"Zhen'er has grown up." Li Xingchen sighed with emotion.
Yuchizhen's heart trembled, how could your majesty know what I was thinking?
When I looked at where this guy's hands were, I immediately knew that he had grown up, and it didn't seem to be about age.
"How about today?" Li Xingchen smiled half-heartedly.
"Concubine... I'm still young." Yu Chizhen knelt down obediently.
This "still young" is, of course, age.
Today, I am not mentally prepared at all.
More importantly, Yu Chizhen felt even more worried when she thought that His Majesty would press on her hair as soon as she slept, and a lot of her hair would fall out as soon as it was pressed on.
Did she deliberately keep a certain distance from His Majesty when I didn't see her these days?
Li Xingchen looked at Yuchizhen's flushed cheeks. Of course, he didn't know that what this girl cared about was actually whether her hair would be pulled off. He just thought it was because she was shy. Little did he know that Yuchizhen had been in the harem for a long time and had not eaten.
If you have ever seen pork, you have seen pigs running away. You have seen everything you should see. There is nothing to be ashamed of.
Li Xingchen couldn't help but reached out and pinched her cheek: "Okay, in two years, look at how you have grown up."
Yu Chizhen looked aggrievedly as Li Xingchen got up.
You just touched it, and you obviously didn’t say so.
She's not as big as her sister, but at least she's not the youngest, right?
At least it's bigger than Yang Miao and Chen Xuanhua's.
At this time, Chen Xuanhua, who was in the hospital, sneezed.
"Mother, please keep warm and don't get cold." The maid and chamberlain who followed said hurriedly.
Chen Xuanhua waved his hand helplessly: "Autumn has just entered, where did the wind and cold come from? It's still hot."
After a pause, she squinted her eyes.
"It must be Yang Miao, that stinky girl, who said bad things about me."
Little did they know that Yang Miao in the pharmacy was checking this month's orders and couldn't help but sneeze.
"It must be Xuanhua, that stinky girl, who said bad things about me."
But she quickly calmed down, and His Majesty stood up, naturally starting to work.
As a majestic majesty, it's not dark yet, so of course you can't chat with each other here.
"Your Majesty, there have been no battle reports from the northwest recently." Yu Chizhen said in a deep voice.
"No need to worry," Li Xingchen said with a smile, "the war situation has been stabilized."
Yuchizhen was a little surprised, but still didn't say anything.
As long as your majesty is confident.
Looking at Li Xingchen's profile, Yu Chizhen felt extremely at ease.
As long as His Majesty is here, the sky will not fall.
And Zhang Xutuo's cry for permission could be heard outside.
"Let him wait outside." Li Xingchen ordered the servant, and at the same time looked at Yu Chizhen, "Go and change clothes."
You can just take a look at Yu Chizhen's outfit for yourself.
Yu Chizhen chuckled and stepped back.
Li Xingchen sat down again and then let Zhang Xutuo come in.
"I see your Majesty, I have..."
"Northwestern battle report?" Li Xingchen asked directly.
Zhang Xutuo smiled bitterly: "It's news from Youzhou."
Li Xingchen suddenly frowned slightly: "What's going on? Xue Yantuo?"
Are the people from Xue Yantuo still planning to cause trouble at this time?
Although the Han Dynasty mobilized a lot of soldiers and horses to support the northwest, it was not that the entire army was overwhelming. In Youzhou, Jinyang and Hepingcheng, both close to the front line, they maintained a sufficient number of troops, especially the navy and marines. At this time
They are stationed in Youzhou and Qingzhou and other places to prepare for the cross-sea attack on Goguryeo. Even if the Xueyantuo people come to kill them, the Han Dynasty can use the navy to mobilize the southern troops and horses to go north for rescue in time, and the Marine Corps is not without the power to fight.
Zhang Xutuo shook his head: "It was the Khitans from Liaodong who sent people to ask for help. They said that Goguryeo noticed that they had iron ore and coal transactions with us, so they threatened and induced them, demanding that they also get a share of the pie. What's more,
Directly threatening to annex Khitan."
Li Xingchen was startled for a moment.
It is true that one wave has not subsided, and another wave has arisen.
I originally thought that defeating the Northern Zhou Dynasty would bring peace and stability for a while, but in the end I discovered that the Northern Zhou Dynasty was just a powerful enemy, and there were many other powerful enemies that could also pose a threat to the territorial security of the Han Dynasty.
In history, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty and Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty walked the same path, and Li Xingchen had to fight everyone he defeated.
Think about it, in the previous troubled times of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the biggest rivals between the Southern and Northern Dynasties were each other. Therefore, the appeasement policy was often adopted for these small peripheral countries. Those who could be appeased were appeased, and those who could not be appeased could only be bitten.
Teeth promise some benefits.
But after the Central Plains are unified, the Central Dynasty will naturally not be able to sit idly by. Which emperor doesn't want to be able to pacify the world? Which emperor doesn't want to be able to expand territory?
Whether it is for the peace of the border or to expand the territory, these guys surrounding China have to be beaten.
What's more, these guys are quite out-of-the-box.
Often it is they who take the initiative to cause trouble.
Even if I don't beat them, I feel guilty.
"The Khitan asked us to send troops?" Li Xingchen gently stroked his short beard.
Although the current Khitan has emerged as a tribe, it is far from being able to occupy the entire north and be as powerful as the rainbow in history. The current Khitan is just an alliance composed of some scattered tribes between the white mountains and black waters.
One branch exists in a nomadic form.
Before, they were trading with the Northern Zhou Dynasty by mining the ores here. Later, after they were replaced by the Han Dynasty, they naturally maintained this kind of trade.
Li Xinchen was really greedy for the ores in Liaodong.
Iron ore, coal mines and even oil.
It was enough to support the Han industry to take off again.
However, the Khitans have always been more sensible. After seeing the change of masters in the Central Plains, they decisively sent people to surrender to the Han Dynasty and actively maintained the original trade channels. Anyway, for these Khitans who were still in a state of fishing and hunting, these ores were not actually available.
What's the use, so the price they offered to the big Han was also very low, almost equal to the same amount of ore in exchange for the same amount of grain - of course, not in terms of weight, but in terms of volume.
Bartering is now the mainstream trade method of the Khitan people.
They were very happy to exchange these inedible and unusable ores for a pile of food.
Because the Khitan people were very well-behaved, Li Xingchen couldn't attack them directly.
After all, this is the Chinese dynasty, a country of etiquette, and in the end, one has to pay attention to how teachers should be famous.
If you can use the excuse of lying on the side of the couch, don't use it. Keep some moral integrity.
Coupled with Tuyuhun's troubles in the northwest, Li Xingchen now does not have enough energy to start in Liaodong.
But as the saying goes, if you want to sleep, you have a pillow.
Goguryeo couldn't help but start trouble first.
This was something Li Xingchen didn't expect.
But considering the short-sightedness and greed of stick men in history, this is also reasonable.
Goguryeo, which has at least developed some basic smelting industry and still has trade relations with the Han Dynasty, is very aware of the value of these iron ore and coal. It also wants to snatch this business that can obviously make a lot of money from the Khitan people.
Within reason.
But they seem to have overlooked one problem.
After all, there is a big man behind the Khitan people.
"What do you say over there in Youzhou?" Li Xingchen asked directly.