Since the first year of the Yuan Shuo Hexi War, the Han Dynasty added Wuwei, Jiuquan, Zhangye, Guohuang and other counties in Hexi. The Han Dynasty's occupation of these counties not only greatly expanded the territory of the Han Dynasty to the west, but also opened up the historical pattern of the Han Dynasty's involvement in the Western Regions. The Hexi grassland has become a large Han grassland, which also provides a great guarantee for the supply of military horses of the Han army.

At the beginning of the second year of Yuan Shuo, after court discussions, Liu Che agreed to the proposal of Qincheng Dou Fei and others to open up trade routes and trade with the Western Regions.

Qin Cheng and Dou Fei and others mentioned in Shangshu: businessmen are the country's big taxes, and merchants are rich and the country is rich. Today, the Central Plains merchants and the countries of the Western Regions can trade with each other, so that silk, ceramics and other things can be connected to the Western Regions, and they can get more than ten times the benefits. And the Western Regions has many treasures, many good horses and other things, which can make the Han materials richer. If the material is rich, it can promote the development of commerce, and the development of commerce will increase the tax revenue......

Because Liu Che ordered in the sixth year of Yuanguang, "tax merchants and cars, and ships will be calculated", so Qin Cheng, Dou Fei and others moved Liu Che without any pressure. Now that the war between the Han and the Xiongnu has fallen into a land of endless death, it is the time when money and grain are needed, and there is no harm in increasing the financial taxes of the Han Dynasty, Liu Che naturally has no reason to disagree.

For Liu Che, at this time, trade in the Western Regions is definitely not just an economic behavior. Although trade is good, the hidden political purpose is what really moves Liu Che.

It was Liu Che's greatest goal to strengthen exchanges and ties with the countries of the Western Regions through trade with each other, so as to achieve the goal of mutual friendship and isolation of the Xiongnu.

It was precisely because of this opportunity that Nangong Shang was able to re-establish the Chamber of Commerce, which had been laid off by Liu Che in the sixth year of Yuanguang, and presided over the overall situation of trade in the Western Regions through the alliance of officials and businessmen.

The Chamber of Commerce was formed by the Southern Industry and Commerce, and the Chamber of Commerce could not be a simple economic aggregate, and the cat was the same as when it was in Shanggu, which was actually a secret crossing of Chencang on the plank road in the Ming Dynasty, and it was naturally indispensable to hide the intelligence team in the caravan to explore the intelligence of the Western Regions.

For this reason, Nangong Shang also made a special trip to Shanggu and moved a lot of the foundation of the Chamber of Commerce in Shanggu as the team of the new Chamber of Commerce, so as to promote the development of the Chamber of Commerce as soon as possible.

In the past three years, the development of the Chamber of Commerce has been generally smooth, and the trade with the countries of the Western Regions has been on the right track, and the volume of goods traded is getting larger and larger.

The development of commerce even caused Shanshan, Xiaowan, Huhu and other countries in the Western Regions to send envoys to the Han Dynasty in the past two years to reconcile with the Han Dynasty.

In view of this, Liu Che transferred Zhang Qian back from the Heshuo region and made him the supreme person in charge of the affairs of the Western Regions, responsible for diplomatic relations with the countries of the Western Regions. At the beginning of the fourth year of Yuan Shuo, Zhang Qian led a huge team of envoys to the Western Regions again.

Different from the difficulties and embarrassment of the first mission to the Western Regions, this time Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions was not only much smoother, but also received great preferential treatment in the countries of the Western Regions.

As early as the second year of Yuan Shuo, because he wanted to establish a bridgehead for the Han army to go to the Western Regions in Shuofang City, Liu Che sent the general Le Yi to Shuofang City to preside over the affairs.

After more than two years, Le Yi lived up to expectations, established Shuofang in an orderly manner, and the results began to show, which can already provide certain logistical support for tens of thousands of Han troops to fight across the border.

And the border city built by the Han Dynasty is not only Shuofang City!

