Chapter 762: Salt River Movement
Chapter 762: Salt River Movement
Li Jing had never expected that the salt lake in Yanchuan County could produce salt that was not bitter. The barren land that was once despised by everyone suddenly became a strategic location.
On the one hand, Li Jing sent an eagle letter to the emperor, and on the other hand, he dispatched an additional 15,000 troops and 20,000 camels for supplies to Yanchuan County.
The next day, Xiao Xia received an eagle letter from Li Jing in Yan'an County. The content of the letter surprised him deeply. Xiao Xia immediately sent someone to invite Pei Ju and Liu Wenjing.
Soon, the two hurried to the imperial study and bowed to Xiao Xia, "Your Majesty!"
"You two Prime Ministers, please do not hesitate to take a seat!"
An attendant brought a chair and the two prime ministers sat down. Xiao Xia said slowly, "We just received a letter from Li Jing. He sent Su Dingfang to take Yanchuan County. As a result, he encountered 3,000 Turkish cavalry in Yanchuan County. The two sides fought fiercely and defeated the Turkish cavalry."
Pei Ju frowned, and Xiao Xia asked with a smile, "What does Prime Minister Pei think?"
"I am a little confused. Why are there Turkic cavalry in Yanchuan County? Yanchuan County only has Wuyuan County, where the climate is dry, the land is barren, and the salt lake is extremely bitter and has no value at all. The Turkic cavalry did not go to Yulin County, which is more valuable, but instead stayed in Yanchuan County, which is difficult to use. Is there something strange about this?"
Xiao Xia nodded gently, "Something unexpected did happen. General Su discovered that the other party actually cooked salt that was not bitter in the salt lake in Yanchuan County."
"what!"
Liu Wenjing and Pei Ju were both shocked, Pei Ju was especially surprised, "How did they do that? The officials of Shuofang County tried their best but couldn't do it!"
"The key thing here is fuel. In the past, it was impossible to boil salt repeatedly due to lack of fuel, but now they have started to use coal. With sufficient fuel, they can boil the brine repeatedly and filter it. The bitter taste is gradually removed by dissolving and filtering it again and again."
"I see. Then Chang'an can follow suit!"
Xiao Xia nodded, "So this is the important point. Once we find a way to remove the bitterness and sufficient coal, the salt lakes in Yan'an County and Yanchuan County will inevitably become strategic locations for contention. I am not worried about Yan'an County. Our 80,000-strong army has completely controlled the surrounding counties. What I am worried about is Yanchuan County. Our war with Liang Shidu will definitely be brought forward and will also shift to the fight for Yanchuan County. The Turks will also join the war, so we must try our best to be prepared. All kinds of food and supplies must be transported to Yan'an County as soon as possible. In addition, the manufacture of firearms must be accelerated. I will arrange this. There is another key node, which is the huge rock in Sanmenxia. It must be blown up so that large ships can pass smoothly."
"Your Majesty, there is also Hukou, which cannot be blown up. Only medium-sized ships can sail on dry land, not large ships."
Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and said, "Then let's learn from the old method of Sanmenxia. We can build a large transit warehouse in the north and south of Hukou. The materials can be transported by land for several miles. Then we can use large ships in the south and large rafts in the north. This will increase the time by two days at most."
Liu Wenjing and Pei Ju cheered, and Liu Wenjing said with a smile: "Your Majesty, this method is indeed effective!"
Xiao Xia added: "This was originally under my consideration, but the incident in Yanchuan County came very suddenly, and time is very tight. If we don't have time to repair the warehouse, we can use the big tent temporarily and send troops to guard it strictly."
Liu Wenjing nodded, "I will arrange for the shipment of materials right away. The renovation of Sanmenxia must begin immediately!"
Sanmenxia is located in Shan County. Due to three huge rocks standing in the Yellow River, the river channel has become very narrow, with fast and unpredictable undercurrents. If the ships are not careful, they will hit the rocks and cause the ships to be destroyed and people to die.
Sanmenxia has always been a key bottleneck restricting Chang'an. It was like being strangled by the throat. Hebei's grain could not be transported to Chang'an in large quantities. The rulers of the Sui and Tang dynasties moved the capital to Luoyang twice. Of course, there were other political factors. Before dawn that day, a series of loud noises came from the Yellow River in Sanmenxia. The loud noises were like thunder and the earth shook. Even the people in Shan County heard the thunder and the slight shaking of the earth.
The explosions continued for three days, and the Ministry of War consumed hundreds of giant iron fire mines. Three days later, the people of Shan County were shocked to find that the three huge rocks that had stood for a thousand years had disappeared. To be precise, the huge rock in the middle had disappeared, and the huge rocks on both sides had shrunk more than ten times and turned into two stone piers on the shore. The Yellow River was suddenly unblocked.
Hundreds of thousands of people in Shan County cheered. The disappearance of the Sanmenxia rock meant that Shan County was about to rise.
Three days later, a huge fleet consisting of hundreds of 5,000-ton ships sailed through Sanmenxia, loaded with various strategic materials and heading north along the Yellow River.
Another ghost gate of the Yellow River is the Longmen Hukou Waterfall, which is indeed not something that can be changed by human power, but the clever boatmen came up with the idea of sailing on dry land. They built a road on the top of the rock layer on the side and used manpower to pull the boats from the land, bypassing the Hukou Waterfall.
However, this method can only be used by small and medium-sized ships, not large ships. According to the emperor's deployment, the army built temporary transit docks and two transit warehouses above and below Hukou Waterfall.
The supplies were then transported overland to a transit warehouse in the north using thousands of camels.
Taking into account the upcoming battle in Yanchuan County, Xiao Xia issued another decree to send another 30,000 troops to Yan'an County, bringing the number of troops in Guannei Road to 110,000.
The strategic judgment of the Sui Dynasty was not wrong. The 30,000 Liang Shidu troops that originally attacked Xiaoguan quickly retreated northward, and the 5,000 Turkic cavalry stationed in Hexi were also transferred to Lingwu County.
Both sides knew tacitly that the war for Yanchuan County was about to break out.
After Li Jing received the emperor's reply, he realized that he had underestimated the situation. He personally led an army of 30,000 and 50,000 camels to Wuyuan County, Yanchuan County.
It is not easy to travel from Yan'an County to Yanchuan County. The vast Hengshan Mountains divide Yanchuan County into two parts. The south belongs to the Loess Plateau, with some green and arable land, where a small number of people live. Wuyuan County is located south of Hengshan Mountains.
It took the Sui army three days to cross Hengshan. The north of Hengshan was almost entirely a desert, with occasional oases and abundant grass and water, making it a good place for cavalry to station.
Soon, a salt lake with a radius of one hundred miles appeared in front of the army. This was the famous salt-producing area of Yanchuan County. In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, this place was a strategic location for Tubo's attack.
However, this place is easy to attack but difficult to defend, and supplies are difficult. Except for obtaining salt, it is difficult to stay here for a long time.
The Sui army had already set up a large camp at the water source north of the Salt Lake. When Li Jing arrived, the Sui army in Yanchuan County had reached 50,000 troops, including 20,000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry.
In fact, this was no longer a battle for the control of Yanchuan County, but a battle of life and death for Liang Shidu. The 8,500 Turkic cavalry also gathered together, which was also related to the Turkic control over Lingwu County.
Yanchuan County is close to Lingwu County and is only about 200 miles away from Lingzhou City.
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[There is an emergency at home, so I will take a leave and update as usual in the evening]
(End of this chapter)