When Liu Bei got up from the palace the next day, Xu Chu told him that the prime minister and the two generals had left.
Looking at the bed next to him where the four of them slept next to each other last night, Liu Bei looked slightly dazed.
I sat on the bed in a daze for a while, then got up to wash up and prepare to leave.
At this moment, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Chen Mu and the others hadn't actually gone very far. They were preparing to head towards Choping after getting off Mount Tai.
There is a military base of the Qingzhou Navy there, which was built during the war against Yuan Shao.
This is the only way to go to Qingzhou from the lower reaches of the Yellow River.
At the same time, it is also the only way for Tongji Canal to connect Dayezawa, Jishui and the Yellow River section.
To the north of the Yellow River is Liaocheng in later generations, and to the south is Dong'a. Now, it will become the place where the north and south of the Han Dynasty meet.
The three brothers boarded the steamer Linzi in Changping and went all the way north to Guanzhong.
Currently, there is only one steamship. The cost of manufacturing this kind of ship is very high. If there are no orders, we can only rely on orders from state-owned enterprises.
But now the river is not channeled,
According to the plan formulated by the cabinet,
It will take about five years to realize the basic canalization, that is, the route of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
It would take at least ten years to realize Chen Mu's plan to fully open canals across the country, that is, to have canals open to all places except Sichuan.
Therefore, before shipping is opened, Dahan’s existing state-owned enterprises will not go to Qingzhou Shipyard to place orders.
Qingzhou Shipyard will not focus its main business on steam engines. Their main business is still on the manufacturing of ocean-going wooden sailing ships.
In recent years, the population movement in Han Dynasty has been very frequent, especially in the Qingzhou area. Due to the overseas gold rush, tens of thousands of people are lost to overseas countries every year.
Some go to Southeast Asia, some to the Americas, some to South America, and some even go to the Russian Far East to see polar bears showing their teeth.
It is true that the national power of the Han Dynasty was booming, but it does not mean that the people of the country will be particularly wealthy if the country is strong.
Outside the routes of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, there are large areas of poverty that simply solve the problem of food.
You may even have to worry about keeping your stomach full. There are many people who eat sweet potatoes every day for three meals a day.
Basic food and clothing problems cannot be solved,
Going out for adventure has become a way out.
Just because of the inconvenience of transportation,
Moreover, due to factors such as the difficulty of leaving their homeland, the people who were lost were only the poor people in Qingzhou and surrounding areas, and it did not affect the entire Han Dynasty.
Although to a certain extent, it is good news for the big man.
Because the money earned by people who went out to hunt for gold in foreign countries would often be brought back to the country to promote the economic cycle of the Han Dynasty.
But there are also many problems that come with it. For example, the population of Han Dynasty is already small, and it is still being lost every year. When transportation becomes more developed in the future, the population will be lost even more.
It is precisely because of the lack of labor that the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal needs people to dig, the steel industry and the textile industry need people to work, and the manufacturing industry will soon start.
Large-scale population loss at this time, for the Han Dynasty, means that development will be seriously lagging behind, which is naturally not a good thing.
after all.
In later generations, my country's population will be 1.4 billion.
And what about the big man?
Forty million.
Not even a fraction of future generations.
If the Han population is gathered together, it will only be comparable to the number one city in my country in terms of population in later generations, with only a few million more people.
So regardless of the early days of the Industrial Revolution, the population of Britain was only about 10 million.
But the area is small and the population is concentrated in the big cities in the south, so it is naturally easy for them to gather together to do big things.
And the Han Dynasty had a large territory,
The population is 40 million, but it is spread too widely.
In terms of population density, the population density of Britain during the industrial period was 10 million people divided by 240,000 square kilometers, which is about 42 people per square kilometer.
The words of a big man.
Dividing the population of 40 million by 5.8 million square kilometers, we get less than 7 people per square kilometer, a difference of 6 times.
This only counts the area of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Now the Han Dynasty occupies the Samhan Peninsula and Wonu Island, plus Liaodong and Monan areas, the area may have reached 7 million square kilometers, and the population density is even sparse.
Therefore, Chen Mucai urgently needs population, and at the same time, he also urgently needs to solve the problem of food and clothing for the people as the basis for population growth.
