague has stopped spreading outward in the past few months.

The government did not give up completely, it was a kind of psychological comfort for the Qiantou in the plague area, and in many cases, the spiritual comfort could calm the panicked people, which was also the premise that a series of health regulations could be truly implemented. Otherwise, it would be in vain if Qianshou did not cooperate.

The plague stopped spreading outward, but there was no way to cure it, and at this stage it was actually a battle of human resistance and germs, and this battle often ended with the "death of the whole army" of the people infected with the plague.

"Preliminary calculations. The population in the plague area should be more than 300,000, and we can't count the number of people infected with the plague," Xiao He's expression was very heavy when he said this: "For at least three years in the future, those areas will be in a state of lockdown. The lockdown will not be lifted until it is truly confirmed that the plague is gone. ”

Lu Zhe's heart trembled when he heard this, more than 300,000 people. For the current Chinese ethnic group with a total population of less than 20 million, it is one-sixty-sixth, which can be said to be a heavy loss.

"In other words, for at least three years, we will not be able to use Jiaozhou Bay as a shipping route again, and Linzi County and Jiaodong County will also be outside of administrative development?"

"Yes, several surrounding counties will also be affected in a year's time."

According to historical records, the outbreak of the plague in the late Eastern Han Dynasty caused the Han Empire, which originally had a population of nearly 60 million, to drop its population to less than 20 million after the plague ended. There are a number of reasons why there will be less than 20 million people left, there will be warlord scuffles during the period, but the culprit of the rapid population decline is the plague. The cause of the outbreak of the plague was the warlord scuffle, and after each war, there was always a large number of war dead who could not be buried......

There have been many plague outbreaks in Chinese history, especially in the north, the frequency of plague outbreaks is the most frequent, each time the plague appears, it will "create" a large number of no-man's land, for a country is not only the loss of population, the emergence of no man's land is the severe destruction of the economy, so each outbreak of plague can cause a dynasty to face the crisis of changing the dynasty.

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, after the Huangchao rebel army invaded Lingnan (now Guangdong), it was intended to be used as a base to occupy it for a long time, but how could it be that "it was the year (879) since the spring and summer, and its people were plagued, and the dead were thirteen or fourteenth. The crowd advised him to return to the north for great profit. Huang Chao had no choice but to lead the army back to the north, but he was invincible, and once captured the capital Chang'an, "the city is full of golden armor". Although Huang Chao was finally defeated and died in the Valley of the Wolf and Tiger of Taishan, the plague forced him to achieve an unprecedented victory, and at the same time, it had also changed the situation of hegemony in the late Tang Dynasty, and the pattern of five dynasties and ten kingdoms began to take shape.

The Great Plague of 1232 in which Song and Jin confronted each other was another catastrophe. At that time, there was the Southern Song Dynasty in the south of the Jin Kingdom, and the north was overwhelmed by Mongolia. By May of this year, "the great epidemic in Bianjing (now Kaifeng), where 50 days, more than 900,000 people died from all the gates, and the number of poor people who could not be buried was not counted," and the mortality rate was quite amazing. Just two years later, Jin died in Mongolia.

According to the "History of the Ming Dynasty", from 1408 to 1643, there were 19 major plagues in the Ming Dynasty, especially during the Chongzhen period at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Similar to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Wanli, Tianqi, and Chongzhen dynasties of the late Ming Dynasty entered a Xiaoice period with frequent natural disasters. In particular, the cooling climate caused the rainfall area to generally move southward, leading to many years of drought and locust plague in the north, pre-Qin and Jin. Zai Heluo, Hou Qilu; Coupled with the corruption and mediocrity of the officials and the improper policies of the imperial court, they finally forced Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong to rebel. At this time, the plague also sided with the rebel army, and kicked the precarious Zhu Group Building with a fatal kick.

In the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1641), "the epidemic was prevalent, and Shandong, Zhejiang Province, and the north and south were especially touched." It is worse in May and June, or it may be infected in the door. "In the sixteenth year (1643), the plague epidemic in Beijing lasted from February to July." Death pillows, ten rooms and nine empty, even the household is extinct, and no one reins in. It is estimated that the population of Beijing at that time was between 800,000 and 1 million, and the pandemic claimed 200,000 lives. During this period, the Ming army was defeated by the Qing army in Songshan outside the Shanhai Pass, and Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong in the pass escaped death several times, and the more they fought, the stronger they became. March of the seventeenth year (1644). Just when Li Zicheng was approaching the city of Beijing, there was a plague in the city, and there was chaos up and down. It's just a lot", losing the last will and ability to resist.

There are too many "historical lessons", which made Lu Zhe break out in a cold sweat when he learned that the plague had broken out in Linzi. At that time, he was actually mentally prepared enough, even to stop the war outside Cyprus. Even if he gave up the north of the Yangtze River, that is to say, even if he gave up all the achievements after the Northern Expedition, he had to keep the south. It is simply timely and appropriate. After the plague in Linzi spread to the Jiaodong Peninsula, it stopped, so that the worst did not happen.

