As Wei Ran said, he took out a plan for developing Tuyuhun iron mine and horse farm and gave it to Cheng.


    Cheng took over, but did not immediately open it to see, "the business mind of setting the country is no less than being a mother. There are almost no plans you make that don''t make money. My mother will turn it over to the family and arrange more resources to help you accomplish what you want to do. "


    At this time, Li Chengye Fuxu said, "Dingguo, it seems that you really want to develop kuozhou and Hezhou as private places."


    Wei Ran put down his wine glass and said emphatically, "now the emperor is greedy for playing and lusting. He likes to play with dogs and horses all day, fight chickens and run dogs, and faint the king. In addition, relying on eunuchs to take charge of the court and government and suppress the virtuous, we will get great things sooner or later! I must leave a way back for the Li family, even if I secede, I will not hesitate! "


    Wei Ran knew that his adoptive father, Li Chengye, was extremely loyal to the Tang Dynasty and could never do anything to separate the regime. Therefore, after he confessed his affairs, he planned to wait for Li Chengye to scold.


    But after waiting for a long time, Li Chengye didn''t say a word. He just looked at Wei Ran quietly, so that the atmosphere on the table was dull.


    Wei Ran couldn''t see any emotion from Li Chengye''s face. He was so insipid that he didn''t smoke.


    A moment later, he asked, "Dingguo, do you still have loyalty to Datang?"


    Wei Ran said, "being loyal to the country and the people is not a family name."


    Li Chengye sighed, "your ambition is deeply in line with the way of Mencius."


    Then he raised his hand to stop Wei Ran''s Refutation of Confucianism and continued: "being a father also knows who the son of heaven is today, but the former Emperor was grateful to be a father.


    Even though he had planned on our Li family, he did not really eradicate our Li family''s intention. It was nothing more than the mind of the emperor. As a father, to repay the kindness of the former Emperor, he can only protect the Li Tang royal family with his remaining life from being overturned by others. This is not foolish loyalty, but kindness. "


    Wei Ran has nothing to say about this. As a younger generation, he naturally can''t understand what happened in his father''s generation.


    Li Chengye started as a grass-roots officer. If no one was promoted, it was almost impossible for him to rise to the extreme position of a martial artist at a young age. This may be what he called the kindness of knowing what happens.


    "But Dingguo, you don''t have the burden of repaying kindness for your father. As long as you don''t do what overturns the Tang country, being a father will never stop you from doing what you want to do in the border areas in the future."


    "I would like to accept my father''s orders. Even if I secede, I will only protect myself and never overthrow Li tangjiangshan! But if the royal family of Li Tang wants to move my Li family, even if I sacrifice my life, I will fight to the end! "


    Li Chengye smiles bitterly. What else can he say? People can''t come to exterminate the family. He also asked the whole family to kill together.


    Wei Ran stayed at home for five days, shared the happiness of his family, and contacted several counselors recommended by Li Chengye.


    These people are all from poor families and have worked under the account of Li Chengye. There is no shortage of talents, even stronger than the children of many aristocratic families, but there are problems in personality and character.


    In particular, the poor children have a major problem that is difficult to change, that is, they are prone to corruption and bribery. If they do not pay attention, public funds will be squandered by them for various reasons.


    As for why do you recommend some of these goods to Wei Ran instead of those with good talent and character? That''s because these talents, if they were born in a poor family and have a good character, had long been recommended by Li Chengye to become officials in Beijing and become their own career.


    If he had been born in a family of aristocrats, he would not commit Wei Ran, a wanted imperial prisoner by the imperial court. Of course, the most important thing is that Wei Ran''s strength is not enough to attract these people to bet on their own future and start a business.


    Now these counselors who follow Wei Ran have one thing in common, that is, they have failed in the imperial examination repeatedly, and have been desperate to become an official through the imperial examination. He was unwilling to abandon the people with his skills, so he was willing to follow Wei Ran to the border to take risks and look for opportunities.


    The imperial examination in the Tang Dynasty was no better than that in the song and Ming Dynasties. Regardless of the martial arts of the song and Ming Dynasties, at least in the imperial examination, it was absolutely fair. It was a system that could make a carp jump over the dragon''s gate,


    But first of all, the imperial examination in the Tang Dynasty did not lose its name, leaving aside fraud. Before the examination, if candidates can make a name for themselves by various means and make a deep impression in front of the examiner in advance, then the hope of Zhongdi is undoubtedly much greater.


