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Chapter 1260 Military Settlement in Luntai
After hearing Lin Hao's resounding words, she did not burst into tears as expected, but instead, tears flowed uncontrollably, washing away the dirt on her face and leaving deep, furrow-like marks.

They stood ramrod straight, returned Lin Hao's salute with equal solemnity, and announced their names in response:
"Xuanwei Army..."

"Wuwei Army..."

"Han Haijun..."

"...Dushan Guardian..."

"...The garrison commander of Shabo City..."

"...Feng Luo is captured..."

"...The garrison of Yeller City..."

"...all six cities were captured..."

"...Zhangbao City garrison capture..."

“…Wu Zai Shou Zhu…”

"...Yehe is under guard..."

"...Greetings, Grand Commander!"

Each name they uttered was like a heavy hammer blow to the hearts of the Tang soldiers behind Lin Hao!
These names represent the existence and glory of the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions, and are an epitome of countless heroic sacrifices!
"Grand Commander, what is this?" a young general from the Chang'an New Army asked in a low voice, though he already had a guess in his mind.

"These are the soldiers of the Great Tang who have perished at the hands of the enemy over the years. They are soldiers of our Great Tang, veterans of our Anxi Protectorate and Beiting Protectorate!"

At this point, Lin Hao felt somewhat heavy-hearted. These people came from different armies, and apart from the guards sent down from the Beiting Protectorate, the others had been in the hands of the Tibetans for quite some time.

But they all firmly remembered their identity as soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, and they all longed for the return of the Tang army.

Lin Hao then addressed the rescued Tang soldiers and civilians:

"You have all worked hard for many years. Please come with me to wash up and rest. Once you have recovered, I will come back to find you and ask for news."

Lin Hao did not act as the Grand Commander in front of them, but spoke as a veteran of Anxi Town.

"It's good that you're back, it's good that the army of our Great Tang is back!" Although tears were still on their faces, the veterans' lips began to curl into smiles. Seeing Lin Hao and the others, they knew that their hard times were over.

Having suffered greatly under the rule of the Tibetans, they were naturally overjoyed to finally see the Tang army again.

Especially the Chang'an New Army soldiers behind Lin Hao, after hearing this, stepped forward to help these veterans, inquiring about their identities, hoping that their relatives might be among them.

"Soon, I will set up a school in this Luntai city and invite literate teachers from the army to teach them to pronounce Chinese correctly, write Tang characters, learn Tang etiquette, and listen to the stories of the Tang Dynasty!"

"And the first lesson they will learn is how brave and unyielding their fathers were in protecting this land!"

Then, he turned to all the officers around him and gave the order:
"Issue the order: From this day forward, all units must be extra vigilant when clearing out the remaining enemy forces and patrolling the surrounding areas! Any clues indicating where our Great Tang people are still imprisoned or enslaved, whether soldiers or civilians, regardless of their numbers or location, must be recorded in detail for this governor and reported immediately!"

"Whether it's ransom with gold and silver, sending envoys to negotiate, or even—!" A cold glint flashed in his eyes, "I will bring them back, even if it means launching an attack!"

"They shed their blood and suffered countless hardships for the Tang Dynasty. We must never let them be abandoned abroad again and suffer the pain of being enslaved by foreign tribes! This is my promise, Lin Hao, to every comrade in the Western Regions!"

As the veterans listened to Lin Hao's words and saw his resolute expression, the shame in their eyes was gradually replaced by immense excitement and gratitude.

They struggled to straighten their hunched backs, and with all their might, they clasped their hands in a salute, their voices choked with emotion yet incredibly loud:

"Grand Commander Gao Yi, on behalf of our comrades who are still suffering, we thank you, Grand Commander!"

Lin Hao gently helped the elderly man at the head of the group to his feet, his gaze sweeping over every excited and expectant face present, and said in a deep voice:

"There's no need for thanks. They are not only your comrades, but also my comrades, the brothers that the Great Tang Dynasty can never abandon!"

Looking at these faces that had survived the ordeal, Lin Hao's thoughts went even further.

In the Western Regions, every Tang person is incredibly valuable. If we could gather all these scattered remnants of the army and use his abilities to help them regain their youth, what an amazing force that would be!

Moreover, the valuable knowledge they accumulated over decades of struggling to survive on this land, regarding the geography, climate, tribes, and enemy situations of the Western Regions, is an immeasurable treasure that cannot be measured in money.

