Tens of thousands of people poured into Qinzhou City, and suddenly the entire port city was boiling. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

After the meal, Li Chao sat by the window on the fifth floor of the Zuixian Building in Qinzhou, leaning against the window and looking at the pedestrians on the street below.

"Qinzhou is really lively."

"In less than ten years, Qinzhou has gathered a population of 300,000, and there is an endless stream of merchants.

"Well, the three cities that were planned at the beginning are almost now almost inhabited, and the shops in those commercial areas are basically full, which is very lively." Li Chao is also very satisfied with all this. At the beginning, he invested heavily in the construction of this large port. As it turned out, his idea was successful.

Qinzhou has become the largest port in Lingnan after Guangzhou and Jiaozhou, and there is even a trend of catching up with and surpassing Jiaozhou Port. After all, it is the outlet to the sea in the southwest, especially in recent years, the imperial court has rapidly penetrated into Guangxi, Hunan, Qianzhong, Yunnan and other places.

"It's all the work of the Taishi to pacify Lingnan." Ma Zhou admired the Tao, without a stable southwest, naturally there would be no development. Li Chao went to Lingnan back then, and he completely obeyed Lingnan in a few clicks. In particular, after the opening of the parliament, the tone for the development of the southwest was set.

Over the years, no one dared to be a demon, and everyone was rushing to develop. And with this council, those Han chiefs, slang marshals, and new Han businessmen and other forces also have a platform for internal consultation. You can sit down and talk, and you can avoid a lot of trouble.

"Thanks to the fact that Lingnan has always been a relatively enlightened official in office over the years."

Ma Zhou smiled bitterly twice, "You just said that it has been us New Party officials in the past few years." ”

"The imperial court has also given us those who want to do things a chance, and there is nothing to complain about." Li Chaodao.

The officials who have been transferred to Lingnan in recent years, from the Xuanfu envoy to the county order, are basically the new party in the imperial court, and they are the kind of relatively enlightened officials. It can be regarded as a radical faction in the New Party, and most of them are officials from relatively ordinary backgrounds, who have been sent to Lingnan.

It was these officials who were in power that made the New Deal well implemented in Lingnan.

"We have nothing to complain about for the imperial court and educate the people. It's just that His Majesty's approach to the crown prince is still a little worrying. Ma Zhou said.

"There's nothing to worry about, Your Majesty is also forty, how many springs and autumns can there be? And His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is only nineteen now, even if it is another twenty years, it will only be thirty-nine. We can wait! ”

Li Shimin now looks like he is in the prime of life, but he only has 12 years to live.

Twelve years is not a long time.

Besides, now that the crown prince has left Beijing, he is not with the emperor, so he doesn't have to worry about offending the emperor again.

Twelve years would be fine.

"I'm still a little worried, this time Wenyuan you were transferred to the governor of Xindu, a certain is the governor of Funan, Chu Suiliang is the governor of Hezhong, Cen Wenwen is the governor of Beiting, Sun Fujia is the governor of Anxi, Wang Qi is transferred to the governor of Monan, Yu Shinan is the governor of Yanbei, and Wei Ting is the governor of Liaobei!"

"Wen Yuan, the minister who supports the prince the most in the court, has been transferred to the most frontier."

"We're too far away from the court."

This year, the imperial court once again adjusted the frontier regions of the Tang Dynasty and divided them into eight governors.

Anxi, Beiting, Hezhong, Xindu, Monan, Yanbei, Liaobei, Funan.

These places are the frontier places of the nobles, and the imperial court is now unified as the governor, and the governor, admiral and other officials are stationed to coordinate the feudal nobles in the territory, as well as to be responsible for civil affairs, taxation and justice.

As Ma Zhou said, after the imperial court adjusted the administration of the border areas this time, almost all officials such as the governor were such as Ma Zhou. It's all the officials who support the prince.

In Ma Zhou's view, the emperor is continuing to liquidate after the incident in May last year.

Step by step, they moved away from the court.

"From another point of view, that's actually a good thing." Li Chao smiled and said to Ma Zhou.

"When we get to the frontier, we can do something practical with peace of mind."

"What is there to do in the Frontierlands?" Ma Zhou said helplessly.

"There are still a lot of facts, such as if you go to Funan, you can take Funan back, and you can even use Bingzhenla. This is a rare opportunity to make a difference. Your career is smooth, but what you lack is military merit, and you also owe local political experience. If you settle down and stay in charge of Funan for 10 years, it will be of great help to you. In the future, when you return to the center, you have this rich resume, and you will have no one to say anything about the prime minister again. ”

He lowered his voice a little.

"Besides, if there is really a change in the situation, if it really comes to the occasion, we will speak out together, and even raise troops to clear the king's side, which is also a killing move."

Qingjun side.

Hearing Li Chao say this sentence bluntly, Ma Zhou's face changed slightly.

"Of course, I hope that there will not be that day, but if there is a change in the DPRK and China, we must protect the crown prince and help him ascend the throne. At that time, it was necessary for those of us to show our attitude and unite the nobles of the frontier to speak. ”

"Will there really be that day?"

"Who can guarantee that?" Li Chaodao.

