From Gaizhou to Liaoyang, whether it was far or near, it was more than two hundred miles and passed through horse-drawn stations everywhere.
Originally, Gao Jingshi planned to go to Liaoyang instead of taking the land route, and instead took the water route of the Daliao River and Taizi River systems to Liaoyang. But later when he heard that he would pass through Anshan Mayi, he changed his mind and chose to take the land route.
Obviously, he is not interested in Anshan Horse Station, but only in Anshan.
Anshan was known as the "Steel Capital" and the "Jade Capital" in later generations. In particular, its proven reserves of iron ore reached 10 billion tons, ranking first in the country.
Beijing owns Kaiping, so there is definitely no shortage of coal, but not necessarily iron ore. Although it seems that there is no shortage now, that is because the current supply of steel is mainly for the military. In fact, if it is opened to civilian supply, this Iron products from the 1970s are almost always in short supply—because production capacity is so large.
Of course, there are also other issues involved here. For example, when digging iron ore, it is obviously impossible to dig as deep as in later generations under the current conditions. We can only dig some open-pit mines and shallow mines, which greatly limits the production capacity of iron ore. improve.
In addition, although iron products are now high-profit products, because the iron itself is very heavy, the cost of transportation is also large. Although iron products from Kaiping to Liaodong can be transported by sea and then transferred to the inland river, but in any case, it is definitely It is better to produce it directly in Liaodong.
Originally, Gao Pragmatic did not engage in the steel industry in Liaodong, not because the resource conditions in Liaodong were not good, but because the political and military situation was uncontrollable. But now that he has become the governor of Liaodong, he has the confidence to change this uncontrollability. If it becomes controllable, Liaodong's steel industry can be considered on the agenda.
At this time, Anshan also had a city built, but the city was very small, about the size of a lower county in the Central Plains. The garrison here is also very limited. There is only one hundred households left here by Ding Liao Zuowei, which is simply not worth mentioning.
Gao Yizhi spent a day in Anshan, looked around, and asked the local people, confirming that local people often pick up iron ore, Xiuyan jade, etc., especially Xiuyan jade. Although Anshan City is small, But there are more than a dozen jade carving workshops.
That’s right, this Anshan is the Anshan in memory.
Jinghua Anshan Iron Mine, Jinghua Anshan Arsenal, etc. can now start sending people to Anshan for exploration and site selection.
However, Gao Pragmatic does not intend to make Anshan's iron smelting and weapons industry too huge. At least there is no need to compete with Kaiping for supremacy. His first step for the Anshan Arsenal is to supply Liaodong, and the second step is to expand it to Support the war to aid Korea.
Although the three major Wanli campaigns in history were all won, they were not flattened. Especially the war to aid Korea was fought over and over again, and the Ming army also suffered heavy losses many times.
Although the war to aid Korea was fought repeatedly not because the Ming army's combat effectiveness was inferior to that of the Japanese army, but because of underestimating the enemy at the beginning and the subsequent mess of logistics support, under the consistent and pragmatic thinking, the logistics support itself It is also an important part of combat effectiveness. If logistical support is unfavorable, that means combat effectiveness is defective, so this shortcoming must be made up for in advance.
But then again, the worst aspect of the Ming army's logistical support at that time was actually not the shortage of ordnance and supplies, but the intermittent supply of food and wages. The North Korean court had a huge responsibility here - according to what was agreed at the beginning, North Korea was to provide food and grass for the Ming army nearby. However, in fact, the situation in North Korea was completely out of control at that time. The North Korean court could not control the location at all, so how could it provide food and grass? forage?
The Ming Dynasty itself did not want to save that little grain, but it was quite inconvenient to transport grain from Liaodong to North Korea - the eastern part of Liaodong itself is a large mountainous forest, and the northern part of North Korea is also a mountainous area, so transportation losses are huge, which should be avoided in the first place. .
But North Korea only asked Ming's father to send troops quickly. Regardless of whether he could do it or not, he agreed first. As a result, the Ming army fell into a situation of insufficient supplies as soon as it passed.
Moreover, this situation was not fully resolved until the end of the First World War to aid Korea. As a result, the Ming army continued to engage in refueling tactics in Korea. At its maximum strength, it only had about 70,000 troops, which was far inferior to the Japanese army. As for the Japanese army, since they used sea transportation to supplement their supplies, and as invaders, they could plunder at will in the occupied areas, they had relatively sufficient food and grass.
From this point of view, it is not enough to develop the Anshan iron mine and arsenal alone. The key is to consolidate the foundation of Liaodong and to be able to withstand the test of a war of attrition.
Of course, at the same time, it would be best to study the feasibility of replenishing the army to support North Korea through sea transportation.
Fortunately, the Imjin Japanese Rebellion will not break out for nine to ten years, so there is still time to deal with it slowly.
As for the top priority in Liaodong, on the one hand, Gao Pragmatic wanted to consolidate the foundation of Liaodong, and on the other hand, it was the focus of the Ming Dynasty - the Eastern System.
The national policy set by Gao Gong to control the west and control the east has now been more than half completed. Now that Tumut has surrendered and Chahar's strength has been damaged, this is indeed a good opportunity for the Ming Dynasty.
However, due to the continuous outbreak of the Monan War and the Liaonan War, the Ming court will definitely not be able to find the money to immediately promote the war against Chahar. This matter will be postponed until at least next autumn.
And Chahar should have no spare time to stir up trouble now.
Now, the Ming Dynasty and the Chahar tribe can only have peace for a while to see who recovers faster.
However, because the Chahar tribe is a little far away, they have the confidence to be peaceful for a period of time, but the Chahua tribe may not. Gao Pragmatic is still very interested in regaining the Liaohe Hetao.
When Qin Deyi was eager to go to the Liaohe Hetao to seize power, Gao Jingshi did not show much interest in the Liaohe Hetao area, but that was just intentional after all. In fact, Gao Jingshi really wanted to regain the Liaohe Hetao. of.
The important thing about the Liaohe Hetao area is that once it is recovered, the Liaodong border wall will have one less V-shaped bend. Not only will the border wall itself be reduced by two-thirds (referring to this section), but the gap between western Liaoning and eastern Liaoning will also be reduced. The connections between the two countries have become more convenient and mutual support has become faster. At the same time, it has also greatly reduced the possibility of the Mongols directly threatening Liaoyang and other places in the hinterland of Liaodong. The military effect is obvious.
In other words, once the Liaohe Hetao was recaptured, it would be impossible for the Mongols to imagine that they would have fought to the north of Dongchang Fort before being discovered just like in this battle in southern Liaoning. This would greatly improve the strategic depth of the hinterland of Liaodong.
The question now is, what is the remaining strength of the speculation department, and who should be sent to fight.
Especially the latter is the key - sending Li Chengliang should be the best choice. The chance of winning is very high, but Gao Pragmatic doesn't want to choose it.
If the commander-in-chief can’t do it, what about the deputy commander-in-chief? Now that the deputy commander-in-chief is vacant, Li Chengliang has already recommended Zu Chengxun to Shu, but the governor of Jiliao and the governor of Liaodong also have the right to recommend, but these two positions have just been replaced, so the court plans to wait a little longer.
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