Passing on this knowledge and experience to the new army is far more valuable than a thousand troops. This Luntai City will surely become a new starting point for uniting all the forces of the Tang Dynasty.

······
After three days of investigation, the affairs in Luntai City were finally sorted out, and more than 8,000 soldiers and civilians of the Tang Dynasty were rescued, including about 1,000 soldiers and the rest were ordinary Tang people.

It is said that before the fall of Luntai, a vital transportation hub on the northern route, the Tang Dynasty had more than 30,000 soldiers and civilians, but now only more than 8,000 remain.

It should be noted that this was only a year after the fall of Tibet, which shows how cruel the Tibetan rule was.

More importantly, Lin Hao discovered that in addition to the soldiers and civilians of the Beiting Protectorate, there were also more than a thousand Tang people from other regions who had fallen.

These people at least knew that they were subjects of the Tang Dynasty, and that their generation was gradually dying out.

When their descendants grow up under the rule of the barbarians, unable to speak Chinese or read and write, they will soon forget their heritage, not knowing that their grandfather was Han Chinese, and only considering themselves barbarians.

If Lin Hao hadn't come here, when the Anxi Protectorate had completely fallen more than ten years later and these veterans had gradually passed away, their descendants might have truly forgotten that they were citizens of the Tang Dynasty.
Even worse, the tragedy that Sikong Tu witnessed in the Hehuang region, where "Han people all speak the language of the barbarians, yet curse the Han people from the city walls," may also happen to their descendants.

However, now that Lin Hao has come here, he will not allow any of this to happen. He wants the glory of the Tang Dynasty to reappear in the Western Regions.

We must ensure that the descendants of the Tang Dynasty take root and flourish on this land, thoroughly transforming it into Han territory.

The area near Luntai was on the edge of the Tibetan sphere of influence. Therefore, after clearing Luntai City, the remaining areas had very few garrison troops, making it easy to take over this area formerly under the Beiting Protectorate.

Moreover, the other enemy forces are quite far away, so Lin Hao can temporarily stop worrying about enemy harassment and begin to develop in peace for a while. Of course, most importantly, he can start dealing with the prisoners and restoring the youth of some of the veterans.

Lin Hao then selected some elderly, dying, white-haired soldiers and began to use the prisoners to restore their youth.

When these elderly soldiers from Kucha and Xizhou saw their former comrades regain their youth, their eyes flashed with extreme longing, and they looked at Lin Hao with boundless enthusiasm.

With this ability, Lin Hao instantly won over the hearts of these more than 6,000 veterans. According to the statistics, the total number of captured Tibetan soldiers and herdsmen was more than 20,000.

Thanks to Lin Hao's tireless efforts day and night, these six thousand veterans temporarily regained their youth, reaching the peak human age of 25, but this only lasted for one year.

In fact, these 6,000 veterans had already heard a rumor that the cavalry units that followed Lin Hao had all regained their youth.

Even Guo Xin and Yang Xigu had hinted at similar news to them, but they never expected to actually witness it with their own eyes.

In fact, not only were the veterans shocked, but the new army from Chang'an was also shocked. They never expected that such a good thing would happen to them.

You must know, this is something even the emperor couldn't obtain, so they all looked at Lin Hao with anticipation and longing.

The scene that Lin Hao deliberately created caused all the soldiers in Luntai City to have a burning desire in their eyes when they looked at the Tibetan prisoners.

To regain youth, one must transfer the lives of these captives into one's own body, but each captive can only be kept alive for one year.

This meant that to gain more control, they needed to capture more Tibetans, so they all volunteered to Lin Hao to reclaim the former territory of the Beiting Protectorate.

This passion for war, this desire to fight the Tibetans, far exceeded the orders given to them by the Tang Dynasty.

Lin Hao did not disappoint them, but more so from the perspective of the Grand Governor of the Western Regions, he wanted to have stronger self-control.

From later geographical and topographical maps of the Western Regions, one can see that the north and south sides of the Tianshan Mountains present significantly different landscapes.

On the southern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, there is a vast expanse of yellow, symbolizing the desert, with only scattered patches of green at the foot of the mountains. On the northern slopes, however, there is a long, narrow strip of green, which is arable land.

As for the reason, it can be seen from the map that there are only traces of a few rivers south of the Tianshan Mountains.

North of the Tianshan Mountains, the number of rivers is several times greater than in the south, and with water, there is a foundation for developing agriculture.

