When Song Guxi learned that she had found clues to Tuo Tuo Bu Hua, she immediately became energetic.
Li Shenghe took out a map, which showed the general terrain of the Yaksha Kingdom, but it was not very clear further north.
Song Guxi listened carefully to Li Shenghe's tactics and felt a pain in her stomach. She frowned and hummed softly: "Well..."
Seeing this, Li Shenghe hurriedly said: "If the commander feels unwell, you can rest first and discuss it later. I hope that grandson won't be able to escape either!"
Song Guxi touched her bulging belly and said with a smile: "My good son, my mother is helping you earn military merit, so don't make trouble!"
After finishing speaking, he pointed to the position marked on the map and said: "If we attack head-on, the enemy will definitely flee north. There is a vast frozen soil plain. We are afraid that it will be difficult to eradicate the weeds, so we let him escape again.
"
Li Shenghe also had this intention and said: "It is very difficult to march in the ice and snow. If this dog keeps running, we can't keep chasing it."
Song Guxi felt a little tired, so she lay down on the chair again and said, "There is no need to rush, we must think of a complete solution."
Li Shenghe nodded and said, "Please give me the command, my lord!"
Song Guxi closed her eyes and rested her mind. After a long time, she said: "Relying on our own military strength, it is difficult to defeat them all. It is time to use the power of the imperial court."
Li Shenghe understood and said: "I will personally go back to the capital and ask the imperial court to send more troops and horses!"
"The journey is too far. Let's go back and wait for the elders in the court to discuss the results. Tuo Tuo Bu Hua will have run away long ago!"
"Then...what do you mean, sir?"
Song Guxi pondered for a moment and said: "Before going to sea, the emperor promised me that if there is news about the Tatar tribe, I can turn to Mohewei for help. Now you can take my token and go to Mohewei to find Juluhou.
Let’s discuss the matter of sending troops together.”
"yes!"
Juluhoujingyuan was stationed at the mouth of Mohe River, covering the entire range of Wuhewei established during the Yongle period, as well as the entire Sakhalin Island.
Li Shenghe set off by boat from the Kamchatka Peninsula and arrived at the Mohewei Command Post five days later.
A city has been built here to guard the pass from Onan Hebei to Liaodong. It will be difficult for the Tatars to return to the Central Plains.
Jingyuan looked a little strange when he saw the token of the Beishan Guard Commander.
The imperial court had indeed sent a report from Di. The newly established Beishan Guard was the closest to the Mohe Guard where he was located, so it was natural that he should pay special attention to it.
However, when he learned that the commander of Beishan Guard was actually a woman, it was very intriguing.
Someone spread the news from the capital that this person is actually the emperor's old friend...
These are not the key points. The problem now is that traces of the Tatar tribe have been discovered. During the Northern Expedition, Jingyuan led the troops on the east route to directly attack the Tatar tribe and beat them to pieces.
Ever since Totu Buhua fled to the far north with his remaining defeated soldiers, the Tatar tribe has long lost its former glory. There is only a tribe of ten thousand people left. It is easy to kill him. The question is how to eradicate it.
.
Otherwise, you will drive people away today and come back tomorrow to make trouble, over and over again, which will be extremely annoying.
Jingyuan picked up the map and looked at it carefully, and said: "If we send troops from two directions, the other party will definitely flee. We must not leave him a way out this time."
Li Shenghe nodded and said: "Our Commander Song has the same plan. However, the far north has a wide terrain. If we want to encircle and annihilate it, we need to dispatch a large number of troops."
"exactly!"
Jing Yuan looked grave and said: "I'm afraid the strength of the two guards of you and me is not enough. If we add Duoyan's three guards..."
He made a few gestures on the map, nodded and said, "Well, if we divide our forces together with Duoyan's three guards, we will definitely make him have no way to escape!"
Li Shenghe hurriedly said: "Please also ask the Marquis to summon the three guards of Duoyan to discuss the matter of sending troops!"
Jingyuan slowly shook his head and said: "The emperor once ordered that if the Beishan Guards need support, I can send troops directly without asking for instructions. However, if you want to mobilize the three Duoyan Guards at the same time, you must report to the court!"
Li Shenghe also realized at this time that the Beishan Guards had the privilege of independent action in Liugui Country, which was specially approved by the emperor. Now, if troops and horses need to be used on a large scale, they must obtain the permission of the imperial court. How could they forget this?
