After half a month.
During this half month, Li Ke wandered around the Gobi Desert every day, and even hunted under the eyes of the Western Region Allied Forces.
The scouts sent out by others were shot as prey.
"Unlucky, you can't eat this prey today!"
"If we pile them up, there will only be a few hundred people, but if we add more stones, we can build a Jingguan."
Li Bingdao, who was accompanying him, waved his hand, and more than a hundred elite men immediately began cutting their heads and starting work. They had been doing this kind of work a lot during this time.
"Your Highness, where are those who are alive?"
"Of course I will bring them back, these people are all laborers."
Li Bingdao still couldn't understand. His Highness had spent so much money, so was it worth it to just let them work?
Half a month ago, Li Ke issued an order to open the Qikou Passage to caravans.
Merchants could enter the Gobi Desert and deliver food and water to the military camps, and promised that as long as the captives were safely delivered to Liangzhou, each prisoner would receive five hundred coins.
If you can escort him directly to Qinzhou, you can get a lot of money.
If the caravan catches it by itself, it can directly receive the usual monetary reward, and the transportation price will remain the same as usual.
In addition, according to the number of prisoners captured by each caravan (subject to the above handed over to the government), they will be ranked after the war, and the top ten caravans will obtain the agency rights for the new products of the King of Shu.
The businessmen learned from the information revealed by the Shu palace's staff that the King of Shu planned to build a Tang straight road from Chang'an to Yiwu after the war. He would invite wealthy businessmen from all over the world to jointly build it, and the project would be outsourced to businessmen.
The scale of his work was unprecedented, and it was only after Emperor Qin unified the six kingdoms that he built Qin Zhidao.
As soon as this order came out, countless caravans gathered in the Hexi Corridor went crazy.
Let’s not talk about the construction of Tang Zhidao, but let’s talk about the new products of King Shu, which can make them make a lot of money.
Businessmen know how awesome the new products of King Shu are. Whether it is sugar, perfume, or colored glaze, which one of them is not coveted by businessmen all over the world?
Countless caravans began to recruit local rangers at high prices, preparing to take the caravan army to the Western Regions to capture slaves. They even rushed to send the news to Chang'an City, so that the family could quickly recruit guards, especially retired veterans.
In recent days, the entire Hexi Corridor has been filled with caravans with countless thugs, and they even have prison cars ready.
The battle situation in Yiwu also made the merchants excited. Under the command of the Youth Battalion, the Tang army had completely captured the Stone Urn City on the edge of the Gobi Desert and captured more than 20,000 slave soldiers.
The Western Region Allied Forces have been forced to retreat and currently only have a defense line set up along the Yiwu City front line. However, the one-month standoff has caused them heavy losses, and their logistical supplies are still in short supply.
In particular, the Tang army went deep behind enemy lines and caused all kinds of destruction, which caused headaches to the countries in the Western Regions. They couldn't even protect their own country. How could they have time to help Gaochang and send material support to Gaochang?
All the slave soldiers captured by the Tang army were handed over to merchants and transported away.
Li Ke's fiefdom is the Eighteen Prefectures of Longyou, so naturally he will not send prisoners to Chang'an City. What he wants to build is his fiefdom. Therefore, these prisoners were sent to Qinzhou as far away as possible and to Liangzhou as recently as possible.
If you want to be rich, you must first build roads. If you build the Silk Road from Chang'an City to the Western Regions, it will be of great significance whether it is conquering the Western Turks and taking over the entire Western Regions, or going north to sweep the grasslands, or even Tubo in the southwest. .
After taking Gaochang and using Gaochang as the bridgehead of the Western Regions, the Western Turks will be destroyed soon.
However, this project is huge and may not be completed in less than ten years. At present, the industrial foundation is not yet mature, so let these slaves first open up wasteland and turn the eighteen prefectures of Longyou into granaries.
When potatoes are successfully bred and planted on a large scale, no one will starve to death in Datang, and the people's lives will get better and better.
It was getting late, and Li Ke led more than a hundred escorts back to the military camp.
In the military camp.
Li Daliang and Chai Shao were as anxious as ants on a hot pot. They came 800 miles from Chang'an to rush. The queen was seriously ill, so His Majesty summoned His Highness to return to Beijing quickly.
But His Highness has been elusive during this period. Sometimes he goes out for a day, and sometimes he comes back only three to five days ago. They have no idea of His whereabouts at all.
"Two generals, His Highness is back."
After hearing the report from their subordinates, the two of them were so excited that they almost cried. They also knew that Li Ke's medical skills were very high.
It can be said that General Qin Qiong's old illness is incurable. Even Sun Miracle Doctor only shook his head when he saw it, but His Highness the King of Shu only gave him a prescription, and Qin Qiong was able to mount his horse and kill the enemy.
Now he leads an army of 30,000 people. According to the intelligence, he has captured Tuyuhunxin Khan alive and reached Shanshan, his royal city. Now he has conquered Shanshan City and is marching towards Qiemo.
It can be said that Qin Qiong's contribution this time is really great. The entire southern part of the Western Region may be captured by Qin Qiong.
Your Majesty asked the King of Shu to enter the palace quickly to rescue the Queen. This was more important than attacking Gaochang State. The relationship between the Emperor and the Queen was very deep.
Moreover, His Majesty's ability to become a wise king is inseparable from the support of the Queen behind him. Queen Changsun is a kind-hearted person and is very friendly to military commanders like them. ŴŴŴ.BIQUGE.biz
Without Queen Changsun, life would be difficult for everyone.
The most important point is that with the queen here, the prince and Li Tai will not mess around.
Once the queen leaves, the ambitions of the prince and Li Tai may be detrimental to the king of Shu.
The King of Shu's foundation in the court was unstable, and now he has succeeded in destroying the country. The Tang Dynasty may have to experience another Xuanwu Sect incident.
For Datang, this was a missed opportunity, and all these years of hard work were in vain.
"Your Highness, Chaozhong Babaili is urgent to get you into the palace as soon as possible."
As soon as Li Ke got off his horse, he saw Chai Shao, the prince-in-law, running over anxiously.
Li Ke was shocked, could it be that Grandpa Huang was gone?
But then I thought about it, it was impossible. He left Li Yuan the Yuan Yang Pill to ensure that Li Yuan could live to be a hundred years old.
"Your Majesty is seriously ill and Doctor Sun is helpless."
Hearing this, Li Ke breathed a sigh of relief. He thought his grandpa had left, but it turned out that the empress had relapsed.
But according to the timeline, the queen followed Li Shimin to visit Jiucheng Palace and contracted the cold. Then the old illness relapsed and she eventually died.
But Jiucheng Palace has not yet been completed, and Queen Changsun will become seriously ill next year.
Could it be that some events were changed because of his own reasons?
Also, the attack on Tuyuhun only started in November, and now it is only October, and it has already reached Gaochang Kingdom.
Although small events are changing, big events still follow the course of history.
"Your Highness, please leave as soon as possible."
The person who sent the message was the secret guard. He waited for a full day before the King of Shu came back, but the Queen's condition could not wait any longer!
Li Ke took his time, glanced at the secret guard, and asked, "Did the princess take medicine for the queen?"
"The villain came in a hurry and didn't know it."
Li Ke nodded. Before he came to Longyou, he had told Li Shuwan that if there was a disease that Sun Simiao couldn't solve, he could give the Tibetan medicine at home to his family members.
After Li Ke pondered for a moment, he said coldly: "Call all the generals for a meeting!"
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