Chapter 93 The Yellow Sand in Northwest

The prince can reach a draft with the Hokshuo Special Forces, but if it really takes effect, the emperor still needs to nod. So as soon as the agreement is negotiated, he will immediately send someone to the northwest to the imperial front of Zhu Qizhen.

At this moment, Zhu Qizhen had been repaired in Yizhou. After reviewing the army of the Western Regions Governor's Office, he winded eastward. From Xingxing Gorge and Shazhou, he went all the way to Jiayuguan.

This road is not very long, but it is very hard for Zhu Qizhen to walk.

Because like from Juyanze to Yizhou, it was full of desert terrain. When you arrived at Jiayuguan, Zhu Qizhen really saw what it means to "I heard that the jade gate was still covered, so I should drive my life away from the light."

When Zhu Qizhen arrived at Jiayuguan, it was a sandstorm that reminded Zhu Qizhen that he saw Longmen Inn in his previous life. In fact, Zhu Qizhen had seen Longmen Guards. Just south of Yang Hong Dushi Fort, he fought a battle with Washu here. Although the vegetation there is not good, it is still acceptable.

However, Jiayuguan, the Yumen Pass of the Ming Dynasty, looks different. Outside the city walls, there is yellow sand. Once you encounter sandstorms, it will be difficult to even close the door. The yellow sand wishes to flood the entire city.

Even though Zhu Qizhen was the emperor, there were so many ceremonial guards around him. This time he came here, he did not ride a horse, but sat in a carriage, and still could not stop the wind and sand passing through the layers of curtains and hit Zhu Qizhen.

When we came to Jiayuguan, the situation was just slightly better.

Jiayuguan is the westernmost end of the Daming Cycle Road. From here to the east, the entire army can breathe a sigh of relief. Although this Cycle Road has gone through a lot of hardships, it has finally been built.

Zhu Qizhen only knew that Chidao could not be built in the northwest of the Ming Dynasty, let alone the railway. However, it was not very clear why Chidao could not be built. Only when the real field investigation was really clear about what was going on.

The important transportation route between the Ming Dynasty and the Western Regions is actually the Hexi Corridor, or more accurately, the northern foot of the Helan Mountains. This road is the snow water flowing from the Helan Mountains, irrigating large areas of land and becoming the richest place in Hexi. During the Han Dynasty, there were large areas of grasslands, and even from the Hexi Corridor to Juyanze area, all of them were grasslands.

So much so that the Han Dynasty established a pass in Juyanze, which was part of the Han Great Wall.

Even by looking at the gap between the Ming Great Wall and the Han Great Wall, you can see the climate change over the past thousand years.

This is also the time when the northwest declines.

The chasing road here in Jiayuguan is built on a high stone foundation, half a meter higher than the two sides, and is made of all the stones. The reason for this is to prevent the entire chasing road from being overturned and blown away when the sandstorm comes, or it is covered under the yellow sand.

And this method can only be used east of Jiayuguan.

Nothing else, desertification in the northwest is also different. Generally speaking, the closer to Helan Mountain, the less desertification is, the more it goes to the east. But to the west, it is very different. Not to mention, the desert in the southeast of Jiayuguan is actually more of the newly weathered land. If you dig a distance below, you can see solid land. If you fix the stone foundation on the solid land below, you can still achieve the function of a fixed road. However, after passing Jiayuguan, you don’t know how many meters you dig under the desert to see the foundation. If you dig too deep, there is no need.

It's very simple. If it goes too deep, it means that the sand layer is too thick.

Once such a thick layer of sand rolls, even if the foundation is strong, it can be covered firmly below. It is accompanied by Loulan Ancient City.

In fact, there are some particularly serious areas on the east side of Jiayuguan, which is actually the same. However, there are more people here, which can be cleaned up in time and can be maintained. This also causes the road to be interrupted for a period of time when it encounters wind and sand. However, the people below often report good news but not bad news.

If Zhu Qizhen didn't come down, he wouldn't know that such a situation would happen.

Seeing this, Zhu Qizhen couldn't help but feel worried.

The situation in the northwest was even more terrifying than he thought.

Zhu Qizhen has always been very worried about the decline of the northwest, because the economy of the northwest is directly related to the Ming Dynasty's rule over the Western Regions. Now it seems that the road to travel west is extremely difficult, and many places are marching in the desert. If Zhu Qizhen knew that this was the case, he might not have the idea of ​​attacking the Western Regions.

It is precisely because the northwest was so desolate that the Ming Dynasty could only be in a relatively passive situation against the tile thorns.

Because even though the Western Regions have some supplies to the Central Plains, more things are not the battle between Wats and the Ming Dynasty, but the battle between the Governor's Office and Wats and Wats and Wats.

This is true for Jiayuguan, and the left and right did not think that the emperor could stay in this place for a long time, so he took a short rest and got on the road.

This time the army was walking along the road, so the speed was naturally not fast.

