Later that day, the patriarch was secretly taken away by Mao Sui.

Of course, this does not mean that the patriarch disappeared. It was time for a while to obtain a greater official position, which is a later story.

The next day, the leaders of the Yue people happily left Suzhou City. For them, this time, not only did they meet His Majesty the Emperor, but also His Majesty the Emperor's attitude towards them was very good, which undoubtedly made them feel at ease.

Of course, the patriarchs have seen how powerful the soldiers and horses of the Great Han Kingdom are, and they don’t want to go against the Great Han Kingdom.

It is of course still very happy to be able to gain recognition from the Han Kingdom and allow them to continue to live a small life of substantial rule.

However, Zhao Kuo also gave these patriarchs a shackle, that is, let all patriarchs announce together that any patriarch's inheritance must be recognized by the Han Kingdom.

In other words, whoever wants to become the patriarch in the future will have the final say in the Han government.

With this shackle in it, the Han Dynasty's control over these tribes naturally became much more stable.

But in general, the patriarchs were still very happy. Anyway, their wealth in this life has been preserved, so let’s make the descendants’ headaches.

After the patriarchs left, Zhao Kuo rested in Suzhou City for two more days.

It was said to be a rest, but in fact, it was to give Mao Sui some time to let Mao Sui figure out all the ins and outs.

Mao Sui did not disappoint Zhao Kuo's high expectations, and quickly figured out the matter and submitted it.

This assassination was directed by the military advisor fox in the Restoration Congress, and was personally carried out by the leader who was captured on the spot.

But this leader actually didn't know the identity of the fox. The leader was a Chu native. He joined the army to fight against the Han Dynasty during the war when the Han Dynasty conquered Chu. He was seriously injured and unconscious on the battlefield.

Originally, according to this method, the leader should have died, but after he woke up, he found that he was in a safe place, and a man wearing a fox mask appeared in front of the leader.

The leader was naturally grateful for the fox, the savior, and vowed to serve the fox all his life. So under the arrangement of the fox, the leader became a good citizen of the Han Dynasty, walking between the imperial capital and Suzhou as a merchant, and secretly recruited a group of dead soldiers with the resources given by the fox.

It was still calm after a few years, but not long ago, the fox suddenly sent someone to take a batch of explosives and portraits to the leader, asking the leader to be responsible for assassinating Zhao Kuo. As for the source of the explosives and portraits, the leader himself knew nothing.

Next, the assassination happened.

After reading the file confessed by the leader, Zhao Kuo was silent for a while and said, "Has the confessions of other people been against him?"

Mao Sui said: "The other several assassins have all been compared, and their confessions are basically the same."

Zhao Kuo sighed and said, "All women are demoted to slaves, and all men are killed."

Mao Sui should do so, and then he retreated respectfully.

Zhao Kuo fell into deep thoughts for a long time.

The next day, Zhao Kuo issued an order and began to return to the Imperial Capital.

With Zhao Kuo's order, the entire patrol team naturally returned in a mighty way.

This time, Zhao Kuo had thousands of troops around him, so naturally it was impossible for any eye-opening assassin to come again.

In addition, after the news of Zhao Kuo being assassinated came out, every local official along the way was extremely concerned, fearing that His Majesty the Emperor would be assassinated on his own territory, which would be a big deal.

Under such heavy alert, Zhao Kuo naturally returned to the imperial capital safely.

Looking at Xu Li and Pang Nuan in front of him, Zhao Kuo smiled and said, "Why do you have such an expression?

Isn't this good?”

Xu Li said helplessly: "Your Majesty, you should stay in the imperial capital in the future. This is the safest."

Zhao Kuo smiled and said nothing.

For Zhao Kuo, he is not a person who is willing to stay in the imperial capital forever! However, Zhao Kuo has other ideas now, so it is not convenient to disclose them for the time being.

After Zhao Kuo returned to Beijing, everything was as usual.

In everyone's opinion, the assassins who dared to assassinate His Majesty were executed in Suzhou City. In addition, Zhao Kuo did not continue to issue any orders or react to this matter, so they all felt that this matter should have passed.

