The day after Zhang Xuan took the Xigu Pass, Wei Chi Gong also sent someone to send the news of the capture of Huguan, and Fukou was also taken by the Sui army at the same time.

However, Zhang Xuan's merger of states stopped here, did not continue to go deep into the hinterland of the state, he would not make Li Yuan's mistakes, although at this time to seize the counties of the state except Taiyuan is easy for Zhang Xuan, but there is not enough strength to support, even if he captures the state, he can't hold it, sooner or later it will be taken back by Li Yuan, his key is to stabilize Hebei and Youzhou, as long as the Jingcheng and Fukou are controlled, the attack on the state can be carried out at any time.

Two days later, Fang Xuanling with 4,000 stonemasons recruited from Hengshan, Zhao County and Boling County arrived at Shiai County, where the West Ancient Pass is located, Shiai County is located at the entrance of Jingcheng, is a small county with a population of less than 20,000, the county seat has a population of only five or six thousand people, the circumference of the city is about ten miles, from the scale of the city, this is an extremely inconspicuous small county, but because of its special geographical location in Jingcheng, this small county has a very high strategic value.

Zhang Xuan decided to transform Shiai County into a military city, which can garrison at least 6,000 soldiers, and the original Shiai County city wall was low and dilapidated, so Fang Xuanling brought thousands of stonemasons, just to repair and consolidate the county seat, and increase the height and thickness of the city wall, so that it became easy to defend and difficult to attack, and became the bridgehead of the Sui army in Bingzhou.

On the city wall, Zhang Xuan looked in the direction of Taiyuan with his hands down, and at this time, Fang Xuanling slowly walked over and said with a smile: "When is the marshal going to attack Bingzhou?" ”

Zhang Xuan shook his head, "To be honest, I don't know. ”

Speaking of this, Zhang Xuan smiled faintly, "I think at least wait for Li Yuan to destroy Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang for me!" ”

Fang Xuanling couldn't help laughing, "This is not bad, let Li Yuan bother to cook and cook, and then we will eat ready-made." I guess he was going to vomit blood when he heard it. ”

Zhang Xuan smiled and asked again: "What did the military advisor want to say to me in the morning, I saw that the military advisor wanted to speak and stopped, did something happen in Qingzhou?" ”

Fang Xuanling's smile disappeared, and he groaned: "Something did happen, but it's not Qingzhou." Rather, it is the Liaodong Peninsula. ”

"What's going on?"

"Do you still remember that we intercepted Yu Wenhua and transferred hundreds of ships stationed on the Liaodong Peninsula to Huaishui?"

"I know that these three hundred warships later returned to the Liaodong Peninsula."

Fang Xuanling shook his head and said: "The problem is here, these three hundred warships have returned to Beihai County, General Zhou Meng said that nearly 10,000 Goguryeo soldiers took advantage of their absence to capture Huilong Town, and laid a ship blocking pile along the coast of Huilong Town, neither Huilong Town nor Humble City can no longer berth ships." ”

Zhang Xuan's brows gradually furrowed, Goguryeo would attack the Liaodong Peninsula sooner or later. He also knows this, but Goguryeo is doing it at this juncture, what does it mean?

Fang Xuanling understood Zhang Xuan's thoughts, and said on the side: "Goguryeo has always wanted to turn the tables in Liaodong or the Liaodong Peninsula, but they were afraid of the pressure of the three battles of the Great Sui Imperial Court, and they did not dare to act rashly, until the Son of Heaven was killed in Jiang, and they thought that the Great Sui had existed in name only. And they started to move. ”

"Does the military advisor think that Goguryeo just wants to recover the Liaodong Peninsula?"

"I think the Liaodong Peninsula is just the beginning, and they feel that the Great Sui is going to perish. Here's your chance. ”

Zhang Xuan took a few steps with his hand down, he turned around and said coldly: "Whether it is the Sui Dynasty or other dynasties, any Central Plains Dynasty will not tolerate Goguryeo's ambitions, if they think they can take advantage of the situation, it is very good, I will accompany them to the end!" ”

Fang Xuanling thought for a while: "To be honest. I'm just a little worried that Li Yuan will repeat his old tricks and take advantage of the situation to attack Hebei. ”

Zhang Xuan sneered, "Things in his own family are still a mess, whether it is Xue Ju or Li Rail, or Liang Shidu and Liu Wuzhou, they can take off his Chang'an." I believe that Li Shuliang's death has already hurt him, and I forgive him for not daring to take another step beyond Taihang Mountain. ”

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Five days later, Pei Lian, Li Yuan's envoy to negotiate, arrived in Anyang County, Wei County, where he and Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui negotiated for two days, and the two sides finally reached an agreement, Pei Lin promised on behalf of Li Yuan that the Tang army would not cross the border to attack Hebei again within a year, and the Tang army recognized the current state and acquiesced in the Sui army's occupation of Shiai County and Huguan, and in response, the Sui army did not continue to advance westward, promising not to attack Bingzhou within a year.

