"Your Majesty, it's a great event, the Navy and Xu Xingxia have returned to the empire safely." On the eighth day of the second lunar month of the second year of the Apocalypse, the General Staff received a report from Yantai Port in Shandong, and the fleet returned to sea again.

"Laba is back, and this time it's a little shorter than before." Li Xuanqing said with a smile: "Today's Tianjin Port has been frozen and closed, which is really a big trouble for us in winter. Didn't part of their fleet go to other ports? ”

Qiaoxi took the report from Yantai Port and looked at it: "This report didn't say much, just explained the date of arrival at the port and the number of ships, etc., and the warships of the Navy Department seem to be anchored in Dengzhou Port." However, this incident also reminded us that our northern ports were too affected by the cold snap, so let's find a way to build a new port in Haizhou, so that it can echo with Shanghai New Port. ”

"I also want to build Haizhou Port." Li Xuanqing spread his hands and said with a wry smile: "But the situation in Haizhou is not good, if it is transformed into a large-scale new port, I am afraid that it will require a lot of manpower and financial resources, and our empire's finances will not be able to support such infrastructure work." Moreover, the only destinations on our eastern route are Japan and Samhan. Therefore, the ports in the north to the east are not needed so much for the time being. When the construction of Songjiang Province begins, in fact, our territory will reach the Sea of Japan directly, so we can only reduce the number of ports if our financial resources do not allow. ”

Qiaoxi frowned and thought for a moment before saying: "It seems that there is only this way, the places we occupy now seem to be our own land, and we can't engage in colonialism like the West did back then, and collect wealth to support the rapid development of the empire." After a pause, he frowned and said: "Big brother, I am afraid that the final destination of our development of maritime trade is still India, Saudi Arabia and Europe, where civilization is relatively prosperous, and even if we reach the ability in other places, it will take a lot of time to be able to grab the local wealth." ”

"Are you saying that most of the civilizations that exist on the peninsulas and islands to the east and south are still in the era of farming and burning? Actual occupation and then assimilation will inevitably greatly dilute the impetus for the development of our empire, because the vast territory and resources can easily complete the primitive accumulation of capital, and it is not good that the overseas pioneers of the empire who easily obtained wealth will indulge in these riches and pleasures, and thus lose the development of industry and commerce, and finally go back to the old road of history. ”

"Therefore, it is necessary to control the customs well, and to build a strong navy, in addition to preventing these degenerate overseas pioneers from returning home with a large amount of wealth and disturbing the positive social atmosphere at home, and more importantly, to crack down on overseas separatist forces." Li Xuanqing nodded and said with a smile: "It's a bit early to talk about this now, let's talk about it then, Qiaoxi is Laba today, do we have Laba porridge in the palace?" ”

"Not only do we have to prepare laba porridge, but early this morning, there was a news from the cabinet that Mr. Cen invited the eldest brother to hold a lap sacrifice. We were too busy in the first two years, but now that the north and south are pacified, and the empire is basically unified, everyone is looking forward to our royal family to come forward and hold a wax sacrifice at the same time with the people, to pray for the blessing of the gods and a good harvest. Qiaoxi told Li Xuanqing the news from the cabinet in the morning, and then asked, "Big brother, when are we going?" ”

"In that case, let's go over, compared to Mr. Cen who has done everything well and is waiting for us to appear. You let Ruyan take the little apocalypse to participate. Now there are only three of us in the royal family, so we can't be absent. Li Xuanqing asked Qiaoxi to inform Ruyan to take Xiao Tianqi to the cabinet building, and he and Qiaoxi went over in advance.

In fact, when the couple passed, the cabinet had already prepared everything, Cen Tianshi and Xu Tianxiang had already gathered with the direct personnel of the two major military and political institutions, and the law court because Du Rangneng and the two vice courts were in the south to guide the division plan of the law court, so the left-behind personnel of the law court also followed Cen Tianshi.

