Lanzhou, Zhang Zhao's chariot had just arrived. Lanzhou governor Jia Yanchang, the Wuwei town commander who guarded Lanzhou, Lanzhou judge Wang Tinghan, Lanling water transport envoy Su Lunluxin, and Lanshan water transport envoy Cao Renqing were waiting outside Lanzhou to greet Zhang.
It's clear.
Among the officials, Jia Yanchang and Ma Shacai were the leaders, but standing a little ahead was Cao Renqing, Lanshan Water Transport Envoy.
Because Cao Renqing, who is 51 years old this year, is Zhang Zhao's biological uncle and the current elder of the Cao family in Shazhou.
This is another ethical confusion, because Cao Renqing is actually Cao Yijin's cousin. Cao Yijin was originally named Cao Rengui, but he changed his name to Cao Yijin after he took control of the Guiyi Army.
Therefore, Cao Renqing, who married Zhang Zhao's aunt, can be said to be Zhang Zhao's cousin.
The circle of the Guiyi Army is too small, with tens of thousands of Han people huddled in Dunhuang, and the chaotic ethical gags are simply standard.
Under the rule of Zhang Zhao, Lanzhou was not as good as before. Historically, when it was in the hands of the Tang Dynasty, the important towns in Longyou, Hexi Province were Liangzhou and Shanzhou. In many cases, Lanzhou's status was not as good as that of Shazhou.
But here in Zhang Zhao, Lanzhou's status has undergone great changes. It has now surpassed Shanzhou and become the second largest city in Liang Kingdom.
Zhang Zhao also visited Lanzhou often, and the Huguo Temple outside Lanzhou City has almost become Zhang Zhao's palace.
The reason for such a big change is that Zhang Zhao has been promoting water transportation communication between Hexi Longyou and Lingwu. This can be seen from the current power structure in Lanzhou.
The Lanling Water Transport Envoy and the Lanshan Water Transport Envoy, one in charge of the water transport from Lanzhou to Lingzhou and the other in charge of the water transport from Shanzhou to Lanzhou, have become important officials in Lanzhou City.
As the most important river in China, the Yellow River, known as the mother river, also plays an extremely important role in Longyou, Hexi.
At this time, it was difficult to build Chidao, and there was no ability to build tunnels. Convenient water transportation became the most important transportation condition.
Especially in Longyou, Hexi, this is the most important thing.
At this time, the Yellow River running through Longyou and Lingwu in Hexi Province had four very important water transport areas.
The first is water transportation from Lanzhou to Lingzhou.
However, after the wars in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, only the section from Lingzhou to Huizhou, that is, the section from Lingwu District in Ningxia to Jingyuan in Gansu Province, is still open to navigation. The section from Huizhou to Lanzhou is basically inaccessible to large ships.
The last time Zhang Zhao launched a large army to attack the Li family of the Dingnan Army, he sent all his troops from Liangzhou and traveled overland to the Xinquan Army in the northwest of Huizhou before having water transported away.
The second item is even more important, which is the water transportation from Shanzhou, where the Longyou Jiedu Envoy Office is located, to Lanzhou.
This is the famous Huangshui River, also called Huangshui River in later generations. The starting point of this water transport is Shancheng, and then goes down to Huangshui City and then to Lanzhou.
Shancheng is Xining, Qinghai in later generations, and Huangshui City is Ledu County, Qinghai. It goes without saying how important the water transport connecting the two provincial capitals is from Xining, Qinghai to Lanzhou, Gansu.
The third water transport is the Li River, which was later called the Daxia River and is also an important tributary of the Yellow River.
This waterway runs from Hezhou (Linxia, Gansu) to Lanzhou. It is of great significance for connecting the two states of Hekuo and for controlling the hometown of Tuyuhun to the west of the two states.
The fourth water transport is the Taoshui water transport, which is the key waterway from Taozhou to Lanzhou through Minzhou, which is also the line from Lintan in Gansu Province to Lanzhou in later generations.
