Li Junhua was obviously not prepared because he had always been sitting next to the emperor and had never participated. Seeing Li Mingxun asking him, Li Junhua had to say what he thought: "Report to the father..."

Seeing the prince get up, Li Mingxun reached out and patted his shoulder, and said, "Sit down and say, if you stand up, there will be no one here who dares to sit down."

Li Junhua said, "My son thought that the Western Regions should be fought, but should be fought. Since the empire was first established, countries outside the border walls have called themselves vassals, but they are all obedient and obedient on the surface, and often colluded behind their backs. It was just because the power of the empire was used to attack the grasslands in the north in recent years, but they did not launch wars in the Western Regions! The Hu people have always been afraid of power but not virtue. If our country did not show off its power in the Western Regions, they would be afraid that the Hus in the Western Regions would do their own things, which would really damage the empire's national prestige. This is true.My son thought that the Western Regions should be fought!

However, the focus of our country's military is now on the verge of the Qing Dynasty. It is not advisable to use heavy troops in the Western Regions. You can send elite troops westward to the Hexi Corridor to attack the Yarkand rebel Babai, and seize its territory Turpan and Hami. These two cities have always been the gateway of the Western Regions. From ancient times to the present, they have been the Western Regions and guarded by China. They are also on the right side of the Tianshan Mountains. If you can station troops here and retreat to become a barrier to block Hexi, you will advance to the road, taking into account the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, and shocking the two divisions of Junggar and Yarkand.

Furthermore, Sima Yiboke of Yerkand also intends to use the imperial army to advance together, and the cooperation between the two sides is almost certain."

Li Mingxun smiled and nodded, secretly praising the prince's accurate judgment of the situation. As Prince Li Junhua said, if he could really take down Turpan and Hami, it would be that he would open the door to march into the Western Regions and push the army's supply line forward for hundreds of miles. The Thousand-mile Desert between Hexi and the Western Regions would not be an obstacle, and the location of Hami Turpan is beneficial to attacking the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains.

"Jun Hong, what do you think?" Li Mingxun looked at King Cheng again.

It was the first time Lin Junhong was asked about military and national affairs, and he was a little nervous. He said: "I think the prince said that this battle is indeed going to be fought, and I think that if I want to fight, I must fight quickly and not delay it."

"Oh, why?" Li Mingxun asked.

Lin Junhong said: "I have heard that the remnants of the Qing Dynasty retreated from the northern part of the country, and have been committed to integrating the various divisions. They first swallowed the Chechen tribes and broke grounds Xie Tu. Last year, they also integrated the Zasaktu tribes. The three divisions of the northern part of the desert were all under their control. The Daxingan Mountains and Altai Mountains were owned by the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty knew the power of our country and was always ready to deal with the empire's conquest. Now there is no way to conquer the northern part of the desert. If it expands again, it is probably necessary to covet the Western Regions. It's good that Junggar is at its peak. The Qing Dynasty may not dare to provoke, but Yarkand has been in civil turmoil and has colluded with the Qing Dynasty. If the Qing Dynasty really wants to move troops, it's probably closer than the empire."

The Altai Mountains are the natural dividing line between the Western Regions and the northern Moon, but the northern section of this mountain range is a towering mountain range, and the southern section is a low hill. The cavalry in the northern Moon can smoothly cross the Altai Mountains through these areas. Although it is not as good as walking on flat ground, it is obviously much more beneficial than the empire that can pass through a thousand-mile desert to enter the Western Regions. History has also proved this point. The Western Regions are often a territory that can only be possessed by the Central Plains dynasty, and the standard for measuring whether the Central Plains dynasty is strong. For grassland nations, the Western Regions are just random copies, and often thousands of cavalry can sweep across it.

The Xiongnu, Xianbei, Turks, Uighurs, Khitan, Mongolia and even the Qing Dynasty, for thousands of years, the conquest of the Western Regions of the grassland ethnic groups has almost become a fixed program.

After all, Li Mingxun has to be longer than Lin Junhong's thoughts. Speaking of which, the most common tactic used by nomadic peoples in the grassland to deal with the Central Plains dynasty is to migrate and avoid war and harass cavalry. This trick has been tried and done, and it is obvious that the Qing Dynasty will follow suit. Li Mingxun has always been worried. If the Qing Dynasty attacks the Mongolian Plateau in the future, the Qing Dynasty imitates its predecessors, avoid war and flee to the Western Regions, and flees to the Western Regions for hundreds of years. Imagine that Yelu Dashi would have fled to the Western Regions with hundreds of remaining soldiers, establishing the Western Liao Dynasty, and survive for hundreds of years?

