Chapter 295: Pacification (III)

"How is the situation of Swallow? Is there anything unusual about her?" Thinking of Princess Changle, the image of Swallow immediately appeared in Li Ming's mind. To him, Swallow's mysteriousness is no less than that of Princess Changle.

Speaking of swallows, an unnatural look suddenly appeared on Yi Yi's face.

"What? What happened?" Li Ming sensitively noticed Yi Yi's expression and asked hurriedly.

"About half a month ago, Yan Zi suddenly disappeared. The people who followed her did not find how she disappeared. In short, Yan Zi disappeared without a trace. Our staff in Zijiao City conducted a comprehensive search, but none of them found her whereabouts." Speaking of this, Yi Yi looked at Li Ming worriedly, for fear that he would be furious.

Unexpectedly, Li Ming's face was still very calm. He just nodded and sighed: "We have neglected this matter. If Swallow is really a descendant of the Golden God of War, there must be many masters in his sect. If Swallow is there, he will definitely save it. It would be good if the people we monitored did not take the opportunity to get rid of. Linzhou is really a place where dragons and tigers are hidden. How is Ren Yong's side?"

"The roads between Linzhou and Zezhou have been opened, and he is currently stationed at the borders of the two states."

"Send him a report and ask him to transfer the army to Zijiao City immediately. I feel that something is going to happen there. Let him hurry up and stop guarding the Linzhou border. During this period, I will increase troops there one after another, generate electricity for Zhongzhou, and let them withdraw 50,000 heavily armored cavalry to join Linzhou."

I don't know what happened, but Li Ming always felt that something was going to happen in Linzhou. Li Jiao's army, Princess Changle and Phantom, as well as Yan Zi and her divisions seemed to have all gathered there at this moment. In addition, his previous terrifying experiences in Linzhou made him feel even more uneasy. Linzhou is full of primeval forests, and only a few larger cities are surrounded by dense forests. If his enemies attack through the dense forest, it is indeed difficult to deal with. The only way at present seems to be to increase the defense force.

The next day, Li Ming officially started the morning court. After dealing with the matter that had been brought down in the recent period, Li Ming asked about the situation in Nanzhou.

"Your Majesty, Wang Wen has received a telegram from the official operation yesterday. Judging from the call back this morning, he has begun to withdraw some seriously ill soldiers. At present, his troops have been reduced by more than half. It is still a question whether the enemy can be completely eliminated in the Heping Prefecture area of ​​Yuanzhou. In addition, the 30,000 heavily armored cavalry who reinforced Wang Wen had already set off this morning." Hearing Li Ming's inquiry, the Holy Hand King came out to report.

Li Ming nodded and said, "At present, only Lenghen's army is still relatively idle. The distance from Dingzhou to Pingzhou is too far. The distance cannot quench near thirst and cannot reinforce Wang Wen in time. However, I think that even a hundred thousand army should be able to wipe out the 400,000 jungle infantry of Su on the plains. Wang Wen has never encountered too strong opponents since his expedition. Now it should be a little nervous. Well, let's wait and see what I worry about most. Now, Linzhou is still very strange."

"Linzhou has always been a place where dragons and tigers are hidden. The special geographical conditions have made many places isolated from the world. After more than a thousand years of development, the Tang Dynasty has only developed 20 to 30% of the Linzhou area. The wood supply in Linzhou accounts for more than 90% of the entire Tang Dynasty. Even so, there are still a large number of primeval forests that have not been developed. In the vast forest, there are a large number of indigenous residents. They are isolated from the world and are self-organized and not controlled by our Tang Dynasty, but they never leave those places. These people were discovered by some explorers of all ages. There are many records in the palace historical materials. If the emperor wants to know, it is best to check it out." Gao Wei read a lot of books, and heard that Li Ming was so worried, he hurriedly stepped out and explained to him.

"Then, to the west of Linzhou are Zezhou and Zhongzhou, and to the south are Huzhou and Imperial City areas. So, where are the east and north?" Although Li Ming became the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, to be honest, he did not know much about the Tang Dynasty except for the few places he was familiar with and some areas related to him. Now that he heard Gao Wei say this, he couldn't help but feel excited and asked.