After the Dading of Hexi, Liu Che once called Qin Cheng and Wei Qing together to discuss how to fight a decisive battle with the Xiongnu, at that time Liu Che had now depicted a strategic concept for the Han army, at that time Liu Che said: "Although the Xiongnu have been defeated repeatedly over the years, but after all, the territory is vast, and now Yi Zhixian under the advice of Zhao Xin, it is to migrate the Xiongnu tribe to Mobei, so that my Han army can not fight with it." In this case, if our Han army wants to fight a decisive battle with it, we can't stupidly cross the desert and travel thousands of miles to Mobei, but should find a unique way! ”

Wei Qing saw that Liu Che's eyes had been falling on the west side of the map, so he asked tentatively, "Your Majesty wants to make a fuss through the Western Regions?" ”

Liu Che nodded and said, "That's right." After thinking about it, I felt that if I wanted to fight a war or beat the Xiongnu in one go, and set the pattern of this war with the Xiongnu, I should not let the army bring grain and grass from Chang'an, but should establish some logistics supply points on the border line, and push the expedition line to the gate of the Xiongnu! ”

"In this way, not only will the consumption of grain, grass, manpower and animal power be greatly reduced for the army, but it will also be able to greatly improve the suddenness and effectiveness of our Han army's expedition!" Wei Qing then said excitedly.

Qin Cheng didn't speak on the side, it wasn't that he didn't agree with Liu Che and Wei Qing's words, but because he was surprised that in the history he was familiar with, Liu Che didn't adopt such a strategy!

Undoubtedly, although such a strategic concept is not easy to operate, if it can be implemented, not to mention that the border cities established in Hexi and Shuofang can meet all the needs of the 100,000-strong army, even if it can only meet half of it, it will be of great significance.

At this time, Qin Cheng knew that Liu Che's move had actually had the momentum to break the encirclement of the Xiongnu and Huainan - although only Qin Cheng knew about this encirclement.

After Liu Che raised this matter, he won the unanimous admiration of Qin Cheng and Wei Qing. At that time, Liu Che finalized two border cities, one was Shuofang City, and the other was Lu Fu of Jiuquan County.

Shuofang City Qincheng nominated Le Yi, Wei Qing and Liu Che had no opinion, but they encountered difficulties when finalizing the general to build Jiuquan.

After all, Jiuquan is located far away, and it is a newly established county, so its construction difficulty is much higher than that of Shuofang.

After several trade-offs, the last three thought of one person at the same time, and everyone felt that there was no one more suitable than this person in the Han Dynasty.

This person has served as the county guard and lieutenant of many border counties in the north, and he has been quite successful in the construction of the defense system against Hungary in each county, not only that, but this person has been the supreme commander of the Northern Army!

This person is the former lieutenant of the Northern Army, Li Guang!

...............................................

At the beginning of March of the fourth year of Yuan Shuo, after Shanshan and Xiaowan of the Western Regions successively sent envoys to Han, Liu Che sent Zhang Qian, Marquis of Bowang, to lead a huge team of envoys to the countries of the Western Regions.

Before leaving, Liu Che said to Zhang Qian: "This time I went to the Western Regions to discuss the small matter of commerce, and more importantly, to see the possibility of forming an alliance with the countries of the Western Regions. If we can form an alliance with the countries of the Western Regions and let them become the help of my attack on the Huns, it will be a great thing! ”

After a journey of more than six months, in September of the fourth year of Yuan Shuo, Zhang Qian led the delegation to return from the Western Regions, passed through Guohuang, went to Jiuquan, and stayed in Lüfu for one day.

In Lü Fu, Zhang Qian not only met with the Jiuquan County Guard and the Governor, but also met with Nangong Shang.

After Zhang Qian left Jiuquan, Li Guang and Nangong Shang became even busier.

In September, Zhang Qian returned to Chang'an, and entered the palace to meet Liu Che on the same day.

