Yu Xiaoxiao said in amazement: "I didn't expect Jiuquan to be so beautiful?"
Zhang Duanyang said: "Hexi is the most dangerous place in the world. The Central Plains dynasty that controls Hexi can suppress the grassland civilization in the north. On the contrary, if it cannot control the Hexi Corridor, it will have to spend several times or dozens of times to defend against the attacks of nomads."
Yu Xiaoxiao didn't know much about geopolitics. She looked at Jiuquan in the distance with confusion and asked, "Is Hexi so important?"
Zhang Duanyang nodded and said: "The Hexi Corridor and the adjacent Hetao are the most important barriers to defend against the nomadic people in the north."
"Occupying Hexi and Hetao will block the nomadic people's southward plundering route, and the Central Plains civilization can build a defense line around the Yellow River around Hetao and the mountains to the north of the Hexi Corridor."
"The Western Han Dynasty has been able to occupy the Hetao River in Hexi since the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, so it can manage the Western Region to block the Xiongnu, ensuring that the two Han Dynasties have always had strategic advantages over the northern nomads."
"Before the An-Shi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty also occupied Hexi and Hetao, so it disintegrated the Turkic regime."
"In the Song Dynasty, the land of Hetao and Hexi was lost, and strategically it was always passive. It had to build defense lines in the four prefectures of Guanxi, which increased defense expenditures. This is why the Northern Song Dynasty had a serious problem of redundant troops and spent far more troops than the Tang Dynasty.
But it is still often invaded by Daliao and Xixia in the north."
"The same was true in the Ming Dynasty. By occupying the Hexi Hetao in the early and middle periods, the threat of the desert could be completely blocked. Until the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the border troubles in the northwest were not serious."
Li Daoyuan also said: "The Hexi Corridor has dangerous mountains and rivers. From west to east are the four ancient counties of Dunhuang, Jiuquan, Zhangye, and Wuwei. These four ancient counties are like nails hammered into the bodies of the northern nomads, firmly preventing them from going south.
The road to plunder.”
"It's a pity that in our time and space, the Hexi Corridor was lost after the Anshi Rebellion."
Li Daoyuan looked at the oasis opposite the wasteland and said: "The melted snow water of the Qilian Mountains nourishes this valley. At the same time, the mountains to the north block the cold wind blowing from the Mongolian Plateau. The unique geographical environment makes this magical place possible."
soil of."
"Unfortunately, in our time, due to over-development, the Hexi Corridor has become seriously desertified. Today, the water and grass in Hexi should be the most abundant."
Li Daoyuan looked into the distance and saw only clear distinctions between desert and oases. Jiuquan was surrounded by stretches of oases, which formed a sharp contrast with the desolate land beneath his feet.
In Jiuquan City, there was an endless stream of caravans coming and going. Li Daoyuan praised: "It is indeed the beautiful Hexi. This is the front line of the confrontation between nomadic herding and farming, and also the front line of the confrontation between life and desert."
The group of people walked along the official road and finally arrived at the foot of Jiuquan City.
"I didn't expect that there would be such a large area of pasture around Jiuquan in the Tang Dynasty. Unfortunately, by modern times, large areas of Hexi have become desertified."
Along the way, you can see many abandoned horse ranches. It is the spring season now, when the grass is growing and the orioles are flying and the flowers are falling. However, no one is grazing in these horse ranches, and you can even see wild horses galloping.
It can be seen that the horse racing system in Jiuquan has been completely abandoned. Seeing these abandoned horse farms, everyone in the eastbound group felt heavy.
Yu Xiaoxiao asked: "Why doesn't King Jianning develop eastward? The conditions of Jiuquan are so good, it is more prosperous than Dunhuang City."
Li Daoyuan sighed and said: "After all, Shazhou City is at the westernmost end of the Hexi Corridor. It belongs to the sky and the emperor is far away, so it is occupied. But Jiuquan is different. This is the essence of the Hexi Corridor and the residence of the Hexi Jiedushi.
If we occupy Jiuquan, the most important area under our control, the current Hexi Jiedushi will definitely not give up."
So that’s it, Yu Xiaoxiao nodded as if she didn’t understand.
Zhang Duanyang also sighed and said: "The area from Jiuquan to Zhangye is the most important horse breeding base in the Tang Dynasty. I didn't expect that it has been reduced to this level in less than a few years."
Waiting in line to enter the city again, Li Daoyuan did not expect that Jiuquan's business was so prosperous.
After finding a big food merchant and asking about it, Li Daoyuan found out that the prosperity of Jiuquan's trade was actually related to King Jianning.
King Jianning defeated Tibet, scared off the Uighurs, and ensured the safety of the route from Gaochang to Guazhou.
The Great Eclipse at this time was the rising period of the Abbasid Dynasty, and the Byzantine Empire finally entered a period of stable development after having sacrificed several generations of emperors.
The two prosperous dynasties of Dashi and Byzantium further intensified the demand for silk along the Silk Road.
Originally, merchants from the Western Regions were unwilling to risk crossing the dangerous central Longyou region and entering the Central Plains to purchase silk.
But when King Jianning successively controlled Guazhou, Shazhou, and Xizhou, and invested his influence in Tingzhou, these keen businessmen from the Western Regions poured into the Central Plains and purchased a large amount of silk.
Such a paradoxical phenomenon occurred. It was clear that Xiangzhou in the Central Plains had amassed hundreds of thousands of troops and was about to break out, turning the entire Tang Dynasty into chaos.
But the Hexi Corridor was extremely prosperous. A large number of merchants from the Western Regions bought silk from the Tang Dynasty with hard currency such as treasures and gold.
Then it would be transported thousands of miles to Dali, Byzantium, and even more distant Europe to obtain a hundredfold or even a thousandfold profit.
This unusual prosperity has even been noticed by the Tang Dynasty court in Fengxiang Mansion.
At this time in Fengxiang Mansion, a long-suppressed political storm is brewing.
The starting point of this storm was the defeat of Prime Minister Fang Guan last year. Because of this defeat, Fang Guan was already disliked by the emperor. However, considering his contribution in persuading the emperor to abdicate in Shu, the emperor did not immediately dismiss Fang Guan.
phase.
But there is no dismissal of the prime minister, which is almost as good as the dismissal of the prime minister. Nowadays, when the emperor is planning military affairs, he will basically not summon Fang Guan. He will only be summoned on some important occasions. He is said to be a prime minister, but it is better to say that he is a guard of honor decorating the table.
All the officials in Fengxiang Mansion knew that it was already a matter of time before Fang Guan was dismissed as prime minister.
Although he was the prime minister, he lost the favor of the emperor, and Fang Guan was also very sad.
In the past few days, Cui Yuan, the royal censor of Shu, arrived at Fengxiang Mansion. This Cui Yuan had not dealt with Fang Guan when he was in the imperial court. Now everyone is saying that the emperor wants to give up Fang Guan's position and grant it to Cui Yuan instead.
This makes Fang Guan feel uneasy.
Fang Guan's Prime Minister's Mansion was brightly lit, and he was discussing with his staff how to regain the emperor's favor.
Fang Guan just sat on the main seat and sighed, and his subordinates also talked useless nonsense. At this time, a young scholar stood up and said to Fang Guan:
"Pingzhang, Dou Shen has a plan, but I don't know whether to talk about it or not."