In the northwest side, because of the submission of credentials with the Great Food Empire, and the trade volume between the two countries, the trade volume between the two countries continued to rise after the Great Food Empire sent tribute, not only the hundreds of thousands of breech guns eliminated by the National Guard, but also a large number of other various goods and goods were continuously sent to the northwest along the Silk Road, and then transported to the territory of the Great Food by separate routes, and a huge amount of gold and silver wealth flowed back along the Silk Road. For this reason, the cabinet headed by Cen Tianshi saw the glittering gold brought back by the Silk Road for the first time, so the support for the Maritime Silk Road also increased dramatically, so it did not hesitate to send a large number of materials and manpower from the Central Plains provinces to the southwest to support the construction of the supply base along the way of the navy, and also let the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the qualified large merchants in the United Nations begin to open shopping malls near the major bases that have been built, and began to dump Datang's goods on the spot, earning local wealth to feed the development of the empire. As a result, the railway construction in the southwest has entered a climax stage, and the old industrial provinces from Fengzhou and other northern industrial provinces have begun to transfer the industrial chain to the southwest in an organized manner, and have increased the support for the railway line, so as to hope to open the most convenient fast track from the south to the north as soon as possible.

Before the completion of the construction of the Southwest Railway, the Northwest Railway trunk line brought much more benefits than the Southwest, after all, the cost of each trip to the Dashi side of the sea route due to too few supply bases is too high, basically each cargo ship arriving at the Persian Governorate needs to prepare three to four cargo ships to follow behind to transport supplies, and it also needs the navy to escort uninterruptedly, so the northwest side has also entered a period of prosperity and development in advance because of the huge transportation capacity of the railway trunk line.

Under such circumstances, Wan Yi immediately began to plan with Gauss after returning to the northwest from Chang'an, planning to bring this chaotic region under the control of the Tang Dynasty, so that the Tang Dynasty could not only get the strategic commanding heights in the confrontation with the Great Food, but also the trade route of the Tang Dynasty would not only be a cannibal after the Aral Sea was included in the scope of the empire's rule, but also be able to continue direct trade with the Great Qin people to the west through the Aral Sea. This is also the reason why Li Xuanqing asked the Great Food Empire to withdraw from the Aral Sea region. Although this place is mostly a desert area, its geographical location is very important, and the abundant alpine snow water brought by the two rivers of Yaozhishui and Wuhu River makes it a place that although it is located in a desert, it can be completely converted into arable land in the eyes of the Han people in the Central Plains to grow grain and other cash crops. Therefore, Wan Yi aimed his eyes at Huoxun at first sight, that is, near the source of the lower reaches of the Wuhu River, and controlling Huoxun was equivalent to controlling the passage of the Wuhu River in and out of the Aral Sea on the southern line.

"I agree with the big marshal's idea, taking Huoxun is equivalent to cutting off the direct channel for the Great Food Empire to interfere in our northwest inland in the future, and it can also control an entire big river with one point, and all the areas north of the Wuhu River will be included in the radiation scope of our western expeditionary army." Gauss Ji put down the charcoal pen in his hand and said with a smile: "Although most of the areas where the Wuhu River flows through the lower reaches are deserts, there is no way to compare with the medicine killing water, but in terms of geographical location alone, it is undoubtedly much more important than the latter. ”

"I don't have any opinion on the deployment of troops, but the two commanders, we can only draw out one mobile force at hand at the moment, and it is great to transfer a part of the Uighur Corps, it is not ordinarily difficult to leap thousands of miles into the Great Desert, and the Huoxun area is similar to the Mulu Prefecture in the north of Safar that was recovered by the previous deputy marshal, and it is the border location of the Great Food Empire, and we can't hand it over to the National Guard like other places after we take it. As an important border town, it must be handed over to the regular army to be stationed. However, the armies of the two generals Hou Yong and Wu Huan, who were transferred to the northwest by the General Staff, are only afraid that they are still in the northern grasslands at this moment, or should we wait? Liu Xuan couldn't help but take over the conversation when he saw these two bigwigs patronizing the matter of troop deployment and land occupation, and said with a wry smile, the number of troops that can be requisitioned in the hands of a chief of staff is so small, once the fight starts, the lack of troops is not irresponsible to the front-line soldiers?

