Luoyang Ziwei Palace.

"We will soon recover Jiangbei, and it will take time to digest it. We will not be able to continue the Northern Expedition in a while." Li Luo and Cui Xiuning stood beside a huge map, "Is there any movement in Ganliang area?"

Cui Xiuning shook her head: "No. However, the Yuan court is speeding up the delivery of population slaves. Should we stop it?"

Li Luo sneered: "Stop it? The Han people who followed the Yuan court were either used to being firmly slaves, or the Han officials, Shihou family, and traitor army family. Why should they stop it? Besides, to stop it, cavalry must be used to fight tough battles with the Yuan army."

"This Northern Expedition, tens of thousands of cavalry were killed and killed, and the total number of cavalry in the Tang Dynasty dropped to 180,000. It is difficult to replenish cavalry, and the newly recruited tens of thousands of cavalry cannot be used."

"The Yuan army has now greatly reduced its defense line in the east, and its forces have been concentrated. However, we need troops everywhere and their strength is relatively scattered. Now we can only defend temporarily."

"But..." Li Luo pointed his finger at the Nanyang Islands, "The navy can make a big move, but they are still idle anyway. Take down Luzhou (Luzon) of Haisong first!"

Cui Xiuning agreed very much, "The navy has not fought a big battle for a long time, so it is indeed necessary to move. Luzon has thousands of Song army naval troops, and there are only 20,000 troops garrison on the island, which is not difficult to fight. Haisong has been in the island for seven or eight years, and has a foundation, and it just happened to be in the pocket. But what after the battle is done? How to arrange it?"

Li Luo looked at the map and pondered for a while, "The Nanyang Islands include later generations of Malay, Indonesia, the Philippines, the Strait of Malacca, and the Tang Dynasty must be arranged."

"However, it cannot be set as a local area. It cannot be set as a territory for the time being, it can only be set as a territory of the Tang Dynasty."

According to the explanation of territory in the "Da Tang Law Code", the territory of the Tang Dynasty is divided into three levels: local, territorial, and territorial.

The so-called Tang Dynasty territory is nominally the territory of the Tang Dynasty, but it is actually a colony. However, the overseas territory of the Tang Dynasty is not a dumping place for commodities, but a resource export place. These resources include grain, manpower, minerals, wood, aquatic products, etc.

Why can the Indochina Peninsula and Northern India become territory, while the Nanyang Islands can only become territories?

Because the civilization level of the Nanyang Islands is too low and not as developed as India, they are temporarily not qualified to become a territory and can only become an overseas territorial of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Luo pointed to the Nanyang Islands: "A large area cannot be monopolized by Haisong, otherwise it will be a great country in the future!"

Cui Xiuning's jade fingers were also dotted in two places, "The Philippines and Malaysia should be held in their hands and control Malacca. These two places are closest to the local area, and they are like two pliers, clamping the Indonesian archipelago."

"No." Li Luo pointed to Sumatra and Borneo even more domineeringly, "These two islands must be taken down too!"

Choi Soo-ning looked at the map with her arms in her arms, squinted her eyes, "That is to say, only leave Java Island and Sulawesi Island for Haisong?"

Li Luo sneered: "If they know the current affairs, they will leave these two big islands for them. If they don't know the current affairs, they will be destroyed. Leave them to Haisong, which has an area of ​​hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, and they are not small countries anymore."

Li Luo's plan was equivalent to eating two-thirds of Hai Song's territory, leaving only one-third.

Cui Xiuning thought about it and laughed out loud, "Okay, we actually helped them. Their basic plate is too weak, and they don't even have the basic plate of the Qing Dynasty, but they occupy such a large territory. Sooner or later, something will happen. In other words, there are conflicts between the indigenous races, otherwise the indigenous people would have rebelled long ago."

"We took two-thirds of the territory. Their territory was smaller and their strength was not so dispersed. It would be difficult for the natives to rebel."

What she said was not a slander. Under Hai Song, Han people, Yue people, Japanese people, and Korean people belong to the basic base, but how many soldiers are there? The total battle is 70,000 or 80,000. Just this is the army that was merged after the two Song dynasties.

It is already very good to rely on this basic base of 70,000 to 80,000 indigenous soldiers and horses, and to control nearly 20 million unruly indigenous people. It has not happened in six or seven years.

In fact, Hai Song was able to swallow the Nanyang Islands, on the one hand, it was indeed a civilized suppression, but also a good luck. The indigenous races fought and fought endlessly, and Hai Song's arrival also brought order, which made them relatively stable.

Moreover, Hai Song's rule was not strong, and most areas could only be indirectly managed by the division of chieftains, and implemented a semi-county and semi-regulated system.

However, it is impossible for the natives to really accept their fate. It will be a matter of time before large-scale resistance to Hai Song's rule.

