I'm in the Red Mansion

The predecessor of Jiaozhi Kingdom was Annan, which was originally an independent country called Nanyue Kingdom.

In 111 BC, Emperor Wu of Han destroyed the Kingdom of Nanyue and established three counties, Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen and Rinan, in northern Vietnam to implement direct administrative management.

Over the next thousand years, although there were repeated resistances in the Jiaozhi region, it was generally under the direct jurisdiction of various dynasties of ancient Chinese regimes.

After Emperor Ci of Daxia usurped the throne, uprising armies rose up all over Daxia.

Thus, Jiaozhi Kingdom became an independent country again.

The founding of China inherited the country and people of Daxia. Now, it has only been just one year since the founding of China.

Last year, although the country was strong, the treasury was empty.

Therefore, Jia Cong did not take the time to discuss this matter.

I never thought that Jiaozhi Kingdom would cause trouble again.

Jia Cong picked up the military report and began to read it.

It turned out that Jiaozhi officially established a country and called himself Emperor Tianyuan.

When Jia Cong saw this, he couldn't help but sneer.

He is the Emperor Zhongyuan, but this Jiaozhi dares to call himself the Emperor Tianyuan.

Emperor Tianyuan is also an ambitious man, but he seems to lack self-awareness.

After he proclaimed himself emperor and founded his country, he also prepared to establish diplomatic relations with China. He sent a delegation of envoys and presented a letter of credence, expressing his willingness to remain a friendly neighbor of China forever.

However, Jiaozhi was originally just a county of Daxia.

They have just become independent and have not yet been recognized by China. How dare they call themselves a country and want to have a dialogue with China on an equal footing?
Even if you are willing to become a vassal state of China, it is still understandable.

Therefore, the Chinese officials bordering Jiaozhi sternly refused to allow the Jiaozhi envoys to enter Chinese territory.

This made the Tianyuan Emperor of Jiaozhi so angry that he sent troops to attack.

As for the Chinese, because they were unprepared, Jiaozhi State conquered three cities in just half a month.

Later, because of some preparation, the troops were mobilized in time to defend the city behind.

The State of Jiaozhi fought against China and won, and it became more and more arrogant.

With the attitude of a victor, they wanted to negotiate with China and were unwilling to return the cities they occupied.

After seeing this information, Jia Cong couldn't help but frown slightly.

He was not worried about Jiaozhi. In Jia Cong's eyes, Jiaozhi was just a small insignificant matter.

Jia Cong was worried about the delivery of the message.

Jiaozhi was originally located at the southernmost tip of China.

Such a big thing happened over there, but the information was not transmitted in time.

Nearly a month has passed, and the news has only just been passed on.

This is what worries Jia Cong the most.

If the message is delivered at an 800-li speed, it will only take seven days.

So why did the local officials delay for more than 20 days before passing on the news?
Jia Cong guessed that they were not intentionally delaying or trying to conceal the war.

Perhaps they wanted to take back the lost city from Jiaozhi and then report it to the court.

In this way, they would not be convicted for losing the city, and they might even have made some contributions.

As for later on, I am afraid it was because it was difficult to capture the city.

It was not until Jiaozhi proposed peace talks with China and was even preparing to send a negotiation delegation that they realized they could no longer conceal the news and had no choice but to report it.

Today, the imperial court’s control over the border is still too weak.

The commander guarding the Jiaozhi border was a military general from the Yuanping lineage during the Great Xia Dynasty.

After Jia Cong ascended the throne, he was the first to submit a letter of congratulations, which was a remarkable performance.

But after something really happens, people take a different approach.

If a country's territory is too large, this drawback is inevitable and control over the border areas will become weaker.

Because the territory is so large and the distances are so great, the transmission of information is very slow, and transporting supplies or dispatching troops also requires a long time of preparation.

Therefore, it is not uncommon for local generals to hold their own against the odds.

During the Tang Dynasty, in order to solve this problem, great power was given to border military generals.

By setting up a Jiedushi on the border, one can take charge of administrative, economic and military power and become a local emperor.

It eventually collapsed, leading to the An-Shi Rebellion.

Later, the Song Dynasty learned its lesson and was extremely wary of military generals throughout the dynasty.

This also led to the fact that although the Song Dynasty was the richest dynasty, it was weak and had to cede territory and pay compensation and tribute repeatedly, making it extremely weak.

