After Sima Shang and others enjoyed the convenience of the train for several days, Li Mu also led the army of troops back to Daliang City.

"It's really been a long time since I came back."

Looking at Daliang City in front of him, Li Mu couldn't help but sigh.

This war to conquer the southwest lasted for more than two years, which was the longest of all wars that Li Mu participated in.

Of course, the results of the battle are also the most brilliant. The entire Yunnan-Guizhou region has been completely conquered by Li Mu. All tribes that disobey the Han Dynasty were killed in scattered areas, leaving only a part of the people remaining in the mountains and forests. Survival is a problem, let alone rebellion.

For Li Mu, he always believed one thing, that is, as long as his fist was big enough, everything was easy to say.

According to some unofficial statistics, more than one-fifth of the natives in Yunnan and Guizhou were killed by Li Mu this time, so there are some criticisms of Li Mu.

As His Majesty the Emperor of the Han Kingdom, Zhao Kuo would not have a record of killing one-fifth of the conquered persons at one time during his previous conquests.

But Li Mu was not worried about this because he knew Zhao Kuo's attitude on this matter very well.

Zhao Kuo once reviewed a sentence for Li Mu in a memorial: "The barbarians fear power but do not have virtue. If you are in Yunnan and Guizhou, you can do your best to do it cheaply."

Chinese people must not be killed casually, but these barbarians who do not obey China and even invade China from time to time, let go of their hands and feet to kill them.

In short, Li Mu let go of his hands and feet in Yunnan and Guizhou, and the killing was very pleasant.

With Li Mu's killing, the indigenous people of Yunnan and Guizhou must have left a heavy shadow in their hearts. It is conceivable that in the time of a generation, there should be no big trouble in Yunnan and Guizhou.

It was still Lu Buwei who received Li Mu. When he saw the train, Li Mu inevitably showed a surprised expression: "What is this?"

Lu Buwei smiled. After all, Li Mu was the number one figure in the military and one of the three prime ministers of the Han Dynasty, so Lu Buwei's attitude was much better than when he was with Sima Shang: "Master Taiwei, this is the latest scientific and technological creation in our Han Dynasty - the train.

It can take you to the Imperial Capital in one day.”

"one day?"

Li Mu was surprised now. You should know that even Li Mu's most familiar cavalry would take two days to arrive from Daliang City to Imperial Capital.

If you want to arrive at the Imperial Capital from Daliang City within one day, all Li Mu could think of was the kind of 800-mile rush and constantly changing horses at the post station along the way to achieve this.

With this half-believing and half-doubted attitude, Li Mu walked into the carriage.

A few hours later, the train slowly stopped at Dijing West Station.

Li Mu walked off the train and looked at the Imperial Capital in front of him. The shocked expression on his face was beyond words: "It's really here...good guy."

Suddenly, Li Mu's eyes froze and he quickly knelt down: "I've seen Your Majesty."

Zhao Kuo came over with all the civil and military officials, and smiled and helped Li Mu up in person: "These days, my dear minister has suffered in the southwest.

You have also made great contributions to the conquest of the southwest of the Han Kingdom!”

Li Mu also smiled and said, "Your Majesty is so serious. As a general, I should do something for the Han Dynasty!"

The king and his ministers joined hands and took a car back to the palace.

On this day, a grand celebration banquet was held in the palace of the Han Dynasty.

Zhao Kuo was really very happy because with the conquest of Qinghai-Tibet, Yunnan-Guizhou, the territory of the Han Kingdom had completely covered all areas of modern China.

Even the two large islands in the south now have the development bases of the South China Sea Fleet. Therefore, Zhao Kuo has completely taken down all the traditional Chinese areas that should be taken.

What Zhao Kuo needs to do next is to go out of East Asia and lead the troops of the Han Kingdom to Central Asia, West Asia, Europe, Africa, and so that those people can also see the power of Eastern civilization! Winter will soon arrive.

After winter came, some problems occurred in the operation of the train, and even had several days of suspension.

