Lu Jia looked up at the far east with a solemn face.

There is an indescribable feeling in my heart.

Once again, he felt the power of the Empire.

The feeling was stronger than anything I had ever felt before.

He led the forbidden army to travel around the Western Regions, and also conquered some small countries, so that the prestige of the Han began to be established in this strange land.

But this time, the empire gave Lu Jia a very different feeling.

In this matter, the empire obviously did nothing, but only relied on the prestige of the empire to save the entire mission.

Lu Jia will not be greedy for merit, nor will he disdain for it.

That's just the way it is.

If it weren't for the empire's defeat of the Xiongnu in the east, the Xiongnu would have been forced to move west.

It happened that Wusun and Qiuci were attacked by the Xiongnu, and it happened that because of their civil strife, Wusun and Qiuzi were given a chance to breathe.

After catching the captives and asking them, I realized that the Han Dynasty was already so powerful.

They needed to concentrate their forces to defeat the vanguard of the Huns, and the main Xiongnu forces, which the Han Dynasty could already fight, had to move west to avoid disaster.

The Huns were not good at coming, and before they could show their faces, they showed their fierce fangs.

Whether it's Wusun or Qiuzi, or the Dawan country that has a crooked mind.

They all belong to the country, and the country mainly depends on animal husbandry for their livelihood.

In essence, they were no different from the Huns.

Countries that depend on animal husbandry for their livelihoods generally have a high level of enthusiasm for the annexation of other tribes.

The Huns have revealed their true nature, and the facts have proved that they really cannot be defeated.

Now, then, there are only three options left in front of them.

Unmoved, waiting for the Huns to attack, when the time comes, they will fight a battle, and if they really can't fight, they will take refuge in the Huns, and according to their rules, they basically join the Huns, and King Wusun may be given a high-ranking official position, but Wusun will also be destroyed.

Move west to avoid trouble, move to a place far enough and safe enough, and continue to grab the territory of the small tribe to support themselves.

With the size of Wusun and Qiuzi, there is no need to worry about not finding a place they like, they have enough military strength to snatch a new pasture.

Befriend the Han Dynasty and ask the Han Dynasty to send troops to the Western Regions and directly engage the Huns in the Western Regions.

But if you do this, there will be a series of unpredictable consequences.

"Do you think it's possible for the Empire to send troops to the Western Regions?" Lu Jia looked at the east and asked Xue Tuo beside him.

"There will definitely be troops, it's just a matter of time!" Xue Tuo nodded with great certainty.

"yes, it's just a matter of time......" Lu Jia sighed deeply.

Of course he does!

This is something that needs not be considered, as their mission has proven itself.

Although the search for the white stacks is the most important task.

But don't forget what type of officials are included in their missions.

There were officers in charge of logistics in the Ministry of War, and their task was to preliminarily select suitable places for the establishment of post stations.

There were also officials from Shangshu Province, who were tasked with drawing maps and statistically stating the geographical location and cultural conditions of the cities in the Western Regions.

There were officials from the household department, who were responsible for surveying the terrain to see if the Western Regions were suitable for large-scale agricultural promotion.

Does a normal mission need so many officials with different duties?

Of course not!

Lu Jia is not a fool, on the contrary, he is very smart!

From the moment His Majesty divided these people into the mission, he understood His Majesty's intentions.

Why did His Majesty give him another thousand forbidden troops as a guard?

There were so many soldiers in the Han Dynasty, why did they choose people from the emperor's Praetorian Guard to protect the mission?

That's because the Praetorian Guards were the most rigorously trained, the most combative, the most determined, and at the same time the most loyal troops.

To put it mildly, this time the mission is actually under the guise of looking for Bai Diezi, constantly exploring the reality of the entire Western Regions.

As long as he could return to Luoyang with these materials, the emperor would immediately be able to formulate a policy of marching into the Western Regions.

Where to enter?

How many people go in?

Who are the enemies?

Who can be wooed?

Lu Jia even faintly felt that the emperor had even thought of how to govern this strange land in the Western Regions.

But how can it be so easy to send troops to the Western Regions?

Difficult!

Hard!

Although the Great Han is very powerful now, after all, the time since its establishment is too short, and there are many, many things that have not had time to be done.

Even the territory of the pre-Qin period has not been completely recovered by the Han Dynasty.

Although nominally recovered, half of the Hetao area is now temporarily relegated to the Yueshi people.

Not to mention the Hexi Corridor, which has no movement at all, and Dahan doesn't have much desire for it now.

Because it did not have enough population, its main focus was on the Xiongnu in the north.

Now the westernmost frontier of the Han Dynasty is Jincheng (Lanzhou), which is almost 5,000 miles away from Wusun.

Expeditionary force......

How difficult is it?

"Lu Envoy, this is a good thing, why are you so unhappy?" Xue Tuo was a little confused.

