Chapter 1: Cut the land? No talk!

Compared with later industrial pollution, the destructive power of human beings to nature in the era of agricultural handicrafts is really insignificant, but Zhang Mai also paid great attention to environmental protection issues. After all, this is an important town in the Western Xinjiang of the motherland. Over-development will only lead to fishing in the end.

"If the manpower is sufficient in the future, Shule may develop an additional 5 million acres of farmland." Yang Dingguo said: "Then we can feed hundreds of thousands more people."

But after listening carefully to the opinions of ecological experts of this era - a group of experienced old farmers and herdsmen, Zhang Mai did not intend to expand the farmland.

"The grain field planting here should have long-term plans. As long as the grain pressure is not that great, some places try to maintain their original ecology as much as possible. If it is a place that is more suitable for the growth of forage, there is no need to forcibly transform it into farmland."

At present, the grain fields of Shule and Shache are mainly wheat, with rice and drought-resistant grains, and the cash crops are mainly cotton and oil crops. In addition, due to the sunshine here, the fruits and melons are also very famous. The most famous one is Gaochang melon, which is the "hami melon" in Zhang Mai's memory, which is Zhang Mai's favorite. In addition, there are some bean foods such as chickpeas, which also play an important role in supplementing the diversity of ingredients in the supplement area and improving the soil.

Some generals who are very utilitarian have proposed to plant less fruits and fruits. "If cotton is planted, you can still wear clothes, so you can eat these fruits and fruits. It is better to plant them all into food. Food can fill your stomach, and fruits can only satisfy your cravings."

But this opinion was rejected by Zhang Mai. He instilled various natural balance concepts in the generals of Cao and the generals: "Don't look at the fact that the fruits and melons seem to not fill their stomachs, because they can replenish sugar and are very useful for our physical health and physical strength growth. In addition, oil has a great effect. Haven't you found that people who use oil to cook and eat meat will consume very little rice and flour? These things seem to not fill their stomachs, but in fact they will prevent us from consuming so much rice and grain."

Zhang Mai's positioning for Shule's future is: in the short term, as the first base of the Anxi Tang Army, it will bear the main funding and food sources of the entire army; in the long term, as the gateway for the Anxi Tang Army's westward advance, it can bear a certain amount of migrant population (garrisons and business travelers) while feeding the local population. However, this place is obviously not suitable as the central area of ​​a big country.

The cotton handicraft and wool handicraft industry in the region are in a period of booming development. The Anxi Army is still considering minting coins in the next step, but it has not yet found enough copper or silver mines. There are still some physical conditions to mint metal currency, so this matter is only in the plan for the time being.

As for the current situation, Shule's population is relatively small and the labor force is not very sufficient, so we need to try to improve production technology. After Ningyuan's mechanic master Sadi surrendered, Zhang Mai did not treat him badly. He also assigned a place similar to Xuantian Hall to live and do research, and gave him better conditions than Xuantian Hall Dihuang Pavilion, and set up a "Geju Academy" for him to preside over it, asking for people and money.

Sadi did not disappoint Zhang Mai. He took out many secret design drawings to present them to Zhang Mai. The first one was put into use was the hydraulic axle wheel truck he designed. This hydraulic axle wheel truck naturally had nothing magical in Zhang Mai's eyes, but Zhang Mai understood its value very well. This axle wheel truck can generate huge power with the impact of water and plays an irreplaceable role in cotton spinning, smelting and other handicrafts. After the busy farming, Zhang Mai mobilized 3,000 people to prepare for the first phase of construction of five large water trucks and put them into use.

I was very happy to see that I was reused by Sadie. In particular, although Satuk also used him, he mainly wanted to use him to design war equipment. However, Sadie himself felt that those war equipment was only a small part of what he had studied, and many of the proud works that could improve people's livelihood were abandoned. As for Satuk's previous master McClley, the same was true for Sadie.

"Only Zhang Dadu is the real wise king, and he truly knows the significance of my designs!"