Zhao Kuo didn't say anything about this. After all, this is the first winter of railway operation, and it is inevitable that some problems will occur. Just learn from the experience and lessons.

In fact, it is not difficult to deal with this matter. You only need to allocate personnel to patrol the railway lines and eliminate all kinds of dangers in a timely manner.

To put it bluntly, it’s a matter of money. As long as the money is in place, are you still afraid that no one will work?

Not to mention winter, after giving enough money, even if you go to hell, someone will rush to go.

With the arrival of winter, trains are not only continuously loaded in freight, but also demand for passenger transport has reached an unprecedented peak.

In other seasons, you can choose to move forward slowly on the road, but after heavy snow in winter blocks the road, railways become the only way to travel.

As a result, almost every passenger train in Daliang City-Dijing City was full, and even scalpers who reselled tickets began to appear.

The promotion effect of the railway was completely seen by Prime Ministers such as Xu Li and Pang Qian, so they didn't talk nonsense. They immediately discussed it with Minister of Transportation Lu Buwei and came up with a very bold plan.

Since the problem of trains crossing the Yellow River at this stage is not yet possible, Xu Li and others decided to organize well-made personnel to solve the Yellow River Railway Bridge on the one hand, and first use the Yellow River as the dividing line to build railways in the north and south of the river.

In the north of the Yellow River, the two metropolises, Handan and Jidu, are mainly used as the main railway trunk lines. After the construction is completed, other trunk lines will be considered.

As for the south of the Yellow River, some people have said it.

The most important thing is to extend the Daliang-Dijing railway from east to west, and to Linzi City on the east, and to the west, it passes through Xinzheng, Luoyi and then enters Guanzhong until the location of Xianyang City.

It is not enough to extend east and west alone. There is also a railway on the side of Imperial Capital to continue to the southeast, heading towards Chencheng and Pengcheng, until the Yangtze River.

If the technology of railway bridges is made in the future, the railway will continue to extend across the south of the Yangtze River and reach Wuxian in Kuaiji County.

In the southwest, there must also be a railway that extends directly to the original Yingdu of Chu.

There are also railways in the direction of Bashu, but considering that the terrain of the Bashu Basin is quite special, you can basically wait until the railway is built to Guanzhong and then build from Guanzhong to Bashu.

In addition, there is another very important railway that is about to start construction now, that is, the railway connecting the Western Regions from Wuwei City in the Hexi Corridor. The construction of this railway is to shorten the communication time between the Western Regions and the hinterland of the Central Plains as soon as possible, and it is also a major test for railway construction.

In short, the railway strategy of the Han Dynasty has begun vigorously, and the total investment has exceeded 10 billion.

Of course, it is impossible to allocate all such a large amount of money at once, but to make a profit while building it. After all, according to the previous plan, it will take at least ten years or even longer to complete the construction of the railways above.

When Zhao Kuo saw this whole plan, he couldn't help but sigh: "This is the power of the industrial revolution."

With the steam engine, the progress of human society can be said to be a rapid progress, and it suddenly rose from an agricultural society to a primary industrial society.

Although it is just a primary industrial society, it will still bring about earth-shaking changes.

This is like the musketeers of the Han Dynasty today. If they were obtained from later generations, these musketeers were actually very weak, but in this era, musketeers crushed everything! After the major railway construction strategy was determined, Zhao Kuo convened another court discussion, this time he specialized in military research.

In the court discussion, Sima Shang, the Minister of the General Staff, proposed a new strategy in front of everyone.

"Everyone, based on the research of our General Staff and the instruction of His Majesty, we believe that the time to destroy the Seleucid Empire is now ripe!"

Sima Shang's opening remark fell, and the ministers of the Han Dynasty present were immediately moved.

After years of commercial trade, the senior leaders of the Great Han Kingdom have already gained a very deep understanding of the Seleucid Empire.

It was a Hellenized Power and an opponent that the great Han Kingdom should not be underestimated.

However, if the Han Dynasty is afraid of Seleucid, then of course it is not at all.

After all, in terms of land, population, military technology, and military quality, the Han Dynasty completely formed a crushing trend over the Seleucid Empire.

