Liu Tan repeatedly told Li Buyan and Wei Buyi to behave themselves recently, and then he went to write a letter to Lu Xuan, to thank him for his help and to thank him for opening the door to a new world for him.

The idea of ​​using prisoners to build a city couldn't be more perfect, and it also saves money.

Well, the most important thing is to save money. Liu Tan guessed that the reason Huo Guang didn't give him a long speech was that he saved a lot of money.

Huo Guang's hair has almost turned gray with worry lately about the national treasury. He can't take his eyes off the fresh copper coins coming out of the mint every day.

Liu Tan also felt that he was being tortured a bit badly, and once asked him to borrow money from the court, and then the court would pay him interest based on the time when the money was repaid.

In fact, he thought this method was quite good, because the national treasury was obviously just temporarily short of cash flow. If the Huns had not directly destroyed Shuofang City, they would not have invested all at once, but would have built it in batches, perhaps first building roads and sewage systems, and then demolishing it bit by bit.

This way, the treasury will not be short of cash flow easily.

However, Huo Guang refused and said, "How can the court borrow money?"

Liu Tan did not force it. Huo Guang's worries were justified. If the imperial court borrowed money from an individual, even a prince, problems would easily arise.

In fact, Huo Guang had been thinking about whether he should start selling official positions like the imperial court.

There are actually many official vacancies in the Northern Border Kingdom now, but the examination will not be held until the summer. Liu Tan has scheduled the examination for June. It is only March now, and there are less than three months left. These three months will be the busiest three months for the Northern Border Kingdom.

Selling official positions can be said to kill two birds with one stone. Huo Guang can have people under his command and it can also relieve the national treasury.

But Huo Guang thought about it and realized that the only people in Shuofang City who could afford to buy an official position were the four major families.

Liu Tan had long wanted to deal with them, so selling them official positions would only hinder them. You have to know that these days, selling official positions isn't just about selling a title, it's about actually having real power.

Who would spend so much money to buy it without real power?

If they were buying a nominal position, Liu Tan would turn a blind eye, but he would definitely not give these people positions of real power.

The official positions with real power that can be bought and sold are relatively low, but in other words, these are officials who are close to the people. In fact, if these officials do evil, they will cause the greatest harm to the people.

Now, I can finally pay less money. As for the treatment of the prisoners, it’s enough as long as they don’t starve to death. Do they really need to be fed and well-dressed?

While thinking about these things, Huo Guang ordered people to interrogate the Huns.

After all, it was very strange that these Huns suddenly followed him. He took a special look at the soldiers under Li Buyan and Wei Buyi. Not to mention those who died in the battle, there were almost no wounded. Some of them twisted their feet when they rushed forward in too much excitement at the beginning and stepped into a pit hidden under the grass.

Huo Guang instinctively felt that there must be something wrong, but the leader of the tribe refused to say anything and insisted that he wanted to see the King of the North.

In the process, he also revealed that he was indeed sincere in his surrender, but the part he did not say was why they were so sincere in their surrender.

After hearing this, Huo Guang became curious and put aside what he was doing. He walked to the place where the Huns were imprisoned and looked around. He found that the situation of this tribe was indeed not good. Most of the young and strong people were not very strong and were skinny. The leader was slightly better, but that was all.

The leader judged from Huo Guang's attire that he must be of high status, so he asked in awkward Chinese, "Are you His Royal Highness the King of the North?"

Huo Guang lowered his eyes and glanced at him, then said in Xiongnu: "No, I am the Prime Minister. If you have anything to say, just tell me."

After hearing this, the leader tilted his head and thought for a long time, as if he had finally confirmed Huo Guang's identity. Although he felt a little sorry that he couldn't meet Liu Tan, he still said simply, "It's okay if your words are effective."

Huo Guang asked, "What happened to the Xiongnu, and why did you surrender with your entire clan?"

The Hun leader suddenly became excited and spoke a lot of gibberish.

After Huo Guang felt dizzy after listening to this, he finally understood one thing - the Xiongnu language also has dialects.

Just now, this person might have spoken the Xiongnu language that everyone knows for the purpose of communication, but now he spoke their dialect out of excitement.

If I had known this would happen, I would have let him communicate in stiff Chinese. Huo Guang didn't use Chinese because he was worried that the other party wouldn't be able to express himself, and his head hurt from listening to the other party's halting words.

After this person finished speaking, Huo Guang stood there for a long while before he chuckled: "You also want to emulate Minister Jin?"

The Jin Shizhong mentioned here is Jin Midi, who was defeated and surrendered to Huo Qubing, but was not executed. Instead, he was taken to Chang'an to raise horses.

