Chapter 109: Finalizing the Big Deal
King Yan said calmly: "With me?"
He Xi said, "It depends on what price the fourth brother offers. My brothers will also have to settle the score."
King Yan said calmly: "What do you want?"
He Xi said: "I just want Nanjing now."
For a moment, both sides fell into silence.
King Yan wanted to wait for He Xi to make an offer, but He Xi was as stable as Mount Tai.
Making an offer first is equivalent to revealing your trump card first.
Although the strength in the hands of King Yan can affect the war between the north and the south, the general situation in Beijing is already established. Even if King Yan joins the Nanjing camp, He Xi will not find it difficult to deal with it. It’s just a matter of playing for a few more years.
King Yan also understood this.
Time is on He Xi's side.
He Xi actually said that this matter can be discussed, but it cannot be done solely relying on King Yan's bargaining chip in this war.
With such strength and weakness, King Yan could only bid first. He said: "Now that I have to stay in the Western Regions all year round, I'm afraid I can't take care of the property in Prince Yan's Mansion. I am willing to return it to the court. However, these things cannot be replaced by just changing the railway management rights."
If possible, King Yan was absolutely unwilling to give the Nenjiang River Basin, which he had managed for a long time, to the imperial court.
But no.
On the one hand, there are the internal difficulties of Yan State.
Today's Yan State is already a two-headed polity.
On the one hand is the Western Region, headed by King Yan, and on the other is the Nenjiang Plain area, ruled by Princess Yan. Can this situation be changed?
In King Yan's opinion, it was impossible.
Because this situation was not the result of King Yan's intention, but caused by natural endowments.
The country of Yan is thousands of miles from east to west. There are too few places in Mobei that can be cultivated. Even if areas that are difficult to cultivate can support more people due to the development of animal husbandry, there is still an upper limit.
Unable to afford to juggle the functions of both parties.
After all, times have changed. Although the Yan State had the territory of a nomadic empire, the regime of King Yan was not essentially a nomadic empire.
Due to geographical reasons, it is difficult to contact the two parties. This can only create this situation.
This situation is not bad for King Yan. No matter who is in the east, he can convince him. But in the future, if he is gone and the prince succeeds to the throne, will he be able to persuade him? Coupled with the presence of the imperial court, it is possible that the Yan Kingdom will be divided into two by then.
Even if the Yan Kingdom is divided into two under the auspices of the imperial court, it will still be a good outcome. It will not be good if the brothers kill each other and cause trouble.
Second, that is to say, according to the previous theory, the Ming Dynasty was only a country outside the control of the imperial court. If the Ming Dynasty was in Nanjing, the Nenjiang River Basin would indeed be beyond the reach of the Ming Dynasty. But now the imperial court is in Beijing.
Even King Yan felt that if he unified the world in the future, this court would only be in Beijing.
Even if there is no railway.
But with the railway, is Beijing really far away from Nenjiang?
Is it really appropriate to seal off a country like this?
The third is also the practical need of the Western Region.
What is lacking most in the Western Region? Lack of population.
But it is not easy to move people from Ming Dynasty, because population is the most precious resource in this era. Not to mention that the imperial court would not be willing to allow King Yan to migrate the population on a large scale. Even if the imperial court agreed, most people in the Ming Dynasty would not want to go abroad. Even if they wanted to, these people would not think of the northwest.
It's so desolate.
If the Western Region did not have enough population, it would be difficult for the King of Yan to defend it, not to mention a decisive battle with Timur.
It is difficult to find the population from the outside, so the only way is to tap the potential internally.
The most densely populated place in the Yan Kingdom is here in Nenjiang, although it is incomparable with the population density in the Central Plains. But it's pretty good.
After all, there are millions of people. Although there are many women and children now, a large number of the strong men are fighting for the King of Yan in the Western Regions.
If there are millions of people filling the Western Region, plus the original population of the Western Region, it would be far less than 10 million. But it is enough to support King Yan and Timu
A fierce battle can be fought, and the land in the Western Region can be reclaimed on a large scale.
Therefore, King Yan had been thinking about this idea for a long time.
He Xi was also shocked when he heard what King Yan said. He also fell into deep thought.
King Yan's idea was difficult for He Xi to refuse.