    Therefore, either great poets like Li Bai, Wang Wei and Bai Juyi can move the capital with their poems, the imperial examination will not be a problem. Either one who comes from an aristocratic family and has enough resources to get through the joints in advance can also succeed in the scientific examination.


    Huang Chao, who was born into a family of smuggled salt traffickers, was unable to support him to get through so many joints, and was not as knowledgeable as those talented poets. Therefore, he had to take gold armor all over the city to vent his anger.


    Therefore, the imperial examination of the Tang Dynasty did little damage to the so-called aristocratic family. Moreover, due to the imperial examination system, most of the poor children who came to power through the imperial examination were not good at governance.


    Only those children of aristocratic families who have been trained in governance since childhood, coupled with abundant resources, are easy to be reused.


    Therefore, the emergence of the imperial examination in the Sui and Tang Dynasties did not shake the interests of aristocratic families. It was a series of riots in the late Tang Dynasty, such as the Yellow nest uprising, the warlord scuffle, Zhu Wen''s destruction of the Tang Dynasty, and so on.


    Five days later, there were so many things in the border area that he had to leave for kuozhou. Then he took Li Jianxing, Li huaimeng''s brother and sister, and six counselors who looked a little crooked, melon and dates.


    After arriving at kuozhou, Wei Ran''s base area began to officially practice internal skills. Relying on the commerce and trade of the Silk Road, vigorously carry out industry and commerce.


    Turn Hu into Han, include Qiang and Dangxiang people who are used to farming and settlement, plus some Han people in Hu, distribute farm tools, farm cattle seeds, encourage land reclamation, register and increase the population.


    Mine and raise horses, make steel with mine and strengthen the army with steel. Open up a wide range of horse farms and be self-sufficient. Surplus war horses can also be exported to Guanzhong Central Plains and make a lot of money.


    Develop spies, alienate the Tibetan ministries, and deepen the hatred of the ministries towards Yundan and Nadu.


    Take Dangxiang on the plateau as a guide and spy, train troops in war, cruise Qinghai, and even go far into the plateau. Plunder people and materials and beat Grass Valley in the opposite direction.


    By the way, Cheng family chamber of commerce is used as the media to gradually influence Taozhou, Weizhou and other places to attract local talents and heroes.


    When Wei Ran''s plan was carried out in an orderly manner, another major event happened in the imperial court.


    Zhang Zhen led 40000 Zuo Shence troops to wulaoguan, and was in a stalemate with the Hexi Jiedu envoy, who forcibly recruited civilian men and expanded to 70000 troops.


    Zhang Zhen was still worried about the failure of the battle of Xuzhou, so he didn''t listen to Xian yuche, who had more combat experience in the army. When Zuo Shence army just got a start fee and morale was in full swing, he gave a thunderous blow to the enemy.


    But gather troops in the pass, stick to it, and waste morale.


    As a result, the two armies were in a stalemate for one month. Zhang Zhen wanted to attack the enemy when he was ready to withdraw when he ran out of food and grass.


    In fact, he was right, but he didn''t know how to arrange spies to check the news. I didn''t know that Lu Long''s Jiedu envoy had already had a secret communication with Hedong Jiedu envoy.


    Shuofeng Festival envoy quietly sent food and grass support. In addition, Lu Long''s army looted the countryside. The food and grass reserves are very sufficient.


    Lulong Jiedu envoy also saw through Zhang Zhen''s strategy through the fact that Zhang Zhen had an elite army but did not dare to go out of the city for a war.


    He made a plan to reduce the number of pots and kettles for cooking every day, so that the Sentinels observed at the head of the city mistakenly thought that Lu Longjun was beginning to be short of food.


    Then he led the army to retreat ten miles away from the city overnight and made a posture ready to leave at any time. He didn''t stop vigilantly until he met the Scouts of the left Shence army out of the city for reconnaissance.


    Zhang Zhen really mistakenly thought that Lu Longjun was short of food, and once again, despite Xianyu''s dissuasion, he forcibly sent troops.