Although the Spring Festival in the 14th year of Xuanping was not much different from previous years in general, with fixed rituals, it was much more festive.
Because at the end of the year, news came back from the northern front that the Ninth Army successfully pushed back the Tatar army and rebuilt the Hetao defense line.
Although the current defense line in the Hetao is still a very simple military defense line that has not yet been colonized, it cannot be self-sufficient for a long time, and there is no way to completely prevent the Tatars from entering the Hetao area, but it is a good start.
The entire Hetao defense line is more than 100 kilometers long, with the three major cities of Dongsheng City, Yulin City, and Zhenlu City as the core, supplemented by more than a dozen earthen fortresses, which is enough for the Tang Army to maintain a strong military force on the prairie.
After a few years of operation and cultivation, we can completely control this area, and this process cannot be stopped by the Tatars.
After stabilizing this line of defense in the Hetao, they can even continue to build the line of defense to the Yinshan Mountains, completely cutting off the connection between the Tumo River and the Hetao area, completely strangling the Tatars, and forcing them to completely abandon the Tumo River and the Hetao area.
Migrate to the north or west, but the north is a bitter and cold land and cannot support many Tatars.
As for the west, there are the Oara people, the Turpan Khanate and other tribes in the western regions. Although the Oara people suffered a disastrous defeat and the Turpan Khanate is almost dead, Anda Khan will still encounter the Oara and Turpan Khanate if he wants to move west.
of desperate resistance.
The above-mentioned two foreign forces in the northwest region were beaten by the Tatars in their early years. In order to protect themselves, they have frequently contacted the Tang Empire in recent years.
Especially this year, the Oara people were defeated by the Tatars. After losing a large area of grassland and cavalry, they completely fell over to the Tang Empire. Even the tribe's legitimate daughters were sent to them, and they didn't ask for more than a dozen.
The only reason for the marriage was that the Tang Empire would sell them some military supplies to resist the westward advance of the Tatars.
Under such a situation, once the Tatars were forced to lose Tumochuan and the Hetao area by the Tang Empire, the fate that awaited them would not be pretty.
At that time, in order to survive, the Tatars will definitely move westward and compete for territory with the Oara people, the Turpan Khanate and other tribes in the Western Regions. At that time, the Tang Empire can completely fan the flames while watching these foreign races fight, and finally take action to win the most
Sweet fruit.
The Northern Strategy has made significant progress, and the government and the public are naturally very happy, and even the Spring Festival state banquet is a bit more festive.
Many generals of the army were inspired by the victory in the Battle of Hetao. Some army generals began to propose that they simply work harder and send more troops to the grassland, hoping to secure the Yinshan defense line from Dongsheng City to Yinshan next year.
The defense line going straight north was built to avoid long nights and nightmares.
Some generals also suggested that they should increase the strength of the northwest defense zone and fight from the northwest to the east, trying to completely connect the northwest with Dongsheng City and build an outer Great Wall defense line so that the entire Hetao area could be brought under the control of the empire.
within the range.
Some army generals even said that if they want to fight, they will just fight hard. Next year, they will organize more troops to go north and strive to completely defeat the Tatars, not only the Loop, but also take back the Fengzhou River.
Seeing that the Army has achieved a major strategic victory in the north and is proposing to increase operations, the Navy cannot sit still.
In order to implement the Hetao strategy in the 14th year of Xuanping, various resources have been heavily tilted towards the army during this year. If investment in the north is increased next year and even in the following years, the navy will not have to survive.
Therefore, many generals on the navy side said that now that the situation in the north has stabilized, they will start to launch a Nanyang strategy, directly knock down Malacca, completely drive the Portuguese out of the Nanyang waters, and let the entire
Nanyang became the inner sea of the empire.
In short, everyone is unwilling to be lonely.
But in general, around the Spring Festival this year, the entire Tang Empire was relatively happy. The monarchs and ministers were happy, and even the ordinary people were relatively happy.
Because the fourteenth year of Xuanping was a rare good year in the past many years. In the vast territory of the empire, only a few places suffered from minor droughts or floods, but there were no large-scale natural disasters like in previous years.
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You must know that this situation is not easy for the vast Tang Empire.
The Tang Empire had a huge territory, and every place was different. Even though most areas were peaceful, there would always be natural disasters in some places every year.
But this year, it has been relatively stable, and basically no areas above the state capital level have been affected by disasters.
Especially the Zhili region, which has a large population and is also the most important grain-producing area, has good weather.
This year's situation is naturally not because of God's favor, but because the Tang Empire has continued to invest a lot of manpower and material resources in water conservancy infrastructure over the past many years.
Before unification, it was just a small fight, but after unification, the overall tone of the empire was to develop people's livelihood. At the same time, with the development of industry and commerce, the tax revenue the empire could collect was increasing year by year. Therefore, in water conservancy, transportation, etc.
Investment in infrastructure is also increasing year by year.
After seven or eight years of continuous investment, we can finally see results.
This summer, the Yangtze River also continued to rain. If it had been tomorrow, floods would have occurred in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, but this year it has successfully survived.
