Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 625 Brothers Traveling Together
"Sorry..."

"Everyone check the chamber of their guns, clean up what needs to be cleaned, and the bullets in the belt are ready!"

"Yes!!!"

In May, the Han Dynasty rides out the broken leaves, and the green and green tigers let me go.

At the same time as the Great Court Meeting in Beijing ended, tens of thousands of Han cavalry rode out of the Gobi desert to the west of Suiye Shui to arrive at the ancient battlefield thousands of years ago.

The wicker in the south of the Yangtze River is already graceful, but the Populus euphratica in the river area is like a sentinel on the endless Gobi Desert. It is obviously old, but it does not back down.

A soldier of the Ming army, dressed in mandarin duck battle jacket and paper armor, holds a rifle and sits on a carriage pulled by a large horse-drawn horse.

As the national strength of the Ming Dynasty grew stronger, they also enjoyed complete logistical support.

Six people were seated in a carriage drawn by a large draft horse, a civilian man driving the carriage, and five soldiers in units of five.

Although there were only six people, the combined weight of the armor and supplies carried by the five soldiers and their weight was no less than one thousand catties.

Counting the weight of the carriage and the weight of the four stone beans on the carriage, the weight pulled by this large draft horse (Shire horse) reached nearly two thousand catties.

But even so, the draft horse was still traveling at a speed of twenty miles per hour.

There are no fewer than [-] such carriages on the road to Talas at this moment, of which nearly [-] are used to pull people, and [-] are responsible for fresh water, food, and ammunition.

Behind this team, there are more than 3 war horses following the Western Expedition.

These are the confidence that Ming Dynasty dared to cross the Huangsha Gobi and march westward.

"This carriage is much more comfortable to sit in. I just don't know if the northern captives in the west have escaped after hearing about our expedition."

On a carriage of the Chinese army, Zhu Cixuan chatted with Li Dingguo with a smile, and looked at the vast Central Asia from time to time.

Right now, they are on their way to Talas, and the reason why they chose to send troops in May is because the most important resource for fighting west...water.

By May, most of the snow-capped mountains had begun to melt the snow, and the snow turned into snow water flowing down the mountains, which provided rivers for the Western Expeditionary Army to supply water.

Li Dingguo's hand slid on the map, besides Zhu Cixuan, there was another guard sitting beside him, and this guard's identity was the former Heshuote Mongol.

He Shuote has assembled the Oirat tribes to conquer Kazakhstan many times, so he naturally knows where there is water in summer and where there is no water.

"Here in Xuequan Mountain, there should be pastures emerging this season, and rivers should also appear."

The defensive hand pointed to a marked point more than a hundred miles ahead, tapped it with the brush in his hand, and then continued to say:
"There will be a lot of water sources further up. After arriving at Julan City, there are grasslands and rivers along the way to Talas City, so the army doesn't have to worry about supplies."

"Whether it is Kazakhstan or Bukhara, their cities are all local cities. Except for Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva, and Jumi, which are built of stone, it is difficult to attack. Others can be captured with a volley of artillery. "

"All the cities and routes in the river area are mainly along the three rivers of Wuhu Water (Amu Darya River), Yaosha Water (Dyrjar River), and Suiye Water (Chu River)."

"The place where these three rivers flow into is the Aral Sea. After reaching the Aral Sea, go westward to the West Sea. However, there are very few water sources along this way, and we have never been there."

The garrison explained the terrain in the river, and generally speaking, the environment in the river in the current generation is slightly better than that in the later generations.

The river flow is relatively large, the number of rivers is relatively large, and they appear more frequently. Although it is not as comfortable as the oasis everywhere in the Han and Tang Dynasties, it is still enough for the Ming army to gallop.

Li Dingguo pointed to Yaoshashui all the way up to the Aral Sea, and then looked at the Fergana Basin.

Looking at his gaze, the guard also explained: "This is the territory of the Kangju Kingdom in the Tang Dynasty. It is an intermountain basin in the fold belt of the Tianshan Mountains. The area is large enough to support a million people."

"At the beginning of spring, Hutudun had sent his son Abu Nai to move westward with [-] tribes from the Talas area in the north."