Already.
only……
He hesitated for a moment and said: "It's thousands of miles away from the capital, and the memorial will be sent to the court. It will take at least two months to go back and forth. I'm afraid that Tuotuo will not get the news and escape early. What should I do?"
Jingyuan smiled lightly and said: "It won't take that long, just send a telegram."
Li Shenghe was a little confused and asked: "What is a telegram...?"
"The telegram is..."
Jingyuan suddenly thought that Beishan Wei had never seen a telegraph machine.
"You have been overseas all year round, but you still don't know that this telegram is a new thing developed by the Academy of Sciences. It needs to be laid. It was only connected to Mohewei last month. I have written the memorial and it can be sent to the capital in just half a day.
"
Nowadays, the territory of Ming Dynasty is rapidly expanding, and information transmission has become a big problem.
Although there are railways now, they cannot reach every corner. Moreover, the strength of railways lies in their transportation capabilities, not in transmitting information.
Once there is a war on the front line, information needs to be transmitted to the capital as soon as possible. In the past, it was just a matter of course. Now the territory is expanding and expanding, reaching the Onon River in the north, and there is no border to the south, including the sea.
In such a territory, if there is a war on the front line, how can we quickly deliver information?
In response to this problem, Zhu Qizhen had been suffering from headaches for a long time, so he ordered the Academy of Sciences to develop a telephone. However, the telephone was too complicated and the key problems had been difficult to solve. Unexpectedly, he accidentally made a telegraph machine.
Although this thing is not as convenient as the telephone, it was already considered an artifact at the time.
Therefore, Zhu Qizhen immediately issued an order to lay special telegraph lines in all major state capitals and health offices.
However, the telegraph machine at this time was still very primitive and had a relatively high failure rate. In addition, the wire technology was not mature enough. The longer the distance it was laid, the more likely it was to be damaged. Once a problem occurred, a large number of technicians were needed to investigate along the line, which was very time-consuming.
Time and effort.
Therefore, under the suggestions of Tong Xuan and others, the imperial court adopted a segmented method to set up telegraph stations in important state capitals and military posts.
These reporting stations are like courier shops, passing information from one station to the next until it reaches its destination.
For example, to send a telegram from Mohe Wei to the capital, the telegram needs to be sent to Haixi Wei Station first. After Haixi Wei Station accepts it, it must first check the coded font size of the telegram header.
Each site will correspond to a code, and the codes of all sites will be included in the password book.
When Haixiwei saw that the coded font size in the header of the telegram was Jingshi, it would not decipher the telegram. Instead, it would make a copy, keep it for archives, and then send the original telegram to the next station.
The process continues at the next stop until the message reaches the capital.
It was more than five thousand miles from Mohewei to the capital, and seventeen telegraph stations were set up along the way. Some places were not even important towns, and there were no garrison stations. Just because Mohewei's strategic location was so critical, the imperial court specially issued a decree to provide it specially for it.
A line was opened.
Li Shenghe didn't know what a telegraph was, and he didn't believe that a distance of thousands of miles could be reached within half a day. Anyone who could say this was either a god or crazy!
However, he carefully looked at the Julu Hou in front of him and found that he had no symptoms of madness...
I pinched my thigh secretly again, it felt very real, not a dream.
"Without further delay, I will report immediately!"
Jingyuan ordered someone to bring over pen and paper and write the message himself.
Since guarding Mohe Guard, small groups of Tatar cavalry have occasionally come to harass, but the main force has never appeared. Of course, he was unwilling to give up this excellent opportunity.
After a while, he put down the pen and paper and said, "Come, hurry up and send the report!"
"yes!"
A special dispatcher immediately took the message away, and the text had to be converted into numbers before it could be sent.
Li Shenghe took the opportunity to take a look, but saw that there were only a dozen or so words, and his expression became even more confused.
This is a memorial written to the Emperor. It should at least be polite and have a beginning, such as: How are you, Your Majesty? Have you eaten? How is your health lately...
After saying the polite words, the narrative begins.
At this time, it is necessary to be as detailed as possible, because it is not easy to send a memorial all the way. If some details are not explained clearly, and the emperor asks, it will be too troublesome to submit a new letter.
However, the piece of paper that was taken away just now had only a dozen words on it.
Basically: Go find Lao Mo, I want to eat fish!
A sentence like this, this is not a memorial to the emperor, it is clearly giving orders to his subordinates!