Especially after several deep conversations with Zhang Mai, Sadie found that the knowledge of the imperial envoy was really rare and profound, and some even exceeded Sadie himself. "I have never seen a king have such systematic mechanics principles!"

His high evaluation made Zhang Mai's old face turn slightly red. In fact, he had a lot of physics knowledge and had almost forgotten it. He only occasionally revealed one or two sentences in his conversation with Sadi, but those one or two principles have often opened up Sadi's horizons and even greatly expanded his thinking.

On this day, Zhang Mai was discussing the invention of "focusing light" with Sadi. In the Battle of Yihei, the reason why Kachar was able to cross the river while taking advantage of the black was because there was no lighting equipment in the Tang army at that time. If such equipment was available, he would be from Yiheishan City to stand high, set up a lookout hand during the day, and use the focus light to illuminate the river at night, so he would not be afraid of the Uighurs attacking in the dark. This invention has strong practical value for reducing the number of soldiers garrisoned by Yihei and improving defense.

"In theory, this is absolutely fine." Sadie knew what quality of glass Ningyuan has, and understood what quality of glass can better reflect light. He said: "But how to make light not only focus but also illuminate far, you have to think about it carefully."

The two were having a good conversation, and the Sima Bureau sent someone to invite him, saying that there was an emergency military situation and asked the Protector to come over and discuss.

At this time, Liu An had already returned from Ningyuan and officially took over the Sima Office. He and Li Bin were both chief and deputy, but they began to become more serious in their staff. Liu An was mainly responsible for the military strategy west of the Pamir Mountains, while Li Bin put the research direction to the east.

At this time, he heard that something was wrong with the Sima Bureau, Zhang Mai thought to himself: "Could it be that Arslan is here to make trouble again?"

After Yihei's battle, the western front of the Anxi Tang army quickly stabilized and established an equal diplomatic relationship with Saman. Satuk was even more like a younger brother in front of others, but Balashaguen was a little capricious. After the Tang army withdrew to the east of Tuoyun Pass, Arslan returned to his former arrogance. In order to reach an understanding with the Tang army to rush back to deal with Satuk as soon as possible, Arslan once verbally promised that he would marry a woman, but after returning to Balashaguen, the matter was gone. At this time, the Tang army had already developed a lot of suspicion in Balashaguen. Even some of the Uighur leaders also began to flirt with the Anxi Protectorate. According to the feedback from these people, after Arslan returned, the princess heard that she was forced to marry far away and cried. The Khan couldn't bear it, so the matter was not allowed to be mentioned again, so the matter was left unresolved.

Zhang Mai himself was not keen on political marriages, and even disgusted him a little, so he was relieved after hearing this news. However, Liu An and Guo Luo all believed that this was a sign that Arslan was preparing to betray the covenant, and sent people to Balashaguen to publicly condemn Arslan for not keeping his promises.

However, these are just small episodes under the overall stability of the Western Front. The Tang army of Anxi and the Uighurs in Lingxi remained equally exchanges. In October, winter transactions were conducted as agreed. The merchants in Ningyuan brought glass, the merchants of Shule brought cotton coats, and the merchants of Shache brought Indian coral ivory re-exported from Ma'anshan Pass. The merchants in Khotan brought beautiful jade and silk. In addition to cotton coats, most of them were the demands of the upper class of the Uighurs, and the exchanges were sheep and horses, and even the population transactions under the table. The handicrafts in Anxi were in a period of booming development under the driving force of commerce, and the demand for manpower was quite large. The goods provided by Anxi were all luxury goods necessary for the upper class of the Uighurs, so Balashaguon could not refuse.

Originally, the Uighurs hoped to import wheat and rice from Anxi, but due to the strict control of the Anxi Protectorate, this expectation was disappointed.

Diplomacy and business are operating normally, but do not affect the outbreak of local wars.