"There are 40 Kazakh tribes who obey Hutudun in this river valley basin. If Hutudun wants to move westward, he will definitely not abandon them, but will take them with him."

"If we go straight to the city of felt in the north of Talas, then we can stop their westward movement."

The garrison officer didn't know the intention of this western expedition, so he expressed his opinion.

Regarding his thoughts, Li Dingguo also affirmed first: "Your idea is good, but the court still needs the tiger and the rabbit to live."

"The targets of the imperial court's western expedition are mainly barbarians such as Khiva and Turkmen. The number of Khiva and Turkmen barbarians is no less than one million, so we need to be careful."

Li Dingguo was talking about the content of the information handed over by Beizhen Fusi, and Zhu Cixuan beside him also asked curiously: "Isn't this place in the middle of the river the most and the strongest Mongols?"

"Although Beilu is strong, the situation in Hezhong is complicated. Beilu is not a big family in Hezhong." Li Dingguo explained:
"Currently, there are no less than 200 million northern captives, and nearly one million of them have surrendered to Ming Dynasty."

"Tiger Rabbit Dun's expedition to the west caused the northern captives in the Western Regions and Hezhong to be hit. Right now, he has only 80 million people under his command. Because of this, he is unwilling to fight with Khiva and Turkmen, but chooses to move westward and annex Eastern Europe. Xilu."

"The Khivas and Turkmens are barbaric, and have repeatedly invaded Bukhara, Kazakhs and other Western captives, and their combat power is sturdy."

"But you don't have to be too nervous. With the rifles in our army's hands, even if there are millions of people captured in the west, they still have to surrender."

Li Dingguo spoke very boldly, and the soldiers around him also straightened their backs, seeming to agree.

Since the mass production of rifles, the Ming army has no opponents, and the only thing that can limit the Ming army is logistics.

However, even the logistics can be made up for by the crazy speed of the tractor.

Thinking of this, Li Dingguo put away the map in his hand, and at the same time, Subdi in the north of Talas was also put away the map at the same time with him.

Li Dingguo guessed right, Lin Danhan had already ordered to move westward.

Not to mention the richness and beauty of the grass and water in Eastern Europe, just having him sandwiched between Khiva, Turkmen and Daming made him a little unbearable.

On the left are other tribes who believe in Iraqi religion, and on the right is the martial arts of the Ming Dynasty.

Leaving the right and wrong place in the river as soon as possible is what he wants to do, and what he thinks has already started.

In February, the snow on the main roads began to melt, and Lin Dan Khan moved his troops westward.

More than 40 Bukhara and Kazakh Mongols in the Fergana Basin were driven by him to the plains of the Volga and Ural Rivers.

After cracking some stone castles in Tsarist Russia, he acquired many craftsmen who could cast artillery and muskets.

These craftsmen plus the Han blacksmiths he coerced, as long as Lin Dan Khan can find iron ore, then he can annex the Crimean Khanate westward.

Of course, if it is just artillery, then he is not enough to give Lin Dan Khan the confidence to annex the Crimean Khanate.

What really gave Lin Dan Khan confidence was that he reached an agreement with Tsar Mikhail.

The Mongols released the [-] Tsarist Russians who had been captured and looted before, and Tsarist Russia recognized that the land now occupied by Lin Dan Khan was owned by the Mongols.

However, the Mongols need to help Tsarist Russia resist the invasion of the Crimean Khanate. In exchange, Tsarist Russia will pay Lin Dan Khan a certain fee before each military operation.

In Lin Danhan's opinion, isn't that the "yearly reward" once given to him by Daming?It's just not fixed.

As long as I hit the Crimean Khanate enough times, Tsarist Russia will have to keep giving itself money.

As for Tsarist Russia, the nobles were building the Great Wall to resist the invasion because they couldn't stand the invasion of the Crimean Khanate.

If Lin Danhan's performance is good enough, he can use the money from building the Great Wall to hire Lin Danhan to attack the Crimean Khanate.

It is better to let them, the Tatars, be in civil strife than to invade Tsarist Russia together.

Therefore, the two countries reached a "friendly agreement" under the threat of the Crimean Khanate.

