Thousand-year-old family: its rise began with Shang Yang’s reforms

Chapter 501: Benevolent Tang Dynasty

"Boom-"

With a crisp sound, Lu Dongzan fell to the ground subconsciously. He raised his head and looked at Li Shimin who was sitting there and looking at him calmly. The voice in his head was buzzing.

When he heard the series of titles, Lu Dongzan already felt something was wrong.

After all, in this situation, how could a general with so many titles be an unknown person?
If he really is an unknown person, then there are only two possibilities.

First, this person was killed by the emperor because his achievements surpassed his master, and then the emperor erased all his information, so this person is now an unknown person.

Second, this person's status has become higher, even to the point where he no longer needs a reputation, so everyone pays attention to his other reputation and forgets his previous fame.

The first one is easy to say, but if it is true, how could His Majesty make this matter public and even let this person gamble with Tubo?
So the first one is ruled out directly, and the only option is the second one.

Three Dukes is already the highest honorary title in the Tang Dynasty. Apart from Chen's King Zhenguo, there is no other king in the entire Tang Dynasty. So, who became the old senior with such great contributions?

When the four words "Emperor of the Tang Dynasty" appeared, everything was explained.

This man who has made great achievements and does not even have to worry about his achievements surpassing his master is Li Shimin, the current Emperor of Tang Dynasty. So he does not have to worry about his achievements surpassing his master, because he himself is the master!
Who is the Emperor of Tang Dynasty?
He had conquered the world by chance, and had fought in all nine provinces for many years. No one could defeat him - he had never been defeated, and he could kill gods when he met them. How could such a man want to gamble with Tubo?

Let’s not talk about whether to gamble or not.

There is only one possibility for this person to say such a thing, that the Tang Dynasty is going to go to war with Tubo!

Today's Tubo does have the advantage of time and location, but can it really defeat the Tang Dynasty?
It's just a joke.

Songtsen Gampo was so eager to point at his own nose when he heard this and asked, "Me? Fight the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty? The founding emperor on horseback? The general of Tiance? Is this true?"

Lu Dongzan was even more frightened and wanted to say something, but he didn't have time to open his mouth.

When these evil spirits in the Tang Dynasty court heard the word "war", they were no longer sleepy and stood up directly, expressing their willingness to serve the emperor.

Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Jingde even started arguing, each of them saying that they could do it and that there was no problem with it.

All the disputes stopped when two people stood up one after the other.

The group of evil spirits looked at the two people in front of them and silently swallowed their saliva. No, is it really that serious to fight against a Tubo? Let these two take action? Is this true?
Li Jing and Chen Lin'an stood up one after another, looking calm.

The two looked at each other, then looked at Li Shimin and said, "Your Majesty, why use a butcher knife to kill a chicken? Let us serve your Majesty."

"Within a year, the country of Tubo will no longer exist in this world."

There was a hint of regret in Li Shimin's eyes. He wanted to say something else, but when he saw Chen Ruohan's eyes that looked more and more like his father Chen Zhan's, he shuddered subconsciously, then coughed lightly and said, "Whatever."

"Since both of you have said so, then let's do as you have said."

He shook his head and sighed, then said with some regret: "Then order Li Jing and Chen Lin'an to be the main generals, divide the troops into two groups, and fight against the rebellious people!"

In the crowd, Wei Zheng seemed to have heard something, and a hint of hesitation flashed across his face, but in the end he let out a long sigh and closed his mouth.

"bump--"

There was a loud bang. Lu Dongzan wanted to stand up and beg for mercy, but he had completely lost all his strength and fell to the ground.

No one in the hall paid attention to this poor man.

Taiji Hall
Li Shimin chuckled and said proudly, "I really didn't expect this. We just agreed to conquer the surrounding barbarian countries a few days ago, and we haven't thought of excuses or reasons yet, but this group of people actually committed a crime first."

"I'm really sleepy. Pass us a pillow."

He said with some regret: "It's a pity that since I became the emperor, I can only stay in this Taiji Palace all day long, like a bird without wings. It's really pitiful."

"I finally got the chance this time, but the result was..."

Listening to Li Shimin's complaints, Chen Ruohan glanced at Li Shimin and sneered, "Your Majesty, can you use your brain? You are a wealthy man, how can you go to Tubo to fight in person?"

"Even if your body is still healthy."