Even the members of the Restoration Congress slowly calmed down from their nervous state, and gradually felt that the limelight of this matter might have passed.

Time passed without realizing it, and the autumn harvest season has arrived.

On this day, Zhao Kuo summoned many important officials from the Han Dynasty and began to discuss the combat plan for the new year.

Li Mu also suppressed the rebellion of tribe leaders in the southwest mountainous areas. According to Li Mu, it was impossible to handle it for two or three years, so Li Mu naturally did not appear here.

This meeting was still led by Minister of Staff Sima Shang to introduce a new strategy.

Sima Shang took the baton and walked to the map, smiled and said: "Everyone, after discussions from our General Staff, we unanimously agreed that the goal of this war should be locked as the rest of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau."

In the previous wars, the Han Dynasty had occupied the Qinghai Lake and Qaidam Basin in later generations, which means about half of the northern Qinghai Province has been included in the rule of the Han Dynasty, so Sima Shang said the four words "remaining part".

Of course, this remaining part actually accounts for four-fifths of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau area, so the Han Dynasty's conquest of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was quite limited.

Xu Li, the prime minister, said calmly: "I want to ask why I want to conquer the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau?

According to my knowledge, this place is quite cold, and both population and supplies are very scarce.

But its territory is extremely vast. If the Han Dynasty wants to control this place, it must invest a lot of troops and resources. Will it be more cost-effective?"

Facing Xu Li's question, Sima Shang obviously had already had the draft and said without hesitation: "In this matter, Prime Minister Xu is indeed right. If we only use this war to attack the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the resources invested by the Han Kingdom may indeed exceed our gains.

But after repeated arguments by the General Staff, we still believe that the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a place that must be taken down, which is related to the destiny of our Han Kingdom."

Xu Li's expression moved slightly, but the old prime minister had seen all kinds of storms. Of course, he would not have done anything just because of Sima Shang's words, but still said calmly: "Since that's the case, then please let Minister Sima tell you the reason."

Sima Shang nodded and spoke while letting the baton wander on the map.

"Please look, this is the Central Plains of our Great Han Kingdom.

Today, all areas adjacent to the Central Plains of our Great Han Kingdom, including the grasslands in the south and north of the desert, the Korean Peninsula, the Lingnan region, the southwest region, etc., have all been included in the territory of the Great Han Kingdom.

However, can this ensure the depth of foreign enemies invade?

No, because there is a huge gap around the Central Plains, that is the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the West.

Please see, if the enemy invades our Central Plains from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, then they can choose to attack the Hexi Corridor to cut off the connection between our Central Plains and the Western Regions. Secondly, they can attack Guanzhong directly and use the shortest route to threaten the Central Plains. Thirdly, they can also attack Bashu or Yunnan and Guizhou, and they are also condescending, and our defense is very difficult.

In other words, if our Han Kingdom does not occupy this land now, once a new regime is formed on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the future, this regime will pose a great and even a fatal threat to our Han Kingdom.

Instead of letting this hidden danger go unnoticed, it is better to take advantage of the strong moment of our Han Kingdom to bring this place into the army in one fell swoop. This is the real way to do it once and for all."

After hearing Sima Shang's words, Zhao Kuo couldn't help but nodded slightly.

Sima Shang's words are actually very reasonable and have been verified in history.

In Chinese history, a powerful regime was indeed born on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, that is, Tubo.

Tubo was the mortal enemy of the Tang Dynasty. Even at the heyday of the Tang Dynasty ruled by Emperor Taizong of Tang Li Shimin, the Tang Dynasty could only defeat Tubo and could not attack the hinterland of Tubo. Therefore, Li Shimin could only choose to marry Songtsen Gampo, the ruler of Tubo, and marry Princess Wencheng to Songtsen Gampo.

After the Anshi Rebellion broke out, Tubo saw that the Tang Dynasty was weak and directly sent troops to attack the Hexi Corridor. At this time, the Tang Dynasty was too busy to take care of itself. Although a Guiyi army struggled to support Hexi and the Western Regions, the entire Hexi Corridor and the Western Regions were completely under the control of Tubo.

