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Helplessly, the flowers fell, and the familiar swallow returned.

Chang'an City, outside the West Gate, the Ten Miles Lonely Pavilion is still there.

Three thousand iron horsemen stood on both sides of the galloping road, and the two thousand armor soldiers were surrounded by three layers inside and outside, guarding the Wangjun Pavilion in the center, staring at the mountains and forests on both sides. In the open space to the north of the pavilion, there are luxury cars parked, and hundreds of Wenchen military generals stand in the center of the gallop road, tiptoeing to the west from time to time.

There is a pot of tea on the stone table in the pavilion, and six people sit around the table, and there are more than ten civil officials and military generals standing behind them as listeners, while listening to the conversation of the six people present, while glancing to the west from time to time, paying attention to the movement on the road.

Inadvertently, Zhuge Liang led the army to the west for three years. In the past three years, the situation in the world has been relatively stable, and there have been no other wars except for local wars such as Changshan and Zhongshan. The current situation is still the defensive posture of three years ago, the Western Liang Army besieged Cao Cao of the Northern Wei Dynasty on three sides, and contained Liu Biao of the Southern Han Dynasty on both sides, firmly occupying the initiative in the war, leading the development of the situation in the world, controlling the trend of the troubled times, and giving full play to the strong position of the first hegemon in the world.

As long as there was no sign of the movement of troops and horses in the Xiliang Army under Li Li, the two forces of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Southern Han Dynasty would not dare to act rashly, and would always keep an eye on every move of the Western Liang Army. It was the Xiliang army that did not move, and the two major vassal states were calm, and the whole situation was in a relatively stable state, still maintaining a situation of confrontation and stalemate.

At the same time, the Northern Wei and Southern Han dynasties were established one after another, and they also needed a smooth transition for a while. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the two major vassal states actively sorted out military and political affairs and stockpiled money and grain as much as possible. Fight hard to further consolidate your rule. Get it on track. Whether it is Hebei Cao Cao or Jing Chu Liu Biao, they are very clear. They have a common adversary, and the adversary is so strong that they can't resist it on their own. Therefore, the cruel facts forced them to target the Xiliang army and Xiliang Li Li without any discussion, and always prepare for a new round of more severe war, accumulate strength for the upcoming battle of the deer, and do their best to prepare for the final decisive battle. Everyone knows, be a little more prepared. In the future, there will be a better chance of winning, and success will finally favor the prepared people or the power of the princes.

Now, a year has passed since the founding of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Southern Han Dynasty, and Li Li's subordinate Wenwu has also prepared for the upcoming enthronement ceremony for a full year. At present, the palace, the temple, the altar and other related matters have been prepared as early as half a year ago, and all the preparations are frank and proper, and they can be enthroned as emperor and officially established as a state as long as Li Li agrees. However, this is the full half a year. Li Li didn't move, and the Xiliang civil and military forces had no choice but to wait patiently, hoping that the exciting moment would come sooner.

Ten days ago, Yizhou sent back the news. Zhuge Liang led the western expedition to return to Chang'an in a few days, and then Li Liqin set to hold an enthronement ceremony on the 15th of next month, so that the date of the founding of Xiliang was finally determined. Thereupon. In recent days, all the city gates in Chang'an have been opened. Thousands of courier sentries were sent out to deliver orders to the states, counties, and border garrisons.

It's not hard to imagine. In the next half month, the town generals, state assassins, and county guards under Li Li's command will rush to Chang'an, and the soldiers and horses of the battalions who were ordered to come will also rush to Chang'an to participate in the enthronement ceremony and the large-scale military parade. At that time, the countries of the Western Regions that had been trading with Xiliang for many years, the small states of the West Sea under Li Li's rule, and the two major vassal states of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Southern Han Dynasty would send delegations to Chang'an to observe this grand event; For this reason, the countries of the Western Regions and the small countries outside the country have received invitations to observe as early as three months ago, and now there are seven missions from the small countries of the Western Regions arriving in Chang'an and staying in the post house to wait for the arrival of the enthronement ceremony, so a large-scale military parade is indispensable.

Just when he was in full swing to prepare for the enthronement ceremony, Li Li personally went to the Shili Pavilion outside the West Gate to wait for the triumphant return of the Western Expeditionary Army. The original intention of Li Li's trip was to fulfill his promise to Zhuge Liang in the past, and to lead three thousand golden guards to greet him. So it became the way it is now, the civil and military forces of Xiliang gathered in Wangjun Pavilion, there were more than 200 carriages alone, and nearly 10,000 people were blocked on the galloping road, blocking the roads around Wangjun Pavilion. The scene is too big, much bigger than the scene when Li Li came back from Yizhou three years ago!

Such a big scene is undoubtedly a great honor for the victorious army returning from the Western Expedition, but it may not be a good thing for Zhuge Liang, who is in command of the Western Expedition.

