Chapter 175 The Theory of Land Power

Author: West Lake in the Rain

Chapter 175 The Theory of Land Power

"First, let's talk about what the land power theory is."

Jiang Xinghuo didn't care whether the new prison inmate who looked like Guan Gong could understand or not, so he continued speaking on his own.

"In the second volume of "On National Destiny", we said that we can regard all civilizations in the world as isolated islands, and terrain barriers such as deserts, Gobis, mountains, jungles, oceans, etc., are to isolate these

An isolated island, filled with mist-filled waters.”

“In the World Island War, the civilization that is the first to get out of the involution of its own island and expand outward will gain a huge first-mover snowball advantage, occupy more and more islands, and conquer or assimilate more and more civilizations.

Until he becomes the overlord of the entire world island."

"The theory of land power refers to the world we know, or to be more accurately defined, the edges of the world that the Mongols reached during their Western Expeditions, and the fields that the Mongols conquered, occupied, and established political power.

There is a heartland, and this heartland is just like our heart. It supplies blood to the internal organs and is also the place where the internal organs must pass."

"I call this heartland the 'Continental Bridge'."

Combining Jiang Xinghuo's words, Zheng He silently pondered the deeper meaning.

Zhu Gaoxu asked directly: "Mr. Jiang is talking about the Mobei Plateau mentioned before?"

"It's not just that."

Jiang Xinghuo said: "To be precise, the center of the continental bridge is Hezhong Mansion, the hometown of Xiliao."

Hezhong Mansion was the "fat city" mentioned in Zheng He's "Journey to the West" written by Yelu Chucai before, and it has a more famous name - Samarkand, now the capital of the Timur Khanate.

Samarkand, the first ancient capital in Central Asia, was called Xiwanjin in "Book of Wei", "Kang State" in "New Book of Tang", and in Western Liao Dynasty, it was called Hezhong Prefecture. The reason is that Samarkand is located in Azerbaijan.

Between the Mu River and the Syr Darya River, the two main rivers in Central Asia, Yelu Dashi, who fled here in a hurry, missed his hometown. He naturally recalled the Hezhong Prefecture in the south of the Liao Kingdom, which was sandwiched between the Fen River and the Yellow River, so he named it

This name.

"It makes some sense."

Zheng He considered the geographical location of Samarkand and nodded in agreement.

When it comes to military geography, especially the military geography of the known world, Zhu Gaoxu can also have a say.

Zhu Gaoxu said: "If we don't look at China's territory, Samarkand is indeed the center connecting the east and west."

Jiang Xinghuo nodded and said: "In fact, the Tang Dynasty expanded westward along the Silk Road for the same reason. The reason why the Talas War occurred was not because of the Black-clad Eclipses (Abbasid Dynasty of the Arab Empire)

Expanding eastward, the two collided at this central point."

The Battle of Talas was a frustrated action by the Tang Army that took the initiative to replace defense with offense. The cause was that Gao Xianzhi, the governor of Anxi in the Tang Dynasty, bloodbathed the Shi Kingdom. The Prince of Shi Kingdom who had a chance to escape asked for help from the black-clothed Dashi. After learning the news, Gao Xianzhi

Taking the initiative to attack Dashi, he led the Tang Dynasty's coalition forces on a long-distance attack and penetrated into the Seventh Century.

After more than a hundred miles, they finally encountered the black-clad Dashi army in Talas, but they ultimately failed due to the betrayal of the Geluolu soldiers in the coalition. Only a few thousand of the 30,000 Anxi Tang troops escaped. After this battle, the Arab Empire captured

Tang craftsmen built the first paper mill outside China here, and papermaking technology spread westward.

Jiang Xinghuo continued: "Then let me put forward a theory first, and you can judge whether it is correct or not."

Zheng He and Zhu Gaoxu nodded together.

"If I think that the land bridge where the Mongols once used Samarkand as the center point to conduct expeditions in all directions is the heart of the main world island where all the isolated islands of civilization gather together. And the theory of land power is who controls the continent

Whoever controls the World Island in the heart of the land bridge controls the World Island, and whoever controls the World Island controls the world. The expansion of the land power empire should start from the heart of the land bridge, from the center to the edge. Do you think it is right?

If it’s wrong, please tell me why.”

After hearing this, the two fell into deep thought.

——————

The secret room next door.

Li Zhigang, the Minister of Rites, sat uneasily in his chair.

In front of him were the top decision-makers of the Ming Empire, the emperor, the eldest prince, and the prime minister in black.

Of course, Li Zhigang's pressure did not actually come entirely from these people. To be precise, the pressure these people brought to him was far less than the pressure brought to him by the word "prison" or the familiar environment of prison.

The reason is also simple. Li Zhigang's past life experience has proved that he is indeed a prisoner who can be punished and sentenced.

Li Zhigang is a very, very interesting person. It can even be said that he is the most interesting person in the entire Yongle era.

It would be a pity if his life of "more prisons, more rewards" is not briefly introduced.

Li Zhigang was from Huating, Songjiang. To be fair, his character was really low. He was a sycophant, corrupt and proficient in everything. He was completely opposite to the word "Zhigang".

During the era of Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, Li Zhigang served as an aide to Prince Zhu Biao, so he was recommended by Zhu Biao and was awarded the position of Doctor of the Ministry of Rites.