Obviously, if the empire occupied Hami and Turpan before the Qing Dynasty, it would cut off the road from the northern desert to the Western Regions, and cut off a retreat for the Qing Dynasty. If the empire did not take the initiative and allowed the Qing Dynasty to occupy Hami and Turpan, it would be the first domino to fall. It would be only a matter of time for two cities to annex the Yarkand Khanate. If the Yarkand Khanate fell, the Junggar tribe on the northern Tianshan Road would be enemies on all sides. It was also a matter of time for the Qing Dynasty to fall. Then there was Central Asia and Tibet. Instead of following along, it would be better to strangle to death from the source.

By this time the meal was eaten, Ah Hai, as the Prime Minister, had already tasted real. The core figures of the empire were all here. It seemed that he had no support to intervene in the civil strife of Yarkand. Obviously, this was not good. Ah Hai asked Li Decan, who had not spoken, who had not spoken: "President Li, how strong is the rebel Babai, who is entrenched in Turpan and Hami. At the banquet yesterday, I heard from Abdulla that there were only three or four thousand cavalry?"

As the president of the Lifan Academy, he made the most preparations for the civil strife in Yarkand and said quickly: "It's far more than that. Hami and Turpan have more than 100,000 households, and Babai has only more than 4,000 cavalry because of the lack of war horses. He still has thousands of camel cavalry under his command, and he can also arm a considerable number of infantry and firearms. In the second year of the empire, he led nearly 10,000 soldiers invaded the wall of the river west of our river, and the actual force must be more than 15,000."

Obviously, Abdulla and Zhuo deliberately concealed Babai's strength, which is not difficult to understand. After all, he wants to persuade the empire to send troops.

"Then your Lifanyuan believes that how many troops are needed to pacify Babai and how much military expenditure is consumed?" Li Hai asked again.

The Lifanyuan was in charge of the vassal affairs, and military affairs were the first among the vassal affairs, so Li Decan was not unfamiliar with this. Last year, he went to North Korea to command various troops to resolve the situation of North Korea's separatist situation. Li Decan coughed lightly and said, "If we decide the Hami Turpan, we should focus on the vassal soldiers in the appeasement zone. Yunzhong Appeasement Zone has been supported for several years and has sufficient troops. We can also transfer troops from the Xining Appeasement Zone, which is closer to the war zone. In addition, there are two brigades in Gansu, who are brave and arduous. When the Empire attacked the border in the second year, it was given a head-on blow, and Sima Yi was behind the scenes. Therefore, the officials thought that only 10,000 troops were needed.

The northwest desert is widely spread and is far away from the heart of the heart. It is not advisable to use a large army, otherwise it will be difficult to accept military food consumption. Previously, Gansu had a plan to reclaim wasteland and store grain. Since last year, there were few disasters in the northwest, so there was no shortage of food. You only need to buy a little in Guanzhong. To use vassal soldiers, you only need to reward the favor without military pay, so the military expenditure will not be too much. If everything goes well and you can quickly break the enemy's nest, the military expenditure will be only one million taels, and the big head is also purchasing camels. These losses can also be used in the Northern Expedition in the future. However, the calculation is only the cost of using troops. After the rebellion is suppressed, the consumption can be settled and immigrated in Hami and Turpan, and the consumption will be calculated separately."

"If you fight, you will naturally have to occupy the settlement and immigrants, otherwise what will you fight? One of his daughters is not worth the price!" Li Dingguo said.

Li Hai didn't care about military use, the key was military expenditure. He already understood that the emperor and the Lifan Academy could decide this matter, but it was not because of the happy birthday. He happened to be in Beijing and wanted to get money from the cabinet. However, it was no wonder that since the Shangtun plan was decided last year, the military expenditure in the Lifan Academy immediately bottomed out, and he had to borrow treasury bonds specifically for this. The Lifan Academy had no money, so he naturally needed the cabinet support. Fortunately, the money was not much, just one hundred thousand taels.

After dinner, a group of people discussed and decided on the matter and each surrendered. Li Hai took a car back to his residence. Seeing that the princess was playing the Ye Zi card with a few maids in the hall. The scene was very hot. Seeing that Li Hai returned, the maids went down one after another. Princess Cheng smiled and said, "The last time I saw the queen was still the King of Ying, the palace was still playing mahjong. I originally prepared a set of ivory mahjong, but I never thought that I would play the Ye Zi card again when I entered the palace today. The three of them played Landlords, and it was said that it was invented by the emperor. You said that our emperor is heroic and decisive, and the martial arts are great. Why are there such luck in such games? It's really strange."

"It's not good to talk about the emperor behind the scenes." Li Hai reminded him.