After arriving in Luoyang, he separated from his two brothers and returned to the capital of the Han Dynasty, the city of Luoyang that had gone through many trials and tribulations.
It is spring in February.
Luoyang is much more prosperous than last year.
In addition to merchants from the Western Regions, this imperial capital, whose latest population has exceeded 1.5 million, has many new faces.
There are Southern Huns in the north, Xianbei people in the center, Xianbei people in the east, Samhan Peninsula people, Fuyu people, Goguryeo people, Yilou people, Japanese people, and even indigenous people in Southeast Asia who look like monkeys.
In fact, around 200 AD, most countries and regions in the world basically maintained the primitive tribal social system, and the Huns and Xianbei were both considered advanced.
But the Han campaign had already reached these places, such as Fuyu, Goguryeo and Yilu, which were located in the three northeastern provinces of later generations. They were very close to Liaozhou of the Han Dynasty, and the Liaozhou Peninsula was particularly close to the Qingzhou Peninsula.
Qingzhou can currently be said to be the state with the richest technological, cultural and economic development. Under the influence of this place, the three northeastern provinces, the Korean Peninsula and Japan have slowly improved their level of civilization after years of radiation.
The most typical example is Japan. The Fukushima area has been ruled by the Han for many years. It has been promoted from a slave country to a feudal country. The king was made hereditary by the Han. Although the real power is in the hands of the Han, the lives of the people have undergone earth-shaking changes.
The change.
If the original people of the Wonu Kingdom were not even human beings, but could only be counted as monkeys living in caves, eating hair, drinking blood, and cultivating slash-and-burn farming, then at least they are still human beings now. They can choose to farm rice in Fukushima or dig in gold, silver, and copper mines.
mine to sustain life.
Oppression may be unavoidable, but the Han Dynasty is a country of etiquette after all, and the superficial work will still be done. There is no need to worry about food, housing and safety. It will not kill the aborigines and indigenous people like the European and American carving up the world in later generations.
As for Southeast Asia, because the rubber industry was transferred there, the Han people began to move south on a large scale, and Guangdong gradually became a trading port. And during the Western Han Dynasty, it was the window for exchanges between the Han Dynasty and Southeast Asia.
In addition, in recent years, the Ling Canal originally dug during the Qin Shi Huang period has been dredged from the Xiangjiang River system in Hunan. The exchanges between Jingzhou and Guangzhou have become increasingly frequent, and over the years, they have gradually become more prosperous.
Many surrounding countries flocked to the Han Dynasty. From a transportation perspective, it was because of the rapid development of shipping and shipping, which made it more convenient for people from surrounding countries to come.
But from another perspective, it is also because the Han economy has experienced explosive growth in recent years.
Once the food problem is basically solved, there will be more people engaged in the handicraft industry.
Textile industry, ceramic industry, tea industry, etc.
Zhuojun in Youzhou is now vigorously developing the textile industry. In recent years, more and more factories have been opened and a large number of female workers have been recruited.
It is worth mentioning that Chen Mu actually knows a little about the principles of sewing machines.
When he was 8 years old, it was still in the 20th year of reform and opening up, that is, around 1998. At that time, it was the era of turmoil. Every household in the southern rural areas had a sewing machine, and the Chen family was no exception.
But knowing a little doesn't mean knowing everything, so during the discussion with Ma Jun, I could only share my limited knowledge and see if Ma Jun could figure it out.
It's just that many years have passed and there is still no news. It seems to be very difficult and it is not that easy to get it done overnight.
Chen Mu entered the Han Dynasty capital from Luoyang Nanshi, which had been in turmoil for hundreds of years.
After returning home and resting for a few days, I got back to work.
In the ten years of Zhang Wu, the entire Han Dynasty continued to operate according to the plan of its new master. Although it was slow, it moved forward step by step with measured steps.
In April, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei arrived in Xiliang.
After more than half a year of accumulating grain and grass, Wuwei County in Xiliang became the rear area, with mountains of grain and grass piled up.
In June, the two led 80,000 troops out of Yumen Pass and arrived at Shanshan Kingdom.
Compared to the Han Dynasty, the Kushan Empire was truly an expeditionary expedition. The detour they had to take was too far. So far, it had lasted nearly three years and they had only conquered most of the Western Region.
