Li Ze was already preparing to reopen the Western Regions Trade Road, and his ultimate goal was to rebuild the Western Regions Protectorate and bring this inherent territory of the Tang Empire back under the control of the imperial court. However, with the decline of the Tang Empire, the last army of the Western Regions Protectorate was also wiped out in the Great War between Qiuzi and Tibet ten years ago. Today's Western Regions has been reduced from more than 50 countries to 36 countries, and the form is extremely complex.

For Li Ze, to re-operate the Western Regions, he has to deal with not only the complex form of the Western Regions, but also several border towns of the Tang Dynasty, these border towns, now on the surface of the appearance of the Zhenzhou Imperial Court, but in fact, it is still a situation of cutting dramas, if the problems of these festivals are not solved, the Zhenzhou Imperial Court will be isolated from the Western Regions by them.

The embarrassing thing is that Li Ze can't send a large army to attack these festival towns now, and the division is nameless! People have already called you vassals, and you still have to send troops to fight, which is unjustifiable.

So, he had to go the other way.

The reopening of trade routes is one of these plans.

A caravan led by Li Hai and Yuan Chang will cross these towns and head to the Western Regions. Among this team, only the five hundred armor soldiers led by Li Hai to protect this caravan in the name of escort.

The number of troops could not have increased, and no matter how much they were, it would have been impossible to pass through the territory of those towns.

Needless to say, the danger of this trip is needless to say. Once they have passed the territory of these festival towns safely, after entering the Western Regions, they will be considered a lone army, so to speak, without any backup.

Yuan Chang wants to make a contribution, but he doesn't want to give his life in a daze, so finding a capable partner as much as possible to break through this life and death path together is the only choice.

At this time, Chen Changping, who represented Liu Chenglin's return to Wuyi to report the military situation to Li Ze, met Yuan Chang, who had also just been found in Wuyi by Li Ze.

The two have known each other before, since Chen Changping was transferred to Liu Chenglin, they haven't seen each other for more than a year.

This person is the Tang Ji they have come to remember at this moment.

Tang Ji is 35 years old in Chinese New Year's Eve. Twenty years ago, he was still in Qiuci, or a member of the Tang army stationed there, more than ten years ago, when the Tang army stationed in Qiuci and Tibet had a life-and-death decisive battle, he returned to the Tang Dynasty as the escort of the messenger who came back for help, but at that time, the Tang Dynasty was in full swing, where was there enough strength to save the lone Tang army thousands of miles away?

In desperation, Tang Ji and the others could only return, but when they reached Lulong, the news of the annihilation of the Qiuzi Tang Army had already come, and Tang Ji and the others were never able to return to his comrades.

Eventually, he joined the Lu Long Army.

Two years ago, Lu Long fought with Wu Wei, and Tang Ji's unit was crushed, and he was seriously wounded and captured. In the end, it was Chen Changping who fought with him and finally took him to the wounded barracks to pick up his life. At that time, both of them were injured and spent a long time together in the wounded barracks.

Although they were enemies of each other in the past, in the wounded barracks, the two sympathized with each other, although they were not friends, but they could finally talk.

It was at that time that Chen Changping learned about Tang Ji's past.

"Brother Tang, you were born in the Western Regions, a Tang person who grew up in the Western Regions, where your home is, where your comrades-in-arms are, even if they are now buried in the ground." Chen Changping said sincerely: "Don't you want to go back and see them?" Don't you want to go back to the place where you were born, where you used to be? Don't you want to go to Qiuzi, where your comrades shed their last drop of blood, and remember their great deeds? Don't you want to carry on their legacy and let the banner of the Tang Dynasty fly again in that place? ”

Facing Chen Changping's series of soul-piercing tortures, Tang Ji's eyes instantly turned red, so much so that he had to turn his head so that the other party wouldn't see the tears in his eyes.

"Does Li Xiang really want to restore the rule of the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions?" Tang Ji asked.

Although it is difficult, Li Xiang does think so and is doing it, otherwise, there would be no such trip. We have been away from there for too long, and we are completely blind to the current Western Regions, and if we want to run anywhere, we must naturally know the situation there first, and we must do a lot of work first, so that it can be a matter of course. It may take a long time, but Brother Tang, things always have to be done to be successful, and lying at home and just thinking about it can't be done. Chen Changping said.

