Anxi, also known as Anxi Duhufu, was originally the seat of the ancient kingdom of Gaochang, located at the foot of the Flame Mountain, on the bank of the wooden ditch of Hala and Zhuo Township. Since the fourteenth year of Tang Zhenguan, Hou Jun set up Gaochang, set up the Xizhou Protectorate in its place, and set up the Anxi Protectorate in Jiaohe City in September of the same year in Xizhou, which was used to target the Western Turks, and governed the four towns of Anxi - after the Tang Dynasty destroyed Gaochang, in Qiuzi, Yanqi (now southwest of Yanqi, Xinjiang), Khotan (now southwest of Hotan, Xinjiang), Shule (now Kashgar, Xinjiang) four cities to build castles, build military towns, and be protected by Anxi, so it is referred to as "Anxi Four Towns", because it has just been included in the territory of the Tang Dynasty but more than a year, In addition, the ability of the first Du Hu Qiao Shiwang is limited and the total number of Tang troops in this place is only 3,000, this place is not stable, not only the Western Turks often come to invade, but also the "neighbor" Tubo, which is known as friendly with the Tang Dynasty, often sends troops to invade this place, the Tang army can only be trapped in the four towns, and has no power to counterattack, until the sixteenth year of Zhenguan, this place is still not the actual territory of the Tang Dynasty.

The land of Anxi is far away from the Beijing Division, there is also a big desert in the middle, although the territory is large, the population is not much, generally nomadic people, although the countries of the Western Regions are subject to the Tang Dynasty, but its loyalty is very difficult to guarantee, coupled with the oppression of the three major forces of Tubo, Xue Yantuo and the Western Turks, although the war is rare, but the war has never stopped, every other three forks and five places is a small fight, the four forces are enemies of each other, do not give way to each other, it is a place of a hundred battles, but because of the relationship of the Silk Road, this place is extremely important, The importance of Anxi is not only that the Silk Road is currently the main route for foreign trade in the Tang Dynasty, but more importantly, this place is a strategic place related to containing Tubo, Xue Yantuo, and the Western Turks.

Qiao Shiwang, the first commander of Anxi, was originally the general of Li Yuan when he raised troops in the Tang Dynasty, and was known as Li Yuan's favor, and he was the princess of Luling, and he was a warrior who dared to fight, however, he had no talent for general strategy, his military achievements were not obvious, and his official fortune was not smooth, as a horse, he was mixed in the Tang army for nearly twenty-five years, that is, because he followed Hou Jun to destroy Gaochang, he got some credit, and then became the commander of Anxi Duhu, and the war was not less than a year ago, but he was never able to really stabilize the place, and was repeatedly impeached by the Yushitai, Being transferred back to the mainland has long been an ironclad matter, Li Zhen was already preparing for this matter when he was in the position of the squire of the military department, if it were not for the rebellion of Hou Junji, the related matters of the military department were delayed, and Qiao Shiwang should have been replaced back to the mainland at this time.

Li Shimin is a generation of heroes, how do you not know how important Anxi is, and also know that Qiao Shiwang is by no means a qualified candidate to guard Anxi, and he has long been ready to change generals, but when Li Zhen proposed that he was going to guard Anxi, Li Shimin was really choked - Li Zhen's ability Li Shimin has a number in his heart, but he can be trusted, but the problem is that the land of Anxi is far away from the Beijing Division, and letting Li Zhen go there is no different from exile, Li Shimin loves face, he doesn't want to be criticized by the courtiers that he has vainly condemned himself to the prince of merit, Besides, the land of Anxi is far away, and the emperor is far away, if Li Zhen plans to learn from King Qi, Li Shimin may not be able to bear it, third, Li Zhen has always been a master of Tai Chi, God knows if he plans to retreat when he says that he wants to go to Anxi, Li Shimin really can't think about it.

