Regarding the idea of one sea and one land, Zhang Yanling had actually proposed it a long time ago. He even mentioned it many times with Zhu Houzhao.
After the sea channel was opened, Zhang Yanling had not considered this issue. However, opening up the land trade channel is not just a matter of words. The opening of any trade road is not only smooth roads, but the most important thing is not the roads.
connection.
Whether we have the strength to allow the countries in the Western Region to allow trade, whether we have the ability to protect the safety of trade routes, and the safety of goods coming and going from merchants, is actually the most important thing.
To the west of the Ming Dynasty, there were indeed many small tribes in the Western Regions, large and small, but none of them were under the control of the Ming Dynasty. Turpan, Yarkand, Tarim, Yilibaili, Jilijisi, Kazakhstan. Further west is
At the end of the month, Jiwabu, Khorasan and other countries in the Western Regions can lead to the Persian country all the way to the west. They can reach the South Asian continent to the south.
There are more than 20 tribes and small countries along this route, large and small, connected in series on the ancient Silk Road out of the Hexi Corridor.
The opening of the trade route on this road and the development of trade with the countries in the Western Regions will obviously bring a lot of benefits to the Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty now indeed controls the Hexi Corridor. From Liangzhou to Suzhou in the northwest, it is under the jurisdiction of Shaanxi Xingdu Division. The corridor is one south and one north, and is guarded by Liangzhou Guards and Suzhou Guards affiliated with Shaanxi Xingdu Division. Basically
Can control both ends of the Hexi Corridor.
However, the north and south sides of the long and narrow Hexi Corridor are occupied by the Tatars. On the south side is the Tatar Tumut tribe, which is a branch tribe of the collapsed Mongolian and Yuan Empire and is one of the six largest Tatar tribes with 10,000 households.
They are entrenched in the Qinghai area south of the Qilian Mountains, separated from the Hexi Corridor by a mountain.
However, with the obstruction of the Qilian Mountains, the Tumote tribe does not pose a great threat to the Hexi Corridor, but only poses a threat to the eastern border of Shaanxi and Gansu.
However, things are different in the north of the Hexi Corridor. There, it automatically goes west, starting from the west of Helan Mountain in Ningxia and stretching for thousands of miles to the west. It is all under the command of Batu Mengdayan Khan, the little Tatar prince who has unified the desert.
.
Although the north of the Hexi Corridor is also blocked by three mountains, forming a natural barrier. However, there are rugged mountain roads between Mazong Mountain, Heli Mountain and Longshou Mountain on the north side that can be sneaked into. It is just because of the rugged roads that large groups of cavalry cannot enter.
, however, small groups of Tatar soldiers often entered the land west of Hexi to cause nuisance.
Although they did not dare to attack the city where a large number of frontier troops were stationed by the Suzhou Guard on the west and the Liangzhou Guard on the east, the small groups of soldiers and horses caused great nuisance to the people in the Hexi Corridor and caused great damage to the beacons at the post stations along the way.
Frequently.
What's more, there was an incident where the grain and grass supplies transported from Liangzhou Guard to Suzhou Guard were attacked. This group of Tatars sneaked in secretly and burned Suzhou Guard's soldiers and horses to supply grain and grass and a batch of winter clothes.
, when the heavy snow came, the Suzhou guards had no food or clothing, and almost caused a chaos.
If we want to open up a commercial road, the safety of the merchants' fleet and personnel cannot be guaranteed at all. It is also unrealistic to send people to protect them. The Tatars move dispersedly and hide in the dark, and each caravan needs to be equipped with a considerable number of people.
How many soldiers and horses are needed to escort the Hexi Corridor, which is 1,400 to 500 miles long?
The Liangzhou Guard, Suzhou Guard, and even the Xining Guard to the south of Liangzhou Guard are only three guards. With the establishment of the border army, the total strength is only 18,000. They have to protect merchants and guard
Bian Town, this is obviously impossible.
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If the safety of merchants cannot be guaranteed, then no merchant will take such a big risk to do business in the countries in the Western Regions. Merchants in the Western Regions countries also dare not do the same.
And this was under the premise that Ming Dynasty controlled the Hexi Corridor.
Once you leave the Suzhou Guard, you leave the territory of the Ming Dynasty. To the west of the Suzhou Guard is the Turpan Khanate, which is actually the enemy of the Ming Dynasty. Although it is just a small Turpan Khanate, the Ming Dynasty has repeatedly fallen into his hands. The Ming Dynasty originally
The Hami Guard was set up in the Hami area west of the Suzhou Guard, and the Turpan Khanate originally bowed to the Ming Dynasty. However, it
After the Mubao Incident, the weakness of the Ming Dynasty was understood by the Turpan Khanate. Not only did they capture the Hami Guard and push the front to the Suzhou Guard, they also besieged the Suzhou Guard in the 17th year of Hongzhi. The Suzhou Guard commanded
Ruining led his army into battle, but was killed by the barbarians of the Turpan Khanate. The Suzhou guards were defeated and almost lost the west exit of the Hexi Corridor.
In addition to the Turpan Khanate, the countries in the Western Regions also had different attitudes towards the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, in order to open up trade routes, the countries in the Western Regions must surrender, otherwise it will not work at all.
It was after Zhang Yanling understood all these situations that he decided not to think about opening up the land trade route for the time being. With the resources Zhang Yanling can mobilize at present, this is simply impossible. If he does it forcefully, it will
Counterproductive.
Now Yang Tinghe came up with this idea. Zhang Yanling was surprised that he actually had such thinking and could think of a way to open up the land trade route. But at the same time, he didn't think so.
