And today's Chinese Empire is already strong enough to be a chess player, and there is an extra person with great strength to disrupt the game, which is definitely what Jieli Khan does not want to see.

Just five days earlier, news had come from the Turkic side that Jieli Khan was considering sending troops to the Chinese Empire. Moreover, it also sent men to discuss the possibility of a joint attack on China with the Western Turks.

This was the first time that Jieli Khan considered uniting with the Western Turks, and to be honest, if the two sides really wanted to unite, it would be very detrimental to the Chinese Empire, and the Western Turks controlled most of the Western Regions. Nowadays, the two sides are in a period of peace due to a large number of trade exchanges.

However, if the Western Turks really united with the Eastern Turks, it would inevitably deal a heavy blow to the economic activities of the Chinese Empire. You know, commercial taxes have long since surpassed agricultural taxes. Foreign economic and trade exchanges are a major pillar of income for the Chinese Empire today.

Therefore, the most important thing is not to allow the Eastern Turks and the Western Turks to sincerely unite against our Chinese Empire.

"Now, the sea route has been opened, but the problem is that the maritime trade route has only just been opened, and there is not much economic benefit yet, and the countries of the Western Regions are still the largest foreign trade areas in our Chinese Empire......" Fang Xuanling spat and kept poking at the map with his fingers, his face hideous. It looked like his new wife had just been dragged out of the cave by a hooligan.

Tao Tao constantly analyzed to the civil and military ministers present that if the Western Turks and the Eastern Turks were united, the terrible consequences would be caused. Well, this terrible consequence would be to reduce the tax revenue of the Chinese Empire by at least one-third.

The ministers finally began to be mobilized by Fang Xuanling. All of them were red-eyed, after all, in this era, it is not forbidden for officials and businessmen to collude, uh, or rather, when he becomes an official, he is not allowed to do business. However, his relatives and children can do business, but the state's supervision department is extremely strict, so it is difficult to use power for personal gain.

Especially after the Independent Commission Against Corruption was beaten by Ben Gongzi again and again, it has now become more shrewd and capable, like a wolf and a tiger. Coupled with the monitoring of the intelligence bureau, an intelligence organization independent of the bureaucracy, and the supervision of public opinion today, coupled with the improvement of the judicial system, they can do business, but it is difficult to get any power for personal gain.

Of course, the most important thing is that if the revenue of the state treasury is really reduced by one-third, coupled with the cut off of the iron-for-copper trade with the Eastern Turks, the Chinese Empire will inevitably suffer a heavy economic setback.

This is absolutely not allowed, the Chinese Empire has finally been able to take off development, so that the people can live a happy and peaceful life, the court is even more in the big construction, for the four modernizations of the Chinese Empire and work hard, there is really a shortage of money, even if it will not affect the lives of the people for the time being, it is equivalent to hindering the development of the Chinese Empire.

Of course, this is not possible, but next, how to resolve this trick of Jieli Khan?

"It will take at least three to five years for maritime trade to be ahead of land trade, after all, we have only just opened sea trade, and there has to be a process of building ships. Therefore, the minister thought that for the Eastern and Western Turks, it was best to treat them differently. ”

"Yes, at this stage, our focus is to recover the old land of the former dynasty and control the entire Central Plains in our hands. If a war is waged at the same time as the Eastern Turks and the Western Turks, it will inevitably create an obstacle to the unification of our Chinese Empire. ”

"Otherwise, let's negotiate with the Western Turks first and increase bilateral trade, so that they will also feel sorry for the loss of interests."

Many ministers of civil and military affairs have their own ideas here, and although there are few very constructive ideas, they really give everyone a lot of inspiration.

"Your Majesty, maybe we should strike first." Wei Yunqi, who had been silent all along, cleared his throat at this time, stood up and said.

He walked over to the map, poked his finger at one of the locations and said. "The minister thinks that although the Western Turks are also very powerful, in fact, they have no grudges with our Huaxia, so whether they will join forces with the Eastern Turks to attack our Huaxia, the minister thinks that it is only between the two."

"Then, the most important thing is that we want the Western Turks to see our strength, so strong that the Western Turks feel that the use of force will not bring enough benefits, then the Western Turks will definitely take a wait-and-see attitude towards the conflict between us and the Eastern Turks. It is even possible to want to be a profitable fisherman, waiting for the moment when the Eastern Turks will be defeated by our Huaxia. ”

The place where Wei Yunqi's finger pointed was the Eilechuan more than 1,000 miles north of Yan'an, which was later called the Hetao area. The Hetao area refers to the bends of the Yellow River and its surrounding basins. Since ancient times, the Hetao area has provided rich cultural resources and living resources for the Chinese nation, and the folk proverb also says that "the Yellow River is harmful, but only one set of riches". The topography of this loop is unique among the world's major rivers. The surrounding areas of the Hetao, including the Huangshui Basin, the Taoshui Basin, the Luoshui Basin, the Weishui Basin, the Fenshui Basin, the Sangqian River Basin, the Zhangshui Basin, and the Hutuo River Basin, all have relatively good natural environmental conditions, and they surround the Hetao area, just like the stars holding the moon, pushing the Hetao civilization to the highest peak, and at the same time spreading the Hetao civilization to a wider area.

The Hetao Plain usually refers to the plains along the Yellow River in the central part of the Inner Mongolia Plateau. Generally speaking, the Hetao Plain mainly refers to the alluvial plain of the Yellow River south of Yinshan, including the Qiantao Plain and the Houtao Plain. The front set of plains mainly refers to the plains of Baotou and Hohhot in Inner Mongolia, which was called "Eilechuan" in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, "Fengzhou Beach" in the Five Dynasties, and "Tumo River" after the Ming Dynasty.