"This place is similar to Guanzhong in terms of the crops it can grow. Since you are all from respectable families, you must still remember your skills in cultivating this kind of land, right?" Lin Hao said calmly.

"From now on, we will be cultivating the land here! Can you all endure the hardship?"

At this moment, a young veteran, a general with rich combat experience who had come from Kucha to support Lin Hao, said with fervor in his eyes:

"Grand Commander, there's no such thing as not knowing how to farm. We'll follow you. By the way, when are we going to take over the old territory of Beiting?"

Most of these young men from Chang'an came from farming families, and they learned these skills from a young age.

However, for these veterans who have just regained their youth, the mere year they have been given a chance to live is far from enough, and they are all eager to gain more life.

Looking at the group of veterans, their fighting spirit high, Lin Hao smiled and said calmly:
"We will definitely fight. The former territory of the Beiting Protectorate is now nothing more than a piece of fat meat in our mouths. He will not be able to escape in the end."

"However, we have not yet established a firm foothold in the Western Regions, and our numbers are also insufficient. If we rashly attack the surrounding areas, even if we conquer them, we will not have enough military strength to govern them. It would be better to establish a firm foothold first before launching any offensives."

In fact, Lin Hao was not lying to them. Just as Lin Hao said, their forces were too small, and their total military strength was less than 10,000.

Putting aside whether we can conquer the entire former territory of Beiting, even if we conquer those dozen or so areas, how many troops would be needed to garrison them?
Therefore, it would be better to cultivate the land first, settle the immigrants from Chang'an, enable them to have a certain degree of self-sufficiency, recruit more soldiers, and then carry out the conquest. This would be much more effective.

However, the surrounding outposts contain a considerable amount of resources that we need. Make preparations and take down the outposts of Fengluo, Yele City, and Julu City!

"The Grand Commander is wise!" the crowd shouted in unison, and then the entire military camp erupted in commotion.

Lin Hao chose these small towns to guard because Fengluo has a small coal mine called Sulfur Gully, with a total reserve of 2.7 million tons, of which 1.2 million tons are suitable for mining.

The city of Yele has a Wudong coal mine, which is formed by the integration of four mining areas: Jian Gou Coal Mine, Xiao Hong Gou Coal Mine, Da Hong Gou Coal Mine, and Tie Chang Gou Coal Mine. The total reserves are 128 billion tons, of which 600 million tons are suitable for mining.

Unfortunately, neither of them are open-pit coal mines, so they can only be mined underground. However, Lin Hao did not intend to industrialize them; he just wanted to build a simple blast furnace for iron smelting, which would be sufficient to use with inclined shaft mining.

Iron ore is a bit of a problem. According to the information Lin Hao has seen from the modern era, the only iron ore deposits near Luntai City are in Urumqi County to the south, namely Shuixigou and Nanshan, which have relatively abundant reserves.

Another area is near Juliu City, where coal and pyrite are relatively abundant.

Lin Hao plans to explore all these places to find the most suitable places to mine coal and iron ore, and even build a water-powered forging workshop to mass-produce standardized armor and weapons.

Once we can produce our own weapons, we can conquer the entire Northern Court and also support Kucha and Xizhou.

According to Lin Hao's plan, he will develop nearby arable land centered on Luntai and plant it all with wheat.

The outermost layer consisted of grapes, melons, and the like. In later generations, grapes from the Western Regions became very famous, being both high-yielding and delicious, and also helping these soldiers achieve a balanced diet. Such an arrangement was perfect.

When these crops ripen, the wheat is ground into flour and made into naan. Naan can be stored for a long time without spoiling, making it ideal for military campaigns.

Then bring some dried meat and raisins to supplement fat and glucose, so there won't be any problems.

"When the time comes, the soldiers of the Great Tang Western Regions Grand General's Office will come with naan and raisins to crush those tribes that dare to disobey the orders of the Great Tang!"

"The Grand Commander's thinking is indeed thorough!" Everyone was greatly impressed after hearing Lin Hao's explanation, not expecting that the Grand Commander Lin had considered things so comprehensively.

After persuading the soldiers, Lin Hao led them to begin cultivating the land. They worked in the fields during the day and returned to the city at night. Based on the existing conditions, they designed and built a simple blast furnace and a coking furnace.

He also combined his industrial knowledge to design some iron farm tools. Once the blast furnace began to produce iron in large quantities, he had the craftsmen in the city make them and distribute them to the soldiers and civilians to help them improve their farming efficiency.