Among them, the newly built flood control dams and numerous water conservancy facilities such as water storage and diversion on both sides of the Yangtze River have played a huge role.
Another example is Hebei. The rainfall this year is also insufficient, but it managed to survive by using numerous wells and diverting water from rivers.
Therefore, this year's good weather is not a blessing from God, but a result of the Tang Empire's continuous investment over the years.
People's livelihood was stable, and foreign enemies fled in panic. This year was destined to be an extraordinary, even a turning point, for the Tang Empire.
After the Spring Festival, before the Lantern Festival, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Li Xuan, the Holy Emperor, once again held a cabinet meeting. At the meeting, the Holy Emperor asked all cabinet ministries to continue to increase investment in the construction of people's livelihood facilities, especially water conservancy.
Increase investment.
In the past few years, the Tang Empire also tasted the benefits brought by the construction of water conservancy facilities, so it has achieved unprecedented consensus among various cabinet ministries on the matter of continuing to build water conservancy facilities.
After the Lantern Festival, Emperor Sheng officially approved the water conservancy facility construction plan submitted by the cabinet for the next five years. The core of the plan is to continue to increase large-scale naval facility construction in various parts of the empire through central guidance, local construction, and the cooperation of the people.
It is not only necessary to build flood control facilities for large rivers such as the Pearl River, Yangtze River, and Yellow River, but also for small and medium-sized rivers. At the same time, extensive construction of water conservancy facilities and deep wells are dug in areas lacking water.
This is to ensure that floods will not occur when rainfall is high, and large-scale droughts will not occur when rainfall is insufficient.
Water conservancy regulation is carried out through dredging rivers, setting up reservoirs, building flood control dams, building dams and reservoirs, and many other methods.
If the construction of water conservancy facilities is only carried out in one or two places, the project will naturally be small. But if it is to be carried out nationwide, the amount of the project will be huge. At least based on the finances of the Tang Empire, it is impossible.
It can only be solved by relying solely on financial investment.
The funds allocated by the central government are only a few million taels of silver a year at most, which is simply not enough for the construction of water conservancy facilities across the country. Local finances must contribute the bulk, and at the same time, gentry and even ordinary people must contribute.
Please support enthusiastically.
This kind of thing cannot be solved simply by relying on money, because the central government does not have so much money, so it must mobilize the power of the whole country, especially the power of the country gentry.
Most of the money from the central government still has to be invested in the construction of flood control in several large rivers. However, the flood control of ordinary ditches and small rivers needs to be solved by the local governments. As for the detailed micro-projects in the countryside, that is not the case.
Most of them were built by local officials, who asked the gentry to contribute money and farmers to contribute their own efforts.
Water conservancy facilities are related to grain production, and grain production is directly related to the survival of the empire!
A large-scale natural disaster that spread all over the country caused more serious casualties to the empire than the Tatars who annihilated hundreds of thousands of troops.
As the emperor of the empire, after Li Xuan approved the plan, the remaining work had little to do with him. The subsequent specific work would naturally be handled by the cabinet ministries, and then the local yamen would handle it. He only needed to see
The result is fine.
The construction of water conservancy was the highlight of Xuanping's fifteenth year and even the following years. Attacking foreigners and annihilating the Tatars were not as important as this. So the army said that they should continue to increase troops and completely annihilate the Tatars.
Naturally, such a plan would be impossible to take shape.
Now Li Xuan's mission for the army is very simple. Guard the Great Wall, then improve the Hetao defense line, and at the same time gradually expand to the Yinshan Mountains. He does not expect to completely drive away the Tatars in a short time. He only needs to slowly encroach. There is no need to rush.
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As for the navy, they should continue to lie down and not allow them to cause any large-scale wars and fight to the death with the Portuguese. Now the Tang Empire still needs the sea trade profits brought by the Portuguese.
For a while, I still couldn't get rid of my dependence on the Portuguese.
Although the Spaniards have begun to gradually replace the Portuguese, the scale is still too small. It is easy to defeat the Portuguese now, but the loss caused by the interruption of sea trade will be greater.
So, we have to wait a little longer before going to Malacca!
But not fighting the Portuguese doesn't mean that you won't fight other foreign races, such as the natives on the Nanyang Islands. You can play whatever you want with the navy, Li Xuan doesn't care!
But don't expect the empire to increase military spending on the navy for this purpose, and don't expect the army to increase its troops in Southeast Asia.
If you want to cause trouble, you can only rely on the existing power of the navy!
The navy is also quite helpless. Without increasing military expenditures and the army not providing support, how can the navy control the huge Nanyang Islands with just a few marines? At most, it will be like now, fighting here and there.
, relying on the gradual increase in immigrants to maintain colonization in Southeast Asia.
Unable to conquer the South Seas, the Navy turned its attention to the depths of the Pacific Ocean, or to be more precise, the American continent on the other side of the Pacific Ocean!
In March of the 15th year of Xuanping, more than 20 large ships organized by the navy officially set sail from Wusong Naval Base, and their destination was officially the American continent.