stubborn thief

Chapter 408 Boundaries
Liu Chengzong realized that the Rakshasa expedition traveled to and from Siberia through the river, and he couldn't help feeling happy.

The Marshal's Mansion lived in Qinghai almost in a semi-nomadic way, he understood what nomadism is, and nomadism is explosion.

Nomads are on the verge of helpless extinction. They choose the slanted way of survival. At the cost of difficult survival, they use production methods that are less demanding on the land environment in exchange for extensive cavalry to offset population disadvantages in local wars.

Difficult survival involves many aspects, such as medical care, childbirth, education, commerce, inheritance, production, and disaster resistance. These are also the pursuit of nomadic forces, but their limited innate environment and special production methods limit their achievements.

This caused the nomadic power to be unstable, the interval between expansion and contraction was short and the scope was large, and the population grew negatively every year. It might suddenly become strong, or it might not know what happened in a generation, and just put yourself there. perished.

Therefore, nomadism is an explosion, and this way of survival is always related to war. Either it explodes outward and wins through wars to capture land and make up for the population;

Any kind of explosion, as long as it fails, the group will be gone.

The greatness of Genghis Khan lies in creating a common consciousness for countless powder kegs squatting on the Gobi, grasslands, and deserts waiting to explode-Mongolia.

Since then, the history of nomads has opened a new chapter. They no longer have to worry about blowing up and disappearing. The base is large enough for them to withstand countless explosions. As long as there are a few successes, it means that everything can continue.

At this moment, the overall weakness of the nomadic forces has gone downhill. One of the reasons is that compared with bows and arrows, firearms are more powerful and have a higher lethal rate, which increases the cost of nomadic forces exploding outward.

Liu Chengzong could see that Oirat is a Mongolian alliance that is very good at thinking and learning. They tried their best to increase the ability to explode outwards under the premise of limited cost.

This is reflected in the fact that the Oirat tribes have a large number of cavalry who are not equipped with armored bows and arrows, and only have fur hats, leather jackets, cloth boots, spears, horses and courage. This is especially true for the Heshuote tribe.

In addition, there are many soldiers who do not wear armor and use muskets. This kind of cavalry who only uses spears and infantry who only uses muskets can account for as much as [-]% of the Oirat coalition forces.

This kind of equipment tends to be desperate, using the impact of spear cavalry, the armor-piercing ability of muskets, and their lives to offset the defensive capabilities of medium- or even heavy-armed soldiers.

It belongs to the literal sense of blood.

Liu Chengzong admired the courage to spend money on reforms, and the information from Junggar made him realize that the Rakshasa expedition at this time was a fly in the soup pot for Oirat, and it was disgusting that the medicine would not kill him.

This is good news for the Marshal's Mansion.

On July [-]th of the sixth year of Chongzhen, Liu Chengzong took Batur Huntaiji from Nanshanbao to the south bank of Qinghai Lake, and arrived at the Qinghai Navy Yamen by car and boat.

Long before they docked, Captain Huaiyuan Zhou Qiang of the Navy Yamen got the news, and hurriedly changed into military uniforms and went to the shore to greet them.

In fact, Batuer Huntaiji's head was buzzing until he docked, and he was shocked and a little silly when he saw the huge warehouses and docks of the Navy's Yamen.

Qinghai Lake has an unprecedentedly prosperous fishing industry, as well as an unprecedented shipbuilding industry. Large ships similar in size to Tsarist Russian Zika ships are constantly coming and going. On the north and south shores, there are hundreds of small fishing boats casting nets for fishing.

On the contrary, the peculiar shape of the sailboat is the only thing Batur Huntaiji can barely understand here.

As long as you see the particularly strong Mongolian sailors in the lower cabin, the principle of this big guy moving on the sea is easy to understand.

But he couldn't figure out why.

Why did the Generalissimo build so many boats in Qinghai Lake?
The Grand Marshal actually built dozens of large ships in an inner lake completely controlled by the Marshal's Mansion.

That is definitely a warship, and there are still guns on the boat.

This lake is indeed very big, about the same size as their Zaisan Lake near Lake Balkhash, which can't be seen at a glance, but it has no enemies, and it can't get out.

In Batur Huntaiji's view, this kind of behavior is almost equal to... being full.

Dai Daozi said: "These boats are used to transport salt. For the same distance, the cost of using boats is lower than that of horse mules."

Batur Huntaiji wrote all over his face that you, Anda, are not authentic, and you actually lied to me.

He believed that the cost of shipping was low, but he did not believe that it was used to transport salt.

Salt is not uncommon, but it is very important to the Mongols. There are many salt ponds and salt lakes within the control area of ​​Oirat, but this thing... It is not possible to build so many large ships to transport it.

Dai Daozi was stunned when he noticed the look in Huntaiji's eyes. Then he realized the cultural difference and asked, "How do you sell salt?"

