Tibet

After lunch, the waiter brought tea to everyone, and everyone drank tea and chatted.

Zhang Li smiled and asked: "I heard that Your Highness is going to take the daughter of Wuxing Shen's family as a concubine. Is it true?"

Li Ye smiled and nodded, "Jiangnan is now our largest source of wealth and the most concentrated population in the Tang Dynasty. During my inspection of Jiangnan this time, I deeply felt that the connection between the court and Jiangnan was still not enough. In order to win over the Jiangnan gentry, marriage is the best way. Unfortunately, my son is too young to help me, so I have to go into battle myself."

Everyone laughed, and Pei Zunqing smiled and said: "Your Highness can't be partial to one and ignore the other. Just marry the Jiangnan gentry and leave our Hedong gentry aside."

Duan Xiushi also smiled and said: "It is also necessary to stabilize the Anxi countries, and Her Highness Princess Qiuci should also consider it!"

"Your Highness, there are also Bashu gentry!"

"Your Highness, don't forget the Central Plains gentry "Your Highness, appeasing the Hebei gentry is also a top priority!" Li Ye was overwhelmed and raised his hand and said, "Let's talk about it later. Don't put pressure on me now!" Everyone made a joke, and Li Xian asked with a smile, "Your Highness, how is the battle in Taiyuan?" Li Ye pondered for a moment and said to everyone, "At present, 80,000 troops have surrounded Taiyuan City. It is not a big problem to capture the city, but I don't want street fighting to break out. The people in the city will be annihilated, so we specially left Dongcheng for him to retreat, but Tian Shenyu was determined not to retreat. If street fighting cannot be avoided, then we can only annihilate the opponent with overwhelming advantage. I will now increase 30,000 troops and transfer Guo Ziyi to Taiyuan to take charge. We must take Taiyuan City with minimal casualties. " After drinking tea, everyone got up and returned to Daming Palace. After resting for half an hour, with the ringing of the bell, the afternoon court affairs began again. In the government hall, Li Ye hung a huge map. He pointed at Liuqiu Island with a wooden pole and said, "I have told you about Liuqiu Island before. I will not elaborate on its importance here. Liuqiu County has been established in the central part. Then I will consider building a new county on the southern coast. However, I am considering building a military city in this new county, stationing 3,000 naval troops, and their families will live in the county. Since it is a naval force, it is also a large port, mooring ships of 10,000 tons, so the site selection must be a natural good port. At present, there is indeed such a natural good port. Everyone is wondering, why not build a civilian city, but a military city?" At this point, Li Ye smiled and said, "In fact, this is not the same as the military city in Anxi. People still live in it, but most of them are military families. , there will be ordinary people living here. The key is the function of this city. Its existence has two meanings. One is to facilitate our control of Liuqiu Island, and the other is to facilitate our expansion of territory to the south. It is actually a springboard. "

Li Ye pointed his wooden pole to the large islands in the south. "This is a large archipelago with thousands of islands. Most of them are uninhabited. The entire island area is at least equivalent to three Hedong Roads. The northernmost part of this archipelago is a large island equivalent to Hedong Road. There are vast fertile plains. It is about 600 miles away from the southern military city of Liuqiu to be built. It takes a few days to get there by sea ship. As early as the Eastern Wu period, this place was discovered by the Eastern Wu navy, but the Eastern Wu did not have the ability to occupy and develop it at that time. "

"Excuse me, Your Highness, is there anyone on the island?" Zhang Li asked.

Li Ye shook his head, "Most of them are uninhabited. Only a small number of natives live on some islands in the south, and they are no different from the natives in Nanyang." At this time, Li Dai frowned and said, "I don't quite understand, what's the point of developing these islands? We still have a large area of ​​land in Lingnan Road that has not been developed, and even the land in Liaodong. Your Highness said last time that it is tropical and covered with forests. It must be full of poisonous insects and miasma. Can our Han people live in such a place?" Liu Yan also said, "Your Highness, even if we forcibly relocate tens of thousands of people there, it will not bring any benefits to the court. Instead, it will become a huge burden for the court. The court will continue to spend money and food to support it, which is actually meaningless. This is why we oppose the construction of a military city in the southern part of Liuqiu. If we just build an ordinary county town as a means to control Liuqiu Island, We will pass through if needed, but the big island that Your Highness mentioned is too far away. "

Li Ye waved his hand and smiled: "Everyone, listen to me. I don't want to develop there now. Just like Li Xiangguo said, it is a primitive uninhabited land. It will cost a lot to develop there now, and it is meaningless.