However, Delindan Khan, who was new to the country, didn't know that he had offended not just the Crimean Khanate.

Standing behind the Crimean Khanate is the Ottoman Empire with a population of more than 2000 million.

"Khan! Ezhetaiji sent news that Muhammad led the Turks to attack our camp."

When Subudi closed the map, he raised his head and reported the news he had just received to Lin Danhan who was riding in front of him on a horse, and handed the map and parchment to Lin Danhan.

Lin Dan Khan did not restrain his temper too much. When he heard the news that the Crimean Khan Mohammad Glai led the Ottomans to invade the camp, he immediately gritted his teeth.

Skillfully opening the parchment and the map, he compared the contents of the map and the parchment, and finally put his finger on the hills in the northern Caucasus Mountains.

It is the place where Lin Dan Khan let a thousand herdsmen in Chahar graze. Now that it has been looted, it is clear that the thousand herdsmen there are in danger.

A thousand herdsmen can produce at least [-] soldiers. For Lin Dan Khan, who had only [-] soldiers and horses, sacrificing [-] soldiers was an unbearable pain.

Since his expedition to the west, he has been the only one who sneaked up on others, and no one else has the right to sneak up on him.

Thinking of this, Lin Danhan put away the parchment and map, and shouted to Subudi beside him:

"Quicken your pace to Xinhala and Lin, let the Ming army and the Khivas bite dogs in the river!"

"Yes!" Subudi is very supportive of Lin Danhan's move to the west. After all, the combat power of the Ming army is well known. Even if they have [-] Mongolian cavalry, they may not be able to withstand the first round of attack by the Ming army.

Therefore, it is wise to leave this place of right and wrong in the river early, and right now, they are doing so...

Overlooking the land, the team of hundreds of thousands of Mongolians and millions of cattle and sheep stretched for hundreds of miles. At this moment, they are preparing to detour from the northern part of the Aral Sea to Xinhalahelin (Volgograd).

There, tens of millions of acres of land will welcome them, and there will be dense forests so that they no longer have to suffer from hunger.

As for the Gobi Desert and yellow sand behind them, let the Ming army and the Khivas be the battlefield!

"put!"

"Bang bang bang-"

"Bam! Boom! Bam..."

On the same day, at the same time when the Ming army was advancing into the river and the Mongols were fleeing to Eastern Europe, the Ming army's muzzle was aimed at the city of Ob on the Ob River.

At this moment, two hundred Yanshan five-jin cannons became a sharp weapon for measuring the land area, and cast iron bullets blossomed and bore fruit at the top of Ob City, beating Ob City into a mess.

"Damn!"

"Bam! Boom! Bam..."

As the governor of Siberia, Golovin cursed while dodging the roaring iron shells in embarrassment.

After the national strength of the Ming Dynasty rose, stone bullets gradually withdrew from the war, and were replaced by iron cannonballs.

Two hundred Yanshan five-jin cannons beat the city of Ob into flowers, and no one dared to take the lead.

The reason why they dare not take the lead is very simple, that is, as long as they try to fight back, the more than 1000 sharpshooters of the Ming army cruising outside the city will send them to see God.

Compared with the western expedition team, the Northern Route Army of Guan Fumin set off earlier.

They set off on the fourth day of April, and as of now, all the east of the Ob River belongs to the territory of Ming Dynasty.

Once the city of Ob is captured, it means that the two stone fortresses of Tyumen and Tara in the south will also fall soon.

The Ming Dynasty will completely regain the Lingbei area in the 22nd year of the Apocalypse, and drink the Lingbei Mountains (Ural Mountains).

"Bang bang bang-"

The artillery of the Ming army was still ringing uninterruptedly, and the Russian army at the head of the city was also devastated and in a trance.

Since Lin Dan Khan occupied the plains at the southern foot of the Ural Mountains, they have almost lost contact with the Romanov Dynasty in the Eastern European Plains.

The cut off of the road made the army's supplies insufficient, and the tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians living in West Siberia seemed to have become abandoned children.

Homesickness spread everywhere, and when the Ming army launched an attack on West Siberia, the pressure broke many people's spirits.