From then on, the Western Regions remained out of control of Chinese civilization. It was not until the Qing Dynasty when Emperor Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors continued to destroy Galdan's Junggar Khanate, and the Western Regions returned to China a thousand years later.

A thousand years! This is the huge threat posed by the Tubo plateau regime to the Central Plains dynasty.

As a time traveler, Zhao Kuo has already arrived in the Han Kingdom, so of course he cannot fail to take down the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

On this world line, countries like Tubo are not allowed to be born! Therefore, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau naturally needs to be occupied.

Of course, since the timeline is still early, Zhao Kuo was not in a hurry to occupy the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau at the beginning.

But now, as the entire Jiangnan, southwest, and North Korea have been conquered one after another, the conquest of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau should naturally be put on the agenda.

Sima Shang's words continue: "And there is another benefit to conquering the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, that is, we can cross the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and appear directly on the South Asian subcontinent.

This journey is undoubtedly much closer than detouring through the Western Regions - Central Asia and then to the South Asian subcontinent.

It is conceivable that if the southwest is pacified in the future, our army will send troops from Qinghai-Tibet, Yunnan-Guizhou at the same time, and the conquest of the South Asian subcontinent will be a natural thing.

Therefore, from an economic perspective, capturing the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a loss-making deal.

However, in terms of the national security of the Great Han Kingdom and the expansion prospects of the Great Han Kingdom in the future, it is absolutely safe to make a profit without losing money in the capture of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

The above are the entire combat strategy of the General Staff on the next battle against the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. If you have any comments, you can put it forward."

After Sima Shang finished speaking, the important officials of Zhao State present also fell into a silence of thinking.

After a moment, Xu Li said slowly: "So, if you want to attack the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, how many soldiers will be needed?"

Sima Shang immediately answered: "Although the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is very large, according to the information we have obtained before, most of the plateau are migrating and nomadic tribes, so we believe that at most 50,000 soldiers are enough."

Pang Nuan coughed and said, "According to my knowledge, the climate on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a big problem, and many soldiers cannot adapt to it. How do the army plan to solve this problem?"

Sima Shang said: "According to the Imperial Hospital, this should be a kind of 'altitude sickness'. The best way to overcome the altitude sickness is actually to live on the plateau for a long time.

For this reason, the troops we conquered Qinghai have been practicing on the plateau for several years. As long as this force is allowed to go on the expedition, there will definitely be no problem of altitude sickness."

This was actually Zhao Kuo's instruction. As early as a few years ago, when he launched an attack on Qinghai Lake and Qaidam Basin, Zhao Kuo had already begun to prepare for a rainy day to completely conquer the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

After listening to Sima Shang's two explanations, all the important officials of the Han Dynasty present did not object.

Seeing this, Zhao Kuo coughed gently and said slowly: "Since everyone has no objection, then let's settle this matter.

Sima Shang, this time you personally go to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and let Xiang Yan and Wang Jian be your deputy generals. You must take down this Qinghai-Tibet Plateau completely!”

When Sima Shang heard this, he immediately showed a happy expression on his face, saluted Zhao Kuo first, and then said respectfully: "Please rest assured, your Majesty, this time I will definitely be able to take down this Qinghai-Tibet Plateau for Your Majesty!"

This military meeting ends here.

Zhao Kuo returned to the harem. When he had just finished his meal and was about to take a shower and fall asleep, he suddenly asked for a meeting.

Under normal circumstances, only three prime ministers are qualified to meet Zhao Kuo at this time, but Mao Sui, as the Minister of Intelligence and the supreme leader of the Nightingale system, was obviously an exception.

As soon as he saw Zhao Kuo, Mao Sui was very excited to report to Zhao Kuo: "Your Majesty, according to the clues of the previous Minyue patriarch, I think that we should have really discovered the real core figure of the Restoration Congress!"

When Zhao Kuo heard this, his eyes lit up.
Chapter completed!