In addition, nearly 30,000 Tang Army prisoners of war can be settled by redemption, but the two sides have disagreements on the specific ransom, and after repeated negotiations, a compromise was finally reached, and the ransom price was 10 taels of gold and 20 stone of grain for a prisoner of war, and the ransom was paid before the New Year and the prisoners of war were released at the same time.

At this point, the Tang Army's plan to go on the Eastern Crusade, which lasted for nearly two months, finally came to an end.

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At the same time as the two sides were engaged in tense negotiations, Zhang Xuan and more than a dozen important ministers inspected the construction of the Anyang Palace and the new city, they first inspected the construction of the palace, the palace is located in the north of Anyang City, that is, the land that Gao Lie purchased many years ago to build the Bohai Palace, but Zhang Xuan found that compared with his last inspection, the land seemed to have become larger, and he asked Pei Hong puzzled: "Is there any other building demolished on this land?" ”

Pei Hong is currently serving as the commander of the central capital, responsible for the transformation of Anyang City into the central capital of various affairs, although the construction of the palace is in charge of the master craftsman He Chou, but the provision of land is Pei Hong's business.

Pei Hong was a little embarrassed, and hurriedly bowed down and said: "Your Highness is right, the original land is about 1,100 acres, and later we demolished a temple in the northeast corner and a military camp and school yard in the southeast, so that the land was expanded to 1,600 acres, which is the minimum area required by He Yuanjun." ”

"The barracks can be demolished, but you demolished the temple of the community, isn't it hateful?"

"His Royal Highness Qiqi, in fact, it is not to demolish, but to move the temple outside the city, and the area of the temple has also become larger, the temple is very satisfied, and the villagers have no opinion."

Zhang Xuan knew that things would not be so simple, but this kind of thing should not be too careful, too much to do anything, so he no longer asked about the temple, but asked He Chou, who would be a master craftsman, on the side: "May I ask He Yuanjun, why do you need 1,600 acres of land?" ”

He Chou was about sixty years old, and after Yu Wenkai's death, he was the most famous architect of the Great Sui, followed by Li Chun, who built the Anji Bridge, and both of them were entrusted by Zhang Xuan to be reused, one as a general as a master craftsman, and the other as a waiter in the Ministry of Works, responsible for the construction of Anyang Palace and the new city.

He Chou pointed to the palace that had been built with high walls and said with a smile: "In fact, I am connecting the Qi Palace, the palace and the official office into one, if only the palace and the official office are repaired, the original land is enough, but we still have to consider the Qi Palace, so we must add another 500 acres." ”

Zhang Xuan smiled dumbly, he turned back to the crowd and said, "I calculated it, but I actually forgot about my mansion." ”

Everyone laughed, and at this time, Su Wei asked, "May I ask what envoy Jun, I don't know when it will be completed?" ”

He Chou hurriedly said: "Return to the old pavilion, it will be completed by the end of the year." ”

Everyone was puzzled and asked: "There is still a month and a half before the New Year, and the high wall and foundation have just been made, how can it be done?" ”

"You may not know, I actually demolished the Linshuo Palace and the official office in Zhuo County and transported it, the materials are ready-made, you can build it directly, and I will also demolish the mansion of Gao Lie, and the materials will be used to repair the palace, so it can be guaranteed to be completed before the end of the year."

Everyone suddenly realized, but the official office of Zhuo County is okay, similar to the official office of Jiangdu, small and complete, enough, but Linshuo Palace is just a palace, it is used to build the palace is not too small, although everyone has doubts, but no one mentioned this matter, everyone understands in their hearts that the palace is just a symbol, and the palace of Qi is the real center of power, and it cannot be put before the horse.

Without further ado, they visited the palace and went to the West City Gate to continue inspecting the construction of the new city.

The new city is actually the expansion of Anyang City, close to the west of the city, covering an area of about half of the city of Anyang, the west city wall and the west city gate are demolished, five miles to the west, and the new west city gate and city wall are rebuilt, which is also because of the population of Anyang is too much, and the county has no spare land to build houses, so that hundreds of officials can not settle down, so Zhang Xuan decided to expand the capital, open up a new city in the west, as an official residence, Guozijian and other residences, school land.

The official responsible for the construction of the new city is Li Chun, the squire of the Ministry of Works, because the construction of the new city is much simpler than the palace, so the capital is very fast, a total of 13 roads have been built, the two main roads in the north and south are also paved with stone slabs, and the street trees on both sides are planted around the beginning of spring next year.

In the distance, the outline of Guozijian, which covers an area of more than 700 acres, has begun to appear, and the school building is currently being built.

In addition, Li Chun dug a river between the old and new cities, prepared to build six bridges on the bridge, and at the same time dug a circular river in the new city to connect with the Cao River in the city, so that it was convenient to transport materials when building official buildings.

The officials were very interested in Xincheng, where their mansion would be located, and they rode horses in twos and threes to find a suitable lot, but Jang Hyun did not go with them.

Zhang Xuan has inspected the new city many times, and he has no interest, he has other things, at this time, Zhang Xuan turned back to Li Chun beside him and smiled: "There is an important task I want to entrust to Li Shilang to complete." (To be continued.) )