Chapter 58 Bridgehead
To the north of Yulin is the desert, and the characteristic of Yulin City is that the city gate is covered with sand. Every spring, sandstorms flood the city gates.
Further north is not very suitable for people to live for a long time.
In the wasteland that combines desert and grassland, only nomadic people can live for a long time. This is why in the mid-Ming Dynasty, people wanted to double-cross. Because after being combined, the entire Yellow River defense line can be occupied. This led to the establishment of defense lines on the north bank of the Yellow River and the east bank of the Yellow River. This allowed Ming Dynasty's border defense line to make a major change, that is, the Hetao area was changed from the border defense line to the hinterland. From then on, it was possible to save three or four towns and hundreds of thousands of troops.
The defense line that Song Sheng had reluctantly established today was naturally inferior to the border walls built by dozens of generations in later generations. But at least form a simple line of defense. If we say that east of the Yellow River, there are military household guards supporting the front line supplies.
After crossing the Yellow River.
It's completely deserted. We can only rely on military transportation. The cavalry has a heavy need for logistics. Unless Qu Neng makes a decision, there will be no rear operations. That is, looting places. Otherwise face this line of defense. Still can't act rashly.
Qu Neng took his personal guards to the front line to inspect in person.
He stared for a long time and sighed softly. Somewhat helpless.
He didn't take advantage in Geng Bingwen's hands, either. He didn't take much advantage on Song Sheng's side. After all, even for the entire Ming Dynasty, the Hongwu period was an era of generals and stars.
There are quite a few generals who are above the level.
It's not that they won't lose the battle. But they can fully utilize their own strength. How much strength can exert how much combat effectiveness. There won't be any big mistakes, it will be a brittle collapse, which is almost impossible to happen.
The same is true for Song Sheng.
A veteran who has played for so many years is certainly not as good as Geng Bingwen. But it's not that easy to kick away.
Qu Neng ordered: "Take a thousand households of cavalry as a unit, each holding a month's worth of food, break into the south of Yulin, attack the county and government officials, remember not to hurt the people. We will rebel in ten days."
Qu Neng's order actually took He Xi's order into consideration. Otherwise, just let the cavalry go south, why bother?
One month's worth of food is enough. No matter how much food there is, the cavalry can no longer carry it.
It is not difficult to cross Yulin and go south. After all, the border wall does not exist yet. The cavalry wanted to pass through Yulin. Although the Loess Plateau had thousands of ravines, it could not be stopped. But the ten-day schedule actually restricted the cavalry's hands and feet.
If they let their hands and feet completely go, the Northern Army cavalry could keep the beacon burning all the way to Chang'an.
But as a result, I don’t know how long it will take to win over the people of Shaanxi. Not to mention, the northwest is already vast and sparsely populated. Even if they immigrate, many people are unwilling to go to the northwest.
In this case, the growth of Shaanxi's population can only rely on the natural growth of Shaanxi's population. Now that the mass killings have been going on for a while, there is a manpower gap that Shaanxi cannot catch up with in decades.
He Xi also decided to use this seemingly benevolent method after weighing the pros and cons.
Of course, this is also the tolerance of the winner. He Xi had never thought of deciding in one battle, not that it would be bad to decide in one battle. But when it comes to fighting, a plan that is too perfect is almost impossible to succeed.
I was already preparing for a long tug of war.
But Qu Neng was not willing to do this. Since attacking the city was not possible, he would use Yulin City as the center and send out cavalry to fight.
"Choose a suitable place in the west of the river to build a city." Qu Neng said: "It requires a suitable port and slow water flow, suitable for building a pontoon bridge."
Qu Neng could only choose to fight for a long time at this moment.
After doing all this, Qu Neng immediately wrote a letter of apology and sent it to Beijing.
------
When this apology letter arrived in He Xi's hand, He Xi just glanced at it and put it aside.
Although, Qu Neng's progress cannot be said to be smooth. But it's still within He Xi's acceptance range.