"Chen Shuzhen's army has gone to Hengbei, so there is no need to worry about Beitianzhu. We will focus on the Nanyang Navy for the time being. We will prepare to dispatch the Nanyang Navy, plus tens of thousands of mainland troops, and divide the troops into two groups. We will attack later generations of Malays. We will attack Luzon (Philippines)!" Li Luo clenched his fist, "Nanyang, we will become the inner sea of ​​the Tang Dynasty!"

Cui Xiuning said: "The messenger still needs to be sent. If you can not fight hard, don't fight hard. Hai Song's strength should not be too much loss, otherwise you will not be able to suppress the natives."

Why not destroy Hai Song directly?

Because the Nanyang Islands are too big and there are too many natives. If Haisong is destroyed, the Tang Dynasty will have to control the huge Nanyang Islands alone. It is not a good thing to maintain heavy troops overseas for a long time. Keeping Haisong is to retain the power of Chineseization.

The couple discussed for an afternoon and decided the fate of Haisong and the Nanyang Islands.

This is the real power over the world!

Soon, a secret decree was sent to the Military Advisor Pavilion and the Ministry of War.

The spies' attention also turned to Haisong and Nanyang Islands.

…………

On the second day, Guan Hanqing came to the palace to thank him. When he was resigning, he presented a "Fu of Baiyun Tower", saying that it was written by Zhang Yanghao, a scholar in Jinan, and asked Your Majesty to read it.

This is the recommendation.

When the Tang Lord heard that it was Zhang Yanghao, he immediately became interested. After reading "Baiyun Tower Fu", he praised him and then sent an order to summon Zhang Yanghao.

The next day, Zhang Yanghao was appointed as the seventh-rank imperial prefecture and became another emperor secretary. He suddenly became a new nobleman and rose to prominence.

Although the Tang court selected scholars by imperial examinations, the founding of the country was short, and the imperial examination officials were still relatively immature, so the recommendation system still exists. Of course, those with direct recommendation must be above the third rank, and those who are recommended must be "interviewed" by the emperor or prime minister, and those who pass the examination can be awarded official positions. Those who directly recommend to the emperor often start with the seventh rank or above.

This is mainly because the Tang Dynasty has not been established for a long time, the talent reserves are still insufficient, and there are many vacancies in official positions. Moreover, many old-fashioned scholars who have long become famous are unwilling to participate in the imperial examination with their descendants and began to compete for grassroots official positions.

Only then did Li Luo temporarily use the imperial examination system to recruit talents with the recommendation system.

Nowadays, the central government of the Tang Dynasty needs many officials. The number of new officials trained by the Keluan system is insufficient and insufficient to use.

At the same time, the serious shortage of faculty has greatly restricted the progress of compulsory education. Although the illiteracy rate has dropped rapidly in the years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the literacy rate is still less than 10%, and those who can reach the level of officialdom are even more slim.

The vast majority of scholars in the world are still old literati trained by the old system at this time. If they were not used, the Tang Dynasty would be difficult to operate. We cannot use military, police, constitutional special forces to govern the country and establish military governments, right?

Of course, if anyone recommends unqualified people, they will not only not be hired, but will also lose points in front of the emperor. Therefore, the important officials are very cautious in recommending talents, for fear of implicating themselves.

Zhang Yanghao was very surprised to be appointed as a minister in the imperial court, but he did not know that he could get this promising position so easily, which was entirely due to his own reputation in his later generations.

It belongs to Jian in the Emperor's heart.

…………

In mid-November, news from Hengbei was sent back one by one.

When Chen Shuzhen's army arrived in Hengbei, Yesen Timur's army had already retreated in advance.

The Yuan army lost 70,000 to 80,000 people, but failed to break through the Guanhe defense line. In the end, they could only retreat to Am Province in shame.

The rebellion of the religious people in Hengbei Protectorate, Liang State and Li State was completely suppressed. Almost all the rebels who jumped out were suppressed.

Hengbei Protectorate has completely gained a foothold.

In late October, Chen Shuzhen led 40,000 Tang troops across the Ganges, supported Liang and Liguo, and resisted the Central and Southern Tianzhu coalition forces that went south again.

The Tianzhu coalition forces had 300,000 and the Chinese coalition forces had 150,000 battles in Nagpur.

Due to the fierce Tang army's participation in the war, the Tianzhu coalition was defeated, with more than 100,000 casualties and defeated thousands of miles. The Chinese coalition forces chased after several days, and only tens of thousands of people left of the Tianzhu coalition escaped the Wendya Mountains. Even the king of the most powerful country, Yadava, was beheaded by the Tang army.

Since Nagpur was changed to Gopu County by Liang State, this war was called the "Battle of Gopu" in history.

The Battle of Gepu had a great influence. After the Battle of Gepu, Liang and Liguo recovered their lost territory and consolidated their rule. The Indian nobles in the central and southern regions were scared by the Tang army and dared not go north easily, nor did they have the strength to go north.

The Liang Kingdom and the Li Kingdom also truly became the vassal kings of the Tang Dynasty.

