In the blink of an eye, it was the Lantern Festival, and the emperor led all officials out of the city to worship Taiyi God. Taiyi God was the main god worshipped by the Han court, the Emperor of Heaven. At first, Emperor Wu of Han began to worship and built Taiyi Temple in Ganquan Palace.

Lantern Festival is the first full moon night of the New Year. Legend has it that Emperor Wen of Han set up to commemorate the quelling of the "Zhulu Rebellion". Later, it developed into a national festival that celebrates the whole world. During the Han Dynasty, the Lantern Festival was only one day, and there was no custom of watching lanterns, and it was not as grand as in later generations.

After the Lantern Festival, the year was almost over. The Chang'an court resumed operations, and the matters related to taxation, land distribution and military farming began to be arranged, and the whole country was in a mess.

But the little emperor seemed to have had a magical disease and made up his mind to improve the pasta level of the big man and develop fine flour. For this reason, he specially approved the establishment of another department of the Shaofu "Shangshiyuan", to convene skilled craftsmen and famous chefs, responsible for developing various new cooking utensils and developing various fresh foods.

For a foodie from later generations, it can of course provide strong technical support and advanced creativity to Shangshiyuan.

Liu Yu first started with the stone mill. The fineness of the flour depends on the stone mill. As long as the stone mill is transformed into the appearance of later generations, the flour problem can be solved easily.

Emperor Liu Yu was lying on the desk, and there was a piece of white paper in front of him. This paper was No. 116 made by Heshangyuan. After on-site inspection, it was considered to be the best one and can be used for daily writing.

The emperor lifted up the pen dipped ink and gently fell down. The ink color dissolved into the white paper, forming a black dot. The emperor's hand slowly went down and pulled out a long black line with straight lines and smooth edges without spreading burrs.

The emperor picked up the pen, tilted his head and looked at it carefully for a while, and said, "Little Banden, look, this is a qualified paper, and there will be no need for bulky bamboo slips in the future."

Banden said: "This is a good relationship, and it saves bamboo, cloth, and is light. Your Majesty, how did you know that those rags can make good paper together? To be honest, although you have always said that you can make it, I have never believed it."

"There are so many things you have never seen before! Ignorance!" The emperor ignored him and focused on drawing pictures, drew a big circle on the paper, and then drew another one.

Banden tilted his head and looked at it, asking, "Your Majesty, are you painting steamed cakes?"

The emperor glanced at him with the idiot's eyes, and Banden said again: "Is that Shaobing?"

"How do you know how to eat it!" the emperor scolded: "This is a stone mill, a grinding disc, do you understand? It is used to grind flour! There is no problem with wheat now. The key is that the flour is not well ground, and the quality of the flour depends entirely on the stone mill. I have seen those grinding discs, and there are some pits on them. Although I don't know what to do, I feel that the grinding teeth are not fine enough, so the flour cannot be ground. If the grinding teeth is done, fine flour will be ground."

Xiao Banden said: "You can also make stone mills! Your Majesty, when you were herding cattle, you didn't know so much like you are now... It would be strange if you said that it was not what King Jing of Chengyang taught you with a dream!"

The emperor ignored his nagging and looked at the mess of millstone drawings in front of him, and gestured left and right, drawing completely inconsistently.

At this time, Niu Tou's thick voice suddenly rang outside the door: "Your Majesty! Your Majesty! A great victory, a great victory in Longxi!"

The emperor immediately put down his pen and shouted, "Come in and speak!"

Niu Tou came in, holding a roll of silk book in his hand, his face full of joy, and bowed: "Your Majesty, the envoy of Longxi sent a good news, saying that it was Majesty who quelled the rebellion of the Qiang people. This is really a blessing from Your Majesty. I am so happy...Long live my emperor!"

The emperor grabbed the silk book and opened it and saw that it was Ma Yuan's book of victory.

Ma Yuan sent troops on the day of the dynasty and led 3,000 infantry and hundreds of cavalrymen to attack the Qiang people's settlement unexpectedly. He defeated the Qiang coalition forces headed by Xianling Qiang, beheaded more than a thousand, captured more than 10,000 horses, cattle and sheep, and more than 10,000 Qiang people surrendered, and the rest of the Qiang people fled.

This rebellion between the Qiang people lasted for only two months and was easily quelled by Ma Yuan.

The emperor said happily: "It's General Fu Bo!"

General Fu Bo is Ma Yuan’s title in history, and now the emperor plans to give it to him again without hesitation.

The emperor was not surprised by this victory. This was Ma Yuan's tactical level, with great strategy, good at sending troops, and caught the Qiang people off guard on a day that no one expected. He fought the Qiang people and decided to fight the world.

Luo You, who had been worried about the Longxi soldiers, was completely relieved. The development of the situation verified the emperor's prediction. As long as Ma Yuan was given 3,000 people, he could sweep hundreds of thousands of Qiang people.

This great victory brought Chang'an, which had just recovered from the festival, back into carnival. This victory was different from the victory of the civil war. Because it was to resist foreign aggression and defend the country, it was even more valuable. It was of great use to consolidate the status of the little emperor, the lord of the Han Dynasty and enhance the national pride of the Han people.

But it cannot be said that Longxi is stable, because the Qiang people are like this. They fight and run away and come back. This year, the Qiang was driven away first, and next year, the Qiang came out to make trouble again.

The Qiang people were based on tribes and had no unified monarch. There were hundreds of species in all sizes. Due to the expansion of the Han Dynasty, the living space of the Qiang people was compressed. The tribes fought for limited river valleys and pastures, and fought against each other. Sometimes they would unite to relieve their enemies and deal with the Han Dynasty together.

Ma Yuan not only reported victory for Ping Qiang, but also requested to send troops in his letter to go south from Longxi to attack Wudu, using Wudu as a springboard, first seeking Hanzhong, and then deciding Bashu. He has been in Longxi for many years and has been familiar with Qiang and Di. Wu was a place where Qiang and Di live together. Ma Yuan wanted to divide and disintegrate it, unite the pro-Han faction among them, and attack those who depend on Gongsun Shu.

He asked the court to re-appoint the prefect of Longxi and sent a captain to protect the Qiang affairs to specifically handle the Qiang affairs so that he could concentrate on the southern expedition.

The emperor pondered without saying a word.

This letter is related to the future development direction of the founding of the Han Dynasty. Following Ma Yuan’s idea, it is to first go west and then east, first attack Hanzhong and Bashu, and then go out to Hangu Pass to compete for the world.

This involves the deployment of troops and resource allocation of a large country. Once it is decided, it cannot be easily changed, so it must be cautious.

To be honest, the emperor has been considering this issue recently. In his memory, Liu Xiu's strategy was to first go east and then west, and Deng Yu and Feng Yi were struggling to support it. His main army was busy quelling the rebellion in Guandong. After spending a few years to pacify the heroes of Guandong, Liu Xiucai transferred the main force to Longxi, pacify Wei Xiang, and finally destroyed Gongsun Shu and settled Bashu.

If the Jianshi Han Dynasty "first west and then east", it is likely that two major camps with Luoyang are formed in the end. Jianshi Han and Jianwuhan are one west and one east, each occupying half of the country, and the two sides will compete for the final winner.
Chapter completed!