"The north of Linzhou is Yunzhou. However, there is no road to Yunzhou from Linzhou. The two states are still blocked by endless primeval forests. For many years, a road has not been opened. If you want to reach Yunzhou from here, you must go from Zhongzhou and have a long way to go. As for the east, to be honest, no one has been there."

"Have you been?" Li Ming was surprised and asked, "Is the territory of the Tang Dynasty only so large? Isn't it Dongzhou to the east of Nanguo City?"

Gao Wei smiled slightly and replied: "Yes, there is a large area of ​​land to the east of Nanguo City. However, Linzhou's territory is extremely vast and extends to the easternmost part of our Tang Dynasty. There is an endless uninhabited area. The Tang Dynasty has not intervened in administratively. I heard that if it keeps going east, it is the legendary sea. However, no one here has seen what the real sea looks like."

"The sea..." Li Ming became very excited. He had never figured out the geographical location of the world. Although he had a map he had drawn himself in his hand, it was only limited to the places he knew. From the map, there was no similar place to the world where he was. Therefore, the geographical knowledge he had learned before was not useful in this world. Now that he knew the location of the sea, he could carry out marine adventures and cross-sea trade after it had developed to a certain level in China. Only by opening up the sea trade route can the development of the Tang Dynasty truly take a new level.

"Malin, I order a group of people who are good at drawing maps from your Ministry of Security, and lead a 1,000 Rangers from Nanguo City to go east. They will draw the terrain map along the way in detail, and search until the legendary sea. This task will be carried out immediately. When you go back and select personnel, the faster the better." The Great Zhou and Su Kingdom are currently hostile countries with the Tang Dynasty. It will not work if they want to trade between the Three Kingdoms. Therefore, future foreign trade will depend overseas. The route to reach the sea will be discovered as soon as possible. When you really want to open up overseas markets in the future, you can also appear calmer.

Seeing that Ma Lin recorded the order, Li Ming turned the topic to Linzhou and asked Gao Wei: "According to what you said, it is impossible for me to search Linzhou completely? Linzhou is the gateway to the north of Nanguo City. It really makes me uneasy if Li Jiao and his army are lurking there with 70,000 or 80,000 troops."

"The terrain of Linzhou is very special. Basically, those primitive tribes isolated from the world are in the deep forests. It is very difficult to get to them. Therefore, Li Jiao's troops are likely to still be hiding in the nearby forests. The 70,000 to 80,000 troops consume a lot of supplies every day. It is unrealistic to rely on foraging in the dense forests alone. Therefore, I believe that within two months, they will show their heads and find food. We only need to station troops in the only big cities in Linzhou, so that they can capture their movements at that time. I suggest that at least 200,000 troops should be stationed in Linzhou to ensure the safety of several big cities. As the most important forest export site of the Tang Dynasty, Linzhou must not let Li Jiao's remaining troops be destroyed." Gao Wei was the Minister of Revenue of the Tang Dynasty and knew the importance of Linzhou very well, so he looked very serious when he said this.

Li Ming sighed softly, rubbed his temples, and said distressedly: "At present, there are only 80,000 Ren Yong's army in Linzhou. The troops from other places can't get there for a while. If the defense forces in Nanguo City are drawing out some of them, it will be very dangerous here. It really makes me feel embarrassed. Brother, there is news from Leng Hen."

The Holy Hand King stepped forward and replied: "I sent them yesterday to me and replied in the morning that they had seized the time to rush back. It would probably take nearly two months to get from Dingzhou to get here."

"Two months!" Li Ming sighed and said to himself: "Transportation, backward transportation, is really too delayed. He only has so many troops, but he cannot use serious places." Speaking of this, he raised his head and ordered: "Malin, transfer all the personnel that can be retrieved by the Ministry of Security to Linzhou to form a strict intelligence network. In addition, Gao Wei will temporarily replenish experienced officials there and establish a civilian self-defense joint defense organization at the village level or above the local area as soon as possible. It is necessary to make Linzhou reach the level of the whole people. In this way, if any accident occurs, they will also have the ability to save themselves. As for Yang Ping, he can only try his best to search. Linzhou will surely have a big battle."

