The importance of Tibet to China is self-evident, no matter how sparsely populated there is, no matter how weak the sense of existence is. But it is still part of China, and Tibet, like Xinjiang, is definitely the largest province in China.

If you lose Tibet, it will be like losing Mongolia. Although it seems to have no impact on the surface, the impact on the integrity of China's territory is decisive!

Therefore, even before the establishment of the Kuomintang, the Chinese government at that time attached great importance to Tibet. This can be seen from Zhao Erfeng, the governor of Sichuan in the former Qing Dynasty, who personally led troops into Tibet to suppress the rebellion, to the period of the provisional government, when Yin Changheng, the overseer of Sichuan, led troops into Tibet to suppress the rebels―――――― of course, both of them were more unlucky.

The former, Zhao Erfeng, defeated the rebels attacking Batang in 1909, and took advantage of the victory to enter Tibet, recovering the four tribal areas of Jiangka and Gongjue, and crossed the Danda Mountains to the west, until reaching Jiangdazong, at this time Zhao Erfeng was only six days away from Lhasa, and a certain lama fled to British India. Later, Zhao Erfeng wrote a letter requesting that the whole of Tibet be pacified by victory, and that the policy of reforming religion and customs be implemented in Tibetan areas, but because of the fear that his measures would be too radical, in order to avoid incidents, the Manchu Qing did not allow Zhao Erfeng's request.

To this day, under the snow-capped mountain at the southwest peak of the Varong Karma Dam, the cliff is still engraved with ten Chinese characters the size of the table of eight immortals.

"It's a pleasure to have friends from afar." and the inscription below the lettering. "Zhao Erfeng, the minister of the Great Qing Dynasty, came to the boundary survey and carved the stone 、......"

"The late Qing Dynasty knew the soldiers. Cen Yuan is the most famous. Is it like General Zhao, Kawabe is heroic. "The coup d'état began in Xinhai, and the whole Sichuan was boiling. The arsonist is dancing with a sword. Mourn this world. ”

It can be said that if it weren't for the suppression of the 'Baolu Movement' by Zhao Erfeng under the pressure of the Qing government during the 'Baolu Movement', then the four words of national hero, at least Zhao Erfeng can still be called.

However, under the orders of the Qing government, he changed his philosophy. The shift to suppressing the pro-road movement that he didn't feel wrong can also be seen. No matter what Zhao Erfeng's talent is, he is just a traditional official, and the most important thing for him is not how the people are. It's the imperial court, it's the four words 'loyal to the monarch and patriotism', not 'protecting the family and defending the country'...

Of course, it is precisely because of this relationship that the Xinhai Revolution succeeded. After the new Overseers came to power. That's why he's going to die...

As for Yin Changheng, he is also unlucky, of course, he is better than Zhao Erfeng.

After Zhao Erfeng's death, Tibet began to become unstable again. Naturally, the Beiyang government at that time could not allow Tibet to become independent from Chinese rule, so a new order was issued, and Yin Changheng led the Western Expeditionary Army into Tibet to quell the rebellion.

By the time the rebellion in Tibet was almost put down. He was unlucky.

To put it simply, his fate is similar to Cai's. Historically, he and Cai Ye were both deceived into Beijing by Yuan Shikai and then placed under house arrest.

Of course, in this era, Yin Changheng's fate is obviously much better, at least before he was deceived into Beijing, Yan Shao had already begun to oppose Yuan Shikai. Therefore, Yin Changheng naturally escaped the result of being deceived into Beijing, and finally became a hero because of the Tibetan counterinsurgency.

After the establishment of the Guoshe government, the commander of the Sichuan army became the leader of the Sichuan army, and during the political reform period, he became a division commander ―――――― division commander, which is naturally nothing now, but at that time there were more than 30 divisions in the country, and the importance of this division commander was naturally ...

And now, with the expansion of the National Defense Force, Yin Changheng has become an officer at the level of corps commander and ranks in the rank of general. It can be said that it is a blessing in disguise, but I pity Zhao Erfeng...

Originally, if there was no accident, even if Zhao Erfeng couldn't be like Yin Changheng, at least he wouldn't end up on the ground.