"Your Majesty, Empress, you are here, we are all ready." Cen Tianshi saw Li Xuanqing and Qiaoxi coming together, and immediately smiled: "The first two years were too busy, and we can avoid many activities like the Wax Festival, but now that there is nothing to do in the north and south of the empire, we can still participate in such activities." ”

Li Xuanqing nodded and said with a smile: "Since that's the case, let's go to the Temple of Heaven." Li Xuanqing and Qiaoxi took the jade lion at the door of the cabinet building and took the lead towards the altar of worship. Originally, the cabinet prepared the emperor's luan, but Li Xuanqing rejected it, and he was very disgusted by the practice of calling forward and hugging back, so he gave up directly, and even took Xiao Tianqi and Ruyan instead of taking the chariot but followed Li Xuanqing on horseback.

When everyone came to the altar of worship, many people had spontaneously gathered around the periphery of the altar, waiting for the beginning of the ceremony. Many of the people of Chang'an have seen the scene of the previous emperor's participation in the wax sacrifice, but for the new Tang Empire, many people thought that the imperial government had abolished the wax sacrifice at first, but they did not expect to be notified by the imperial announcement early in the morning, and Li Xuanqing, the emperor of the Tang Empire, led all the high-level officials of the empire to attend the ceremony.

When Li Xuanqing and his party arrived, basically all the things that needed to be prepared for the lap sacrifice had been prepared, and the sacrifices used for the sacrifice were three animals and six animals and Laba porridge. After Li Xuanqing led all the high-level leaders to participate in the sacrifice, he distributed all the Laba porridge to the people who came to participate in the sacrifice, and recorded the full text of the media group's sacrifice activities and sent it to the whole country.

Cen Tianshi and others did not have too many requirements for the activities of the Lap Festival itself, but they were very interested in Li Xuanqing's requirements for the media group in the end, and they naturally did not use the nascent media industry as freely as Li Xuanqing and Qiaoxi, so on the way back, Qiaoxi took the little apocalypse back to the palace in advance, and the little guy was not at ease at the sacrificial ceremony before, and almost stood up alone when everyone held the sacrifice and ran to the edge of the altar to look down, and waved his hand down to speak, almost making Ruyan scared away. But fortunately, Li Xuanqing reached out and caught him back, pressing between himself and Qiaoxi, this time this little guy is honest, but those big eyes are still looking around, full of curiosity.

"Your Majesty, you don't plan that the people from the Media Group will be there when the Xu family's fleet arrives at the port this time, right?" Cen Tianshi thought of a question and came to Li Xuanqing's side and asked, the power of the media group has gradually come into play after the new management system and business development system have been implemented within the media group in a clever manner, and the reaction to various problems in the government and society has actually played a role in supervising local governments, and this kind of method that what happens in one place will not be long known to the whole country has made local governments have to take seriously these media group employees who hold press cards with the characteristics of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

When the two chatted about the role of the media group in the transmission of government and non-governmental information and government supervision, they had already arrived at the cabinet building, and Xu Tianxiang had also received news from Xuan Yingwei that there would be a special person from the Navy Department to report back to Chang'an on the course of this trip to Japan, and mentioned that the Navy Department was preparing to open up a port in Japan independently.

"It's about opening up overseas colonies." Li Xuanqing's words made Xu Tianxiang and Cen Tianshi both stunned, and then asked rhetorically: "What is an overseas colony?" ”

"It is a territory owned overseas that is not an official territory of the Empire, but has a higher rights and interests than the local indigenous people." Li Xuanqing couldn't explain the definition of a colony for a while, so he then said a sentence and continued: "Go and inform the people of the Navy Department that this matter can be operated, there are many good harbors in that place in Japan, and you can find an independent island to occupy as an imperial base for Japan in the future, whether it is a military or civilian base." ”

"Isn't that the territory of the Empire?" Xu Tianxiang heard Li Xuanqing say this, and asked directly: "Is this rash occupation of the territory of other countries against my style of Datang?" ”

"What's the style? It's our own. It's a big deal to think about returning it to them in a few hundred years. However, one thing that needs to be explained is that in the future, whether it is overseas or inland, all important places such as transportation arteries must find a way to take them and incorporate them into the official simultaneous areas of the empire, even if the places are far away, do not give up, this is a major event related to the future development of the empire. Li Xuanqing interrupted Xu Tianxiang's words, pulled him back to his train of thought, and said, "Didn't we say before that the whole world is not the king's land?" Since this is the case, those places originally belonged to our Datang, and I just need to occupy some important places to protect the rights and interests of the empire, so I still respect the local people very much. ”

