Several people stood on the edge of the inner city wall. A gust of wind blew by, and the yellow earth all over the sky looked like gusts of cold wind in the night, with a whistling sound, making people feel weird and uncomfortable.

A man in his thirties was wearing a unique Tibetan robe. Under the light of the fire, the hat on his head was covered with yellow soil, and a lot of it was blown away by the wind.

Li Hong did not know Garxiruo, but he could tell his identity from his clothes.

Tubo has always been a vested interest group that imitated the Tang Dynasty. Even any country during this period was trying its best to imitate everything from the Tang Dynasty.

Tubo also imitated the Tang Dynasty's system of official ranks, and then made slight modifications to it to become their current rank system.

The color of the clothes naturally imitated the Tang Dynasty, and the Gaoshen, that is, the fish symbol of the Tang Dynasty, was also changed to imitate it.

Official ranks were divided into six categories, and the man in his thirties was naturally of the first category. A three-inch round jadeite hung on his coarse woolen sleeves, indicating that his rank was already the highest.

Next come gold, silver-plated gold, silver, copper, and finally iron sheets.

Li Hong lay on the saddle, looked at the leading man with a relaxed expression and said, "Are you Galxiruo?"

...

...

"Who are you?" As soon as Garxiruo opened his mouth, stiff Chinese came out of his mouth.

"The Grand Protector of Anxi Protectorate." Li Hong did not hide anything and said lightly.

"What do you want to do?" Yang Rou Kee's voice was a little cold, and he looked at the soldiers around him.

Originally, he could have waited until Li Hong's iron hoof passed by before escaping, but he didn't expect that at the entrance of the city wall, one of his men accidentally made a noise, and the small sound was discovered by others, so he had no choice but to crawl out in embarrassment.

"I don't want to do anything, but I want to ask, what do you want to do?" Li Hong unconsciously imitated the tone of Yang Rouke, which made Galxiruo feel greatly humiliated.

"Are all Tang Dynasty officials so rude?" Garxiruo's face was full of anger.

"Being rude is better than being ungrateful. My Tang Dynasty provides you with food and drink, but you, a bunch of ungrateful wolves, only think of taking advantage of my Tang Dynasty. Who is impolite?" Li Hong did not get off the horse, but just lay on the saddle. He was very warm in the big fur coat. He showed his head and said in a relaxed manner.

"Tuoba is not Tang territory. It is my hometown. It was occupied by them. We just want to come back."

"Bullshit, I also said that Tibet is my hometown. I'm asking you to give it back now, will you give it to me? Well, catch them, it's very cold outside, take them to the Governor's Mansion for further interrogation." Li Hong looked at Xiaoxue rubbing her hands, then signaled to Liebao.

Seeing that Liebao and others were about to take action, several Tibetans immediately drew out the scimitars from their waists, protected Garxiruo in the middle, and looked at the Tang soldiers around them vigilantly.

"If you are not crazy, tell your men to put down their knives and follow us. If you want them to die, I have no objection." Li Hong pulled the reins in his hand, and Liangpiao immediately understood and turned around easily and started walking towards the inner city.

Just after walking a few steps, Li Hong heard Gal Xiruo's muffled voice behind him: "Put down the knife and follow them."

"Master, is this person very powerful?" Walking on the street of Loulan Governor's Mansion in front of the inner city, Xiaoxue was a little surprised that His Highness went to so much trouble just for this person.

"He's okay, it depends on who he's compared with. Compared with me, he's naturally weaker, but he has a shrewd, strong, and cunning father, Lu Dongzan." Li Hong looked at the torches in front of him. Wutan had already completely controlled the Governor's Mansion.

"I think he is not even as good as one of your fingers." Xiaoxue said proudly.

"No, he is not qualified to be compared with me." Xia Zhi also said after seeing Li Hong's mood become happy since he captured Garxiruo.

"Yeah, Xiazhi is still the one who knows how to talk. Banmei and Xunlan, won't you two praise me?" Li Hong felt even better as he watched Jingzhe running quickly towards him. He said to the other two palace maids riding beside him.

These days, Banmei and Xunlan have understood the Crown Prince's character better than before in the palace. After spending some time together, they feel that the Crown Prince is probably the best prince in the world and will never make things difficult for them.

"Master, I don't think he is as handsome as you..."

"Stop it. You don't even know how to praise others. In the future, learn how to flatter from Xiazhi and Xiaoxue." Jingzhe walked slowly to the gate of the Governor's Mansion holding the food coupons. He saw that the not-so-tall, black wooden door was wide open, and four or five people were kneeling at the door.

The lanterns on both sides had already been lit, and some torches were still illuminating the place. Li Hong looked at An Mo Shen Pan who was kneeling on the ground and said lightly: "You are really something. You have used your ability of being a fence-sitter to the extreme. You took my Tang Dynasty's money and colluded with Tubo. Let me see how I will deal with you tomorrow."

After saying that, he looked at the other strangers, kicked each of the people kneeling in the middle of the door, and walked straight in.

