The westernmost end of the Tianshan Mountains is divided into two branches, the north and the south.
One is oriented northwest-southeast and the other is oriented southwest-northeast.
Two sloping branches of the Tianshan Mountains form a bell mouth facing the west.
The bell mouth traps the last trace of water vapor from the Atlantic Ocean.
This is the Ili Valley, which was once the seat of Wusun, an ancient country in the Western Regions.
West of the Ili River Valley and southeast of Balkhash Pool (Lake Balkhash), the area in the middle is the "Seven Rivers Area".
The southern mountain range of the Tianshan Mountains continues to the southwest and reaches a place close to Congling, the ancestor of all mountains, and forms a semi-enclosed valley, which is the Fergana Basin, where the ancient country of Dawan in the Western Regions is located.
The core area of the Ming Dynasty can be regarded as a semi-enclosed area, surrounded by mountains, plateaus, and seas.
If the Ming Dynasty was in a weak position, the midline of the high points of these mountains would probably be used as the boundary.
But the Ming Dynasty is now absolutely powerful, so it not only completely occupies these mountain ranges, but also uses the extended foothills of these mountains as its boundary.
They will even continue to expand outward and build cities and strongholds at the foot of the mountains.
These cities are the fulcrum of local political power that suppresses and controls more external areas, and are also the bases for continued outward expansion.
The Ili Valley and the Fergana Basin are the areas at the outer foothills of this natural mountain range. They are the frontier base for the Ming Dynasty to control and influence the more western areas.
To the west of Fergana is the Hezhong area, and the hinterland of the Three Kingdoms of Anxi is under the direct intervention of the Ming Dynasty.
Relatively speaking, the Ili River Valley goes deeper into the interior of the Ming Dynasty. Because the Qihe area to the west of the Ili River Valley is also the mainland of the Ming Dynasty, the "inland" Ili has become an ideal core city in the "outer northwest".
After Zhu Jingyuan's northwest urbanization policy began, this local core city naturally became a key construction target.
The Central Court, the Chief Envoy of the Western Regions, the Royal Family Consortium, the Ming Dynasty Consortium, the Ming Dynasty Airlines, and the Dashi Clothing Company successively began to pour resources and manpower into the Ili area.
Well-informed businessmen from the mainland also saw the opportunity to invest in Yili.
The local grassroots government offices are also simultaneously transferring the population from surrounding remote villages to Ili.
The area outside Yili City soon turned into a large construction site.
There are also several key cities on the snowy plateau and Mongolian grasslands that have begun similar large-scale urban construction projects.
And the four principalities of Xianbei, Kazakhstan, Khiva, and Persia also started similar projects.
Several vassal states did not have the strong grassroots management capabilities of the Ming Dynasty, and their methods were a bit crude, crude and impatient. However, things were stumbling but moving forward unswervingly.
Under Zhu Jingyuan's central coordination and control, several vassal states maintained communication and cooperation with the northwest provinces in the direction of construction.
Connect key construction cities into several important axes and build high-standard railways and highways between cities.
Large and medium-sized airports of the same standard will be built on the edge of the city. Daming Airlines will organize joint venture manufacturers from various vassal states and government-owned manufacturers from each province to jointly operate various continued air transportation businesses.
The news that Ming Dynasty developed the northwest has convinced more and more people.
Just like many things in human society, as long as everyone believes in it, then this thing can be accomplished.
If everyone in a country or a place believes that they are the masters of this place, then they are really the masters there, and they can really implement the master's power.
On the contrary, if everyone does not believe it, then the corresponding things will really not be accomplished.
The key to "whoever wins will help whom" is not to make bystanders take sides, but to make them believe that they can win.
Everyone believes that the Ming Dynasty wants to develop the northwest, so this matter will naturally become more than half of the problem.
As the number of people increases and the projects get started, the money will naturally come.
It can be expected that private businessmen will invest in the northwest, and it is very beneficial to Zhu Jingyuan.
Zhu Jingyuan himself reads reports and requests for instructions from all aspects every day.
From time to time, he sent replies to several vassal states saying "be steady" and "don't be impatient".
On the other side, at the reminder of the Duke of Xianbei, Lucia honestly submitted an explanation to the Honglu Temple of the Ming Dynasty regarding the development plan of the Volga-Ural oil field.
Lucia assured that military personnel will never be arranged to participate in the demilitarized zone stipulated in the treaty, and the local oil field development process will be entirely civilian.