More than a month ago, Arslan suddenly divided into two groups to attack Talas. The direction of the attack was the same as Satuk's route to attack the Tang army back then. He rushed from the desert to Julan City and headed straight to Mörki. Since Arslan's troops were more powerful than Satuk at the time, and there were no more troubles like Satuk at the time, so Balashagun worked on two sides and used both armies.

What about the defensive parties? Their defense path was the same as the Tang army's path: Shu Yibar guarded Mörki, while Satuk dealt with the original army crossing the desert in Kulan City, and Horan harassed Arslan's food route between the mountains and desert of Mörki. Since Neser II and Zhang Mai did not want Arslan to unify the Western Uighurs of the Ridge, they did not secretly drag Satuk back, and Saman even gave some support.

Arslan's military strength was stronger than Satuk's original military strength, but Satuk's situation was also better than the Tang army's situation, so the two sides fought hard to solve one attack and one defense.

Since Satuk had already surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, it was inevitable to ask Ningyuan for help.

At this time, Guo Luo was in charge of Ningyuan's military and political affairs. Kuba and Chongtian Fort had one mansion, Yihei stationed two Zhechong mansions, and Ningyuan's city had four mansions. In addition to the militia and the subordinates who obeyed the dispatch, Guo Luo could have mobilized tens of thousands of troops if he mobilized comprehensively at this time, but he did not dispatch one army or another, but transferred Satuk's envoy to Shule.

After Zhang Mai received the envoy for help, he immediately treated this matter as a major, important and urgent matter. He summoned wise and wise men from various sects and tribes to gather the wisdom of everyone to discuss a trick to help Satuk rescue. As a result, everyone was discussing but fell apart. At the beginning, Zhang Mai's topic was "How to rescue", but later he debated "whether to rescue should be rescued."

When Satuk was in Shule, he adopted high-pressure policies against aliens and non-Tianfang scholars, so he naturally offended people a lot. At this time, when the "wisdom" and "sages" of the various sects saw that Satuk fell into the well, how could he not take the opportunity to make trouble? Therefore, the final result of this "think tank" meeting was discussed was: "What are you doing to save him? He was just taking it upon himself!"

"That's it! He killed Mr. Guo, and we haven't settled the score with him yet!"

"Not only that, when he was in Shule, we had to be very miserable. He added such heavy taxes to us, and he simply used us like a cattle and a horse!"

"He also favors the Uighurs and the Tianfang Sect. Foreigners offend the Uighurs and will be executed. The Uighurs bullied us but he regarded it as if he could not see it! This guy is simply a disaster, a disaster star!"

"Yes, yes! You should let him die and pay attention to him!"

Seeing that a "think tank" meeting that discussed how to save Talas was about to turn into a condemnation meeting for "Zhang Huaizhong", Zhang Maicai sighed: "Calm down, calm down, Satuk has indeed done a lot of bad and evil things in the past, but recently he seems to have repentance. Our Tang Dynasty has always been generous. Since he is willing to repent, we must not give him a chance. Are you right? "

When everyone heard this, they quickly turned around and shouted, "What the Prophet says is."

But some people still said, "But Special Envoy Zhang, you have to be careful of him. This person is capricious. I don't think his surrender this time is true. He may even be rebellious if he has a chance in the future." Although Zhang Mai also serves as the Great Protector of Anxi, his identity as an imperial envoy is still there, so the two names are still mixed with each other.

Zhang Mai said: "This master said very well, but since he accepted our title, we should try our best to help him. I hope our kindness and kindness can influence his anger, so that he can truly turn evil and return to the right from now on, and live up to the high expectations of our Tang Dynasty."

All the wise men of all clans and wise men of all religions praised: "The special envoy (the great protector) is broad-minded and is so kind to Zhang Huaizhong. If he does not know how to repay his kindness in the future, then God will not tolerate him!"

Then Zhang Mai sent an envoy to Balashaguen to mediate.

At this time, because Arslan was not in a smooth march, he had the intention to stop the army. However, he had no results in two major wars, so he could not stop. Just as Zhang Mai's envoy arrived, Arslan took the opportunity to step down. The war between the chief and deputy Khan of the Lingxi Huihe River ended with Zhang Mai's mediation.

