sweeping the world

Chapter 737 An old friend in the west out of Yangguan

If Xie An knew that Ran Min's public ridicule would definitely jump his feet in anger, the enemies they faced did not confront each other in an open battle, but used complex mountainous areas to evade and attack. This is true in any era.

Xiqiang Mountain is just a general term. It actually includes several continuous mountains and a large piece of dense forest. The terrain there is not inferior to that of Bashu, and it can even be said to be more complicated than Bashu.

At least Bashu has been artificially developed, and a road that people can walk has been opened up for a long time. Furthermore, as the habitat of Zhu Xia since ancient times, there will always be map surveys, but Xiqiang Mountain is really not the territory where Zhu Xia has set foot.

Xiqiang Mountain is located under the plateau, where there are mountains and dense forests, and there are two obvious basins.It is important to know that areas without human development mean that there is no road, and the long-term accumulation of water in the basin is also extremely easy to form swamp areas.Everything is in the original state, and there are countless beasts and various insects, which are not at all less challenging for people to step on.

Xie An led the army to carry out the siege-style encirclement and suppression. Many times the difficulty was not in the resistance of the Qiang and Di remnants, but nature added countless difficulties to the encirclement and suppression.During their siege, there was no lack of corpses found in the wilderness. There were almost any methods of death, and the most were poisoned by poisonous insects. Even if they had sufficient preparations in advance, the non-combat attrition was quite serious.

It has never been easy to open up a primitive area. It is also possible to know what kind of fearless spirit the ancestors had, and to have an environment where future generations can live in comfort. Generate worship of ancestors.

How the war against the remnants of Qiang and Di is going is not what Ran Min should care about. He can even tease or sarcasm the Taiwei Xu Zheng from time to time, so what about Xie An, who is not very good at all? Will you show mercy?
"General Hussars is just as usual..." Li Kuang didn't say the rest of the words, but everyone understood what it meant.He looked around and said to Xie Ai: "Since Hussar General has arrived at Yangguan, everything is over?"

Xie Ai was relieved to see that Ran Min didn't rush to make trouble when he arrived.But he didn't dare to relax at all, and said: "We must not slack off waiting!"

Li Kuang understood in seconds that Ran Min's attitude was not important, the important thing was not to make any fools on his side.

All in all, although it rained some time ago, the drought that is about to break out in the northwest is irreversible. The Han Dynasty took strong measures to suppress the Xiaoxiao in the northwest, and Xie Ai came forward to win over those who could win over them. To cause trouble, he had to face iron-blooded methods. The government has also given out a way to survive the suppression, but everyone still needs to think about how to survive the difficulties under the official plan.

The local people in the Northwest participated in the march to the Western Regions to find a way to survive by fighting abroad, while the people from the rest of the region were purely for military exploits.

There are too many people flocking to the northwest from all over the country, but it reminds the people of the northwest. Under the premise of the great military merits of the Han Dynasty, it is an unprecedented good thing that anyone who is not a member of the army can obtain military merits. Don’t miss this opportunity to change your own destiny. Opportunity.

"Although we don't have military registration, we are led by the army. What's the difference?" Sanshi arrived at Yangguan a long time ago, as the first batch of personnel trained: "We are still recognized for meritorious service and can be awarded titles. There are a lot of rewards."

In fact, there are more good things. For example, after arriving at Yangguan, eating and drinking are also taken up by the military. The food is not comparable to that at home, but the training is very strict and consumes a lot of energy.

In today's day and age, even a wealthy family can hardly guarantee how many meals of meat they can eat every month. However, the Han army's diet is never short of meat, especially water-based meat.

Sanshi had already eaten one salted fish just now, and was about to bite the second one.He likes salted fish very much, not because salted fish is so delicious, but because salted fish has enough salt, rice is paired with salted fish, and there is a bowl of thick meaty soup, he feels that what he lives is the beauty of a landlord day.

From the very beginning, the Han Kingdom had no shortage of seafood, and once traded with Tuoba Daiguo with salted fish as its main product.The reason why it is called salted fish is not that it is made by mixing salt.Salt is a necessity for anyone, but many places do not produce salt at all.

