"Xu Qilin did a very good job in Ganzhou, which can be regarded as adding a little help to the expedition of Gaochang." Hou Junji continued: "Your Majesty has issued an order to make him an observer envoy and go to Gaochang with the army. ”

Helan Chushi didn't know this news. Because this is not a clear decree, but an edict to Xu Qilin, but it is necessary to inform Hou Junji, the chief general of the army.

"What is the role of an observer?" Helan Chushi asked puzzledly, "Why did you want him to go with the army?" ”

Hou Junji said: "The observation envoy is just an official position set up for the purpose of opening commerce and trade after the capture of Gaochang to conduct an investigation and investigation. ”

"I see." Helan Chushi said suddenly: "Since he is not involved in military affairs, his father-in-law doesn't have to care about him." ”

Hou Junji said: "Having said that, Xu Qilin has already temporarily signed the history of Suzhou Assassination, and has already sent someone out of Guazhou to explore the way. The army has to cross thousands of miles of quicksand and desert, but it still needs his help. ”

"This guy-" Helan Chushi didn't know what to say, shook his head and sighed: "The military exploits of conquering Gaochang are indispensable to him." ”

Hou Junji nodded and said, "There may be a master behind him, and he thinks that it is the Lu Yu Immortal." ”

"What luck!" Helan Chushi sighed again, why couldn't he meet such a master?

Hou Junji also felt the same way, because His Majesty Li Er already admired Lu Yu Immortal very much, and it was rumored that he was going to make a decree to be named the "Tea Saint".

The so-called rising tide lifts all boats, the master is famous, and Xu Qilin is also a stable group. Even if he makes a small mistake, with Xu Hui inside and Lu Yu outside, His Majesty Li Er will be lightly punished.

………………

The 800 li Mohe Yan moraine quicksand between Yiwu and Guazhou, according to the ancient level of transportation, is indeed the greatest difficulty for the army to attack.

Tang Seng took this road to learn the scriptures, and he was almost buried in the sea of sand after a lot of hardships.

But there is one thing that is different, that is, Tang Seng is a man and a horse, or a smuggler, afraid of being caught.

Then I have to explain, in this desert Gobi, who will arrest him? Naturally, it is not the mountain spirit tree monster who wants to eat the meat of Tang monks, but the beacons set up along the way of the Tang Dynasty, that is, the beacon towers where the garrison is responsible for calling the police.

At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the Xingxingxia Mountain at the junction of present-day Gansu and Xinjiang was the boundary, isolated from each other and forbidden to come and go, so the Moheyan Moraine Road was closed.

In order to prevent and control this road, the Tang Dynasty set up five beacons between the east of Xingxingxia Mountain and Changle County in Guazhou as a warning. To the west of Wufeng, the Moheyan Mountain belongs to the border of Yiwu (now Hami), and is no longer part of the territory of the Tang Dynasty.

In the fourth year of Zhenguan, Yiwu returned to Tang, and Tang placed Yizhou in the land of Yiwu, and succeeded Wufeng to the west of Wufeng. Therefore, there are a total of ten beacon towers on the Heyan Moraine Road.

These ten beacons are naturally set up in places with springs along the way, five in Guazhou and five in Hami, distributed in the 800-mile desert Gobi.

In other words, if the Tang army wants to pass through the Moheyan moraine, there are ten supply relay stations in the middle. It's hard to say anything else, but the spring water never gets drained.

After Xu Qilin consulted the information, he made some overall calculations and decided to follow the sectional transportation of the Cao Road reform to create more favorable conditions for the march of the Tang Army.

Despite the fact that there are ten beacons as relay supplies, there are still difficulties. The simplest calculation result is that the distance between the ten stations is not close, with an average of nearly 100 miles.

A distance of 100 miles is nothing on flat land, but in the Gobi Desert, accidents are very likely to occur. If there are unpredictable weather changes, such as sandstorms, getting lost is the biggest killer.

Since the distance between the ten beacons is relatively far, Xu Qilin planned to place posts between the beacons to form a pattern of the juxtaposition of post stations and beacons.

This plan is not an imagination, but a move by Datang decades later in history. Ten beacons and ten posts make the "sea road" much smoother.

"This is not only to prepare for the army to conquer Gaochang, but also for future commerce." When Xu Qilin led the pathfinder team from Guazhou, he said to Wang Fangyi, who accompanied him: "The distance of the sea road is the shortest, and the business is the fastest, but the natural environment restricts the merchants who take this road. ”

Wang Fangyi nodded again and again, agreeing with this, and was also eager to try, obviously very interested in this kind of exciting and adventurous work.

It's a bit of an adventure, but it's not very big. The team of more than 100 people, in addition to the mounts, each also had three horses carrying drinking supplies. The entourage included craftsmen, guides, escorts, and even two doctors.

Xu Qilin wants to re-take the Tang Seng Road, but he must make every effort to ensure safety, who let us have this condition!

