Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 569: King of the South Sea (Complete Book)
Most people in the court found Chen Qingsi's choice strange.

After all, his current status, position and power were already second to none, and what he lacked was foundation. As long as he took advantage of the situation to unite with the Xiao family, and his descendants could marry into the major families through the Xiao family, the foundation that the Chen family lacked the most would be made up.

Now Chen Qingsi is still young, and he doesn't ask for a long life like Sima Yi. As long as he lives a normal life, the Chen family can be promoted to a great family because of his efforts. At that time, it will not be just one person who enjoys the glory, but several generations or even dozens of generations.

Chen Qingsi chose to support Li Xian. Although Li Xian was young and inexperienced, he was indeed easier to control. But he was also old enough to be a governor, and he was naturally intelligent, as everyone knew. How many years could he control him? If he really wanted to control the court, wouldn't it be better to choose someone younger and stupid, like Li Xian?
Most people cannot see through Chen Qingsi's choice.

Only Chen Qingsi himself knew that Li Xian was the best choice. He could realize his political ideals and was also capable of continuing his political ideals. He was the best choice for both the Tang Dynasty and the Chen family.

Of course, it was different in the eyes of Li Hong and Li Xian. They naturally thought that Chen Qingsi was selfless.

After all, Empress Wu's evil deeds were too bad, and the two of them were implicated by their mother, and there were serious stains on their moral character. They themselves had no value that could be used, and supporting Li Hong to choose Li Xian would not benefit Chen Qingsi in any way. In addition to public interest, they could not think of any other reason.

Li Zhi was sinister and Wu Mei was cold, but their two sons, Li Hong and Li Xian, were like a positive outcome of negatives. Both of them were highly praised for their temperaments. The former was known for his benevolence and filial piety, while the latter was equally virtuous in Tang Nian and Zhang Huai, the most benevolent.

Seeing Chen Qingsi act like this, both of them were moved beyond words, like a drowning man grabbing a life-saving straw.

For this purpose, Li Hong specially called Li Xian to his side.

"Sixth brother! I'm afraid my brother's health won't last long. Mr. Chen has received great favors from the late emperor and is as sincere as Prime Minister Zhuge. If you treat him sincerely, he will not let you down. But don't really regard him as Prime Minister Zhuge. If you don't know how high the sky is and how deep the earth is, and go against him, he will not show you mercy. Remember this."

Li Xian said: "I will remember your teachings. I also understand the reason. You can rest assured."

A month later, Li Hong died of illness.

Li Xian, who was only twelve years old, ascended the throne as the new emperor of the Tang Dynasty with the support of Chen Qingsi. This time, with Chen Qingsi in charge of Chang'an, everything was stable in the court.

For the next twenty years, government affairs were handled by the Secretariat, Li Xian was appointed as the chief minister, and the relationship between the emperor and his subjects was harmonious.

During these twenty years, Chen Qingsi carried out drastic reforms in the civil service system.

Chen Qingsi did not mechanically copy the political system of later generations. He knew that development requires a process, and taking big steps can easily lead to failure. Human resources are limited, and the transition from feudal society to socialist society requires a long period of cumulative development, and it cannot be achieved by simply copying others.

The excellent systems of the future are not suitable for this era. What Chen Qingsi needs to do is to promote this process through his advanced knowledge, so as to push China's development forward by two hundred or even three or four hundred years and continue to lead the world.

Chen Qingsi vigorously developed people's livelihood, promoted culture and education, attached importance to numerology, and included numerology as a compulsory subject in the imperial examination. He did not deliberately suppress the Guandong family, but promoted the development of printing and papermaking, which reduced the price of books and made reading no longer exclusive to the upper class.

Any child with a little wealth can afford to go to school, have a place to learn cultural knowledge, and can also achieve class crossing through the imperial examination, without having to rely on aristocratic families.

Many people in later generations attributed the decline of the aristocratic families to Huang Chao, but the real reason for the decline of the aristocratic families was the general trend. The development of the times made studying no longer a luxury, and a large number of poor people rose up, breaking the aristocratic families' monopoly on knowledge, which led to the decline of the aristocratic families.

The subsequent Niu-Li factional struggle was the first attack launched by the poor against the aristocratic families.

The 20th year of Zhengde.

