At the Ningxia Zhongwei Station, Yang Cong stood on the high city tower, holding a telescope, slowly scanning the desert in front of him, frowned slightly.

This is the closest garrison in the Five Guards of Ningxia, and it is more than 100 miles away from the Ningxia vanguards that the railway extends to. Of course, this distance is not a problem at all. With his order, tens of thousands of guards can build the railway in one month.

The main problem is that the Western Talk is too big. It can be called the Western Talk from Ningxia Guard to Hami Guard. There are many Tartar tribes in it.

If the Ningxia Wei built the railway, it would not be possible to complete it in three years, five or even ten years.

He sighed slightly, then put down his telescope and turned his eyes to the map in front of him.

The reason why this railway is difficult to build is not because of the terrain. Although most of the areas from Ningxia Guard to Hami Guard are deserts, it is still no problem to build a railway. The main problem is that the Hami Guard is no longer under the control of the Ming Dynasty.

Since the Tumubao Incident, the national strength of the Ming Dynasty has gradually declined, and the vassals who originally surrendered to the Ming Dynasty have also been ready to move. Not only did the Northern Yuan tribes invade in time, but even small forces in the Western Regions such as Tubo began to make the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty was either eunuchs taking power or internal fighting among court officials, and they didn't care much about border affairs at all, so that the border defense areas such as Hami Guards soon fell into the hands of Tubo.

At this moment, the power of the Ming Dynasty could extend to Ganzhou Town at the westernmost point, more than 2,000 miles away from Hami Guard!

Yang Cong also thought about recapturing Hamiwei, but it was not now.

Zhu Zaiji had just succeeded to the throne, and the Ming Dynasty was in chaos. It took too much time to recover the Hami Guards. Moreover, after the recovery, a large army would have to be stationed, which would increase the burden on the court. Therefore, this is not the best time to recover the Hami Guards. We have to wait until the Ming Dynasty is revived and the national strength is strong again.

If the Hami Guard cannot be recovered, then the railway will not be built for more than two thousand miles from Ganzhou Town to the Hami Guard. This is the biggest problem at present.

So, what should I do?

He thought hard for a long time, but still couldn't come up with any good idea. As for summoning a large army to force it, it was absolutely undesirable to rush into the Western Tara to find the main force of the Tartars to fight the decisive battle, because the journey was too far and it was too dangerous to transport food and grass without railways. If the food route was cut off by the Tartars, no matter how many troops were, they would collapse!

The so-called "one person has a short plan and two people have a long plan to compete for the leader" seems to have to discuss it carefully.

He turned around and glanced at the civil servants and military generals who were following him, thought about it again, and then asked the governor of Ganzhou Chen Jiuchou, "Mr. Chen, do you still know about Western tactics?"

Chen Jiuchou was originally the governor of Ganzhou. At the beginning of Jiajing, he had repelled the attacks of the Tatars and Tubo during his tenure. Unfortunately, at that time, the infighting in the court was powerful, and he was also the chief assistant Yang Tinghe, and was not favored by Jiajing. Therefore, as soon as Zhang Cong, Gui E and others were impeached, he was dismissed and investigated, exiled for three thousand miles, and exiled to the extreme border.

Yang Cong heard that Mao Bowen, the Minister of War, mentioned that he knew that there was such a person. Just as the court was now using troops in the northwest, and urgently needed officials who were familiar with the northwest border. So he submitted a memorial to Yongqing, allowing his official position to be restored and re-elected as governor of Ganzhou.

Chen Jiuchou was also quite grateful to Yang Cong. You should know that exile to the extreme border is not ordinary hardship. Many people die after a few years. If he hadn't been in good health, he would have died at the extreme border.

Originally, he thought that his life would be over, and he would die silently for a few years, but he never thought that the new emperor would suddenly issue an order to restore his post!

When he came back and asked, he realized that it was Lord Yang who told him in front of the emperor that he could escape from the sea of ​​suffering and restore his post. How could he not be grateful?

Just now, Lord Yang frowned and pondered at the map, and he knew that this Lord must have no idea how to deal with the Western Tartars.

For this reason, he was also thinking about it. Just as he was thinking of something, Lord Yang suddenly asked him. This time was a great opportunity!

When will you not repay your kindness at this time?

He quickly bowed and said, "Sir, please ask me, are you worried about the Tartars in the Western Tales?"

Sure enough, when he asked the right person, Yang Cong couldn't help but say with interest: "Oh, do you have a way to deal with the Western Tartars?"

Chen Jiuchou quickly said modestly: "This official dare not boast about it. After all, the Tartars have been entrenched in the south of the desert for many years. It may be difficult to deal with it in one fell swoop. However, the official has a plan that can make the Tartars unable to recover."

It is naturally impossible to completely eliminate the Tartars. After all, the south of the Moon is as vast as the sea of ​​smoke, and the area is even larger than the thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty. What's more, there is a larger area in the Moon. If you want to run in and clean up the Tartars, don't even think about it.

Yang Cong just wanted to weaken the strength of the Tartars as much as possible so that they could not invade the northwest.

This is actually the same as what Chen Jiuchou said to make the Tartars unable to recover. He hurriedly asked, "What are you going to do?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Jiuchou hurriedly walked up respectfully, pointing to the map and said, "Sir, the Western aquatic plants are not abundant. Only the area near the middle section of the Yellow River is suitable for the Tartars to reproduce and survive. Other places can be said to be deserts and there are very few water plants. In other words, as long as we take back this area, it will be difficult for the Tartars to reproduce and survive."

Yang Cong looked in the direction of his finger and his eyes suddenly shone brightly.

This place is not big, not even half as big as the Hetao, which is the small place in front of the Yellow River curve, less than 500 miles horizontally and less than 300 miles vertically. It is very simple to take this place because this place is located between Ningxia Wei and Ganzhou Town. As long as the railway is built from Ningxia Wei to Ganzhou Wei, this land will be easily taken into account.

Yang Cong said excitedly: "What do you mean, as long as you take this piece, the Tartars will be in a slump, right?"

Chen Jiuchou quickly explained: "This is not safe, because the remaining areas are not without grass at all, but the problem is not very big, because the areas with grass are basically near the Yellow River and its tributaries, and are not very far from Ganzhou Town. As long as we organize a large army to harass these places from time to time, the Tartars will not be able to live."

Yang Cong looked carefully and found that the places Chen Jiuchou pointed out were indeed not far from Ganzhou Town, and the farthest was only two or three hundred miles away. There was no problem in organizing a large army to harass him.

In other words, it is not difficult to make the Tartars unable to recover. As long as they occupy the largest piece of grassland and organize large troops to harass a few small pieces of grassland from time to time, the Tartars will not be able to reproduce and survive.

Yang Cong thought carefully for a while, then nodded and said, "Very good, Lord Chen, I have recorded your merits. When the day I succeed, I will definitely reward you with my merits and achievements. I will remember you for the first merits."

Chen Jiuchou was excited when he heard this, but he was not proud of himself. He still bowed repeatedly, "I dare not, I dare to speak, I just talk and dare not take credit."
Chapter completed!