Liu Tan felt a little strange after hearing this. He felt as if Lu Xuan had some backup plan, but he was too embarrassed to ask more. No one would really reveal their plan in full.
He also hid the address of the new city.
Lu Xuan added, "So I just wanted to tell Ah Tan that if you decide to take action, please send someone to notify me. Then we can mobilize together. This will at least ensure that the Cheshi Kingdom won't return to cause trouble for you."
Liu Tan nodded: "Okay."
Lu Xuan had already said this, and if he refused again, it would be like he was on guard against him.
However, Liu Tan still let Huo Guang and others discuss the details.
He is just an ordinary infrastructure worker, how could he know anything about fighting a war?
Huo Guang...at least understood it in theory, and the remaining two also had family backgrounds in learning it. As for Jiang Chong...well, Jiang Chong could only follow him with a confused expression on his face.
After the discussion was almost over, Liu Tan politely sent Lu Xuan away and turned to ask Huo Guang, "Is everything okay?"
Huo Guang looked a little tired. "This little Kunmi is really a troublemaker. Perhaps we should be thankful that there weren't any little Wusun among the robbers we robbed earlier, otherwise we might never have gotten out of this desert."
Liu Tan's eyes widened: "Is he so powerful?"
Huo Guang shook his head: "How many people in the world can destroy an entire country with a thunderbolt as a young man?"
Li Buyan, who was standing by, suddenly asked, "How does it compare to Marquis Jing Huan?"
Liu Tan glared at him immediately after hearing this: "Stop talking nonsense!"
Even though he knew that Lu Xuan was very powerful, Liu Tan subconsciously felt that Huo Qubing was even more powerful.
Think about it, Huo Qubing also made great achievements at this age. If we compare the scale of the war, Lu Xuan is definitely not comparable. However, the resources of the two sides of the war are also incomparable. It seems inappropriate to say that Lu Xuan is not good enough.
Li Buyan shrank his neck. He was indeed very curious. In this era, although everyone thought that Marquis Jing Huan was a talented person and regretted his untimely death, not many people had a deep understanding of his achievements, so they did not have much admiration for him.
Even though Li Buyan came from a military family, they regarded Huo Qubing as a goal, a goal to be surpassed, rather than a unique young genius in the world.
Compared to Liu Tan, Huo Guang's reaction was much calmer. He spoke directly, "This is incomparable. After all, the national conditions are different. However, I heard that the young Kunmi was raised by his mother since childhood, and was taught Chinese characters and language by her. Therefore, in the Western Regions, he must be a rare young hero."
Huo Guang glanced at Liu Tan as he spoke. He had intended to remind Liu Tan that Lu Xuan and him might end up with nothing but regrets, but to his surprise, Liu Tan actually nodded in agreement. He then said, "Alright, now that everything has been discussed, let's go back. I heard the people sent by our father have arrived, so let's go check out the gold mine first."
After hearing what he said, everyone immediately became excited.
To be honest, except for Li Buyan and Wei Buyi, probably no one present was interested in fighting. Everyone was more interested in the gold mine.
When Liu Tan and others returned to the new city, they found that houses had already been built in the new city, and the first house built was Liu Tan's.
In Liu Tan's design, his house is not very big. After all, it is just a temporary residence, and he doesn't want it to be too luxurious. It would be better to build more ordinary houses with that space so that more people can live in it.
But he had only been gone for a few days, and when he came back he found that those people had forcibly expanded his house.
If his house was just a single-family villa without a yard before, it has now become a Chinese-style garden. Although it may not be as big as his Sui Yu Palace, the size has already surprised him.
Liu Tan frowned and asked, "Who did this? Did I ask you to fix it?"
The people below were startled and didn't dare to speak for a moment. No matter how gentle Liu Tan was in his daily life, his identity was there.
Moreover, Liu Tan himself didn't know that after experiencing the baptism of Lu Xuan killing people in front of him two days ago, Liu Tan's entire temperament had changed a little, frightening the person who was answering him so much that he trembled and couldn't utter a word.
Jiang Chong whispered, "Your Highness, this is the captain's intention."
Liu Tan's expression softened considerably as he asked, "What did the captain say?"
Jiang Chong felt so jealous. He just saw that their Fifth Prince was ready to deal with them if they couldn't explain clearly, but when he heard Huo Guang's order, his aura softened immediately, and he didn't even tell the reason!
No matter how bitter his heart was, Jiang Chong had to explain honestly, "The captain said that even if Your Highness doesn't live here in the future, someone must be stationed here. It can't be too cramped."
Liu Tan was a little surprised: "What do you mean? This place is only temporarily activated. Is the captain going to use it permanently?"
Jiang Chong nodded. "What the Commander is saying is that since the Little Wusun are involved with the Cheshi Kingdom, it shouldn't be difficult to conquer the Jie Kingdom. Once the Jie Kingdom is conquered, the Cheshi Kingdom might not dare to cause trouble. Therefore, it's not a bad idea to expand this city."
Liu Tan frowned, "But this place is remote. The commander understands the principle of remote areas being difficult to govern better than I do."
Jiang Chong looked around and whispered in Liu Tan's ear, "Your Highness may not know this, but preliminary results have been found in the gold mine. They're going to drill at least 150 holes."
