The first batch of front-bore cannons that Ang Lee had developed had long ago been given to the various Jiedushi, while the later batch of breech cannons had been used by the Dragon Martial Army in the capital. But several months ago, the Imperial Court had recognized the importance of Anxi and had specially transferred an artillery brigade from the capital to Anxi to strengthen the Anxi army. Of course, this artillery brigade was under the command of Anxi Protector-General Gao Xianzhi.
And in this way, Gao Xianzhi's strength had been greatly increased, giving him the daring to look down on the world and look down on the countries of the west.
After exchanging greetings for a while, Li An, accompanied by Gao Xianzhi and the station master of Dihuancheng Railway Station, toured the entire Dihuancheng Railway Station and rewarded the relevant personnel.
At this time, the railway had already begun construction. Several dozen li had already been built from the railway station to the west. In addition, the railway had been laid down in sections. Besides the departure point, Botaling, Suiye, Julan, Talos, and Tuozhe all had craftsmen laying down the railway.
At each point, the railway would be laid down in both directions. In this way, the railway could be built as quickly as possible. As for the various resources needed for the railway, the majority of them were produced locally. A small number of core resources were transported from Chang 'an, and the various craftsmen were evenly distributed so that they wouldn't stay idle.
In Changcheng, Li An only stayed for a day. Then, he took the newest car that had just been invented and rushed to Botaling in the northwest direction. That was a very important core area that had to be paid attention to.
"Assistant Minister Li, up ahead is Botaling. Our army has stationed five hundred soldiers at Botaling, enough to control the area."
A general of the Anxi army said.
"Botaling, there are mountains on both sides. It's a dangerous place! Past Botaling is Suiye, the military town closest to the west of the Tang dynasty. Botaling is the hub between Botaling and Suiye, so it truly needs to be treated with great importance. The railway should also have a railway station here. In addition, there are too few soldiers here. We should increase the number of soldiers. "
Ang Lee said.
"Assistant Minister Li is right. In the past, the roads were inconvenient, so the Anxi army didn't have enough soldiers. Now that the railway has been connected to Botaling and the Imperial Court has agreed to station more soldiers in Anxi, we can naturally station more soldiers at Botaling," an attendant said.
"Good, that's good.
Such an important location needs to be guarded. Although there's no one left who dares to provoke the Tang Empire, we can't be too few. It's better to be safe than sorry. The soldiers garrisoned here are also responsible for the safety of the railway tracks for several dozen li in order to prevent anyone from destroying them. The Imperial Court will soon send patrol cars here, and the soldiers can drive patrol cars to patrol cars for several dozen li. "
Ang Lee said.
Now, there was indeed no military force that could defeat the Tang Empire, but they had to prevent anyone from destroying the railway tracks. After all, the railway tracks could be sold for money. If the railway tracks were destroyed, it would cause great damage to the economy of the Tang dynasty and the surrounding countries. Not only did the railway need to be paved, but it also needed reliable maintenance. The railway lines in the Tang dynasty's territory were, of course, maintained by the Tang dynasty's soldiers. The Tang dynasty would also send soldiers to guard the railway lines abroad, but they needed the help of the soldiers of other countries. After all, the Tang dynasty's soldiers were limited, so they couldn't expect the soldiers of the Tang dynasty to guard the railway lines of all the small countries.
"Assistant Minister Li, the team that went to Stone Kingdom just sent back a message. Someone deliberately destroyed the railway paving, and we lost a lot of skilled craftsmen."
An official ran over to report.
"What? There's actually something like this? Hateful, too hateful! Who ate the gall of a bear's heart and leopard's heart to dare destroy the Great Tang's railway? As long as we catch these saboteurs, we'll definitely punish them severely. I'll go find the Protector-General and send soldiers to exterminate these bastards."
One of the generals shouted loudly.
Ang Lee didn't expect that someone would destroy the railway so soon, so he was a little surprised. However, in Ang Lee's view, this was not a big deal at all. A small sabotage could not stop the Tang dynasty from building the railway.
Soon, Gao Xianzhi heard the news and rushed over. He vented his anger and seemed to want to immediately send 100,000 soldiers to the Stone Kingdom to destroy the thieves.
