Ashina Zhongjie and Wu Zhile led a large group of men and horses, went out of the city to greet each other, and set up a full formation. It was also the first time Wu Qing saw the middle-aged man with a beard and a black and red face.

"Minister, Wu Zhile, I have seen His Royal Highness the King of Wei." Uzile bowed down and stroked his chest in salute.

Wu Qing paused and said, "Uzile, do you know why the Pontus Governor is here?" ”

Wu Zhile was stunned for a moment, but there was no fear on his face, and said: "Please forgive the ignorance of the remote people, and ask the King of Wei to give advice." ”

Wu Qing snorted coldly and said, "Go into the city and talk!" ”

Entering Broken Leaf City, Wu Qing couldn't help frowning, this is a little different from the rumored Broken Leaf City, the houses in the city are dilapidated, the city walls have collapsed and damaged in many places, and the Turks are patrolling in the market. The people in the city also have different skin colors, white, yellow, brown, black, etc., in short, it is a hodgepodge, but no matter what color people are, they all bow their heads, occasionally raise their heads, and there is a trace of fear in their eyes.

Wu Qing arrived at the Governor's Mansion, and Ashina Zhongjie and Wuzhile came in turn.

After saluting, Wu Qing asked, "Tell me how you took Broken Leaf City." ”

Uzile and Ashina Zhongjie glanced at each other, and Ashina Zhongjie said: "Governor of the Great Metropolis, on the day of the broken leaves, Uzile has already captured the broken leaves. ”

Wu Qing suddenly got up, slapped the table, and said angrily: "Come on, press down the black quality and behead it!" ”

Suddenly, a guard stepped forward, and Uzile didn't know what it was, so he hurriedly asked, "Your Highness, why did you kill me?" Even if Xiaomin is at fault, he should know why. ”

Wu Qing said: "Even if Broken Leaf City is occupied by Tubo, it is his incompetence of the Tang Dynasty. Now that my Great Zhou elite soldiers are coming to take it, you are taking advantage of the situation to attack it? What is the reason, his heart can be punished! ”

Ashina Zhongjie is a veteran. Naturally, he knew that if he killed Uzil, then the Turkish would probably join the Eastern Turks. So he hurriedly said: "Your Highness, it's not appropriate to kill Wu Zhile, and I hope Your Highness will think twice." ”

Uzile knew in his heart that if he didn't say anything about his own death without a reasonable reason, he was afraid that the tribe would also be wiped out. So he said, "It doesn't matter if Uzil's life is important, but if you kill the people." I am afraid that the whole Turgish will be the enemy of His Highness. ”

Wu Qing got up suddenly, stared at Wu Zhile, and said in a deep voice: "Are you threatening me?" ”

Uzile seems to have half of it. met Wu Qing's gaze and said slowly: "Xiaomin doesn't dare to threaten His Highness, Xiaomin just wants to find a way out for the tribe." ”

As soon as Wu Qing waved his hand, the guards immediately let go of Wu Zhile. And stepped back. Uzile straightened up his torn clothes. Then he said slowly: "Xiaomin doesn't know if Da Zhou's attitude towards us tribes is the same as that of Datang, to say that it is good to use Huairou to win over this tribe to fight another tribe, to put it mildly, it is to say that it is not good, but I have never regarded us as a part of it." ”

Wu Qing found that this Wu Zhile's thinking problem was really extraordinary, so he said: "The empress will not be the same as the Tang Dynasty, I will reset the four towns of Anxi above and set up the Beiting Protectorate in Tingzhou." Set up the Anxi Protectorate in Qiuci, and move the people from the interior to the Western Regions to cultivate. Promote the development of the Western Regions. and sent heavy troops to defend the field, exempting them from taxes and miscellaneous labor for five years. ”

Wu Zhile was also stunned, in this way, the Western Regions would become the real land of the Great Zhou, so he asked: "Is there a plan for our tribe?" ”

Wu Qing paused slightly, and said: "If you want to be a khan, it is impossible, the Western Turks have long been separated, and they should be integrated into the arms of the Great Zhou, so that your tribe will no longer suffer from war and chaos, and no longer live a nomadic life." If you can, I will ask you to protect the capital of the North Garden. Your tribe can be separated from Broken Leaves, Gongyue, Qiuzi, Yizhou, Guazhou, Shazhou, Xizhou, and so on. Tuqi Shi enjoys the preferential treatment policy and ethnic policy of the Great Monday, and I will send people to teach you farming, etc., Tuqi Shi can also herd for a living, and the children of the tribe will also enter the school, and they will also be able to carry out the imperial examination like the students in the mainland of the Tang Dynasty, and they can also join the army and be promoted to military generals. ”

Wu Qing's words are very simple, there are no two days in the sky, and there are no two masters in the country, so if Tuqi Shi wants to survive in the Western Regions, then he must follow the national policy of the Great Zhou, that is to say, the Great Zhou will not set up a fetter state, but will pull these tribes into the arms of the Great Zhou. It can be said that this is just Wuqing's idea, of course, even if the empress does not agree, then good, he can let go of the Western Regions, and even let go of Longyou, he believes that on Qinling and Tubo Zampu will be very happy.

