The war in Nanzhao is still going on, but in the middle of the court, it is discussing the matter of splitting up the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate.

The main reason is that the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate is too big.

At this time, the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate not only governed the entire Hexi Corridor, but also the Qinghai Governor's Mansion, the Khotanese Governor's Mansion, the Zhongyun Governor's Mansion and the Yizhou Governor's Mansion.

Although the population plus Khotan is more than one million, there are too many troops, more than 100,000 troops, which is still a little inappropriate in the eyes of the imperial court and affects the community.

Therefore, shortly after the defeat of the Uighurs in Xizhou, the cabinet proposed to split the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate and rebuild Longyou Province with a part of it.

Most of the cabinet agreed with this matter, and most of the important ministers of the court felt that the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate was a bit too large.

So two days after Liu Kui settled down and returned to Chang'an, Li Ye summoned him to Daming Palace, and only mentioned this matter after some commendations.

As for this, Liu Kui heard about it when he returned to Chang'an, so when Li Ye asked, he didn't think it was strange.

In the Taiye Pavilion on the island in the center of the lake in the Taiye Pond of Daming Palace, Liu Kui and Li Ye sat opposite each other.

"Your Majesty, the minister heard about it when he returned to Chang'an. The courtiers were worried, and the ministers also understood that sooner or later the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate would have to move back to the Western Regions.

Now that the Uighurs in Western China have not been eliminated, it would be a bit inappropriate for the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate to move back to the Western Regions at this time. However, the minister believed that the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate should not be weakened too much, as this would affect the subsequent war against the Uighurs in Western China. ”

Although he didn't want to see the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate split, Liu Kui knew that it couldn't be avoided.

If he still controls such a huge Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate, even if the saint in front of him trusts him, he can't stand the other ministers from making irresponsible remarks.

Since many people have already proposed it, it is better to take the opportunity to negotiate this matter, so that the saint can feel at ease.

"I know you can't bear it, but if you want to stay in charge of the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate and conquer the Uighurs in Western China, you can't avoid it.

There are three plans, all of which were drawn up by the cabinet and submitted to me for decision, among which you don't have to worry about the plan for the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate to completely move out of the Hexi Corridor, mainly look at the other two. ”

Li Ye pushed the three parts to Liu Kui on the opposite side and asked him to look at it slowly, while he took a cup of tea and drank it, and looked at the scenery of the Taiye Pool outside.

The first plan was naturally to let the Anxi Dadu Protectorate move out of Hexi, set up the Dadu Protectorate in Yizhou, Zhongyun or Khotan, and then establish Longyou Dao with the entire Hexi to govern Liangzhou.

The second plan was to split Hexi, and make the four counties of Hexi, the Qinghai Governor's Mansion and the Western Regions part of the new Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate, and govern Liangzhou or Shazhou.

The third plan was to establish the Longyou Province with Shazhou, Guazhou, Ganzhou, and Suzhou, plus part of the Western Regions, as the new Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate, and the Qinghai Metropolitan Prefecture and other prefectures.

About a quarter of an hour later, Liu Kui put down the fold and said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, the minister prefers to be a compromise between the second and third types. ”

"How do you compromise?" Li Ye said curiously.

"Your Majesty, Liangzhou, as the largest city of my Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions, if it breaks away from the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate, it will have a greater impact on the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate. In fact, the Qinghai Metropolitan Governor's Mansion did not help much to the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate.

The minister's suggestion was to exchange the Qinghai Governor's Mansion for Liangzhou, that is, to form a new Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate with Liangzhou and other five prefectures and part of the Western Regions, and to form Longyou Dao with Lanzhou and other prefectures and Qinghai Governor's Mansion.

I wonder what Your Majesty thinks? ”

Li Ye thought about the map of the northwest in his mind.

Region, it is more convenient for the Qinghai Metropolitan Governor's Mansion to go from Lanzhou, and it is not easy to govern it if it is assigned to the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate.

"Your plan is not bad, but Liangzhou can be retained, and if it is used as the residence of the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate, it is a little far away, right? I mean to move the headquarters of the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate to Shazhou, so that it is safer to have Yangguan and Yumen Pass as barriers.

Moreover, Shazhou is adjacent to the Western Regions, so it is more convenient to reinforce these. Li Ye explained.

"The minister also knows that the Dadu Hufu station will definitely have to move west, but after all, Liangzhou is the former center of Anxi, if it is included in Longyou Road, the minister is worried that some generals may not be able to accept it for a while.

And the minister is also a little selfish! ”

"Since you insist on it, forget it, originally I meant to let Liangzhou be the residence of the Longyou Dao political envoy, since you are reluctant to Liangzhou, it seems that Longyou Dao can only work in Lanzhou." Li Ye didn't get too entangled in this matter.

"Your Majesty, now that the war in the Western Regions has an eyebrow, but the population of the entire Hexi is somewhat insufficient, and the number of Han people is small, and the minister is a little worried that it is not conducive to subsequent management." Liu Kui has always been worried about this problem, so he took this opportunity to raise it.

"You don't have to worry about this, the cabinet is studying the plan to move people to the frontier." Li Ye said with a smile.

"Migratory population? Where to move from? ”

"In addition to Sichuan Road and Shannan West Road, where else can we move from? These two provinces are more populous.

The Cabinet's plan is to relocate 50,000 households within five years after the establishment of Longyou Province to fill the population of Longyou Province. Among them, 30,000 households came out of Sichuan Road and 20,000 households came out of Shannan West Road.

In the matter of population migration, we should not be in a hurry, first move to Hexi, and then map the Western Regions.

You can just take care of the war, you don't have to worry about this, I am waiting for you to break through Xizhou and return. ”

Nowadays, there are more than 10,000 households and more than 6 million people in Sichuan Province, and if you don't migrate from here, where can you move from?

It is certain that in the next ten years, Sichuan Province and Shannan West Road will be the main outflow areas of Datang. In addition to the southwest and northwest, Li Ye is also considering whether to migrate people to Hubei Province and Hunan Province.

Later generations have said that 'the lake is ripe, the world is full', this 'Huguang' refers to Hubei and Hunan, but at this time the population of the two provinces is very small, of course, there are the reasons for the original Huohuo of Huangchao, and there are also reasons why it has not been developed much.

When the war is settled, he will have the cabinet move people from Sichuan Province, Shannan West Province and Jingnan Province to the Lianghu region on a large scale, and it will be much easier to relocate people with so much fertile land to cultivate.

With Liu Kui, the protector of the capital, agreed, the imperial court's decision to split Anxi was soon introduced.

The imperial court established Longyou Province with Lanzhou, Hezhou, Qinzhou, Taozhou and other Liangzhou to the east of the former Anxi Prefectures and Qinghai Governor's Mansion, and temporarily took Lanzhou as the residence of the political envoy.

The Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate was moved to Shazhou, and in addition to the five prefectures of Hexi, it also governed Yizhou, Zhongyun and Khotan.

This also means that after a few years, the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate has expanded westward again.

This westward expansion still had some impact on the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate, although it was more than Khotan, but it lost the Lanzhou Prefectures, and it was impossible to recruit tribal cavalry from these states.

There will be gains and losses, and this is unavoidable.