After the morning court, Li Ming returned to the harem in depressed mood, but saw a large number of young girls kneeling there in the open space in front of his bedroom. Several small leaders of Huangmen were scolding there, but they could not drive away the palace maids all over the ground. Zhang Yao and Man'er stood around the palace maids, their faces full of at a loss.

Li Ming frowned and his anger surged in his heart. It was obvious that these were a group of palace maids who refused to leave the palace. He was upset at first, and when he saw this situation, he couldn't bear it anymore. He took a few steps and shouted at the group of palace maids: "What are you doing? Are you here to coerce me? My decree has been issued and it cannot be changed. Go back and prepare to leave the palace quickly. No one is allowed to stay here!"

The palace maids originally wanted Li Ming to cry and beg in front of him, but they didn't expect that Li Ming would yell angrily when he came up, which scared them so much that they didn't dare to say anything. Zhang Yao and Man'er hurried over and persuaded him to enter the bedroom.

After sitting down and drinking a cup of tea, Li Ming's depressed mood improved a little. Zhang Yao was in front of him, staring at him with big eyes and said softly: "Sir, have you encountered something unpleasant today? You don't have this attitude towards your servants, so it's not worth getting angry with them."

Li Ming smiled bitterly and said, "Actually, I was not targeting them, but I was in a bad mood. At present, Linzhou made me a little at a loss. I didn't expect this situation in advance. Lin Jiao's troops could have flew out at any time to bring huge losses to it. As an emperor, it is really my dereliction of duty to not guarantee the safety of his subjects."

"Young Master, no one who is an emperor can take care of all the people. It is not surprising that Linzhou is like such a big place in the Tang Dynasty. Don't be too demanding of yourself, as it will be detrimental to you in the future. As a ruler, you must learn to give up appropriately. Just like the people of Nanzhou this time, if you don't have the ability to protect them, don't let them disturb your mind. You must know that more people are waiting for you, and you should look at other places. Just try your best to do your best in Linzhou." Man'er is worthy of being a child of the royal family, and he has a different idea when speaking.

Li Ming nodded slightly and said helplessly: "Maybe what you said makes sense. I pay too much attention to details. Well, since there is no other good way, I won't think of him."

Seeing Li Ming becoming a little cheerful, Zhang Yao took the opportunity to say, "Sir, why do you have to leave the palace maids? If they are missing in the palace, why are they called the palace? Are you afraid that we will be too careless? In fact, we are not so petty people. As emperors, it is normal for three palaces and six courtyards."

Li Ming looked at Zhang Yao with a smile and cried, frowned and said, "Are you willing to watch me and those palace maids who don't know each other every night? I can't do it, this does not conform to my concept. It's enough to have three of you. I will not have any other women in this life. Those palace maids must make their own way. Didn't you build a silk workshop for those women when you were on the island? Just let them go there. Starting from me, some habits in the palace should be changed. It's enough to leave a part of the people in the palace to serve you."

Since Li Ming made such a decision, Zhang Yao couldn't object. When she was on the island, Li Ming's life was very simple. Zhang Yao was used to such days. If the palace was too luxurious and there were too many people, she would not get used to it.

Five days later, news came from Nanzhou that Wang Wen's troops officially began to operate.

Nearly 90,000 seriously ill soldiers had retreated five days ago. They have reached the border of Yuanzhou. When Wang Wen's large troops arrive here, these soldiers who retreated in advance may have entered a safe area.

Wang Wen's retreat was sudden, and on the surface, it was also in a hurry. The time was chosen in the early morning. The sound of a large number of war horses was particularly obvious in the quiet early morning. The scouts of the Su Kingdom quickly passed the news of the other party's retreat to their leading general. When they heard this news, the Su Kingdom generals who had already lost patience with the two armies were all ecstatic and hurriedly organized a large army to leave the camp and cover up the troops that were retreating.
Chapter completed!