He did not stay in Ningxia for long, and the emperor continued his journey westward.

It was already December, the west wind was blowing, but the emperor still went to Lanzhou.

Marching along the Yellow River, it was freezing and snowy, but they were all the elite of the royal camp, and they did not bring any palace officials, eunuchs, or concubines, so there was no problem in marching. The emperor also rode on horseback.

The emperor is riding on a horse, his whip pointed at the Yellow River.

"It is winter now. When spring comes, it will be navigable from Liujiawan in the upper reaches of Lanzhou to Hekou Town in Qiantao Zhenwu. The 3,200 miles in the middle reaches of the Yellow River will be navigable. By then, Gansu and Suiyuan will be connected, and the upper reaches of the Yellow River will be navigable.

Hehuang and the three downstream areas can be self-sufficient in food, and there is no need to transfer food to the Guanzhong Plain."

Wen Anzhi also very much agreed with the emperor's plan for shipping in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. It was 3,200 miles from Lanzhou to Guihua. It was of great significance to build shipyards and docks along the route to connect Ningxia, Jiuyuan, Baotou, Suiyuan, etc.

"Between Yongjing in the upper reaches of Lanzhou and Wufang Temple in Jingyuan County, there are dangerous places such as the Grand Gorge, the Small Gorge, Five Brothers, and Yi Laolao. Only rafts and rafts can be used in this section of the river, and wooden boats cannot be driven. Wufang Temple Sutra

From Zhongwei, Jinji, Lingwu to Ningxia, there are dangerous obstacles such as Heishan in between, and the passage of ships is also very difficult. It is necessary to build docks to transport ships in sections. The only way is to go further north from Ningxia, pass through Luo and reach Shizuizi.

Only then did the river open up further."

Navigation is possible from Ningxia to Guihua, but from Ningxia to Lanzhou, there are many dangerous gorges, but it is also possible to use rafts, wooden rafts and other segmented shipping. As long as the dock is built and the segmented transfer is carried out, the efficiency

It is still far superior to land transportation, but it can only be carried down the river, not against the river.

From its source to the Liujia Gorge in Yongjing, the upper reaches of Lanzhou, Gansu Province, the Yellow River winds its way between numerous mountains. The length of the river, which is about more than 2,000 miles, varies greatly.

What is the value of water transportation?

The main stream of the Yellow River from Yongjing to Lanzhou, and the lower reaches of the two larger tributaries Huangshui and Tao Rivers, have the convenience of primary navigation. However, these river sections are only limited to rafts, and rafts cannot travel from top to bottom.

Passage up and down.

This section of the Hehuang Valley is the Hehuang Valley in the northwest, which is smaller than the Guanzhong Plain and the Hetao Plain. It is very fertile and is connected to the south of the Yangtze River. In the Ming Dynasty, grain, green oil, wood and coal were transported under the Huang River.

Those who are lucky are mostly wood.

Huangshui River can be connected with rafts and rafts from below Xining to Lanzhou for 500 miles, which can not only transport grain, fur, wood, coal, but also carry passengers.

Shizuishan Mountain is in the north of Ningxia. The Yellow River to the north is very flat and wide and can be navigable up and down. Therefore, Zhu Yihai specially proposed to Ordos Khan to establish Shizuishan Town here, build a shipyard and a shipping center here, and it became an important mutual market transaction.

center.

Later, wool from Ordos, medicinal materials, and salt from Ningxia were all traded and concentrated here. They were transported to Hekou via Dengkou and Baotou. From the beginning of winter to the Qingming Festival of the following year, it could be navigable for seven months.

Hekou Town in Suiyuan can be directly connected to Datong, which is connected to Taiyuan or Zhangjiakou, and connected to Beijing and Tianjin.

On the other side, Shizuishan Mountain leads to Ningxia, Lanzhou, and even Xining and Qinghai.

The emperor attaches great importance to the water transportation of the Yellow River. In the final analysis, if it is connected, it will be prosperous. If it is connected, it will be rich. It is a slogan that everyone in later generations will know. If you want to be rich, you must first build roads. And the water transportation of the big river is a highway to get rich. It is a highway to get rich, and it does not need to be repaired.

of.

River terminal towns have been built along the river, which are not only transfer and distribution centers for inland waterway shipping materials, but also can be connected to land transportation.