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If we want to strengthen our influence and control over Tibet, the most important thing is to strengthen communication with Tibet. In this way, the two sides will have close ties and it will naturally be easier to exert influence on Tibet.

Of course, this is not important, the most important thing is that as long as the communication with Tibet is strengthened, then even if something really happens, the government can send troops into Tibet as quickly as possible, and then do whatever it wants.

And in this era, if the sky and sea are excluded, then the most convenient mode of transportation is obviously only the railway.

Of course, this is not to say that this is the fastest way, or that the rail is faster than the road. In fact, in addition to the high-speed rail developed in later generations, how to say the speed of ordinary trains...

Although it is true that normal trains are fast, if they are on the highway, ordinary motor vehicles are not necessarily slower than trains. At least Yan Shao once had such an experience, a fast train, under the same distance, is not as fast as a passenger car on the highway~

This somewhat subverted Yan Shao's cognition, of course, this is only on the highway, if you have to cross the city from time to time, then the railway is faster―――――― at least the railway does not need to worry about traffic jams.

After the advent of high-speed rail, roads cannot be compared with railways.

In fact, after the advent of high-speed rail, even the fastest shipping has been greatly affected. After all, aviation is too much affected by the environment compared to railways.

If it weren't for intercontinental traffic, especially those that need to cross oceans, and railways could not replace aviation, I am afraid that aviation would be more affected.

In any case, the advantages of rail transport are enormous, especially in terms of cargo capacity, and the cost of rail transport is relatively low. In particular, the construction cost of railways is much worse than that of highways.

And if in times of war, if you want to better maintain the supply transportation in the rear. Then the railway definitely has a greater advantage than the road―――――― how much can a train pull, compared to the car transport to achieve the same distance. That's a lot, and if that's the case, then the amount of gasoline needed alone is definitely not a small amount.

What's more, the train technology of this era has basically been relatively mature, and what is needed next is to continue to surpass, surpass, and surpass.

And what about automotive technology? There are still a lot of immature places, at least in this era, it is not a very strange thing for a car to break down. If only it was a normal breakdown. Of course, that's nothing, but if it happened during the war, it would be more fatal. After all, these cars will carry either soldiers who are rushing to the front line, or all kinds of supplies that are urgently needed by the soldiers on the front line...

In this way, the importance of railways cannot be overstated.

However, although the benefits of rail transport are many. It is not easy to build a railway in Tibet. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway in later generations started in Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province. To the west through Huangyuan, Haiyan, along the northern edge of Qinghai Lake bypass, through Delingha to Xitieshan, south and 315 National Highway parallel to arrive at Golmud in the Qaidam Basin. From Golmud to the south, climb the Kunlun Mountains, cross Hoh Xili, pass through the Wind Volcano and Tanggula Mountains, enter Amdo, Nagqu and Dangxiong in Tibet, and finally arrive at Lhasa, the capital of Tibetan Province. The total length of the railway is almost 1,956 kilometers. It was equivalent to almost 2,000 kilometers, which was already longer than the entire length of railways in many countries at that time.

And a considerable part of it is built on permafrost. The so-called permafrost. In physical geography, it refers to the environment where trees cannot grow due to low temperatures and short growing seasons, and in geology, it refers to various rocks and soils that contain ice below zero degrees Celsius. You can imagine how difficult it is to build a road in such an environment as groceries.

Of the 1,956 kilometers of railways, at least 550 kilometers were built on permafrost, which made the railway even more difficult.

The so-called Qinghai-Tibet Railway was first started in 1955 in the original history, and large-scale surveys began in 1958. It's just that at that time, China obviously did not have the technical and economic capacity to build this road, especially a stable political situation.

So, the railway works went bankrupt ...

After that, the railway project was carried out intermittently, but the real large-scale construction was only after entering the 21st century.

From 2001 to 2006, it took almost five years.

Even in the future, when both economically and technologically superior to the present, this railway took 5 years, let alone now?

Of course, this is not to say that the railway has not been repaired, in fact, the railway work has been going on. It's just that Yan Shao knows that the entire railway will not be completed at least 20 years ago, and at the same time, it will not be of any help to the various strategies of the national government, at least in the short term.