"stop!"

Outside Obi City, seeing the end of the three rounds of shelling, Guan Fumin raised his hand to stop the shelling, but turned his head to Li Guo and Liu Zongmin and said:

"Each of you lead a battalion of troops south to attack the two stone fortresses of Tyumen and Tara."

"The Raksha people's food is not enough to last for too long. After a round of shelling drives them back to the city, the siege will begin."

"The last general takes orders!" The two bowed in response, then turned around and mounted their horses, and with the military order, they led the soldiers and horses to go south.

The rest of the officials looked at Ob City in the distance, and he turned his horse's head a little bit uninterestedly, whispering and shaking his head:

"This battle is really boring..."

His words revealed the common fault of the current Ming army generals.

Due to the excessive iteration of weapons, many tactics in the past have become icing on the cake. The Ming army is now facing almost any country, and one force is fighting tough battles.

It's that simple to fight head-on and then destroy the country.

In the Ming Dynasty of the Tianqi Dynasty, it seems that no country with a population of more than one million has ever been destroyed, and they are ashamed to call themselves generals.

But this has also been cultivated. From top to bottom, the Ming Dynasty has become accustomed to wars and victories.

For example, right now, Mingming Hezhong and Lingbei are fighting in full swing, but at this moment many officials and dignitaries in Beijing are still mainly focusing on the Qi Palace and the Forbidden City.

Fast forward more than ten days, and the Qi Palace and the inner court were very frequent.

After Zhu Youxiao came back, he did not take back Zhu Ciran's power to supervise the country, but still let Zhu Ciran supervise the country, and he went hunting with Zhu Youjian every day, or played chess in the Qianqing Palace.

Looking at this posture, the two brothers obviously will not turn against each other for the sake of high position.

It was a relief to many and a sigh to many.

The war in the west seems to have nothing to do with Daming, nor with Zhu Youjian and Zhu Youxiao. At the end of the month, the two embarked on a train to Shanxi, ready to see how the drought-stricken Shanxi people are doing this year.

"Woooo-"

The siren sounded on the railway, and the black train departed from the West Railway Station of the capital, and its destination was Datong Prefecture, which had experienced severe drought and plague.

Wu Youxing lived up to Zhu Youjian's trust. With more than a thousand doctors specializing in plague, and more than 3000 plague doctors who came from all over the country, he successfully solved the plague in Datong and Taiyuan in early April.

Although Daming TCM has undergone many improvements and specializations, making it the only systematic medicine in this era, in the final analysis, for internal treatment, Daming TCM mainly activates and strengthens the human body's immunity, allowing the body to solve the virus by itself.

The sequelae of this are very small, but the problem is that many frail patients are difficult to survive.

"This time the plague in Datong and Taiyuan prefectures directly and indirectly killed 14 people."

On the train, listening to the sound of the siren, Zhu Youjian said the series of numbers calmly, and continued to say to Zhu Youxiao who was sitting opposite him and looking at the "Plague Control Process" document:
"Datong Prefecture and Taiyuan Prefecture were originally relocated due to the drought in these years, which caused the population to drop to 38 and 46 respectively."

"At present, nearly 15 people have died of illness, and the internal population has lost even 70 people."

"Counting the population of the prefectures and counties, the population of Shanxi is less than 450 million, which is a drop of 12 million compared with the 300th year of the Apocalypse."

"Since the beginning of spring, two prefectures and four prefectures, including Pingyang, Lu'an, Liaozhou, Zezhou, Fenzhou, and Qinzhou, have experienced rainfall. Rivers have emerged again, and the number of paddy fields and irrigated fields has increased."

"Even Datong Prefecture and Taiyuan Prefecture, which are still suffering from drought, some former rivers have sprung up one after another. It will not increase the number of paddy fields and irrigated fields, but at least the current number of paddy fields and irrigated fields can be maintained."

"According to the report of the Shanxi Chief Envoy in April, the river will re-flow no less than 200 shares and moisten no less than [-] million mu of land."

"Looking at the situation, I'm afraid that after the autumn harvest, the price of rice in Shanxi will drop from one or two yuan per stone to less than eight hundred yuan."

