After the two major battles of the Northern Expeditionary Corps on the shore of Lake Atami and Shattered Leaf City, after Hammoud and Li Feixue joined forces, Xuanyingwei galloped from north to south for nearly a thousand years and arrived in Shule, the headquarters of the Western Expeditionary Army in Shule was boiling instantly, and the combat mission of the Western Expeditionary Army in the entire four years of the Apocalypse came to a successful end. The three major corps exterminated the last dissident force in Anxi on the northern front, which meant that the entire Anxi had been completely included in the rule of the Tang Dynasty at this time, and the tentacles of the Tang Dynasty finally extended westward to Shule and arrived at the farthest Broken Leaf City. Although the former Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate is now abandoned, for Wan Yi and others, after Li Xuanqing presided over the memorial ceremony of Qiuzi, the old affairs of Anxi have become a driving force for everyone to conquer Anxi and recover the homeland of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, after receiving the battle report, Wan Yi arranged for Liu Xuan to report the victory to Chang'an, and on the other hand, sent a message to Li Feixue to lead the personal guard battalion to sit in Xiaye to suppress the rebellion of the remaining Tuqi Shi and guard against a possible winter offensive by the Qarluq and Samanid people in the north.

"Dashuai, we've been in Anxi for another year." Gao Siji saw that Liu Xuan had been busy arranging for Lu Yi and Tie Liang's troops to be stationed in several major military towns near Shule in recent years, and couldn't help but sigh and smile: "It is said that the snow in the northwest hurts the horse's legs, and I think this year's heavy snow is only much heavier than last year." ”

"Don't worry, isn't the logistics department rushing to transport supplies? There will be no shortage of military and local wintering supplies. Before Wan Yi could answer, Tuoba Sizhi suddenly walked in from outside and said with a smile: "I just went to the munitions warehouse to take a look, Shule has now become a big warehouse, and there should be several waves of caravans coming from Qiuzi in the past few days, but this time it doesn't seem to be any material, it is a greenhouse specially prepared by the logistics department for us in winter, but it seems that a group of people came to help us build it." Tuoba Si thought of something, but he was busier than Wan Yi these days, so he couldn't remember what it was, but vaguely remembered one word, "I heard that it was invented by the queen mother, and you can grow vegetables in winter, and I will go to see it when the time comes." ”

Wan Yi didn't have much interest in this kind of greenhouse for growing vegetables in winter, in his eyes, Li Xuanqing and Qiaoxi were people who often conjured up strange things, and since the things they took out could be passed on to the army, they should be able to solve the problem of the lack of vegetables in the winter of the soldiers of the Western Expeditionary Army. However, Gao Siji was very interested, and pulled Tuoba Sizhi to find the report sent by the logistics department, and after reading it carefully, he said with a smile: "It's okay, I remember that last winter, many people in the Seventh Corps had no green things because they ate beef and mutton and pasta for more than three months, and all of them got a strange disease, and in the end, there was no way to find out through an inquiry by a merchant in the Western Regions, and in the end, it was the caravan of the Yelu family that brought us a few camel caravans, and the tea bricks were relieved by the soldiers drinking tea every day, and the price was really big." Gao Siji thought of the resentful eyes of the logistics department with expensive tea bricks piled up in piles for the soldiers to drink water, and Gao Siji himself felt a little chill coming out of his back.

"Marshal, I see that when the time comes, I will let the civil affairs organize the people and logistics personnel to do it together, if it succeeds, in addition to supplying the army, it can also be sold to the people." Tuoba Si thought for a while and said with a smile: "Since the logistics department has sent special personnel over in the snow, it is better for us to learn and then promote it to the local people, which can be regarded as solving a major problem of people's livelihood." ”

"I will arrange for the chief of staff to cooperate with the civil affairs side at that time. When the people arrived, let the chief of staff send someone to choose a site. Wan Yi waved his hand and said: "In the past two days, I have looked at the list of materials and stocks on the Shule side, and I plan to let the heavy cavalry battalion move to the Shuangqu City side, and wait until the spring of next year to go south to support the Anxi Corps to march to the southwest and implement the battle plan on the southern front." ”

"The marshal means that the official division of troops will begin in the spring of next year?" Gao Siji was a little shocked and said: "The southern front relies on Zhang Sheng and Tie Liang, but I'm afraid that they may not be able to take charge alone, right?" Especially in this kind of large-scale war of about 100,000 people, their capabilities may not be competent. ”