As for why Xu Qilin went out in person, others saw the image of being fearless of hardships and serving the public wholeheartedly, but they did not know that he had an unmanned reconnaissance plane, which could find water sources along the way faster and more accurately, and improve the efficiency of choosing the location of the post station.

That's right, it's the eagle that Xu Qilin has already raised. Looking down at it from a high altitude, at a glance, only Xu Qilin can communicate with it. And this method is much better than sending people to ride horses and bump around.

The Gobi, also known as the Gobi Desert, is mostly not a desert but bare rock. To put it more popularly, it is a desert with coarse sand and gravel covered on the hard soil layer, and the plants are very scarce.

Therefore, the difficulty of crossing the Gobi is lower than that of the Great Desert. But low is low, and this pathfinding trip is still very uncomfortable.

Fortunately, with full preparation and the guide's business skills, Xu Qilin and his party only took six days to cross Wufeng in a row and came to Xingxing Gorge.

You must know that it took Tang Seng sixteen days to cross Moheyan, of which nine days were trekking on the road, and the journey was 100 miles a day.

This kind of persistent belief in sacrificing one's life to seek the law is also admired by Xu Qilin, who is also crossing the Gobi.

Star Gorge is not a canyon, but a pass. It is a necessary place to enter the eastern frontier from the Hexi Corridor.

This majestic silk road on the dangerous pass, four sides of the peaks and peaks, an S-shaped mountain road winding in the meantime, on both sides of the dangerous rock cliffs, there is a great "one husband when the pass, ten thousand people do not open" trend.

And history has also left too many memories here: Lin Zexu was demoted to Xinjiang; Zuo Zongtang led 60,000 Huxiang children to enter Xinjiang and planted Zuo Gongliu, which "attracted the spring breeze to Yuguan".

Since it is a pass, there is a garrison. Although the number of people is small, it gives Xu Qilin and others who came out of the deserted Gobi a warm feeling of returning to the world.

"Two days off." Xu Qilin stood at the top of the gorge, looking left and right, the whole thing is the Gobi, and there are more than 400 miles to Yizhou (Hami)!

Wang Fangyi did not look tired, but his eyes were aggressive, and he seemed more energetic than before he set off. Perhaps, the Gobi Desert sublimated his state of mind and sharpened his spirit and will.

"Xu Cheng-" Wang Fangyi stretched out his finger and said, "The trade road is open, and there should be a village and town here, allowing merchants to rest." ”

Xu Qilin glanced at Wang Fangyi and nodded with a smile. When he looked at the flat land again, the image of the "Dragon Gate Inn" flashed in his mind.

"Let's build an inn here, called Longmen, for merchants who come and go, so that they can rest and drink." Xu Qilin squinted his eyes slightly, imagining the lively scene of business gatherings from all over the world and complicated accents, "Let's gradually expand into a town in the future!" “

"Dragon Gate Inn?! Good, good name. Wang Fangyi thought about it carefully, and felt that there was no special meaning, this is not the imperial examination, and he still jumped the dragon gate? But it's just a store name, and Xu Cheng is happy.

…………….

Xu Qilin left temporarily, but the work in Gan and Su Prefectures was as cold as winter, and they were busy in full swing, all in preparation for the expedition to Gaochang.

When the grain transported from Guanzhong arrived in Ganzhou, it was transported to Guazhou Tunchu in accordance with Xu Qilin's arrangement and the method of relay transportation.

The people who were preparing for the cat winter were also mobilized and drove to Guazhou to deliver food and supplies to Wufeng.

It's not for nothing, the pay is very good, and there is even a preferential policy of renting a carriage from the government.

Xu Qilin had already gone to the imperial court and was allowed to use the taxes of the Ganzhou City Shipping Division, as well as the money for the mirrors, silk, porcelain, tea and other goods sold in Ganzhou.

With abundant funds, Xu Qilin gave benefits to the people, and transported ten cars for hundreds of miles, and there was a truckload of grain as a reward. The farther you travel, the more you get paid.

A hundred miles away, that is, to the first beacon. Under the organization of the government, led by experienced guides, 100 cars are in a team, and they can take care of each other without getting lost, and their safety is guaranteed.

After Xu Qilin led people to explore the road, a lot of signs were added along the way, although the post station has not yet been built, but it pointed out the location of the water source on the way, which made it more convenient for the passage of the transport army.

Xu Qilin even had a big plan, which was to build a highway from Guazhou to Yizhou, which was almost the same route as the Lanxin Highway in later generations.

If you want to get rich, build roads first. For the understanding of this sentence, Xu Qilin is obviously much deeper than others.

Even if the asphalt and cement pavement cannot be repaired, the original road is leveled and repaired, and then the sand fence is set up on the side of the road, the road condition will be improved by a grade compared with the current one.

