At the end of October of the second year of the Apocalypse, the Tiance Army captured Guangzhou and captured almost all the military and political dignitaries, including Liu Changlu, the envoy of the Lingnan Jiedu, officially announcing that the largest separatist force in Lingnan had disappeared from then on, and Guangzhou, the largest city in the south, had fallen into the hands of the Tiance Army. After nearly a year of continuous warfare, the territory of the Tang Empire expanded to most of the southern regions except the southwest. After the news reached Chang'an, the entire empire was in a boil, and the new Tang Empire led by Li Xuanqing spent nearly five years through non-stop warfare, starting from a small corner of Fengzhou, and miraculously created this unprecedented empire on the land of China, which was divided and divided by feudal towns.

"Congratulations to the emperor, Guangzhou has been recovered, most of Lingnan has been recovered, and the Tang Empire will surely inherit the past and the future, move forward indomitably, and create a new era of the Tang Dynasty." Cen Tianshi looked at the huge Guangzhou City in front of him and solemnly bowed his hand towards Li Xuanqing, and said with a smile.

"The quick recovery of Guangzhou is the credit of all the officers and soldiers of the Tiance Army, and it is also the credit of countless people of the empire who wholeheartedly follow the empire to fight." Li Xuanqing waved his hand and motioned to the few people around him to follow him to climb the tower of Guangzhou City, and said with a smile: "Guangzhou, as the largest overseas trade distribution center in the Lingnan region in the previous generation, has a history of 100 years and has created countless glorious pasts. Now that we have recovered it, we have rebuilt this important town in Lingnan and promoted the economic development of the entire region. ”

"Your command will participate in the follow-up southwest operation after the soldiers have rested. Take all the other prefectures and counties around Guangzhou. Li Xuanqing looked at Yang Tiancheng and said with a smile: "It's been almost a year since the two of you hit the banks of the Yangtze River directly to the banks of the Pearl River, which can be regarded as a miracle." Make persistent efforts to take down Pang Juzhao and Ye Guangluo to cut off the southern wing of the southwest region, and relieve Xue Yang and them of a little pressure. ”

"Your Majesty, don't worry, the front-line battle and I will be arranged by Hou Chun." Yang Tiancheng nodded and smiled: "Is it Qu Chengmei's side, do you want to let the navy come over to test your combat power?" Although the last typhoon almost swept away the navy of the Jing Navy, this guy still has a lot of sailor fleets in the entire Jiaozhou and Yanzhou, and there is no big problem in recovering in a short time. In addition, if we take Guangzhou, he will inevitably seize the time to reorganize his combat strength, and if he can't do it, he will send sailors to harass us, so I think it is best to destroy the opponent's fleet before the ground forces can fight it. ”

Yang Tiancheng's words were not only nodded by several military generals present, but even Cen Tianshi felt that it was necessary. If Guangzhou wants to develop, overseas trade is the most important link, although there have been many years before the overseas trade has come to a standstill, but in recent years has been gradually restored some, there are also a lot of merchants from overseas countries in the South Seas and nearby areas to trade, but if Qu Chengmei's sailors intercept it, I am afraid that it will be easy to make the emerging overseas trade come to a standstill again.

"You and Tianxiang should discuss it, and Guo Chongtao will form the Nanyang Fleet as soon as possible, which will be responsible for attacking Qu Chengmei's sailors and protecting the Nanyang trade lanes." Li Xuanqing nodded and said: "Now that Guangzhou has been recovered and overseas trade has resumed, let the Taxation Department of the Ministry of Finance and the Guoming Guard quickly set up customs, so that overseas trade can bring impetus to the development of the mainland as soon as possible." "Customs tariffs were previously agreed upon when the river customs were established. Moreover, with the expansion of the territory of the Tang Empire, Li Xuanqing was also ready to gradually remove the river passes, relax the restrictions on industrial and commercial circulation, and only levy a small amount of river tariffs.

"There are many mountainous areas and few plains in the Lingnan region, and land is not the key factor for the survival and development of the people, so the cabinet should grasp the specific situation of each place when formulating the development strategy, adapt measures to local conditions, and with the gradual improvement of transportation conditions, the products of various places can also be circulated rapidly, and all localities should develop their own characteristics, learn from each other's strengths and complement each other's weaknesses, and communicate with each other to promote the common development of the whole country." Li Xuanqing paused for a moment and then continued: "Shantou Port has been basically completed, let Yang Qiu come to Guangzhou first, and wait until next year's Imperial Council will demarcate the provinces and regions before arranging the specific person in charge, and temporarily the entire south will be included in the military administrative area." ”

"Haha, then Minister Yang is estimated to be busy to death, Li Jipeng went to Chudi to sit in Changsha, and the burden of the entire southeast fell on him alone, but it was enough." Wang Houchun said with a smile: "I'm afraid that it will be busier than the army at that time." ”

"Those who can work harder." Cen Tianshi did not hesitate to praise this former student, and said with a smile: "I have already informed Murong to ask him to come over to help sort out the industry and commerce here in Guangzhou, I believe there will be no problem." ”

The Jiangnan Command led by Yang Tiancheng and Wang Houchun arranged for Chai Jia to lead his troops north to Hezhou to join Chen Yu to sweep the northern Guangdong region, Xue Wanli led the main force of the Eastern Front from Duanzhou to attack Ye Guangluo and Pang Juzhao, and the huge prisoners of war in Guangzhou were also handed over to the logistics department that came later, and joined the pace of rebuilding Guangzhou on the spot.