"It has not been long since the empire was pacified. Although a crown prince has been chosen, he is still young and incapable of taking on major responsibilities."

"What's our plan if something unexpected happens to you?"

"Are you so sure that the plan is foolproof?"

"We have been planning for many years, are we going to ruin it in an instant?"

Li Shimin coughed lightly, subconsciously turned his head, looked at the sky in the distance, looked at the clear air and said, "Oh, this weather is really good."

"The sky is so blue, and the clouds are so white."

Feeling the gaze behind him, Li Shimin turned his head and looked at Chen Ruohan and said, "Haven't I given up the idea of ​​leading the army in person? Cheng Tao, don't be angry."

He pressed his forehead and asked, "How is the research going at Xianyang Academy?"

"But is there any new progress?"

At this point, Chen Ruohan relaxed his brows, with a slightly cheerful look on his face: "Uncle Twenty-four has already come up with some ideas. When the hot water boils, power will appear, and this power can be transformed into power for the carriage through some kind of behavior."

"But if we want to develop a vehicle that can operate on its own, I'm afraid it will take many more years."

He whispered, "According to the Mohist Scriptures and some of our ancestors' notes, we have indeed discovered something new. According to our ancestors, it should be "steel". Steel is extremely hard and is very useful for building cities, forging weapons, or even forging new vehicles."

Chen Ruohan frowned and said, "Based on the current level of the Tang Dynasty, this thing would be a little difficult to manufacture. After all, a lot of "fire" and high temperature are needed to forge steel, but the temperature caused by burning wood cannot meet the requirements."

"Uncle Seven and the others are looking for something to replace it."

"The Nine Provinces are vast and rich in resources, so it should be possible to find it."

"And if we can really find something to replace wood burning, then we can also accomplish other things - such as boiling water, that is, something to replace this thing and provide power."

“These need to be done step by step.”

Having said this, Chen Ruohan looked at Li Shimin again and said, "So, Your Majesty, you must never be so willful again in the future."

Li Shimin said with a bitter face: "I know, I know."

The thirteenth year of Zhenguan.

The Tibetan envoys offended the majesty of heaven and insulted the Tang emperor in front of many court officials, thus angering the Tang officials.

It is simply unbearable.

In response to Tubo's disrespectful behavior, the Tang Dynasty decided to fight back.

Emperor Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty issued an edict severely condemning the Tibetans' behavior and hoped that the Tibetan monarch would give him a proper explanation, otherwise he would say that he had not warned him. Chen Ruohan, the King of the Tang Dynasty and the Minister of the Central Secretariat, publicly stated that the Tibetans' behavior had seriously hurt the people's love and loyalty to the Tang emperor, and the people's war sentiment was very high. He hoped that the Tibetans would give the Tang Dynasty an explanation as soon as possible, otherwise if they could not suppress the people's war sentiment, they would only be able to passively counterattack against the Tibetans' behavior.

May 7, the 13th year of Zhenguan.

For seven days, the Tubo monarch did not express any opinion on the Tubo envoys' insults to the Tang emperor, which seriously damaged the love of the Tang people for the emperor.

So on May 7, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty issued an edict.
Conquer Tubo!

Destroy temples and shrines, and kill all the upper-level rulers of Tibet!
Only blood can soothe the inner wounds of the people of the Tang Dynasty.

In July of the thirteenth year of Zhenguan.

Two months after Lu Dongzan insulted the Tang Emperor, Songtsen Gampo, who was far away in Tubo, received the news that Lu Dongzan had insulted the Tang Emperor and the Tang Emperor asked him to give an explanation.

Before he could think about it, another piece of news came.

The Tang Dynasty has sent troops for two months!

We are almost reaching Tubo!
Potala Palace
Songtsen Gampo looked at the many ministers standing in the hall with a bewildered look on his face, and said speechlessly: "What do you think of this matter?"

There was silence.

What do you think?
How else to look at this.

Let’s not talk about whether Lu Dongzan had the guts to insult the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Even seven days after this incident, you said that we didn’t respond, so you couldn’t stand it and wanted to attack us. Isn’t this a bit outrageous?

You detained the messengers and none of them returned.

You didn't even send a letter, but simply discussed the matter in the court.

How do we know something went wrong?!
Songtsen Gampo looked at the silent crowd and said helplessly: "Forget it. Perhaps the Tang Dynasty has already made preparations?"

