On the map of the Great Sui Dynasty, Zhuo County, located in the northern border, is the most special county. The county boundary on the south side of it reaches the mouth of the Hutuo River and the Sanggan River, and then stretches to the northwest like a giant python drinking water, and its huge body crosses Jixian, Huairong, the Great Wall and a large grassland inside and outside, and the tail reaches the depths of the desert. From the southernmost to the northernmost, the span is almost a thousand miles. From the easternmost to the westernmost part, even the best Dawan Liangju has to run for half a month.

But that's just Zhuo County on the map. In fact, the Great Sui Dynasty has never paid much attention to this part of the wilderness. Due to the policy of division and disintegration of the Saishang Zhuhu, the northwest of Zhuo County, the northern part of Yanmen County, and most of Dingxiang County, which are adjacent to it, have been "temporarily loaned" to the Qimin Khan and his son for refuge.

In the twentieth year of the emperor's reign, the Qimin Khan, who was beaten by his own people and lived in the Great Sui, led his troops to the north with the strong support of the monarchs and ministers of the Sui Dynasty. After defeating their former enemies, the Ashina family re-erected a Turkic tent in Mobei and became the overlord of the northeastern steppe. However, Qimin refused to return the temporarily borrowed land on the grounds that "his body and bones could not endure the cold wind in the north of the desert, and led the descendants of the Ashina family to continue to live in the northern border of the Great Sui."

If the Great Sui Dynasty had remained strong, this kind of sojourn and dependency relationship would not have posed much threat to the lives of the people in the Central Plains. But the Great Sui Dynasty declined rapidly within a few years. Therefore, "temporary borrowing" becomes eternal occupation! In addition, the heirs of the Qimin Khan also sent their subordinates south from time to time to probe, trying to take advantage of the weakness of the Central Plains to seize greater benefits.

The map that Li Xu showed everyone today was drawn in the twentieth year of the emperor's reign, and at that moment, a large area of land outside the Great Wall was still painted with the imprint of the Great Sui. But now, the Zhuo County controlled by Li Xu is only a quarter of the original size, except for the quarter that was forcibly taken away by Luo Yi, and nearly half of the land was used as pasture by the Turks.

Even the quarter controlled by Li Xu is now in jeopardy. Since the Xue brothers returned to Luo Yi, there have been no official troops stationed in the middle reaches of the Sanggan River. The Turks could at any time slaughter from outside the Great Wall and from the nearby Yanmen County, stealing the thousands of miles of fertile land for themselves.

Therefore, the policy of granting land to raise troops launched by the General's Mansion does not intend to take away another half of the land from the other five counties. Along the Sanggan River, there are large tracts of terra dullius that can be distributed by the General's Palace. But the premise of all this is that the Great General's Mansion has the ability to hold a quarter of Zhuo County under its rule. The heroes of the other five counties are willing to do their best to support the General's Mansion.

"The Turks are not as powerful as everyone thinks. If it weren't for the support of our Great Sui back then, Qimin Khan and his family would have become graveless and dry bones! Seeing the shocked expressions on Zhong Wenwu's faces, Li Xu smiled and explained loudly.

He is very clear about all these brilliant things. Especially the children of families like Cui Qian and Zhang Jiuyi were once deeply proud of the great martial arts of the Great Sui Dynasty. But the Great Sui at that time was not the current Great Sui, and the current five counties could not afford to support a tiger and iron cavalry that could make the Turks fearful.

"I used to take the grassland. Know the internal situation of the Turks. They appear to be a powerful nation, but they are actually made up of hundreds of tribes. The Ashina family can nominally command all the other tribes, but in fact, once his strength is too damaged, other tribes are ready to take his place at any time! Li Xu paused and continued to inspire everyone's confidence.

"This is actually similar to the Central Plains!" Cui Qian smiled and muttered in his heart. The Yang family is in the Central Plains, just like Ashina on the grassland. As for Yuwen, Dugu, Li, Wang and other high-ranking lords, in fact, their loyalty to the Yang family is no more than that of those tribes on the grassland to the Ashina family. It's just that the people of the Central Plains will talk about things such as righteousness and fame, while the Turks don't have so much red tape, and they will show their knives directly after they are powerful.

"And the Ashina family itself is not everyone's mind. Back then, when Bi Khan was committing a rebellion at Yanmen Pass, Ashina Gu Tuolu borrowed my hand and stabbed his cousin! From then until now, the troops under the command of Ashina Gu Tulu have been in the area of Lishui and Suotou River, eyeing the position of Shibi Khan! ”

All the generals in the Boling army had witnessed this with their own eyes. If it weren't for Li Xu and Ashina Gu Toru taking the lead in reaching a peace agreement, the Turks would not have been defeated so quickly and so miserably. And it was precisely by virtue of his contribution to the danger of Yanmen that Yang Guangcai made Li Xu the head of the six counties, making him officially one of the heroes in the army.

Another benefit that no one expected at the beginning was that the six counties of Boling have since gotten rid of their dependence on Youzhou. In the past two years, the reason why the Boling Army was able to confront the Youzhou Army while still having a stable supply of war horses and hides was also due to the friendship between Li Xu and some heroic figures. Moreover, the Khitan Ministry, the Xi Bu and the Gutuolu family were not only engaged in close material exchanges with the six counties, but also through the hands of the merchants and Wang Kewang, who stayed in the Khitan Ministry, as well as the hands of Pan Zhanyang, the Khitan Da Meilu, all the changes in the plug did not escape the eyes of Li Xu and others.