"Starling, how is the land of Anxi a place to go, you can't go!" Before Li Shimin could speak, Li Zhi, who was standing on the side, shouted in a hurry: "Father, can you let the starling suffer like that." ”

Hehe, look at the rush like this, Lao Jiu still has a little conscience. Li Zhen saw that Li Zhi was so anxious that he was sweating out, and his heart was slightly moved, but his face was still calm, and he bowed to Li Zhi and said: "His Royal Highness the Prince, the land of Anxi is the key to the stability of my Tang border, if this place can be controlled by the imperial court, there is no possibility of foreign enemies, although my brother is not talented, he can learn from Li and Qin, two old generals, since he was a child, he should worry about the country, and there is no way to endure hardship." ”

Li Zhen's words seem to be said to Li Zhi on the surface, but in fact, they are said to Li Shimin, which means that he is not going to Anxi to blackmail the old man by retreating, but is really willing to go to Anxi. Li Shimin is a shrewd person, how could he not hear the words hidden in these words, a glimmer of light flashed in his eyes, and he suddenly asked: "Zhen'er can care about the court, I am very relieved, but Anxi is related to the peace of the border, how does Zhen'er plan to start, and how long will it take to be peaceful?" ”

Hey, the old man is tempted, let's wait for you to ask! When Li Zhen heard that the old man finally opened his mouth, he secretly felt proud in his heart, knowing that there was a drama, but he didn't dare to bring it to his face, pretending to be pensive, frowning lightly, and said in a deep voice: "Back to my father, the strength of all parties in Anxi is entangled, if it is only by war, it will not be able to win the war, it must be a state of eternal peace, the son thinks that if he wants to appease Anxi, he must get three points of military and seven points of administration to see the effect, if he can get the help of the imperial court, then three years will be able to have a small success, six years should be able to see the miraculous effect, if he can persevere, In 20 years, not only Anxi, but also the entire Western Regions will be the inherent territory of my Tang Dynasty! ”

"Oh?" Li Shimin sighed lightly, glanced at Li Zhen, frowned and thought about it for a long time, and then continued: "Zhen'er can fight but not fight, and can think about politics, I am really happy, but how to start this seven-point administration?" Li Shimin's words are to the point, without him, there are countless small countries in the Western Regions, each with its own system, and the relationship between them is complicated, it is not easy to promote the administrative system of the Tang Dynasty, this is not fun, and Li Shimin will not dare to pat his chest to ensure that he will be able to succeed if he goes to Anxi alone.

Li Zhen has never fought uncertain battles, since he had already expected that he would be demoted out of Beijing, how could he not make some preparations in advance, to be honest, Li Zhen chose Anxi as his place of refuge, in fact, there are four considerations:

First, although Anxi is a small country and has intricate relationships, it is not difficult to unify it in terms of the Tang Army's good warfare and various advanced cultural concepts.

Second, in the time and space that Li Zhen came from, those so-called Western Regions should have been China's territory, but the successive dynasties did not pay enough attention to these border places, which led to constant border troubles, if they can successfully unify the Western Regions, and use the Western Regions as a mirror to integrate the grasslands, it may be possible to avoid the tragedy of the Jin, Mengyuan and other ethnic minorities in the later generations of invasion of the Central Plains, although Li Zhen also understands that this matter is extremely difficult, but if you don't try, how can you know if it can be done?

Third, there is no shortage of generals under Li Zhen, but there has never been a breakthrough in the civil system, although this article started a little late, but the existence of inherent forces may not be one of the root causes - the concept of "establishing a successor but not a long-term" has always occupied a stable position in family politics, and today's courtiers, especially the high-level people are basically from the family, Li Zhen, the prince of the concubine, wants to win them over, it is too difficult, and the encounter of Li Ke, the king of Wu, is a lesson from the past, in this case, Li Zhen can only take the road of self-cultivation, but the problem is that this road is not easy to walk, not only needs time but also opportunities, and running Anxi will be the most important step for Li Zhen to cultivate civil and official talents - since Li Zhen launched the printing press, it can be regarded as completely breaking the monopoly of the children of the family on knowledge, and there are more and more people who are knowledgeable and reasonable among the people of the Tang Dynasty, and there are more and more people who are selected in the imperial examination every year, but the problem is that even if those students from a humble background are admitted to the Jinshi, they still cannot be elected to the official, and even if they are selected, they can only be small officialsIf Li Zhen gives them a chance to get ahead, plus Li Zhen has money in his hands, he will lure him with profit and persuade him with righteousness, and it will not be a problem to win over a large number of frustrated literati, so that this civil official system will not be established logically?

Fourth, the secret weapons in Li Zhen's hands are not only printing, winemaking, furniture and other daily necessities, but also muskets, new gunpowder and other things, but because of the hindrance of the discussion, although some relevant research has been carried out, but never dared to take it out for testing, Anxi is far away from the imperial court, it is the best place to test these novelties, isn't it?

