"Giggles!"

Zhen smiled, stared at Li Li with charming eyes, and said suspiciously: "Insincerely, knock on the side, Wenchang's original intention of saying this should be to ask me about the guardian of the Zhen family, right?"

These things will tell you sooner or later, but not now, you must take care of your injuries now, heal your arrow wounds as soon as possible, and don't worry about other things for the time being. ”

"Well, that's fine." From Zhen's bright and beautiful big eyes, Li Li has already got the answer he wants. So he immediately bowed his head and smiled: "You have all heard what Lang Zhong said just now. Actually, my injuries were not serious, at most I bled a lot, and I was fine after a little rest.

Now only the two arrow wounds on the legs are more troublesome, and the golden dragon soft armor can protect the upper body but cannot take care of the lower legs, so the arrow wounds are relatively deep, and it is inconvenient to move for a while. In addition, a little pain in the flesh and skin is really nothing to me, and I have long been used to this kind of small injury and pain after years of fighting on the battlefield. ”

"That being said, you can't be negligent." Zhen obviously disagreed with Li Li's words, and said to Li Li very seriously: "If you are an ordinary person, or a Green Forest Ranger, then this kind of injury is naturally insignificant, and no one even wants to care about you except me and Yunluo. However, with your pre-eminent position today, there must be no accidents, and the slightest mistake can lead to immeasurable consequences. Just like you are in distress this time, if you encounter an accident, or if you are seriously injured and disabled, what will happen to the Xiliang army, and what will happen to those civil and military officials who follow you? If you can't continue to take charge of the Xiliang Army, then the current good situation in the whole territory of Xiliang will be ruined, and it is likely to fall into war and internal friction again, which will affect the situation of the entire world.

Nowadays, it is precisely because you are sitting in Xiliang and holding hundreds of thousands of Xiliang troops. Only then did the princes of Sili, Yanzhou, and Ji Youqing and other prefectures and counties not dare to act rashly, no matter what county they wanted to capture, they must always be on guard against the movement of the Xiliang army, for fear that you would suddenly wave your troops out of the customs and enter the Central Plains. Therefore, you, Li Wenchang, and the Xiliang army under your command have become a deterrent to suppress the princes of all parties in the world. In the past two years, even if you didn't do anything in Xiliang, you still suppressed the princes from all walks of life and did not dare to make a large-scale expedition, and did not dare to easily concentrate all the troops and horses to attack the city. Meanwhile. As long as you don't send troops to the Central Plains, they won't dare to be your enemy, but will try to show favor to you.

If you are really in danger this time, then the world will be completely chaotic. The princes of the towns have no scruples, and they will definitely wave their troops to conquer. Wantonly seized the state and county cities, and it was not three years. The situation in the world will change dramatically. As a result, the current situation of the division of the princes quickly evolved into a vassal state, and the Han world will also completely collapse. Therefore, your current life is no longer completely your own, but the pillar of optimus that supports the safety of the entire Han world; Anyone can die, but you can't have an accident! ”

Zhen's words surprised Li Li. Even shocked. He couldn't believe his ears and eyes, he couldn't believe that Zhen had such insight and expectations for him were so high.

"Maybe Madame thinks too highly of me, even if there is no Li Li in the world. There will also be another one in my place. Li Li pretended to be disapproving and said self-deprecatingly.

Zhen smiled, shook his head and said, "Wenchang's words can't be wrong, but they are biased. Wenchang is not a businessman, and perhaps he does not know that the most important thing for businessmen is not vested interests, but a business opportunity that can make a fortune. The so-called business opportunity, in fact, is to seize the opportunity, only after occupying the opportunity, in order to expand their own interests infinitely. In other words, at present, the princes of each town are like big businessmen, and Wenchang is the first person to seize the opportunity and lead the general trend of the world.

As you said, if you suffer this time, it is self-evident that someone will take your place in the near future. However, I don't know if Wenchang ever thought that merchants could earn a lot of money by seizing the opportunity, and what did the princes want?

That's people, or population. As long as there is a sufficient population, other things can be created, and there will naturally be more and more soldiers, horses, money, and food. Since Wenchang occupied Chang'an, the hand of the male army shocked the world, on the surface, the world seems to have changed little, it is still the princes divided, and the smoke is everywhere; However, this is not the case.