"So I would like to ask my stepbrother to go to the southern front to sit in the town, the southern line of the Safarid dynasty occupies a huge area including the former Persian capital, where hundreds of tribes of all sizes are distributed, not only the Safarid people. And more importantly, there is the real Heavenly Sect world. Wan Yi pulled the two of them and introduced: "If it weren't for the fact that our navy has not yet formed a Western fleet, I would like to suggest that the General Staff send the navy over, because the geographical output is relatively small and the proximity to the southern body poison, so the trade is very developed, if we can take that place, I am afraid that it will be of great benefit to the development of the empire." ”

Regarding Wan Yi's analysis, Gao Siji nodded in agreement: "What the marshal said is that we are now getting closer and closer to the goal of recovering all the territories under the protection of the Anxi Dadu back then, and the burden on our bodies is getting bigger and bigger. The northwest side is vast, and the Central Plains side is separated by thousands of miles, and today, while you both are here, I think it's time for us to write to the emperor to set up a special military and political organization to rule this area, at least until the railway is built to Shule, and the Central Plains will not be able to keep up with the management of these areas. Gao Siji glanced at the two people beside him and said with a smile: "In fact, if it weren't for the two of you, one representing the commander of the Western Expeditionary Army, and the other being in charge of all the political affairs in the entire northwest with the dignity of the deputy prime minister, I am afraid that relying on the cabinet alone would not be able to manage such a huge geographical territory." ”

Gao Siji's words made the two of them ponder for a while, and Gao Siji's thinking about this question can be said to be a feeling, and his current goal is to recover all the territories under the Anxi Dadu's tent. But these territories are basically except for the east of Shule and the south of Broken Leaf City, which belongs to the territory directly under the protection of the capital of Anxi, and the rest of the place exists as a vassal force like Jimo Prefecture, and even within the direct territory, in fact, the implementation of the Tang Dynasty at that time was more of a method of tribal autonomy to manage, and the leaders of the tribes were granted various official positions by the Tang Dynasty to manage their respective regions, and these official positions were even hereditary. In exchange for the internal stability of these Anxi, these tribes did not need to pay taxes to the Tang Dynasty, and only needed to be responsible for grain, grass and logistics when the Tang army went on the expedition or sent troops to assist when necessary. This method effectively stabilized the huge northwest region at that time, and enabled the Tang Dynasty to maintain a stable rule with fewer troops despite the poor local materials and the distance of the Central Plains. However, in the eyes of several people today, this method is not so much a way to share power with various tribes, but rather a helpless move chosen by the speed of material mobilization and the distance of troop mobilization. Moreover, the Anxi metropolitan protector has become a taboo now. If there is no such a highly unified institution, and the Central Plains is too far away to control the huge land and population of this side in time, then it is necessary to think of a new kind of institution to maintain the rule. After all, these lands are all fought hard by the soldiers of the Tiance Army, and there is no reason to give up, and even a few people are now the high-level of the Tang Dynasty, and the thinking is more far-reaching, the northwest side and the Central Plains Han and Tang cultural circles have been out of touch for too long, but the influence of the Tang Dynasty itself on this side has been minimal, especially out of Shule to the west, I am afraid that it will be even smaller. Then when this place is truly included in the rule of the Tang Dynasty, it is necessary to rely on a strong army to backing the implementation of various policies by the civil administration, and only in this way will the land that is defeated will not be lost in vain like the previous generation, leaving regrets for eternity.

"I see that the three of us will write down all the ideas in our hearts and quickly send them back to the base camp, so that we can still be in time for next year's Imperial Conference. I think the emperor will definitely put this matter on the agenda at that time, after all, we have now laid down this huge territory. Wan Yi saw that Gao Siji and Tuoba Siji were both thinking about this matter, and immediately thought about it: "Although we don't have a good way on our side, it doesn't mean that the emperor has no way, our emperor has directly created a whole new political system by himself." ”

Wan Yi's words made both of them nod, although the two of them have some of their own ideas, but they are not systematic, such a huge area, whether it is military and political management, is a thousand things, a system must be implemented in order to be able to implement it, otherwise I am afraid that it will cause artificial chaos.

Coincidentally, when Wan Yi and other top levels of the Northwest were discussing the political institutions needed for the future development and stability of the Northwest, in fact, Cen Tianshi and others on the Chang'an side were also thinking, after all, the good news from the front line one after another, the geographical distribution map of the Tang Dynasty on the side of the Cabinet and the General Staff was constantly changing, and the territory of the Northwest had expanded to the south as far as Khotan, the south of Khotan, the big and small, the north to the Broken Leaf City, which was so huge that everyone was dizzy. Then, after the temporary military control area west of the sandbank is lifted, regional division has become the most urgent thing. Although the cabinet has also discussed this point before, the Ministry of Civil Affairs advocates continuing the provincial system that is common in the hinterland, but other cabinet dignitaries remember that the previous generation of Anxi Dadu Protector such organizations all advocated in the remote areas in the northwest, in fact, this system is also a good choice, after all, the distance from the Central Plains is too far, and the management is inconvenient, if you don't delegate power, you are afraid that it will become more and more chaotic. Since Li Xuanqing put forward the political principle of separating the military from the government, Cen Tianshi did not want the emergence of a system of integration of the military and the government, but the needs of reality made him have to consider this opinion.