There is a salt pond in the northwest, which is still a salt pond from the pre-Qin period, but the output of the salt pond is very small, and the quality is not very good at all.It must be said that the people in the Northwest have been in a state of salt deficiency for a long time, and it is a luxury to get serious salt. Most people can only use salty cloth, and they don't even have a little salty taste.

Not only the Northwest, but also many parts of the world are short of salt, so there are various ways to increase the saltiness of food when cooking. The taste is there, but there is no supplement for the body, which leads to The body is always lacking this and that, not only will it not prolong life, but it will also be lacking in various problems.

It can be said that Sanshi has never eaten salt in the true sense since he was a child. He is not alone, but the vast majority of poor people are in the same situation. It is not difficult to understand his love for salted fish.

Wheat flour making pasta is something that has only been done in recent years. It was first popular in the former Qingzhou administrative region, and then expanded to the surrounding areas, but it has not yet spread to the northwest. That is to say, the northwest where pasta is extremely popular in later generations is now The main grains are still millet, sorghum, corn and many miscellaneous grains.

In fact, wheat was not the main grain in the Central Plains. Most of the crops were replanted after the season as the staple food. Wheat received little attention, but barley was mostly planted.Before the emergence of wheat flour, wheat was an extremely difficult to swallow food, and it was also related to the shelling technology.

If it hadn’t been improved by Liu Yan, not only would wheat milling flour not appear so early, but the husking of various grains would also be done by pounding, that is, slowly pounding with heavy wood. Food often needs to be pounded for an hour or two.

Rice is not popular in the north of the Yangtze River. Many people in the Northwest didn't know that rice existed until they arrived at Yangguan.

The military's rice sources are the Southwest and the Indochina Peninsula, with the Indochina Peninsula obtaining the most.In fact, the taste of rice in each region is different. It depends on the local climate, and the taste that is more in line with the local taste is naturally better.Later generations developed hybrid rice for the sake of yield, but the nutritional value is really not very good, but there is nothing more important than making the people of the whole country eat.

If you want to say where the rice is the best, there is no doubt that the rice produced in the Indochina Peninsula is not only plump and bright, but also has a high nutritional value.Nowadays, many people in Han can eat the rice produced in the Indochina Peninsula, but they are much happier than their descendants.

"Tomorrow we will set off."

"Yes, go out of Yangguan to Bailongdui."

It doesn't matter what Bailongdui was called before. Of course, the name was named after the first generation of Western Han Dynasty who pioneered the Western Regions, which proves the rule that only the strong have the "right to name".

Bailongdui is the modern Lop Nur, that is, there is no vast desert there at present, only some areas form the Gobi, and most areas are in the state of grassland.

After leaving Yangguan, the terrain on the way to the west tends to be mostly flat, even if there are mountains, there are small hills. You can reach Puchanghai more than [-] miles ahead.

By the way, Puchanghai (Yanze) is the old name of the pre-Han Dynasty. The name of Puchanghai continued to Cao Wei, and was renamed Laolanhai in the Western Jin Dynasty.Of course, Liu Yan ignored some of the names given by Sima's family when they were in power, and returned to the title of the former Han.

To the west of Yangguan is a plain, while to the south there is a mountain range that stretches for hundreds of miles. The mountain range has no name at present, but it was named Jinshan Mountain in later generations.Further south of the Jinshan Mountains is an extremely wide basin, named the Qaidam Basin in modern times, and further south is the Kunlun Mountains.

The place where Xie An is currently leading the fierce battle is south of the Kunlun Mountains, where there are many mountains and basins. Tuyuhun lives in six parts, but at present it is really a very primitive appearance.

The entire route from the Central Plains to the Western Regions has a general name called the Hexi Corridor.This Hexi Corridor is not static. Desertification and Gobi will change the road. At present, the route is from Guzang all the way west to Yangguan. Waiting for the climate to change the appearance, in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the only choice is to go to Yumenguan. As a result, many cultural works of the Sui and Tang Dynasties basically did not see Yangguan, but many frontier poets often mentioned Yumenguan.

"Fifty-five thousand people have enough food for three months. If there is no food, the enemy will be defeated."

Li Kuang can't say that he has any dissatisfaction. They went out of Yangguan and marched into the Western Regions. It was a kind of "stop loss". effort.

