"I have decided to travel west with the Grand Steward to see the vastness of the world. What do you think?"

Wang Zheng smiled and nodded, saying, "Your Majesty has already made almost all the preparations, so I naturally have no reason to refuse. However, I cannot guarantee when I will get anything out of this long journey, so I hope Your Majesty will forgive me."

"Haha." Li Zhi laughed and said in a very open-minded manner: "We are going to an unknown place to seek an illusory miracle. What we will gain is naturally up to fate. I have already made preparations in my heart, so you don't have to worry."

Li Zhi was not discussing with Wang Zheng at all, he was just informing Wang Zheng out of courtesy.

After Wang Zheng gave his greetings, Li Zhi issued his decrees one by one.

In several major border areas, all officials above the rank of county magistrate, including Wang Zhen, Wu You, Wang Ying, and Wang Wu, were transferred back to the central government. Wang Zhen and other four entered the court, while the rest were exchanged with officials of the same level from various parts of the Central Plains.

This marked the beginning of the full entry of the Yuzhou faction into the court.

Looking at all the memorials, Li Zhi felt a bit overwhelmed and said to Wu Zetian, "I just want to find a miracle. Why are these guys here to join in the fun? They all say they want to send their sons to serve me. Do I need people to serve me?"

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Anyway, the scale of Li Zhi's preparation is so large that it doesn't matter if there are a few more people.

Li Zhi nodded and said with a smile: "That's true. Okay, let them follow, but they still have to pay. I'm not greedy for their wealth, the key is to let them pay a little, I think they can feel at ease, otherwise they might think I'm scheming against them."

The success in the border areas also made the aristocratic families realize that going out was actually no worse than staying in the Central Plains and fighting. On the contrary, they could make more profits and it was easier.

Wu Zetian pondered for a moment and said, "I think Your Majesty can take them with you on the journey to the West. After all, even if you want to make plans for the West in the future, you can't rely solely on the court, right?

Corresponding changes were also made in the imperial examination system, and encyclopedias, planning subjects and other Yuzhou-related subjects were included in the examination.

With the current equipment of the Tang army, even if only half of these 100,000 people are guards, this is enough to sweep the entire world. From this, we can see how important Li Zhi attaches to his own safety.

This time the preparations took another half a year. Even when Wang Wu and the others returned from the borderland, Li Zhi was still not ready. After all, it was a long absence, and Li Zhi would not feel at ease if many things were not thoroughly resolved.

If Li Zhi's original private collection is included, Wang Zheng estimates that the number of hot air balloons that Li Zhi wanted to make is about 10,000. Assuming that there are ten people in one hot air balloon, this means that Li Zhi intends to take 100,000 people on the journey to the west.

If the aristocratic families and those small states could act as pioneers and explore for the court first, I think the court could save a lot of effort and expenses. As for the benefits they take, just give them.

Before the people of the world could react to this series of huge reforms, Li Zhi ordered the mobilization of various materials needed for the hot air balloon. The quantity was extremely huge, and 200,000 pieces of cowhide alone were needed.

Even the minority languages ​​in various places are not spared. Although Wang Zheng thinks it is of no use, he did not dissuade it. After all, no one can guarantee when it will be used.

The scale of the tongue-teller originally selected by Wang Zheng also began to expand. Not only were all the Hu people in Chang'an City re-selected, but even Fuso, Qinghai, Lingnan, Mobei, Nanhai, and Persia were also required to send people to Chang'an.

Their plans were similar to those of the aristocratic families. They also wanted to go out and see the world. The world was big, and no matter how they developed if they stayed close to the Tang Dynasty, they would only be its vassal states. If they went out, there would be endless possibilities, so they naturally had to go out and see the world.

As for the aristocratic families, Li Zhi had not yet decided whether to agree to it, but foreign tribes such as Fuso and Silla also came to join in the fun.

After such a huge move, the various aristocratic families could no longer sit still, and they all submitted memorials requesting to send their family members to accompany them on the journey to the west.

Li Zhi raised his eyebrows and asked, "So two or three thousand people can pay that much money?"

Wu Zetian smiled and said, "Our Great Tang is rich now. The small states of Fusang have also saved a lot of money over the years. If Your Majesty lets people spread the news, maybe you can make a little more money."

Li Zhi thought for a moment and said, "It doesn't matter whether it's money or not. I don't need that much money. Queen, do you think I should take them with me?"

Anyway, no matter how they mess around, they are still the people of the Tang Dynasty. Their money is the money of the Tang Dynasty. With the things in the Taoist temple, it is easy to take their money out, isn't it? "

This journey to the West is an opportunity to send some family members to follow. At least they can get a preliminary understanding of the outside world and see which places are better and more suitable for their family.

Although there are certain risks in going to an unknown place, it also means opportunities. Everyone can see that the population of the Tang Dynasty will increase in the future.

At the same time, Li Zhi began to select soldiers who could adapt to the plateau climate from the main armies. After all, there would be altitude sickness in the troposphere, so this was something that had to be done.

Wu Zetian picked up a memorial and glanced at it casually, then said with a smile, "I think Your Majesty can agree to this. They brought their own dry food, and they prepared quite a lot. I'll have someone gather them together. If Your Majesty takes them all with him, not only can we get back the cost of this trip to the West, but we can also make a profit in half."

Nowadays, Tang laws are becoming more and more stringent. If a family wants to continue to grow and prosper, it can no longer rely on exploiting ordinary people. The only way out is to go out.

After all, his parents haven't seen Wang Wu for nearly twenty years, so it would be good to let them meet him as soon as possible.

I just don’t know if Wang Wu will be punished. This guy has never come back since he went to Yuzhou and has been having fun outside.

In recent years, he would ask someone to bring some things back for his family every year. Maybe Wang Wu felt that there were people taking care of his family, so he was not needed.

That day, Wu Yi followed Wang Zheng to the Ba River, looked out into the distance, and asked, "Sir, why do you think His Majesty didn't let the second son come back?"

Wang Zheng smiled and said casually: "Didn't you say that Persia can't live without him now?"