Goods are exchanged all over the world, and what is needed is exchanged. If a place wants to develop, it is unrealistic to rely solely on isolation and self-sufficiency, and it will not make it rich.

Especially places like the northwest are relatively backward. Although there are Hetao Plains, Guanzhong Plains, Hehuang Valley, Hexi Corridor, etc., most other places are actually Loess Plateau, desert, Gobi and other places. It is necessary to

To connect.

Ordos is a semi-arid grassland sandy land, where grazing is the main area. It produces fur, dairy products, mushrooms, etc. Another example is northern Shaanxi, which is short of water and drought and has few grain fields, but there are many salt ponds and even coal in northern Shaanxi.

Very famous.

Similarly, the Hehuang Valley not only has its own fertile river valley and is connected to the south of the Yangtze River, it is also an important passage to Qinghai-Tibet. It was a branch line of the Silk Road during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and the development of trade was the focus.

Not to mention the Hexi Corridor, which is the main line of silk transporting the Western Regions.

After the construction of the Grand Canal in the Central Plains, many towns and docks emerged along the canal. On the canal line in the Ming Dynasty, Yangzhou, Linqing and other large cities along the river even exceeded those of provincial cities.

Today's Shizuishan, Dengkou, Baotou, and Hekou places were designated by the emperor to build cities, station troops, and build wharves. Previously, because the Mongols occupied these places, many places were just wastelands. But as long as shipping is opened, then now

With the unified northwest of China, these docks will soon flourish.

It was during the Qing Dynasty that Baotou became a fur distribution center on the upper reaches of the Yellow River. It transformed from a small village into a large town with more than a thousand shops and an annual trade volume of more than 5 million.

Rivers can become not only cargo channels, but also information channels. They can not only connect and distribute goods, drive upstream and downstream, but also bring tax revenue. Tax revenue can enrich the people and support the army, forming a good closed loop.

In the final analysis, if the imperial court wants to control and stabilize the northwest frontier, it must station a large number of troops. However, garrisoning and raising troops requires a lot of military expenditures. If it cannot provide supplies and even military pay on the spot, it will not last long.

From the Han Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties and then to the Ming Dynasty, it was always difficult to control the Western Regions for a long time. The biggest problem was that it was too far away and beyond our reach. And the most critical thing about this remoteness was the inconvenience of transportation and the difficulty of delivering materials. It was difficult to transport materials quickly, so there were restrictions.

The projection of military power also affects military control.

Although the Hexi Corridor is a natural passage, it is still thousands of miles away by people and horses, which is not as convenient and fast as river transportation.

If we can be completely self-sufficient in the Western Region, we can supply more troops and ensure adequate food and wages, which can still be maintained.

The small oases in the Western Region are not enough to maintain a large-scale garrison. Unless the Yinli Valley is captured, even if the Yinli Valley is not captured, even if the major oases in the south of the Tianshan Mountains are controlled, it will not be enough.

Take the basin.

By choosing one of the two in the Fergana and Yinli Valleys, the Central Plains Dynasty can maintain a strong garrison in the Western Regions, and even move a large number of immigrants, so that the Han people can surpass other indigenous peoples and become the dominant ethnic group. Only in this way can real long-term peace and stability be achieved.

It is not enough to rely solely on the food supply in the Hexi Corridor. And oasis basins such as Hami and Turpan cannot support large scale.

Now the Yarkand Khanate occupies various oases south of the Tianshan Mountains. They also once occupied the Fergana Basin, and once occupied the Yinli River Valley, but now they are occupied by the Heshuote tribe.

Zhu Yihai wants to take over the Western Regions, and also plans to control Yinli and Fergana in the future. However, now he must first stabilize Shaanxi and Gansu, and then advance westward step by step. The most critical thing to truly control the Western Regions is not military success, but also military success.

There must be enough Han people to immigrate there.

From Shaanxi and Gansu to Yumen, Dunhuang, then to Hami, Turpan, and then along the Tarim River, Korla, Kuqa, Aksu, Wush, Kashgar, Hotan, etc., we want to immigrate and colonize.

From the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, the Central Plains Dynasty actually made great efforts to immigrate to the Western Regions. The Long March athletes of the Tang Dynasty, etc., but in the end, as the Central Plains Dynasty weakened, those Han children in the Western Regions were eventually ruled by the Hu people, and even

They assimilate.