So nowadays, this railway is basically in the process of slow construction―――――― to put it simply, compared with other railways that start construction 24 hours without interruption, the current construction speed of this railway can only be described as normal.

At least according to the statistics of the Ministry of Transport, it is impossible to see the railway open to traffic in 10 years. If something happens, it's not impossible to even take a little more time. This is also one reason why Yan Shao did not make it mandatory.

Of course, this is not to say that the control of Tibet is not important.

After all, because of the corruption and incompetence of the former Qing Dynasty, China's control over Tibet has always been weak. At least in the early days of the Kuomintang――――――s government had the strongest influence on Tibet, followed by China, even when the Kuomintang-government was first established the radiation area was still limited to Anhui and a few provinces on the way to the Northern Expedition.

Obviously, even some of the provinces that are a little farther away are only nominal submissions. What's more, the emperor is far away, and there is Tibet behind the British that the British can rely on?

Regardless of whether Tibet was important to China at that time, since Tibet existed as part of China's territory, it was unlikely that Yan Shao, who had strong nationalism, would have allowed Tibet to secede from Chinese rule...

Therefore, in order to enhance the influence on Tibet, road construction has become an inevitable choice. Because this will not only strengthen the ties between the interior and Tibet, but the most important thing is that the government can open the guò highway and send troops into Tibet as quickly as possible!

That's all that matters!

And in the case that the railway simply cannot be completed in 10 years. Highway became the only option for the national government.

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The highway may have this or that inconvenience, but there is a point that is very convenient to go―――――― first of all, even if the highway is damaged, unless it is a comprehensive and complete destruction, it is very simple to repair it.

This will be the case in the Hereafter. When some airfields were bombed, there were usually many ways to repair them.

Of course, you can also use roads, but with cement. After all, it will take a while to repair―――――― at least the cement is dry, or you need to wait for a while. For the transportation line, this time is not easy to wait, so it can be filled with some materials. Or in the place where it was blown out. Cover it directly with an iron plate or the like.

Anyway, even if there is a centimeter or a few centimeters of difference between the iron plate and the road itself, it can still be driven by a car. Even if it is a tracked armored vehicle, even a half-meter-high wall can be jumped over ~

In contrast, the railways are much more troublesome.

At least if the tracks are blown up, the train will have to wait for repairs, and this will require a lot of delays.

But what really makes the national government favor the road. To not the ability to repair in such a time of war, but time!

Compared to the railway. Roads do not have much advantage in cost, but they do have an extraordinary advantage in time.

In fact, since the establishment of the Communist government, and its position has been secured, at least after the submission of most of the provinces, the Communist government has begun a program of road construction. And it's definitely not just one road, but three roads are being built at the same time.

These three highways include the Sichuan-Tibet Highway, the Qinghai-Tibet Highway and the Yunnan-Tibet Highway. That is, the highway from Sichuan, Qinghai-Tibet and Yunnan to Tibet.

And these three highways, except for the Yunnan-Tibet Highway, which is still under construction, the remaining two highways have been completed―――――― especially the Sichuan-Tibet Highway, the entire completion process took only three years, which can be called a god-fast speed, and this highway from Chongqing to Chengdu to Lhasa has also greatly strengthened the control of Tibet by the Nationalist Government.

Naturally, in the process of building this road, the protests of the British government can be said to be endless, and they can be stopped. However, the Communist government ignored this protest of the British, and almost ignored it.

In doing so, in view of the huge diplomatic pressure exerted by the British government at that time, some 'lords and factions' in China were instigated at that time, and felt that there was no need to build such a few roads at the risk of angering the British. and also advised Yan Shao for this, but Yan Shao didn't listen to them.

This was not only because Yan Shao's decision was supported by the hardliners in China at that time, but also because Britain at that time had no way to retaliate against the Nationalist government―――――― think about it, the Nationalist government was established in 13 years, and the First World War had broken out in 14 years.

At the same time, considering that it is necessary to do everything possible to pacify the warlords in the country, even if Yan Shao wants to build the road, it will take at least 15 years to start construction.

And in 15 years, even if the British wanted to react, they no longer had the ability to do so. Because at that time, the quagmire on the European battlefield had deeply dragged down the British. And for the British, the shape of the European battlefield was much more important than a Tibet in any case.