These are also the two extreme methods used by the two dynasties to deal with and resolve border issues.

Both of these methods are unacceptable.

Jia Cong believes that in order to solve this problem, it is necessary to speed up the transmission of information.

For example, let’s not talk about having telephones to communicate directly like in later generations.

Even with the telegraph, messages could be delivered within a day.

It is not enough to just transmit information quickly; there must also be the ability to transport supplies and troops quickly.

In order to solve these two problems, the former requires not only a generator but also a telegraph.

The former had already been invented by Johann Adam Schall von Bell, and the telegraph was actually not that complicated.

The difficulty lies in the installation.

However, this problem can be solved within ten years at the latest.

To achieve the second point, we need to lay railways and use trains to solve transportation problems.

Steam engines had already been invented, and making steam trains was not difficult.

The difficulty also lies in the laying of train tracks.

In order to solve China's border problem, it is necessary to lay railways from the capital to the border.

The scale of this project is really too huge.

This is not the future. China, known as the infrastructure maniac, can repeatedly create miracles.

An incredible amount of construction can be accomplished in a short period of time.

Today's China has many things to do. To accomplish this task, it will take at least several decades, if not a hundred years.

But this thing must be done.

And it may not be a bad thing for China.

Today, China's annual tax revenue has almost reached 100 million taels of silver. (The highest tax revenue in the Qing Dynasty was 90 million taels of silver per year, nearly 100 million taels of silver, so this number is not exaggerated)
In a few years, it will definitely exceed 100 million taels.

There is no way to spend so much money, so it is better to use it for infrastructure construction.

Anyone who has been an emperor knows that—

Well, even if you have never been an emperor, as long as you have experienced the baptism of the information explosion in later generations, you will know.

Infrastructure is the fastest way to promote local economic development.

This shows how crazy the real estate market in various countries was in later generations.

For China today, laying railways is truly a huge project that requires the efforts of the entire country to complete.

Once this project starts, it will greatly promote China's economic development.

Therefore, from any perspective, railways must be built.

While Jia Cong was thinking about it in his mind, he asked someone to call the three university secretaries and high-ranking officials from the Ministry of War, Ministry of Revenue, and Ministry of Personnel.

Soon, three university secretaries and officials from various departments arrived.

Then, Jia Cong took out the Jiaozhi military report and circulated it among everyone.

After reading it, all the important officials had solemn expressions. After everyone had finished reading it, Qin Daxueshi spoke first and said, "Your Majesty, I think we should first submit a letter to severely condemn the atrocities of Jiaozhi!"

After Qin Daxueshi finished speaking, many officials agreed.

Jia Cong glanced at Mr. Qin and shook his head slightly.

Qin Daxueshi was capable, and he made great efforts when the new policies were being implemented.

In order to ensure the smooth implementation of the new policy, Qin Daxueshi worked hard and often worked overtime and stayed up late.

In the end, the new policy was successfully implemented.

Among them, Qin Daxueshi made an indelible contribution.

However, this person is weak at heart.

When something happens, the first thing that comes to mind is to condemn and to solve the problem through negotiation.

He would not consider using military means to solve the problem unless it was absolutely necessary.

However, no one is perfect, and no gold is pure.

Everyone has shortcomings. When employing people, one should not be restricted by any particular pattern. One should take advantage of their strengths and discard their weaknesses.

Thinking of this, Jia Cong couldn't help but say: "Jiaozhi? Originally it was just a county in my Central Plains."

"Now they have not only established themselves, but have also brazenly launched a war against China, killing Chinese people and seizing three Chinese cities."

"Why bother to reason with them now? Just send troops to destroy Jiaozhi. From now on, there will be no Jiaozhi!"

"Well, after destroying them, we will move all the people of Jiaozhi to the inland, and then migrate the inland population there, so as to achieve complete sinicization."

"This way, they won't be submissive when we are strong, and then jump out and become independent when we are weak, and keep jumping back and forth."

“This way, we can completely solve this problem.”

After hearing Jia Cong's words, all the ministers in the hall looked at each other, not knowing what to say for a moment.

They did not object to the war against Jiaozhi, as this was only natural.

It is not a big problem to destroy Jiaozhi. Although it may take a few years, it is not difficult.

After all, the size of the two countries is there.

But what the emperor said is indeed a very complicated project.