They also invited the Ming Dynasty Honglu Temple to arrange for diplomatic personnel to go to the site for supervision.
The Honglu Temple of the Ming Dynasty praised Lucia's attitude and avoided possible diplomatic problems and conflicts.
This is how the matter should have ended.
However, after the news of Ming Dynasty's development of the northeast, east and west spread abroad, the Lucians couldn't help but panic.
In the palace of Moscow, the capital of Lucia, Emperor Nicholas of Lucia once again summoned his important ministers.
A group of people took the summary report sent by the intelligence department, read it back and forth several times, and unanimously formed an idea that made people feel a lot of pressure:
"The Ming Dynasty is building a line of high-standard railways and highways in their northwest region..."
“There are also major cities that are building large-scale universal city airports.
“At the same time, the population and resources in the northwest region are being concentrated on a large scale.
"Is Ming gathering strength to bulldoze Lucia..."
Nicholas had a straight face, frowned, and said with worry and fear:
“This can’t be a targeted response because we want to develop the Volga field, right?
“We’ve set our posture low enough that we really just want to develop the oil there.
"We don't have any other ideas at all..."
Lucia's de facto Prime Minister Wedemeyer also said with a worried face:
"Developing oil fields also means building infrastructure...
“We are also expanding rail and road connections to the Volga-Ural region.
"We are also building new residential areas and warehouses locally...
“After all, it is a demilitarized zone stipulated in the treaty.
“In Daming’s view, our current actions are obviously very suspicious.
“Just in case, it is natural to make adequate preparations in advance.”
Nico said with a sad face:
"What should we do now? We are planning a military operation against Ming Dynasty, but Ming Dynasty does not believe it..."
Wedemeyer thought about it for a while:
"Da Ming should not be completely unconvinced. There is still no sign of any change in the cooperation between Daming and us in the navy.
“There are still no signs of slackening in Ming Dynasty’s official and private investment projects in our territory.
“So we cannot completely rule out the possibility that the Ming Dynasty simply wanted to develop their inland areas.
"So I don't think we need to worry too much. Can we ask His Highness Alexander to help us communicate?"
Alexander was Royashan, the half-brother of Nicholas.
Although Nicholas didn't want to deal with Luo Yashan, he couldn't think of any other way now and could only nod in agreement.
So Nicholas wrote a personal letter to Luo Yashan, reassuring Lucia's position and hoping that Luo Yashan would help coordinate.
After Luo Yashan saw the letter, he frowned and muttered:
"My brother, how do I know you are not using me to lower Ming's vigilance?"
After Luo Yashan thought about it for a long time, he also wrote a handwritten letter, completely objectively describing what he learned about the situation and the situation when he received the letter.
He put his letter and Nicholas's letter together and sent them directly to Zhu Jingyuan in Xi'an.
Writing formal letters in this day and age can be considered a very serious matter.
After Zhu Jingyuan received Luo Yashan's letter, he subconsciously thought that Luo Yashan might have some personal request.
So while he was reading the letter, he directly asked someone to call Luo Feiya to his side.
Zhu Jingyuan was speechless after reading it. He looked up and saw Luo Feiya coming over, so he handed the two letters to Luo Feiya:
"Your uncle Nicholas thinks that our Ming Dynasty's development in the northwest is a threat to Lucia."
Luo Feiya quickly scanned the contents of the letter, then sighed helplessly and said:
"Your Highness, Lucia right now... in your words, is in a state of excessive self-awareness.
"If Uncle Nicholas comes to the Ming Dynasty and carefully understands His Highness's strategy in the northwest, he will not feel that the Ming Dynasty is now dealing with Lucia."
After hearing this, Zhu Jingyuan smiled and pulled Luo Feiya to sit down next to him:
"Actually, I feel now that this Nicholas has reminded me.
"Our Ming Dynasty's development of the northwestern provinces and vassal states really helped us continue to expand westward.
"In other words, if we want to attack Lucia, the current construction is indeed necessary."
Luo Feiya was obviously taken aback:
"No... Your Highness, you don't really want to continue attacking Lucia, do you?"
Zhu Jingyuan continued to say with a smile:
“I really didn’t have this idea originally, and I still don’t have it now or in the short term.
"But this does not prevent us from really making preparations and showing what we are going to do...
“Unless the Lucians are willing to take out the Volga-Urals oil field and jointly develop it with us.
