Houtao is a long area from Linhe City to Jiuyuan City, backed by the crescent-shaped Yinshan Mountain and adjacent to the Yellow River in the south. There are millions of acres of good land that could be developed.
Nantao is the hometown of the Ordos tribe. It is now the pasture and grazing land of the Yang family.
Qiantao is the area around Guihua City, which is the hometown of King Tumet Shunyi.
The opening of the railway greatly facilitated transportation, and it was impossible for these places to escape the control of the Central Plains Dynasty. The reason why the previous dynasty was unable to control it was because the precipitation line moved southward, making these areas unable to be cultivated. Local food cannot feed the garrison.
Transporting grain from the interior would drag down the imperial government's finances. Therefore, even if you win, you cannot take advantage of it. You can only give up, which is equivalent to wasting your efforts.
But things are different now. The railway has been opened and transportation is not a problem at all. Transport food and daily necessities when you go there. When returning, they transported cattle, sheep, livestock, wool, and minerals.
Xiao Niangpi looked at the map and finally breathed a sigh of relief. This railway has almost become a problem for her. Spending money is like opening a floodgate to release water. It made her very frightened.
After all, she is in charge of the family's finances. The two major projects are money-eating tigers.
Fortunately, the dam was completed at the end of this year. The water is beginning to accumulate. Starting next year, the dam will be able to make money. Because water is charged, it cannot be given to farmers for free.
The opening of the railway means that huge investments can be stopped. From now on, the goal is to run the railway well and earn back the investment as soon as possible.
Yang Fan's eyes stayed on the Western Region. There are still two thousand kilometers from Linhe to Yili. There are still three thousand kilometers from Ili to Tsaritsyn.
"You see, this area is the Eurasian steppe belt. This steppe belt is divided into two parts by the Altai Mountains, also known as the Jinshan Mountains. We control the part east of the Altai Mountains. This is also a separate geographical unit." Yang Fan pointed out He said while looking at the map.
"The eastern grassland is dry, rainless, cold, and hot. The natural environment is extremely poor. These nomadic peoples are often attacked by white disasters. In order to survive, they must go south to rob. You see..."
From the map, it can be seen that the nomads in the eastern part of the Eurasian steppe are prone to disasters and cannot effectively deal with them. The main reason is that the parts they occupy are incomplete. The entire northern pastoral area has the same climate type.
In other words, once a disaster occurs, it affects the entire region. They have nowhere to hide and hide. We can only fight hard, or go south to rob.
The irreconcilable contradiction between the Han people and the herdsmen is that the Han people occupy a place with the best climate. The Han people used it for farming. If there were no Han people, North China and Mongolia would both be nomadic. If they are all used for grazing, their ability to resist natural disasters can be greatly improved.
The late Spring and Autumn Period was the first major collision between nomadism and farming. Nomads tried to seize the Central Plains to supplement their pasture. At that time, great results were achieved. They were scattered nomadic tribes at that time. A large number of people entered the Central Plains fighting independently.
Under the severe situation, Duke Huan of Qi, a prince named Jiang, began to respect the king and fight against the barbarians as an alliance of the Zhou people. Unified manpower and material resources and drove the nomads out of the Central Plains. Therefore, Confucius said, without Duke Huan of Qi, we would be wearing our hair in left ruffles.
This incident illustrates the need for the unification of the Han people. In the Warring States Period that followed, the annexation war began. Unification became the common goal of all princes.
Speaking of which, the unification of the nomadic people occurred during the Modun Chanyu period, which was the end of the Qin Dynasty. A little later than the Han people. However, as for luck, everything changes when it is too late. They were blocked by the Great Wall and could only stay on the grassland. The western half of the Eurasian steppe, from Ukraine to Kazakhstan, has much better natural conditions.
After the Mongols occupied the Central Plains, they planned to lay waste the fields for grazing. When we first heard this statement, we couldn’t believe our ears. How ridiculous would it be to do such a thing.
However, if we look at the macro-cycle perspective of history and the interests of the Mongols. Judging from the demands of the two civilizations of nomadism and farming, it suddenly becomes clear. What the nomads have always been looking for is a piece of pasture land in North China. Used as a buffer for natural disasters in grassland areas.