Moreover, the greatest benefit of converting these tribes to the river can temporarily stabilize the strife on the frontier, and if they can be treated preferentially in policy, will these tribes still rebel? No nation likes war, and no one likes to be displaced. Otherwise, why would human beings settle, why would there be cities, why would they establish states?

This qiē shows that things gather like people in groups, and even nomads have to live in pursuit of water and grass in order to survive.

When Wu Zhile heard this, he couldn't help but have mixed joys, happy that the tribe would no longer have to be displaced, and worried that the tribe might become the slave and soldier source of the Great Zhou. But one way or another, it's better than being slaughtered.

Thinking of this, Uzile finally prostrated on the ground and said: "I hope that His Royal Highness can treat my clan well, and Uzile is willing to serve the work of dogs and horses." ”

Wu Qing nodded, and said, "I believe that your choice will bring light to your tribe." "Immediately, Wuqing issued an order and posted a notice that all the people of Broken Leaf City had the obligation to build the city wall to protect their wives and children, and from now on they would build the city wall, and all merchants who passed by, according to the value of the goods, would only take one thousandth of their value as a commercial tax to maintain the Broken Leaf City.

Wu Qing thought about it all night and decided that a chamber of commerce should be established in Broken Leaf City to supervise the commerce and trade of the entire Broken Leaf City, and then set up a Broken Leaf Governor's Mansion to manage Broken Leaf City.

So on the second day, he gathered the gentry and merchants of the city's eminence, the most famous of whom was the Sogdian Slater. The Sogdians did not establish a truly unified state, they had been in business for generations, and their footprints were all over the continent. Concentrated on the Silk Road, gathered in the Western Regions, many Sogdians settled in the Western Regions, and established many oasis villages in the desert to facilitate trade. Among them, the Sogdians of the Nine Kingdoms of Zhaowu were the most numerous.

Therefore, Wu Qing asked the Sogdian Slater to form a chamber of commerce, which was subordinate to the governor's mansion. Supervised by the Governor's Office. And the first Governor of the Broken Leaf Governor's Mansion is Wuqing!

After a few days of unusually busy, the chiefs of the ten tribes of the Western Turks came to Broken Leaf City and presented Wuqing with a beautiful girl and a pure white high-headed horse. Wu Qing didn't fall in love with the girl, but with the BMW. Just like seeing a famous car in his previous life, he cherished it very much.

On the same day, in the Governor's Mansion, entertaining the tribal chiefs, Wu Qing did not require these tribes to be attached to the arms of the Great Zhou, but said that they were welcome to join the big family of the Great Zhou at any time.

Next. Wu Qing led the chiefs and generals to climb the high mountain, and everyone followed Wu Qing to climb the heights and look. I saw that the hills are undulating, the plains are vast, and the water and grass are extremely abundant, which is a good place for grazing.

Wu Qing pointed to the west and said, "To the west." It is the Nine Kingdoms of Zhaowu. The Nine Kingdoms of Zhaowu originated in the Zhaowu area of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and after hundreds of years, they migrated here to establish tribal states, and the Tang Dynasty controlled these countries with the policy of restraint. But I won't be in the big week! ”

Then he turned to them and asked, "Who can sue me, and where is the farther away?" ”

The crowd didn't know. I don't dare to say more.

Wu Qing said: "Over there is the Great Food, a very powerful empire. It was also an extremely cruel empire. I believe Slater has a deeper understanding, right, Slater. ”

The Sogdian Slater's family mostly traded in the territory of the Great Food, so he knew some news, so he said: "The current ruler of the Great Food is the Umayyad family, and the area ruled by the Great Food Empire is probably larger than that ruled by the Great Zhou." However, in addition to the preferential policies of the Great Food Empire, the rest of the ethnic groups bear strict taxes. This is also the reason why most of the nine kingdoms of Zhaowu are pro-Tang. ”

Wu Qing smiled: "Have you heard? Even if you were to move westward, you would only be swallowed up by the Great Eclipse. Of course you can go north, but the climate in the north is cold, and after a winter, how many people will you survive? ”

The chiefs of the ten tribes of the Western Turks couldn't help but fall into deep thought, they also knew that the glorious history of the Western Turks had long passed, but was it too rash to throw themselves into the arms of the Great Zhou like this?

