It was nearly November, and the noisy multi-day World Expo finally came to an end, although the preparations were not lost, but it was also a successful conclusion.

When this rally was first prepared, there was no lack of opposition within Xingtai, after all, business and trade matters do not belong to the political fundamentals after all, and Xingtai's promotion of material benefits with such fanfare may be biased in the education of the people.

However, when the final result was handed over to the industry according to the statistics of the Social Supervision Administration, and seeing that the total amount of commerce and trade reached by a single assembly was tens of millions, the officials of the departments and departments of the industry could not help but feel that it was "really fragrant". No longer entangled in the impact of the World Expo on the education of the people, but started work overnight and stepped up the calculation of the expenditure budget for the coming year.

Li Element, the secretary of the household department of Xingtai, was originally more opposed to this matter, but when the World Expo ended, he did not mention the preface, and even began to personally review the gains and losses of this first gathering, and worked out a more thorough plan for the next year to become bigger and stronger.

The relatively successful outcome of the World Expo is not only about the financial revenue, but also about the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of households. If food and clothing are not enough, how can we talk about education?

Although the World Expo has reached tens of millions of transactions, after deducting the costs of materials, labor, management, storage and transportation, it can really fall on the bank account, and can be used for more than 3 million yuan.

But these more than 3 million yuan can be said to be a source of wealth out of thin air, and it is a new source of wealth that has been opened up in addition to the original income and expenditure. Not to mention how much room for development there is in the future, just for the moment, a huge amount of more than 3 million yuan can greatly alleviate the tight finances of the bank.

Among the various expenditures on the line, the largest proportion is the border expenditure, but now the frontier tuntian has achieved initial results, and the recruitment and training of the army have also been carried out in an orderly manner. At present, the strategic advantages of Zhubian have been quite obvious, Tubo has been blocked to the west of Qinghai, the Yellow River Jiuqu has once again been included in the territory of the Tang Dynasty, and the potential of farming and animal husbandry is gradually developing.

As for the northwest, after the defeat and escape of the Turkic Khan, there is still no definite whereabouts, and it is said that the Turkic tent in Yu Du Jun Mountain has set off a new round of power struggle, and there is no spare strength to enter the Kou River Meander. Although there are some Hu Bu restless around the meander, it is still under control.

As for the problem of the birth of Qiang in western Sichuan, after the existence of Xikangguo, an entity directly dependent on Xingtai, everything can also be managed as a whole.

Therefore, this year's border affairs situation will be greatly eased compared with last year, and there is no need to make greater investment, so in this year's expenditure plan, the plan proposed by the Ministry of Households is biased towards politics and people's livelihood.

But not long after this plan was submitted, it was called back by King Yong, ordered to be redrafted, and focused on continuing to expand investment in military spending.

When he came here, he found that a considerable number of military personnel, including Yao Yuanchong, the secretary of the Ministry of War, were already in the hall, and there was even Shi Jiewan, the governor of Anbei Metropolitan Protector who had just entered Beijing.

"Knowing that Li Shangshu must be angry, I and all the staff have been waiting here for a long time."

Seeing Li Yuan striding into the hall, Li Tong said with a smile.

Li Yuan couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed after hearing this, but he still arched his hand and said: "Xingtai is a branch, both internal and external, and there are similarities and differences in the plan, and it is necessary to think about it in the long run. ”

Li Tong got up and motioned for Li Yuan to sit at the table, and said with a smile: "Only by dedicating oneself to one's ministry can one fulfill one's duties. ”

Seeing so many military figures gathered here, Li Yuan had already guessed that Xingtai's military plan this year was still grand, but he still said: "This World Expo is prosperous in commerce and trade, and the material benefits are very rich, but it is difficult to call it a success. The goods that Xingtai can give are far from enough to meet the needs of all parties inside and outside, and this dilemma has been clearly visible.

Fangjin has all kinds of industries, especially around Chang'an, and the rest of the prefectures and counties are still to be developed. The newly attached people are weak in reclamation, and agricultural tools and grain varieties still need to be stored. In the east and west of the river, the power of salt and iron has not been exhausted. The people's livelihood is still difficult, if the poor people are still rich and the soldiers are rich, it is not beneficial to politics! ”

Hearing Li Yuan's statement, Yao Yuanchong also got up and smiled at him: "Li Shangshu, please be calm and don't be impatient, my party is in the court, and what I am talking about is also biased, but after the military plan is presumed, I agree with His Highness's plan." ”

Li Tong raised his hand and motioned to the staff to hang up a large map, and then pointed to the northwest of Sichuan and said: "There are two major military affairs plans for Taiwan this year, one is to add troops to Song, Mao and other prefectures in western Sichuan, with a tentative number of 20,000 troops. Garrisons are added here, one is to flank and consolidate the Longyou channel, the second is to deter the Qiang tribes in the realm, the third is to help the land of Jiuqu, the fourth is to pacify the Xikang subject country, and the fifth can be the wall defense of Shuzhong. ”

Songzhou, Maozhou and other places are located in the west of Longnan and Sichuan, and are important passages south of the Qinling Mountains into the Qinghai region. The first large-scale military conflict between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo in history occurred near the Gansong Ridge in Songzhou, where Songtsen Gampo entered Tuyuhun after unifying the plateau, digesting Sun Bo and occupying the Muya party, which ended with Tubo's withdrawal from Tuyuhun.

In the following years, the Tang Dynasty set up the Songzhou Governor's Mansion here and maintained the garrison for a long time, but in the Wuzhou period due to various reasons, the armies were abolished or disposed of, and did not fully exert their strategic value, especially in the confrontation with Tubo, far less valuable than the Heyuan Army.