Xie Ai will not go out of Yangguan, he will still stay in the northwest to deal with follow-up matters.

The first group of people to go to the Western Regions will be headed by Li Kuang. After they enter the Western Regions, they can do things cheaply, that is, they do not restrict some rules and regulations.

After the first batch, the second batch of people will be dispatched in the following month, but they will no longer enter the Western Regions in the form of legions. The "free travel" of a small group of people is equivalent to the first batch led by Li Kuang. The situation is very similar to Han's development of the Indochina Peninsula.

Since the march into the Western Regions was under the premise of survival, the official did not issue uniforms to each hero, which means that except for the soldiers of the military, the rest of them can wear anything. The only thing they have in common is that they are fully armed.

On the day of the official departure, Ran Min, who had disappeared for a while, reappeared.

Ran Min was standing on the pass of Yangguan city, watching the team passing through the pass, accompanied by Xie Ai.

"Southerners have the Indochina Peninsula, and northerners have the Western Regions." Ran Min didn't have a deeper understanding of encouraging the people to open up, but simply thought it would be nice to have a place to rob: "This is fair now."

The city wall of Yangguan is about eight meters high. It was built to connect two mountains. There are urns inside and outside.Since it was rebuilt by the Zhang Family Liang Country, it has actually not played a role. It has always been the Zhang Family Liang Country who has taken the initiative to attack the Western Regions, and the people from the Western Regions have not even approached Yangguan once.

"The Western Region is different from the Indochina Peninsula. The Indochina Peninsula is in the wild, but there is political power. Most of the areas are not under control, and most of them are savages." Xie Ai is not ignorant of the Indochina Peninsula. There are also two completely different environments from the Western Regions. Then there is: "Before the Han Dynasty conquered the Western Regions, there were many small countries, and there were even powerful countries. It is also at the intersection of the East and the West, with diverse cultures and sturdy folk customs."

"Northern Han people are also better at fighting than southern Han people." Ran Mincai said with a smile, regardless of whether it was a map cannon or not: "It is suitable for those who can fight."

Xie Ai is just saying that no matter how good the people in the Western Regions can fight, they have been taught how to behave by Zhu Xia for a long time. Compared with the Indochina Peninsula, the Western Regions that have been developed have less dangers from nature. Go to the Western Regions What you are facing is mostly fighting between people, so you don't have to go to Indochina Peninsula and walk in the dense forest and suddenly get bitten by something and die.

Fifty-five thousand people left the customs, and there was only one city gate that could pass through. The speed was really not that fast. From the first group of people to the exit to the last person, the whole process took up to seven hours, resulting in The leading cavalry unit was twenty miles away, but the rear was hanging.

When the last person came out of Yangguan, Ran Min looked at the long line and said, "What's the reaction from the Western Regions?"

"The big Han gathered 20 million people in Yangguan, and there was too much movement." Xie Ai was not in charge of marching into the Western Regions, but he knew the situation after having more contact with Li Kuang: "Shanshan traveled in many ways, Yanqi, Gaochang, Qiemo, Jing Jue and other countries know how powerful it is, and regard Qiuci as the leader of the alliance, and form a coalition army to stand ready."

"A country of merchants and musicians?" Ran Min was no stranger to Kucha, mainly because the Shijie Zhao Kingdom had accepted quite a few people from Kucha, and Fotucheng, who received Shi Hu's courtesy, was from Kucha.He said a little amusedly: "Is it just because Qiuci is rich that Qiuci is the leader?"

It really made Ran Min guess right. If you want to say which country in the Western Regions is the richest, it must be led by Qiuci.Kucha is rich enough to hire people everywhere, relying on mercenaries to open up territories and continue to spend money, smashing out all the countries in the Western Regions that should have been afraid, just watching Kucha like that Constantly expanding.

"Shule and Che Shi don't move, so it's not a big problem." Ran Min really looked down on the people of Qiuci, and it has a lot to do with Zhu Xia's fixed thinking. .He remembered something, slightly amused and asked: "Wusun people really did something to Che Shi?"

Xie Ai still knew why Ran Min was so obviously teasing. The main reason was that the Han side only gave a slight hint. He knew that Wusun, who was determined to march into the Western Regions, was as determined as ever in history.

(End of this chapter)