More than 100,000 people worked together, the ruins in the city of Guangzhou were quickly cleaned up, the surrounding displaced people were also guided by the military to come to Guangzhou to settle down, the logistics of the transport fleet in Guangzhou docks were repaired directly along the Pearl River to the city of Guangzhou, a large number of materials from the rear continued to arrive, so that the development of Guangzhou has sufficient momentum. Thanks to this year's harvest in the Central Plains and Jiangnan and the speed of the recovery of the Tiance Army, the trade gradually took shape so that the five wealthy merchants led by the Xu family even temporarily gave up the idea of going to Japan and went all out to join the torrent of northern materials transferred to the south. And with the passage of time, the Yangtze River Shipping Company established by Zhang Qishan of Zhangjia in Jinling has gradually brought out the advantages of latecomers, connecting the various regions along the Yangtze River, so that the materials as far as Sichuan and Shu and Chu are quickly transported to Hangzhou, and then loaded and shipped to the south, and the entire Yangtze River water system is also completely connected with the canal water system, joining the national linkage of the trade torrent.

With the addition of the Zhangjia Shipping Company, the pressure on the northern provinces and regions was suddenly greatly reduced, the rich product resources and grain in Sichuan, Shu and Jingchu were stimulated, and the massive materials needed for reconstruction in Guangzhou and Fujian also had a solution, and the merchant ships on the Yangtze River were endless, even exceeding the canal for a time, and the golden waterway in Li Xuanqing's mind was playing an increasingly important role.

After the worries were solved by the sudden rise of the Zhang family, Li Xuanqing and Cen Tianshi couldn't think about this, and began to help Yang Qiu plan the development of Guangzhou together, because of the previous experience in the construction of Shantou Port, Yang Qiu overturned the original pattern of Guangzhou City, according to the concept brought by Li Xuanqing from later generations, with the wharf port as the starting point of urban construction, on the basis of the original Guangzhou wharf, five deep-water berthing wharves were built in one go, and the original wooden structure was replaced with the latest cement trestle. The long and hundreds of meters of forward wharf with the latest lighthouse make the whole Guangzhou port look new, in just half a month Guangzhou city seems to have changed, in the efforts of hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war and countless people, the Guangzhou area came out of the war again, the Tang Empire relied on Li Xuanqing and Cen Tianshi and other people to win the hearts of the people.

"Yang Qiu, the next step is to restore people's livelihood, but fortunately, Guangzhou does not rely entirely on agriculture, most of the time in addition to the output of the Pearl River Plain, more rely on the ocean. Therefore, in the area of people's livelihood, marine fisheries are the focus, and one thing to remember is that hope comes from the ocean, and wealth comes from the ocean. Li Xuanqing patted Cen Tianshi, whose eyes were red after fighting for more than ten days, and said solemnly: "If the Tang Empire wants to inherit the past and the future, it must understand this, we Han people on land have always led the top of the world, but we may not do better than other nations in ocean exploration." It is necessary to pass on this concept and let future generations understand that the hope of the Tang Empire cannot be without the ocean. ”

"Your Majesty, Yang Qiu will take the construction of ports and wharves as the first step in the development of Guangzhou because of this, and when the city and the surrounding areas are sorted out, he will go all out to develop trade, not only with other regions within the empire, but also find ways to develop trade with other places around him, and strive to restore the prosperity of Guangzhou City during the Tianbao period as soon as possible, so that everyone in the world knows that Guangzhou in the Tang Empire is an international metropolis."

"Mr. Cen and I are going to leave for Chang'an tomorrow, I hope you will make a detailed plan to bring back in the rest of the time, Guangzhou and Hangzhou are the established southern economic centers of the empire, and once they are developed, they will drive the surrounding areas and radiate the entire southern region of the empire." Li Xuanqing waved his hand to ask Yang Qiu not to be so solemn, and continued: "The south is rich in products, and it is not like the north that has been war-torn for a long time and the population is withering, so it will develop very quickly, I am waiting for your good news." ”

As soon as Li Xuanqing finished speaking, Hu Xiaosi hurriedly walked over, and Cen Tianshi said with a smile: "Xiaosi, it's been more than half a month, how is your treasure digging?" That Liu Changlu was escorted to Chang'an yesterday, and you didn't go to see it, could it be that you found out all the treasures of their family? ”

