The autumn light of silver candles paints the screen coldly, and the light fan blows at the flowing fireflies.

The sky is as cold as water at night, and I lie down to watch Altair and Vega.

Autumn is getting stronger, and the east and west cities of Chang'an City are becoming more and more lively.

Several armies that went out to conquer Xue Yantuo received good news one after another.

Since Xue Yantuo's army lost its main force in Liangzhou, the northern grasslands have become the pasture of the Tang Dynasty's three armies.

Shuozhou and Liangzhou had already received many trophies of cattle and sheep, and before the heavy snowfall, most of the soldiers who went on the expedition returned to the court.

Li Shimin happily exchanged strategies with Fang Xuanling and several other ministers in the Xuanzheng Hall on future strategies for managing the grassland. Li Kuan, who had been staying at home for a month, was also called over to discuss together.

"Xue Yantuo spans two thousand miles from east to west and more than a thousand miles from north to south. Is it really necessary to include such a large area under actual rule?"

As the Minister of Civil Affairs, Yang Shidao did not agree with sending officials to manage the grassland.

In his opinion, sending so many personnel to the grasslands is simply an approach that outweighs the gains and losses.

Besides, can those scholars in Chang'an City get used to it after going to the grassland?

How many officials are needed for such a large area?

If he is an official in a good place, the more positions he has, the happier Yang Shidao will be.

But the northern grasslands?

In the eyes of many people, this is a place that even Lingnan cannot compare with, right?

Wouldn't being sent to that place as an official be equivalent to exile?

Even worse than exile?

"Your Majesty, maybe we can refer to His Royal Highness the King of Chu's immigration strategy and move all the barbarians on the grassland to Lingnan Road. There will be no people on the grassland. No one will come to harm the border, right?"

Wei Zheng also expressed his views on the sidelines.

"That's not right! The people on this grassland are like weeds. They are gone now, but will appear again next year. In such a large grassland, if there are no Xueyantuo people, there will still be Zhang Yantuo and Wang Yantuo people. Just by migration,

It can only solve the problem of the Xueyantuo people, but not the problem of the grassland. Although His Royal Highness the King of Chu's plan is a bit more complicated, if simplified a little, it is really possible to bring the northern grassland under the actual control of the Tang Dynasty. The significance of that is

It’s extraordinary.”

Although Cen Wenwen was not familiar with Li Kuan, he was inclined to support his views.

"His Royal Highness the King of Chu's method is good, but there is a big problem, which is to connect the main towns with cement roads and to build many post stations. This costs money...I am afraid that the Ministry of Household Affairs will spend a year.

Even if you smash it in halfway, you won’t see a single splash, right?”

Changsun Wuji seemed to agree, but there were all sorts of worries behind his words.

However, it is difficult for you to tell whether he is here or not. This is a typical politician.

"Kuan'er, what did you say?"

Li Shimin, who was sitting in the main seat, saw all the ministers expressing their opinions one after another, and kicked the ball in front of Li Kuan again.

Li Shimin was naturally happy to see the northern grasslands brought under the actual rule of the Tang Dynasty.

Who doesn’t want to expand his or her territory?

But what Changsun Wuji said is right, this requires spending countless money to achieve.

Did Datang have so much money?

Is it worth spending so much money?

Ordinary officials may be embarrassed to talk about "interests", but as the emperor of today, Li Shimin had to consider this issue.

Only when you really want to do something, you will find that money is really important.

"Your Majesty, the opinions of the ministers have not changed since the beginning and will not change in the future. The northern grasslands have harmed the Central Plains Dynasty for thousands of years. We cannot leave this problem to future generations to solve. It is very difficult for us to solve this problem now.

The pressure is great, and we can imagine that it will be more difficult for future generations to solve this problem, and the country will even be destroyed without a way to solve this problem."

Li Kuan's words made many people present frown.

Subjugation of the country?

Is he the only one who dares to say this?

"His Royal Highness King Chu, everyone naturally hopes to solve this problem, but we cannot ignore other state capitals in the Tang Dynasty just to solve the grassland problem."

"Yes, the grassland is so big and desolate. Who in Chang'an City would want to go there to serve as an official? With so many roads built, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Affairs has stopped thinking about doing anything else in the past few years. It was originally planned to manage the first sewage system.

This matter is equally important."

"The grassland is so large that it requires a lot of manpower and material resources to maintain its rule, but the benefits that the Tang Dynasty can obtain are very few. It is really tasteless and it is a pity to abandon it."

Various ministers in the palace expressed their opinions one after another.

Obviously, there are still many people who do not support Li Kuan's views.

In fact, it cannot be said that these ministers have no vision.

It can only be said that in this era, it is indeed very difficult to bring the grassland into actual rule.

However, nowadays, the technology of Datang Dynasty is advancing rapidly, but Li Kuan is confident to change this passive situation that has been formed for thousands of years.

Not to mention other things, one day the steam engine is developed, and as long as the main border towns of the Tang Dynasty are connected by train, the imperial court's ability to govern the border areas will immediately rise to several levels.

"On the grassland, you can actually raise more than just cattle and sheep. When Nanshan Construction was building the cement road from Liangzhou to Shuozhou, they discovered a huge open-pit coal mine in Yulin, and there was also a huge open-pit coal mine near the tribe of the Dangxiang people.

A huge iron mine was discovered, and I heard from some Xueyantuo people that there were copper mines over there in Mobei.

Although the construction of cement roads requires some money, the Ministry of Household Affairs can borrow money from the Tang Dynasty Royal Bank to solve the problem of road construction funds, or simply transfer a certain range of land on both sides of the cement roads to Nanshan Construction Engineering, who will

Workers are responsible for all road construction funds."

Li Kuan's previous method is a cliché.

The money you borrow has to be repaid, so people don't really want to do it.

However, the latter method is eye-catching.

Everyone wants to give up the land in the northern grasslands. What value does it have?

Even if Li Kuan talked about coal mines, iron mines, or even coal mines, except for ministers whose families had related industries, no one else was very interested.

It's really too far.

If the problem of cement road construction could be solved by leasing some of these useless lands to Nanshan for construction, who would object?

Even Changsun Wuji, who had no dealings with Li Kuan, raised his hands and feet to support him.

"Kuan'er, Nanshan Construction Engineering is really willing to do this?"

"Your Majesty, since the minister said this, it is certainly true."

"Okay! Then I agree in principle to this matter!"

Following Li Shimin's words, smiles appeared on everyone's faces.

However, before the smile stayed on his face for a few seconds, it was interrupted by a loud "boom".

This is the Daming Palace, such a loud "rumbling" sound...
Chapter completed!