Jin Midi was only fourteen years old when he surrendered. According to the customs of the Han Dynasty, he was not old enough to be killed. Later, because he was handsome, he was kept by Emperor Wu of Han. This person was a bit similar to Huo Guang, that is, he never made any mistakes when he was with Liu Che.

If we compare the two people's backgrounds, we can draw a conclusion - Jin Midi is actually very smart and should know Liu Che very well.

You have to know that even if Jin Midi was good-looking, Liu Che's attitude towards him would definitely be different from that towards Huo Guang at the beginning.

Huo Guang had no opinion of Jin Midi. Now Jin Midi also read Han books and knew Chinese. His thoughts and behaviors were the same as those of the Han people. He himself did not consider himself a Hun. That was enough.

But when it came to these people, Huo Guang was not so convinced.

He says he wants to emulate Jin Midi, but you never know when he might stab you in the back.

Huo Guang said bluntly, "If you want to emulate Minister Jin, it depends on whether you are loyal enough."

The leader said loudly, "All the men of our tribe are ready to fight for His Majesty the King of the North!"

Huo Guang swung his sleeves and said, "No need. The Northern King's capital has been destroyed, and he is angry now. I'm afraid that if you appear before him, he will be even more angry. It is better to go and build the city first. If you perform well, he will naturally treat you the same as the people of Shuofang."

The chief was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that the first thing the big man would do was to do hard labor.

Seeing his frown, Huo Guang couldn't help but raise an eyebrow and said, "Why? You can't even do this?"

As if he had made up his mind, the leader looked up at Huo Guang and asked cautiously, "Can...can you eat enough?"

Huo Guang: So you've been agonizing over this very thing for so long? You're quite capable!

Huo Guang chuckled and said, "I'll make sure you're full."

They would not stop feeding the prisoners. After all, they had to work, and if they were not well fed, they would work slowly. This was something Liu Tan had specifically emphasized.

After Huo Guang ordered people to find a place to keep these people under strict supervision and find them something to do, he turned around and went to find Liu Tan.

At this time, Liu Tan had just finished writing a letter to Lu Xuan. When he heard that Huo Guang was coming, his hands almost trembled and he tore up the letter. In the end, he had to hurriedly stuff the letter under the bamboo slips before Huo Guang arrived.

When he saw Huo Guang walking in with a frown, Liu Tan felt very guilty. Could it be that Huo Guang knew that he was going to cause trouble for other countries in the Western Regions?

This shouldn't be possible. He just gave the order and told Li Buyan and Wei Buyi to keep their mouths shut. How could he know so quickly?

He asked anxiously, "What's wrong with the Prime Minister? What's worrying you?"

Huo Guang said, "Something may have happened in the Xiongnu royal court."

When Liu Tan heard this, he immediately asked excitedly, "What do you mean?"

Huo Guang sat down and said, "I just went to see the Xiongnu captives. Their leader said that the royal court has been in turmoil recently. Many tribes that were originally dependent on the royal court have begun to leave and look for new places to stay. So there must be something wrong with the Xiongnu royal court, otherwise these tribes would not leave."

It is precisely because these tribes have come out to fight for territory that some small tribes have a harder time surviving. This tribe was unable to survive in the first place, and now it is being squeezed to the point of being extinct. After meeting Li Buyan and Wei Buyi, it simply made up its mind to follow them.

After hearing this, Liu Tan stroked his chin and said, "It doesn't necessarily mean something has happened at the Xiongnu royal court. Maybe Wu Shilu has gone crazy from killing people?"

After he finished speaking, he noticed Huo Guang was watching him quietly. He coughed lightly, retracted his unreliable guess, and asked, "Could it be that the Left Grand Commandant is about to start a move? Do you think we should send someone to contact the Left Grand Commandant?"

Huo Guang asked a soul-searching question: "Aren't you afraid that Gongsun Ao will write a letter to accuse you of colluding with the Xiongnu?"

Liu Tan couldn't help but howl to the heavens: "Ah, or else let His Royal Highness take him back. It's too difficult for such a useless guy to stay here."

Huo Guang dismissed his idea: "Fighting the Xiongnu is something your majesty should consider. I am telling you this just to tell you not to act rashly!"

Liu Tan suddenly wilted: "I know."

Huo Guang left after giving his warning. Liu Tan then carefully took out the letter and had someone send it to Lu Xuan as quickly as possible.

However, what he didn't expect was that after ten days or so, Liu Tan received Lu Xuan's second gift: nearly a thousand prisoners.

When Liu Tan received the news, he met Huo Guang's death gaze and quickly said, "It's not me. I didn't do anything!"