"Of course, you can also join the Eastern Turks, originally your ancestors are all the same." Wu Qing paused, and then said: "Eastern Turks, this king will give you a message first, and within ten years, this king will be destroyed!" I have taken my people captive, burned and plundered, and done all kinds of evil! Your ancestors are the same, Datang has the heart to forgive your ancestors, but this king will not, in the eyes of this king, he is either a friend or an enemy! ”

Everyone gasped, they had also heard that Wu Qing was not an easy person, but when they really saw it, they realized that this man might really be able to do what he said.

Wu Qing knew that it was impossible for these barbaric tribes to accept it at once, but as long as they thought about it, they would definitely find that it would be better to accept the reality than to wander between the big powers. Of course, if they don't want to, Wuqing will not wipe them out one by one, after all, now that transportation is not developed, conquest of these nomads is only a waste of money and food. And it is only a matter of time before these peoples will eventually be annexed, then merged, and eventually disappear into the course of history.

However, in January, after the construction of the walls of Broken Leaf City was completed, Wu Qing ordered people to renovate the streets, planned a market area, and a military area, and encouraged local people to reclaim outside Broken Leaf City to prepare for planting seeds in the coming year.

At this time, the imperial court issued a decree, ordering Wuqing to temporarily supervise the affairs of the Western Regions, and agreed to all the requests of Wuqing, to move the people of Guanlong and Shandong to the four towns of Anxi, and ordered Anxi to garrison 40,000 elite soldiers.

Wuqing was overjoyed, so he went to the empress, if in his lifetime, Anxi fell again, he Wuqing will kill himself to thank the empress. And then he asked the court for officials.

Shendu, Lichun Terrace.

Although it has now entered late autumn, because the Taichu Palace is close to the North Mountain, the day in the palace is not cold, and it is even a little hot. In addition, the empress has been in a good mood recently, so she is here to deal with government affairs.

Since Di Renjie admonished that "for the monarch, you can't ask about everything", she will never deal with some things like the leave of the Tai students. Every day, Shangguan Wan'er picks out the recitals, and in addition to the very important recitals, she will read them to her. She enjoyed this kind of time very much, but it was a pity that she could feel the aging of her body, so even the joy of the bed could not make her happy, so she did not recruit Xue Huaiyi to sleep during this time.

"Holy Lord, it's the general's recital." Shangguan Wan'er said.

The empress was also stunned, she only received it not long ago. When it came again, he said, "You read it." ”

Shangguan Wan'er agreed, and her voice was like a yellow warbler. It is pleasant to the ear, like a clear stream flowing into the heart, and it is also a pleasure for the empress to listen to it, and her face shows a touch of joy.

When the empress heard Wuqing asking for money, food, and people, she couldn't help but laugh and scolded: "This kid is more vicious than the bandits, and all my family resources will be hollowed out by him." ”

Shangguan Wan'er listened to the empress's analogy. I already knew that the Empress had agreed, so why didn't she add the icing on the cake?

"Isn't the Holy One always worried about rebellion? Why don't you take this opportunity to migrate people to the Western Regions and scatter them everywhere to defend the Holy Lord? What's more, there is a great general. Even if those people want to rebel, they can't do it. ”

The empress was stunned for a moment, then laughed, and praised it: "Wan'er Guowu is also the prime minister." She knew that those exiles were the relatives and families of the dignitaries and nobles, most of these people were exiled to Lingnan and Bashu, but there were not many soldiers in these two places, if they could be placed in the Western Regions, one of the Western Regions has now sent heavy troops, and the other has Wu Qing. These people don't dare to do anything, and these three are knowledgeable people. If she is exiled like that, it is better to go to the Western Regions to atone for her sins, and let future generations see that she is not a murderer of the founding emperor of Wuzhou.

After figuring this out, she asked Shangguan Wan'er to send an edict to the place of exile, and planned to set up a coinage furnace in each of the four towns of Anxi to mint coins. And asked Wu Qing to make a list of the people he wanted. In short, it is to let Wu Qing name him, after all, although the Western Regions are mysterious and colorful, the natives of the Great Zhou still don't want to go. There is only a roll call by Tong Guò, so even if there is a complaint, it is Wu Qinglai who carries it.