Then Li Zhigang was imprisoned for committing a crime, and was subsequently demoted to guard the border. Soon after, he activated his banknote ability for the first time. After many activities, he was recalled as a doctor in the Ministry of Industry and promoted to the right councilor of Henan. This was Li Zhigang's first time.

Journey to prison.

During the reign of Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen, Li Zhigang served as the Left Councilor of Huguang and was imprisoned again for committing crimes. This was Li Zhigang's second trip to prison.

Later, the Yan army went south and crossed the river with iron cavalry.

Jiang Xinghuo was arrested and Li Zhigang was released.

The reason is also very simple. Li Zhigang activated his money ability for the second time and gave money to Zhu Di's ministers. Everyone praised Li Zhigang for his talents, so Zhu Di appointed him as the Right General Secretary. Soon after, due to the purge of the court,

He was made the Minister of Rites, and this time he was also asked to participate in the compilation of the "Records of Taizu".

In Jiang Xinghuo's previous life, Li Zhigang actually had his third and fourth journey to prison.

If the historical line had not been disturbed, in the following year, that is, the second year of Yongle, Zhu Di appointed Zhu Gaochi as the crown prince, and Li Zhigang would concurrently serve as the bachelor of Zuo Chunfang as the minister of the Ministry of Rites, and would be on duty to give banquets in the East Palace, one after another with Xie Jin.

Go talk.

Then because of the struggle with Xie Jin, Li Zhigang will complete his third journey to prison.

Soon thereafter, Li Zhigang, who has used his money power for the third time, will return to the starting point of his career as a doctor in the Ministry of Rites.

Well, after decades of tossing and going back to the starting point, Li Zhigang was very angry, and he had every reason to hate Jie Jin, so he slandered Jie Jin in secret, and Jie Jin was thrown into prison as he wished.

As a result, Xie Jin's confession implicated Li Zhigang, and Li Zhigang was sentenced to more than ten years. This was his fourth trip to prison.

This time Li Zhigang's banknote ability failed, and he was not released as prefect until the first year of Hongxi when Zhu Gaochi succeeded to the throne. At this time, Li Zhigang was already seventy years old, and he only served as prefect for one year. In the second year, Zhu Zhanji succeeded him.

In the first year of Xuande's reign, he died in office, ending a life of "more prisons, more gains".

So just like Jiang Xinghuo has elevator claustrophobia, Li Zhigang and Li Shangshu, who have only entered the palace for the second time, already have a bit of "prison phobia".

Sweat slowly seeped out from Li Zhigang's forehead and dripped onto the ground. He gently wiped his face covered with cold sweat with his hands, trying to stay calm.

Although the sweat made his eyes somewhat blind, he felt as if he was in an abyss, with countless ferocious ghost faces roaring at him, which made his hair stand on end.

"Li Shangshu?"

The emperor's voice seemed to come from a very far away place.

"Your Majesty, I, I am feeling a little unwell." Li Zhigang said in a trembling voice.

At the emperor's signal, two minor officials, Guo Jing and Chai Che, took out their handkerchiefs and wiped Li Zhigang's sweat from left to right. He looked as if he had been fished out of the water.

Wringing her handkerchief, Guo Jing looked at the pale old man in front of her and felt a little funny. You said you are so old, why are you still afraid of jail? We young people are not afraid here every day.

"Ahem." Chai Che coughed twice, reminding his companions not to laugh out loud.

"Is Li Shangshu feeling better?"

Zhu Di was quite concerned about Li Zhigang, a useful yes-man.

Li Zhigang managed to get up and replied: "Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I am ashamed. I am feeling better."

"If you don't feel well, just sit down and listen." Zhu Di pressed his palms weakly, "What does Li Shangshu think about the question on the other side?"

As a person with no moral bottom line, Li Shangshu did not ask the emperor to tell the emperor how to go to heaven like those rotten scholars who have become stupid in reading. Instead, he carefully tried to figure out Zhu Di's mentality of liking martial arts.

Open your mouth and say.

"I think what this person said is quite reasonable. I think that since Genghis Khan was able to conquer the world and made the decision to attack Khorezm first and then attack the Jin Kingdom, he must have had this consideration in mind.

.Perhaps Genghis Khan didn’t know what ‘Heartland’ and ‘Continental Bridge’ were, but the principles should be the same.”

Upon hearing this, Zhu Di nodded with satisfaction.

Li Zhigang is a person who is easy to use and can use his brain to speak and do things according to his wishes.

As an emperor, of course he doesn't want his ministers to be able to do things or unable to do things, but who openly or covertly contradict themselves.

For some positions, it doesn't matter whether you can do things or not. What's important is understanding the emperor's thoughts. Unlike the more professional Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of Industry, and Ministry of War, the Minister of Rites is such a position.

Moreover, what Li Zhigang said is not completely unreasonable. The Mongols conquered the world by taking the "heartland" and "continental bridge" path that Jiang Xinghuo mentioned. The Mongolian precedent has proven that this path is indeed feasible.

.

But Zhu Gaochi said at this time: "Father, I think something is wrong."

"Oh? Tell me."

Zhu Di encouraged the good boy.
To be continued...