In fact, Ouyang Xuan knew that the land under the rule of the Pili Army contained not only natural gas but also oil. When he was a child, he saw oil mining equipment near Hengyuan Town. That mining machinery was also called a "kowtow machine" by the locals. It's just that this oil is buried thousands of meters underground and cannot be extracted with current technology. In this era, only the oil in West Asia such as Arabia and Persia was utilized due to its large reserves, shallow burial, and good oil quality. When locals dig wells, they often find that what comes out is not water, but this flammable black grease, called kerosene. After the Mongols conquered Western Asia, they also used it in war. However, there is a long distance between East and West Asia, and oil is still a rare thing in Han Dynasty.
It is impossible for the Perak Army to obtain oil now. Currently there are only two roads from western Sichuan to Western Asia. One is from the north controlled by Mongolia, along the Silk Road to West Asia through the Western Regions, and the other is to reach the coast first, and then go to West Asia by sea. Currently, there are two channels for the Pili Army to go to sea. One is from Xuzhou via Shimenguan, passing through Luoshi Ghost Kingdom and Luodian Ghost Kingdom to reach the seaside of Qinzhou and Lianzhou. Another most convenient way is to go down the river to Lin'an. In comparison, although the Mongolian army currently blocks the waterways around Chongqing Prefecture, it is still the first choice compared to the trade routes passing through the two ghost countries. This is also the reason why Ouyang Xuan sent Li Kaipeng's team to Lin'an. Li Kaipeng's mission is not only to obtain intelligence through connections between the DPRK and China, but also to find a foothold on the coast, continue to develop and expand Liuqiu Company, and expand its business overseas.
Ouyang Xuan, who possesses modern geographical knowledge, certainly knows the limitations of the Perak Army being located in western Sichuan. To completely defeat the Mongols, resources must be obtained from the outside world. The American continent not only has a large amount of gold and silver, but also corn, tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes and other crops that Ouyang Xuan was obsessed with. These things laid the foundation for the "Kangxi and Qianlong Dynasties". This is also the direction Ouyang Xuan has assigned to Liuqiu Company. Of course, the Perak Army will not use the Mongolian method of plundering and squeezing resources, but will use trade. This is a fair and long-term means of obtaining resources.
Of course, the growth of Liuqiu Company did not happen in a day or two. It took many years of hard work to explore and obtain the resources of North and South America - Ouyang Xuan called these two places Alpaca Continent and Bison Continent respectively. It has been more than three months since Li Kaipeng's team set out, and no news has come back. Did they meet Jia Sidao, did they reach Lin'an smoothly, and did they find a foothold on the coast? Just as Ouyang Xuan was thinking about it, Qian Bao of Lizhou sent back an urgent message - Cao Zhizhou had blocked the trade route from Yazhou and Lizhou to Fan District.
When the Mongolian troops gathered at Jiading's gates, Cao Zhizhou was indeed interested in surrendering to the Mongols. Niulin has reported to Meng Ge Khan and promised to reward him as the prefect of Jiading. Although Yazhou has a sparse population, it is responsible for the border defense affairs of Li, Diao, Yanzhou and western Sichuan. If it surrenders to Mongolia, it can either go east to attack Jiading from behind, or it can go north to attack the territory of the Perak Army, so Khan Mengge agreed. Cao Zhizhou's asking price. With the Yazhou Army restraining them from behind, the Mongolian army would have a greater chance of winning whether it was dealing with the Jiading Army or the Perak Army. It is said that Cao Zhizhou, as an old man in the officialdom, also regarded the wall-riding faction as extremely smooth. Seeing that the Mongolian army was not going well in the war, he suppressed his intention to surrender to Meng. Anyway, as long as the land is there, there are plenty of opportunities to sell it.
Cao Zhizhou sent heavy troops to garrison Mingshan City, and anyone with a discerning eye would know that they were guarding against the Thunderbolt Army. "Only the state officials are allowed to set fires, but the people are not allowed to light lamps." Cao Zhizhou is this kind of person. It is natural for us to defend ourselves against the Perak Army. However, the Perak Army simply held a large-scale drill in Baizhang City, and actually attracted a large number of Tibetan people to Lizhou and Diaomen Village. In his opinion, the Pili Army was doing business on the surface, but in fact it was trying to win over people's hearts and wanted to use the power of the Tibetan people to deal with themselves. This was absolutely intolerable. It's just that the Pili Army's combat power is not inferior to his own, and there are hundreds of meters of natural danger, so he can use some underhanded tactics, but it is really not suitable to openly turn against him. Now that the main force of the Yazhou Army has withdrawn from Hongya and Mingshan City, there is no need to be polite to the Tibetan people, and they must be shown some color.
