save the bachelors

Chapter 4350 4352 [Southeast Asia]

"Do you mean the areas such as Qiongzhou, Jiaozhi, Annan and Champa?" Song Que asked.

Xiang Nan nodded.

"No. These places have a hot climate, continuous rain, rampant miasma, and breeding of poisonous insects. Even if we conquer them, they are worthless. They are nothing but a wilderness." Song Que waved his hand and said.

In ancient times, although Southeast Asia was vast in area and rich in resources, it was not a very good place.

  On the one hand, Southeast Asia is located in the tropics, with high temperatures and lots of rain, and it is difficult for Chinese people to adapt to this climate, just like it is difficult for the French and German armies to adapt to the extreme cold of the Russian winter.

On the one hand, most of Southeast Asia is still a wilderness, covered entirely with dense tropical rainforests, and only the coastal areas have a small amount of arable land.

If the army wanted to attack, they had to travel through mountains and rivers, brave the scorching weather, and pass through dense tropical jungles... It can be seen how difficult the march was.

On the one hand, there are many miasma and poisonous insects in the dense forest, which can easily spread various diseases, such as dysentery, malaria, typhoid, cholera... and once such diseases are transmitted, it will cause a large number of casualties.

After all, medical technology was limited in ancient times, and a cold could easily kill people. The mortality rate of dysentery, malaria, typhoid fever, and cholera could reach more than 60%.

On the one hand, although Southeast Asia is covered with tropical rainforests, the land is actually not fertile.

Because of too much rainfall, a large amount of nutrients in the soil are lost, causing the plants on the ground to appear lush, but in fact the soil underground is very poor.

The reason why it has become a land of plenty is entirely due to the rise of the fertilizer industry. Otherwise, it would be difficult to produce three crops a year, a thousand catties per mu, or even a hundred catties per mu.

And because of the tropical rain forest, it is very difficult to cultivate the land. In ancient times, there were no large-scale equipment, and it was difficult to clear the trees that were so tall and the roots that were so deep.

It takes three to five years to reclaim a piece of wasteland in China, but in Southeast Asia it often takes more than twice as long.

In fact, the area around Lake Tai, which was known as "If Huguang is prosperous, the world will be prosperous," was actually a wild land covered with swamps, lakes and dense vines in the early Han Dynasty.

It was not until the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty that the people of the Central Plains migrated south to escape the war, and the land was continuously reclaimed and transformed. It took hundreds of years, until the Grand Canal was opened in the Sui Dynasty, that the area south of the Yangtze River began to develop rapidly.

So in general, Song Que doesn’t think there is any value in exploring Southeast Asia.

The painstaking efforts to conquer those wild jungles would have far outweighed the gains, so he was not interested in it at all.

In comparison, the Central Plains has been developing for thousands of years since the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties. It has a dense population, fertile land, vast territory and abundant products. Only by conquering this area to the north can we achieve the best results.

……

"Uncle, please rest assured. The problems you mentioned are not difficult to resolve." Xiang Nan waved his hand and said.

The hot climate in Southeast Asia is actually not too unbearable.

The summer temperature in Bangkok is usually between 25 and 33 degrees Celsius, which is not much different from the temperature in North China.

Of course, there are extreme climates where the perceived temperature exceeds 50 degrees, but that is an exception and may not occur for several years or even decades, so we should not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

What's more, Xiang Nan also has ways to relieve heat and cool down. Not only can he use magic to cool down, he can also make ice cubes with saltpeter.

As for the marching problem, Song Que was worried that the tropical rainforest was not suitable for marching. But Xiang Nan had not planned to take the land route. He was familiar with the sea route and could use large ships to cross the sea. As for the miasma, poisonous insects and plague, Xiang Nan also had a way to treat it. As for the problem of barren land, he could also solve it with fertilizers. As for reclaiming wasteland, it was actually not too difficult.

There are three major plains in Southeast Asia, the Red River Plain, the Mekong Delta Plain and the Chao Phraya River Plain. These three plains were formed by the impact of river water. They have thick soil, abundant water, flat terrain, and are more fertile than mountain forests. They are more suitable for cultivation.

Moreover, the combined area of ​​these three plains is as high as 480,000 square kilometers, which is approximately equivalent to the sum of the North China Plain and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Plain.

As we all know, the North China Plain and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Plain have always been the most prosperous and affluent regions in all dynasties. Therefore, once the three major plains in Southeast Asia are occupied, it is equivalent to owning half of the world.

Of course, after occupying Southeast Asia, you can also go south to Java and west to India... There is a vast world with a lot to do, so why should you always limit yourself to one place?

Just like Qiu Ran Ke, who could not conquer the Central Plains, went to Buyeo and established himself as king. A true hero, a true hero, can achieve great things anywhere.

After hearing what Xiang Nan said, Song Que was somewhat tempted, but not too enthusiastic.

For him, if possible, he would certainly aim to conquer the Central Plains.

With the help of guns and other firearms produced by Xiang Nan, as well as crops such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn, he could gather an army of 100,000 within five years.

By then, even if Emperor Yang of Sui joined forces with the other three major clans, they would still not be able to defeat the Song clan alone.

Seeing this, Xiang Nan knew that he was unwilling to follow his arrangements, so he simply stopped persuading him.

……

A few days later, Song Shidao returned to Lingnan with thousands of war horses. Returning with him was Shang Xiuxun, the hostess of Pegasus Ranch, who was also the daughter of Lu Miaozi, the world's most skillful hand.

However, Lu Miaozi abandoned his wife and daughter for the Yin Queen Zhu Yuyan, so Shang Xiuxun refused to acknowledge him as his father and has ignored him for twenty years.

Song Shidao was ordered by Song Que to go to Pegasus Ranch to buy horses. After all, before the emergence of tanks and machine guns, cavalry was always the strongest force in the cold weapon era.

Back then, the Mongols relied on more than 200,000 cavalrymen to fight from north to south and from east to west. If Genghis Khan had not died and his four sons had not fought for power after his death, leading to internal strife in the Mongols, the Mongols might have really conquered Europe. After all, Europe was in the Middle Ages at that time, an era of ignorance and superstition.

This time, Song Shidao not only purchased 5,000 horses from Pegasus Ranch, but also captured Shang Xiuxun, the owner of Pegasus Ranch.

Shang Xiuxun is a woman, but she is able to run such a large horse farm. Her ability is obvious. It can be said that women are as good as men. That is why Song Shidao fell in love with her at first sight.

After spending some time together, their relationship became closer and closer, and finally Song Shidao successfully won the beauty.

"Yes, they are all good horses. Miss Shang is very capable." After looking at the horses his son brought back, Song Que nodded with satisfaction.

"Of course, Dad. Miss Shang has always been very capable." Song Shidao also spoke up.

Song Que smiled and nodded.

He was also very pleased with his son's vision.

Shang Xiuxun is not only beautiful, but also capable. With such a wife to help him, there is no need to worry about his son not being able to inherit the family business.