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

Chapter 509 Disaster
War always ends one day, and that day is often when people get tired of it.

Although the war did not bring pain and torture to the people of the Tang Dynasty, after the war lasted too long, the people of the Tang Dynasty began to doubt the power of the Tang Dynasty.

It takes so long to beat up these few pieces of trash?

Not only did the people of the Tang Dynasty begin to doubt this, but even those people began to doubt it - those countries that were beaten also began to be confused and began to ponder this matter.

How do you say that?

Gods cannot be injured, cannot bleed, cannot get tired, cannot show signs of fatigue, and cannot kill their opponents instantly - because if they do, their opponents will think that God is just a stronger version of us.

What if more of us came together?

Can we defeat the gods?

Even if we cannot defeat the gods, can we at least make them bleed?

Can this also be considered a spiritual victory?

Many countries began to unite with this kind of mood, and the Tang Dynasty went from being completely disdainful at the beginning to being a little bit disdainful in the end, but its attitude began to become serious.

But in the eyes of the people, this is a huge problem.

Since when did the Tang Dynasty need to be serious about fighting those barbarians? What does this mean? Why?

The people of the Tang Dynasty were also gradually becoming dissatisfied.

The barbarians also felt "honored" because of this. Wow, I can actually make the Tang Dynasty take me seriously?
This is so exciting.

As a result, the war became increasingly stalemate.

In the 33rd year of Hongyuan, Emperor Hongyuan passed away, and the war reached a critical juncture. At the most critical juncture, after the eldest son of Emperor Hongyuan ascended the throne, he tried to do something to change the dissatisfaction in the hearts of the people of the Tang Dynasty.

This year is the end of the 33rd year of Hongyuan.

Zhen Wang Mansion
The new emperor Li Yuan sat in the courtyard, surrounded by scattered leaves blown down by the autumn wind, and the whole environment looked very sparse.

"Uncle Chen."

The young emperor sat there, looking very high-spirited, with deep dissatisfaction in his eyes: "I know that my father, the Chen family, and the powerful people of the Tang Dynasty value tangible benefits more, so they keep delaying this war."

He sighed deeply and stood up.

Standing there with his hands behind his back, gazing at the azure sky in the distance, Li Yuan was actually somewhat dissatisfied with Chen Kuan and the late emperor.

"But I think that Uncle Chen and Father's decisions were wrong."

He said silently: "Benefits are one thing, but face is another. People cannot sacrifice substance for the sake of face, but they also cannot sacrifice face for the sake of substance."

Li Yuan pointed at his nose and said, "Whether it is now or a hundred years ago when the war started, the national strength of the Tang Dynasty is at its peak. If the Tang Dynasty is really willing to end this war seriously and quickly, then I think this war will definitely not last until this day."

"But what about now?"

"Do you know what the people are saying?"

"The people all say that our Tang Dynasty is no longer viable! They don't understand why it took so long for the Tang Dynasty, which once dominated the world and can still command the world, to defeat a few barbarians!"

Li Yuan said in a deep voice: "This has seriously affected the reputation of the Tang Dynasty, Uncle Chen!"

At this time, Li Yuan stood there. Although there was a bleak autumn wind all around him, it did not affect his state. He said in silence: "My people have investigated the opinions of the people."

"A small number of people believe that the power of the Tang Dynasty is no longer enough to suppress the world, and are beginning to worry about the Tang Dynasty."

"A small number of people even began to consider joining the barbarians!"

"As for the rest?"

A mocking smile flashed across Li Yuan's face: "The rest all think that we are the ones who don't dare to fight, don't want to fight, and are unwilling to really fight!"

"They didn't dare to say it in front of us, but they said it behind our backs. They said that we had lost our courage and didn't dare to fight with that group of people!"

"They said that when the Tang Dynasty had only the most rudimentary firearms, the most rudimentary hot weapons, and the simplest and most basic trains, it was able to suppress Tubo in a short period of time, hanging the head of Songtsen Gampo of Tubo above the Potala Palace, and making the whole world tremble."

"Now we have powerful weapons - pistols, even powerful automatic rifles and sweeping rifles. Trains are much faster than before. There are even more powerful and comfortable "cars" that can support us in conducting faster wars. But we are like turtles hiding in our shells!"

"They think that we have lost our courage after getting used to enjoying ourselves, Uncle Chen."

Li Yuan squatted in front of Chen Kuan, with a look of fatigue and helplessness on his face: "Have we really lost our blood? We haven't."

"I know what Uncle Chen and Father think."

"My father and Uncle Chen both feel that we are the winners in the war. Oil and money from Central Asia and Europe are continuously transported to us. We have fought this war for a hundred years, but not only have we not suffered any economic losses, but we have gained a lot of resources. We didn't even spend any money on these resources."

"Compared to us, the losses of those barbarian countries are truly huge. We have taken advantage of them in secret, while they are just pretending to be rich. But Uncle Chen, we now seem to be the ones pretending to be rich."

"Those people look glamorous on the surface, and this glamor is their face, which is the face that supports them to keep going!"

"We can't just focus on substance and not appearance like we do now."

"Uncle Chen."

"Otherwise, sooner or later, the people of the world will be dissatisfied, and this dissatisfaction will devour the entire Tang Dynasty."