"Governor Gao, don't be angry. It's just a few thieves. There's no need for Governor Gao to go in person. Let's wait and see. I believe that the Stone Kingdom will definitely catch the culprits and give the Tang dynasty's craftsmen an explanation."
Ang Lee said.
Although he didn't know who deliberately destroyed the railway paving, Ang Lee felt that such a small matter should be dealt with by the imperial court of the Stone Kingdom. If they didn't handle it well or asked for help from the Tang Empire, then it would be reasonable for the Tang dynasty to take action. Otherwise, if they sent troops over without any reason, it would make the Stone Kingdom lose face. After all, they were also a kingdom and they also had dignity.
"Okay, listen to Assistant Minister Li. The people of the Tang dynasty were killed in the Stone Kingdom. The Stone Kingdom must give us a satisfactory explanation. Otherwise, I'll personally lead troops to the Stone Kingdom and seek justice for the people of the Tang dynasty."
Gao Xianzhi was a military general, so he was naturally hot-tempered. Moreover, he was also more belligerent. After all, only by fighting could one achieve military merits, improve one's status, and leave one's name in history. If one remained unknown, how could history remember this person?
In the next few days, Ang Lee set off from Botaling to the next stop, Suiye City, for inspection. Although there were no railway tracks on this section of the road and the road conditions were not very good, Ang Lee couldn't feel it. The car he was in had a very good shock-absorbing system. Even if the road conditions were very bad, he couldn't feel it sitting in the car. He could only feel a slight shaking. Moreover, this slight shaking was very comfortable, like a baby sitting in a rocking car. Moreover, with a soft little girl lying in his arms, this feeling was even better. However, for safety reasons and not to put too much pressure on the driver, Ang Lee didn't make too much movements in the car. At most, he would touch and kiss the driver.
After all, life was the most important thing. If he made too much noise, the driver would inevitably look back out of curiosity. In that case, it was very easy to cause an accident. There were such stories in the news in the future.
The boss and his lover were having sex behind the driver's seat. The driver in the front was not focused on driving and frequently looked back to watch the performance. As a result, the car crashed and the driver died. Moreover, it was on the news, and the whole world knew about it.
Ang Lee was living such a comfortable life now. Would he want to live for a few more decades? Therefore, he wouldn't choose to make too much noise.
The car was very fast, but in order to take care of the entourage on horseback and on foot, Ang Lee asked the driver to drive very slowly. This also reduced the bumps and increased the safety and comfort of the car.
Along the way, through the transparent tempered glass window, Ang Lee saw rich exotic scenery. Yellow sand, next door, snowy mountains, grasslands — all the scenery that he had seen in TV dramas in his previous life were personally experienced here. This feeling of being in the real world was very magical.
In short, Ang Lee was in a very good mood. This was not like an inspection at all. It was more like a vacation. Moreover, he was traveling with an exotic little loli. This feeling was really wonderful.
Suiye was a military town in the westernmost part of the Anxi Protectorate of the Tang Dynasty. It was also the westernmost border of the Tang Dynasty. This was the end of the Tang Dynasty's jurisdiction, but it was not the end of the Tang Dynasty's influence. With Suiye as the base, the influence of the Tang Empire could extend very far to the west. No matter how far away the countries in the west were, they all knew that the Tang Dynasty was very powerful. They all admired the culture and science of the Tang Empire. Therefore, they sent a large number of international students to the capital of the Tang Dynasty, Chang 'an, to learn all kinds of cultural knowledge.
However, the international students could only learn some of the most superficial knowledge. The most important and powerful knowledge was not taught to them by the Tang Dynasty. Even the people of the Tang Dynasty could not casually learn this core knowledge. Only the most reliable people and the most loyal people to the Tang Empire could learn this knowledge. Moreover, their personal freedom would be limited to a certain extent.
For example, Ang Lee seemed to be free. He could go wherever he wanted to inspect. The transportation he used was also very high-end. He could also be accompanied by beautiful women. However, Ang Lee also had a lot of bodyguards around him. There were at least a hundred elite soldiers. These people were indeed protecting him, but at the same time, they also formed a kind of invisible surveillance. In this way, no matter what Ang Lee did, they would know. In addition, it was really hard to say whether there were people who were specifically monitoring him.
