As the sun breaks through, the morning light is brilliant, and the mountains seem to be dyed with a layer of gold powder, and the golden light shines.
The dewdrops on the branches and leaves are crystal clear, like pearls.
The weak water is like a sword from the sky, splitting Heli Mountain in two, and like a jade belt, winding down.
Due to the diversion of the river, only half of the Xiongguan Pass was washed away. Although it stood on the cliff, it was already in danger.
The beacon towers on the mountains are vaguely visible, some are still standing, and some have been submerged by weeds and wild trees, and only a spire can be seen.
The pass named Zhenyi was built by Wei Qing and Huo Qubing during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty after they pacified the Xiongnu tribes in Hexi. The canyon under the pass, which was washed by weak water, is called Zhenyi Gorge.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhenyi Pass has long since disappeared, but Zhenyi Gorge is still there. Because of the need to pay attention to national unity, Zhenyi Gorge was changed to "Justice Gorge"...
"Shang Shu Yu Gong": Yu led the weak water to Heli, and the remaining waves entered the quicksand...
Li Chengzhi didn't know whether the weak water was brought here by Dayu when he was controlling the floods, but he at least knew that after passing through Heli Mountain, the weak water would flow more than a thousand miles north to the residence where Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established
If Yan is a subordinate country, Wang Chengze will gather, that is, he will live in Yanhai.
Further north, you can reach the "Longting (today's Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia)" of the former Xiongnu and now Rouran without even having to turn around or climb mountains.
During the Western Han Dynasty, Huo Qubing passed through this canyon and fought against the Five Kingdoms in Hexi, helping Wei Qing pacify the Xiongnu tribes in Hexi.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Dou Xianbei attacked the Xiongnu along this canyon, and finally "Yan Ran succeeded".
It may seem like an inconspicuous place, but for Li Chengzhi, it has extraordinary strategic significance.
Weak water runs through the east and west of Zhangye and north and south of Biaoshi, so Biaoshi County has never been short of water since ancient times.
At this moment, all I can see is green mountains and green waters.
The north and south of Heli Mountain are lush and green. As far as the eye can see, it is a thousand miles of green.
Both sides of the canyon are covered with green grass and boundless soil.
If you look carefully, you can see that there are many plants such as wild grains and wild millets. You can also vaguely see the traces of ditches and fields in the grass, as if someone had cultivated here.
Li Chengzhi is not surprised at all.
Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, this was the vassal state of Zhangye, and about a thousand miles further north, there was the vassal state of Juyan, all of which were used to defend and appease the Xiongnu.
During the prosperous period, there were 40,000 to 50,000 peasants and soldiers working in the fields in both countries.
It was not until after the Eight Kings Rebellion in the Western Jin Dynasty that these two places were abandoned by the Han people.
Since then, this area of more than a thousand miles has completely become the grazing land of the Hu people.
Even during the period of Emperor Taiwu, the royal court of Rouran was driven to Mobei (in present-day Mongolia), which had become the nominal jurisdiction of the Yuan and Wei dynasties. However, because the Han population in Hexi was too small, the prefectures and counties were surrounded by
If you can't grow the good fields in Erbajing, which Han Chinese would be willing to travel so far to become a savage?
Therefore, for decades, this place has still been a grazing land for the Huns or Zahu such as the Lushui Hu, Di Qiang, and Yuezhi, as well as some small tribes such as the Uighurs (the ancestors of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang), the Qibi, and the Gaoche tribe. However, Wuwei Town and Jiuquan Town were abolished after the emperor came to power, which was only four or five years ago, so the big tribes did not dare to come. The ones wandering nearby were small tribes, and they would not be allowed to form big tribes, so
Among the nomadic tribes here, the largest tribe does not exceed Qian Zhang.
Therefore, for Li Chengzhi, if he wants to drive away or subdue these tribes, he does not need to expend great efforts at all.
As for the imperial court...
Don’t look at how few people there are in Hexi?
There are so few that even the county town is about to be abandoned, and there are so few that tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of acres of good farmland have been thrown away. How can you have the time and patience to understand such a corner land?
As long as the Baijia Army doesn't blatantly fight the banner of the Han family and doesn't invade south to attack Biao County or Zhangye County, Li Chengzhi will be the king here...
But the problem is, he deliberately took the risk of confiscating his family and exterminating his family to let thousands of warriors escape here. Is it just to become the king of a bunch of small tribes?
Are you kidding?