After all, the quantity is still too small.

Mainly relying on military camps. When the main force of the garrison returned to the Central Plains, the small number of garrison troops and immigrants could not resist the nomadic people. During the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, the Anxi Army returned to the Central Plains and never came back. The Hexi Corridor was lost and news was cut off from the Central Plains. Decades later

, those troops who stayed behind in Anxi have become gray-haired veterans, struggling to support one settlement after another, and still looking forward to the return of the Central Plains Tang Dynasty to Anxi.

They didn't even know that the Tang Dynasty changed emperors and titles.

In history, Junggar once unified the Western Regions and Qinghai-Tibet, but after decades of fighting against the Qing Dynasty, they were finally defeated. In the final analysis, their population was too small, with a total population of only 700-800,000. How could they defeat the Qing Dynasty and occupy the Central Plains with hundreds of millions of people?

What about the Qing court supported by the Han people?

If Zhu Yihai can immigrate one million people to the Western Region in the future, it will basically guarantee the stability of the Western Region. If he can immigrate two million people, no one will be able to rob him. By then, he will be able to dominate the Western Region and even conquer Kazakhstan and other places.

Dry service.

······

"Your Majesty, please call me urgently from Beijing."

Pang Tianshou, deputy eunuch of the Internal Memorial Affairs Department, brought over a box of memorials that had just arrived.

Zhu Yihai motioned for him to put it down.

I made a pot of tea and then started reviewing the memorial.

These memorials were memorialized by the Prime Minister who stayed behind, the Cabinet who stayed behind, the Crown Prince and officials from the East Palace, and naturally there were also memorials from the Sixth Ministry, the Governor's Office of the Fifth Army, etc.

There are all matters big and small.

The emperor was still paying attention to the prince's memorial and read it carefully several times.

The prince dealt with the Henan exam strike incident. He first killed Fan Xun and Ding Qixiang, and also killed Ding Qirui, Ding Kuichu, Ding Qiguang's uncle and nephew, and even convicted and punished Zheng Sanjun, Hou Xun, and Hou Fangyu.

Somewhat beyond his expectation.

He asked the prince to deal with it and wanted to see the prince's ability. Unexpectedly, the prince not only dared to kill people, but also dared to directly attack the elders of Donglin Fushe.

The fifteen-year-old crown prince is really surprising.

After drinking a pot of tea, Zhu Yihai called over the cabinet and prime ministers who were accompanying him.

"I support the prince's decision."

The emperor spoke directly.

"Your Majesty, Ding Kuichu and Ding Qirui have both served as governors-general of several provinces, and Ding Qiguang is also an admiral. Do you want to be more generous?" The speaker was Wu Yi.

"Zheng Sanjun and Hou Xun also served as bachelors, ministers, and governors. They wrote letters to plead for these students. Although there was something wrong, it was not a big mistake."

Zhu Yihai chuckled, "Ding Qixiang is the nephew of Ding Kuichu, the cousin of Ding Qirui and Ding Qiguang. He is also the student of Hou Fangyu, who is also the disciple of Zheng Sanjun, the son of Hou Xun, the chief envoy of Henan to participate in politics, Zhang Shixia, the counselor of Chen Tinglu, and the inspector

The deputy envoy Fan Jinsi was both their student and from Henan, and they were even married to each other.

Do you dare to say that these people did not conspire to collude with each other regarding the Henan exam strike? Do you dare to say that Ding Qixiang and Fan Xun did not receive their instructions?

How can we tolerate these people openly defying the imperial court?"

Wu Yi insisted, "Your Majesty, although they are related to each other and even the troublemakers are their children, it cannot be said that they were the instigators. Without evidence, it can only be said that the discipline was poor."

The emperor looked at Wu Yi coldly.

"You want evidence? Do they use the so-called alliances to form parties for private gain, become officials when they join, and become gentry when they leave, interfere in the court and local policies, safeguard their private interests, want to regain tax-free privileges, and also annex and occupy fields?

Mr. Wu, please pay attention to your position!"

The emperor's words made Wu Yi panic, "I am neither Wanli nor Chongzhen. I will never allow the Donglin Party to reestablish society in the court and in opposition, and interfere in the country's affairs. It is also impossible to restore their tax-free privileges."
To be continued...