The presence of King Yan outside the customs really made He Xi feel uncomfortable and directly threatened Beijing.
It’s just that there are too many uncomfortable things in the world. So there are a lot of things to endure.
At least during He Xi's tenure, he had no intention of attacking this area of Yan State.
This issue is not the core and main issue.
But when King Yan brought it up, He Xi was really moved.
He Xi also saw that in essence, King Yan was still a little afraid of Beijing's strength. That's why we tried to find ways to alleviate the conflict with Beijing. In terms of handling methods, we used blocking and letting go.
The blockage is the railway. There must be independent power on the railway. Yan State must have railways, and Yan State must have its own railway management rights. And the place to put it is to give up its influence on the Northeast region.
It can be said that once the Yan State withdraws from the northeast, although the Yan State still has the Mobei area, the Mobei area will essentially become a buffer zone between the Ming Dynasty and the Yan State. This is determined by the economic population and other natural endowments of the Mobei region.
Because it is impossible for the Yan State to station a large army in Mobei, which would consume too much national power. The population density and economic strength of the Ming Dynasty in Monan and Northeast China were naturally determined. The advantage lies in Ming Dynasty. Not in Yan country.
The State of Yan suddenly became a country in the Western Regions. The threat to the Ming Dynasty's border retreated more than a thousand miles.
Moreover, Yan State also spent a lot of effort on operating in Nenjiang.
Although it is still a borderland, it is not an uninhabited place.
He Xi thought for a moment and said, "What else does Fourth Brother want besides the right to operate the railway?"
King Yan said: "Of course we need railways. There are also factories that produce steam engines independently. All discounts are included. You have promised me this before."
King Yan regarded this as a condition for supporting Beijing. However, it has been delayed and has not been fulfilled.
He Xi said: "The railway from Beijing to the Western Regions?"
King Yan said: "No, shouldn't you build the railway from Beijing to the Western Regions? That's just an additional condition. What I want is the railway within Yan State."
He Xi said, "Okay, I agree to this. But there is one thing that I need to talk about first, that is, it is difficult to build railways in many places in the Western Regions. For example, there are many deserts in Yumen Pass. The fourth brother has also experienced sandstorms. After that, if we build railways in these places, I'm afraid they will be submerged by sand in the future. In the end, there will be no way to complete them, so please don't blame me, Fourth Brother."
"As for the factory you want, as long as the train is connected to the Western Region, it will be delivered immediately. Otherwise, the fourth brother can send his own people to Beijing to get the equipment."
King Yan thought for a moment and said, "It's okay not to repair the railway outside Yumen Pass for the time being. As for the factory, I will keep it in mind."
When He Xi heard this, he couldn't help but shake his head. He understood King Yan’s plan.
The railway from outside Yumen Pass to Hami is an important transportation link between the Western Regions and the Central Plains. It is very important to the Central Plains and even more important to the Western Regions. It is the gateway to the Western Regions. King Yan wants to cut off the Ming Dynasty's influence on the Western Regions. The best thing is not to use this railway.
As for the inconvenience of transshipment, anyway, it used to be possible to travel thousands of miles, but now it is only a few hundred miles. It has saved a lot of effort, and it is still not possible.
Of course King Yan knew that this was just a temporary measure. After all, this road will definitely be built in the future. It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality.
King Yan was just talking.
After He Xi and King Yan discussed these major issues, the rest was not their business. Naturally, their bureaucrats will discuss the details, value the property on the Nenjiang River side of King Yan, value the railway that King Yan wants, and then bargain.
We can’t even finish talking about it here, and it will take a long time to finalize it.
King Yan did not stay here longer. Without him, Timur was by his side. King Yan did not dare to leave the Western Regions for too long. Zhang Yu was also a good general, but Zhang Yu
After all, he is not King Yan, so he cannot make decisions on behalf of King Yan on many matters.
King Yan just had a banquet with some old friends such as He Xi and Mei Yin in Lanzhou, and then left Lanzhou.
He Xi sent King Yan away, but for He Xi, King Yan's affairs were finished. It just means that a big task has been completed, but it does not mean that many things have been settled.
At least the chaos in the northwest needs to be determined by He Xi himself in order to truly secure the place. It's not as messy as it is now.