If North China and the Mongolian Plateau were nomadic lands, their living environment would be greatly improved, at least reaching the water level of the western half of the Eurasian steppe belt.
flat.
This is the real reason why nomadism and farming are at odds with each other here in East Asia.
They have not been able to achieve their goals for two thousand years. Their prosperity has been rapid and their demise has been sudden. Once they decline, there are only two ways to go.
One is Run, who migrated to the west of the Eurasian steppe belt like the Huns. Start over and find a way out.
The other one is the volume, they are internal volume.
Because there is no chance of going south. The Great Wall blocked them.
So, they opened the book. The Donghu Group defeated the Xiongnu Group. Rouran rolled Donghu to death. The Turks killed Xianbei. Then the Turks were destroyed by the rising Tang Dynasty.
The entry of Arab forces into Central Asia in the late tenth century added to the religious problem.
The first to be defeated was the shaman. Shamanism has spread along the Eurasian steppe belt since prehistoric times by the Scythians in Ukraine, and even spread to Argentina.
But after this period, the shamans were defeated across the entire Eurasian steppe. Only the fishing and hunting peoples of the three eastern provinces still have remnants.
After that, Zang Chuan and Liu Bei began to conquer the Western Regions again.
In order to compete with the Han people for the livable temperate climate, they were forced to unite. Nomads have always been unified in the eastern part of the Eurasian steppe. This is completely different from the mess in the West.
Regardless of the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Turks, Mongols, or even the Jiannu, they all unified the northern grassland belt during their peak period. The reason is because the Han people are unified, and only by being unified can they fight against the Han people. The reason why the Han people have been able to maintain their long-term unification is because of the long-term unification of the nomadic people.
The West believes that the reason why the Han people formed an independent civilization system was determined by the closed geographical environment of East Asia. In fact, I think it is inseparable from the involution of the two modes of survival, farming and nomadism. This fundamental contradiction runs through the history of ancient China.
The unique civilization formed by both sides was actually rolled out.
So, East Asia is now one country. At the western end of the Eurasian continent, there are countless small countries. Because they did not have a strong and unified nomadic nation in history, which continued to threaten them during the two thousand years of history.
The real threat to them is the big hair that only appeared in modern times. Therefore, the European Union emerged. The basis for the existence of the EU and NATO is the threat of Mao Zedong.
The situations at the two ends of the continent are completely different, which leads to completely different fates for Britain and Japan. The Japanese finally rose to prominence in modern times and turned themselves into a colony. To this day, they are still an incomplete country.
Yang Fan looked at the happy little girl and couldn't bear to hit her. So, he said as calmly as possible: "Only a small section of this railway has been completed, and it will continue to be repaired. Moreover, the parts that have been repaired still need to be rebuilt."
"Ah!" The little girl's face fell.
"This railway will not stop until it is built here." Yang Fan pointed at Tsaritsin with a pencil. "The Mongolian problem must be completely solved. The problem of nomads cannot be left to the next generation. Therefore, the Crimean Khanate and Kalmyk Khanate must be taken back."
Xiao Niangpi and Lin Yueru quickly looked for where this place was.
They were shocked to find that the city of Tsaritsyn was located in a narrow location between the Don and Volga rivers. The end point of the master's Western Expedition is on a prairie called Ukraine.
Xiao Niangpi looked at it for a while and asked: "Master, you said that the completed line needs to be renovated. What do you mean? Doesn't the remodeling mean that it will not be open to traffic?"
Yang Fan said with a smile: "It will not affect the opening of the railway. There is a type of railway called a track, which means three rails. I plan to add another rail on the outside. The outermost gauge reaches the standard rule of 1435 mm. It will be better in the future. A heavy-duty train. That train will be the standard train of the future."
Lin Yueru suddenly realized: "I understand, what the master means is to add a rail and widen the gauge during construction during the time when trains are not running. This kind of three-track rail is what he called a track railway. The current 762 train , all future 1435 trains can run.”
Xiao Niangpi naturally knows the benefits of this, and the master has the ambition to conquer thousands of miles of territory. She is happy because these will all belong to her son in the future. But when I think about it
When it comes to finances, I feel depressed again.
"You don't have to worry about financial problems. This railway will no longer use financial funds in the future. I will ship back a sum of silver from overseas in the near future to use it specifically to pay for the cost of this railway."