Li Chengzhi originally did not want Li Song to go so far south. Instead, he planned to cross the Heli Mountain, rely on the Ruowui River, and go north while robbing the Hu tribes, which was the Juyan vassal state in the Han Dynasty and then settle there.
Then go back and use the method of an ant swallowing an elephant to rob a wave of cattle, horses, camels and sheep from the Hu people today, and then rob a wave of Han Dingkou in Hexi tomorrow...
Well, the main thing is to seize the Han people's population, and then they can farm in Juyan, build the city when it's time, and graze their cattle when it's time.
Especially for farming... you don't have to waste a lot of effort to open it. You only need to dig out the ditches, remove all the weeds, and cultivate it for two or three years, and you will have ten thousand acres of fertile land...
When the strength is almost accumulated, the six towns will be in chaos.
Then we will take advantage of the chaos to occupy Hexi...
But who would have thought that the Han people in Hexi are so small that they are almost extinct?
Without anyone, there is still a field for growing wool and a city for trimming chicken feathers?
Even if the entire Hexi area is occupied, there are only 200,000 people. Can you pick out 20,000 soldiers?
As for robbing the barbarian’s mouth... Li Chengzhi’s brain wasn’t kicked by a donkey?
Therefore, Li Song did not go further north, but stayed here temporarily to carry out the first step that Li Chengzhi told him: to rob the Hu people.
In less than ten days, he had robbed several small Hu tribes within a radius of two hundred miles.
Yesterday at noon, when Li Chengzhi disguised himself as a bandit and spied on Biao's County, he, Li Song and others, as well as the soldiers, wore Hu robes and felt hats.
A lot of livestock were also robbed, including tens of thousands of sheep, nearly a thousand horses, and more than fifty camels.
Those tribes that Li Song had not yet had their turn to rob had already fled after hearing the news. If they still want to rob, the camp can only continue to move west or north...
Are you still moving to Maoxian?
Let Li Song and others be completely reduced to nomadic tribes, making a living by grazing and robbing the Hu tribe?
For the current plan, we can only let thousands of soldiers hibernate here temporarily, and then we can make plans after seeing how much action Zhang Jingzhi said the tens of thousands of rebels can do after they are exiled to Hexi.
So no matter what, we must find a way. When Zhang Jingzhi exiles the rebellious people, he must follow him to Hexi again...
Li Chengzhi changed his mind, clamped his legs on the horse's belly, and headed west with Li Song and others.
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Forty miles west of Zhenyi Pass is the largest salt-producing area in Hexi: Salt Pond.
Since Zhangye was a vassal state during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, salt production began here, and it is still being produced more than 1,500 years later.
It has been proven that the salt reserves in the salt ponds are at least tens of millions of tons...and they are all open-air...
Where there is salt, there must be nitrate. Coupled with its location in the northwest, it is inevitable that this place will become the best place to establish a chemical industry park.
It's either chemical fertilizer or strong acid... Good guy, if the nearby villagers want to see whether the sky is yellow or blue, they have to go five kilometers away.
Too many accidents!
If he doesn't come for inspection for more than a week, Li Chengzhi feels like it's the Chinese New Year.
In the end, it was shut down due to excessive pollution...
……
Before the blink of an eye, it was still a thousand miles of grass, but after the blink of an eye, it was like walking into a snowfield.
Looking around, it’s all covered with white snow, but you can’t see the end at a glance?
How have a group of fighting men who have lived in Guanzhong seen such a strange scene?
Except for Li Song, everyone seemed to be mesmerized and their hearts were shaken.
Li Liang's eyes widened: "Is this...salt?"
He was a little confused, why did such a large salt pond suddenly appear near the camp?
Li Song sighed sadly and replied in a low voice: "It is also mixed with saltpeter, which cannot be eaten directly by humans or animals... However, Lang Jun has given me the method of boiling salt, so it is not difficult to separate it..." p>
When Li Liang heard this, his eyes almost popped out.
He was still suspicious just now: he saw that his fourth uncle didn't even turn a corner, but just brought Lang Jun here, which meant that he had already found it, but for some unknown reason, he didn't know him.
Listening again now, this place is clearly the one that Lang Jun pointed out to his fourth uncle before coming here?
Otherwise, why should we teach him how to steam salt?
Li Song glared at him: "At this time, you still can't understand?"
Li Liang choked violently.
Yes, is there anything in this world that Mr. Lang doesn’t know?
