Liu Tan never expected that Lu Xuan cared about this. When he thought that Lu Xuan was going to play the emotional card with him and that he had to discuss business with him, he wanted to find a hole in the ground to crawl into.

Facing Lu Xuan's accusing gaze, Liu Tan said awkwardly, "Hahaha, there's been a lot going on these past few days, and my mind's been a bit fuzzy."

Lu Xuan just stared at him quietly, and Liu Tan could only whisper, "I'll remember this next time."

Lu Xuan then withdrew his gaze and had someone pass a book on the desk to Liu Tan, but he still didn't say anything.

Liu Tan is helpless. Will people who come into contact with him automatically understand his tsundere attributes?

He took the document and found that it was obviously compiled by Lu Xuan, who probably thought he could use it.

When Liu Tan thought about Lu Xuan being injured and still wanting to sort these things out for him, he felt extremely guilty for a moment. He always felt that others were treating him sincerely, but he was always on guard against them.

But he couldn't change this. The barriers between different countries, especially neighboring countries, were really too difficult to eliminate.

As for ethnicity...if it really is one country, what does different ethnic groups matter?

After Liu Tan flipped through the book casually, he looked up at Lu Xuan and found that Lu Xuan was looking at him with one hand on his chin. His clear eyes reminded him of the clear spring on the snow-capped mountains.

Liu Tan said, "Although A Xuan gave it to me on a personal basis, I will still send the ointment to you. Just consider it as my help to my brother."

He always felt weird when hearing the word "brother", but he didn't think much about it.

Lu Xuan didn't refuse. Not only did he not refuse, he even asked with wide eyes, "Is that it? Isn't Ah Tan going to make it up to me?"

Liu Tan was suddenly confused. How could he make up for this?

Lu Xuan had no shortage of money, and Liu Tan was even not as rich as Lu Xuan. As for the things Liu Tan had, except for the grafting technique, which could barely be given away, the other things were useless.

However, Lu Xuan was a straightforward person, so Liu Tan didn't want to think too much when facing him, and simply asked, "What do you want?"

Lu Xuan glanced at Liu Tan's waist and said, "I just want... the jade pendant on Tan's body."

Liu Tan glanced down. The one he had on him was made of white jade. It looked pure and smooth, and of good quality. It was carved with a Chilong. However, at that time, there was no rule that only the emperor could use the dragon, so it seemed okay to give it to Lu Xuan.

He smiled as he took off the jade pendant from his waist and said, "Your request is not high. If you don't mind this jade pendant, then I'll give it to you."

After taking the jade pendant, he didn't let the person behind him pass it to him, but threw it directly into Lu Xuan's arms generously.

Lu Xuan quickly caught it, and only then did a smile appear on his face: "How can anything from Ah Tan be bad?"

Liu Tan stood up and said, "Okay, you should get some more rest. We might need your help next time."

Lu Xuan wanted to stand up and see him off, but Liu Tan pushed him back down, "Stop struggling and heal your injuries quickly."

Lu Xuan smiled and said, "It's gotten much better now."

Of course Liu Tan didn't believe him. A wound would take many days to heal, and Lu Xuan's doctors and medicines were not effective. How could it be possible to heal so quickly?

After forcing Lu Xuan to rest, Liu Tan returned to his tent with the stack of papers, ready to study the situations in these countries.

At the same time, he took the map with him and compared it with the map. He was a little confused for a moment.

Judging from the map, the closest country to them is Huhu. According to conventional thinking, it would be better to attack Huhu first. However, judging from Lu Xuan's information, Huhu is closely connected with Cheshi State, and they are even related countries by marriage. Once troops are sent to Huhu, it is likely that Cheshi State will be able to send troops to support them in a short time.

Liu Tan just doesn't want to confront the Cheshi Kingdom now, otherwise he is afraid that if it causes a war between the Han Dynasty and the Huns, Liu Che will skin him alive when he returns.

So the best first target turned out to be Jieguo, but Jieguo was quite far away from their current location. If they were to get supplies from Yumen Pass, the supply line would be too long and they would be easily robbed.

The supply route from Xiao Wusun is quite close, but Liu Tan would never entrust such an important matter to Lu Xuan, no matter how much he trusts Lu Xuan.

Lu Xuan could indeed order his subordinates to fully support the Han Dynasty, but not all of his subordinates would think so. If a few of them had other ideas, the situation would easily collapse if something went wrong.

You have to know that what wars are fought for is actually logistical supplies, or to put it more clearly, what is fought for is money.

Liu Tan copied a simple map and after writing and drawing on it, he suddenly had a bold idea - since the supply line was too long and he was afraid that the logistics team would be robbed, why not add a transit station in the middle?

This transit station is mainly to protect the logistics team. If the logistics team encounters danger while setting out, they can quickly send a letter to the transit station while resisting, and the transit station will quickly send troops to rescue them.

Liu Tan even used the golden ratio to select the most suitable location for the transfer station on the map, which was about 100 miles away from Yumen Pass. This was the most suitable location he saw.

Of course, this is just his idea, and whether it will work or not still needs to be discussed with everyone.

After Liu Tan thought about it, he looked up and wanted to ask someone to bring Huo Guang and others over. However, when he looked up, he found that it was already very late. As a boss who was very considerate of his subordinates, he could only give up this idea with regret.

