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

Chapter 507: I and the Tang Dynasty

At the beginning, the purpose of this war was simply to plunder a certain amount of resources for this huge country to supply the country's consumption, but war as a matter of fact has never been something that can be controlled by humans.

For example, at this time.

At first, the war only affected some countries in Central Asia. Later, the war began to spread to Persia and more distant Europe, and countries such as the Eastern Roman Empire also got involved.

The reason they got involved was simple.

The spread of technology.

One thing needs to be made very clear here - the Tang Empire did not restrict other countries from coming to its schools to learn advanced technologies. It cannot be said that there were no restrictions, but rather that other countries were very welcome.

Of course, these foreign students will not receive any "noble" treatment in the Tang Dynasty. On the contrary, they can only enjoy the most basic treatment of university students. What if they want better treatment?
It's also very simple.

Two words.

Add money.

For example, the prince of the Dagao Dynasty, Shen Qimu.

After Shen Qimu came to the Tang Dynasty, he studied at Kyoto University, and the treatment he enjoyed was completely unimaginable for international students from some small countries - yes, it was not that he could not enjoy it, but that he could not imagine it.

The treatment enjoyed by Shen Qimu was exactly the same as that of the princes of the Tang Dynasty and some noble aristocratic families!

He has his own independent dormitory inside Kyoto University so he doesn't have to crowd with other people. What's more, the interior of this dormitory is extremely luxurious!

As for why?
Because Shen Qimu added money, and it was a lot - in addition to the tuition he had to pay, Shen Qimu and the Dagao Dynasty provided the Tang Dynasty with an additional 100,000 barrels of crude oil every year as a reward for his treatment.

One hundred thousand barrels.

If you don't know what this number specifically symbolizes, there is a very simple example that can help you understand.

The current annual crude oil consumption of the Tang Dynasty is 800,000 barrels.

In other words, Shen Qimu alone provided almost one-eighth of the crude oil consumed by Datang last year for his own enjoyment.

This figure was enough to ensure that Shen Qimu had adequate treatment in the Tang Dynasty - not to mention that the tuition fee paid by the Gao Dynasty to Shen Qimu was 200,000 barrels of crude oil per year - he alone provided 300,000 barrels of crude oil, which was more than one-third of the consumption of the Tang Dynasty!

Why is this number public?
Because at the beginning, some small countries - especially Japan, whose international students questioned the treatment of Shen Qimu - and the magnanimous Emperor of the Tang Dynasty told the poor international students why.

Of course.

Within a year after this problem was explained, the border of Japan was inexplicably attacked by a group of well-equipped pirates at sea, and these pirates fought all the way to Kyoto, and even completely destroyed the country. All the citizens were taken to Iwamiyama to dig for new discoveries. This matter is very puzzling.

After hearing about this, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty was very angry and said that if he found out who had destroyed his vassal state, he would make him pay with blood!
This happened during the Honglong period.

During the Kaiyuan period, after Li Shizhi ascended the throne, he quickly discovered the culprit for the destruction of Japan - that was Goguryeo, which was not far from Japan!
Yes.

The Goguryeo from the late Sui Dynasty actually made a comeback again, which made the Tang Emperor extremely angry. After all, the Tang Emperor said that it was their ancestor, Emperor Taizu Li Shimin, who destroyed Goguryeo.

Driven by this anger, Li Shizhi sent a large army to cultivate the land of Goguryeo again and kill the Goguryeo people who had just taken a breath and established a small country there.

This time, the Goguryeo noble royal family really did not participate.

Many countries in the international community, including the only three empires with the honorable title of Persia, Eastern Roman Empire, and Egypt, expressed great admiration for this and the highest respect for the kindness and magnanimity of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. In other words, when the war just started, neither the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty nor the Eastern Roman Empire, the Egyptian Empire, the Persian Empire and many other Central Asian and European countries thought that the war would last so long.

But when the war broke out, the emperors of these countries discovered a problem after the "students" who had studied in the Tang Dynasty returned to the empire.

It seems that they can also develop the "technology" that the Tang Dynasty relied on.

Isn't it just a weapon of war?

Isn't it just a musket?

After learning the principles of Datang University, they were also able to conduct research, and when the path ahead had been pointed out to them, the path for these people was very easy, and that is why they discovered the power of "oil".

It was also discovered that there were large deposits of oil in Central Asia.

They also discovered that they might be able to challenge the authority of the Tang Dynasty.

As a result, the war that broke out during the Kaiyuan period was full of twists and turns, breaking out all the way, and continuing from the 17th year of Kaiyuan, which was the period of the fourth emperor of the Tang Dynasty, "Li Shizhi", to the 18th year of Hongyuan, which was the end of the eighth emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

How many years did the war last?
The war lasted for four emperors and a total of eighty-nine years.

As for why the war lasted so long?
No one knew this except the few countries that participated in the war, and even among these countries, only the powerful people in the Tang Dynasty knew it best.

The eighteenth year of Hongyuan, spring.

Heavy rain fell continuously on the ground, but the people of Chang'an City still lived in peace and stability as they did more than eighty years ago, as if they had not felt the war.

And that's exactly what happened.

The so-called "First World War" could not affect the people of the Tang Dynasty at all. At most, it affected the people in the border areas of the Tang Dynasty - and the number of people affected was not large, or it did not have much impact on them.

The Tang Dynasty did not care about the so-called ongoing war - because the war did not consume the wealth of this vast empire.

Taiji Hall
Li Qi slowly pressed his forehead. He looked at Chen Kuan, who was already writing this year's plan at his desk, with a tired look on his face. "Fubo, do you think Persia can continue to fight?"

"Why do I always feel like they can't hold on any longer?"

"How about we secretly give them some more resources and technology?"

Yes.

The reason why this war lasted so long was that the Tang Dynasty had been secretly sending some resources and technology to Persia.

Of course.

On the surface, it was some "traitors" of the Tang Dynasty who sent it over, or "sold" it over.

Chen Kuan raised his head with a calm expression.

"What's your excuse this time?"

(End of this chapter)