Tang Ji was silent for a moment and said: "Brother Chen, you have also seen my current situation, I am not alone now, I still have so many brothers, I have just established a force, and these brothers are still counting on following me to ask for a bowl of rice." ”

"Force?" Chen Changping said in shock: "Brother Tang, are you actually going to do this all the time?" ”

"Rely on your strength to eat a bowl of peace rice." Tang Ji said in a low voice: "Now that we have the help of noble people, we can stand firm, and after two years of hard work, we can find a real foothold for the brothers and settle down." Look at where they live now, look at their current situation, how can I leave them? ”

Yuan Chang suddenly said: "It won't be long before they will have a place to live!" ”

Tang Ji's eyes flashed and said: "Brother Yuan, I know the housing prices in this place of Wuyi Mansion, not to mention that if we have a house, we can't afford to rent it." ”

"That's right." Yuan Chang smiled: "I'm more well-informed, as far as I know, the government is embarking on a new plan, that is, to build a number of low-rent houses, which are not big, but they are enough to live in peace, and they are aimed at people like these brothers, right?" ”

"Is there such a thing?" Tang Ji asked in surprise.

"I heard that Li Xiang personally promoted it." Yuan Chang said: "As long as you stay in Wuyi for three years and pay the per capita tax on time, you are eligible to apply, of course, if the income exceeds a certain threshold and you can afford to rent an ordinary house, you must withdraw from this kind of low-rent housing." ”

"So, those of us who have stayed for more than a year are eligible to apply?" Tang Ji asked.

"Almost." Yuan Chang said with a smile: "Brother Tang and the others have already obtained the right of residence in Wuyi for more than a year, right?" ”

"Of course." Don Ji Dao.

"That's just right." Yuan Chang said: "When this batch of houses is completed, these brothers of Brother Tang will be qualified to apply. Li Xiang is also heartbroken for you, even if he needs to use money everywhere now, he still asked the household department to raise funds, let the Ministry of Industry co-ordinate, and Wuyi Mansion presided over this project for the benefit of the people. Brother Tang, isn't such a Li Xiang worth fighting for? Isn't it worth your trust? ”

"Brother Tang, now that you have a license to do it, you can operate it in a bright and bright way, and then your brothers will have a place to settle down, in fact, it doesn't matter if you have it or not, you have done what you can do. Next, they can also support themselves, your stage is not here! Chen Changping said: "If you really can't rest assured, I also have some friends in Wuyi, I will tell them, let them take care of these brothers who take care of you, don't dare to say anything else, at least let them be in Wuyi, they will not be bullied, what kind of work, naturally let them do it first?" ”

"I also have some connections in Wuyi, if Brother Tang is still insufficient, where can my uncle help." Yuan Chang struck the iron tunnel while it was hot.

Tang Ji was suddenly moved. Whether it's Yuan Chang or Chen Changping, on the side of the government, they are all characters with heads and faces, Chen Changping is the general of the right Xiaowei, a member of the fourth grade, although Yuan Chang is not an official now, but he has an uncle Yuan Zhou who is older than Chen Changping, if these people are willing to take care of his brothers, then they will indeed live a smooth life in the future.

Of course, the premise is that you can do things for them.

And this trip, as Chen Changping said frankly before, is full of dangers.

"I, I need to think about it." Don Ji Dao.

Chen Changping and Yuan Chang looked at each other and smiled, and Tang Ji was finally shaken. Under such tempting conditions, anyone else will be shaken.

Yuan Chang took out two silver tickets from his arms and stuffed them into Tang Ji's hands: "Brother Tang, you and I hit it off at first sight, this little meaning is not a respect, it can be regarded as I bought wine for my brothers to drink." ”

"I can't ask for this, I haven't promised you yet!" Tang Ji shook his head repeatedly.

Yuan Chang laughed: "It doesn't matter if you agree or not, but I have made a friend of Brother Tang, it is rare to see someone like Brother Tang who cares about his old brother, and I want to have such a brother too!" Brother Chen, let's do it today, it's not too early, we should go back. ”

The two stood up and said goodbye at the same time.

"Brother Tang, tomorrow I will leave Wuyi and go back to Mozhou. But Brother Yuan will stay in Wuyi for a while, if you are interested, go directly to him! Chen Changping laughed and turned around, led the war horse and turned over, "Brother Tang, leave here." ”

Chen Changping and the two got on the horse and left, but Tang Ji couldn't calm down for a long time.

Qiuzi, the Protectorate of the Western Regions, and the broken battle flags flying above the castle all suddenly surged into his heart.

Why not? How can you not go? If one day, he can really recover the Western Regions, he can pour a glass of wine on the castle where his comrades died at the end, and shout loudly: "Brothers, we are fighting back!" "When you want to come to where the battle flag flutters again, those brothers under the Nine Springs will definitely be overjoyed!