Chapter 25 Decision making
In essence, this strategy does not include the idea of a sneak attack, it is an upright conspiracy. The problem is also very simple.
Just look at two points, that is, the resources invested by both sides on the battlefield in the northwest.
Resources are human and material resources.
As mentioned before, land transportation consumes too much. During the Tang Dynasty, because grain could not be transported from Luoyang to Chang'an, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty had to take all the civil and military officials to Luoyang to eat.
This shows how much food is consumed by land transportation.
Not to mention, the northwest today is no longer the northwest it used to be. The Guanzhong of today is no longer the Guanzhong of the past. The local food in Guanzhong is absolutely impossible to support the army in battle.
The same problem is no longer a problem for Beijing as long as this railway is completed.
Then it is many times easier for supplies from Beijing to reach the northwest than supplies from Jiangnan. Not to mention, with the same troops and horses, the Northern Army's combat power is still higher than that of the Southern Army.
Even if the two sides are not big, they only need to keep Northwest in a stalemate.
The Southern Army's consumption was also greater than that of the Northern Army. In this way, time passes. The Southern Army was determined not to be a match for the Northern Army. Not to mention, how could the Northern Army not fight? Moreover, the northwest position of the garrison may not be the opponent of the Northern Army.
In other words, when He Xi made this decision, the worst outcome would be a stalemate between the two parties. Nanjing couldn't stand it anymore.
For Nanjing, the northwest region has become useless. Wounds that continue to bleed.
Xie Jin was also a smart man. He understood immediately when he was approached, and then he moved in his heart and said: "In this way, the key to this war is not the war itself, but whether the railway can be repaired, and if it can be repaired, how much it will cost. How much time?".
He Xi said, "Not bad." Then she gestured outside. Immediately, two people were ushered in from outside.
It was none other than Zhang Youzhi and Ge Tiangong.
After all, if the railway project is built, it will be built by them.
He Xi asked someone to explain to Zhang Youzhi the railway to be built and ask him to estimate the cost. By the way, is there any technical problem?
Zhang Youzhi was very excited. After all, being able to participate in such a high-level decision-making made him feel very satisfied. He calmed down and said, "If it is just to build to the east bank of the Yellow River, it will take about 40 million to 5,000. Ten thousand yuan. Of course, there is a problem here that I dare not estimate, that is, from the capital to Yingkou, there is flat land all the way, and from the capital to the Yellow River, you have to climb over mountains, and it is not a mountain. Fifty million I have already increased the expenditure by a lot, but when it comes time to actually start construction, I don’t know whether I need to increase the budget.”
"If everything goes well and the difficulties are within my estimation, then everything is fine. If not, then I can't say for sure."
Ge Tiangong said: "I haven't seen the mountains in the northwest, so I can't say, but I personally feel that this number is not enough. It is estimated that it will increase."
The two said this. Suddenly many people frowned.
Fifty million yuan or more. Good guy, we only raised a total of more than 100 million yuan, and this railway will use more than half. There is nothing else the court can do.
Yang Shiqi first said: "Sir, we should consider this matter in the long term. I'm afraid the imperial court is beyond its capabilities."
He Xi said: "Okay. Let this matter go for now, but the exploration plan must be launched first. People can't be intimidated. Even if we don't fix it now, we will fix it in the future. We can't save money on exploration. You guys Go down and make plans. Get this thing done immediately."
"Yes." Zhang Youzhi and Ge Tiangong agreed immediately.
The two of them also knew that this was not a place where they could stay for a long time. He left immediately.
After they left. Xie Jin said: "There are some problems with the railway matter, but should we wait until the following exploration results come out before making a decision? Isn't that until next year?"
Xie Jin has been a little too active during this period of time.
He Xi glanced at him indifferently and said: "First of all, the battle between victory and defeat cannot be decided overnight.
