4. The withering and depressing Silk Road

Since the Xiangrui return to the Feilun continent, it is to cross the sea and arrive in Nagasaki Port first, and after handling the handover affairs, it sets west again, so the first stop of this Silk Road trip is to return to the Jiangnan Water Town, and then travel from southeast to northwest to the entire Central Plains China.

After more than a month, when Feili's Xiangrui floating battleship crossed the East China Sea again and flew over Nanjing again, he unexpectedly discovered that the "Peaceful National Construction Conference" hosted by Admiral Li Huamei was still stuck in endless disputes and was delayed endlessly, and it was very likely to hold the conference until the end of the world. No new comprehensive consensus has been reached so far.

——However, no matter how much talk or a boring meeting is, it is always much stronger than a cruel civil war that flows into blood, isn’t it?

Due to the long delay in the "Peaceful National Construction Conference", the new central government has always been difficult to produce. The friendly diplomatic treaty between the Naserel Empire and the new republic has never been found to sign. Feili saved the trouble of submitting a certificate of state, but said hello to Admiral Li Huamei and informed the representatives of each province about his itinerary to avoid misunderstandings on the way. Then he continued to set off.

Given the reputation of the ancient "Silk Road", he took advantage of this short gap that was anchored in the silk production area in Jiangnan, in addition to the previous tombing and plundering in Nanjing, he also spent money to purchase a batch of silk, intending to try to traffic along the way to see if he could make some profit.

Next, the Xiangrui route turned northwest from Nanjing, flew all the way across the heart of the Central Plains in Henan, and then continued to advance westward through the dangerous pass of Tongguan. The prefectures and counties along the way are basically the territory of the former Qin King and the current governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi Li Zongyun.

This number one warlord in the East, with a territory spanning four provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan, with more than 100,000 troops, had no friendship with Feili's Naserel Expeditionary Force, but he had no conflicts, so his attitude was basically friendly. When the Xiangrui ship flew over Chang'an, General Li Zongyun, who had just returned from Sichuan triumphantly, specially hosted a banquet in Huaqing Pool to entertain Marshal Feili Taylor and presented a batch of specialties such as Shu brocade.

Only after the warship flew over Chang'an and continued to move westward did it truly embark on the ancient Silk Road.

However, at the end of this era of navigation, the ancient Silk Road, which once flourished a thousand years ago, is no longer as glorious as before.

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In fact, since the Xiangrui flew over the barely well-off Guanzhong land and entered the northwest edge of the old empire, the Hexi Corridor, the easternmost section of the Silk Road, it can immediately feel the shocking poverty and desolation.

This was once a Gansu province in the prosperous period of the old empire, but after the grassland nomadic invasion and the empire's territory became fragmented, this barren province fell into a comprehensive power vacuum. Timur Khan, who was dominant in the world, was not yet favored this poor place, and General Li Zongyun in the east was unwilling to bear the burden and burden of easy attack and difficult defense.

Therefore, the Hexi Corridor in this era was basically in a messy situation of scattered sand. There were many powerful warlords and vassal states in various places, and often there were several soldiers confronting each other on the territory of a county, and the battles and killings were endless.

The Hexi Corridor was originally a barren land, with deserts everywhere, frequent droughts and very little production. It was said that "nothing grows, and you can eat sand when you open your mouth." The Silk Road originally passed here was first competed for sea routes, but now it was blocked by war and trade income was pitifully low. Under such bad conditions, warlords from all walks of life had to impose levies and recruit soldiers. The lives of the local poor people were simply unimaginable.

According to field observations, in all parts of the Hexi Corridor, even wealthy families use cornmeal, millet and sorghum noodles as the main food, and can only eat two meals a day. Only during festivals can they eat some white flour and meat. As for ordinary people, due to insufficient food rations, they can only collect tender leaves, elm seeds and other wild vegetables in spring, and mix them into cornmeal with bran bran. The dishes for rice are even more shabby - basically every family pickles a jar of radish, and they eat them all year round. People who can eat onion and sauce can already be called rich people.

——When passing through some local market towns, the chefs of the Giant Bear Legion wanted to buy some fresh vegetables, but found that they could not buy anything except cabbage and red and white radish in this place.

The food is so shabby, and the clothes are even worse. In many rural areas, the family only has a decent clothes. The children run around in the village with their bare butts, and the older girls can only go downstairs to work naked. When they see strangers passing by, they screamed and hurriedly ran away while covering their lower body.

However, in such a poor place, a rather "luxury" enjoyment is widely prevalent - smoking opium

——In every city in the Hexi Corridor, at least eight of the ten companies are deeply trapped in the bottom of the opium hell, and their daily lives are completely out of balance. In the shops on the street, from the shopkeeper’s account room to the apprentice, even if they don’t have the money to buy clothes and quilts, they must first buy their own bongs and lanterns. Regardless of men, women, young and old, residents in the city always spend most of their time gathering in front of the lanterns, busy spitting out mist. Even under the eaves on the street, many skinny men and women beggars can be seen lying together in a mess, making the whole city full of smoke... Many people even if they are too poor to lose their pants, they still seek chronic suicide in the smog.

If there is demand, there will naturally be supply. In order to meet the daily consumption of so many addicts and seek high profits, the fertile land of the Hexi Corridor will plant poppy for a while, and only the most barren land will be prepared for grain fields.

Moreover, the northwest has always been barren, and only by planting opium can it be sold to the outside world in exchange for profit. For this reason, warlords and powerful people from all over the country took the opportunity to sell opium for personal gain. They ordered poppy to be planted everywhere, and then collected opium from the people at an extremely low price. On the one hand, they satisfied local consumption, and on the other hand, they smuggled to rich areas in the East, and they could earn several times the profit at one time.

But this deformed industry will inevitably lead to bad consequences - opium cultivation has squeezed out the originally small amount of fertile land, which will lead to food shortages, prices soaring, and most farmers are in a difficult position. Coupled with the cruel exploitation of warlords and powerful people, more people are desperate about survival, and simply seek self-destruction in the mist of sucking opium. Even though they know that opium is harmful, they cannot get rid of it...

——The glory and glory of thousands of years have faded, the prosperity of the past is no longer there, and the glory and prosperity of the ancient Silk Road have long since turned the wheel of history and slowly disappeared...

As a Silk Road Station, the Hexi Corridor is now so desolate that it can only slowly slide into self-destruction in the curling smoke of opium. The endless wilderness between the East and the West is even more decaying and bleak...
Chapter completed!