Afterwards, Zhou Huaian dealt with several more affairs in the interval of rest in the field;
The most important key issue was the signing of the five mountain barracks, six garrison battalions, and naval combat teams that had recently arrived along the Xiajiang waterway in Yuzhou. The Fourth Division Division ordered another spring offensive in the neighboring Luzhou area.
This is not the result of Zhou Huaian's arbitrariness or his eagerness for quick success. On the one hand, the conditions for attacking Xichuan again are preliminarily mature. As the main opponent of Xichuan Town, Gao Renhou and his main force have now been mobilized to the north, and they are largely constrained in Xingyuan Mansion.
On the other hand, the Lushui group, who caused great trouble to the Taiping Army in the past according to the familiar ground attack and destruction, has also fallen into the division and civil strife and is temporarily inadequate; at the same time, under the current development of the situation, The progress of the strategy of Jiannan Sanchuan also involves the layout of Taiping's future industrial development.
Because, recently, the supply of saltpeter in the Taiping Army’s production body has once again been seriously inadequate. This is not only because of the need for gunpowder to be the main military industry, but also because of the increase in agricultural production and the development of new land, which requires a huge amount of the original fertilizer industry. Consumption. This has also become a major focus of the competition for resource allocation among the various departments of the governor.
After all, chemical fertilizers based on nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, combined with collective labor of concentrated livestock and intensive farming, are simply a big killer for this generation of agricultural production. However, ammonium salt, an important catalytic component of chemical fertilizer synthesis, requires a large amount of saltpeter. At least before the artificial ammonia technology is spotted, it must rely on naturally occurring minerals.
Therefore, the best quality at the moment is also the largest source of overseas imports. Potassium saltpeter from the southern Tianzhu area is also called Indian saltpeter and fire salter. Produced in soil, rock surface or caves in dry areas with high heat evaporation. It can be used as potash fertilizer and nitrogen fertilizer in agriculture with a little processing. Therefore, this is also an important quota for the sea trade ship group between Nantianzhu and the designated ballast to be able to go ashore.
In contrast, the main domestic output is Glauber's salt compounds. And most of them are mainly concentrated in the Xinjiang, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, and Shanxi generations with sandy and salt lakes in later generations. Some of the production areas located in the south are relatively scattered.
Among them, Jiannan Sanchuan is undoubtedly the region with the most abundant glauberite mineral resources in the south, and there are 24 proven mining areas in later generations. Mainly distributed in Xinjin, Meishan, Mingshan, Pengshan, Hongya, Danling, Ya'an and other places west of Chengdu. There are also 6 proven glauberite mines in Yunnan later, but now they all belong to the territory of Nanzhao State.
And even fewer are located in the territory of the Taiping Army. Among them, the ancient Glauber's salt mine located in Hunan is a symbiotic mine of salt lake bittern. There are 6 proven mining areas, mainly distributed in Hengyang and Lixian. They belong to the brine that was left behind after the ancient Yunmeng Daze evaporates and shrinks. The resource output is relatively abundant, but the collection is more troublesome.
Then, in the region between Jingnan and Shannan (Hubei), 19 glauberite sources associated with salt mines were discovered, mainly distributed in Zaoyang, Yingcheng, Yunmeng, Hanchuan, Songzi-Pongan, Tianmen, etc. Land, mainly associated or symbiotic minerals with rock salt. It is easier to mine, but the difficulty and cost of the refining process are higher than the former.
In addition to the above areas, the newly-occupied Huainan (modern Dongxing, Forever County, Anhui; Xie Nian, Huaiyin, Jiangsu, etc.); Liangling (Longgui, Guangzhou) and other places also have glauberite resources, but the reserves are relatively small. Then, the nitrate field law of compulsory collection of excrement at designated locations by issuing orders can only be slightly supplemented.
Therefore, the foreign trade department from Guangzhou once came up with a so-called Nantianzhu development plan. Based on the multiple permanent strongholds/trade stacks along the coast of East Tianzhu to South Tianzhu, targeted expansion and opening up, establishing a deep inland sphere of influence, and ensuring a stable production area of tianzhu saltpeter.
It’s just that after Zhou Huaian saw it, he felt that he was a little willing. Is this really treating people like a fish belly made at random? Although the South Asian subcontinent has always been a stepping stone from the failures and remnants of the great migrations of the northern peoples;
But its own geographical environment and population size, as well as the complexity of local power, are enough to make conquerors who come across the sea a headache. Let alone endure the influence of monsoons and tides during the period, using Champa, Chenla, Pali, Buddha and other coastal countries/powers as a springboard and transit to maintain a continuous supply line at sea is simply a matter of life. Up.
But then a prince Tianzhu who fled from the sea to the territory of Annan changed this situation; it also gave the foreign trade department new ideas and plans. Because this was a member of the royal family from the former Eastern Tianzhudiluo Kingdom (the Baltic dynasty, present-day Bangladesh and most of Bihar in India), a large number of fleeing monks followed.