Previously, it was mainly the Huns who operated here. After the unification of Qin, Pai Mengtian led an army of 300,000 to expel the Xiongnu from the Hetao, "migrating to fill it", but Taizuo was short-lived, and the world was in chaos at the end of Qin, and the immigrants all returned to their hometowns, and the Hetao was restored to the Xiongnu. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty counterattacked the Xiongnu and occupied the Hetao. Due to the long distance, inconvenient transportation, and extremely difficult transportation of grain and wages, the central government of the Western Han Dynasty made a heavy decision to develop the Hetao, and achieved world-recognized achievements. In the history of China's feudal society, it was the first and most successful time for the government to go all out and intervene in the economic development of a region in an in-depth and sustained manner, and it can be said that it is a model for the central government to develop the frontier.

In the second year of Yuan Shuo, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Wei Qing out of the west of Yunzhong to Longxi, and attacked Hu Zhilou and the Aries King in Henan, and then took Henan. Then the minister's father Yan sent to Emperor Wu, "Sheng Yan Shuo Fang is fertile, the river is blocked outside, Mengtian City is driven away by the Huns, the internal introspection is transferred to the Shucao, the China is wide, and the capital of Hu is also destroyed." Emperor Wu accepted this construction, and in that year, Shuofang County (now Inner Mongolia Urad Banner East) and Wuyuan County (in the west of present-day Baotou) were placed. Later, in the fourth year of Yuan Shuo, Xihe County (the northwest of the present-day Fugu was governed). There are also Yunzhong County and Dingxiang County in the Hetao Plain. The northern part of Northland and Upper County also extends to the Hetao region. Emperor Wu also set up counties under the county.

By the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Shuofang County had 10 counties, Wuyuan County had 16 counties, Yunzhong County had 11 counties, and Dingxiang County had 12 counties. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty set up Shuofang County in the second year (126 BC), sent the general Su to build Shuofang City, "restore the old Qin Dynasty Meng Tian for the blockage, because of the river and solid." "The other counties also built cities one after another. The newly set up counties are also building cities, such as the Linrong county seat of Shuofang County, which was built in the fifth year of Emperor Wu Yuanshuo, and its three seals and two counties of Woye were built in the third year of Emperor Wu Yuanjiao. In the summer of the third year of Taichu, Emperor Wu sent Guanglu Xun Xu to build the city of Leh outside the Wuyuan Sai, northwest to Luoqu, and the guerrilla general Han said that he would be a soldier.

The city built in the Hetao area was not only the county seat and military defense base, but also the most important settlement in a region. Although the Western Han Dynasty won heavy victories in three battles, the Xiongnu who retreated to Mobei still had a strong offensive ability, and the mobile Xiongnu cavalry still often rushed into the Hetao area to harass, such as the fifth year of the Yuan Dynasty, the Xiongnu "entered the five plains and killed the Taishou." ”

In the autumn of the third year of Taichu, the Xiongnu entered Yunzhong, Dingxiang, Wuyuan, and Shuofang, killed thousands of people, and destroyed the outer cities built by Xu Ziwei. In the second year of Zhenghe, he entered Shanggu and Wuyuan, and killed the people. During the reign of Emperor Zhao, the Xiongnu also invaded Wuyuan and killed thousands of people. Tens of thousands of horsemen hunted in the south, attacked the outer pavilion barriers, and took the officials and people. Therefore, under the circumstances of the time, it was impossible for the newly immigrant people from the interior to be scattered in the wilderness.

After the Xiongnu withdrew, the Hetao became an open space, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty relocated people from the interior on a large scale to enrich the area. The largest of these was three times, in the year of the end of the three major battles. In the spring of the second year of Yuan Shuo, the first battle ended, and in the summer of that year, the government "recruited 100,000 people to migrate to Shuo".

In the summer of the second year of Yuanzhen, the second battle ended, and in the autumn of the year, "Longxi, Beidi, and Hexi also had few Hu Kou, and migrated to the poor places in the eastern part of the country to seize the Xiongnu Henan, and the new Qin Zhongyi." "In the spring of the fourth year of Yuanzhen, the third battle ended, and in the winter of its year, there was a saying that the poor people in the eastern part of the Kanto region migrated to Longxi, Beidi, Xihe, Shangjun, and Huijifan 725,000 people. ”

This time the scale is the largest, and the Hetao area is likely to have no less than 300,000 to 400,000 people have been moved. Since then, small-scale migrations have often been carried out, such as the Book of Han and Emperor Wu, which records the fifth year of Yuan Hunting, and the Han Dynasty "migrated the world to the border with treacherous officials". According to the statistics of the first two years of the Western Han Dynasty in the Hanshu Geographical Chronicles, by the end of the Western Han Dynasty, there were 90 counties, more than 300,000 households, and more than 1.46 million mouths (some of the three counties of Beidi, Shangjun and Xihe were not within the scope of the Hetao, and the number of households was counted as one-half).

By the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the number of Hetao migrants was estimated to be about one million. However, there are only 280,000 people in the Hexi area, which was developed at the same time as the Hetao, which is only one-fifth of the Hetao.

During Wang Mang's reign, the Xiongnu reoccupied the Hetao, "so the border people flowed into the inner county." In the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu adopted a policy of contraction, and most of the western and northern counties were abandoned. In the twenty-sixth year of the establishment of the army, the Xiongnu had internal strife, Nandan was annexed, and the Eastern Han Dynasty restarted the operation of the Hetao. So the people of Yunzhong, Wuyuan, Shuofang, Beidi, Dingxiang, Yanmen, Shanggu, and Daibai returned to their homeland.