After staying in Longzhou for two days and having preliminary contact with the officials of Longyou, the baggage team that had fallen behind also caught up. So Li Tong passed through Longguan and went straight to Longyou.

When passing through Longguan, Li Tong was quite emotional. Longguan is the Great Earthquake Pass, as the gateway to the West in Guanzhong, its terrain is steep needless to say.

What touched Li Tong the most was that he thought of the Anshi Rebellion in the later generations, with the Tubo army to invade Longyou, the Great Earthquake Pass, which was originally used as the Gongwei Pass, could no longer provide protection for the Tang people in the Guanzhong for a long time, but became one of the gateways for Tubo to enter and exit wantonly.

In order to prevent the invasion of Tibet, the imperial court had to set up heavy troops east of the Great Earthquake Pass, and the annual autumn defense was a heavy burden on the Tang Dynasty.

In later generations, there were many people who used the reason that Tibet itself was an agrarian regime and would not send troops out to plunder when the farmers were busy, so as to argue that the so-called autumn defense in the Middle and Tang dynasties was exaggerated. But they ignored the many vassal servants under the control of the Tibetans.

In later generations, Tibet gradually grew stronger, and gradually made a distinction between internal and external, and the large number of Hulu people under its control was the main force of foreign plunder.

After all, the potential of Tubo is really limited, and it is fortunate to meet a warming climate conducive to agricultural development, but there is still an upper limit to the population that can be supported by its own territory, and the population of more than 2 million is considered an upper limit of the population that this land can support.

Therefore, one of the key points of the battle with Tibet was to block its exit passage and block it on the plateau.

After officially landing on the land of Longyou, Li Tong did not continue to inspect various places, but went straight to Shanzhou, where the Heyuan Army was located. After passing through Qin and Long, it took more than ten days to work for the advance of the army to arrive at Shancheng in Shanzhou.

The reason why the speed is so fast is due to the convenience and smoothness of the road. Before officially entering Long, Li Tong thought that the land on the right side of Longlong was criss-crossed, and the road must be quite unsmooth.

But when he really walked on the Long Road, he found that this was not the case. Not only is the Longyou Road not tortuous and winding, but the road condition is not even inferior to Guanzhong, which is the core residence of the Tang Dynasty.

"Long right road, on the occasion of the old Sui. Emperor Yang Guang led the army to conquer Tuyuhun in person, and sent hundreds of thousands of people to dig mountains and open the way, although this time the use of troops was not completed, Tuyuhun was able to restore the country soon after, but the military road left behind is the main road for my Tang Dynasty to control Longyou and pass through the Western Regions. After the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, my Tang elite army went out of Longxi again, and followed the old ways of the Sui Dynasty, and changed the old ruts slightly......"

Liu Youqiu, who traveled with the army, walked and told His Royal Highness King Yongwang about the origin of the military road he was currently traveling.

"Emperor Sui is still meritorious, it is indeed good, it is a pity that everything is used!"

Li Tong rode his horse and walked on this open and flat Longyou military road, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion after hearing the words.

Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was so happy, which is already famous, and all kinds of strategic layouts are extremely forward-looking, which is not acceptable. But Li Tong felt that it was not necessary to feel sorry for others because of this.

As an emperor, this is naturally a very important endowment, but it is also important to learn to control your desires. Living in the same period as Emperor Yang of Sui, whether it is an enemy or a friend, is a very dangerous thing.

This guy is really reckless, he gambles with you at every turn, and he is the most awesome rich second generation in ancient and modern China and abroad, so I ask you if you are afraid?

Living under the rule of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was not a pleasant experience for both the people and the people. However, the Tang Dynasty, which is of the same origin as the Sui Dynasty and has inherited a lot of Sui Dynasty heritage, is undoubtedly much happier.

Not to mention anything else, these large-scale infrastructure projects made by Emperor Yang of Sui are enough to make the emperors of any dynasty envious.

Ancient roads were not hardened, and the necessary maintenance was carried out every year, which was also a very large investment. According to Liu Youqiu's explanation, Longyou has to invest at least 100,000 people of labor every year just to maintain this military road.

Even so, this military route cannot be used without moderation, and basically only large-scale marches directly sent by the imperial court with extremely high requirements for fighters can be used.

As for the other levels of marching, as well as the conscription of servitude and the servants of the Hu, they had to use other roads.

When Li Tong heard this, he felt more and more that ancient wars were really about burning money, and without considering the victory or defeat of the war, the rewards and relief of the soldiers, including the consumption of food in the course of the war, just putting the soldiers on the battlefield was a heavy burden for the dynasty with weak national strength.

Therefore, the ancestors opened up the most suitable land for future generations to thrive in this world, which is not only a rich gift from the ancestors, but also a great test for future generations. Such a rich and anointed land is naturally coveted, and the surrounding jackals, tigers and leopards are all coveted, and once the national strength is not continued, it will be invaded.

Therefore, in many historical periods, there has always been an argument that the land of Zhuyi is barren and not enough to be raised, and it is really not worth investing a lot of national power to attack, which can be regarded as a consideration based on reality.

