A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

With the help of steam engines, the imperial court's "Decree on the Reform of Regional Military Governors" quickly spread throughout the country and into various regional military governorships.

News of the mobilization of border troops across the country, ready to suppress domestic rebellions, was simultaneously disseminated.

The court and the public believed that with the border troops suppressing the rebellion, these military governors would absolutely not dare to cause trouble and would inevitably relinquish their power in exchange for high-ranking official positions and generous salaries.

Even the turbulent An Lushan and Shi Siming, two regional military governors who were not weak among the generals, were easily quelled before they could even leave the capital.

Moreover, the border troops deployed this time are even more elite, and the military governor is no match for them.

The imperial court would not treat these military governors poorly. Although they had lost their power over human rights, finances, and military forces, they were still military governors and could even aspire to higher official positions in the court.

When the imperial edict spread throughout the land, an eerie silence descended.

The connections between the various military governors were also carried out covertly with the help of the major aristocratic families.

They neither chose to defy the imperial decree nor to obey it; they simply left it hanging as if the decree had never happened.

The regional military governors submitted memorials to the emperor, offering their congratulations, but they made no mention of matters concerning military power, human rights, or financial power.

Taxes from various regions were still intercepted, and military, personnel, and financial power remained firmly in the hands of these military governors.

This is nonviolent non-cooperation.

The nine major northern military governors formed an alliance, which inadvertently led the imperial court to discover their connections.

The eight major southern military governorships exchanged goods and resources, and the second-generation governors of all the major military governors gathered together.

The ten major western military governorships completely blocked the communication between the imperial court and them. Apart from not openly raising the flag of rebellion, they had effectively become states within states.

In Yunzhou, envoys from the nine military governors of the north gathered to elect Zhang Huai, the strongest of the nine military governors and the military governor of Yunzhou, as their leader. They then signed an alliance treaty with three articles.

First, each town shall never rebel privately, never claim to be king, and shall forever adhere to the legitimate calendar of the Tang Dynasty.

Second, each town shall maintain its own military power, financial power, and personnel power, and shall not hand them over to the central government.

Third, if the imperial court forcibly weakens one of the towns, all nine towns will unite to resist and jointly protect their power.

None of them were prepared to betray the Tang Dynasty; all they wanted was to permanently bring their respective vassal states under their family's rule, turning them into states within a state.

The second-generation leaders of the eight major southern military governors gathered in Yazhou. On their fathers' orders, they elected Gao Jie, the strongest of the eight southern military governors and the military governor of Yazhou, as their leader and signed an alliance.

The content of the covenant was almost identical to that of the Northern Covenant.

The difference is that the various military governors in the west are all unwilling to submit to each other, tacitly blockading the west, isolating themselves from the imperial court, and forming their own independent world.

At the same time, heavy troops were stationed on the border to guard against invasion by the imperial army.

They were also secretly contacting foreign countries, attempting to gain their help and recognition in order to better counterbalance the imperial court.

The imperial spies in various regions relayed the news back to Luoyang, making Li Heng truly realize the difficulty of governing the country.

Governing the world is not as simple as he thinks, nor can everything develop according to his calculations and plans.

Everything is full of variables; you never know whether an accident or tomorrow will come first.

Now the choice is back in his hands: to fight or to abandon his dignity and lose face.

Li Heng quickly made a decision: to fight.

He discovered that his biggest problem in governing the country was a lack of prestige.

Especially due to the influence of the rebellions of An Lushan and Shi Siming, the major powers in the country either outwardly obeyed him or inwardly disregarded him.

If he wants to govern the country well, enforce orders, and implement good policies, he must establish his prestige and possess the majesty of an emperor.

This battle was a must for him; only victory could satisfy his needs.

Thinking of this, Li Heng summoned Gao Shi, Cen Shen, Du Fu, and others to the palace, saying, "The ten western vassal states have blocked the roads and already harbor rebellious intentions. I intend to attack them. Who is willing to share my burden?"

Li Heng set the tone directly: this battle must be fought, there's no room for discussion.

All you need to do is discuss who will fight this battle.

Du Fu and the others sighed inwardly. Once war broke out, they didn't know how many more people would suffer.

However, the situation is now settled, and the disloyal intentions of the regional warlords are obvious. The court does indeed need to fight this battle to make an example of them and deter others from further aggression.

While some civil officials were indeed simply trying to suppress military officials, Du Fu, Wang Wei, and others definitely did not fall into this category.

"Your Majesty, I request permission to fight!"

Generals such as Gao Shi and Cen Shen stepped forward and volunteered to fight for Li Heng.

"Gao Qing, as the Minister of Revenue, you will be the commander-in-chief in this campaign to pacify the Western Frontier. How many troops do you require?"

Li Heng glanced at the people who had come out to volunteer for battle and thought to himself that the army's morale was good. In the end, he still chose Gao Shi, Li Bai's close friend and the Minister of War who had fought his way out of the campaign.

"Your Majesty, the campaign against the Western Frontier requires 80 troops stationed on the border."

Gao Shi stepped forward and bowed.

Li Heng thought silently for a moment about the 80-strong army; it was within his capabilities.

Although most of the imperial army was in the hands of the regional military governors, there were still nearly 200 million troops directly under the imperial court on the borders. A portion of these troops also needed to be kept to deter enemy states. In addition, it was not difficult for the imperial court to mobilize 80 troops from various regions.

"However, Your Majesty, the ten major vassal states in the western frontier have already shown signs of rebellion, but we must also guard against the nine northern garrisons and the eight southern vassal states."

"Your humble servant suggests that General Geshu Han be appointed as the commander-in-chief and lead 30 troops northward. This number of 30 will not cause the northern garrisons to be overly sensitive, but it will also serve as a deterrent. If the northern garrisons do rebel, they can use the strong cities to resist and delay until the imperial reinforcements arrive."

"He also ordered Vice Minister Cen to be the commander-in-chief, leading 30 troops south to cross the natural barrier of the Yangtze River and intimidate the eight southern vassal states."

80 in the west, 30 in the north, and 30 in the south, totaling 140 million troops.

"Minister Li."

Li Heng glanced at the civil officials and saw the newly appointed Vice Minister of Revenue, Li Shande. He had heard that this newly promoted Vice Minister of Revenue was extremely skilled in arithmetic, and he decided to test him.

"How much money and grain does the imperial court need to allocate for this 140 million-strong army?"

The Vice Minister of Revenue was frantically calculating in his mind. Even though he was usually good at it, the routes that the 140 million troops would have to take to go south, north, and west, as well as the food and supplies for the people and horses, all needed to be calculated. It was an astronomical number.

If it weren't for the Ministry of Revenue having records of the court's numerous military expeditions, which he could use as a reference, he probably wouldn't have been able to answer.