Before the autumn harvest, Li Qi inspected Yunzhou again, preparing to convene a meeting of the various departments of the grassland in Fengzhou.

The nominal sphere of influence of the Jin army has always been as far as the Tiande army on the east side of the Hetao region, but in fact its control over the northern steppe tribes is extremely weak, and it only collects some "tribute" such as horses, cattle, and sheep from each tribe every year.

Eilechuan, under the Yin Mountain.

The sky is vast and the wilderness is vast.

The wind blows the grass and sees the cattle and sheep low......

The Eilechuan at the southern foot of Yinshan Mountain (Daqing Mountain), all the way to the bank of the Yellow River in the south, is a large vast and flat grassland, with abundant water and grass. In the Tang Dynasty, it was an important horse grazing ground in Shuofang. In fact, there are still two Tang Dynasty state cities in this area: Fengzhou City and Yunnei City.

Fengzhou City is east of Hohhot in later generations, while Yunnei Prefecture City is southeast of Tumut Zuoqi in later generations. Both northern frontier fortifications were built on the banks of the Jinshui River (Dahei River), and their main purpose was to guard the horse farms here. Although at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the entire northern land was occupied by the grassland tribes, and the situation was already out of control. However, Fengzhou, Yunnei, and Tiandejun (east of Wuliangsuhai) were still nominally the territories of the Jin state.

Due to Yelu Deguang's ascension to the throne, the Khitan was internally unstable, and he was temporarily unable to look west and go south, Li Qi planned to implement military cantonment in Fengzhou and Yunnei Prefecture before the arrival of the Khitans, and preemptively control the Yinshan and Hetao regions.

It is said that the strong build roads, and the weak build walls, Li Qi believes that for a long time, his strength will be weaker than that of the Khitan on the grassland.

In these places, steppe tribes such as Zhubu, Tuyuhun, Turkic, Qiang, Tatar, and Uighur were mixed together, and wars often broke out in order to compete for pastures. Up to now, this most prosperous and prosperous area of Inner Mongolia in later generations is sparsely populated, and it is still a chaotic area that the Central Plains Dynasty cannot control at all.

Li Qi's purpose was to gradually control this area by building a city in the north.

Many people in the Jinyang court didn't understand Li Qi's approach and built a city in a group of wolves' den, is this going to exchange some horses from the grassland people to come back? Build a city in the homes of these vicious fellows, and make it clear that they will be given away in the end!

They thought that the young man would soon be bleeding on the grassland.

The autumn wind is gradually rising, the grass is withered, and the northland grassland is a scene of slaughter.

Yunzhou rode 500 people on foot and "escorted" 3,200 displaced people recruited from Hedong and Guanzhong and prisoners from various towns in Hedong to leave Yanmen Pass. Early autumn in the Northland isn't a good time to move. But Li Qi couldn't wait, because after the warm snow melted in the spring of the next year, he needed to let these people start cultivating land outside the city. If you wait until the snow melts next spring, you will delay the best time for soil moisture.

Prisoners and recruited refugees from all over the country, dressed in tattered clothes, followed the cart like cattle and sheep, and walked towards the vast grasslands of the north with a sad face. Most people think that they may not be able to return to the Central Plains alive in this life, guarding the border passes, and they have always been teenagers in the army, and they have to return to their hometowns when they have gray hair.

The four-wheeled carriage carrying goods from Jinyang was almost three times more than that of the two-wheeled carriage, and due to the existence of supply points throughout Yunzhou, there was no need to transport a particularly large number of supplies along the way, and the carts were mainly loaded with goods, production tools and weapons. These weapons will be distributed to the displaced and convicts upon arrival at the station.

There are more than 120 miles between Fengzhen and Jining in the later generations, and Li Qi ordered Baishui Luoxi and Yizhishui to build two more forts. In this way, from Yunzhou to the north, there are military cities every fifty or sixty miles, so along this ancient trade route leading to the northern grasslands, relying on these military cities, a seemingly fragile defense line has been built.

However, if the number of Han troops stationed in these military cities increased, the Jin army's control over the road would become more solid. You must know that on the steppe, a force of 3,000 people can already sweep most of the tribes.

Between these military cities, it only takes a day for the large armies to support each other, and if it is cavalry, it can be rushed for an hour. This also provided sufficient security for the caravans traveling through the Northlands, and between each military city was exactly a day's journey of chariots, horses, or camels.

Over time, this will make the Northland more and more prosperous.

The team passed through Yunzhou, and did not stop, and when it was almost dark, the team finally arrived at the city of Tongyuan in Baleng Mountain, which had just been built quickly.

The military city in the north is different from the mainland, there is a market town outside the city, and the military city is only stationed here, and ordinary people cannot easily enter it. Inside these military cities is a large military camp, maintaining the fragile connection between Yunzhou and the Northland grasslands.

Six hundred families of displaced people were placed in Tongyuan City, and most of them looked envious when they saw these people leave the camp and be led into the city. After all, it is only more than 100 miles away from Yunzhou.

Wu Luan, the defense envoy of Yunzhou, rushed from Fengzhen City and entered the camp, and when he saw Kang Jiu in the tent, the other party was roasting a naan cake on the fire, and there was a strip of air-dried meat and a few pickles on the wooden board on the ground.

Kang Jiu handed the baked naan to Wu Luan, and then said with a smile: "The person has delivered it to you, and you can finally breathe a sigh of relief." His Majesty's intention is to place half of the people in this area and build his own horse farm as soon as possible. The entire Jin army was less than 5,000 cavalry, which was far from meeting the needs of the war. ”

Wu Luan was a little worried: "These more than 3,000 people, people chew horses, and the daily consumption is not small. ”

"Then don't worry about it, there will be someone who specializes in production to come over. Those of us who lead the troops are mainly responsible for safety, and in addition, when we are free, we can train and train the troops. Kang Jiu said: "Your Majesty intends to open up the connection with Liangzhou and Hexi through the Hetao. Some of the party clans of the Dingyan Army are too strong, and they need to be controlled in size. ”

Wu Luan asked with some excitement, "Are you going to rob them?" ”

"The Tuoba clan of the Dingyan Army is at least nominally subordinate to the Jin State, and it can be fought and killed at will. It turned out that most of the horses we bought from Hexi were through the Dangxiang tribe of the Dingyan Army, which allowed them to benefit a lot, which was also the main reason why Dangxiang Qiang became stronger and stronger. In the future, we will gradually reduce the horse trade with the party and take this business into our own hands. Kang Jiu rolled his eyes and said, "Your Majesty may go to the grassland next year, intending to take the Shuofang military town south of the Hetao into his own hands. ”

"There are too many things, this Baishui Luocheng and Jining City have just laid the foundation, and they can only be half-built this year."

"Half a cut is fine, as long as it can block the direct impact of the war horse, it is much easier to defend." Kang Jiu said, "All the people who built the city were incorporated into the garrison army of Baishuiluo and Jining, and the 2,000 people who migrated over were to be resettled in Fengzhou. His Majesty meant that, in addition to horses, the tribes of the steppe were exempted from paying tribute this year. ”

……