These four river sections were all connected during the Tang Dynasty. Later in the Northern Song Dynasty, the Hehuang River section was also connected except for the water transport from Lanzhou to Lingzhou.
It can be said that only by connecting these four waterways can we truly master Hexi Longyou and Lingwu.
The important reason why Zhang Zhao's Liang State government has always been able to focus on Liang, Lan, Gan and other states is that these four waterways were not connected in time.
For example, before water transportation was blocked, it took seven days to get from Shanzhou to Lanzhou. This was still very hard to cross the mountains without carrying a lot of supplies.
However, the Huangshui waterway is well connected. From Shanzhou to Lanzhou, a "giant ship" of more than 300 tons can be transported, and it only takes three days to arrive. Whether it is transporting supplies or dispatching troops, it is much more convenient.
Therefore, in the past five years, Zhang Zhao has been supervising the dredging of water transportation in various places.
He came to Lanzhou today because the Yellow River water transport from Lanzhou to Huizhou and the Huangshui water transport from Shanzhou to Lanzhou have been fully connected.
The Lanling Water Transport Envoy and Lanshan Water Transport Envoy, which have been established for several years, finally live up to their names and are fully operational.
From then on, large ships of one to two hundred tons could be transported from Lanzhou to Lingzhou. Lingzhou had police, and Lanzhou could use large ships to send tens of thousands of soldiers and horses to Lingzhou within fifteen days.
Tuyuhun and Tibetan warriors in Shanzhou can also reach the front line of Lingzhou from the Shanzhou Plateau within twenty days.
It can be said that in this way, Zhang Zhao no longer worried about the Khitans entering Lingzhou through the gap in Helan Mountain. Of course, he was also not afraid of the rebellion of the local chiefs in Lingzhou.
However, these two most important ones have been connected, but the Tao River and the Lishui River have not yet been connected.
Moreover, the construction work has not been continued yet, because connecting the two rivers has already used up almost all the people in Hexi.
It's not that the food supply couldn't keep up, Zhang Zhao even had the financial resources to pay silver rewards to the people who served as corvees. Although it wasn't much, it was much better than those who used people's power in vain.
The unavailability of the people's power means that it has exceeded the physiological limits of these people.
I only eat some whole grains every day, and I can only see the smell of meat once every half a month. Under this kind of food, long-term heavy physical labor can kill people.
Therefore, it must be used for several months and then stopped for several months. In addition, although the population of Liang Kingdom is large, the territory is too large and the population is very scattered, so it cannot even be used in rotation.
Therefore, after dredging the Huangshui and Lanhui waterways, it is impossible to organize large-scale construction and dredging again.
Faced with this situation, Zhang Zhao could only make a choice. Of these two waterways, Tao River and Li River, he could only choose one.
Because the war between the Khitan and the Later Jin Dynasty during the third march south can be said to be imminent, Zhang Zhao could not spend more people and financial resources on dredging the river, and had to prepare for the next war situation.
As a result, the importance of Taoshui water transportation has increased, because it can directly reach the south of Didao, thus saving a lot of transportation capacity.
“First, the victims from Guanzhong were gathered in the Longxi and Xiangwu areas of Weizhou, organized into battalions, and the technicians who dredged the Huangshui River were dispatched to train them.
By the end of this year, at least the Taoshui water transport section from Lanzhou to Didao will be dredged."
While Zhang Zhao was giving instructions to Jia Yanchang, he began to make calculations in his mind.
Judging from the current situation in Liang State, Lanzhou is the intersection of these four waterways, and its economic status will soon catch up with or even surpass Liangzhou.
In order to advance into Guanzhong and the Central Plains, it will also become an inevitable trend for the Liang Kingdom's center of gravity to move southward.
He is also already considering moving the office of Longyou Road from Shanzhou to Lanzhou, and then using Shanzhou as the core city for recruiting Qingtang Plateau in the future.