The world is impermanent, Li Shimin began to take pills in his later years, and many of his actions in his later years were criticized later.

Li Shimin may have sent all the officials who were more supportive of the crown prince to the border, thinking that this would prevent his imperial power from being threatened. At the same time, these people are indeed relatively practical and capable officials, and they are sent to the frontier to not only suppress them, but also give them a platform to do things.

But in Li Chao's view, this does give them a chance.

If the princes-party of the DPRK and China are relegated to the frontier, if they settle down and do practical things for ten or eight years, then they can not only establish prestige and political achievements, but also establish good relations with the nobles in the border areas.

Form a powerful force.

There really comes a day, when Li Shimin wants to abolish the parliament, or repeal a new law, or abolish the crown prince, and reduce the power of the nobles, then they can hold high the banner of protecting the law, in the name of the Qing monarch or something, with the prince as the main body, and the coalition army will invade Hanjing.

"The situation in Funan is not good." Ma Zhou no longer said anything about Qingjun's side, this sentence was heard by the third person, and both of them would be convicted of rebellion.

There are some things that everyone just needs to have in mind.

"Funan now has less than a third of the coastal territory left, and we must send troops to stop the onslaught of the Jinla people. But now the imperial court doesn't have many soldiers for me, and it is estimated that it will be too late to wait for them to be mobilized and assembled. Ma Zhou smiled at Li Chao, "Now I can only borrow your soldiers." ”

Li Chao now has 25,000 soldiers and horses in his hands, and he will transfer about 5,000 more soldiers in Jiaozhou and Qinzhou. These 5,000 soldiers were mainly the private soldiers of the nobles.

But in the end, Li Chao will have an army of 30,000 and nearly 500 ships of all sizes to Xindu.

It was a formidable army, even if it was mainly a private soldier of the nobility.

"Just borrow it for a month!" Ma Zhou said, "Just help me extinguish Zhenla's sharp spirit and stabilize the situation in Funan." ”

Ma Zhou became the governor of Funan, but now he is also in trouble.

Funan is a mess, the army of Funan has almost completely collapsed, if it weren't for the imperial court urgently dispatched water divisions and army reinforcements from Linyi to help them defend the last few cities, they would have been swallowed up by Zhenla.

The territory under the jurisdiction of the governor of Ma Zhou was Lam Hip, Fu Nam, and the former Vietnamese state of Truong Chung Kien. Vietnam is actually just a small archipelago, which used to be the Vietnamese road of the imperial court and the fief of Truong Trung Chau. Now it is incorporated into Funan Prefecture, but the soldiers and horses are not strong.

"Zhenla's strength is quite strong, and their elephant army is very strong."

Of course, Zhenla's strength cannot be compared with Datang, but on the Indochina Peninsula, it is indeed very strong. Originally, they were subject countries of Funan, but their strength has skyrocketed over the years.

It almost occupied most of the territory of Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia in later generations.

Their army has the elephant army and horse army with Southeast Asian characteristics, and the jungle combat ability is very strong.

"We're all old buddies, I'm going to do you a favor." Li Chao agreed. In Li Chao's opinion, helping Ma Zhou is also helping himself, and besides, it is not difficult.

The territory of Zhenla is very large, and there are many soldiers and horses, but it is still very traditional equipment and tactics. As for Datang, it is already a new army beyond the times.

There was both a powerful fleet of sailors and a very fierce artillery. Although the musket does not work well in the jungle, the artillery still works. Besides, where is the remaining territory in Funan?

Mekong Delta.

This means that Li Chao's sailors can drive directly from Haikou into the Mekong River, all the way up.

At that time, he will be able to quickly intersperse and quickly attack the former Funan town of Ayutthaya along the Mekong River and help them retake these places.

And Li Chao doesn't even have to take care of Zhenla's army, as long as he takes advantage of the sailors, captures some important cities in the lower Mekong Delta, and controls the lower Mekong River and the delta.

Ma Zhou has these strongholds, and when the time comes, he will be able to become invincible.

Defend instead of attacking, and then send people.

Well, when the imperial court sends troops from Tangzhou in Quang Nam Province to cross the mountain pass of the Hengshan Mountain Range and attack the upper reaches of the Mekong River on the other side of the mountain, the Zhenla people will have to face the problem of fighting on two fronts.

The Wushi Ridge in Tangzhou, which was the Jiaonuo Pass in Vietnam in later generations, was an excellent offensive pass. There is also Mujia Pass, which is now in Linyi, which is also an important pass on the Hengshan Mountain Range.

Hengshan, just like the Taihang Mountains between Hebei and Hedong, the long mountain range has become a natural barrier between Zhenla and the Tang Dynasty controlled by Guangnan, Linyi, and Funan, but there are also several mountain passes on this mountain range, which can cross the mountains.

For Datang, the Hengshan Mountains are in the west and the sea in the east. The Tang fleet could quickly transport and drop troops, and then cross the mountains, crossing Chenla from multiple directions, attacking their interior.

"All we need is time, and the last thing we need right now is time. If you can, you can also get one or two royal members of Zhenla to come over after attacking Zhenla, support them as puppet Zhenla kings, use their names to subdue some Zhenla people, and use them to fight the vanguard. ”