"Deputy Prime Minister, you are also here, it just so happens that this is the content of the Imperial Council transferred by Xuan Yingwei, and this is sent to you by the Cabinet. Marshal, this is what the General Staff has summarized for us. "On the twenty-fifth day of the first month of the fifth year of the Apocalypse, the northwest side is still cold and windy, and almost the entire land of Anxi is immersed in a winter color, except for the white snow is the boundless sand yellow, without a trace of green. In addition to celebrating the Spring Festival, most of the camps canceled the duty exercises, but because the weather was too cold, most of the soldiers did not take advantage of this rare holiday to go out to hang out, basically nested in the camp and chatted with each other. To tell the truth, the Western Expeditionary Army has been fighting all year round, and many soldiers have no time to gossip with their colleagues at all. Since the Tiance Army is basically a reorganized army, there are people everywhere in a sequence, and this blowing naturally brings out any accent. Although the Ministry of Education has begun to formulate the official Tang Yan standard pronunciation based on the Tang Yan specimen from Chang'an, and has invited many reclusive old scholars and many respected scholars to preside over this matter, it is obvious that it is unlikely that the Ministry of Education will achieve obvious results in a short period of time. However, Liu Xuan didn't care about these behaviors of the soldiers, and received an urgent document from Xuan Yingwei early in the morning, and after the imperial meeting in Chang'an ended, the cabinet and the General Staff immediately began to report to various places, and jointly with the Ministry of National Defense began to arrange the affairs of the war zone. These must be reported in advance for Wan Yi, the commander of the Western Expeditionary Army. In particular, the northwest and Tibetan areas are still in a period of war, and the commander-in-chief of the troops at the front must be informed.

"Hehe, how did I find out that Xuan Yingwei's long-distance emergency transmission was so fast. Did they learn some secret tricks from the emperor? Why is the passage of our civil administration and your General Staff not so fast? Tuoba Sijian was originally sitting next to Gao Siji and Wan Yi and the three of them were drinking tea, almost all the major military and political events in the winter were stopped, and the major cities also had corresponding relief measures to ensure that no one starved to death, so the three of them were completely idle, so that Tuoba Sijian was rare to open the urgent letter sent to him by the cabinet and said with a smile: "I don't know if Mr. Cen has blackmailed the emperor this year, how to say that in the last year of this term, our prime minister should have his own ideas, It's a pity that we can't hear it when we're not in Chang'an. Last time, I heard that Mr. Cen was planning to discuss with the emperor in private what group to form. However, Tuoba Siji had just looked at a few pages and raised his head, just in time to find that Gao Siji and Wan Yi both looked up at the same time, and suddenly realized that the General Staff should have also sent a resolution that surprised them.

"The cabinet has finalized with the emperor that the northwest will continue to implement the provincial system, and the entire northwest will be divided into four provinces, Anxi, Beiting, Khotan and Gaochang, and the next step is the division of specific provinces, autonomous regions, and provincial boundaries, and the General Staff will be handed over to me to deal with by myself." Tuoba Sizhi said with a little surprise, "This seems to be the emperor's intention, but the cabinet has already planned to start the pace of industrial development in the northwest, and plans to continue to build the railway to the west, and the main line must be repaired at least to Shule, which is very difficult." ”

"Repair to Shule?" Gao Siji curiously put down the resolution sent by the General Staff in his hand, leaned over and said while looking at it: "With Shule as the hub of the Northwest Railway, the north-south runs from east to west, radiating all directions of Anxi. Deputy Prime Minister, the ambition of your cabinet is not small, and it will be difficult to build this railway to Shule, plus it will be difficult to radiate the surrounding area? How much is this going to throw here? How do I think this is a matter of cost? Gao Siji knows a lot about civil affairs, so the new terms that pop out of his mouth are one after another, and they make sense. This made Tuoba Sidu a little curious about the entire former "enemy", rubbed his eyes and smiled: "My senior deputy marshal, why don't I go to Emperor Ming and let you be in charge of the military district?" ”

"Probably this is the emperor's strategy for controlling the northwest." Wan Yi nodded with a deep sigh and said, "Actually, speaking of which, the emperor's method may really be the most effective strategy." To make up for the distance gap with railway traffic, relying on the current speed of the train, the distance from Anxi to Chang'an has been artificially shortened by nearly double, so that if there is an accident on the Anxi side, the response time on the Chang'an side will be a month earlier, so that the problem we are worried about will not exist. Wan Yi paused and continued: "But what Brother Si just said is not bad, we are only afraid that we will have to pay a huge price to build a railway in the desert wasteland of the northwest, and at present, our empire is still carrying out the five-year industrial plan, and the cabinet will definitely drag down the development of the empire by transferring such a large amount of funds into the northwest." The three of us, as the top level of the military and government in the northwest, must find a way to save the cabinet and the emperor at this time, and try to scrape together as much money as possible. ”