After saying this, Li Xuanqing said with a straight face: "It's still what we said before, the first task of the Tang Empire is to safeguard the interests of the people of the empire and the interests of the empire. This is a priority, and if there are any interests that conflict with this one, it must be abandoned. Do you understand what that means? ”

"Does the emperor mean the principle that the empire comes first and the people of the empire come first?" Cen Tianshi understood what Li Xuanqing meant, although this kind of thinking was overbearing, but Li Xuanqing had already said this problem when discussing diplomacy with foreign countries before, so he didn't say much, for those who held the household registration certificate of the people of the empire or the certificate issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, they were all the subjects of the empire, and they were all objects that the empire needed to protect.

"Let the people from the Navy Department come to me after they return to Chang'an, and I'll help them choose a base, by the way, they have all been to Japan twice, and the general map of Japan and the division of internal political forces should be clear, right? The next time we go back, we can send Marines to accompany the operation, and arrange for troops to be stationed at the base in rotation in the future to prevent anyone from sabotaging and threatening our overseas bases. After Li Xuanqing finished ordering this, he turned his head and walked towards Changqing Palace, he was going to formulate the provisions of the overseas base. Immediately, Xu Tianxiang and Cen Tianshi were left in the Prime Minister's Office, looking at each other and smiling bitterly. Li Xuanqing's thinking was very different from the previous dynasties and dynasties they had come into contact with to treat foreign countries, and they used to wronged themselves and made things easier for others. When he arrived at Li Xuanqing, it was directly changed, and it became the principle of safeguarding one's own interests in everything, and this practice would definitely harm the interests of local forces.

"It seems that we still need to change our thinking, although the emperor's idea is different from before, but it is really to protect the interests of our empire and people. I think that with the continuation of overseas trade and the actions of Anzai, foreign affairs will become an important part of the empire, and you and I must be aware of it. Cen Tianshi watched Li Xuanqing disappear into the Cabinet Building.

"Actually, I also know that the emperor's approach is the most in line with the interests of the empire, but will this make those states mistakenly think that we are not the Celestial Empire, and their impression of us will change in the future?" Xu Tianxiang also knew Li Xuanqing's thoughts, but he had been sitting in the position of chief of the general staff all these years, and he had long been accustomed to doing everything with political views, so he was a little distressed.

"In fact, if you think about it, the Heavenly Empire is a place of pilgrimage for them, but it is not a place for them to take advantage. And what is the Celestial Empire? That is, our imperial subjects appear anywhere, as long as someone dares to infringe on his interests, it is an infringement of the interests of the empire. Cen Tianshi thought about it and said, "As for the previous approach, is it right?" I can't see it, can I? In the future, our approach will also be an experience for future generations to learn from. ”

When Xu Tianxiang and Cen Tianshi were talking about this matter in the cabinet building, Li Xuanqing returned to the Qianqiu Hall and told Qiaoxi about the thoughts of the Navy Department, unlike Cen Tianshi and others, Qiaoxi was no stranger to the colonies that appeared in later generations, so like Li Xuanqing, his first reaction was overseas colonies. So Wen Yan smiled and said: "Big brother's idea is very good, the scenery of Japan is still very good." When the time comes, we can listen to the thoughts of the Navy Department and see where they plan to build a base. But I personally think that it is not possible to directly occupy one of their big islands, anyway, just those local forces in Japan now, the marines are estimated to be able to unify the whole of Japan, right? ”

Li Xuanqing looked at the whole map of Japan in his hand, nodded and said with a smile: "If you can't do it, you can directly occupy Shikoku Island, right?" This is close to their political center, and after we occupy it, we only need to send a force to garrison it, and we can directly defend it for a long time. ”

"By the way, Japan doesn't have much control over the big island of Hokkaido. At that time, we can occupy it from behind after the defeat of Samhan, and compress the Japanese power within their main island. Qiao Xi obviously had a lot of grievances in his previous life, so he thought about it and pointed to the northernmost place and said with a smile: "When the time comes, we will pay to buy some small islands, and then we can build some resorts, then it will be perfect." ”

Qiaoxi's words also reminded Li Xuanqing of some long-term memories, and he quietly slid along his fingers to other places, and a series of islands appeared in sight one after another where his fingers fell.