However, as long as he calmed down, it was not a big deal. Being monitored meant being protected. Even if ordinary people wanted to be monitored, no one would do it. After all, monitoring was also costly. No one would monitor an unimportant person for no reason.
Soon, they arrived at Suiye City. Looking at the huge city, Ang Lee was very excited. Suiye City was an important city set up by the Tang Dynasty in the Western Region. It was also the farthest border city that the dynasties of Hua Xia had set up in the Western Region for thousands of years. It was the place that the people of Hua Xia dreamed of. Many people of Hua Xia in the future felt that Suiye City was the westernmost territory of Hua Xia and should not be a foreign territory. The basis for this was that during the reign of the Tang Dynasty, Suiye City used to be the territory of Hua Xia. Therefore, it should be the territory of Hua Xia.
Of course, there were many people who had this kind of thinking. In addition to the people of Hua Xia, many people of other countries also had this kind of thinking. All these patriots had the same thinking, which was to use the most glorious time of their empire as the border.
For example, a certain South Korean country used the reason that they had occupied large areas of Liaodong and other lands during their most glorious time to think that the entire northeastern region of Hua Xia should be their territory.
The Monkey Kingdom in the south used the excuse that their ethnic group had been active in the area south of the Yangtze River in Hua Xia thousands of years ago as an excuse to claim that the area south of the Yangtze River in Hua Xia should be their territory.
There was also the even more ridiculous Horse Back Country. They used the most glorious empire that their ancestors had built as the basis to think that the entire Eurasian continent should be theirs. Of course, this included the entire Hua Xia.
Although these ideas were a little extreme, they all expressed certain aspects of human nature, such as patriotism. This was very common in the future.
The reason why people would develop patriotism was completely related to education. It was hard to imagine that a person who had not gone through any education would develop patriotism. It was impossible.
The essence of patriotism was to love oneself. Only when everyone loved this country could this country be strong and stable. Only in this way could the people of this country live happily and safely. Only in this way could they have a better life.
Of course, there were times when a person's patriotism would be tested greatly. For example, when faced with the temptation of benefits from the enemy country, whether or not one could stay true to one's heart was a test of one's conscience.
Many outstanding talents, the pride of their country, chose to betray their country in the end because of the temptation of benefits. Of course, if the country was really betrayed, these traitors would turn around and become heroes again.
After all, the winner was king and the loser was always in the wrong. No matter what era it was, the winner would always be right, and the loser would always be labeled as a sinner.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, many officials and generals surrendered to the Braid Dynasty and helped the Braid Dynasty establish a new dynasty. These people became the founding fathers of the Braid Dynasty, and those who surrendered to the Wokou pirates became sinners because of the total defeat of the Wokou pirates. If the Wokou pirates won, it would be a different story. Of course, it was impossible for the small Wokou pirates to win. This had to be made clear. Otherwise, Hua Xia would lose face. However, how did the few hundred thousand people of the Braid Dynasty conquer Hua Xia, which had a population of over a hundred million? This was indeed puzzling. Perhaps the only explanation was that everyone was originally a family.
No matter if it was a person or a dynasty, when one succeeded, there would be a bunch of scholars wearing glasses who would use all kinds of theories to prove how inevitable one's success was. When one failed, there would also be many people who would give all kinds of examples to prove that one's failure was inevitable and that one's delusions of success were wishful thinking. It was like a toad wanting to eat swan meat.
In other words, no matter whether one succeeded or failed, there would always be a group of people who would study behind the scenes to verify the rationality of success or failure. If it wasn't for this, these people who specialized in research would starve to death.
However, no matter what, Ang Lee was a citizen of Hua Xia. His way of thinking naturally had to be on the side of Hua Xia. Therefore, Suiye City was the territory of the Tang Dynasty. This was an unchangeable fact. Moreover, many cities in the west of Suiye City could also be incorporated into the Tang Dynasty. Even if they couldn't be incorporated, they had to be controlled by the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty. Otherwise, how could they show the strength of the Tang Dynasty?
"Assistant Minister Li, there's news from Luoluo City."
An official trotted over to report.
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