"That's, don't look at what I did in Qianbei? Didn't you see that the boxes of gold, silver, jewelry, and copper coins brought back by the fleet of the logistics department were not all my credit? In addition, I also asked Xiaohu to secretly rob a caravan of Ye Guangluo in Guangzhou, but I captured a lot of jewelry from Nanyang. Hu Xiaosi said with a smile: "I came today to give you gifts, ten big pearls per person, or colored." After speaking, he took out a few boxes and each of them said with a smile: "I have inquired, this thing is not worth much in Nanyang, it is like giving it for nothing." ”

Li Xuanqing glared at him angrily and scolded with a smile: "Give it for nothing, you give me a bunch of things for nothing?" But Nanyang Jewelry, could it be said that the shipping route on the Nanyang side has been restored? ”

"Xuan Yingwei got the news from Qu Chengmei, the trade between the Nanyang side and China and Turkey has not been interrupted, in the past, when the Lingnan War was in turmoil, he took advantage of Jiaozhou and the mainland to trade, and exchanged Nanyang specialties and gold and silver treasures for our silk, porcelain, tea and other products, and gained a lot." Hu Xiaosi nodded and said, "It is precisely because of this that this Qu Chengmei was able to form the Jing Navy and the Navy fleet. Otherwise, with the economic situation of Jiaozhou, how can he have a good life? ”

Li Xuanqing nodded and said thoughtfully: "It seems that Guo Chongtao's navy needs to hurry up, have they set off for the south at present?" ”

"It has already set off, but there is no coal reserve in Shantou, Guangzhou, and we are all powered ships now, and even the ships of many shipping companies have begun to gradually replace with new cargo ships and passenger ships, so the coal mining in the north cannot keep up, and the transport fleet has to transport various materials and ship coal, so it is more troublesome and delayed." Hu Xiaosi said casually.

"It seems that before returning to Chang'an, you need to go to the state, but Anxiuxiu has more than ninety percent of the empire's coal reserves, and it is necessary to ensure that the mining strength is supplied to the whole country. In addition, the logistics department was asked to send special personnel to form an exploration team to explore mineral resources in the south. Next year, the Cabinet will formally establish the Ministry of Land and Resources, which will be responsible for the exploitation and audit of all minerals in the empire, ensuring the needs of economic development and ensuring that the exploitation of resources is carried out in an orderly manner. Li Xuanqing nodded and said with a smile: "It seems that the Bohai Bay area will become a distribution center for northern resources in the future." The Northeast region should also seize the time and not lag behind, because the Northeast is a treasure trove of resources. ”

Li Xuanqing's words made Cen Tianshi and others nod for a while, and coal has become more and more an indispensable and important resource for economic development. At present, the coal mining has been innovated by the logistics department and the high-end businessmen under the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and it has been able to achieve underground mining, but the scale is not large. It seems that important resources still need to be state-run and the power of the state can be exploited on a large scale. Cen Tianshi's idea also led to the emergence of a famous mining tycoon. The state-owned coal mining group of the Tang Empire has appeared all over the world with the pace of the empire and has become an important boost for the development of the empire.

In mid-November of the second year of the Apocalypse, Li Xuanqing and Cen Tianshi set off from Guangzhou and returned to Hangzhou on the latest imperial official ships. Cen Tianshi departed from Hangzhou to return to Chang'an to prepare for the end of the cabinet, while Li Xuanqing and his wife took a short stay in Hangzhou and then took a boat north to Tianjin, and then took a train to Taiyuan to discuss coal mining with An Xiuxiu. After the meeting between the two, Bingzhou, a province with large coal resources, began to embark on the fast track of development. Anxiuxiu built two large-scale coal mining plants in the name of the state, and built two new key private coal mining plants in the name of bidding. And in order to facilitate transportation, in the name of self-financing and self-financing, relying on the method of private fund-raising and government subsidies, the railway of Bingzhou was extended from Taiyuan to the west to Fenzhou, and it was planned to be repaired to Luzhou and other places in the south, so as to connect several major coal mining key states and counties to facilitate the rapid export of resources. In this way, the railway construction of the state has gone directly to the front of the country.

After Li Xuanqing and others left, the city of Guangzhou led by Yang Qiu was also rebuilt, and after doing a good job of various measures, Yang Qiu began to reform the matter, sweeping away the landlords on the large and small plains in the Pearl River area, and a large number of displaced people settled on the spot. After solving the land trouble, the fishery began to be vigorously developed, and many fishermen who had relied on the sea for survival in the previous generation were gathered to impart new fishing knowledge, cancel the previous onerous taxes, and the new Tang Empire fishery tax brought new opportunities for the development of marine fisheries, and also brought new development opportunities for the development of Guangzhou.

At the end of November of the second year of the Apocalypse, five warships of the Nanyang Fleet of the Tiance Army Navy arrived in Guangzhou, and the new ironclad warships shocked everyone. Guo Chongtao even announced in public that the Imperial Navy would become the protector of Guangzhou's development and resolutely protect the interests of the imperial people at sea, which was strongly supported by all walks of life in Guangzhou. The new Guangzhou began its voyage.