It was precisely because Wenchang quickly stabilized the court after Wang Yun's rebellion that the princes of the world were forced to be jealous, look ahead, and were greatly suppressed and did not dare to fight. Although the princes of all walks of life were still constantly fighting and often fighting, the scale of the war was not large, and no one dared to come out and launch a large-scale war.

Such a situation gives the people in the war zone a chance to breathe, so that they can calmly choose a relatively safe state or county to take refuge, or find a hidden place to hide in the local area to survive, all of which is Wenchang's assistance to the Son of Heaven to deter the world. In this situation, the sooner the better, and the sooner the war civilians can be moved to a safe place as soon as possible, which is equivalent to Wenchang indirectly saving the lives of hundreds of people. On the contrary, if it were not for Wenchang to preemptively stabilize the western capital, the war in various parts of the Han Dynasty would not only not decrease, but would be more intense than now, so that the people would have no chance to migrate and take refuge, at most a small number would be able to flee the war, while most of them would have lived in dire straits, and died innocently and tragically in the war.

Now Wenchang is implementing a policy of rest and recuperation in Xiliang, which seems to have little impact on the situation in the world, but in fact, it has delayed the outbreak of the war between the princes to the greatest extent. The Xiliang army, which does not leak the edge, is the most deterrent existence, especially under the situation of the unification of Xiliang, the suppressive effect on the princes of all walks of life has been exerted to the extreme, thus providing the people of Li with an opportunity to avoid the scourge of war.

Therefore, the concubine dared to assert that if the whole territory of Xiliang could recuperate for twenty years like now, then the world would definitely be yours after twenty years, because you have far more population and money than all the princes in the world! ”

After Zhen finished speaking in one breath, Li Li's face was solemn and silent, contemplating the situation in the world and the deep meaning revealed in Zhen's words.

Li Li never thought that he could secretly control the Son of Heaven, stabilize the court, quickly pacify Xiliang, recuperate, and fight strongly, and he could indirectly help the people of the world. This. It was a big surprise to him.

In addition, holding the Xiliang army to intimidate the princes of all parties in the world is what Li Li expected. As long as Xiliang is not chaotic, who dares to ignore the existence of the Xiliang army in all towns in the world, and who dares to take the edge of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry.

However, all this is not something that anyone can see clearly, at least Li Li's original intention of implementing the strategy of recuperation and recuperation has been hidden from the eyes of many princes. Let them mistakenly think that the Xiliang army is desperately short of food and grass, and is unable to send troops to the Central Plains, so they can only reduce the number of soldiers and horses. Tuntian self-help; But this is all wishful thinking, or self-righteous speculation.

In fact, it is an indisputable fact that the Xiliang Army is short of food and salary. However, if it is said that the Xiliang army does not have the ability to send troops to fight. But it's nonsense. Since ancient times, who has never been short of food and wages; Far away, don't talk about it. Let's talk about Yanzhou Cao Cao alone. He ruled the richest state and county among the states of the Central Plains, but he was still often short of food. Yuan Shao of Jizhou may be one of the richest princes in the world, but his wealth is also compared to Cao Cao of Yanzhou, not really without shortage of food. No matter how rich the prefecture and county are, under the baptism of war, they will only fight for money, food and population. The more you fight, the poorer you get, this is an eternal iron law.

Because of this, after Li Li pacified Xiliang, he no longer continued to send troops to fight. Instead, they adopted the strategy of recuperation and recuperation, restoring agriculture and silkworm farming in the prefectures and counties of Xiliang as much as possible, and absorbing barbarian captives and displaced people from all over the country to settle down in Xiliang. In troubled times, such a strategy of recuperation and recuperation may not have obvious results, and it is far from achieving the expected effect of recuperation; However, when all the states and counties in the world are fighting, only Xiliang is stable and peaceful, and this alone is enough to attract hundreds of people to rush to Xiliang to settle down.

And this is the real purpose of Li Li's strategy of recuperation.

As Zhen said, the key to victory or defeat in the battle for hegemony is population. Because talent is the foundation of all things in heaven and earth, the size of the population is directly related to the strength of the princes and the stamina of war; As long as you have a large population, you need a continuous supply of soldiers and an inexhaustible supply of money and food, so that you can be invincible.