This time, Xingtai plans to re-establish the army in the Longnan area, as Li Tong said, there are many reasons, and the plan is very big. Even these strategic values aside, they are extremely important for the initial business and trade system formed by this World Expo. No matter how large the financial resources are, if there is no sufficient force guarantee, it will not be possible to achieve healthy and orderly development.

In the old years of the Wu Zhou Dynasty, there was already an issue of opening the Songpan Mountain Road to crusade against Zhushengqiang and Tubo, and Chen Ziang, a Sichuan guy, had quite fierce opposition to this, believing that this would use too much of the people's power in Shuzhong and might not be able to receive enough results.

However, the current situation is different, even if the added value brought by commerce and trade is not considered, only now the eastern region of Tubo is divided into the Xikang State, which nominally belongs to Xingtai, and the garrison here can connect the entire Jiannan into a piece, and obtain the strategic situation of echoing each other with the Jiuqu of the Yellow River and even Longyou and Xikang, and becoming a strategic situation in the horns, thus blocking the road for Tubo to penetrate and open up to Shuzhong and Jiannan.

In the middle and Tang Dynasty in history, the Tang Dynasty has lost control of Longyou, although under the management of Wei Gao, the Jiannan Jiedu made Wei Gao, the strategic value of this realm has been highlighted, but because of the lack of coordination in the general trend, it has not been able to restore the situation of the Tang Dynasty after all.

In the autumn of last year, the Qinling Tomb once again made a noise in Qinghai, which was also because the Tang Dynasty still did not fully gain the strategic initiative in the confrontation between the Tang Dynasty and the Tibetans, so that the Tubo made a fuss in Qinghai, and the Tang army had to be nervous and prepared whether the battle was successful or not.

But if the strategic defense line of Longnan is built, the Tang Dynasty troops can follow Xikang to directly probe the abdominal ribs of Tubo, you dare to toss blindly, Lao Tzu will explode your chrysanthemum when he sees the opportunity! Whether you look at my mood or not, you are not qualified to beep blindly.

After listening to this idea, although Li Yuan was so-so militarily, he was also able to understand that such an arrangement would be a strategic complement to the platform, and it was true that the sooner it could be arranged, the sooner it would be profitable.

After finishing talking about the defense lines in western Sichuan and Longnan, Li Tong pointed at Xie Wan and said: "As for the defense of the north, let Xie Changshi tell it." ”

Hearing this, Xie Wan got up and drew a line outside the Hetao, and then said: "The minister's return to Beijing to narrate the matter was also inspired by His Highness's creative vision, so I deeply felt that such a plan was indeed a great advantage......

What Xie Wan is talking about is naturally the offensive and defensive system of the three surrendered cities. Listening to Xie Wan's narration, Li Tong couldn't help but glance at Zhang Renyuan, who was still meticulous and sitting in the hall.

Historically, Zhang Renyuan, as the initiator of this defense, was an initiative that only came after he sat in Shuofang and deeply integrated the situation and geography. However, at present, Zhang Renyuan has not yet gone to Hequ to take up work, and this time he entered Beijing as the person in charge of the group of traitors in the Xihe Xingshe to participate in this matter, so naturally there is nothing to talk about.

The background of the establishment of the three surrendered cities, one is that the Turkic Mo Si became more and more difficult to control in the middle and late Wu Zhou period, and the other is that the Later Turks focused on attacking the Western Turkic homeland, especially fighting with the Turks and fighting for hegemony in the Western Regions. Taking advantage of the failure of the Turkic forces in the south of the country, Zhang Renyuan was willing to establish the city of Sanshou, and since then he has blocked the Turkic southward road, and turned defense into attack, ensuring the safety of Heshuo.

Now the construction of the city of three surrenders, if it is said that the Turks are regarded as an imaginary enemy, in fact, it is a bit of a fuss. With the defeat of the meander, the Turkic forces were already extremely weakened. If it weren't for the division of the country, and the fact that there was a strong enemy in the west like Tubo, the Xingtai armor soldiers could even directly go out to force the push, directly extinguish the Eastern Turks, restore the country, and seal the wolf.

However, even if the Turkic forces are not a threat in the short term, the Eastern Turkic subordination in the six prefectures of Hequ and the Tiele tribes south of Yinshan also need a deterrent and strict control. Once the Three Surrendered Cities are established, it will also be a great deterrent and control for the surrounding areas of the river meander.

Previously, the imperial court sent Murong Zhong, the king of Tuyuhun, back to Xingtai, and has been in prison, Li Tong planned to borrow Murong Zhong's head to lay the foundation for the three surrendered cities.

And although the current Eastern Turks are not worried, but Mo Si's whereabouts have been unknown since his defeat and escape, and it has been more than a year now, although Xingtai also suspects that he has sneaked back to Nanya Heisha City, where his power is located, but Shan Yudu Hufu is not under the control of Xingtai, and it is difficult to obtain a conclusive reputation.

In addition, the imperial court suddenly sent Dou Xiaochen to Youzhou, which made Li Tong feel even more inexplicable, instead of having a headache and temporarily fighting the fire, it is better to take precautions and first establish the three surrendered cities to ensure the safety of the northwest, even if the subsequent variables occur, it will not be a dilemma and a multi-front war.

Of course, there is another factor, which is a bit metaphysical, and now it is late winter in November, and it is not far from next year's Shangyuan Festival.

He can come to this world, Li Tong really doesn't dare to pat his chest and promise not to believe in evil, in short, who will stop him from going to the Yuan Festival again this year, and it is not negotiable to die. I'm all fucking trumpets open, just see which bastard still stops me from copying poems!