After making up his mind yesterday not to give up an inch of fertile land, Li Xu carefully considered the balance of power between the six counties and the Turks. After deliberation, he was surprised to find that the situation he faced might not be as pessimistic as he had previously thought. The Tiger Horseman's move to make way for the Turks to move south was a challenge for the Six Counties, but there was also a great opportunity hidden behind the challenge.

Li Xu thought that the reason why the civil and military forces of the six counties talked about the Turks was mainly because he did not understand the enemy. So, he has to make it clear to everyone what difficulties his opponent is facing. If everyone works together to overcome this challenge, then the six counties of Boling will no longer be the land of the four wars. Behind it, there will be a solid support point from now on to ensure that everyone has no worries!

Pointing to the map, he carefully analyzed the importance of the Sanggan River valley to the entire six counties. "If we give up the land north of Baihua Mountain, the Turks will push their forces to the foot of the Inner Great Wall! Although they can get along with us in a short period of time, once the herdsmen gain a firm foothold in Zhuo County, they will definitely cross the Inner Great Wall and Laishui, and burn the war to Shanggu and Boling! ”

"And if we take the initiative to develop north, the Turks will have to consider which tribe to use against the six counties! At present, the closest force along the Sanggan River is Liu Wuzhou of Mayi, who is my old friend, and they both know each other's catties and taels, so they may not dare to take the initiative to provoke me. On the other side of Zhuojun is Ashina Bone Tuolu. He is also an old friend of mine, and he cannot be finished at the moment, and of course he will not easily make enemies with him. The remaining two people, Ashina Lifu and Ashina Ruthless, if they lead the troops south, while dealing with us head-on, they must also be careful on the side to copy his back road......"

With Li Xu's introduction, Zhao Ziming led several civilian staff members to hang a map of the situation outside Zhuo County next to the map. On this map, the grasslands and deserts are no longer complete large pieces. Instead, it was divided into several small "countries" such as Xi, Xia, Khitan, and Murwei, and even the Turks were divided into several spheres of influence such as Ashina Ji, Ashina Lifu, Ashina Doubi, Ashina Bobi, and Ashina Gutuolu. Although they are either brothers or uncles and nephews to each other, it can be seen from the distance where the tooth tent is located that they are not of the same heart.

If only the power of the five counties was used to provoke the entire Turkic, even if Li Xu said it clearly, everyone would not be encouraged to have too much courage. But if the forces of the five counties were used against any of the Turkic tribes, the local officials of the six counties were immediately emboldened. Deep down, they are also unwilling to take the initiative to give up the thousands of miles of fertile fields sandwiched between the inner and outer Great Wall. Many of their clansmen also served in the Boling Army and were about to become the beneficiaries of the land granting plan.

Just as everyone's appetite was croaked, Li Xu poured another scoop of oil on the fire. "According to my friends on the steppe, since the defeat of Yanmen the year before last, Shibi Khan has been bedridden. At present, his two younger brothers, Ashina Lifu and Ashina Heir, are arguing over who will inherit the throne of the eldest brother, and the son of Shibi Khan, Ashinash Bobi, has the support of the old ministers in the family. In the past two years, our Great Sui civil strife has not stopped, but Shibi Khan did not take the opportunity to go south, and only pretended to harass the Central Plains with small characters such as Liu Junjun and Liang Shidu, because the Turks were also divided internally. Therefore, if we can quickly gain a foothold in Zhuojun, in a short period of time, we don't have to worry about the threat of the Turks at all! ”

Half of this is true, and the other half is pure incitement. But in the face of huge interests, few people have the rationality to analyze which of Li Xu's words is true and which is false. They stared only at the flat land, the rivers flowing with honey, their eyes full of heat, their eyes full of madness.

"Willing to follow the general to recover his homeland!" Zhou Daniu was the first to jump out and take the lead in expressing his position.

"May only the general be the head of the horse!" Cui Qian, Zhang Jiuyi and others also hurriedly stood up straight and bowed their hands.

With these big shots taking the lead, the mood of other watchers is higher. Those who are anxious even wish that they would immediately put pen to paper and become an official and a half-post in the army, so that they could get the hundreds of acres of fertile land that was guaranteed by drought and flood. As for the Turkic sword that was regarded by everyone as hanging over their heads yesterday, today it has become a scaring scrap metal, and no one pays attention to it anymore.

"Dare to ask, dare to ask the general, we have enough manpower to open up the wasteland!" In addition to those who have been dazzled by interests, there is no shortage of sober people in the ranks of local officials. Yang Wenxuan, the commander of Beiping County, is one of them. He soon discovered the biggest flaw in the entire Tuntian army raising plan, walked quickly to the center of the council room, and bowed down to ask for advice.

"I have ordered someone to open all the passes between the six counties and Hedong, and organize the exiles from Hedong to go north to settle on the banks of the Sanggan River as soon as possible!" Li Xu nodded and replied with a smile.

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