Although Lizhou and the Tibetan area west of Diaomenzhai were nominally subordinate to the imperial court, the government had no actual jurisdiction here and its influence was extremely weak. The reason why these tribes in the Tibetan areas nominally submitted to the imperial court was because they wanted to do business with the Han region. Most of the Tibetan areas are alpine mountains and grasslands. Although the area is vast, the population is sparse, and the productivity is still in the barbaric state of slash-and-burn farming. Tea, salt, ironware, and pottery from the Han region were all daily necessities for the Tibetan people. From an economic point of view, without the materials provided by the Han farming civilization, the grassland animal husbandry economy or the planting, fishing and hunting economy in alpine mountainous areas would not be able to cycle on their own, and would have to rely on war or trade to obtain materials. In fact, the imperial court relied on tribute—actual trade—to control the surrounding tribes, stipulating the time, frequency, and types of items to pay tribute, so that they would not be able to survive and start a war, nor would they become increasingly overwhelmed due to sufficient supplies. A strong state.
For the vassal states of the empire or the large surrounding tribal forces, the imperial court had a special Lifanyuan to manage them, while small tribes were managed by local officials. Although Yu Xing was the deputy envoy to set up Sichuan and the deputy envoy to pacify Chengdu, he was the chief official in handling Yifan affairs in western Sichuan. However, in western Sichuan, which was severely damaged by the war, the normal governance of the government has long since collapsed. Facing frequent attacks by the Mongolian army, Yu Xing had too much time to take care of himself. In addition, the road was far away, so the daily affairs of the Tibetan people in Lizhou and the west of Diaomen Village were left to Cao Zhizhou to handle. Although a large amount of tax money was collected, most of which would fall into the pockets of Cao Zhizhou and his cronies, the unauthorized transactions between the Tibetan merchants and the Pili Army caravans not only offended the official authority of Yazhou. For Cao Zhizhou, the enemy's friend is the enemy. Since the Tibetan merchants want to be friends with the Perak Army, they are naturally their enemies and must be severely punished.
However, Cao Zhizhou also knew that the Tibetan people were extremely fierce and the mountains and rivers were high and dangerous. Although he had many soldiers and horses, he might not be able to defeat them in a frontal battle, let alone attack those strong watchtowers and cottages. The only way is to seal the checkpoints to death of trapped, impoverished, and starved peasants who interact with the Perak Army. The transactions between Han and Tibetan merchants were the largest in spring and autumn. The high transaction volume in spring was due to the urgent need to replenish supplies after the harsh winter, while the high transaction volume in autumn was due to the need to reserve supplies to survive the winter. As long as the checkpoint is sealed so that Spring cannot trade, the peasants will have to kneel down to him. However, what Cao Zhizhou did not expect was that the road would still be passable due to less rain and snow this winter, and Boss Qian notified Tibetan merchants to come in large numbers, and the daily necessities traded would be enough to sustain the mountain and grassland tribes until autumn.
Although Cao Zhizhou strictly ordered the checkpoint to be closed, some people still passed through the checkpoint quietly. Cao Zhizhou and his cronies knew how to make money, and naturally the soldiers guarding the checkpoint also knew. They were so poor that they would refuse to accept the money sent by the Perak Army caravan? "When the fire breaks the pig's head, the money is used for business." Since the money has been collected, although the transaction cannot be allowed in violation of the principles, it is natural to let a few people in and out. Among the people who secretly passed through the checkpoint, there were both people from the Perak Army caravan going to Fan District, and also businessmen from Fan District. One of the purposes of their exchange is to check the type, quantity and approximate time of autumn trading goods. What should I do if Cao Zhizhou still doesn’t turn on the switch? Brother Xuan said, "There must be a road before the car reaches the mountain." When the time comes, there will naturally be a way.