Simply put, the mentality of the Han Dynasty when viewing the Seleucid Empire was actually somewhat similar to the mentality of the British Empire when viewing the Qing Dynasty in modern times.

Although it is very big, it is vulnerable! Sima Shang continued to speak: "According to our previous research, the focus of the Seleucid Empire has always been on the West over the years, competing with several enemies for dominance in Macedonia, Greece, Egypt and other places. As for the East, it is the most empty guard of the Seleucid Empire.

It is true that after His Majesty's last expedition, the Seleucid Empire had more or less strengthened its defenses in the East, but according to our current estimates, the entire Seleucid Empire's Eastern Governor's area can use only 70,000 or 80,000 troops at best, which is almost unreasonable."

The important officials of the Han Dynasty listened to Sima Shang's words very obsessedly. After a while, Xu Li said, "The Eastern Governor's District of the Seleucid Empire is indeed not worth worrying, but our goal this time is to destroy the entire Seleucid Empire. So what I want to ask is, what is the situation of the entire Seleucid Empire's military strength?"

Sima Shang said: "According to our information, the total military force of the Seleucid Empire should be between 300,000 and 400,000, but considering the necessary left-behind personnel, it can be believed that the Seleucid Empire can really fight against us should be about 300,000, and the maximum is impossible to exceed 350,000.

Therefore, as long as our Han Kingdom can dispatch more than 200,000 troops this time, victory will be a foregone conclusion."

Two hundred thousand soldiers are the smallest troops considered by the General Staff.

The kings and ministers of the Great Han Kingdom actually don’t think too much about this force, because the Han Kingdom has now exceeded 50 million people after conquering Qinghai-Tibet and the southwest, and can launch more than one million troops at any time. The number of 200,000 is really not many for the Great Han Kingdom.

Sima Shang continued: "Considering that we have absolute advantages in muskets, explosives, etc., our combat policy this time is also very simple, that is, push them straight across the road, approaching the capital of the Seleucid Empire, and eventually completely destroy it!"

Sima Shang's strategy sounds simple, but it contains the infinite confidence brought by the powerful national strength of the Han Dynasty.

After pondering for a while, no one of the important officials of the Han Kingdom opposed this strategy.

Seeing this, Zhao Kuo also spoke lightly: "Since you all have no objections, then follow this strategy.

By the way, this time I want to personally conquer Seleucus. You guys should have no objection, right?"

Zhao Kuo had already thought about his personal expedition. After all, this was the first time that the Han Dynasty extended its tentacles to Central Asia and West Asia. Of course, Zhao Kuo had to supervise the war himself and solve the problems that might arise here.

After hearing Zhao Kuo's words, the important officials of the Han Dynasty were obviously surprised.

But unlike before, no one chose to object this time.

After all, with the experience of the last Western Expedition, it proved that the Han Kingdom could also operate normally when Zhao Kuo left.

Moreover, the prince has grown up and is about to be sixteen years old. Although he has not yet reached adulthood, if something really happens, he can barely make the decision at the age of sixteen.

Seeing this, Zhao Kuo also smiled satisfied: "Very good, then this matter will be settled.

Li Mu, Sima Shang, Xiang Yan, Wang Jian and others, let them all go to war with me this time.”

The four people Zhao Kuo pointed out are also the four strongest generals in the Han Dynasty today. The reason why Zhao Kuo took them with him was to train them in this war and know how to conquer the alien race.

Like the Baiyue, Yunnan, Guizhou and Qinghai-Tibet natives, those who have no civilizations to speak of. This time the Seleucid Empire is different. This is an empire inherited from Greek civilization. To conquer such an empire with different civilizations is a brand new challenge for Zhao Kuo.

But Zhao Kuo was not nervous, after all, he was very confident in the superiority of Chinese civilization and the strength of the Han Dynasty! After Zhao Kuo's decree was issued, although it was still winter, various orders were still issued quickly, and the state machinery of the entire Han Dynasty began to rumble.
Chapter completed!