Of course, if such a huge idea wants to be implemented one by one, it is not so simple, for this reason, Li Zhen and the two major strategists have not been less pondering this matter, in addition to the financial preparations, more importantly, in the preparation of how to persuade the old man, not only can not tell the overall plan and plate, but also can make the old man convinced, this difficulty is not small, fortunately, the preparation work in advance is sufficient, at this time in the face of Li Shimin's questioning, Li Zhen did not panic at all, and replied very calmly: "Back to my father, the son thinks that Qiuzi, Yanqi, Khotan, Shule four countries is the foundation of rest, must first innovate, the four countries completely into my Tang Dynasty, and then to the war to establish the might, the power of the Western Regions and Xue Yantuo, first take the strong enemy of the Western Turks, in order to erect the prestige of the Tang Dynasty, to defeat the Western Turks, take advantage of the situation to build a new city in the area of the Green Ridge to defend it, only the Green Ridge is in the hands of my Tang Dynasty, the momentum of the Western Regions will not be chaotic, and then the entire Western Regions will be divided into administrative systems by districts, respectively, set up state capitals, with the law of the Tang Dynasty as the criterion, with the officials appointed by the imperial court to govern the place, At the same time, the people are educated with rituals, and then the goal of great governance is realized. Among them, the defeat of the Western Turks should take three years, and the establishment of the city and the green mountains must be operated for another three years, and then the state capital can be divided, which can be completed within ten years, and then after ten years of operation, the Western Regions will be stable, and after 20 years, when the stability of Anxi can be coerced to break the Tibetans, and the Tuguhun will be wiped out in one fell swoop, and the rest will be governed according to the experience of the Western Regions. ”

In fact, according to Li Zhen's assumption, building the city should be done in two years, and it only takes one year to build the city, and it only takes one year to build the city, as for the real land to achieve great governance, it is actually far from being able to do it in 20 years, in fact, 20 years can only achieve a stable place, if you really want to completely naturalize the Western Regions, don't even think about it without 30 or 50 years of hard work, Rao is so, the big cake drawn by Li Zhen is really too tempting, Even the well-informed Li Shimin was also moved - with Li Shimin's wisdom, he could naturally see that if he really carried it out like this, the benefits would be absolutely huge, but he also knew that this matter was by no means as simple as he said, and if he really wanted to do this, he had to have a capable person in charge, so the question arose - first, can Li Zhen be competent for this task? Second, is Li Zhen loyal enough?

Headache, headache, Li Shimin is really hurt at this time, and he can't see through Li Zhen's reality for a while, so he really doesn't dare to open his mouth easily, but it's hard to say that he won't let Li Zhen go, and after frowning and thinking for a while, he held back a sentence: "This matter is important, you go back to the last fold, I have to think about it, well, you have lived in the palace for several days, so I will accompany the bride to the palace, go out of the palace, and I will have a will for you in a few days." ”

Well, your old man is thinking about it slowly, let's not accompany him! Li Zhen knows that this matter is important, and he will not be able to decide for a while, the old man does not find some confidants to discuss for a few days, but he is afraid that he will not be able to come up with a quasi-idea, at this time, seeing that the old man issued an eviction order, Li Zhen did not want to stay longer, he was still in a hurry to go back to the house, after all, he had not been out of the palace for three days, and he had long been anxious to find out what the situation was outside, so he knelt down respectfully, kowtowed and said: "Erchen retires." As soon as the words fell, he slowly withdrew from the Manna Hall with his head down.

"Father, starling, he ......" Li Zhen had just withdrawn from the main hall, and Li Zhi, who was standing on the side, couldn't help but open his mouth, trying to tell his opinion on the matter of Anxi, but he never thought that Li Shimin didn't seem to want to hear what Li Zhi thought at all, and raised his hand and said: "Pheasant slave doesn't need to say much, this matter is not something you can participate in, I will advocate again, and you should also retreat first." ”

Seeing that Li Shimin didn't want to listen to his own opinions, a trace of disappointment flashed across Li Zhi's face, but he didn't dare to say anything more, bowed respectfully and answered "yes", and also withdrew from the main hall, leaving Li Shimin alone to sit on the dragon chair, thinking silently......