The next day, Wan Guojun and others wrote a book, saying that the people rebelled, please be killed. The empress was furious, she had just made a will, and these people knew about it, couldn't they wait?

So she recruited Prime Minister Li Zhaode, but at the same time, someone came to offer auspiciousness. The Empress can only summon.

The man who came was a man of the city, and offered a white stone with a deficit written on it, and the empress asked, "What is the auspiciousness of this stone?" ”

The man said, "This stone has a red heart." ”

Li Zhaode was furious, snatched the stone, and then said angrily: "This stone is bare-hearted, is it possible that other stones will rebel?" Then he took out the white handkerchief and rubbed it vigorously on the stone, only to see that the white handkerchief was dyed red, and the handwriting on the white stone was written with vermilion lacquer.

Seeing this, the empress couldn't help but be a little bored, but still said: "If you step down, I won't hold you accountable." ”

Li Zhaode wanted to say something, but he didn't dare to disobey the empress.

At this time, Qiuhong, the palace maid who served her, whispered to her, and the empress was furious, and immediately ordered someone to call Concubine Liu and Concubine Dou in the East Palace, and ordered someone to search all parts of the East Palace to see if there was anything strange.

Jiayu Palace.

The empress looked at Concubine Liu and Concubine Dou who were kneeling on the ground, Concubine Liu was crowned queen after Li Dan ascended the throne, but it was just a name, there was no queen canonization ceremony, and she did not enjoy the treatment of the queen, she trembled with Li Dan every day, for fear of offending the empress and being killed.

She didn't expect this day to finally come. She didn't know what the Empress would do to them today, but it was definitely nothing good, they were almost dragged here by the plum guard.

The hall was silent, even the breathing of the ladies could be heard clearly. After a moment, a sudden sound of small footsteps stepped into the main hall, and Concubine Liu and Concubine Dou did not dare to raise their heads, only feeling that the palace maid was walking towards the empress.

Suddenly, the empress was furious, and said, "Do you dare to use the technique of aversion to victory, do you want to curse me to death?" ”

In an instant, the second daughter's face turned pale, and Concubine Liu cried loudly: "How dare the cheap maid use the technique of disgust to harm the saint, there are traitors who frame it, and please spare the maid for the sake of the emperor's heir." ”

Concubine Dou also kowtowed and begged for mercy, shouting that she was wronged.

However, the technique of disgust has always been taboo by the royal family, and anyone who uses this technique will be sent to the cold palace or executed, so the empress doesn't want to hear more about it at all.

"Kill these two slaves with a rod!" After the empress finished speaking, she stepped out of the Jiayu Palace.

Immediately, the screams of the second concubine were heard from the hall.

Through several corridors, the empress's eyebrows moved slightly, stopped, and then saw a tanuki appear in front of her, the empress saw the tanuki with bright spots, she couldn't help but smile, she leaned over and caught the tanuki, the tanuki looked at the empress, showing a naïve look, looking very cute.

The empress was overjoyed, so she took the tanuki in her arms. When she arrived at Lichun Terrace, she saw the parrot in the cage, and the empress couldn't help but think, parrots, "Wu", tanuki, "Li", is it the will of heaven?

Because of some taboos, it is forbidden to keep cats in the palace, but today there is a tanuki running to his feet, and there is no hostility at all. Since ascending to the throne, she has been worried about the heir every day, the ministers of the court, many of them are to the Tang Dynasty, and Wu Chengsi and Wu Sansi are really not candidates for the crown prince. What's more, she was also hesitant in her heart, whether to pass it on to the Wu clan or the Li clan, if it was passed on to the Li clan, would the Wu clan be wiped out? She had to think about it. Because no dynasty has ever had two princes, and no dynasty has ever had a woman as emperor.

When he saw the tanuki and the parrot, he said to the palace people: "Put the tanuki and the parrot together and domesticate them for a period of time, and I want to see if these two things can get along well in my hands." ”

The palace people took the order and took the tanuki and the parrot away. And the empress fell into deep thought, the martial arts family and the Li family really made her very irritable, and even sometimes, she wanted to kill the Li family, but at the age of seventy, she was already a little reluctant, because it was her child, although she was the emperor, although she had killed so many people, but now she felt old, there should not be too much killing.

However, today's disgust made her angry again, she knew that the Fan Li clan hated her, so at this moment, her heart was very conflicted, very contradictory! (To be continued......)