"Since the beginning of this year, that is, after Xiaowan, Huhu and other countries sent envoys to Han, the Xiongnu began to exert pressure on the countries of the Western Regions, not only to invade the country, but also to directly use troops against Huhu, Shanshan and other countries. The nations could not defeat the Huns' cavalry, so they were doubly embarrassed, and now is the time of sorrow. Zhang Qian's face was full of exhaustion, and there was deep worry in the exhaustion, "And the Xiongnu have announced that the countries of the Western Regions are not allowed to interact with the Han Dynasty and force them to rely on the Xiongnu." Not only that, but these days, the Xiongnu even sent small groups of cavalry, often harassing passing caravans. It's better to have General Li in Jiuquan, but Guohuang County is often overstretched to protect past business travelers, and it has suffered greatly! ”

After hearing this, Liu Che first cared about the attitude of the countries of the Western Regions, "What is their attitude when you send an envoy to the countries of the Western Regions this time?" ”

"The countries of the Western Regions are interested in getting close to the Han Dynasty, and especially hope to trade with the Han Dynasty, in order to exchange goods, after these years of development, many of the commercial goods of the Han Dynasty have a large market in the Western Regions, especially the nobles of the Western Regions, they are proud of using the goods of the Han Dynasty!" Zhang Qian said, "But the Xiongnu pressed too hard, and the countries of the Western Regions could not compete with the Xiongnu." When the ministers were in the Western Regions, all countries hoped that His Majesty would be able to solve the troubles of the Xiongnu, otherwise, these small countries would be in a dilemma, and they could only suspend their contacts with the Han Dynasty. ”

It is said that it is a euphemism to suspend exchanges with the Han Dynasty, but I am afraid that these small countries will not dare to communicate with the Han Dynasty anymore.

"Hun children, it's so hateful!" Liu Che was annoyed.

"The Xiongnu suffered a loss on our side, and they couldn't compete with the Han for a while, so they could only bully the small countries in the Western Regions. Especially after the Xiongnu moved north to Mobei, they were forced to live and strategically need, so they could not help but get involved in the Western Regions. Zhang Qian sighed.

Liu Che pondered for a moment, as if asking Zhang Qian and asking himself: "For today's plan, what can I do?" ”

"The Huns will not be destroyed, and the Western Regions will not be peaceful!" Zhang Qian said.

"It is not a one-time task to destroy the Huns, and it is not yet time." Liu Che said, "Although Li Guang and Le Yi have made great achievements in Jiuquan and Shuofang, it is not possible to support more than 100,000 cavalry to go on the expedition now. For today's plan, we must stabilize the Western Regions! ”

"The countries of the Western Regions are small and too busy to take care of themselves, and we are too far away to send troops to support, what should we do for a while?" Zhang Qian said bitterly, this problem has been bothering him for a long time.

"The Western Regions must be stabilized, and if the Western Regions are not stable, my great plan will not exist!" Liu Che said, "At least, we have to hold on until the construction of Jiuquan and Shuofang is completed." ”

"Your Majesty, doesn't you already have a countermeasure?" Zhang Qian asked.

"Nope." Liu Che said, but the solemn color on his face faded a lot, he smiled slightly, and said to Zhang Qian, who had a bitter face: "You don't have to be so distressed, you have done your best in the trip to the Western Regions, I will remember this great achievement for you!" ”

"The minister is not greedy for merit, but he is deeply worried about the Western Regions." Zhang Qian hurriedly said.

"In fact, there is no way to solve the dilemma in the Western Regions." Liu Che said without pressure, and said with a smile to Zhang Qian: "Although I didn't come up with an idea for a while, I know that my courtiers have them, and if someone sends an envoy to the Western Regions, they will definitely be able to solve the dilemma in the Western Regions - even if it can't be completely solved, it will be no problem to drag it out for a while!" ”

"Your Majesty means ......?"

"My Great Sima, Zuo's Great General Qin Cheng, the Imperial Servant Dou Fei!" Liu Che is confident.