In the east of the Western Region, the seven or eight countries in the Tianshan and Lop Nur areas, the Kushan Empire has not yet touched it, and is still wandering in the Kucha area.
No way, the Kushan Empire actually has a shortcut connecting the Western Regions, which is the famous Wakhan Corridor, the road where Monk Tang took Buddhist scriptures.
But in fact, the Wakhan Corridor is not only extremely narrow, but also has a complex and changeable climate.
According to what Faxian, a monk in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, recorded about the scenery along the way when he went to India to study for scriptures: "There are no birds above and no animals below. I look around in the vastness and cannot predict where I am. I only look at the sun to guide the east and west, and human bones to mark the way."
If a small caravan or individual is going, they can still pass.
But it is impossible to pass through an army of more than 100,000 people and immeasurable supplies of food and grass.
Therefore, the Kushan Empire could only choose to take the long way around.
After learning that the Han Dynasty was sending troops, the generals of the Kushan Empire's expeditionary force had to choose to stop. In fact, it was not that they could not defeat the countries along the way, but that they were completely overwhelmed by logistics.
In history, Ban Chao defeated the 70,000-strong army of the Kushan Empire. The same was true. When they reached the east of the Western Region, the supply line was too long, so Ban Chao easily defeated them while waiting for work.
Therefore, in order not to repeat the same mistakes, the generals of the Kushan Empire must choose the tactic of advancing step by step and wait for the domestic grain and grass to be transported before they can continue to move forward.
However, this style of play is a great test of national strength.
Currently, the only countries that can maintain this style of play are the Roman Empire and the Han Empire in their heyday.
As for the Kushan Empire and the Parthian Empire in their heyday, it might be okay to use all their national strength to fight once in a while, but if they want to go on long-term expeditions, their national strength simply cannot sustain it.
It is now the year 210, which is the beginning of the third century AD.
The Roman Empire was at a turning point from prosperity to decline. The Severan Dynasty, Roman Emperor Severus was attacking the southern Scotland region, and civil strife had emerged.
The Parthian Empire was already on the verge of destruction. It had been pinned down by the Roman Empire for a long time. Civil strife continued, and the people of the country were in dire straits. It would soon be destroyed and replaced by the Sassanid Dynasty.
As for the Han Empire, it had just recovered from civil strife. Although its economy and agriculture were developing rapidly, its population had not yet fully returned to its peak period.
Therefore, the Kushan Empire, the only one that still maintains its heyday, has become the most powerful overlord in Central Asia, and it will take another 40 to 50 years to lead it.
It can be said that the most important reason why Vesudeva II dared to attack the Western Regions, besides being greedy for profits from the cotton trade, was that he knew that the Han Dynasty and the Parthian Empire were in decline, and that the Roman Empire was too far away, so he dared to send troops.
Otherwise, based on Ban Chao's record at the time, even if he had ten courages, he would not dare to go on an expedition.
Now we know that the Han Empire has sent out troops. The expedition was already somewhat overwhelmed. In addition, as the expedition lasted for two years, there were already problems with the morale within the army. As a result, the expeditionary force was in very bad shape at this time.
But it's not all bad news.
As the saying goes, the enemy of the enemy is a friend. The northern Huns and western Xianbei who were defeated by the Han were now north of the Tianshan Mountains in the north of the Western Region.
The Kushan Empire sent envoys to the Xiongnu and Xianbei tribes to seek their help.
The two sides joined forces and quickly reached negotiations.
Whether they are the Huns or the Xianbei, they have deep hatred and antagonistic positions with the Han.
Needless to say, hatred has already begun since the Western Han Dynasty.
Opposing positions is a matter of survival.
During the Little Ice Age, life in the Mobei region was very difficult, with constant famines.
Only Monan is still rich in water and grass, and everyone wants to occupy it.
But the big man's position is that he can stay in Monan, but he has to kneel down and be a dog.
Between being a dog and beheading, they chose beheading.
So he was expelled from Monan.
Now that the Kushan Empire is involved, they will naturally be happy to have foreign aid to help.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! But what they don’t know is.
This time the Han Empire came not with ordinary soldiers, but with thousands of musketeers.
After years of research and the assurance of flint technology and steel quality, firearms have developed significantly.