Sell?
Batur Huntaiji was very confused about this word. He said: "Every tribe has a saltman, who drives an ox cart and rides a camel to the salt pond, offers milk and tea to the salt pond, and takes ox tail hair and camel mane. Dedicate it to Yanchi Obo, and then take the salt back to eat."

Dai Daozi expressed his understanding, nodded and said, "That's all right."

Turning around, he went to find Liu Chengzong who was talking to Zhou Riqiang, and took advantage of the pause between the two of them, and reported: "Marshal, there is no official salt franchise in Wala."

Liu Chengzong was talking about shipbuilding with Sunday Qiang, when he heard this sentence suddenly, he thought it shouldn't be.

Even if they didn’t before, after experiencing the Great Yuan, don’t the Mongols know how to control salt?Then he thought about it again, thinking about the taste, it needs a settled environment.

If you don’t settle down, even if you specialize, you can only monopolize one small tribe after another.

It cannot achieve the effect of government monopoly.

Liu Chengzong believed that it was necessary for him to help Oirat to settle, at least semi-settled, otherwise it would be difficult for Oirat nobles to quickly collect money to purchase armaments in the Marshal's Mansion.

This is very good. Move the Oirats to fight with the Raksha people on the Ob River to create demand; then teach them to settle down and expand their income; then help them spend money and provide arms.

In the end, a good result was achieved that is obtained from the people and used for the people.

Liu Chengzong really wanted to see what kind of monster would be pieced together in Siberia when combined with Shuote Lancers, Junggar Musketeers, Tumed Sailors, Qinghai Warships, Gansu Frontier Army and other irrelevant things.

But at this time, Sunday Qiang had something more attractive to Liu Chengzong. He asked, "You have seen a Zika boat, how could you have seen a Zika boat?"

"Marshal, my subordinates have never seen a Zika boat before."

Sunday arched his hands, and then said: "However, in Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangxi, there is a kind of warship called Centipede, which is very similar to what the commander said. The captain is six to seven feet long, one foot and five feet wide, and the hull is long and narrow, with oars on both sides. Dozens of them stretch out like a centipede's legs when shaken, they are extremely fast, they carry more than a hundred people, cannons are hidden in the bow, and Buffalo machines are on both sides, is it similar to the ship shape that the commander said?"

How could Liu Shizi know this? The more he listened to the description, the more he felt like an armed dragon boat.

He knew that he was not an expert, and he might not be able to convey the message clearly in the middle, so he turned his head and asked Dai Daozi and Hun Taiji to talk to Sunday.

He stepped aside and asked someone to report to Juerwan, and asked Shi Cheng and me to bring He Xin and several old craftsmen who designed the arsenal.

Water battles are different from land battles. If you lose a land battle, you can still run. When a water battle ship is sunk, the sailors on board will basically be wiped out.

The ammunition equipment on the ship is also the top priority. Although the price of the ammunition does not have to be included on the ship, at least Liu Chengzong must have a bottom line in his heart.

After he finished his orders, he turned his head, and Sunday Qiang and Batuer Huntaiji had a very happy conversation.

Zhou Riqiang is here to describe the appearance of the centipede ship, Dai Daozi is in the middle of the translation, and Hun Taiji is in charge of that.

After they finished communicating, Sunday Qiang clasped his fists carefully and said, "Commander, if it's a centipede ship, I'm afraid it won't be easy to deal with. This ship was captured during the battle with the Frang machine during the Jiajing period. Later, it was imitated in Fujian and Guangxi. Come and chase down the pirates."

As he said that, he made a gesture to invite Liu Chengzong into the Naval Yamen. On the way into the Yamen, a little far away from Huitaiji, he said: "Marshal, Zhou used to build fishing boats in Shandong, and built some in the Naval Yamen. The boat...that is just an armed civilian boat, not to mention that even if you can build a warship, you can't let Mongolian Taiji carry the boat from Qinghai back to Tianshan, right?"

Carry it back?
Zhou Tongzhi has an idea.

Liu Chengzong stepped into the navy's office and said as he walked, "I plan to build a ship in Tianshan."

Sunday Qiang stopped, as if struck by a thunderbolt on the top of the sky, he was fixed on the spot, and after a pause, he quickly stepped forward to catch up with Liu Chengzong: "You know, I'm from Baoding, Commander?"

Liu Shizi nodded, and looked at Sunday Qiang suspiciously: "I know."

"A Baoding man went to Tianshan, and he was exiled for me for ten thousand miles!" Zhou Riqiang also read a poem, saying: "If you go for ten thousand miles, you will not return it. Where is Yazhou? gate of hell."

Liu Chengzong smiled and did not speak, but asked Dai Daozi to take Hui Taiji around the navy yamen, and then led Sunday Qiang into the yamen, sat down and said, "Does Captain Zhou know what my original intention of running the navy yamen in Qinghai is?" ?”

On Sunday, he made a strong statement: "Salt transport!"

Liu Shizi laughed and said, "Why build warships to transport salt?"