The worst result did not appear, although it was necessary to temporarily abandon Linzi and Jiaodong, but it was not unacceptable for Lu Zhe, it was already a blessing in misfortune.

The discovery of Lushun port has a heavy significance, after all, because the temporary de-management of Linzi and Jiaodong will make a gap to Liaodong, if there is a simple land communication line, it means that you need to take more detours in the hinterland of the Central Plains, with the port of Lushun as a transportation line, the impact will be minimized.

If Lu Zhe is not mistaken, Yan has conquered most of the Korean Peninsula before?

"Back to the king, the Yan Kingdom has indeed expanded to the peninsula, until the Yan land is owned by us, and before Han Guang led the army to participate in the Central Plains War, the footsteps of the Yan army have reached the middle of the peninsula."

"The middle of the peninsula?"

Many places now do not have names, at least not among the Chinese ethnic groups. It must be repeated that a strong civilization has the right to name anything or something, including its geographical location, and this right to name the thing or place is that no matter what the original name of that thing or place is, once the powerful civilization naming it, then the old name must be "eliminated" and replaced by a new name.

"The newly acquired peninsula of the Yan Kingdom was named Xuansu County and Lelang County, which included the area north of Liaodong and south of the peninsula," Sima Xin said, pointing to the Korean Peninsula. ”

The so-called "here" is actually the vicinity of the 38th parallel, which is almost the dividing line between the north and south of the location of modern Ganghwa Island, with the new counties in the north under the rule and the aboriginal control area on the peninsula in the south. The reason for saying it is an "occupation line" is simpler, that is, it means that the right to rule has not yet been consolidated, so it is the occupied zone and not the zone of domination.

"The ruling government and the Taiwei Administration are already calculating the daily throughput of the port of Arthur, and will plan the number of garrisons according to the throughput of the port," Xiao He glanced at Sima Xin before continuing: "Because the king is going to occupy the island, we agree that it is necessary to occupy the entire peninsula. ”

That's right, the Korean Peninsula is relatively close to Wajima, if there are resources on Wajima, using the Korean Peninsula as a material transit place is a very practical place, for them who are still exploring the sea route, the shorter the voyage, the better.

Lu Zhe didn't interject, he was thinking about a question......

At present, the Han State is implementing the national policy of large-scale expansion, resulting in a multi-front combat mode, with the military strength and productivity of the Han State multi-front combat to the present is actually about to reach the critical point, what is manifested is that it is a little difficult to maintain the northwest and northern (including Liaodong), forcing the expansion of South Asia has been decreasing, if you add the southern front of the Korean Peninsula, what will be the consequences?

"You don't have a specific plan yet, do you?" Lu Zhe asked more clearly: "For example, the troops that need to be invested on the peninsula, as well as the investment in materials?" ”

Sima Xin gave the answer: "The aborigines on the peninsula are not a big threat, and the investment of a legion can achieve the purpose of occupation, and the investment of materials is ......."

Conquest is a long-term process, first occupied by force, but it is not a very long digestion process after the occupation.

The national policy of the Han State is to weaken or even exterminate the occupation policy of foreign races, and completely eliminate the aborigines of a piece of land to achieve the goal of permanent ownership of that land, then it is destined to have a lot of instability in the process, and it depends entirely on how much time it takes to eliminate the aborigines.

Genocide has not been an exaggeration until modern times, let alone anti-human statements, Lu Zhe listened to the ministers discuss how to eliminate certain ethnic groups, and he did not have a little psychological pressure in his heart at all.

“…… Some of the aborigines do not need to be exterminated, they are an ethnic group that migrated to the peninsula during the Shang Dynasty, and their culture and ethnicity are similar to ours. ”

I'm talking about Mingo Korea. It is also necessary to mention one thing here, that is, about Wei Man, the previous article has been saying that Wei Man is the ruler of the peninsula, that is a mistake in Lu Zhe's memory, in fact, when the Yan State was conquering the peninsula, it was the Jizi Korea that was destroyed by the Yan army, and Wei Man was only a general of the Jizi Korea at that time. (Well, it's actually the honor that I misremembered.) ）

“…… The vast majority of the indigenous people of the peninsula are indigenous and some have migrated from the dense forests (the Great Khing'an Mountains), which we believe is part of the need for enslavement and extermination. ”

Lu Zhe is constantly bowing his head, and the process of expansion must be full of blood, and there is nothing to say about the enslavement of alien races that are useless or fiercely resistant, and of course, the alien races that are useless or have fierce rebellion are to be eliminated.

"Regarding the expansion of the peninsula, it can be slowed down," Lu Zhe still felt that he could not open a new front for the time being: "Until the war outside the Seychelles is stable, or the resources on the island are discovered, there is still enough time to deploy." ”

Many people seemed to be stunned for a moment, and after they looked at each other, they may have wondered in their hearts, what was the king they were working for? (To be continued......)