Liu Xuan's words made Gao Siji stunned for a moment and then said: "There are not too many people, let Hamoud lead three battalions or so to attack Huoxun, let Wu Si'er lead two battalions to take down the tribes along the way along the medicine killing water, and then advance to the mouth of the medicine killing water, gather the surrounding tribes to build a city in the source of the river, and then build a road along the river to repair the road near Baishui City, so that we will cooperate with the plan of the deputy prime minister while fighting, and nothing will be delayed." You don't have to worry about the interference from the big cannibal's side, there are three battalions of field troops advancing to Huoxun, plus the national letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before, the big cannibal will not dare to start the war lightly even if he is unwilling, and it is a big deal to let Zhang Sheng set up a position to support the Governor's Mansion of Anxi Prefecture and Kunxu Prefecture at that time. ”

Wan Yi had no opinion on Gao Siji's analysis, so he asked Liu Xuan to immediately write a plan and send it to the General Staff at the same time to send someone to inform Hammud and Wu Si'er to lead the army to advance to Baishui City to converge, and at the same time asked Xuan Yingwei to summon Zhang Sheng's corps to prepare for it in Anxizhou and Mulu Prefecture.

After the three of them planned everything, on the one hand, they asked the logistics department to start sending supplies to Baishui City and Mulu Prefecture, and on the other hand, they began to wait for Tuoba Sizhi to come from Shule in Genross and other places to discuss the follow-up reception. However, at this time, Tuoba Sijian did not participate in the military's actions, and he didn't look down on the Aral Sea region, so after receiving Wan Yi's summons, he replied directly to a letter and no longer paid attention to this matter, but handed over all the things on the front line to the army to deal with, and told Wan Yi that it was best to go back to Shule after arranging the affairs of the front-line commanders, he had important matters to discuss, and at the same time, Tuoba Sijian began to convene Gao Chongmin, the political envoy of Beiting, Zhao Mingcheng, and Qu Chengmei, the political envoy of Anxibu. Khotanese envoy Qian Biao and the governor of the Safar Military Region, Sima Daoxin, came to Shule to discuss the outline for the development of the northwest that he had drawn up during this time.

In addition to the 50,000-strong army of the Seventh Corps and the Uighur Corps, which were assembled in Baishui City, a large number of logistical materials and ammunition also began to follow the road map drawn up by Liu Xuan, and the army was assembled one step ahead of schedule. After Hamoud and Us'er arrived at Whitewater City with their troops, they came to Genros to meet with Wan Yi and others.

Liu Xuan was responsible for explaining the strategic plan of the Western Expeditionary Army Headquarters to the two of them, and unlike Wu Si'er who began to look through the map of the northern front to find the details of the large and small forces along the way, Hammoud was obviously prepared in advance, and nodded after listening: "Do the two marshals mean to form a kind of defensive circle with Anxi Prefecture and Mulu Prefecture as horns after taking Huoxun?" ”

"Looks like you're prepared in advance." Wan Yi's heart moved, and Gauss next to him said with a smile: "It is worthy of being a famous Uighur general, and he really has a good vision, if there is a war between our Tang Dynasty and the Great Cannibals in the future, there can only be two places, of which the north is the triangle you said, and the other is the Persian Governor's Mansion in the south." We don't need to worry much about the southern front, the navy over there has already arranged for the marines to prepare to come and station, and Zhang Sheng's side has also built a large fortification with Sima Daoxin on the coast of the Persian Governor's Palace. And the northern front needs the kind of defensive rings that you call each other's horns to resist the other side and buy time for the main forces in the rear to rush in for reinforcements. ”

"Two marshals, I have a proposal, after Huo Xun takes it, can we build a city in the land of the source of the river like the northern front?" Hammoud made a comparison on the map and said: "There are more than 300 miles from Huoxun to the edge of the Aral Sea, such a long distance has exceeded the defense margin of the army, and in order to block this line, it is necessary to build a city along the coast, connect it with Huoxun into a line, and then rely on the Anxizhou and Mulu Prefecture and the interior of the southern line to coordinate with each other, so as to be able to attack and defend as one." ”

Hammud's suggestion made Wan Yi nod and smile: "Your plan is really good, but the lower reaches of the Wuhu River are different from other places, and it is too difficult to build a city, but your suggestion is worth considering, and it will be up to you to decide when the time comes." Before the end of the year, in addition to taking down the fire and suppressing the agitation of the big cannibals, you will establish a complete defensive circle in the three places, understand? ”

Hammoud was prepared when he received this order, so he nodded and took over this task, which was obviously much more difficult than the northern front, and was also prepared for the construction of the city, and in the subsequent time, he relied on local materials and prisoners of war to build a new city in Heyuan, and this coastal city later developed rapidly because of the front west and the south.