If there is not enough profit to drive it, it is really difficult to sustain external expansion for a long time. On the contrary, Shenzhou Chixian is blessed, and it has always been a big fat meat in the eyes of the barbarians on all sides, as long as the strength of Dafan grows to a certain extent, it is always difficult to tolerate greed, and he must send troops to do it.

The imperial court's protection of the military road in Longyou is really meticulous, and even specific to the point that it is not allowed to cut down trees along the road at will, and it is not allowed to carry out square grazing within ten miles of the left and right of the military road, which also makes the vegetation coverage rate on both sides of the military road extremely high.

It is now early spring, and the sky and the earth are gradually warming, and the grass is gradually greening. Due to the prohibition of ordinary people on the military road, Li Tong and his entourage also rarely looked at the scenery of Longyou, and even felt more comfortable than in the pass.

After all, the military road is in good condition, and the road is also by the river, the water vapor is not weak, and there is rarely sand and dust. In this way, unconsciously, the forward troops arrived in Shanzhou.

Outside the Huangshui City in Shanzhou, the ambassador of the Heyuan Army, Hei Ya Chang, led many generals and local chiefs who were armed in the city to wait here. When he saw the banner of King Yong appearing in the field of vision, Hei Tooth Changzhi was also busy and led his troops to meet him.

"The last general is often black-toothed, and he will lead the generals of Heyuan to greet His Royal Highness King Yong!"

Hei Tooth Chang is in his fifties, with a heroic face, tall figure, dressed in bright light armor, big belly, almost no old appearance, a beard hanging under the chin, looking no different from the Chinese, but quite in line with the image of a famous general in Li Tong's imagination.

Even after entering the Heyuan Army, he did not make an arrogant posture, rode out of the ranks, then turned over and dismounted, walked to the front of the black tooth Changzhi, smiled and nodded to him, and glanced around at the generals and officials behind, and said: "Yan Guogong does not need to be polite, and all the generals, Xiao Wang is not a nuisance this time. Having the mission of the imperial court and leading the military affairs of Longyou, he will be in the palace and in front of the camp. Entrust each other's lives, honor and disgrace are one! ”

"Your Highness is benevolent and humble, and the ministers respectfully receive the decree!"

Seeing that King Yong's demeanor was outstanding and modest and polite, all the soldiers also had a good impression, and after giving the military salute, they were divided into two shifts.

In front of the generals, Hei Zhi Chang Zhi didn't say more to King Yong, and after a few words of greeting with each other, he glanced at his son Hei Yajun who was in the army of King Yong's guards, turned around and nodded to King Yong, and said: "The suburbs are not a place to stand for a long time, please Your Highness and enter Shancheng, and tolerate the military affairs of Heyuan." ”

So the group gathered around King Yong's team and went straight to Shancheng in the rear.

Near Shancheng, the field of vision is densely populated, although the main avenues have long been cleared and cleaned, and there are Heyuan cavalry patrolling back and forth along the way. However, on the surrounding auxiliary road, there are still many pedestrians, chariots, horses and camel caravans walking back and forth, and seeing such a big battle of the Heyuan army, they are also curious, pausing and looking on the auxiliary road.

"Heyuan Town, still in Huangyuan City in the west. As for Shancheng here, because it is the state capital and a key place for the east and west, once the passage is prohibited, the biological reserves of the people in this realm will be greatly damaged, so it is not strictly restricted. ”

Heizhi Changzhi was worried that His Royal Highness King Yong was not familiar with border affairs, and that he would blame Shancheng for not having strict supervision when he saw people coming and going, so he explained in a low voice.

Li Tong just nodded after hearing this, and did not express any opinions easily, casually questioning Heizhi Changzhi, a famous general and veteran of the source of the river in Jiuzhen.

As a large town in Longyou, the scale of Shancheng City is not small, almost the top third of Chang'an City, and it is also the largest city except for the two capitals that Li Tong has seen since his westward journey.

There is a wide moat outside the city, and there are many large horse farms between the slopes and valleys around it, and there are also long queues of people entering and exiting the city gate of the state city, and the clothes are of different colors, which is very colorful.

Although there are also many Hu people active between the two capitals, due to the stricter and harsher rules of the two capitals, those Hu people are also more restrained in their activities in this realm, and their words and deeds, including clothing and dress, are also closer to the Tang people. On the contrary, the children of the Tang Dynasty are quite popular, wearing Hu clothes and chasing orchids, which is absurd and wanton.

As for Shancheng here, the atmosphere of multi-ethnic gathering and integration is much more vivid, which can very well represent Datang's open, compatible and highly international temperament.

Seeing that Shancheng was still so prosperous and lively, Li Tong was also faintly relieved. This shows that the pressure from the Tibetan side is still not great, and the clouds of war are not completely hanging over Shanzhou, at least not enough to stop the people from continuing to travel and make a living.

Shancheng is also the same as the two capitals of the city pattern, the difference is that as the core of the city is not located in the north like the two capitals, but is located in the center of the city, independent of the one.

This inner city spans several squares and leads water into the city, leading directly to the outside of the city. At this time, inside and outside the state city, there were many arrays of armor soldiers, and there were more than 2,000 town guards on Li Tong alone, which shows that the generals of the Zhuheyuan army attached great importance to King Yong's trip into the city.