July was hot, but the nights in Qinzhou were still a little hot.

After nearly half a year of conscription, the defenders of the Qinzhou border pass have reached 50,000 people, and tens of thousands of troops are distributed on the long border of the Qinzhou border pass.

The recruits in each stronghold were strictly trained according to the infantry drill code issued by the Qi military.

Of the nearly 150,000 troops of the Qi State, a large part of them were stationed in the north, and with the collapse of the Sanmiao tribe in the south a few years ago, the remaining small tribes were simply not enough to pose a threat to the Qi State.

Yang Hao knew very well that the threat was coming from that direction.

Supporting an army of more than 100,000 people is a heavy financial burden.

During the period of rising integrity, the materials issued to the military never existed in a shoddy manner, and this practice also increased the burden on the imperial court to a certain extent.

Yang Hao watched as the household department submitted the financial expenditure for the first half of the year, and nearly one-third of Qi's taxes last year were spent on the expansion of the army.

Military expenditures account for 30% of the total revenue, and this proportion is definitely a country with reckless military forces in later generations.

However, fortunately, the current situation of Qi is relatively special, and the promotion of advanced tools, coupled with the vast land and sparse population, has a large amount of arable land, which is enough to maintain this deformed economic model.

Yang Hao knew that this situation could not be maintained for a long time, and he wanted to eliminate the hidden dangers caused by this deformity, and keeping the military expenditure unchanged could only increase the financial revenue of the imperial court.

Yang Hao will not do this kind of means of increasing taxes, and in his opinion, this practice is undoubtedly a way to quench thirst and die.

Simply increasing productivity is the solution once and for all.

Yang Hao put aside the documents submitted by the Ministry of Household Affairs and opened the documents sent by the Ministry of War.

There was no major event in the military department's compromise, and the only focus was to deduce the strategy of conquering the western barbarians in the autumn and make a relatively detailed plan.

After Yang Hao finished reading it, he walked to the simple map hanging on the wall and stopped to watch.

The western barbarians occupied the Hexi Corridor and the Qinghai generation in later generations, and it was not difficult to defeat these barbarians in one fell swoop, but it was not easy for these people who lived by water and grass to completely destroy them.

Yang Hao's plan was to push the border of Qi westward to the Qilian Mountains after this war, and set up a pass there to block the western barbarians on the west side of the Hexi Corridor.

Although the passage into the Western Regions is not only the Hexi Corridor, but whether it is from Qinghai or the Gobi in the north, the environment is very harsh, and he does not think that in this era, there will be a large-scale army to attack him from these two directions.

As long as some troops are stationed in some important places, they can ensure that the hinterland of Qi will not be harassed by barbarians and provide a stable internal environment for their own development.

Yang Hao's gaze slowly looked west from the Hexi Corridor, and finally his gaze stayed on the Central Asian generation.

"If the Western traversers want to get their hands on East Asia, here we must take it."

Yang Hao's direction is the location of Afghanistan in the future, after all, it is blocked by the Tianshan Mountains, and the large-scale troops in the Cold Weapon Era want to come over, and there are not many paths to choose.

As long as he occupies a few important passages, the Qi State can defend the city.

Unless the other party's level of civilization far exceeds his own, the possibility of his defeat is very small under the labor expedition.

But if you want to garrison troops in the Western Regions, it is definitely a big test for the Central Plains Dynasty in the Cold Weapon Era, and it is too far away from the Central Plains, and no one can guarantee what kind of unexpected situation will occur.

"I must get the train out as soon as possible, otherwise my achievements in this life can only be limited to the Central Plains."

Yang Hao muttered.

In the past few months, under the vigorous promotion of Yang Hao, the Academy of Sciences and the technical officials of the Ministry of Industry have worked hard to develop the steam engine under the leadership of Yang Hao.

Over the past few months, Yang Hao has invested an astonishing amount of money in it.

In this regard, many officials have complained a lot, and many officials even signed a joint letter, asking Yang Hao to be more reasonable, if this continues, the world that has finally stabilized will have to be in chaos.

It's just that Yang Hao's attitude towards this matter is not negotiable at all, and his attitude can be described as very tough.

"King! The eldest prince asks to see him. ”

The guards preached.

Yang Hao took his gaze off the world map and said in a deep voice.

After Yang Zhi came in, he bowed and worshipped.

"My son's visit to my father."

After sitting down, Yang Hao said, "What is the matter of coming to find my father today?" ”

Yang Zhi hesitated for a moment and said: "Father, in the past few months, the ministers of the court and the central government have been very worried about their father's decrees. ”

Yang Hao raised his eyebrows. looked at Yang Zhi meaningfully and said, "Are those ministers asking you to persuade this king?" ”

Yang Zhi's heart suddenly sank when he heard this, and he hurriedly got up and said, "Erchen is guilty." ”

"What are you guilty of?"

"As a prince, the son-in-law should not have too much contact with the ministers of the court, and the son-in-law makes a mistake, so he implores his father to punish him."

"Hmmm! Get up! “

Yang Zhi secretly glanced at Yang Hao, and seeing that he showed no signs of anger, his heart was a little calm, and he said respectfully: "Son, thank your father." “

Yang Hao said: "You come with me." “

Yang Zhi followed behind Yang Hao with some doubts, a little apprehensive in his heart.

Yang Hao stopped in front of the world map and said to Yang Zhi: "You are familiar with this map. “

Yang Zhi nodded and said, "The world map, Erchen has naturally seen it. ”

"Okay, let me ask you, how long do you think you can get there from Chang'an at the earliest."

Yang Hao's finger tapped at the location of Yangzhou.

"This... If you ride a horse from Chang'an to Yangzhou, it will take about half a month."

Yang Zhi's tone was a little uncertain.

"And what about here?"

Yang Hao pointed to the Tianshan Mountains this time.

Looking at the distance that had increased several times, Yang Zhi secretly estimated it in his heart.

"Uh... This... If the map is correct, the distance here is almost ten times that from Chang'an to Yangzhou, about 15 to 200 days. “

Yang Hao said: "I can tell you clearly, it will take at least a year to get here from Chang'an, do you think it can be included in the territory with the current conditions of my Daqi." ”

Yang Zhi was shocked in his heart, and hurriedly said: "Erchen... Erchen felt that it was not possible. “

"What if the food of my population increases several times?"

Yang Zhi thought for a while and said, "It's still not possible!" “

"Tell me your reasoning."

Yang Hao secretly wiped his sweat, he was a little speechless, he couldn't stand the persuasion of those officials, so he came to persuade Yang Hao with a hot head, where he would think of such an unlucky thing as encountering a temporary school examination, a bad answer, who knows if Yang Hao's evaluation of himself will be lowered, after all, he has grown up and knows what he wants to do in the future, and his younger siblings are slowly growing up, and the pressure in Yang Zhi's heart is still very great.

I racked my brains to organize the language and express my opinion.