Sunday Qiang answered eloquently: "Suppress the various ministries at sea, and guard against Razun's sneak attack."

Liu Chengzong shook his head slowly, fighting a sea battle with the Mongols, it was rare that Sunday Qiang didn't think this was funny.

Sitting on the main seat, he raised his chin slightly, and with a bit of indescribable pride on his face, he talked eloquently: "Historically, when the northern regime went south, it was always restricted by the Jianghuai River. I established the Navy Yamen in Qinghai. Not for Qinghai."

He tapped his hand on the tea table: "It is to do everything possible to train excellent shipwrights and experienced sailors so that they can control the rivers when they intervene in the Central Plains in the future. The salt transportation is just to find a job for the sailors."

"My sailors have never been salted fish workshops, they are real sailors."

Zhou Qiang, who was sitting in the guest seat, wanted to speak again and again, leaned back on the chair and got up again, got up and leaned back, but finally opened his mouth and said nothing.

He remembered it clearly.

Liu Chengzong led his army into Qinghai in the autumn of the third year of Chongzhen. In the first winter after arriving in Qinghai, people got into the icy and snowy dens, like a group of bereaved dogs.

In the spring of the second year, they established the Navy Yamen.

At that time, Liu Chengzong made it very clear that ships were built to transport salt.

Zhou Riqiang never regarded the Qinghai Naval Office as a real naval office. He devoted himself to building ships only because [-] tons of green salt were transported from Chaka Salt Lake to Xincheng every month.

Qingyan is the pillar industry of the Marshal's Mansion. Every load of good Qingyan entering Hehuang is worth 26 taels of silver.

After all, everyone knows that the navy in Qinghai Lake can't get out, even if Sunday Qiang builds the best warship, he can't get out of Qinghai Lake.

But at this moment, Liu Chengzong said that he was planning to build the Navy Yamen, not for fishing and transporting salt, but for training boatmen and sailors to compete in the Central Plains.

In fact, Sunday Qiang had some estimates for the future development of the Marshal's Mansion.

Even if the Kangning Mansion is under control, it will be difficult for the army of the Shuai Mansion to enter Sichuan from Yazhou, but it is easier to advance from Kangning to the Lhasa Valley, and to conquer the east, it still depends on the Xining Mansion.

They are very likely to capture Lanzhou, occupy Gansu, and further take Ningxia, Guyuan, Lintao, and Gongchang west of Liupan Mountain.

The final front will be set in the Pingliang, Qinzhou, and Fengxiang areas, and the see-saw will be repeated.

Because Hanzhong and Guanzhong are important places that cannot be lost by the imperial court and are easy to defend and difficult to attack. In the eyes of Sunday Qiang, this is probably the final appearance of the Marshal's Mansion... In fact, as far as he thinks, it can be said to be very far away.

But now Liu Chengzong said that in the first year he entered Qinghai, he had already considered the capture of Hanzhong, the navy's attack on Huguang, and the cross-ship of Jianghuai.

This is a very magical sense of contradiction, as if Liu Chengzong drew a big cake and slapped it on Sunday Qiang's forehead, knocking him out and making him speechless.

Liu Chengzong was unhurried, and said: "The Marshal's Mansion can build warships in Qinghai Lake, and it can also train some not-so-experienced sailors in Qinghai Lake, but it will never be possible to fight in Qinghai Lake...so we must To fight and train soldiers, you must go outside."

"But handsome, that's too far away."

To be honest, Sunday Qiang felt that it would be better for him to go back to Ningzhou to be the magistrate of this job.

"It's really far away. My brother will go there too. There are thousands of troops. In addition, we plan to recruit tenants from Gansu. Therefore, there are three major tasks. One is to train sailors and hone shipbuilding skills; the other is to educate hundreds of thousands of people in Oirat. ; The third is to attract immigrants from Gansu."

Liu Chengzong shook his head, looked at Sunday and said, "I don't know who else can do these three things well except you."

Sunday Qiang blinked: "Education, hundreds of thousands of people?"

The war had just ended, and Sunday Qiang felt that this kind of term should not be used to refer to the Oirat Tartars.

"Yes, they are going to learn the Central Plains language."

Liu Chengzong nodded, got up and said: "The Western Expedition is a very important matter. In the extreme north adjacent to the ice sea, on several large rivers that run through the north and south, build ships, repair forts, and establish a river defense fleet. Step by step, The ultimate goal of exploring local mines is to force the Raksha Kingdom to sign a peace agreement and demarcate the border.”

Sunday Qiang's head was buzzing. He thought he was a well-informed official in the North, but the North in Liu Chengzong's words was slightly different from the North he knew.

"Where are the boundaries?" he asked.

Liu Chengzong shook his head: "Their army can't reach Xining, and our army can't reach the capital of the country, so where the border is defined, it depends on you. Where our river defense fleet will go, where the fortress will be built, and where will we go?" If you can’t advance an inch, the border will be where it is.”

　good evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)