The West Liang is barren, and the West is cold and bitter, all of which show that the West Liang is in a worrying situation. However, from the other side, it also shows that Xiliang is vast and sparsely populated, with a lot of space for utilization, as long as Xiliang is stable and does not suffer from war, it can quickly restore agriculture and people's livelihood, and accommodate more people. In addition, it is precisely because of the bitter cold of Xiliang that the tenacity and courage of the Xiliang people have been forged, which is precisely the root of the Xiliang army's courage and good fighting.

It is based on these factors that Li Li made up his mind to restore Xiliang farming, vigorously develop people's livelihood, dredge trade routes, and strive to improve the living conditions of the people in Xiliang in the shortest possible time. Isn't the huge Xiliang region still able to feed two or three million people? Four hundred years later, in the Tang Dynasty, Chang'an City alone had a population of one million, and the population of Yongliang and Liangzhou was nearly 10 million. Could it be that the current Xiliang land is not as fertile as it was four hundred years later, and the territory of thousands of miles is equally divided among two or three million people, and each person has at least 100 hectares of land on average.

It is with this kind of thought that Li Li has really been ruthless in the past two years.

The treasury of all counties in Xiliang is no longer a place to collect grain and wages, but a place to open warehouses and release grain. All the officials under the rule of Xiliang are no longer high-ranking officials, but full-time personnel who supervise each other's style of governance, vigorously publicize and encourage the people to cultivate agriculture, and distribute grain seeds, farm tools and cattle. Nowadays, if any family in Xiliang does not have a hundred acres of cultivated land, it proves that the family is lazy, or there is no male labor force in the family, and there is no other reason.

More than a year later, Li Li's policy of recuperation and recuperation began to bear fruit. There is no problem for ordinary people's families to eat enough, the industrious family has lived a relatively prosperous life, and the whole territory of Yongliang and the two prefectures basically does not need county relief and assistance; In addition, nearly one million people have been added. The results were quick and fruitful, far exceeding Li Li's expected goal, and the addition of a million people alone was enough to excite him.

During this trip to the Central Plains, Li Li did see many rather wealthy counties, but he also found that these counties were in the process of declining day by day, which was the opposite of the vigorous development of Xiliang County. In this way, Li Li firmly believes that in another two years, the states and counties of Xiliang will definitely catch up and completely reverse the counties of the Central Plains. And the source of all this is the smoke of war.

Compared with Li Li, who is very deep in the city, Ma Yunluo, who is sitting next to him, is much simpler, she has no intention of thinking about military affairs, and is more concerned about the mature and plump Zhen in front of her.

Just as Li Li lowered his head and pondered, he saw Ma Yunluo staring meaningfully at Zhen's beautiful face, her beautiful eyelashes blinking up and down, and a smile on the corner of her mouth that only a woman could understand.

"Sister Zhen, you let my husband recuperate in the bedroom, so where do you sleep at night?" Seeing Li Li squinting and thinking about things, Ma Yunluo gently got up and took Zhen's arm and walked to the tea table and sat down, and asked softly with a smile.

Zhen's pretty face was flushed, and she didn't dare to face Ma Yunluo's suspicious eyes, so she forced herself to calm down and whispered: "My sister said she was laughing." There are many houses in Zhen's house, and there are nearly 200 bedrooms in the backyard alone, so I have moved in to live with Mi'er in the past two days. ”

"Isn't that 、、、、、、? After all, my husband and I are living in Zhen's Mansion, how can we bother my sister to give up the main house, it doesn't make sense! Ma Yunluo smiled at Zhen and said hesitantly.

Zhen heard the ridicule in Ma Yunluo's words, reached out and took Ma Yunluo's hands, and whispered with hot cheeks: "Good sister, we have known each other for nearly a month, why are you still so different from your sister!" Wenchang is now suffering from an arrow wound and needs to recuperate with peace of mind, the house is the quietest in Mingyue Pavilion, and the maid is also a caring person who has followed her sister for many years, with them serving Wenchang at any time, I can rest assured, otherwise I can't rest assured. ”

"Giggles!" Ma Yunluo smiled happily: "My sister is really meticulous and thoughtful to my husband, and my little sister is ashamed of herself." Now that my sister has made up her mind, my little sister is willing to fulfill this matter. However, there are eight beautiful wives in the Hanyang General's Mansion, and the husband and the lady have always been affectionate, and the sister must know this in her heart. ”

"Thank you sister for your success, I already know about these, and I will never let my sister be embarrassed when the time comes." Zhen nodded lightly with a blushing face and answered in a low voice.

――――――――――― (To be continued)(To be continued......