Wan Yi's words can be regarded as saying that the hearts of the other three people present are on the sidelines, the Western Expeditionary Army has been fighting in the northwest all the year round, which costs a lot, and in addition, it has to build a railway, and the cabinet expenditure is too large, which will inevitably affect the development of other regions of the empire. So Gao Siji nodded and said: "What the big marshal said is that in my opinion, we can divide into three steps to find a way to make up for the huge expenses in the northwest, and then the pressure on Mr. Cen's side will be much less." ”

"Oh, Vice Marshal Gao has an idea so quickly?" Tuoba Siji originally had something to say, but when he heard that Gao Siji had a way so soon, he immediately asked curiously.

"First, find a way to save military spending, there is nothing to say about this, our army is actually a bit wasteful in fighting, what bullet shells and shell shells, as well as those captured cold weapons in the past, because of the convenience of directly burying the enemy's corpse on the spot. I've heard that these can be rebuilt. Gao Siji put up a finger and smiled: "It's not a big deal to bring back the caravan and train directly from our round-trip caravan." ”

"This is just a drop in the bucket, even if we mobilize the soldiers to reduce their expenditures, I am afraid that it will not play a big role in the huge cost of the railway." Wan Yi shook his head, although Gao Siji's method is good and not troublesome to implement, but it still doesn't really work. However, Wan Yi nodded towards Liu Xuan as he spoke, and the latter immediately remembered this sentence, obviously no matter how few mosquitoes are, they are still meat, and this sentence is not wrong anywhere.

"Don't worry, marshal, my second rule, to encourage the soldiers to grab more money and come back to exchange for meritorious service. Anyway, we have already passed the Tang currency, and the control of gold and silver is becoming more and more strict on the part of the Ministry of Finance and the money bank, so in fact, the gold and silver seized are really not as good as exchanging the success medal for the soldiers of the army. I think that's what we're capturing every time we fight. And the most important point is that if we capture the important people of the other party, we can let the other party pay for ransom. Gao Siji unconsciously said something that made the other three shiver. If this matter is really to be carried out, depending on the temperament of the soldiers below, they will definitely let people out during the day, and they will send people to snatch them back at night. So Liu Xuan couldn't help but glance at Gao Siji, feeling that his deputy marshal obviously understood the minds of the soldiers below.

"I'm the third one for you, it's supposed to rob people, right? More points for prisoners of war or something. Wan Yi understood Gao Siji's thoughts very well, so he smiled slowly: "Let me add one to you, the deputy prime minister's side can contact the caravan, and the cold weapons we captured can be sold directly, anyway, many big merchants in the northwest are actually related to the Samangarlu side and even the big food empire further west, etc., just sell it, these weapons have limited lethality for us." As soon as Wan Yi's method was spoken, Tuoba Sizhi smiled slightly, this is indeed a good way, weapons are always a profiteering industry. Therefore, he immediately said that he would contact the Yelujia family and ask them to take the lead in cooperating with the local business community in Shule.

"Actually, prisoners of war or something, your army really has to hold on. Because it's not just the construction of railways that requires a lot of manpower. Moreover, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce has decided to set up large-scale industrial zones in Liangzhou and Suzhou to develop two basic industries based on iron and steel and chemical industry, so as to create a foundation for railway construction and the development of the northwest. Tuoba Sizhi nodded and said: "So don't kill them all, your army has been getting more and more lethal recently, I need more manpower over there, and I have to maintain a huge logistics team to transport supplies to you, and I have to build roads, and now I have to build two industrial zones, this is going to build two cities directly." ”

"Okay, Deputy Prime Minister, I will inform the armies, and if it is not necessary, remember to take more prisoners. If it doesn't work, I'll tell the soldiers to exchange the prisoners for merit. Gao Siji waved his hand and couldn't listen to Tuoba Siji's nagging, but his words made Wan Yi and the other three people feel relieved, and the army really needed to emphasize the matter of capturing prisoners, so Wan Yi took over and said: "Don't worry, take Ge Lulu and return at least 100,000 prisoners to you." ”

"If that's the case, I plan to wait for the first month to transfer all the tens of thousands of captives near Shule to Suzhou. Zhang Quanfu in Liangzhou is able to mobilize the people around Liangzhou to participate in the construction of new urban areas and industrial zones when necessary, but Suzhou is different and needs new labor. Tuoba Si said with a smile: "I will let Yang Yi leave enough National Guards near Shule, while recruiting local people to build a straight road, and strive to build the straight road from Khotan to Shule first, and then build it to the north to Hot Spring Pass and Broken Leaf City, and directly connect to Andijan to the west." ”