"After you go, I will ask the chief of staff to give an order to the Anxi Corps, and if necessary, you can directly mobilize the troops of the Anxi Corps stationed in Mulu Prefecture and other places to cooperate with you." Wan Yi thought for a moment and continued: "The current task of the Western Expeditionary Army is to cooperate with the economic development of the interior, especially the northwest region, in addition to cooperating with the economic development of the interior, especially the northwest region, on the one hand, to deter the newly recovered tribes in the region, and on the other hand, to maintain the pressure on the Great Food Empire, forcing them to turn their attention to the west, and to free up enough time for our development, at least to ensure that the navy or railway extends from Shule to Genros, so that our logistics and transportation can keep up with the pace of our march." Wan Yi looked at Hammoud and Wu Si'er and said with a smile: "This time I returned to the Emperor of Chang'an and made it clear that the pace of our Datang's external expansion will never stop, and the temporary pause is to make the rear economy develop faster, so that the transportation construction can keep up with the pace of the army's war." In turn, the purpose of the army to fight a war is also very simple, in addition to expanding the territory, the biggest purpose is to expand the market for economic development, in short, the future war may be to use the guns in the hands of the soldiers to find buyers for the rear of the goods, whoever wants to stop our merchants from selling goods we will fight until they agree. ”

"Isn't that a gun to force others to buy our Datang goods? Isn't that a forced buy and a forced sale? Wu Si'er felt a little incredible, scratched his head and said with a bitter smile: "It's a shame that when I wrote to Brother An last time, I despised him for letting his clan engage in industry and commerce, and now it seems that I will have to be a city bodyguard in the future." His nonsense made Gao Siji cry and laugh, shook his head and reprimanded: "You fool and laugh at Brother An, they are making the clansmen rich, you give me the honesty to kill all the tribes along the medicine and water, otherwise I will send you back to take care of the family and nursing home for others." ”

"Alas, in fact, Dashuai, I originally planned to ask if I could go to the Central Plains after the winter, or go to the Military Academy to study, but now it seems that I can't make the trip, I have long heard that the Central Plains is prosperous, and now I am afraid that it will change more and more year by year, or wait for Dashuai to give me a vacation next year?" Hammoud saw that Gauss was so disciplined that he didn't dare to speak, so he changed the subject and smiled: "Last time, Deying told me that he wanted to go to the Central Plains with me." ”

"Then you guess you have to wait for next year, and you have to pray that next year's eclipse will not be muddy, otherwise the northwest side is afraid that there will be another big battle, and the Uighur Corps General Staff is not on the list of rotational rest for the time being." Gauss Ji said with a smile: "Do you want to say hello to the General Staff in the next year, and transfer you to the Central Plains for repair?" I heard that some people went to the palace to intercede with the emperor in order to be transferred to the northwest to fight the war as soon as possible. ”

"Intercede with the emperor? Could this work too? Hammoud was a little dumbfounded, and couldn't help but say, "The emperor shouldn't ask about such a specific thing, right?" ”

"That's for sure, in the past two years, the emperor has either been busy studying with the cabinet on how to develop the economy, or pondering what strategic situation to lay out, and how to take care of these, so unfortunately he was kicked out directly." Wan Yi also knew what happened some time ago, Shi Jian was going to intercede with Li Xuanqing because he was not transferred to the northwest to join the Western Expeditionary Army after the third troop rotation, but he was kicked away by the other party, and he fled from the palace in embarrassment with a big footprint, "So, if you want to go to the Central Plains, you can ask the General Staff to transfer you back, but when you will be transferred back depends on the mood of our Chief of General Staff." ”

"Then forget it, I'm not familiar with the General Staff, I'd better wait until the battle is over." Hammoud shrank and sneered. This made the others laugh, and Shi Jian, who was depressed in the Central Plains, didn't realize that his matter had become like this after it spread to the northwest.

At the end of August of the sixth year, after the logistics department delivered all the materials of the brigade in place, Hammoud and Us'er also led the army to bid farewell to Wan Yi and others, and divided their troops in Baishui City. And Wan Yi and Gauss Ji also began to return to Shule with the personnel directly under the headquarters, leaving Liu Xuan with some of his men stationed in Genros to coordinate the follow-up matters of the two armies.