Seeing that his whole face was almost distorted, Jingyuan asked in confusion: "Is there any problem?"
"What is the telegram that the Marquis just mentioned...what is it?"
Jingyuan smiled, then waved to the side, and a scribe immediately came forward.
"Old Cao, take Li Tongzhi to the telegraph station!"
"yes!"
The scribe named Cao turned to look at Li Shenghe and said, "Li Tongzhi, please come this way!"
Li Shenghe resigned and followed the scribe to a separate barracks.
At the door, there is a sign of "Telegraph Station". What is strange is that there is a wooden stake standing not far away. There are two dyed lines pulled out from the barracks, tied to the top of the stake, and then extending south to the bottom.
A pillar, and then continue to the south, as far as the eye can see, there is no end.
Clerk Cao stretched out his hand and signaled: "Li Tongzhi, this is Mohewei's telegraph station, please come!"
Li Shenghe looked up and saw a sign erected at the door of the barracks with eight characters written on it:
Important military area, no approach!
"this……"
Seeing his hesitation, Secretary Cao said: "Master Marquis has specially given instructions, you can come in!"
"That's good!"
Li Shenghe walked into the barracks and saw another scribe. He was holding the note written by Jing Yuan in his left hand and a book of calligraphy in his right hand. He was flipping through it and recording something.
Secretary Cao explained: "This is the first step in generating electricity, which is to convert the message into numbers."
Li Shenghe scratched his head and asked: "How to transform?"
"The conversion of messages requires the use of a special code book. The principle is relatively complicated. I will explain it to you later. You see, the dispatcher is ready to send the message!"
Li Sheng and Xun Sheng looked around, and sure enough, the scribe just now was already playing with an instrument.
Beep beep beep...
The instrument makes a rhythmic beeping sound, but I don't know what it means.
Secretary Cao knew that it was Li Shenghe's first time seeing a telegraph machine and he didn't understand anything, so he explained: "This is for debugging. The other party needs to respond to the message to verify whether the line is open and to ensure that the sent message can be received by the other party."
received."
Li Shenghe nodded in understanding. Everything he saw was new at this moment. Although he couldn't understand it for the moment, he felt... very high-level...
"The nearest telegraph station is Hercynian Station, which is about three hundred miles away."
"Three hundred miles?"
Li Shenghe frowned. For a distance of three hundred miles, even the fastest horse would take a full day for a round trip. But he didn't know how this telegram conveyed the message...
Beep beep beep...
The telegraph machine was silent for a while, then suddenly the sound came out again.
"Hey, it's ringing, it's ringing..."
Li Shenghe shouted loudly, but he saw that the person standing in front of the telegraph machine was listening attentively and writing down notes while listening.
Secretary Cao smiled and said, "This is the other party's response."
"So fast?"
Li Shenghe was shocked. In less than a cup of tea, the two sides exchanged information?
Three hundred miles!
The fastest official document from the imperial court was called six hundred miles urgent!
The so-called six-hundred-mile expedited service means that official documents must be delivered to the capital as quickly as possible and in the shortest possible time.
Generally speaking, this minimum time refers to no more than one day!
The messenger was not allowed to rest during the entire journey, and he changed horses without changing people during the journey. All food, drink, and urination were done on the horse.
Such urgent documents are basically the result of a dead horse.
It often happens that the messenger dies from overwork after delivering the message to the destination.
Therefore, the imperial court would not use Six Hundred Miles for urgent letter delivery unless it was absolutely necessary.
What did you click on? It only took a cup of tea and it was over?
Li Shenghe couldn't understand how many people and horses had to be exhausted in order to deliver such an important court event. How could it become a leisurely errand for drinking tea and chatting with you?
Secretary Cao knew what he was thinking by looking at his expression.
"Li Tongzhi, look at the pillar outside."
Li Shenghe looked outside, nodded, and asked, "How?"
"These are wires. The message just sent was transmitted along these wires."
"This thing is so thin, can it still contain documents?"
"It's not about pretending to be a document, it's about delivering a message!"
Li Shenghe asked again: "Isn't a telegram a document?"
Clerk Cao had no choice but to explain: "It's a document, but it's not the kind of document you think it is!"
"What document is that?"
"It is the document after compilation and transformation."
"The content has changed?"
"That's not true."
Li Shenghe still couldn't figure it out and said: "After all, isn't it still a document? What's the difference?"
"The difference is huge..."
Secretary Cao organized his thoughts and then started from the beginning.