In Arslan, Charge sold Zhang Mai for a considerable face and repaired the gap caused by regretting the marriage. Satuk had to express his gratitude to Zhang Mai again.

Thinking of the words that Satuk had to give him goosebumps inside the thank-you statement that made people goosebumps, Zhang Mai couldn't help but smile. However, after arriving at the Sima Office, Zhang Mai realized that this time it was not something wrong with the Western Front, but something was wrong with the Eastern Front.

"The envoys of Vijay have come." Li Bin said: "They asked us to return Wensu and Weitou to Kucha."

Viaga was the Khan of the Uighurs of Gaochang. According to the information obtained indirectly from the Khotan side, a powerful cavalry emerged from the east about ten years ago, called "Kitan". He defeated Gaochang Uighurs but did not destroy their country. He only took it into a vassal state. Since Gaochang Uighurs attached to the Kitan, not only did not decline, but his national strength has been strengthened. When facing the Kitan, it was a vassal state, but when facing Kucha, it became a sect leader state.

Zhang Mai captured the great military power west of the Palacio, but the countries east of the Palacio were not afraid of him, but they didn't dare to underestimate his name when they heard it.

Zhang Mai said: "Yang Yi attacked Weitou and Wen Su, it was already half a year ago. Why are they here to negotiate now?"

Li Bin said: "The Uighurs in Gaochang have two royal cities in the north and south, one is Beiting, north of Tianshan Mountain and the other is Gaochang. South of Tianshan Mountain, the military and civilians of the country still maintain the custom of migrating with their clans. In summer, they live in the royal city in the north, and in winter, they cross the Tianshan Mountains south to Gaochang to spend the winter. When the migration was moved, the Uighurs in Gaochang and the main force would accompany them. When Yang Yi advanced eastward, the Uighurs in Gaochang were in Beiting for summer vacation. It was beyond the reach of trying to reinforce Kucha. Now they should have returned to Gaochang, so they intervened in this matter."

Zhang Mai said: "So that's it. No wonder Yang Yi took Weitou in one breath. Wen Su, but he was able to keep him safe for nearly half a year. There was this reason here. Since Yang Yi used troops to the East, he must have some understanding of the habits of Gaochang Uighurs. I asked him to be fully responsible for the matters on the east side. This time, Via sent an envoy to ask us to return Weitou. Wen Su, what did Yang Yi say?"

Li Bin said: "Qi is here. In the past, there were envoys from the east, so General Yang sent them all by himself, and then submitted a report to the Great Protectorate. He was extremely tough. This time, he sent the envoy over and told Vijay that ceding land was a major event and he could not make the decision, so he asked Vijay's envoy to come directly to Shule for advice."

Zhang Mai said: "Then did Yang Yi bring anything to Sima Bureau?"

"If he brings it, it would be even more strange," Li Bin said: "All the generals of our army know that Yang Yi has the worst temper, especially because he has always been tough on the outside world. He especially heard that he trained his troops day and night in Wensu, and sent a lot of detailed investigations on Kucha intelligence. Obviously, he would have the ambition to use troops. But this time he actually said that if Kucha Khan Gudu really wanted Wensu, then give it to him, it doesn't matter."

Zhang Mai thought about Yang Yi's words, and at first he felt that it was not like what Yang Yi said. After thinking for a while, he suddenly understood and smiled and said, "I understand what Yang Yi means. Come on, let Li Cao receive this envoy from Via for me."

After Zhang Mai served as the Great Protector, he established three new Li, Shang and Agriculture Cao on the basis of the original five Caos. Among them, the Li Cao was taken over by Faxin, and the reception of foreign envoys was in charge of Li Cao.

On the second day, Zhang Mai met with the envoy of Viaga. Now Zhang Mai's status in the Western Regions is very significant. Although Viaga is not afraid of him, he does not want to provoke him. He has already told the envoy not to be rude. The Tang army also waits for the guests, so the conversation between the guests and the host is very pleasant.