Liu Tan's eyes widened immediately: "So big?"
Jiang Chong didn't really understand, but since everyone else was talking about it, he just took note. Seeing Liu Tan doing the same thing, he couldn't help but feel a little surprised: "Your Highness knows?"
Liu Tan nodded: "If it is of this scale, then this city... is still too small."
Liu Tan actually didn't know much about gold mines, but he did know something about history books. He vaguely remembered that there was a record that a mine with 300 holes drilled was considered a large mine. For example, a large mine in Shandong was mined from the Tang Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty. Even if the productivity in ancient times was so low, the content of the mineral deposits that could last for four dynasties was already terrifying enough.
Liu Tan found it a little unbelievable. He didn't remember there being such a large gold mine in the Western Regions. Was it because there was no record of it in history? By the time it was recorded, had it been dug up, or had it still not been discovered?
Of course, if it was discovered in later generations, it would be normal for Liu Tan not to know about it. He only learned about the gold mines from ancient books, and he didn't pay any attention to how modern minerals are distributed or what they are like.
Liu Tan glanced at the sand table and said, "We can't delay any longer."
Before Jiang Chong could ask, Liu Tan turned to Miao Rui and said, "Has the money I asked to be shipped arrived?"
Miao Rui immediately said, "Some have arrived, but the rest... are simply too numerous, and we have to be wary of bandits, so we have to go more slowly."
Liu Tan asked, "How much has been shipped?"
Miao Rui said, "Four hundred thousand coins."
Four hundred thousand... is not a small amount. Roughly speaking, it is equivalent to one-tenth of the annual tax revenue of the Han Dynasty.
Liu Tan turned to Jiang Chong and said, "Find a few reliable people from the Western Regions and go to the neighboring countries to buy cattle and sheep. The price doesn't matter, as long as it's less than twice the normal price. As for how to trade, it's up to you."
Jiang Chong was immediately stunned: "Your Highness, we have military rations."
Liu Tan said with some disdain, "What kind of military rations are those? It's fine for daily construction, but we're going to go to war and have people risk their lives. Don't you think we should give them something delicious?"
What's more, Liu Tan also had his own ideas. He once remembered that someone used this method to make the people on the grassland think that raising cattle and sheep was very profitable, so they all raised cattle and sheep and no one farmed or did other jobs. Over time, one day the Central Plains suddenly stopped purchasing cattle and sheep in large quantities, and the economic structure of the grassland countries would quickly collapse. At that time, the Central Plains would not even have to do anything, and war would break out in their own country.
Liu Tan did not intend to achieve this goal through a single war, but just wanted to plant a seed first.
Jiang Chong didn't quite understand Liu Tan's thoughts, or perhaps it was that most people in this era could not understand his thoughts.
Although Confucianism is now strongly promoted by Emperor Wu of Han, it does not really cover everyone, and not everyone can have the idea of benevolence.
However, since Liu Tan gave such instructions, Jiang Chong listened. Anyway, he found that listening to Liu Tan's talks was much better than not listening.
As for the jade belonging to Lady Gouyi and her son... he had already written a letter to entrust someone to return it.
Even a fool can see that the merit of following the emperor, which one may or may not get, is more important than the military merit that one can basically get now.
His Majesty the Emperor is young and strong, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has not shown any obvious misconduct. Coupled with the sudden appearance of the Fifth Prince, the Sixth Prince's hope of competing for the throne is already very slim. How could Jiang Chong, who is good at speculation and analysis, not see this?
When Jiang Chong was about to leave, Liu Tan added, "We won't buy the cattle and sheep of the Xiao Wusun, or we'll buy them at a fair price."
Jiang Chong was stunned for a moment before turning around and asking, "What about the Great Wusun?"
Liu Tan said: "Da Wusun will do as I just said."
Jiang Chong was a little confused. In his opinion, Liu Tan should not have left out the little Wusun for such a good thing. After all, they had a good relationship. Could it be that the friendship between His Highness and the little Kunmi was only good on the surface, and they were actually wary of each other?
However, Liu Tan thought that a good friend should not be betrayed, but he was not in a position to explain all these plans to Lu Xuan, and the thought of it made him feel very confused.
As for Princess Danyang, it was easy to explain. He had previously instructed Princess Danyang to raise cattle and sheep first and then reclaim wasteland. Judging from the last letter Princess Danyang wrote to him, she should have already started purchasing cattle and sheep. Lie Jiaomi didn't think she was doing anything wrong.
Now that the Central Plains has suddenly started to purchase cattle and sheep on a large scale, it can prove Princess Danyang's vision. If that doesn't work, it can also give Princess Danyang the reputation of being well-informed, which will definitely consolidate her position within Wusun.
As for the money, wouldn’t it be more comfortable if part of the money from buying cattle and sheep from Wusun went into the hands of Princess Danyang?
Just when Liu Tan thought his plan was starting to unfold, a letter arrived from Princess Danyang: "Brother, help! Lie Jiaomi is not allowing us to reclaim wasteland anymore. We must focus on raising more cattle and sheep!"
Liu Tan: ?????? A tyrant ruler!
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