Wei and Jin cooks

Zhao Hanzhang kept Zhang Shi as an official in the court and asked him to bring his son to Luoyang to study.

Then Zhang Mao not only sent his wife and children, but also his own daughter, entrusting her to his brother so that they could study together in the capital.

Through this ladder, brothers Zhang Shi and Zhang Mao reconciled again.

The various seeds brought back by the mission to the Western Regions are of great significance to the country, especially cotton seeds. Not only Zhao Xin, but also members of the mission such as Zhang Shi and Shan Feng also received rewards and promotions, and those who failed to return also received pensions and benefits. reward.

The courtiers discussed for a long time, and after competition among governors from various places, the cotton seeds in the court were redistributed.

It is directly distributed to the Sinong Temple in each state and county, and they will cultivate the first season cotton in each state.

Among them, Xiliang, Youzhou, Bingzhou and Jizhou received the most seeds because these four places are the coldest.

Although Xiliang has a batch of seeds on hand, a lot of them were sent to Luoyang last year for He Minming's birth. Even if they were cultivated for another year, the seeds on hand were far from enough to distribute to the people of Xiliang.

Courtesy reciprocates and a favor is reciprocated. This time Zhao Hanzhang included Xiliang.

Moreover, when it comes to cotton cultivation, Xiliang's technology is not as good as Luoyang's. This time, she not only distributed the seeds, but also sent an official from Sinong Temple to take charge of the technological changes in Xiliang's animal husbandry and agriculture.

Among the four states, Youzhou and Bingzhou received the most cotton seeds, with the same amount!

Wei Jie, who is delicate and frail, has long used cotton. He was one of the first people to use it, so he knew how warm it was.

As soon as the news came out, he and Shi Le wrote a letter together. In order to grab more cotton seeds, he personally returned to Luoyang. While coughing, he asked Zhao Hanzhang for seeds.

Seeing that Wei Jie was dragging his sick body, Zhao Hanzhang gave Youzhou a lot of seeds.

Bei Gongchun was different. He couldn't speak. When he was celebrating the second birthday of His Majesty Chang in the capital, he would appear in front of Zhao Hanzhang three times a day. He would smile at her and then invite her to practice shooting and riding horses in the martial arts field. .

He also said to Zhao Hanzhang: "When Your Highness grows up, I am willing to teach her the Beigong family's marksmanship."

When Zhao Hanzhang distributed the seeds, he gave him some more.

Zu Ti:......

He said nothing. When he returned to Beijing to deal with the affairs of the Ministry of War, he met Zhao Hu several times on the street. Every time he asked him, "Has the caravan sent by the Seventh Master to the Western Regions not returned yet?"

Zhao Hu:......

He was heartbroken.

Three years later, he no longer wants to get the reward money from Zhao Hanzhang. He just hopes that the caravan can come back safely. It would be better if they can bring back cotton seeds. Even if they can't get the reward, they can grow cotton themselves. Can make a lot of money.

Zhao Hu has a lot of dry land in his hands.

After meeting several times, Zu Ti and Zhao Hu developed some friendship. Only then did he get a promise from Zhao Hu that if his caravan could bring back cotton seeds, it would be better than Zu Ti's.

Zhao Hu was still very polite to Zu Ti. He was the governor of Jizhou and the minister of the Ministry of War. If he could be kind to others, he would not have to worry about small profits. Zhao Hu believed that Zu Ti was also a generous person and would not let himself suffer.

Zhao Hu was even more curious, "They haven't returned for three years, and the mission also went through a lot of hardships before they came back. Why does Zu Shangshu think they can return safely?"

Zu Ti smiled and said: "Officials have their own official ways, and businessmen have their own business ways. The seventh prince is a good player. He should know better than a certain person. They have their own wisdom and ways of survival. It is impossible to say that the things they brought back are better than those of the envoys." If there are more people, there will only be more people who return safely."

Zhao Hu raised his eyebrows and did not deny this. He also had such confidence in his caravan, even if they had no news for three years.

They don't have as heavy responsibilities as the mission. In critical moments, they can even abandon goods and money, as long as they save their lives.

Unlike Zhao Xin and others, they were Chinese envoys. Even if they died, they had to safeguard the dignity of the country and the emperor first. They had many worries, but they were not as durable as his caravan.

However, this also means that they will choose to stay and not risk returning to Beijing in order to preserve themselves and maximize their profits.

Zhao Hu said sadly: "I don't know if they can come back while I'm alive..."

Zu Ti said meaningfully: "Seventh Master is blessed, he will definitely see it."

Within a few days, Zhao Hanzhang ordered Zhao Erlang to return to Chang'an to order troops, cooperate with Xiliang, and advance to the Western Region in two ways.

Along the Western Region are small countries, or some tribes gathered together, not even countries.

Yongzhou and Xiliang suddenly sent troops, catching them by surprise.

Zhao Erlang had not fought for a long time, and this time he was accompanied by Beigong Tuanyuan. He wanted to fight even more, so he led his troops and horses and ran forward. He ran two thousand miles in five days, conquered three tribes along the way, and captured Wubao. countless.

Zhang Maocai set out less than 500 miles to the north and fought two battles with the Northern Huns. He heard that Zhao Erlang had completely opened the road from Xiliang to Chang'an, and the army reached Zhangye.

Zhang Mao couldn't help but look sideways, "Sure enough, we are young talents. It's two thousand miles from Zhangye to Chang'an. There are many mountain bandits and horse bandits along the way. After a few years, we can't clear them all, just because they have Wubao and various tribes secretly supporting them. This is I thought he would bypass these forts and head west this time, but I didn’t expect that he actually beat them all.”

Not only that, Zhao Erlang also led his troops directly into the Xiqiang territory. He felt that it was too far to go from Xiliang to the Western Regions, so he directly tore off everything north of Golmud in Xiqiang. He and Zhao Hanzhang said: "Sister, when the time comes You expand my Yongzhou here, and the envoys will take this route when they go to the Western Regions. I can guarantee that they will not encounter horse bandits again."

Zhao Hanzhang was speechless for a long time after looking at Zhao Erlang's battle report. The area he conquered was equivalent to the northern half of Qinghai in later generations. How could such a large area be merged into Yongzhou?

but……

"What's the matter with Xiqiang? He has no resistance at all?"

Yuan Li immediately asked someone to check.

But it is difficult to find information about Xiqiang. The mountains there are high, the land is vast, and the people are sparse. A large area belongs to the plateau area. People on the plains used to have difficulty breathing and moving. Although Yuan Li also sent spies there, he could collect The information is very limited.

It took a long time for Yuan Li to receive the news, "Yao Yizhong is very prestigious. In recent years, several tribes of Xiqiang have turned to him and wanted to serve him as their leader. Deng Zhiqiang was also willing. This year, for some reason, he suddenly and the Yao family When the fighting started, when King Qin attacked Xihai County, they were fighting among themselves and had no time to support Xihai County."

Zhao Erlang was also too fast, and the Qiang area was vast and sparsely populated. Sometimes he might not be able to see a single village even if he ran for a whole day. With his quick victory, the news did not spread, and he had already conquered the northern part of Xiqiang. Punctured.

Zhao Hanzhang naturally didn't think this was just luck, and praised: "Erlang is indeed a talented general!"

Such good fortune is also ability!