After the greetings of Xu Li, Zhang Mai said, "Viga Khan is famous and well-known. I have long been determined to get to know him. But I didn't expect that he would come to deal with this little business in Kucha! At that time, Satuk colluded with the tribes of various countries and tribes in Lingxi and assembled 200,000 troops to invade me Shule. Kucha's Gudu was ungrateful and came to help Satuk. Although Gudu didn't help much in the end, his actions were really abominable! If I don't teach him a lesson, how can I be in power in the future and obey the people in the future?"

The battle in Kucha was actually behind Viaga. Zhang Mai knew about this relationship, but he deliberately skipped it and did not mention pretending to be confused.

The messenger sent by Viga thought to himself: "You are so thick-skinned! Although Shule was once a border town in the Tang Dynasty, how many years ago did that happen? Recently, it was clearly that you snatched Satuk's hometown, and then Satuk brought people to snatch it back but couldn't beat you. In the end, he became a shameless dog. Now that you have the power, Satuk offended you."

However, the truth is not the same as the fact. Now that Zhang Mai's fist is hard enough, the envoy of Viaga dared not easily refute what he said.

What's more, for the Han people, there is a thing that foreigners hate deeply that their country's history is that it is very long, and its history is not only long, but also profound, not only profound, but also strong. The theoretical system of benevolence, righteousness and morality is one set after another, and everything can be justified, and its prosperous period is too long. For example, in the Western Regions, although the Han people were not the first to live here, they had the most power to live here - because the rulers earlier than the Han people were either marginalized or died!

Therefore, foreigners can only speak with their fists if they want to fight against the Han people. If the fists are not as strong as the Han people, it is impossible to say the truth. The envoy of Viaga is not stupid enough to argue with Zhang Mai who is the legal ruler of Shule - because Zhang Mai only needs to express the words "Shule has been my territory of China since the Han and Tang Dynasties", and the envoy of Viaga asked the Xiongnu and Yuezhi people to possess the undead to debate with Zhang Mai.

"Zhang Dadu," the envoy smiled and said, "It is not true that Gudu sent troops without authorization, but General Yang Yi led his troops to drive him out for more than 800 miles, which made him flee in a hurry. After returning to Kucha, he couldn't even raise his head in front of the people. This lesson is enough." Unlike the envoys of Saman and Balashagus, the envoy of Gaochang Uighur not only had black hair, black eyes, and yellow skin, but Tang Yan was also fluent in speaking, and there was no need for translation at all, but he inevitably brought some Western accents: "Now, please return Wen Su and Wei To Kucha to the two great khans, Arslan Khan and Vijay Khan."

Liu An, Li Bin and others who attended the meeting were shocked when they heard this and thought to themselves: "What does he mean by saying this? Could it be that Viga and Arslan have colluded?"

The Yili River Basin is originally connected with the northern territory of the Gaochang Uighurs, so it is inevitable that the two families have close contacts, and it is not surprising that they become a feud or an alliance. However, if these two major Uighur Khanate really form an alliance, it will not be a good thing for the Anxi Tang army.

Zhang Mai snorted and said, "What does Kucha matter have to do with Arslan?"

The envoy of Viga smiled slightly and said, "There is a letter here, please read it." As he said, a letter was presented, but it was written in Uighur characters. Li Bin took it and read it again and said, "It is indeed Arslan's letter, the standard, the signature and the seal are correct."

Zhang Mai said: "What did he say?"

Li Bin said: "He hopes that we will sell him a favor and return Wen Su and Wei To Gu Du."

Zhang Mai smiled and said, "Sell for a face? He sent an envoy and brought a letter, and wanted us to cede Weitou. Wensu's 800-mile oasis? Arslan and Viaga's face are really great!"

Vija's messenger corrected: "Zhang Dadu, this is not a cede, but just a return."
Chapter completed!