Dawan has been killed by the alliance of Wusun and Qiuzi, although less than a hundred Dawan horses have been obtained from Atuoli, but this group of Dawan cavalry that was killed has been captured by them thousands of Dawan horses.

That's more than enough.

Wusun and Qiuzi decided to send envoys to the Han Dynasty, and each sent a mission of 1,000 people, of which each sent 600 soldiers to escort them.

With the Han army, it is almost a combat force of 2,000 people.

And what does the combat strength of two thousand people mean here?

This means that no one can pose any threat to them except nature.

"This place in the Western Regions has a lot to offer! I just don't know if I will have a chance to come back in this life......" Lu Jia looked back behind him and said something confusing.

"Lu Envoy, you are not yet forty, even if the imperial court has been preparing for ten years, you are only in your forties, and you are in the prime of life!" Xue Tuo persuaded in a daze.

Lu Jia smiled and did not answer Xue Tuo's question.

Yes, I'm still young.

But ten years from now, will His Majesty let himself come back?

Ten years later, all the people I brought with me have grown up.

Ten years later, who knows, in ten years, whether Dahan will be ready?

Sending troops to the Western Regions, the Han Dynasty had to find a way to shorten the distance of supply.

And it is necessary to control the Hexi Corridor and obtain a stable exit point.

If you don't control the Hexi Corridor, anyone who comes from the east and west will be threatened by the north and south, which will be an extremely unstable passage.

Dahan needs to operate here, and it needs to build here.

Decade?

Who can be sure?

Perhaps, this time and back, it will be twenty years later......

Lu Jia's speculation is not unfounded, because twenty years later, it will be the peak of the Han population.

The first wave will appear in about fifteen years, but it is not stable at this time, and what can really stabilize is almost eighteen or nineteen years later.

……

Just when Lu Jia was worried that he didn't know when he would be able to return to the Western Regions.

Far away in Luoyang, Wang Bu is also suffering from a headache.

The population of Dahan is too small.

After several years of hard work, the Great Han basically wiped out all the hidden households.

Although the number of Han people on the books has skyrocketed, no matter how much it skyrockets, the whole country, men, women, and children combined, there are less than 20 million people.

Less than 20 million people, what is this concept?

In later generations, he was just the number of people that a capital could hold.

Distribute these 20 million people among the entire Han Dynasty, and the population is still very tight.

Now in front of the king is not hungry, there is no trouble of not having enough land at all.

In the recent period, the contents of the books in various localities are all about how many acres of official land have been newly reclaimed this year and how many acres are expected to be reclaimed next year.

The news that the emperor counted the population and planned to redivide the population of various places could not be hidden.

Therefore, without exception, in the content of the books everywhere, there is a meaning everywhere, that is, I am full of wasteland, that is, the population is not enough, and it cannot be developed at all.

The credit for ensuring the growth of the development of government land despite the insufficient population is entirely due to the use of mules and farm tools.

"This Song Yi is really getting better and better, I haven't learned it, but I learned it very quickly!" After reading the content of Song Yi's book on Yingchuan County, Wang Bu was so hungry that he wanted to beat him up.

As the first old hero to start a family with Wang Buxing, although his ability is still insufficient, Wang Buxing still did not treat him badly.

In the later period, he was gradually abandoned in the military, but he was placed in the position of the county guard of Dongjun, and was transferred to Yingchuan County as the county guard at the beginning of last year.

Although there were no big highlights during his tenure, he was decent.

As the most populous county in Dahan, Yingchuan County has seen a lot of new population growth in the past two years.

As a result, I didn't expect that this Song Yi also learned from those people, and cried 'poor' in books.

"Your Majesty, in fact, you can't blame Song County for this, the situation in each county is similar, although Yingchuan County is a county with a large population, the current population still can't meet the needs of the county......" Xiao He helplessly dissuaded.

Your Majesty was simply fascinated, and counted the population everywhere, and then with a big stroke, all the counties had to give me people.

Where the people who came out were going, of course Xiao He knew, and he was also in favor.

But what to say?

Just because you agree doesn't mean it's actually easy to operate.

"Why was I transferred to Song Yi last year to serve as the county guard of Yingchuan?" Wang Bu was hungry and looked at Xiao He and asked.

Xiao He and Wang Buyu looked at each other, of course he knew why Song Yi was transferred to Yingchuan.

Because he is the hardcore of your king's hunger, and your die-hard supporter.

But it is precisely because it is your hardcore and your die-hard supporter that you can't blindly pick his wool.

Song Yi is not only your vanguard, but also your last line of defense.

Xiao He was about to persuade again, but Chen Ping next to him shivered violently, and hurriedly spoke: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the people transferred from Yingchuan County should not exceed 30,000 households, and at most 150,000 people......"