When Li Jinghuai captured Qujing, Xu Shiyang and his entourage had already arrived at Yumen Pass.

This was the last stop on Xu Shiyang's journey to the west, where he met with local officials and Zuoguan (a collective term for officials from the state of Qin).

And, of course, his eldest son, Xu Daixuan, the king of Qin.

The son has been exploring abroad for almost three years, and has laid down most of Central Asia, millions of square kilometers of territory, with this achievement, even Xu Shiyang will be proud.

However, after a few years of not seeing each other, Xu Shiyang occasionally felt that he was really incompetent as a father.

No way, being born in heaven is like this, many times, family affection must be indifferent.

If all the children remained in the capital, it was inevitable that there would be a tragedy of cannibalism for the throne in the future - it was not a question of whether they wanted to or not, because there will always be people who will peep into the great achievements and want to go further.

In fact, in the past few years that Xu Shiyang has made his father the emperor, he can feel that many people are a little dissatisfied with his decision, the most obvious of which is that the children of the Xu family in the fifteenth tun were born in the army, Li Jinghuai, Feng Sanhu and they are all like this.

There is no other reason, it is because everything is given by Xu Shiyang, Xu Shiyang has never reached the top, so they have not reached the top either.

In other words, these people feel that when Xu Shiyang ascends the throne, they still have a lot of room for continued progress.

If even the talents cultivated by Xu Shiyang have this kind of thought, then how can Xu Daixuan and Xu Daizhuo suppress these vested interests and not have greater ambitions?

What's more, Xu Shiyang's practice of arranging jobs for all his wives and concubines has indeed made his harem a lot quieter, but his mother has a basic plate, and when the time comes, there will really be a battle for succession, and these mothers are also very energetic.

Xu Shiyang didn't want to be the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, he was wise and martial all his life, but after his death, he was heeled by the heir; I don't want to be Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Tang Taizong, who has also been wise and martial all his life, but because of his indecision on the issue of heirs, he caused a serious family tragedy.

Therefore, Xu Shiyang let all his children receive the most rigorous education in this era from the very beginning - the education of the emperor's ** school, at least train them to be similar talents, and then crown the eldest son Xu Daixuan as the emperor's grandson as early as possible, and determine the successor, so that careerists have no chance to take advantage of it.

In the end, let Xu Daixuan, in addition to Xu Daixuan, the adult prince go out to colonize, establish his own merits, and by the way, bring those careerists to the subject country to become a left official.

The advantage of this is that in the future, the possibility of cannibalism in order to win the heir is minimized, after all, the prince is the lord of the country, and if the industrial strength is deliberately suppressed, no matter how strong the strength is, it will not be able to threaten the status of the mother country.

And it can also expand the territory, in this era of extremely underdeveloped communications, to simply control those lands that the empire cannot directly control, and turn waste into treasure.

The disadvantage is that the children are independent early, and the family relationship with Xu Shiyang, the father, is not so close.

For example, when he came to Yumen Pass this time, Xu Daixuan left his state and military affairs and ran to Yumen Pass to see Xu Shiyang when Qin was still in a stalemate with Pars, not because he missed his father very much, but as the prince and son of the subject country, he had to appear in front of Xu Shiyang, so as not to arouse the disgust of the mother country.

The father and son stood on the beacon of Yumen Pass, looking at the camel caravan coming and going in and out of Yumen Pass, Xu Daixuan said proudly:

"Father, this year, Qin has planted 12 million mu of wheat and 8 million mu of cotton, and we have basically achieved self-sufficiency in grain, and then we can use cotton, horses, and wool to exchange iron, salt, cloth, weapons and equipment and other necessities with the country - we have basically achieved a balance of payments."

"My people have talked to the cabinet, and next year the cabinet will send professionals to rearrange the industry for us, and I estimate that next year, the grain planting area of Qin will be reduced, and the main fertile land will be used to grow cotton, and when we need food, we will use cotton to exchange with the country."

Subjects usually do not arrange any industry other than mining, so as not to cause competition with GDP, or if the subject country is too strong and too closed, it will have a centrifugal force on the empire.

For example, in the Qin State, when the foothold was not stable, agriculture was the primary productive force and the biggest factor of stability, so Xu Daixuan attached great importance to the cultivation of wheat before.

But now, after the basic self-sufficiency of grain, Qin's position in the river is unshakable, so he can replace grain cultivation with cash crops such as cotton.

On the one hand, growing cotton was more profitable than growing wheat, which could make the feudal lords of the Qin State more satisfied. On the other hand, if after a few generations, the Qin state began to drift away from the mother country, and a single cotton cultivation would have to rely on a large amount of grain imports from the mother country, then the separation would not have been successful.

This is the industrial chain, and the Qin State is at the bottom of this chain, so that even if the empire does not have the ability to directly control the Qin State now, capital can firmly tie him to the chariot of the empire.

"You're doing a great job, son."

Xu Shiyang is quite pleased, but at this time, can the father and son only talk about work?

Alas, in fact, too, without saying this, it is difficult for them to find common topics.

"It's all taught by my father, and the left officials under me are very capable, and with the support of the cabinet, my work is actually quite easy."

"Overseas development is not easy, it is very dangerous, even if it is just not adaptable, it may kill you."

"Hehe, how come, I learned a lot from my father, I never drink raw water outside, don't eat raw food, and pay attention to hygiene."

Xu Daixuan smiled:

"In addition, if you count from the military school, I have been in the army for more than ten years, and my physical fitness is not bad."

"Well, yes, you're in good shape." Xu Shiyang knocked on his son's chest: "It's a good guy." ”

So, what's your next thought? Continue to expand? Where is the direction? ”

"In the direction of Pars, of course." Xu Daixuan replied: "I have already formed a Pars army with the Pars captive and that Himelsis, there are not many troops, but it seems to be just right to use it against the Parsians, and I have been using this army to fight with the Pars during this time, which has given me a lot of time to integrate the newly occupied areas." ”

"When it starts next year, I will lead the Qin army to launch a new offensive, I estimate that it may not be possible to take Ctesiphon directly, but it is still no problem to break the tendons and fractures of Pars. In this way, in the year after tomorrow, I can try to enter Tessiphon and regard it as the new royal capital of Great Qin. ”

"How can I help?"

"Of course, I need to stock up on more food and grass, and more importantly, I need more soldiers." Xu Daixuan replied: "If it is a Han soldier, it is naturally the best, if it really doesn't work, the Waifan Jurchen and Mengwu are also okay, if you can give me 20,000 Han soldiers, I will have the opportunity to enter Taixifeng next year." ”