Because his king's surname is famous for his support and protection of Buddhism; it is also the land of the five sides of Tianzhu that is currently trapped in the end of the Dharma period, and the last royal family still believes in Buddhism. The kings of Polo were devout Buddhists, and they have long invested in the construction of Nalanda Temple and Chaojie Temple, which are well-known comprehensive schools for Buddhists in North India.
Among them, the Chaojie Temple/Juyan Temple, which is dominated by Tantric Buddhism, is said to be larger than the Nalanda Temple built during the Gupta Dynasty when Buddhism flourished. Because it is also the last place to shelter and shelter a large number of monks and believers from Tianzhu from five directions after the revival of Brahmanism.
However, this unique Chaluo Kingdom has been defeated by the emerging Zhuluo Kingdom (Zhuluo Kingdom) in the past ten years, and once captured the King City only the King City on the north bank of the Ganges. The contemporary king Vikhara Hapara I was missing, and the surviving royal family members fled in all directions; therefore, it is now a ruined country where powerful enemies are attacking the city, and there is a separatist rule of local wealthy surnames.
Therefore, after the Prince Diluo who had fled to Annan settled down, he did not hesitate to pass through the Buddhist monks who were preaching local enlightenment, and then moved to Canton, facing the Taiping Army who was also a "Buddhist Daxing" background. The forces proposed an attitude of seeking help. This will inevitably be in the hands of the foreign trade department that has not intervened in Tianzhu's local breakthrough.
Although facing the request of the Prince Choluo to rejuvenate the country, the Taiping Metropolitan Government still cannot directly send troops across the sea on a large scale; however, it provides some targeted support and assistance from other aspects of equipment, manpower and material resources, and With the expectation of Dong Tianzhu to gain a new foothold, there is still plenty of room for this.
After all, the Kingdom of Daluo could be regarded as a great power in Tianzhu. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, it also competed with the great forces of North Tianzhu's Jieri King for the supremacy of Zhongtianzhu. In the Tang Dynasty, Wang Xuance seized a new generation of North Tianzhu. After the overlord Alonashun, he also once entered the city of Qunu, which represents the hegemony of Zhongtianzhu.
Even if it is weak now, it still has a large area of territory in the east and west of Bangladesh in later generations; as one of the price and rewards for assisting the prince to restore the country, in addition to the cession of many rights and interests, it is justified to occupy it. A coastal area can be much more time-saving and worry-free than a direct attack.
Moreover, even if the final vision has not been fully accomplished or the restoration of the country has failed, it is still possible to continue to occupy a coastal area in its name as a long-term business foundation, which is relatively small and profitable. What's more, the Taiping Metropolitan Government also introduced private capital to share risks through bidding.
Therefore, under the banner of "supporting the ministers and rejuvenating Buddhism", he eventually formed a large ship group with a scale of tens of thousands of people. Not only did many maritime merchants enthusiastically sail out and participate in the shipments In the meantime, it was thought that speculation was divided; incidentally, a large number of potential unstable elements remaining in Annan and Liangling were sent out.
Nowadays, there have been several news that it has been in the ancient port city of Tamalidi (now Tamruk in Bangladesh) in the local Ganges estuary. It has successfully landed ashore and gained a firm foothold; And under the banner of Prince Choluo, he restored and recovered several nearby cities and towns under the rule of small and medium vassals;
It's just that although several batches of trophies and goods have been sent back, for example, obtaining a stable mineral deposit is still far away. Therefore, at the moment it is the closest to the Taiping Army's sphere of influence, and it is relatively easy to obtain a large amount of saltpetre producing areas, leaving the territory of Xichuan in Jiannan Sanchuan.
Of course, if it can be defeated and eliminated by this, the relatively empty court in Shu's small court would be nothing but an unexpected result of an unforeseen success by raking in grass and fighting rabbits. But it was no longer the first matter that Zhou Huaian was particularly concerned about.
After all, as long as the main industrial system under the rule of the Taiping Army is developed with sufficient nourishment, even if the remaining orthodox status and influence of the Li Tang royal family can be maintained for a period of time, it will also end the inevitable loss of industrial development. The wheel of history pushed up is crushed and crushed.
In contrast, wasting more shipbuilding capacity and increasing the maintenance cost of the Xiajiang waterway is nothing for the amount of human and material resources that the Taiping Army now masters.
Even the ongoing war within the pass has lost the significance of continuing to be maintained on the political level after losing the Daqi New Dynasty as the object of continued assistance and support.
In fact, most people under the rule of the Taiping Army were somewhat mentally prepared for the end of the Li and Tang dynasty. The only difference is how much to continue to pay for this result, and how much cycle and time it takes. Achieve this replacement process.
And in the rest tea shed on the other side of Tianlong, Pi Rixiu, the superintendent of the Superintendent, who has taken off the arrogance and self-sufficiency of the stern eyebrows, is still elegant and showing the vicissitudes of life, and he is also sternly speaking to the gathered subordinates. Li Sexun said: (End of this chapter)