"That's the rule of the previous dynasty. What era is now? Besides, the emperor is your adoptive father and my father-in-law. It's okay to say a few jokes." Princess Cheng was so surprised that she was joking. Seeing her husband's face full of sorrow, she asked, "What's wrong? The emperor has been angry with you. Did you say this morning that the emperor asked the cabinet for money?"

"It's time to fight Yarkand, the Lifanyuan cannot dismantle the money, so the cabinet will raise one million taels of military expenses."

"It's only one million taels, and the cabinet is in and out of so much money every year, how can it squeeze out this? I don't believe that for the sake of one million taels, the cabinet and the parliament will still be in trouble with the emperor?" Princess Cheng didn't care.

Li Hai pinched his temples: "Where can I raise it? The emperor has prepared a lot and embezzled the Shenjing construction funds to support the Western Expedition."

"Oh, no matter how tight the finances have been in recent years, I have never misappropriated the money from Shenjing. One million taels, and Isn't it just to sell some shops and farms?" Princess Cheng felt a little surprised. Everyone knew that the empire was not without money. When the land and real estate were settled during the restoration, the empire required that enough state-owned land must be mastered in each province to prevent land annexation and famine, and the second was that it was afraid that it would be sold all the way and could not be sold at a price. Therefore, there are good land and houses in the state-owned assets, which are available in major cities in each province.

Li Hai shook his head slightly: "Where is our emperor willing to sell those good things? This million is going to beat the rich."

"Getting up funds again?" Princess Cheng smiled.

"That's not the case. The emperor embezzled some of the funds in the imperial court. According to the meaning, not only did he embezzle, but he was not ready to make up for it after being embezzled. Simply put, the emperor built hundreds of houses at all levels in Shenjing and rewarded the nobles above the uncles. After such embezzlement, these nobles were afraid that they would buy furniture and decorate themselves." Li Hai said helplessly.

"Oh, that's more than one million taels." Princess Cheng's eyes lit up.

Li Hai nodded: "That's more than that, but who can tell what's wrong? Even the royal family has to pay for the renovation of Shenjing New Palace. Do we still have to extend our hands to the cabinet with a shy face?"

"The emperor is really good at calculating the small score, but you are worried about what you do and will not target us." Princess Cheng joked.

Li Hai asked: "Do you know which commander is the head coach when using troops in the Western Regions this time?"

"It should be King Rong. Didn't he go to the imperial front with you today?" said Princess Cheng.

Li Hai shook his head and signaled her to guess again. Princess Cheng said, "It's not Li Decan, it's impossible. Last time he decided to be a North Korean, but it's just a Korean. If he uses troops to foreign vassals, it's better to lead the troops to the king of the vassals. Ordinary generals can't suppress the title of the foreign vassals with their military ranks. Li Decan is only a second-class vassal, so it's hard to perform."

"Not Lee Decan."

"Who else could it be? King Ying is still dealing with the trouble in the southwest..."

"It was our uncle's cousin Jun Hong who led the troops and Cao Yu, the guards, assisted him." Li Hai simply said it.

"How old is Jun Hong? It's only fourteen next month, so can he go into battle?" Princess Cheng widened her eyes and thought to herself, "But it's okay. When the King of England led his troops to break the Taixi fleet, he was also fourteen years old..."

Speaking of this, Princess Cheng stepped forward and said, "Prince, why not let our son go with him too. This is also a good opportunity to become famous at a young age. Speaking of which, our son is sixteen..."

"The emperor also asked, and wanted Rui'er to serve in front of the army, but I returned. After Rui'er graduated, he would go to the consul stationed in Japan as agreed upon by you and me, so he would not think about the matter of commanding the army." Li Hai was obviously worried about this matter. Seeing that his wife was a little unhappy, he said: "The emperor is already aged to know the destiny. After several letters, he said that his energy was not as good as before. He was injured and was getting old. He was getting late. In this case, Jun Hong and Cao Yu were added to Cao Yu, a sect king and a relative general. I don't understand what it means to plan for the prince. If the prince is two years older, he is probably the head coach of the Western Expedition. But before, the British king was the emperor, but the prince was young. If there was any change, it was to fight for the throne. Don't let Rui'er participate in this matter. There are less than three years left, and I, the prime minister, have also arrived in office. I hope nothing will happen in the past two years."

Princess Cheng nodded slightly. Although Prince Cheng and Prince Cheng's mansion were in line with each other, Lin Junhong grew up with the prince in the capital over the years, while Li Hai was in Nanjing to manage all internal affairs. Lin Junhong had already been marked as a princeling. Li Hai had always kept his family away from the dispute over the throne, and he still did this at this moment.
Chapter completed!