Xu Qilin's path-finding process was relatively smooth, he arrived in Yizhou in thirteen days, and returned after a day of rest, and returned to Guazhou in only eight days.

With the help of the high-altitude eagle eye, Xu Qilin obtained the detailed terrain along the road, drew an accurate map, and carried out careful planning.

Between the ten beacon towers, Xu Qilin selected the address of the post station, designed the style of the highway, and handed over all the work to Wang Fangyi.

There is money and food, and the enthusiasm of the common people is still very high. The army has not yet set off from Chang'an, and it will take at least six months to reach Guazhou.

Of course, this does not include the tens of thousands of Guanzhong soldiers who will arrive before the spring ploughing.

The work of building roads and transporting grain was handed over, and Xu Qilin was not idle, temporarily signing the history of Suzhou, so that Suzhou should have an obvious development and change.

Planning cultivated land, setting up villages to build houses, and relocating migrants are almost a copy of Ganzhou. Although the affairs are complicated, the officials under him already have considerable experience, and it does not make Xu Qilin too tired.

…………….

In December, His Majesty Li Er officially issued an edict against thieves.

Hou Junji is the general manager of Jiaohe Road, Xue Wanjun, the general of Zuotunwei, and Wu Ren, the deputy of Sagu, and He Li, the deputy general of the Green Mountain Road, and the general Niu Jinda of the Wuwei are the general of the march, with a total of 150,000 troops, and they are ordered to go on the expedition.

Among the 150,000 troops, in addition to the Tang army, tens of thousands of Turkic, Khibi, Tiele and other tribes had followers. Xue Yantuo also took the initiative to ask for troops to help in the war, but His Majesty Li Er was worried that he would take the opportunity to get involved in the Western Regions, so he did not agree.

For the conquest of Gaochang, His Majesty Li Er has made a bloody investment, so many troops, and the materials, grain and grass accumulated by the mountains and seas, can also be counted in the Tang Dynasty's conquest.

History: "The iron horse is in the wilderness, the gold agitates the heaven and the earth, the high flag covers the sun, and the long halberd is in the clouds." Since the Qin and Han dynasties, it has not been as prosperous. ”

Sending out the generals, His Majesty Li Er returned to the Qianqiu Palace, and his excitement had not completely calmed down.

If Lao Shi's attack was not completely sure of victory, His Majesty Li Er would not be so excited. But now, he is full of confidence and has begun to think about the arrangements after the occupation of Gaochang.

Without him, Xu Qilin has already explored the way back and published a newspaper, which can be said to be the biggest heart disease of His Majesty Li Er.

On the table, there is a map drawn by Xu Qilin, which marks the distance of the road in great detail, as well as the beacons and post stations along the way.

In addition to the map, Xu Qilin also reported on the road repair and the transportation of grain and grass materials. By the time a large number of migrant workers are withdrawn from the spring ploughing, a quarter of the grain and grass materials needed by the army will be hoarded in ten posts and ten beacons for use.

For nearly two hundred thousand horses, this is already a staggering number, which greatly reduces the burden of the march and increases the speed of the march.

According to Xu Qilin's calculations, it would take the army a maximum of 16 days to cross the Gobi Desert. If there are no unexpected weather, it may be two days sooner.

Gao Chang, Ju Wentai, wait to be conquered by my Tang army!

His Majesty Li Er's fingers drew a circle along the map, becoming more and more happy and proud. Occupy Gaochang and expand the Western Regions, and the achievements of the Han Dynasty are just around the corner.

In addition to being happy, His Majesty Li Er remembered the description of the path-finding process in Xu Qilin's report, "During the day, the ground is as hot as fire, breathing in the turbid air full of smoke, there are no road signs on the road, only mules, horses, camels, and human bones walk......

This stinky boy, the words are so cumbersome, not showing literary talent, but vivid and vivid, making people feel like they are there.

His Majesty Li Er smiled, guessing that Xu Qilin was inviting merit. So hard, so hard, so hard, is it a reminder for me to prepare for a reward, right?

However, even if Xu Qilin doesn't say this reward, His Majesty Li Er will remember it! From the reform of Caozheng, to the income generation of Baojing, the establishment of the city, and then to the operation of Ganzhou, and finally to support the army to conquer.

It can be seen that these achievements and these measures have played an extremely favorable role in promoting the final result, that is, the conquest of Gaochang.

What's even more amazing is that after a few years, the Daming Palace has also begun to be rebuilt. By next summer, it is expected to be fully completed.

With the development and construction of Gansu and Suzhou prefectures, as well as the long-distance attack of more than 100,000 troops, the finances should have been very tight. But the truth is beyond most people's expectations.

Even His Majesty Li Er was very surprised, but he didn't expect that the benefits of commerce and trade would be greater than Si. The income from the sale of treasure mirrors and the city's shipping division has reached more than 30% of the total financial revenue expansion in previous years.