"Sir, are you going to come back?"

Li Xian felt mixed emotions as he looked at Chen Qingsi, who was over fifty years old but still strong and healthy.

During the past twenty years, the power of the prime minister grew while the power of the emperor declined. As an emperor, he was naturally uncomfortable. However, he knew that Chen Qingsi had done him a great favor and made great contributions to the country. The Tang Dynasty could do without him, Li Xian, but not without Chen Qingsi.

Faced with such a situation, Li Xian naturally displayed the magnanimity of a king and agreed to all of Chen Qingsi's reform requests. However, he often wondered in his heart when he would be able to rule the country himself and become the true emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

But today, knowing that Chen Qingsi was really going to return power and leave, Li Xian became a little panicked.

He was afraid that he couldn't handle the heavy responsibility...

Chen Qingsi smiled and said, "Your Majesty is kind and wise. You have Liu, Di, and Zhang as your prime ministers, as well as Yao Chong, Pei Xingjian, and many other capable officials to assist you. It doesn't matter whether you have ministers or not. On the contrary, there has been a lot of turmoil in the South China Sea recently. This time when I go to the South China Sea, I have to let the Arab Empire know that if you have any tricks, you will be beaten."

He smiled softly and repeatedly beat Dashi as if he were beating his own son.

The war with the Arab Empire brought peace to the Western Regions for twenty years.

The Tang Dynasty also reaped the benefits for the next twenty years. Chen Qingsi used the prestige he had gained to build schools and academies in the Western Regions and recruit royal families from various countries into the Imperial Academy. The heirs of the Western Regions had to be from the Imperial Academy, thus laying the tone for the Western Regions. The Tang Dynasty’s control over the Western Regions was thus strengthened unprecedentedly.

The Western Regions of the Caliphate fell into a state of division after the defeat that year, and the Shiite and Sunni faction went from a cold war to a hot war. At the beginning, the Sunni faction had the upper hand, and the Shiite faction still needed the secret support of the Tang court, but with the death of the Caliph Muawiyah, the situation changed and the Shiite faction gained the upper hand.

Under Chen Qingsi's manipulation, the Tang court also changed its support to the Xun faction in order to balance the power of both sides.

As a result, the Arab Empire fell into civil strife that lasted for twenty years...

But heroes emerge in troubled times. In this turmoil, a figure named Abbas Rich Qarmat suddenly emerged from the Shiite faction. He unified the Shiite faction with lightning speed, subdued the Sunni faction, and completed the integration of the Arab Empire.

Because the speed was too fast, Chen Qingsi, who was far away in Chang'an, had no time to react.

The Arab Empire, which had achieved unification, was naturally unwilling to give up, and was gathering strength and secretly planning to stir up trouble. The Arab Empire could no longer penetrate the Western Regions, so India and the South China Sea became the targets of the Arab Empire.

India is just a bunch of brainless bastards. If you give them some face, they think they are great and invincible. However, the South China Sea is too far away from the Central Plains, almost hanging overseas, and the control over it is limited, so there has been some minor turbulence.

Faced with such a situation, Chen Qingsi had already planned to go to the South China Sea in person to take charge.

Although Li Xian, as the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, had no real power, Chen Qingsi did not isolate him. All government affairs had to go through his hands. He had already noticed that Chen Qingsi had invested a lot of energy in the South China Sea over the years.

When he heard that Chen Qingsi wanted to stay in the South China Sea, he immediately realized that Chen Qingsi might not come back.

Chen Qingsi really had no intention of coming back. In the feudal era when transportation technology was not well developed, the territory had certain limits. Beyond that limit, it would be impossible to control it due to cultural communication and other reasons.

Just like Annan in the Ming Dynasty, even the wise and capable Emperor Zhu Di was helpless in the face of Annan. Zhu Zhanji was forced to give up his rule over Annan and gave up the land of Annan...

But in fact, there is a solution for Annan. If Zhang Fu had destroyed the Hu Dynasty, Zhu Di would have immediately followed Mu Ying's example and established Zhang Fu as the King of Jiaozhi. The Zhang family would have ruled Jiaozhi for generations, and Jiaozhi would have been lost. No matter how difficult Jiaozhi was, could it be compared with Yunnan?