To achieve this, I wonder how much manpower, material resources and financial resources will be needed.

Although with China's current national strength, this is entirely possible.

But they still feel that the efforts are not worth it.

And Jia Cong naturally saw this from their eyes.

I could not help but secretly criticize their short-sightedness in my heart.

Places like Jiaozhi have been incorporated into the territory of the Central Plains Dynasty since the Han Dynasty. Why was it able to keep jumping back and forth later?

It became independent several times and then was reconquered?
Ultimately, it’s because people don’t take it seriously.

In the eyes of the Central Plains dynasty, there was no need to vigorously develop a wild land like Jiaozhi.

It is something that is tasteless to eat but a pity to throw away.

In fact, it is not only Jiaozhi, but also many other places.

Some places, even though they had already been conquered, had no intention of incorporating them into the territory.

Instead, after plundering the place, they simply dispatched their troops and withdrew.

But in Jia Cong's eyes, Jiaozhi is actually a very important place.

Jiaozhi has a very long coastline. Once Jiaozhi is taken, China's maritime transportation will become more convenient.

There is also a large area of ​​arable land in Jiaozhi. Due to the suitable climate, rice can be harvested three times a year.

As long as we take over Jiaozhi, China will never lack food again.

The territory of Jiaozhi is also rich in mineral resources.

In short, as long as this kind of place is in our hands, we will never allow him to be independent.

However, considering the perspective of people of this era, it may be difficult to convince them.

Jia Cong tried to explain the importance of Jiaozhi, and then he found that all the ministers were not interested.

Even Lin Ruhai and Kou Daxueshi were like this.

Well, people of this era pay no attention to foreign trade at all.

Some people even think that the country should be closed and the sea should be blocked.

Talking to them about this is like talking to a cow.

At this time, Lin Ruhai said: "Your Majesty, we can discuss these matters after we take Jiaozhi."

"What we need to discuss now is who to send as the general to attack Jiaozhi, how many troops to send, and how to transport food and fodder."

What Lin Ruhai meant was probably that since the bird hasn’t been shot down yet, let’s not discuss how to eat it for now.

Putting it on hold temporarily actually means that Lin Ruhai also disagrees with Jia Cong's approach.

It doesn't matter if we put it aside for now. After we take over Jiaozhi, we will naturally find a way to do this.

Next, a group of ministers began to consider the candidates for generals.

Upon hearing this, Jia Huan was no longer sleepy, and Fu Cha Chusheng also became alert.

Now that Jia Huan is the governor of the Beijing camp, he will naturally stay in the capital for a long time.

Although Fu Chachusheng was promoted to Duke, he was a surrendered general after all.

Jia Cong also planned to break up the Fucha Army led by him.

Putting so many surrendered soldiers in one place might lead to accidents.

When Fucha was first promoted, Jia Cong did not let him guard the border, but instead kept him in the capital.

Naturally, these two generals were also called in.

When they were discussing matters just now, the two of them said nothing and were even secretly taking naps.

Now, when it comes to fighting, neither of them is sleepy anymore.

Jia Huan really liked fighting. When he heard about a war, he couldn't help but get excited.

When Fu Cha was first promoted, he wanted to prove himself.

Although he was granted the title of Duke, it was based on his merits.

But others think that he achieved this achievement by betraying his country.

Many people looked at him with strange eyes.

This made Fu Cha Chusheng eager to prove himself.

Therefore, at this time, both of them were vying to lead troops to Jiaozhi to destroy the country.

The merit of destroying a country! This is second only to their merit of following the dragon, and this is a glory that can be recorded in history.

However, Jia Cong rejected both of them in the end.

He planned to let Feng Ziying be the chief commander, commanding his 50,000 troops, as well as the garrisons of the two armies bordering Jiaozhi.

The Beijing camp also sent a rifle team and fifty cannons to support it.

Because Feng Ziying was guarding the coast of the West Sea, which was closer to Jiaozhi.

If we march quickly, we can arrive there in just over ten days.

As for the rifle team of the Beijing Camp, Jia Cong planned to transport them by sea.

At present, the research institute has already loaded the steamship, which greatly increases the ship's sailing speed.

Although it is still slower than Feng Ziying's army, the war will not be over in just ten days or half a month.

With the support of the rifle team and artillery, we can be sure of safety. (End of this chapter)