It's home, it's finally home! As soon as he came out of the big sedan chair and saw the two stone lions in front of his palace, Li Zhen's heart suddenly warmed, his eyes were hot, and he almost burst into tears, but fortunately, he was well controlled, so he didn't show his ugliness on the spot, and he didn't pay attention to the greeting words of the housekeeper Liu Dequan and the palace chief Shi Li Qianhe, who just smiled and nodded, and walked back to Pei Yan, who also just came out of the sedan chair, and said with a smile: "Yan'er, I'm home, and everything in this family will be handed over to you in the future. It's all up to you to decide the internal affairs, so it's done? ”

Pei Yan really didn't expect Li Zhen to be so unscrupulous to take such words that should have been private words to the public, and for a while she was so embarrassed by Li Zhen's Meng Lang that she couldn't even raise her head, but Li Zhen was good, and said with a smile: "Okay, then it's decided, Liu Dequan." ”

Although the housekeeper Liu De is already high, his legs and feet are still very sharp, and when he heard Li Zhen's words, he hurriedly trotted over and said: "Your Highness, the old slave is here, and Your Highness has something to order." ”

"Hmm." Li Zhen nodded with a smile and said: "From today on, the princess will be in charge of the affairs in the palace, if you have anything to ask, you just need to mention it directly to the princess, and the king will not ask anything." ”

Pei Yan has lived in the Yue Wangfu for a period of time, and Liu Dequan has always been in charge of taking care of each other, and they are not strangers to each other, so there is no need for Li Zhen to introduce them so specially, and the reason why Li Zhen does this can only be one reason, that is, to establish prestige for Pei Yan in front of everyone, this old and sophisticated Liu Dequan can see it clearly, Li Zhen explained this, Liu Dequan was busy saluting Pei Yan respectfully, and said with a smile: "The old slave has seen the princess Niangniang." ”

Pei Yan was blessed, returned the gift, and said with a smile: "Steward Liu has worked hard, everything in the house is still done according to the old rules, Yan'er has just arrived, and she relies on Gonggong Liu. ”

"It should be, it should be, the mother must not be like this, kill the old slave." Liu Dequan dared to accept Pei Yan's salute, hurriedly retreated, and said helplessly.

Hehe, Yan'er really knows how to be a man, she deserves to be from a big family, and she has the posture of a princess! Li Zhen watched the master and servant humility to each other, the corners of her mouth curved, and she smiled: "That's it, it's all your own family, there is no need to be so polite, Steward Liu, first accompany the princess to familiarize yourself with the affairs of the house, and the stewards of all the rooms in the inner courtyard will be called out, just let the princess take care of it, Yan'er, you will go with Steward Liu first." ”

The bride was very busy when she took office, and besides, Pei Yan also knew that Li Zhen had something important to talk about, so she didn't say anything more, just smiled, and walked into the gate of the palace accompanied by Liu Dequan.

"Li Changshi is looking for this king, but there is something wrong?" After Pei Yan and Liu Dequan led the people together, Li Zhen looked at the silent Li Qianhe with a smile on her face, and asked lightly.

Li Qianhe is the chief of the palace sent by Li Shimin personally, according to his status, he is the highest subordinate official in the palace, and even has the authority to supervise Li Zhen, but he has not been able to gain Li Zhen's trust, and has always been excluded from the core of the palace. No longer bothering about the affairs of the house, at this time, Li Zhen heard Li Zhen's question, and bowed unhurriedly and said: "Congratulations on the return of His Royal Highness's wedding, the old minister has received the holy decree, and will be transferred to the Ministry of Officials in the near future, and I have come to resign to His Highness." ”

"Oh?" Li Zhen listened to it, and there were really some children who couldn't come back to their senses - Li Qianhe's current official position is from the fourth grade, if he goes to the official department, there is no corresponding official position, down is Lang Zhong (from the fifth grade), and up is the official servant Lang (on the fourth grade), no matter up and down, it is a two-level difference, the official rank of the Tang Dynasty is not easy to promote, and the first level will have to be Ao for several years, if there is no special merit, it is not easy to talk about it if you want to be promoted two levels in a row, but I haven't seen Li Qianhe make any mistakes, this even two levels of demotion seems to be unreasonable, but it really makes Li Zhen think about it, frowned, thought about it, and finally asked directly: "Is Li Changshi promoted?" ”

"So that His Highness knows that the old minister has been favored by the saint, and is about to take up the post of the right attendant of the new ministry, and has been wrongly loved by His Royal Highness, and the old minister has lived a stable life in the past few months, and if he is useful in the future, please just greet His Royal Highness, and the old minister will retire." Li Qianhe bowed very politely, turned around and left.

Hehe, damn, it's really promoted two levels in a row, amazing, grandma's, what credit has this kid made? What does it mean to leave before leaving, take refuge in Lao Tzu? No way? Li Zhen looked at the back of Li Qianhyuk leaving, her eyes narrowed, and she frowned and fell into thought......

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