Lang Jun had never left Jingzhou since he was born, but when he and Li Song fled with their troops, they told him where to find mountains and how to cross them, where to find rivers and how to cross them, where to find cities and how to hide...etc.
Waiting for the explanation to be clear, even Zhenyi Pass, which has not been mentioned in any books, knows, what is this person if it is not a gift from heaven?
What's so strange about knowing a salt pond?
Li Liang endured it again and again, and almost wanted to ask Li Chengzhi how long he, Li Liang, could live...
Fortunately, he didn't open his mouth, otherwise Li Chengzhi might have used him as a vent for his anger.
Looking at the salt mountain in front of him, an unknown fire surged into Li Chengzhi's heart.
It’s all fucking money, but there’s no place to sell it?
The salt field is so large that the accumulated salt and nitrate layer is several meters thick. You don’t even need to sweep it, you can just carry a few clay pots and cook it.
As long as you have enough manpower, you can have as many as you want?
But what happens after it’s cooked?
According to Li Chengzhi's idea, Li Song could pretend to be a salt merchant in Zhangye or Jiuquan and sell the salt to Hu people in the north of Heli Mountain in exchange for cattle, sheep and horses. He could also pretend to be a Hu person and sell it to people in Zhangye and Jiuquan.
The Han people, if they exchanged it for grain seeds... wouldn't this be enough to gain a lot with one stone?
But who would have thought that both Han and Hu people in Hexi would soon be completely wiped out?
Just with Li Song and these thousands of soldiers, the earth will probably explode...
Li Chengzhi can only do better than nothing, depending on whether the potassium salt content in Glauber's salt is high or low, whether it is more convenient to use potassium salt to make fire salt, or whether it is more convenient to directly collect the urine of livestock.
But no matter which one it is, he must first train a chemical talent, and not only must he be smart and careful, but he must also be devoted to him.
Li Chengzhi immediately thought of Li Liang...
After loading several bags of saltpeter onto the horse, Li Chengzhi walked back.
It was already noon when we returned to the camp. After dealing with a few hasty attacks, Li Chengzhi took Li Song, Li Liang and Huangfu Rang to wait, crossed the weak water, and headed eastward.
The mountain is still the same mountain, the river is still the same river, and the iron mine of later generations is naturally well buried under the Heli Mountain on the north bank of Weishui.
Not far away, just like a salt pond, it is less than forty miles away from where the camp is stationed at this time.
The reserves are not much, just over a million tons. I remember that the little boss in later generations used them all in less than two years.
But it cannot be lifted off the surface of the ground, there are no rock formations, and the terrain is flat. You can dig it out with a donkey cart and a shovel.
It is also a rich iron mine, with a total iron content of more than 50%. You can absorb it with a piece of magnetite, and you can dig out the magnetite to make steel and iron.
There are also some polar magnet ores that can directly attract iron, which are usually called iron magnets...
When they reached the approximate location, Li Chengzhi dismounted and asked Li Song and others to search nearby.
The method is very simple: go to the river, take an iron rod or an iron knife and cut it through the sand layer to see if there is any magnetic sand.
Although they didn't understand what Li Chengzhi meant, most of them guessed what treasure Lang Jun asked them to look for.
Li Song and others were secretly excited. They held their sabers and made peace in the water.
The more he stirred, the heavier the knife became. After a few strokes, Li Liang, who was the weakest, couldn't stir anymore and had to pull out the knife.
The saber, which originally had a blade as thin as paper and a back less than three-thirds wide, now turned into a stick?
What?
Li Liang was about to take a closer look when he suddenly heard Li Chengzhi laughing wildly.
Let me just say, the mountain is still the same mountain and the river is still the same river. How can such a big mine grow wings and fly?
Although the reserves are not large, that is for future generations.
Even if only one-tenth of these million tons of iron ore is mined, there are still 100,000 tons.
Even if only one hundred thousand steel can be smelted, it is still a full 10,000 tons.
Twenty million kilograms of steel, how many armors, how many swords and guns can be used?
If you are wilder... more than a hundred miles to the south, you will find the Qilian Mountains.
There are all kinds of gold, copper, coal, sulfur and other mines... In his previous life, he did not inspect a hundred mines, but there were eighty.
This is the fundamental reason why Li Chengzhi insisted on letting Li Song and others escape to Hexi, and specified the reason why they settled in Zhangye or Juyan.
As long as there are people, is there anything you want to pick?
You can pick as much as you want...
Just when he thought of this, Li Chengzhi's face suddenly shook.