"Yang Shoufu, you are right. I have not considered a land trade channel, but I finally gave up on this idea. Do you know why?" Zhang Yanling said calmly.
Yang Tinghe smiled and nodded: "Of course I know. You think that the land trade route cannot guarantee safety at all, and the relationship between the countries in the Western Regions and the Ming Dynasty is not harmonious, so it is impossible to complete this matter, right?"
Zhang Yanling chuckled and said: "It seems that you fully understand the difficulties here. Excuse me, you said that the trade route can be opened in half a year, how can you do it? Do you think I will believe this unrealistic promise? Are you kidding me?
"
Yang Tinghe said in a deep voice: "Duke Protector, I am not joking. Listen to me. The difficulty in opening up the land trade routes is that the countries in the Western Regions may not cooperate, and the safety of the trade routes cannot be guaranteed. The root causes of these two points are actually
Tartars. Tartar raids
On the one hand, on the other hand, the reason why some small countries in the Western Regions are enemies of the Ming Dynasty is actually because they are controlled by the Tatars or benefited from them. For example, the Turpan Khanate is a small country with barren land, deserts, seas, and oases everywhere.
The grassland area is very small and the population is not
How can they fight against our Ming Dynasty? Didn’t the Tatars give them war horses, weapons and food, and form an alliance with them? If our Ming Dynasty had not been afraid of the pressure from the Tatars, we would have mobilized troops and horses to destroy the Turpan Khanate.
.......In addition, there are
Yi Li and the Yarkand Kingdom faced the threat of the Tatars, so they had no choice but to befriend them and become enemies of our Ming Dynasty. Our Ming Dynasty has weak troops and horses in western Xinjiang, so we can only protect ourselves, let alone make them feel afraid.
.So they despised me, the Ming Dynasty."
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Zhang Yanling frowned and said: "You mean, all the crux lies with Tatar? But... do you want..."
Yang Tinghe nodded slowly and said: "Exactly, the Lord Protector should have guessed it. I have discussed countermeasures with Mr. Yang Yiqing, Minister of War Cao Yuan, and important ministers from outside the cabinet. We decided that to solve all the problems at once, we need to deal with the Tartars
The Tatars carried out the Northern Expedition and defeated the Tatars.
Some problems will be solved easily. Their threat of harassment to the trade routes will no longer exist. Control and assistance to the countries in the Western Region will also be cut off. At that time, the countries in the Western Region will have only one way, which is to show their goodwill to me.
If we say that the trade route is open, it won't be difficult to get them to surrender."
Zhang Yanling said in astonishment: "Yang Shoufu, the Northern Expedition to the Tatar Kingdom? This is not something we talk about casually. Are you crazy? How could you have such a sudden idea?"
Yang Tinghe said solemnly: "This is not a sudden thought. Since the Battle of Tumubao, our Ming dynasty has always thought of a bloody humiliation and carried out the Northern Expedition to drive the Tatars to the bitter cold of Mobei. In addition,
The Tatars have been harassing our Ming Dynasty for many years, and there are border battles every year.
There have been dozens of times. In recent years, there have been many large-scale raids on Yansui and other towns in Ningxia, Xuanfu. It has long been the wish of everyone in the Ming Dynasty to conduct large-scale military operations against the Tatars and deal with them once and for all.
Things to do. Now is the time."
Zhang Yanling frowned and said, "Is it the right time?"
Yang Tinghe said in a deep voice: "Exactly. I have discussed it with Mr. Yang Yiqing, Cao Shangshu and some leading lords. We all agreed that if we want to conquer the Tatars, we must first take the Hetao. The land of the Hetao is occupied by the Tatars, which forms a great threat to the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty.
A huge threat. So capture the Hetao and drive them away
To the north of the Yellow River, this is the first step. The Tatars who lost the Hetao went to the fertile fields on both sides of the Hetao and lost the grassland moistened by the Yellow River. They will be greatly affected. As a result, their horses, forage and food will be reduced. The Hetao
This land has always been a pet peeve of my Ming Dynasty."
Zhang Yanling frowned and said nothing. What Yang Tinghe said about taking the Hetao was a completely correct idea. The Hetao is a large fertile land inside the bends of the Yellow River. The pastures moistened by the Yellow River water are rich and fertile, and it is an important place for the Tatars to raise horses. The production of grain is also
Quite a few.
What's even more troublesome is that the Tatars often attack Yansui, Datong, Ningxia and other towns from this area, and they can come and go freely. Because there are no natural barriers to block them. The proposal to collect the Loop has never been stopped in the Ming Dynasty, and its strategic significance is extraordinary.
Yang Ting told them that the first step was to regain the Loop, which was obviously right.
But the problem is that capturing the Loop will trigger a full-scale war. At this stage, does the Ming Dynasty have the strength to capture the Loop? Does the Ming Dynasty have the strength to meet the Tatar counterattack in the future?
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Moreover, taking back the Loop has no obvious connection with the smooth flow of trade routes on the road. To say that it has an impact, it is not an immediate impact. It is not enough to fulfill Yang Tinghe's statement that the trade route can be opened up in half a year.
Zhang Yanling began to doubt Yang Tinghe's motives.
He did not want to open up any trade routes at all. He wanted to use this as an excuse to launch the Northern Expedition and capture the Hetao. This huge contribution to regaining the Hetao would be enough to stabilize the position of the Outer Court, which was a huge contribution. In the current unfavorable situation for the Outer Court
, this will be a huge contribution to turning the situation around at once.
Zhang Yanling had reason to suspect that this was an action planned by Yang Tinghe and others to use military adventure to solve the current unfavorable situation in the foreign court.