“We connect key rail and road lines from mainland Lucia to the Volga-Ural region.
“We are working together to build a cross-border trading company to operate cross-border trade between the two countries.
“In the demilitarized zone of the Ural region, a large-scale free trade zone will be built, and official and private manufacturers from both sides are welcome to invest and develop locally.
"Further deeply bind Lucia to our Ming Dynasty from an economic perspective."
Luo Feiya has been following Zhu Jingyuan for almost ten years and is completely familiar with Zhu Jingyuan's character and habits.
Zhu Jingyuan has long been accustomed to this strategy, and at the same time he subconsciously asked:
"Then what does Your Highness need Feiya to do?"
Zhu Jingyuan patted Luo Feiya's hand and said:
"You go back to your parents' home, that is, to Xianbei City. I will contact Honglu Temple and the Royal Family Foundation and ask them to arrange for a few representatives to go with you.
"You asked your father to contact your uncle and ask Lucia's diplomats and related personnel to go to Xianbei City. You settled the matter in Xianbei City.
“This matter is not just our cooperation with Lucia, it can be further expanded.
"William and Louise of Prussia have also been with me for more than four years. They are now eighteen or nineteen years old this year and can go back.
“We brought in Prussia and Austria… even France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain.
“Let’s build a high-end railway line that runs through the entire Shenou continent.
“There was originally a railway on this road, but everyone built it separately, and even deliberately separated the distance.
“Now we need to connect them and plan a new route with more reasonable roads.
“In this way, the countries along the way...the major countries on the Shenou Continent will be brought in to do business together.
"Of course, the connection with Lucia is the key. If Lucia doesn't continue, it will be useless later.
"In fact, even if other countries do not participate, our cooperation with Lucia will still have good benefits."
Luo Feiya suddenly understood and was once again amazed by Zhu Jingyuan's thoughts:
"His Highness's plan... is still so eye-opening, Feiya will definitely cooperate with it.
"I'll go back to pack my things and send a message directly to Dad at the same time...
"Oh, by the way, are you just letting Louise go back? Don't you think of a way to keep her?"
Zhu Jingyuan hugged Luo Feiya and kissed her:
"She hasn't had the chance to be the King of Prussia, nor can she become the concubine of the prince of the Ming Dynasty. At most, she can be the concubine of the King of Ming Dynasty.
"She is a pure Thai and a religious person. Unlike you, she probably can't accept being a concubine.
"Most likely you can just ignore the title I gave you and just be your lover like Charlotte.
"She can't be the king, and it will be troublesome to arrange the illegitimate child.
"So I have no interest in her anymore."
Luo Feiya grew up with Zhu Jingyuan, and Zhu Jingyuan was also very tolerant of them, so they spoke more casually:
"Your Highness, don't you have any feelings for girls? Why do you only consider interests when it comes to matters between men and women?"
Zhu Jingyuan held Luo Feiya's hands and said with a smile:
"What you said is not wrong. When I was young, I still had some feelings and was very kind.
“That’s why I relented and left Xiaona, Xiaofu, Irene and you all behind.
“I really don’t have any feelings now, I have too many things to consider.
"A Taixi princess who is familiar with the culture of the Ming Dynasty and has good intentions towards the Ming Dynasty has no practical significance in being my little wife. It is far better to return to the country to spread her influence.
"So don't worry about it. Go and do your business. You are going to Xianbei to be my personal representative."
Luo Feiya stuck out her tongue:
"As ordered..."
Luo Feiya also kissed Zhu Jingyuan on the cheek, and then left Zhu Jingyuan's office briskly.
Going to Xianbei to see her parents is equivalent to going back to her parents' home for a visit. Of course Luo Feiya, who is not yet twenty years old, is happy.
Zhu Jingyuan first asked people to call the King of Prussia's son William and daughter Louise to come over and see him.
At the same time, he took advantage of this time to write a simple note himself and asked his secretary to send it to Honglu Temple and his father.
Tell his father and Honglu Temple that he has such an idea, ask for their opinions, and ask them to arrange personnel to prepare.
Let them also consult the railway companies and analyze the feasibility of building a railway across the entire continent.
Also briefly evaluate the costs and benefits of building another railway.
This kind of thing is something that any company often does, and it is just an idea and plan before it is implemented.
Such companies have dedicated personnel to do similar planning and evaluation.
It will not put too much pressure on the relevant companies, but will instead give them a huge new project.
(End of chapter)