Of course this is impossible. Zhu Di might not be able to think of this method, but he just couldn't do it.

No emperor would rashly divide the land among his generals to form a country within a country. But there is no doubt that this is the best way.

Chen Qingsi had thought about the future of the Chen family 20 years ago. He was sure that he could protect the Chen family while he was alive. But he was afraid that like Huo Guang, the Chen family would be liquidated immediately after his death.

After having children, people inevitably have to plan for the future.

The South China Sea was the place he chose to settle down...

The South China Sea here is naturally not the South China Sea of ​​later generations, but the Indian Ocean of later generations. As early as twenty years ago, Chen Qingsi ordered Liu Rengui and Xue Rengui to take over Cochin, renamed it Shubin Prefecture, and laid the foundation.

India is a vast country with rich resources and vast fertile land. In terms of geographical advantages, it is not inferior to China. However, this land has bred a group of carbon-based creatures that are completely indescribable. It is really a waste of nature's resources.

Chen Qingsi was sent to the South China Sea to suppress the Arabs in the west, abuse India in the north, and protect the stability of the Western Regions. He could also complement the Chinese Lingnan Navy to control the maritime trade routes in Southeast Asia and guard the western territory for the Tang Dynasty.

As for whether the Chen family will be independent in the future or not, Chen Qingsi has no control over it.

But he was sure of one thing: the South China Sea, where the Chen family was based, would carve Chinese culture into that resource-rich continent and leave the Chinese race there.

Leave a history for the future world.

Chen Qingsi's heart surged when he thought of this. He was half a century old, but his blood boiled. He was really reluctant to let Li Xian go. Thinking of the twenty years of relationship, he said softly, "I have worked hard for the court until now. It is not presumptuous to ask Your Majesty for a King of the South Sea."

Li Xian's eyes were a little moist, knowing that the other party was determined to leave, and said: "Without Mr. Chen, without me, and without the current court, the King of Nanhai is nothing. But if the Queen and the Crown Prince knew that it would be difficult to see you again, I don't know how uncomfortable they would be."

Chen Qingsi was silent for a moment.

His eldest daughter married Li Xian and gave birth to the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty.

Chen Qingsi actually did not agree to this marriage at first, after all, there were too many things to consider.

Li Xian is indeed outstanding, but because of this, Chen Qingsi suspects that this pig has ulterior motives in eating his cabbages.

It's just that Li Xian did show his sincerity, and his eldest daughter inherited her mother Li Hongqing's temperament and was a little rebellious. It is not known whether she was moved by Li Xian's sweet words or fooled by his handsome appearance, and she had the attitude of not marrying anyone else but him.

Chen Qingsi could only let it go.

After a moment of silence, Li Xian said, "Sir, you are going to the South China Sea this time. The Western Regions can't give you much support. You can use the Lingnan Navy. And the Tibetan King Chen Sibei was completely defeated by you. If they knew you were going to the South China Sea and asked him to send troops to support you, they would definitely help you."

Chen Qingsi felt a headache after hearing this, and couldn't help complaining in his heart: "His father asked him to send troops, how dare he disobey?"

This is indeed a bit bloody. Chen Sibei is indeed Chen Qingsi's son.

Back then, he was careless and fell into Chimalo's trap, drugging her and making her sleep with him. Later, he had already made a mistake and slept with her several more times. He had clearly calculated the days until the girl's period, but he still fell into the trap.

Ten years ago, Wang Xiaojie, who pretended to be Mangsong Mangzan, faked his death and passed the throne to his youngest son Mangbojie, with Trimalun as regent. Trimalun inherited Mangsong Mangzan's policy and advocated the implementation of Sinicization, and changed it more thoroughly, imitating the Northern Wei Dynasty and also Sinicizing the names of the Tibetans. In memory of Chen Qingsi's kindness, the Tibetan royal family changed their surname to Chen.

A day later, Li Xian issued an edict to confer Chen Qingsi the title of King of Nanhai, to rule Nanhai for the Tang Dynasty, to serve as the Chang'an of the Tang Dynasty, and to guard the western border.

PS: The main text ends here. There is also an epilogue and some character endings, which are briefly introduced.

Thank you brothers and sisters for your continued support until now, thank you.

(End of this chapter)