The Firearms Bureau of Qingzhou Iron and Steel Manufacturing Plant eventually delivered tens of thousands of finished muskets and formed a firearms army.
From the perspective of civil war, the emergence of firearms was too late. By the time they were developed, the Han Dynasty had already been unified for four or five years.
But from the perspective of foreign war, firearms came out at the right time.
It's time for the grassland people to start singing and dancing.
In September of the 10th year of Emperor Zhangwu of the Han Dynasty, in October of 210 AD, it was the fourth year after the founding of the Han Dynasty, and the National Day was about to begin.
Zhang Fei, who is in charge of exploring the path of the former army, is at the headquarters of the Western Region Changshifu, outside Haitou City west of Lop Nur.
However, unlike the usual painting style of a general on horseback, his current attire is a bit strange.
Wearing a cotton coat, riding a bicycle, wearing sunglasses on his face, and a pair of binoculars hanging around his neck, he was looking to the northwest on a hill.
The sun was dazzling above his head, and ultraviolet rays were constantly shining.
The strange thing is that the temperature there is very cold, and the north wind is howling.
Under his feet was a vast withered yellow grassland, with herdsmen grazing in the grass.
The sky is clear, the fields are vast, and the grass is blown by the wind, and cattle and sheep can be seen low.
There is a misunderstanding here.
Many people think that the Western Region is a sky filled with yellow sand.
But in fact the desert is just a piece of yellow sand in the Taklimakan Desert in the Tarim Basin.
There are a large number of oases on the east, west, north, and south sides of the Taklimakan Desert.
During the Han Dynasty, these oases had not disappeared, including Lop Nur, which still existed. Therefore, during the Western Han Dynasty, the fifty countries in the Western Regions built cities based on these oases.
Therefore, there are often a large number of grasslands and even forests near oases, where herders graze their animals and live in pursuit of water and grass.
Now cotton has taken root in the Western Regions. Since it requires a lot of light, there are now a large number of cotton planting areas along the Congling River, which is also the Tarim River in later generations.
The weather in the Western Regions has cooled down in September, and it has even begun to snow in the areas west of the Tianshan Mountains. The Kushan Empire's conquests have also stopped.
However, the Han Empire did not stay, but chose to send a large number of scouts to the Kucha area to gather information.
Zhang Fei stood on the hillside and saw a caravan returning from a distance.
Half a month ago, a team from the Military Intelligence Department came back to report that the frontline scouts had completed their mission and were now reorganizing and preparing to return.
They were disguised as a caravan, so they were delayed a lot of time.
"General, they are back."
Standing next to Zhang Fei was a scholar about 30 years old. His name was Deng Zhi, a native of Nanyang Xinye, and the successor to the famous Eastern Han Dynasty general Deng Yu.
During the chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty, Deng Zhi was still young. He followed his family to avoid trouble in Yizhou and grew up in Sichuan.
By the time he was 20 years old, the war in the Central Plains was almost over. Liu Bei had taken over Yuan Shao and swept the entire Kanto region. The situation was complete.
Later, during the Liu Zhang period, Deng Zhi was not reused and had been serving as a minor official in the Brazilian region of Sichuan.
After Liu Zhang surrendered, he did not come forward.
Last year, Liu Bei recruited grain and grass from Sichuan and Guanzhong in preparation for regaining the Western Regions. Deng Zhi realized that this was an opportunity, so he took the initiative to apply for transfer to the army as an assistant officer.
Zhang Fei has always liked to make friends with scholars and children of famous families. After learning that Deng Zhi was Deng Yu, he transferred him to his staff and served as a staff officer.
The caravan's camel bells jingled in the distance, and it took more than an hour before they arrived outside Haitou City.
Soon the scout captain came to Zhang Fei.
"General."
The scout captain had been in the Western Region for several years, and his skin had turned dark.
Zhang Fei said in a deep voice: "What is the enemy's situation?"
"They are currently stationed in Wensu City, and the Huns and Xianbei people in the north are moving south."
The scout captain replied.
"The Huns and Xianbei are also here?"
Zhang Fei was greatly surprised, and then he laughed loudly and said: "Good come, good come, let's go back to the city and tell you more."
A solitary eagle hovers in the desolate desert, and in the distance outside Haitou City, there are countless tents.