After defeating the Tianzhu coalition, Chen Shuzhen stole the Haixi Road (Odisa) occupied by Hai Song in Tianzhu. It was an enclave of Hai Song, with not many troops stationed, and even the resistance of the Tianzhu people was difficult to calm down. Chen Shuzhen only fought one battle and destroyed the Hai Song garrison and captured Orissa.

"Empress, the countries of Central and Southern India are likely to send envoys to the Tang Dynasty to pay homage. They are afraid that the Tang Dynasty will continue to use troops to them." Li Zhihui reported.

"Students guess that the messengers from several countries should have set out."

Cui Xiuning asked: "Is there any latest news about Hai Song?"

Li Zhi could only report Hai Song’s news first: “The natives of Borneo have begun to rebel, and the natives of Luzon have to rebel. Hai Song sent troops to suppress them, and they were so busy.”

"Also, the news I got from the Dashi Sea Merchant." Li Zhi talked about an important information, "The Yuan army had attacked Fuqi (Eastern Rome). Ananda, the King of Anxi, surrounded the Constellation City and ordered Han arms and weapons to bombard it."

This is indeed very important news.

Li Luo's heart was thrilled. Can the Yuan army conquer the strong Constantinople?

Although the Yuan army had firearms, it was not easy to capture Constantinople.

But the news from Li Zhi made Li Luo even more excited.

"It's also the news provided by the Dashi Marine Merchant. The Cross Pharaoh (Popular) in the extreme west declared that he wanted to form a cross army to deal with the Yuan army's western expedition. Maybe he wanted to rescue Fuqi (Eastern Rome)... According to the Dashi Merchant, the Crusader seemed very strong, and the Yuan army might not be an opponent."

What? The Pope finally couldn't sit still? He was going to call for the formation of the Crusade?

If this is the case, there will be a good show.

When Li Zhi finished reporting the information, Li Luo asked Cui Xiuning: "How likely do you think is the Western Europe to send troops?"

Cui Xiuning said without hesitation: "I speculate that if nothing unexpected happens, Western Europe will definitely send troops."

She took out a charcoal pen and skillfully drew a picture, "Look, this is Italy, the base camp of the Pope, and this is the Byzantine Empire! See? The two are bordering."

Li Luo was not familiar with maps, especially foreign maps. For the first time, he learned that Italy was connected to the Byzantine Empire through the Balkans.

Cui Xiuning said confidently: "If the Yuan army destroys the Byzantine Empire, then the Pope will be directly under the military peak of the Yuan army! Therefore, the Pope will definitely form a crusader!"

"Given the scale and power of the Yuan army's Western Expedition, Western European countries must have known the news and must have been scared. I guess the scale of the Crusader this time will not be small."

"This is all news from two months ago. It is estimated that the Crusaders have been formed now. After all, the Yuan army has been expeditioning the west for almost a year, and Western European countries will not be unaware of it and will not prepare."

Li Luo said: "Police, can you draw a full picture of Europe? Just a rough picture."

Cui Xiuning nodded and quickly drew a map of Europe. However, the map marked the countries in later generations, and she had never learned the ancient Western historical map.

But in history, Li Luo is his strength.

He took Cui Xiuning's charcoal pen, took a little bit in Germany, and then circled a big circle, "This is the Holy Roman Empire."

In central Italy, one more time, "This is the Papal State..."

"This is the Kingdom of Sicily, this is the Kingdom of Hungary, here is..."

"If the Crusaders were formed, the main force should be the Holy Roman Empire and the main battlefield, it was probably in Croatia or Hungary. Because Western Europe would not really rescue Eastern Rome. If Eastern Rome was over, they would resist the Yuan army and continue the Western Expedition."

"In half a year, a war between the East and the West may break out in Southeast Europe. If the Yuan army is defeated, it will withdraw from Eastern Rome. If the Yuan army wins greatly, the Holy Roman Empire will be in danger."

Cui Xiuning looked at the map with interest, "The Hungarian Plain is most likely the battlefield. Here, there are very Liverpool Mongolian cavalry."

Li Luo seemed very happy, "Haha, I really hope they fight a good fight. The Crusaders are still very strong. The Yuan army is dominated by the Seme people in Xiya, and there are not many Mongolian soldiers, so they may not be able to fight."

Cui Xiuning said: "Don't forget that there are traitors in the Yuan army, and will they use firearms, crusades or hangers."

Li Luo put away the map, "Okay, they are fighting theirs in the west, we are fighting ours in the east. The southern expedition is ready, and it is time to send troops to the Nanyang Islands."

Soon, the secret order of sending troops flew out of Luoyang.

Half a month later, the Tang army fleet on standby in the Indochina Peninsula was divided into two groups, heading to the Philippines in later generations and Malaysia in later generations.

The Nanyang Navy had 20,000 people, carrying 40,000 troops from the mainland, and 60,000 elite troops from the sea and the mainland attacked Haisong!

At the same time, Ji Changgong, the envoy of the Tang Dynasty, also set off with the fleet.
Chapter completed!