"Then. Fight."

beat!
This is recorded in the Book of Tang.

"In the 13th year of the Zhenguan reign, Tubo sent an envoy to Chang'an. The envoy said: 'Let your princess marry the ruler of our Tubo country, otherwise the country will be destroyed.' At that time, you were the Emperor Taizu, and he was furious when he heard this."

"The ministers were outraged and wanted to raise an army."

"However, Emperor Taizu was kind and benevolent, and he thought of the Tubo as a barbarian land, so the envoy's rudeness might be forgiven, so he ordered the Tubo ruler Songtsen Gampo to defend himself."

"That day lasted a long time, and the Tubo ruler said nothing."

"The emperor sighed and said: It's not that I'm unkind, it's just that they are barbarians!"

"Therefore, an imperial edict was issued, ordering the Duke of Lin'an and the Duke of Weiguo to raise an army to suppress the rebellious people."

This is just a small excerpt from the Book of Tang, but the cause of this war is written in thousands of words. The eloquent handwriting shows that this war was fought purely because Tubo was a barbarian and insulted the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

The benevolent Emperor of the Tang Dynasty did not want to fight with them, but Tubo was too arrogant, so he "had no choice" to give the order.

The Tang Dynasty was benevolent, kind, and tolerant.

But the Tubo were barbarians, evil, and they brought this upon themselves.

As for the result?
It is only briefly mentioned in the Tang Dynasty books.

"In the fifteenth year of Zhenguan, we fought against Tubo and won. On the way, we encountered several small countries that did not obey the orders of the emperor, so we attacked them and won a great victory."

This short line of words symbolizes the final outcome of Tubo.

And the so-called small countries are indeed small countries that do not listen to education.

During the expedition against Tubo, the Baiyue in the south and the Maurya Dynasty were not very obedient, nor was the only remaining small country among the Thirty-six Kingdoms in the Western Regions. Moreover, some countries further west, that is, some countries in Central Asia, were not very obedient either, and they even dared to help Tubo!

So Chen Linan and Li Jing just killed them all.

As for the evidence?

We found soldiers from these countries in Tubo! They wore their clothes and spoke their language. How can this not be evidence? ? ?

What will happen to those countries in the end?
The Tang Emperor, Li Shimin, was so benevolent that he felt that the people there lived a hard life and suffered from the bullying and oppression of the barbarians, so he was kind enough to incorporate them into the territory of the Tang Dynasty, implement the Tang laws there, and give some of them Tang household registration.

Then, a group of outstanding graduates from the Imperial College, Xianyang Academy, and many other academies were selected to go and educate the barbarians.

Um.
As for the fact that the territory of the Tang Dynasty had expanded by a full double and the land of those places had been divided up by the aristocratic families headed by Gao Shilian, the Tang Emperor Li Shimin was very confused and said he was not aware of it.

The sixteenth year of Zhenguan.

Duke Shen Gao Shilian was seriously ill, and he wrote a letter to the emperor, earnestly requesting to retire and return to his hometown to retire.

He also stated in his resignation report that he was already sick and weak, and he did not know when he would die, so he hoped that His Majesty the Emperor would allow his sons and grandsons to take care of him during the mourning period.

He just wanted to enjoy the happiness of his children and grandchildren at the end of his life.

The kind-hearted Li Shimin agreed and rewarded Duke Shen with a lot of money.

Autumn, the sixteenth year of Zhenguan.

Less than half a year after returning to his hometown, Duke Shen became critically ill and passed away just three days later.

Li Shimin was very sad and posthumously conferred many titles on him.

In order to express her gratitude to Li Shimin, Gao handed over all her property.

Gao Shilian's son "Gao Shenxing" wrote in a letter saying that his father wanted to visit the Western Regions most in his life, so he wanted to ask the emperor to allow them to recruit some soldiers to protect them and take the body of Duke Shen to the Western Regions.

The emperor agreed.

In the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, bad news came.

Gao Shenxing and his companions encountered a sandstorm in the Western Regions, and all of them died in the yellow sand.

Winter, the seventeenth year of Zhenguan.

Central Asia
A dynasty called "Da Gao" was established and submitted a letter to the Tang Dynasty. Their king was named "Shen Jian".

PS: I finished writing the scheduled report yesterday but didn’t send it out. It’s painful. Consider it my day off yesterday, my darlings.

I will update well this month, after all, it is the final stage.

(End of this chapter)