Having set aside his worries, Old Li turned his attention to the sports meet.
"Lad, hearing you describe it, the sports meet sounds rather interesting. Why not let the Nine Great Commanderies participate as well?"
"The Heavenly Fire Army is idle, and the Commanderies have no battles to fight. Since everyone is free, let's make it lively together."
Fang Er was stunned for a moment, then forced a wry smile. "Father, these are internal activities for the Heavenly Fire Army. If you bring everyone else along, isn't that a bit of an overblown affair?"
Without his worries weighing on him, Old Li spoke much more casually. He raised an eyebrow. "Are you afraid the Heavenly Fire Army will lose to the Commanderies?"
"Fine!"
The old fellow was even resorting to provocation.
Fang Er could only offer a conciliatory smile. "We're all brothers. It doesn't matter who wins or loses. My main concern is the venue."
"If it's held within the Heavenly Fire Army, we can make do with any place. But if you want the Commanderies to participate, we'll have to specially construct a stadium, otherwise, it will be too shabby, won't it?"
Li Shimin's eyes widened. "Then build one! I saw Chengqian and the others playing basketball at Fang Family Village. How large a space does that take? Do you have money? If you don't, I'll pay! Look at how stingy you are, you're almost as bad as Old Man Fang the Miser!"
Fang Er was speechless. "Father, this is a sports meet. How can we only have basketball competitions?"
"Besides that, I've also prepared football, table tennis, handball, shot put, equestrianism, swimming, and a series of other events."
"For these events, if the Nine Great Commanders..."
Li Shimin interrupted him unceremoniously. "Wait! Swimming? Why are we competing in that? Men and women?"
"Uh, it's currently decided for men. I'm not sure if anyone will participate in women's swimming competitions," Fang Er said with some uncertainty.
Old Li slapped his thigh and declared righteously, "Hold it! We must! I've decided that besides the Nine Great Commanderies, we will also let the common people of the Great Tang participate!"
"What are the competitions for? Strive for human supremacy! This is called spirit and morale! The people must experience it and spread it after the event!"
"Women's swimming competitions must also be held! What's wrong with women? Look at your Fang Family school, your workshops, are there few women? They work no less than men!"
"Therefore, I want to improve their status, starting with the swimming competition!"
"Also, every event must have prize money. I don't believe no one will participate. The first prize will be five thousand taels of silver, the second prize three thousand taels, and the third prize one thousand taels!"
"Send someone to fetch Ma Zhou to draft the announcement. I want this matter published on the front page tomorrow!"
Fang Er: "?????"
"What the heck, what he said left me speechless!"
"Alright, you're the Emperor, you're the Father, you have the final say!"
Bracing himself to accept Li Shimin's words, he asked Wang Xuance to fetch the map of Shenyang to select a site for construction. The map was large, spread out on the floor of the main hall. Fang Er looked at it for a long time before picking up a pen and drawing a circle on it.
This place was south of Shenyang city, between the Duke's Mansion and the railway.
Li Shimin, with a smile, was very pleased that Fang Er had agreed to his proposal. However, upon seeing the circle on the map, he couldn't help but ask in surprise.
"How large a venue are you planning to build? Why is this circle larger than your Duke's Mansion?"
The Duke's Mansion occupied sixty mu, yet Fang Er's circle was at least half again as large!
Fang Er shrugged. "With so many events, and with the Commanderies and people from various prefectures participating, wouldn't a smaller venue be insufficient?"
"Besides these, we also need to increase the production of tractors from the workshops. We can't have participants from the Piao Prefecture walking all the way here themselves, can we?"
Li Shimin fell into thought upon hearing this. After a long while, he suddenly slapped his thigh.
"Crack!"
"Lad, how about moving the capital?"
Fang Er: "???"
"We were talking about a sports meet, how did it get to moving the capital?"
Seeing that he didn't react immediately, Li Shimin explained. "Lad, you see, there are no wars in the Great Tang now, and there are no enemies outside. It's no longer appropriate to keep the capital in Chang'an, so I want to move the capital!"
"Although Chang'an City is easily defended, it also has the disadvantage of inconvenient transportation."
"It's surrounded by mountains, making travel difficult. Now that the world is peaceful and there are no powerful enemies on all sides, it's not impossible to move the capital."
"Historically, Empress Wu Zetian moved the capital to Luoyang for the same reason."
Fang Er asked curiously, "Where do you want to move it to?"
Li Shimin smiled and pointed to the map under his feet. "How about Shenyang?"
Fang Er instantly guessed his intention. This fellow purely wanted to stay here and not leave!
"Moving the capital isn't a matter of one or two days, is it? Building a capital city takes at least a few years. He's found a legitimate reason to stay!"
"Your Majesty, Shenyang is too far north. Although the territory of the Great Tang has expanded considerably, the Central Plains are still the root of the Great Tang!"
"I believe moving the capital here is not appropriate."
"We must get this fellow out of here. He's always thinking about taking advantage, and if he stays, won't he be overjoyed?"
Li Shimin was a little displeased. "Then where do you think is suitable to move it to?"
He had Wang Xuance fetch the map of the Great Tang's territory again. Fang Er looked at it for a long time and pointed to a place on it.
"Your Majesty, how about here?"
The place he pointed to was the present-day Zheng County, which in later generations would be Zhengzhou.
Historically, in the fourth year of Wude in the Tang Dynasty (621 AD), Li Shimin advanced and occupied Wulao, pacified Wang Shichong, and divided Zhengzhou into two, assigning it to the Duhong Dao, and incorporating five counties including Mixian and Xingyang into Zhengzhou, with Wulao as the prefecture seat.
In the first year of Zhenguan (627 AD), Guan Prefecture and Xushui County were abolished and their subordinate counties were returned to Zhengzhou. In the seventh year of Zhenguan (633 AD), the Zhengzhou prefecture seat was moved from Wulao to Guancheng.
Perhaps due to parallel space, Zhengzhou in this world was still called Zheng County, and along with Yangwu County, Xingyang County, Mixian County, and five other counties, it belonged to Bian Prefecture.
However, regardless of the changes in name and affiliation, the geographical conditions of Zhengzhou were undeniable.
Li Shimin looked at Chang'an, then at Shenyang, and finally at Zheng County. "Tell me your thoughts."
He had only spoken on impulse, but seeing Fang Er's serious expression, he also became serious.
Fang Er organized his thoughts and pointed to Zheng County on the map.
"Compared to Chang'an, Zheng County has fewer natural barriers and is located in the center of the Great Tang, capable of communicating between north and south."
"For land transport, the railway has already reached Bian Prefecture and can be extended to Zheng County at any time."
"For water transport, the Grand Canal passes through Xingyang, and a short extension can be built to connect it."
"Timing: Now that the Great Tang has no more wars, the capital needs to be accessible from all directions to facilitate economic recovery and development."
"Geography: Zheng County is flat and level, fully possessing the conditions for building a city. The Yellow River Bridge is also under construction."
"Humanity: Human Emperor Xuanyuan once established his capital here. In ancient times, this was Yuzhou of the Nine Provinces. Later, the Shang Dynasty moved its capital to Zheng."
"Therefore, I believe Zheng County can fully serve as the site for the new capital!"