It would be great if there were generals on the front line who could fight a magical battle, where thousands could defeat tens of thousands, and tens of thousands could defeat hundreds of thousands. But if that's not possible, the following generals can only do the most basic things. Use as much strength as you need to do as many things as you can. Don't make any big mistakes, that's enough.
It would be nice to be able to hurt people with your own abilities.
As long as it's victory.
After all, Ming Dynasty has abundant capital. There are few countries that can withstand the Ming Dynasty's use of its own power to hurt people.
On this point, He Xi is tolerant.
Qu Neng made He Xi a little disappointed.
But He Xi was probably more disappointed not with him, but with the emperor.
The emperor hoped that Qu Neng could compete with Ye Chen for the right to speak in the army. But with Qu Neng fighting like this, it seems that even if he wins, he will not be able to compare with Ye Chen's Battle of Hejian. It should be noted that in the Battle of Hejian, Ye Chen faced Fu Youde, whose ability and reputation were far above those of Geng Bingwen and Song Sheng.
It can also be broken. Saved the country from crisis.
This kind of victory is not comparable to ordinary victories.
If Qu Neng does not have a similar record, he will definitely be inferior to Ye Shen in the future.
This is not what the emperor wants.
After all, Qu Neng was a member of the emperor, so he would not be punished if he apologized, but the grace of forgiveness should also come from the emperor. After all, the grace came from the mountain. Therefore, He Xi didn't approve anything, just transferred it to the palace. Let the emperor see it.
This is not because He Xi does not care about the northwest strategy.
On the contrary, the northwest strategy is the key strategy for the next two to three years. How could He Xi not care. There are too many people's interests at stake here. Not only He Xi cares, but also many people care.
But He Xi understands very well that the key to the northwest strategy is the railway, as long as the railway problem is solved. Many problems will be solved easily.
Although I have heard many reports about railway construction. But He Xi still wanted to see it with his own eyes.
After all, seeing is believing.
------
He Xi led hundreds of people to escort Yangsha. Including the personnel on the railway, there were nearly a thousand people. Fortunately, I took the train from Beijing North Railway Station and headed west to Beiping Station, then turned northwest.
Even though the mountains were thick, I didn’t hear the train moving.
However, He Xi could clearly see that two locomotives were added to the front and rear of the fire gun, and four billows of thick smoke were pushing a few carriages slowly, almost at a pedestrian speed, crawling up the hillside bit by bit.
A real crawl.
Trains have requirements for the slope of the road.
Therefore, here there are many mountains, and the altitude suddenly increased. If you want the train to maintain a slope, you can only extend its length. And the train cannot make sharp turns. That kind of ninety-degree turn requires a very long turn.
Many things can only be understood on the construction site.
It can be said that Ge Tiangong solved too many problems this time. It's a lot more than spent.
The train is like a giant dragon, circling between the mountains. He Xi saw three large railway bridges, and countless small-scale bridges.
What's more important is the supporting facilities.
Such as a station.
Because the train is loaded with coal and water, its running speed is fixed. Therefore, the density of train stations is also fixed. It will not decrease because the trains circle around the mountains and extend the distance. It may even become slower because the trains climb uphill and the density of the train stations will be higher.
And a train station occupies a large area.
There is a problem.
On flat land, the area occupied by a train station is nothing at all. But to find such flat land in the mountains, we need to match the density of the train station. It's not an easy thing.
In short, it has been nearly ten months since last year until today.
With all the efforts of Ge Tiangong and the hard work of tens of thousands of workers, all the railways from Beijing to the mountains have been built, and these railways have been put into use. It was to supply materials for building railways.
He Xi also used this railway under construction to come here.
However, this road is ultimately a dead end.
He Xi soon arrived at the place where his head was severed.
Nothing else. It's just a big tunnel.
He Xi received a rattan helmet from one side. Surrounded by countless people, we walked into the tunnel being dug.
Ge Tiangong is waiting for He Xi here. He saw He Xi from a distance, quickly ran over to salute, and said, "Teacher, you are here."
He Xi looked up at the dome, feeling a little shocked in his heart, even though he had seen many engineering miracles in later generations. But looking at it now, it's still a bit shocking.
He Xi said: "You are very good."