Zhu Youjian talked about the situation in Shanxi, and Zhu Youxiao nodded from time to time to make it clear.

After a while, he put down the plague document in his hand, and then looked Zhu Youjian up and down.

Zhu Youjian, who is already in his thirties, is still tall and straight, and his appearance has not changed.

Influenced by the previous life, and many people in the late Ming Dynasty did not grow beards until they were in their thirties, Zhu Youjian did not grow a beard.

In Zhu Youxiao's view, his younger brother is still the same as before he went to Nanjing.

"Woooo-"

The siren sounded again, this time more urgently.

Not long after, a train passed by the side track of the train Zhu Youjian and the others were on.

Looking at the train going away, Zhu Youxiao asked curiously:
"My brother said this train can go faster?"

"How fast does brother want?" Zhu Youjian asked with a smile, but Zhu Youxiao said with a smile:
"Of course the sooner the better."

"If I can travel thousands of miles a day, then Guochao will be able to firmly control the place, and I can also build a railway, and I will go to Qi to meet my brother in the future."

Zhu Youxiao's words made Zhu Youjian helplessly smile: "I'm afraid this railway will be difficult to repair, so my brother should look forward to taking the boat."

After the helpless response, Zhu Youjian also talked about the train with Zhu Youxiao:
"This train has been improved by Wang Zheng several times. Although the speed of the new version has increased to 130 miles per hour, the consumption has also increased."

"After he solves the problem of thermal efficiency, the train that runs 130 miles per hour can appear on the rails."

In the Ming Dynasty, one mile was 600 meters, which means that the new version of the steam engine can run 560 miles in one day without considering stopping to refuel.

This means that it can reach Shenyang, Kaiping, Shuofang and other places within one day, and even counting the time for refueling, it can reach Jinan, Taiyuan, Luoyang, Kaifeng and other places within one day.

Right now, the longest railway in Daming is the one from Beijing to Cochin Champa Mansion, with a total length of [-] miles, followed by the railway from Beijing to Luchuan West Seaport, with a total length of [-] miles.

If the time for refueling is removed, the new version of the train can run at least [-] miles a day, that is, it takes less than seven days to reach Champa, and less than six days to reach Luchuan Xihai.

In the future, after the railway from West Sea to Dimasa is completed, the Ming army in the northern Zhili area will only need nine days to reach the northeast of Sidang, India.

This is only for the south, the most important thing for the Ming Dynasty is the west, and the western railway continues to be built from Jiayuguan on the Jingjia Railway. The goal is to reach Talas, and then split into two from Talas.

One goes to the northern part of the Caspian Sea and the other goes to the Fergana Basin.

The total length of this railway is [-] miles, and even the national strength of Ming Dynasty would take more than ten years.

However, once it is repaired and combined with the new version of the train, the distance of the Jingjia Railway will be [-] miles, and it will be able to reach all parts of the river in twelve days.

Before the advent of telegraphs and telephones, any country's notification of border areas was limited, and the actual control range of the dynasty was often within a month's journey.

If Da Ming can reach the Hezhong region within twelve days in the future, then Hezhong will never disappear from Da Ming's territory.

If it really disappeared, it might only mean that Daming has been destroyed.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian looked at Zhu Youxiao, but saw that he was also looking at him.

The two brothers didn't understand what the other was thinking, but instinct made them smile at each other the moment they looked at each other.

"Woooo-"

The whistle sounded continuously, obviously they were about to arrive at the next stop.

"It's time to get off the bus." Zhu Youjian spoke first, and Zhu Youxiao who heard the words also nodded with a smile:

"Let's go and see how the people in Shanxi are doing right now."

During the conversation between the two, the train has slowly entered Zhangjiakou Railway Station, and it has been six years since Zhu Youjian came here last time.

Back then, he promised the people everywhere that he would come back to see them after three years, but he couldn't help himself, and the time was delayed again and again, but it was already three years too late.

Now that the severe drought has subsided, Zhu Youjian is very worried and concerned about how the people are doing.

With these complicated emotions in mind, he took Zhu Youxiao together, and the two of them stepped out of the train door one after another...

(End of this chapter)