"Come on, my captive hasn't been captured yet, so you can arrange a place for me directly." Gao Siji couldn't help but laugh and scolded when he saw Tuoba Si's advice: "It seems that Dashuai, you are right to arrange for me to go to Khotan after the New Year, and I still don't participate in this matter." ”

"You probably won't be able to run away, you haven't read the resolution sent by the General Staff. The General Staff and the Ministry of National Defense have already decided to implement the theater system, and because the northwest side is on the front line of the war, we need to plan the new theater on our own and then report it to the General Staff Department and the Ministry of National Defense. Wan Yi shook his head and said: "We will consider this matter, after all, the Western Expeditionary Army currently adopts a rotation system, so it is actually not inferior to the Northwest Frontier Army, and the formation of the Northwest Theater is only afraid that it needs to communicate with the General Staff Officer." ”

"What's going on?" Gao Siji looked at the resolution in his hand and nodded: "I'm afraid that the theater system doesn't have too many ways on the side of the General Staff, so we might as well provide a precedent for the General Staff, after all, the northwest is the front line, and the degree of freedom is very high." ”

Seeing the two of them talking about purely military and political matters such as the theater system, Tuoba Siji stood up and said with a smile: "You can solve the affairs of your military yourself, and I will also deal with the affairs of my side." If the wind and snow stop recently, I plan to go back to Hexi, and when the time comes, I will send Sima Daoxin to come over and partner with Yang Yi, and the two of you will help you then. Tuoba Si Zhi waved his hand and walked out of the barracks and began to busy himself with his own affairs, but his appearance made the development of Northwest Industry enter the fast lane. At the end of the first month of the fifth year of the Apocalypse, Tuoba Sijian returned to Liangzhou, Hexi with the high-level officials of the military administrative region from Shule and Zhang Quanfu, who had arrived one step in advance, to discuss the construction of a chemical zone in Liangzhou in advance.

"I plan to build the chemical industry zone in the northwest of Liangzhou, where there is not only a water source, but also according to the information sent by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, our chemical industry zone is a three-acid and two-alkali base, and there is also a vigorous development of the northwest salt industry, including industrial salt." Zhang Quanfu handed the information in his hand to Tuoba Sizhi and continued: "The specific Ministry of Industry and Commerce will send special personnel to participate in the planning, and all companies in the chemical industry park will also report their own business projects. "For the three acids and two alkalis, in fact, Li Xuanqing has come up with the soil method, and the new style has not been able to achieve mass production in the laboratory so far, which involves too much basic knowledge of chemistry, which cannot be artificially raised.

"It's not a big problem, but I'm afraid that you have placed the industrial zone in the northwest to avoid fertile land and other industries in several other directions. After all, even if the Ministry of Water Resources and Environmental Protection does its best, the chemical industry zone will not be able to eliminate pollution, and it may be built in the desert and mountainous area in the northwest to minimize pollution. Quan Fu, I feel that if this continues, the Hexi Provincial Political Envoy's Office will be the second department of your Ministry of Water Resources and Environmental Protection. Tuoba Sizhi nodded while teasing Zhang Quanfu.

"There's no way, there aren't many forests and grasslands in the northwest, and there are desert areas, and it will be too difficult to restore once it is destroyed. When the emperor asked me to be in charge of Hexi Province, he also mentioned that Hexi Province does not seek to achieve much in economic development, but there is one thing that must be done, that is, to maintain this blue sky grassland. Zhang Quanfu didn't smile at this time, "Although I have no objection to the construction of the industrial zone this time, I don't know whether I am right or wrong to do this." ”

Tuoba Sijian knew Zhang Quanfu's thoughts, and he also knew that he was afraid that he had now come to a misunderstanding, so he patted him on the shoulder and said gently: "Quanfu, do you know that since the emperor told you so at the beginning, why did he take the initiative to build an industrial zone in the northwest this time?" And there are two of them as soon as they are opened. He understands the importance of environmental protection in the northwest better than you, but in addition to practical considerations, I am afraid that the emperor also understands that although the environment in the northwest is harsh, after your governance, it has a certain ability to bear it, although the construction of two industrial zones has caused pollution, but he believes that you will be able to resolve it, after all, how many trees have you planted in Hexi over the years? How many lakes and rivers have been transformed? With your support, the Hexi side will become better. ”

"Deputy Prime Minister rest assured, I understand, I think I will use trees and grass to make the industrial zone on this side of Hexi into a green industrial zone." Zhang Quanfu nodded and smiled.