Of course, the British also thought about waiting until the war in Europe was over, and then they would turn around and teach the Chinese a good lesson. It's a pity that the war ended much later than the British judged, and more importantly, much more cruel than the British.

After the heavy losses, the British were no longer able to take any substantive action against the Nationalist government, and they could only acquiesce to the Nationalist government's return to Tibet.

And now, when a large number of vehicles bearing the Wehrmacht logo, carrying a series of supplies, crossed the road and crossed the mountain peaks to reach the southern Tibetan region. They began another way of disgusting the British.

It is also rude to come and go, since the British have disgusted the Nationalist government in the matter of Macao. Then they naturally have to be mentally prepared to be disgusted by the national government.

By order of the National Social Affairs Government. A large number of national defense forces crossed the mountains of Tibet and came to several regions such as southern Tibet with these railways, and with a large number of vehicles to transport supplies, they began to build camps and a series of fortifications in the areas on the Sino-Indian border...

On the other hand, the British were also shocked when they learned of the actions of the National Government.

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In fact. Although the construction of three roads has been carried out in detail, and two of them have been completed, the Nationalist government is not very strong in Tibet. At least definitely not as strong as in Xinjiang.

There are two main reasons for this: First, because of the strength of the national defense force, the strength of the entire national defense force is just over 2 million, of which the army is only a little more than 2 million.

Today, however, China's territory is unusually vast. Almost 30 million square kilometers of land. It is almost three times the size of later China. As a result, the two million or so Wehrmacht force would naturally be unusable, especially considering that it was still a very chaotic time, and that the Nationalist government had hostile forces in a large number of areas and needed to have enough troops.

For example, in the Northeast, because of the relationship between the Japanese, there is at least one army group stationed in the Northeast itself, including the Northeast itself and the surrounding areas of the Northeast.

There are also the Urals and Astana regions, where the forces of an army group are also stationed.

There is also the Middle East. As an extremely important region of China in the future, no matter how many troops are stationed here, it is a matter of course. So the troops here were also stationed with a legion of more troops.

Plus a range of other regions. Whether it is an army or 350,000 men, the number of troops that the Kuomintang government can put down in Tibet is really pitiful. Even Xinjiang has enough troops stationed because it is the rear of Central Asia and the Urals.

Only in Tibet, the entire force is only one infantry division.

Of course, the situation in Tibet, an infantry division is enough to deal with, after all, it is not a particularly chaotic place. Even if there are a few rebels in the area, one company is basically enough.

In addition, there is a problem of geography, and it is not very easy to supply the troops stationed in Tibet when there are only roads. This is especially true when it comes to cost.

Coupled with the influence of the British, although he looked down on the British, Yan Shao did not think that it would be a good idea to frequently touch the bottom line of the British. Therefore, for a long time, Tibet has always had only one infantry division, and at the same time, on the Sino-Indian border, there are basically not many national defense forces―――――― logistics supply is inconvenient, and the more troops stationed, the greater the problem.

Anyway, at that time, the Nationalist government and the British were also friendly forces, and the British really wanted to make any moves, and they were also plotting the whole of Tibet, so since they couldn't send too many troops, it was better to simply keep the symbolic storage...

In the past few years, the British have obviously become somewhat accustomed to this situation, and it is precisely for this reason that when the Wehrmacht crossed the mountain and began to build fortifications on the Sino-Indian border, the British would appear so flustered.

Because these fortifications were built in the immediate vicinity of India.

God can testify that in the last one or two hundred years, the British have never allowed the armies, especially the military fortifications, of any country to come so close to India, the most important colony for the British.

So after confirming this, just one day later, the protest telegrams of the British were scattered like snowflakes on the Nationalist government, on Beijing.

Even the British delegation that held a meeting in Washington protested to Li Liang and others, and at the meeting also denounced the behavior of the Kuomintang-Socialist government.

But in this regard, neither Yan Shao nor Li Liang cared much about it, because...

"Tibet is China's territory, both in the past and in the future, so no matter what China does on this land, no other country has the right and right to say anything, especially when it has nothing to do with other countries!" (To be continued......)