No, some people in the Wangjun Pavilion questioned this at this time: "This time, the lord and the hundred officials went out of the city for ten miles to greet each other, is this specification too high?" It's just a westward expedition to the southern barbarian tribe, and the barbarians are not enough to worry about it, but they bother the lord to go out of the city to greet him in person, and all the officials have been waiting here for a long time, this 、、、 Kong Ming is afraid that he can't afford it! ”

The person who spoke was Li Ru and Li Wenyou, who was the current Shaofu and the leader of Chang'an. His words, at first glance, are easy to misunderstand, mistakenly thinking that he is dissatisfied with Zhuge Liang, but in fact it is the opposite. The reason why he said this was not to have an opinion on Zhuge Liang, but to worry about Zhuge Liang, to preemptively say what everyone thought in their hearts, and to provoke everyone's thoughts in front of Li Li. Therefore, the purpose of Li Ru's words is to share the pressure that Zhuge Liang is about to face, purely to protect Zhuge Liang, because he has a good personal relationship with Zhuge Liang, and he is still a child (baby parent). Therefore, he wanted to take advantage of Zhuge Liang's failure to come back and make his words clear, so as to save everyone from having prejudices, envy, jealousy and hatred against Zhuge Liang.

However, Li Ru's protective heart can't hide from the five people present, look at the people sitting next to him: on his left are Li Xuan and Jia Xu, on his right are Guo Jia and Chen Gong, and Li Li is in the center, sitting in the east, that is, opposite Li Ru.

Sure enough, Li Ru's voice fell, and Li Xuan, who was sitting next to him, said with a smile: "Wen You's words are indeed insincere." Kong Ming hasn't returned yet, so you're in a hurry to defend him, but you're too anxious. What's more, this time the lord personally went out of the city to greet him, and we should follow, and look at these civil and military officials outside the pavilion, in fact, they are not coming for Kong Ming, but for the lord, so as to show their firm position of following the lord. That's all, nothing else. You don't have to worry about it, you have the lord in charge, what are you worried about. Li Xuan's words were very straightforward, but he broke through the mystery and saw the problem very thoroughly. It is no wonder that all the civil and military forces unanimously believe that he is the best candidate for the first prime minister after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and his sharp eyes and keen observation are really amazing.

After Jia Xu, Guo Jia and Chen Gong heard this, they all smiled and nodded, and deeply agreed with what Li Xuan said. Guo Jia said with a smile: "According to the battle report sent back from Yizhou, although the army of the Western Expedition lost a lot of soldiers and horses, it achieved remarkable results and gained a lot. The most rare thing is that after Kong Ming led the army to pacify the Southern Barbarians, he marched westward, until he reached the Great Snow Mountain (Tanggula Mountain), then built a camp, left 2,000 soldiers and horses to garrison and then turned back, waved his army to attack the southeast, and arrived at 100,000 mountains in southern Xinjiang; If it weren't for us and the others repeatedly urging Kong Ming's class to return to Chang'an, I am afraid that he would have led his army to the beach of the South China Sea at this moment. Hehehe! ”

When Guo Jia told the achievements of the Western Expedition, Li Li beckoned Li Zhi to take out the brocade silk map on his back and spread it out on the table, and as Guo Jia narrated, Li Li pointed out the location on the map in turn. This map painted on the brocade silk was drawn by Li Li himself, and many of the place names were different from later generations, but fortunately, there was no shortage of well-educated people under Li Li's command, and this map was drawn accurately under the brainstorming.

In addition to this map of the Han Dynasty, Li Li also relied on his memory to draw a map of East Asia, a map of Asia and a map of the world, but these maps are very general, except for the relatively detailed map of East Asia, the other maps are very rough, there are no specific cities, mountains, rivers and lakes, only the general direction.

Even so, it also opened the eyes of Li Xuan, Jia Xu, Guo Jia and others, and for the first time in their lives, they learned that there was such a vast territory and sea area outside the Han Dynasty. Especially when they saw the whole map of the world drawn by Li Li, they were completely stunned, the dignified Han Shenzhou actually only occupied a palm-sized place on the one-zhang square map, at best it was only an inch of land, the sea occupied sixty and a half percent, and the remaining area of more than three feet was all other people's territory. Although the territory beyond the sea is still far away from the Han Dynasty, there are still large territories around the Han Dynasty, and as long as they are willing to work hard, they may not be included in the territory of the Han Dynasty.

It was also from then on that Li Xuan, Jia Xu, Li Ru and others were obviously much less interested in fighting for fame and fortune, and the contradictions between each other that had gradually become prominent disappeared, replaced by more and more harmonious and tacit cooperation. Obviously, they have realized that Li Li will definitely not be satisfied with the existing territory of the Han Dynasty, and will continue to expand the territory after pacifying the world, and include all the places where the Han iron cavalry goes into the territory of the Han Dynasty. On this point, they and Learley's ideals are identical; Quelling civil strife is not the ultimate goal, but expanding the territory is the real great achievement. It is enough to leave a name in history and be remembered forever.

When Li Xuan, Li Ru, Jia Xu and others were all gathered on the map, Li Li said with a smile: "Kong Ming's westward expedition has expanded my Xiliang territory to southern Xinjiang, and the barbarian territory that stretches for thousands of miles has been included in our Han Dynasty. It is not an exaggeration to wait for us to go out of the city for ten miles to greet each other, and if there is such a feat in the future, even if I go out of the city for a hundred miles, I am willing! ”

Li Li's words were not only heard by the people in the pavilion, but also by the civil and military officials standing next to the pavilion. From this, they no longer had any objections, and stood up straight one by one, their expressions tended to be calm, and they really waited calmly for the return of the Western Expeditionary Army.

?????? As the sun set, there was a rumbling sound of horses on the west gallop road, and then a team of ironclad cavalry came from the afterglow of the setting sun and met the Xiliang Wenwu who were waiting in Wangjun Pavilion.

―――――― To be Continued ―――――――――――――――― (To be Continued......

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