The cavalry controlled the sand dunes on both sides, and more than a thousand vehicles drove slowly along the avenue.

Zhu Qizhen sat on a special carriage, which was pulled by thirty-two horses. The carriage was large and could accommodate more than a dozen people, just like a small house.

At this moment, Zhu Qizhen, Qiu Jun, Shi Biao, and other officials are all here, and there is a new member. That is the governor of Shaanxi Han Wen.

Because Han Wen quenched the rebellion of Ningwang, he became the temporary governor of Jiangxi. In the past few years, he has been promoted repeatedly and has now become the governor of Shaanxi.

Although the governor and the governor are the same, in fact, the governor of a large province is different from the governor of a small province.

Several important governors of the Ming Dynasty were the governor of Hebei, the emperor, the governor of Guangdong, and the princes of the south. In addition, Guangxi had to rely on Guangdong to assist, and established the governor of Guangdong very early. Now Zhu Qizhen felt that the governor was powerful, but many cooperation between the two provinces had not been interrupted. In addition, there are various tasks to support Nanyang.

It can be said that one governor of Guangdong and half of the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.

The other is the governor of Shaanxi. Shaanxi in the Ming Dynasty can be understood as the current Shaanxi, including Gansu, Ningxia, and Qinghai. Because of its special geographical environment, it also has various tasks of supporting the Western Regions and supporting Tibet, which is really a pillar of the court.

In addition to these, there are also several governors such as Huguang, Sichuan, Yunnan, and others, who are all major governors. In the eyes of the court, they are stronger than ordinary governors.

Han Wen jumped from a prefect to a governor, and was promoted faster, but it was not easy to be promoted to the governor level. So he was transferred to several provinces, and now he is the governor of Shaanxi.

The next term is probably the governor of a place, or the governor of a certain department will be in Beijing.

Zhu Qizhen asked: "Is this the case in the northwest?"

Han Wen said: "Your Majesty, the situation here is only worse. After going eastwards by Wuwei, the situation will be much better."

Zhu Qizhen said: "I have once advised you to see how the situation is going on in the northwest?"

Han Wen paused slightly and said, "Your Majesty, you must not do it if you don't want me to do it."

"Trees like water the most. Without water, there will be no trees. The northwest is extremely drought, and every inch of water is valuable. I have seen some places where people only bathe several times in their lives, and there is no water. Even if there is a little water, they still have to irrigate the crops. How can they plant trees? Once the tree is planted, it seems that if there is a shortage of water in the middle, it will be just a piece of dead tree."

"I know Your Majesty's wishes, but it's hard for a good cook to cook without rice."

Zhu Qizhen remembered the large-scale planting of trees in the northwest in later generations. He was about to refute it, but after thinking about it, sighed slightly, and said, "I took it for granted."

That's true.

Many people think that planting trees is a very simple thing. It seems that there is no difference between ancient and modern times in the matter of planting trees. In fact, the modernization of agricultural technology is more about inconspicuous places. Not to mention anything else, just about choosing seeds.

Planting drought-tolerant trees.

Now, such trees are not found.

Not to mention modern large-scale breeding, etc., for people of this era, it is simply black technology.

A tree cannot be planted to survive. If you want to plant a tree next to the road, you will find that even if the trees on the road are now at a certain probability, it is not good if you plant a hundred pieces by the northwest desert. If you can survive by planting sixteen pieces by 100 pieces.

The differences between times are reflected in extremely small places.

Zhu Qizhen said: "Is there no way?"

Han Wen pondered for a moment and said, "In my opinion, there are only immigration. I have been in Shaanxi for several years, but my household registration in Shaanxi has not increased. Although these Ningxia earthquakes every year, the casualties are very small, I have also been in charge of immigrating to the Western Regions and migrating the victims of Shaanxi to the Western Regions. In fact, the northwest area cannot support people."

"The only way to let the people go elsewhere and seek a way to survive."

The number of household registrations in the Ming Dynasty has always been a key indicator for the assessment of local officials. Especially when Zhu Qizhen has cleared several times and investigated the Yellow Book of the Ming Dynasty’s household registrations more clearly.

Every official has data on the increase in household registration.

It became a window for Zhu Qizhen to observe the ability of officials. Han Wenming knew this, but did the opposite. It can be seen that he really knew that the northwest, especially the several prefectures and counties at the foot of Helan Mountain, were really overwhelmed.

Zhu Qizhen said, "Han Qing has the intention."

Han Wen said: "But just do things for the court, I dare not take credit for it."

Zhu Qizhen said: "I cannot let the heroes feel disappointed. Qiu Qing ordered the local officials in the northwest to no longer assess the increase in household registration."

Qiu Jun hesitated for a moment, but finally answered the order.

Zhu Qizhen also knew that a standard seemed unfair to some places, but it was still necessary sometimes. For example, the GDP theory in later generations seemed to have many disadvantages, but if this standard was not used to measure local officials, what should we use to measure?
Chapter completed!