But what I mean is that we should occupy a point along the coast there and establish a government. Then the entire archipelago will be the land of the Tang Dynasty. We can build a trade port first. Our merchant ships can replenish and rest there, and our navy can be dispatched to fight pirates at any time. This will greatly promote our trade with Nanyang, and the benefits are clear! "

Everyone whispered. The suggestion of the regent made them a little tempted. Building a trade city, taking the point to lead the whole, the Tang Dynasty has tripled the land of Hedong Road. The trade city can develop trade with Nanyang, which is indeed a huge benefit.

At this time, Li Dai said slowly: "Let's do this! The southern city of Liuqiu is still the same as Liuqiu County in the north. A county town will be built. Of course, it is a county town with a seaport and can station naval forces, but it is positioned as a civilian city, not a military city.

Second, building a Nanyang trade city on the large island in the south, I think it is feasible, but we do not approve of immigration to develop the hinterland. If Your Highness can agree to these two points, then we can discuss the proposal to allocate funds!"

Li Ye knew that he had to compromise appropriately in the end. In fact, he also knew that the population of the Tang Dynasty was currently insufficient. The Anshi Rebellion had greatly damaged the vitality of the Tang Dynasty. The population had dropped sharply and it would take time to slowly recover.

It is unrealistic to immigrate overseas for development now, but he just wants to occupy a point. With this point, the entire Luzon Islands can belong to the Tang Dynasty. When the population of the Tang Dynasty increases to 100 million in the future, Immigration was a matter of course. At that time, with more advanced technology, it was much easier to develop islands.

After thinking about this, Li Ye nodded and agreed, "According to Li Xiangguo's suggestion, I will revise the proposal!"

The revised proposal was unanimously approved by the political hall in the afternoon of the same day, agreeing to allocate 1 million yuan to Quanzhou for the renovation of Wanshi Shipbuilding and the construction of a second county town, with half of the money coming from the inner treasury and the left central treasury.

In the afternoon of the same day, Li Ye appointed Guo Ziyi, the defense envoy of Henan Province, as the deputy marshal of the Eastern Campaign, and went to Taiyuan to take charge of the coordination and command of the attack on Taiyuan City. At the same time, Li Ye quickly increased his troops to Taiyuan by 30,000 and sent a hundred three-ships to Taiyuan. Qian Shi's siege ship passed through the Yellow River and sailed along the Fen River to Taiyuan City.

At the same time, Taichang Qingtian Shengong was appointed as the pacifier of Taiyuan to participate in the siege of Taiyuan.

In the official room, Li Ye met with Tian Shengong.

Li Ye took a few steps with his hands behind his back and said to Tian Shengong: "If Tian Shenyu is willing to surrender, I can promise not to kill him and make him the Duke of Dai. He can retire in Chang'an and enjoy all the glory. In addition, I will also give him With his qualifications, one of his sons can serve as an official in the court.

This is the biggest concession I can make, and it is also the end of my benevolence. If he still refuses to surrender, then he will be ruined and die. "

Tian Shengong bowed and said: "Your Highness, please rest assured. I will do my best to persuade Tian Shenyu. If he still refuses to surrender, that will be his fate. However, I will still persuade the generals below to lead the army to surrender in order to slow down the attack on Taiyuan City as much as possible." of destruction.”

Li Ye nodded, "I asked Tian Shijun to go to Taiyuan City for this purpose, and try our best to reduce the damage to Taiyuan City."

However, the fleet failed to make the trip in the end, and the Yellow River was frozen.