After Cen Tianshi was undecided, he could only go to Li Xuanqing to learn from him, after all, this matter must be decided, and the Imperial Council must make a decision in the coming year, so that other departments of the cabinet can arrange other things in the northwest as soon as possible according to this resolution, and integrate the northwest into the normal imperial political map as soon as possible.

However, when Cen Tianshi found Li Xuanqing in the Liangyi Palace, he found that the dignified Tang Emperor was playing games with two children at this time, and Tianqi next to him was already sitting on the side to practice calligraphy. It's just that his eyes glance at his younger brothers Tianheng and Tianyu from time to time, a little envious.

"Okay, when you're done, take your younger siblings to play." Li Xuanqing naturally saw his eldest son's eyes, so he shook his head and smiled. As soon as his words fell, Tianqi stood up and ran to Tianyu's side, Li Xuanqing hurriedly greeted Ruyan and took all the three children away to find Qiaoxi. He stood up and stretched and said with a smile: "This is really a busy year, it seems that everyone in our empire is very busy in the whole four years of the Apocalypse, Mr. Cen has just returned from Sichuanzhong a few days ago, right?" ”

"Haha, who's to say it's not. But now, although everyone is busy, but no one is slacking off, our political system has been gradually improved, and our empire does not raise idlers. Cen Tianshi followed Li Xuanqing and walked to the side hall next to him, and after the two sat down, Li Xuanqing smiled and said: "Mr. Cen must have something to come to me, and it just so happens that Tianxiang and they will come over soon, so forget it, these guys have already arrived." Before the words fell, Xu Tianxiang and a few people had already hurriedly walked in.

"Haha, it's better to come early than to come by coincidence, the emperor seems to have a very strong tea fragrance here, well, it should be good tea, how does it smell like Junshan silver needle, I've been to that place, good tea." Wang Houchun, who was far away, snorted exaggeratedly and smiled.

Li Xuanqing helplessly looked at the four people who came over in front of him, beckoned them to sit down, and said with a smile: "Mr. Cen has something to look for me, I was going to change the tea, but you said it's better to forget it, just make do with it." ”

Yang Tiancheng didn't have much interest in what kind of tea this was, but said with a thoughtful smile when Cen Tianshi came over at this time: "Mr. must have something big to come to the emperor at this time, Houchun, don't patronize and drink tea, you might as well guess?" ”

"Forget it, what else can you guess about this? I don't guess Mr. Cen will say it too, I'll drink tea. I haven't drunk a few good teas this year, I didn't have time to go to Changsha last time I passed by from Chuzhou, today I just drink tea and listen to you, I won't say anything else, Tiancheng you have to say it yourself. "Wang Houchun is a good tea, he is very obsessed with tea, and there are dozens of kinds of tea in his home alone, all of which are specialty teas from all over the world. So he didn't have the slightest interest in Yang Tiancheng's words, and besides, didn't Cen Tianshi have to say what he had discussed before? Who's to say no.

"You guy!" Xu Tianxiang hammered him helplessly, took over the conversation and said, "Mr. Cen must also be thinking about things in the northwest, right?" It's almost the end of the year, and we have to finalize this matter at next year's meeting, otherwise the next step of the Western Expeditionary Army will not be able to carry out. ”

"It's a military and political organization in the northwest, right?" Li Xuanqing said very plainly after breaking the word: "This matter is not so complicated, it is actually very easy to solve, and it just so happens that I also plan to tell you in advance, so I have a psychological preparation." ”

"Huh?" Chen Fan was sitting next to Li Xuanqing, so when he saw Li Xuanqing's reaction so flat, he couldn't help but laugh and said, "Your Majesty, the emperor won't, but we have discussed it several times and there is no good way?" "In fact, this matter is not only discussed by the cabinet, but also discussed by the four giants of the General Staff in private several times, but they cannot bypass the principle of separation of military and political affairs. But I didn't expect Li Xuanqing to break through it in one mouthful, and it didn't seem to be difficult, so Rao is Chen Fan's personality is the most calm, and he exclaimed.