Mr. Jie, why should you be impatient? And besides the northwest strategy, are there any other ideas? If not, what are you anxious about? "
Xie Jin said: "I am just anxious to defeat the thief. I am out of proportion. Please forgive me."
In He Xi's mind, the northwest strategy has almost been finalized. It’s nothing more than how to implement it.
Although, I'm afraid there may be some problems when traveling over mountains and ridges. But the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway could be repaired in the Qing Dynasty, and He Xi believed that this railway could also be repaired. Moreover, this railway is not only for military purposes, but also connects the northwest region with the Beijing Liaodong Unified Market. Increases Beijing's war potential.
The territory controlled by Beijing today can be divided into three major blocks, the Beijing Liaodong and Hebei plates, the Japanese Koryo plate, and the Shanhou plate. The so-called Shanhou is actually a noun from the Song and Liao Dynasties, namely the Yanshan and Datong Monan Hetao plates.
Although these three major sectors also have economic ties, they are independent of each other after all.
This is also a normal thing in this era.
Most merchants are short-distance merchants, and merchants who travel long distances are very rare. Although other merchants who travel long distances can increase their profits a lot. But in fact there are many risks.
There are so many unknowns.
Therefore, most of the time, vendors transport goods over short distances, from one stop to another, adding some price as profit at each stop.
The short-distance trade routes that are very familiar to these merchants are all at their doorsteps. Naturally, it is much more convenient and safer.
After the construction of the Beijing-Ying Railway, this situation was broken. Only then did Liaodong and Beijing become economically linked. This resulted in greater economic growth.
As for Goryeo and Japan, He Xi mostly communicated by sea. And overall, not to mention the barrenness of these places, they actually have no effect on the Central Plains War.
And the Datong Hetao area in Mobei is different.
It has great industrial potential.
For example, if the coal and steel industry establishes iron plants in the northwest region, which is not much different from Beijing and Liaodong, then Beijing's war potential will increase a lot.
Moreover, in the Monan area, many cavalry can actually be drawn out. After all, King Yan could pull out hundreds of thousands of cavalry in Mobei. Monan is better than Mobei in terms of population, but why is the number of cavalry in Monan so small?
Several options.
First, loyalty.
Monan is full of Mongolians, although these Mongolians have been resettled. But it had not been ten years since Emperor Dayuan was captured, and not all those who fought with the Ming army were dead yet. At this time of large-scale deployment, will they really obey orders?
The second is consumption. Raising cavalry is more expensive than infantry.
Now Hexi has allocated the consumption of cavalry on the Monan grassland, so it does not appear in military expenditures. Therefore, most of the cavalry is supplied free of charge by the Monan area. But this kind of free payment cannot be too much.
Otherwise, it is possible to provoke civil unrest.
And when the railway was built to the grassland, although this railway has not really reached the grassland and only moved westward along the Great Wall, it has brought many benefits to the grassland.
Transporting products on the grassland, such as beef and mutton, on a large scale and at low prices, thereby invigorating the economy on the grassland, not only allows Beijing to collect more taxes, but also allows the grassland to bear the burden and supply more war horses.
The most important thing is to link the areas controlled by Beijing together. The strategic significance is immeasurable.
Yang Shiqi said: "Sir, everyone is waiting for the money now, and this strategy cannot be decided. How should this money be spent?"
He Xi said: "This is easy to do. Let each department formulate the budget for the next year. How much it will cost will be announced at the end of the year. Besides, don't they want money? That's good. Let's review the accounts of all departments."
"Xie Jin, you should be responsible for this matter."
Xie Jin was stunned. He knew that this was an offending thing. If he doesn't do it well, the boss will give him a hard time. If you do it well, you should give the people below you a hard time. But at this time, in front of He Xi, he had no room to refuse and said, "Sir, I'll just take my orders."
He Xi said: "Just do it well."
He Xi had no intention of dealing with Xie Jin. But Xie Jin is too dishonest, so I have to give him a few words to make him be honest.