But he couldn't sleep, so he started thinking about how to convince Huo Guang and the others if they didn't agree tomorrow.

After all, although it is a transit station, in order to allow soldiers to be stationed and to be flexible and maneuverable, they must live there, so no matter how small its scale is, it should be a small city.

Even if it's small, it can still accommodate a few hundred people, right? How small can a place for a few hundred people be?

Of course, it is possible to live in a tent, but Lu Xuan clearly wrote in the information that the climate on that road is not particularly good, and there are often sandstorms. If you don't avoid it in time, you will die.

You have to be careful when choosing a site. There must be a water source, otherwise it will be difficult to rely solely on supplies.

Liu Tan drew on paper for a while and found it too annoying. If he found a mistake, it was not easy to correct it. In the end, he even felt confused.

He lowered his head and stared at the paper for a while, then suddenly slammed the desk. Why did he bother drawing a picture? Wouldn't it be enough to just make a sand table?

However, it was difficult to wake anyone up in the middle of the night, so he simply wrote a request, listed the things he needed, and turned to Miao Rui, saying, "Have these ready before I get up tomorrow morning."

Miao Rui carefully took it and looked down to find that it required stones, sand, wood, and even carpenter tools. He was immediately confused and couldn't understand what his prince was going to do.

But Liu Tan was already ready to go to bed, and Miao Rui didn't dare to ask again. He had to pretend and plan to prepare it tomorrow.

When Liu Tan woke up the next day, he saw that Miao Rui had prepared the wood and other things he wanted. After washing up, he pushed the man aside and started to work.

When Huo Guang and others stood up to report their work to Liu Tan, they were stopped outside by Miao Rui. When they heard Miao Rui say that Liu Tan was doing handicrafts inside, everyone was confused.

At first, Huo Guang and the others thought Miao Rui was joking, but after hearing the tinkling sounds coming from the tent, everyone was stunned... It turned out... this was real.

Huo Guang was the one who recovered the most quickly. He coughed lightly and said, "Since Your Highness is busy, let's...go do our own things first."

Jiang Chong also nodded. Li Buyan and Wei Buyi looked at each other and turned away. At the same time, Wei Buyi silently noted in his heart that the fifth prince liked to do handicrafts and he must tell his cousin the crown prince later.

Liu Tan's face was covered with black and white marks as he was busy in the tent. He had actually made sand tables before. Most people who like models will set up the scenery by themselves, so he is actually very good at hands-on work in this area.

He wanted to find someone to do it, but then he thought that the person he found might not have experience, and he would have to do it while he was talking. If there was anything unclear in the communication, problems might easily arise. It would be better for him to do it himself!

Anyway, no one outside would advise him that doing handicrafts is not appropriate for his status, so he might as well let himself go. It just so happened that he hadn't done it for a long time and his hands were a little itchy.

But after I really started to do it, my hands went from itching to hurting - the tools nowadays are nowhere near as useful as those in later generations. In later generations, there are electric hand drills, soldering irons, and electrostatic flocking machines. There is nothing you can't buy if you can't think of it. Now... sorry, I have to do it myself.

Liu Tan worked hard for a long time. Originally, he wanted to do a better job. For example, he would make a miniature model of the city, use real water for the river, and restore the terrain of the Gobi Desert as much as possible, so that it would be more convenient to use the sand table for reference later.

However, after he started making it, it didn't matter whether it was exquisite or not. The fact that he was able to do it was a testament to how much he loved Huo Guang and the others!

A city? Just put some small wooden planks together and you'll be good to go.

River? Why would we need water? Anyway, there isn't much water in the Western Regions. We can just leave the river empty.

Sand dune landscape? Never mind, it's just an abnormal annual change, so just take it for granted.

The sand table that was finally made... although it looked quite realistic, Liu Tan just wanted to destroy it on the spot.

The main reason I didn't destroy it directly was that I felt sorry for my own efforts.

After all, apart from eating, he just squatted among these junk and played with the sand table.

Finally, he had the sand table moved onto a table. While cleaning himself up, he asked someone to prepare to bring Huo Guang and others in.

Huo Guang and his men hadn't seen Liu Tan for a whole day, and their curiosity had reached its peak. Almost the moment the people sent by Liu Tan informed them, they put down what they were doing and rushed to Liu Tan's tent.

At this time, Liu Tan was already sitting in front of the sand table. Although it didn't look very good during the day, it actually didn't look so embarrassing at night under the candlelight. Could it be because the light has its own soft light effect?

Huo Guang and others arrived at almost the same time. After they entered the tent one after another, they all stood there in a daze.

Liu Tan, sitting in the back, said calmly, "Sit down."

Huo Guang was relatively calm, but the remaining three stared with wide eyes. Li Buyan asked directly, "Your Highness...what is this?"

Liu Tan turned to Huo Guang and asked, "Does he look familiar?"

Huo Guang looked at it for a long time before he said uncertainly, "Is this... the terrain near Cheshi, Huhu, and Jieguo?"

Liu Tan nodded. Li Buyan, standing beside him, was shocked: "How...how did Your Highness do this?"

Before Liu Tan could say anything, Jiang Chong's eyes lit up as he asked, "This... could it be that His Highness has had them all detained?"

Liu Tan: ...

I feel so tired. My subordinates always treat me like a charlatan.