After a night of hard work, Li Hong's trip was finally worthwhile. After Xia Zhi and others cleaned up the room for him, Li Hong handed everything over to Fawutian.

As for how to deal with Governor An Moshenpan who led the Loulan Governor's Office of the Tang Dynasty, Li Hong had already thought about it. No matter what, the governor had to be replaced by a Tang Dynasty talent, and including the provincial governor, all needed to be Tang people.

Dismantle the old power of the wealthy and powerful families, cultivate a local middle class that is pro-Tang Dynasty, and then integrate all classes in Loulan, achieve unification in culture and other aspects, and truly turn this place into a territory belonging to Tang Dynasty.

On the second day, Yao Chong and Huan Yanfan had already arrived at the gate of Loulan City before the city gate was opened.

Since Zhang Jianzhi was nominated as the Minister of Rites by Li Hong, he unknowingly followed in the footsteps of the Minister of Works Yan Liben.

Yuwen Rong, Liang Xiaoren, Yang Jiong and others from Chongwenguan had already passed Yumen Pass and were on their way to Qiuci City.

As a cultural inheritor in the Western Regions, Li Hong wanted to see if he could discover more talents in the Western Regions before the great poet Li Bai was born.

Originally, Li Hong wanted to ask Wang Bo to come along, but Li Xian had assigned him to another position. Moreover, his mother Wu Mei and his father Emperor Li Zhi did not agree with him stealing his younger brother's girl, so they rejected his unreasonable request.

As for the remaining two of the Four Great Talents of the Early Tang Dynasty, Luo Binwang and Lu Zhaolin, they were impressed by Li Hong's talent when they visited Qujiang Lake in their early years. Therefore, with the approval of the Ministry of Personnel, these two people who were not very valued also joined the ranks supporting the development of the Western Regions.

Li Hong dismissed Anmo Shenpan from his official position on charges of colluding with foreign enemies and harboring the king of Kucha. He and other former Western Region leaders such as Bai Sunizhi were sent back to Chang'an City.

Ze Luo, a military official of the Tang Dynasty, fought bravely against the Peacock Bandits from the Western Regions and died in the battle to protect the Grand Protector of Anxi Protectorate.

After dealing with these matters, Li Hong naturally handed over the remaining tasks to Yao Chong, Huan Yanfan and others.

The only thing that has not been dealt with now is, of course, Garxiruo, who is currently serving in Tubo as a minor prime minister under the major prime minister Lu Dongzan.

For three days, Li Hong did not give any food to Garxiruo and others, but only gave them a small amount of water to maintain the body's required moisture.

"This guy cannot be killed." Li Hong shook his head in response to the inquiring looks from Yao Chong and Huan Yanfan.

"Please tell me why we can't kill him? Is he more noble than the third prince of the White Arabs?" Yao Chong asked, somewhat puzzled.

"That's not the case. In terms of status and position, they are both the same. Although Gar Xiruo is not a Tubo prince, he is actually equivalent to their prince. Lu Dongzan controls the Tubo court. Although he is far away in Tuyuhun, his influence is incomparable. Moreover, the Tubo Zanpu is not Songtsen Gampo's son, but Songtsen Gampo's grandson Mangsong Mangzan. Therefore, it can be said that Gar Dongzan's family has the final say in the Tubo court."

Li Hong stared at the map of the Western Regions on the table, pointed at Ashina Duzhi, and said, "If we kill him now, it will be equivalent to a direct war with Tubo. Now our Tang Dynasty is not ready to launch two large-scale wars in the Western Regions at the same time. What's more, the White Arabs have been eyeing the Persian Governor's Office covetously."

"Then what should we do? We can't just keep him like this, right?" Yao Chong, who has been trained by Li Hong, has become a profit-oriented politician. When he looks at a person, he always starts from his own interests.

As for those who are unprofitable and have no use value, the way he and Huan Yanfan deal with them now is very similar to Li Hong's way.

This is also the reason why Li Hong brought them to the Western Regions. He hoped that through words and deeds, they would learn more about how to use others and make better use of the cards in their own hands to seek benefits for the Tang Dynasty.

"Of course we can't just keep him like this. Tell Pei Xingjian to write a letter to Lu Dongzan and tell him that his son was imprisoned in Khotan by the Tang Dynasty because he conspired with Loulan governor An Moshenpan to rebel. If you want to redeem his son, you have to return the land of Tuyuhun to Tuyuhun King Nuohebo." When Li Hong said this, there was even a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"This...will they believe this?" Huan Yanfan found this method to be a bit too childish.

"Of course he won't believe it, and we don't intend to let him believe it, but with him in our hands, we can buy more time to stabilize Anxi and suppress Ashina Duzhi and Li Zhapu. In this way, Pei Xingjian will not be constrained in the use of troops, and can suppress them with ease."

The combined age of Yao Chong, Huan Yanfan and Li Hong is not as old as Lu Dongzan alone, yet they have already begun to plot against the cunning Lu Dongzan.