Of course, we can't take action now, because not to mention the bitter cold on the Qingtang Plateau, the current force value is still good, and the descendants of each Zanpu family still have some appeal.
We must wait until Hexi Buddhism begins to affect Qingtang before we can take action.
....
And just as Zhang Zhao was starting preparations in Lanzhou, Yelu Deguang, who had been staying by Yuanyangbo on the Saibei grassland for almost three months, finally set off south.
However, he did not go to Liaoyang Prefecture in Tokyo in western Liaoning, nor to Dading Prefecture in Zhongjing. Instead, he went to Tanzhou north of Youdu Prefecture in Nanjing, which was later known as Miyun in Beijing.
As for my sworn brother, King Zhang, he is indeed a bit weak in terms of military skills among the Taizongs of the past dynasties, but in terms of political skills and acumen, he is definitely the number one figure.
After experiencing such a disastrous defeat, he first ran to Yuanyangbo to ensure his own safety, and then summoned all the powerful forces in the country to Yuanyangbo.
And he quickly launched a blame-shifting plan, blaming all the blame for this disastrous defeat on his powerful domestic factions other than his die-hard confidants.
After Yelu Deguang molded them into sinners who caused great defeat, he immediately served them with sticks as punishment.
In this way, among the Khitan people, the impression was quickly formed that the defeat was not caused by His Majesty, but by the officials who misled the country.
After finishing the game, I removed myself from the image of a loser.
After everyone was in a panic, not knowing what punishment would be coming next, and even starting to want to join forces to protect themselves, Yelu Deguang's attitude immediately became friendly again. He was at the edge of the Yuanyang Park.
In front of a group of Khitan nobles whose butts and backs were smashed, he announced that he would take up leadership responsibilities, so he pardoned everyone's sins and no longer pursued them.
Then he immediately ordered people to redeem the bodies of the dead Khitan soldiers and generals from the Later Jin Dynasty, bury them one by one, and hold a grand ceremony.
Finally, he publicly accused Hou Jin of a series of treacherous actions, and said that he would definitely take revenge, directing the anger of hatred towards Jin again.
At this point, Yelu Deguang originally made a mistake in his command and ordered the cavalry to dismount, which led to the defeat. In the end, he dismounted himself and created an image similar to Gou Jian and King Huai of Chu, stabilizing the situation.
Moreover, Yelu Deguang was also very shrewd. Empress Dowager Shuluping, who lived in Liaoyang Prefecture in Tokyo, asked Yelu Deguang several times to go to Liaoyang Prefecture for training, but Yelu Deguang refused.
The tribal army was transferred to Youdu Mansion.
Haha! Shulu usually stayed in Liaoyang all year round, and the Queen Mother's beloved son Yelu Li Hugeng had an army of 20,000. If Yelu Deguang really left, it's hard to say what would happen.
After Yelu Deguang stabilized the powerful factions in the country, he continued to issue edicts in the name of the emperor, putting great pressure on Shuluping, especially Yelu Lihu.
After several attempts, Shuluping could not bear Yelu Deguang's request and transferred 10,000 elite tribal troops to Youdu Mansion.
At this point, Yelu Deguang's position was completely stabilized, and then he summoned Han officials such as Zhao Yanshou, Zhao Yanzhao, Han Kuangye, Han Kuangtu, Liu Yanzuo and others who were in Youdu Prefecture to Tanzhou.
This was Yelu Deguang's habit. He did not easily enter Youdu Mansion because he was still a little worried about the Han people in Youyun Sixteen Prefectures.
Tanzhou is a perfect location, right on the main road leading from Youdu to the grassland.
If there is a change in the grassland, you can quickly enter the secluded capital to prepare for defense. If there is a change in the secluded capital, you can quickly retreat to the grassland.
The important reason why Yelu Deguang summoned these Han officials to Tanzhou was that he was preparing to go south again.
This chapter has been completed!