Recreating the prosperous Tang begins with summoning players

Chapter 154 Hexi Ranch
Yu Xiaoxiao said in amazement: "I didn't expect Jiuquan to be so beautiful?"

Zhang Duanyang said: "The world in Hexi is dangerous. The Central Plains Dynasty that controls Hexi can suppress the grassland civilization in the north. On the contrary, if it cannot control the Hexi Corridor, it will cost several times and tens of times of strength to defend against the attacks of nomads."

Yu Xiaoxiao didn't know much about geopolitics, so she looked at Jiuquan in the distance suspiciously and asked, "Is Hexi so important?"

Zhang Duanyang nodded and said: "The Hexi Corridor and the adjacent Hetao are the most important barriers against the northern nomads."

"Occupying Hexi and Hetao, the road for nomads to go south to plunder is blocked, and the civilization of the Central Plains can build a defense line around the Yellow River around Hetao and the mountains in the north of the Hexi Corridor."

"The Western Han Dynasty has been able to occupy the Hetao of Hexi since the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, so it can manage the Western Regions to block the Xiongnu, ensuring the strategic advantage of the Han Dynasty over the nomadic peoples in the north."

"Before the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty also occupied all Hexi and Hetao, so it disintegrated the Turkic regime."

"In the Song Dynasty, Hetao and Hexi were lost, and they were always passively beaten strategically. They had to build defense lines in the four prefectures of Kansai and increased defense expenditures. This is also why the Northern Song Dynasty had a serious problem with redundant troops, spending far more troops than the Tang Dynasty. But the reason why it is often invaded by Daliao and Xixia in the north."

"The same is true in the Ming Dynasty. Occupying Hetao in the early and mid-term can completely block the threat of the desert. Until the end of the Ming Dynasty, the border troubles in the northwest were not serious."

Li Daoyuan also said: "The Hexi Corridor has the danger of mountains and rivers. From west to east, there are four ancient counties: Dunhuang, Jiuquan, Zhangye, and Wuwei. These four ancient counties are like nails nailed to the northern nomads, firmly preventing them from going south. The road to looting."

"It's a pity that in our time and space, the Hexi Corridor was lost after the Anshi Rebellion."

Li Daoyuan looked at the oasis opposite to the wasteland and said: "The melting snow of Qilian Mountain nourishes this valley, and at the same time, the mountains in the north block the cold wind blowing from the Mongolian Plateau. The unique geographical environment makes this magical land. soil of."

"It's a pity that in our era, the Hexi Corridor was already severely desertified due to over-exploitation. Today's era should be the era when the water plants in Hexi are the most luxuriant."

Looking from a distance, Li Daoyuan could only see the desert and the oasis were clearly separated. Jiuquan was surrounded by stretches of oases, which formed a sharp contrast with the desolate land under his feet.

In Jiuquan City, there was an endless stream of caravans. Li Daoyuan praised: "It really is the beautiful Hexi. This is the front line of the confrontation between nomads and farming, and also the front line of the confrontation between life and desert."

A group of people moved forward along the official road, and finally came to the city of Jiuquan.

"I didn't expect there to be such a large area of ​​pastures around Jiuquan in the Tang Dynasty. It's a pity that a large area of ​​Hexi has been deserted in modern times."

Walking along the way, you can see many abandoned horse farms. Now it is the season of spring, which can be said to be the time when the grass grows and the warblers fly to the flowers. However, there are no people grazing in these horse farms, and you can even see wild horses galloping.

From this it can be seen that the horse administration in Jiuquan has been completely abandoned. Seeing these abandoned horse farms, everyone in the eastward group felt heavy.

Yu Xiaoxiao asked, "Why doesn't King Jianning develop eastward? The condition of Jiuquan is so good, and it's more prosperous than Dunhuang City."

Li Daoyuan sighed and said: "After all, Shazhou City is at the westernmost end of the Hexi Corridor. It belongs to the Emperor Tiangao, so if you occupy it, you can occupy it. But Jiuquan is different. This is the essence of the Hexi Corridor, and it is the Hexi Jiedu Envoy's Mansion." If Jiuquan is occupied in the elite area under his control, the current Hexi Jiedushi will definitely not let it go."

So that's the case, Yu Xiaoxiao nodded half understanding.

Zhang Duanyang also sighed and said: "The area from Jiuquan to Zhangye is the most important horse breeding base in the Tang Dynasty. I didn't expect it to be so slack in just a few years."

Waiting in line again to enter the city, Li Daoyuan did not expect that Jiuquan's business would be so prosperous.

After finding a big food merchant and inquiring about it, Li Daoyuan found out that the prosperity of Jiuquan's trade was actually related to King Jianning.

King Jianning defeated Tubo, frightened the Uighurs back, and ensured the safety of the route from Gaochang to Guazhou.

At this time, the Dashi was the rising period of the Abbasid Dynasty, and the generations of emperors sacrificed by the Byzantine Empire finally entered a period of stable development.

Dashi and Byzantium, the two prosperous dynasties, further intensified the demand for silk on the Silk Road.

Originally, merchants from the Western Regions were unwilling to take the risk of crossing the dangerous middle of Longyou to enter the Central Plains to purchase silk.

But when King Jianning took control of Guazhou, Shazhou, and Xizhou successively, and invested his influence in Tingzhou, these keen merchants from the Western Regions poured into the Central Plains one after another, buying silk in large quantities.

Such a paradoxical phenomenon happened. It was obvious that Xiangzhou in the Central Plains had hoarded hundreds of thousands of troops, and the whole Tang Dynasty became a mess.

But in the Hexi Corridor, it was extremely prosperous. A large number of merchants from the Western Regions bought silk from the Tang Dynasty with hard currencies such as treasures and gold.

Then it was transported thousands of miles to Dashi, Byzantium, and even farther away in Europe, earning hundreds or even thousands of times the profit.

This abnormal prosperity has even been noticed by the Tang court in Fengxiang Mansion.

At this time, Fengxiang Mansion was in the area, and a long-suppressed political storm was brewing.

The starting point of this storm was the defeat of Prime Minister Fang Guan last year. Because of this defeat, Fang Guan was already disgusted by the emperor, but considering his contribution in persuading the emperor to abdicate in the middle of Shu, the emperor did not dismiss Fang Guan immediately. phase.

But there was no dismissal of the Prime Minister, and it was almost the same as the dismissal of the Prime Minister. Nowadays, the emperor basically would not summon Fang Guan when he was planning military affairs. He would only be summoned on some important occasions.

All the officials and ministers in Fengxiang Mansion knew that it was a matter of time before Fang Guan was dismissed.

Even though he was the prime minister, he lost the emperor's favor, and Fang Guan was also quite distressed.

In the past few days, Cui Yuan, the official censor in central Shu, arrived at Fengxiang Mansion. This Cui Yuan had been at odds with Fang Guan when he was in the imperial court. Now it is rumored that the emperor wanted to give up Fang Guan's position and give it to Cui Yuan instead. It made Fang Guan feel uneasy.

Fang Guan's prime minister's mansion was brightly lit. At this time, he was discussing secretly with his staff how to regain the emperor's favor.

Fang Guan just sat on the chief seat and sighed, and his subordinates were all talking nonsense. At this moment, a young scholar stood up and said to Fang Guan:

"Pingzhang, Dou Shen has a policy, I don't know if it should be said or not."

(End of this chapter)