As Chen Kuan listened to Li Yuan's voice, a hint of fatigue and helplessness flashed across his face, but he also knew that Li Yuan was right. They could not do this and could not let the people down completely.

What Li Yuan had just said, that some people wanted to join the "barbarians", quickly aroused Chen Kuan's vigilance.

Under such a policy, such people will inevitably appear - is the appearance of this group of people a good thing? In the eyes of Chen Kuan and the emperor in the past, this was a good thing, because they would choose to surrender now and would definitely choose to surrender in the future.

but.
Li Yuan's words woke Chen Kuan up.

Chen Kuan stroked the "Qilin Jade" in his hand and exhaled slowly. He had not worn this jade pendant often over the years, and he didn't know why, he just "forgot" it inexplicably.

After Li Yuan's words awakened Chen Kuan, a hint of "coldness" appeared on the "Qilin Jade", and then his thoughts returned to the rationality when he first got the "Qilin Jade" in his youth.

"Has Your Majesty mentioned this matter in the court?" Chen Kuan had not attended court for a long time and did not know much about what happened in the court.

After all, he doesn't have to care about these things. As long as he appears, all the voices will disappear, leaving only one voice, which is obedience.

Li Yuan heaved a sigh of relief, he could tell from Chen Kuan's voice that it was a voice of agreement with him.

Immediately, the blood in his heart began to boil again, and he said cautiously: "Uncle Chen, I did bring it up in the court, but the old officials said that this was the decision made by you and my father, so it cannot be changed."

Chen Kuan glanced at Li Yuan: "So that's why your majesty came here to look for this old minister, right?"

He sighed, his voice carrying a hint of decay: "Forget it, I will go to the court meeting tomorrow."

"Your Majesty is right. We are all old now. Old people should listen to the advice of young people. Some things that we think are right may be wrong in the eyes of young people."

He was silent for a moment and then said, "Your Majesty, do as you wish."

Li Yuan nodded slightly.

Above the sky, a ray of sunlight penetrates the endless autumn and illuminates the courtyard.

At the end of the 33rd year of Hongyuan, the new emperor ascended the throne.

The young emperor announced to all Tang soldiers that this war, which had lasted for nearly a hundred years, would be ended within half a year, putting an end to this war.

The head of the Chen family, "Chen Kuan", also stood up and expressed his agreement with this matter.

Under the command of the voice coming from the Taiji Hall, the entire Tang Dynasty turned into an emotionless war machine. The two cabinets of the East and the West, as well as the three provinces and six ministries that had already been successfully established, all turned into ruthless mobilization machines.

After the mobilization began, Datang's efficiency was astonishing.

At the beginning of the 34th year of Hongyuan, the young emperor changed the era name to "Zhanwu", and the war that had lasted for a hundred years came to an end in August of the first year of Zhanwu.

The war ended in a very ridiculous way. People in later generations were speechless when they talked about this absurd and "clown" drama-like First World War, whether they were the Chinese in the Ming Federation, the Europeans, or the rest of the countries.

why?

The Chinese people thought that this war started strangely, continued strangely, and ended strangely.

People in other countries believe that this is a "fake history book" because if the Tang Dynasty was really that powerful, why did this war last for about a hundred years?
Therefore, when the Chinese people did not know how to prove it and the foreigners did not dare and did not want to believe it, the records of the First World War seemed rather strange.

The previous hundred years described the war as extremely difficult, with major battles, evenly matched forces, and the invincible Tang Dynasty, which was like a god, but was almost defeated. However, in the last year of the war, it became "The Tang Dynasty ended the war easily - simply because the huge giant felt tired of the war."

Absurd reasons, absurd records.

But when the history of countries all over the world is recorded in this way, it becomes a contradictory but true record.

September, the first year of Zhanwu.

The First World War was over. The winner was undoubtedly the Tang Dynasty, and the countries that lost in this war also paid their price. The emperors and dignitaries of the Tang Dynasty loved most not the glittering jewels and gems, but the "oil" and "coal mines" buried under the ground of their countries, and something they named "natural gas."

Other countries don’t know what “natural gas” is. Even the Tang Dynasty’s understanding of this thing is relatively superficial because it is a resource they have just discovered.

The Treaty of Exhibition of Arms was signed against this backdrop.

From then on, the world situation changed and everyone thought that the world was about to usher in long-term peace.

But, unfortunately, it didn’t.

Fifteen years after the signing of the Treaty of Exhibition of Arms, the Persian Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Third Roman Republic once again united and launched another war.

In history, this war is considered to be a continuation of the "First World War" and is also considered to be the "first world war in the true sense."

This war did not last long, and that is why it was not listed as a separate war.

After a brief battle, the Tang Dynasty suppressed these three empires, and the three empires began to split.

The Persian Empire split into four countries, while the Austro-Hungarian Empire split into two countries. The Third Roman Republic was replaced after only 30 years of existence following an internal rebellion. Because of the change in regime, the newly established empire was also called the Fourth Roman Republic.

The "Treaty of Exhibition and Expansion of Arms" was signed under such circumstances. This time, the content agreed upon by the Tang Dynasty and the various countries was more extensive, including the price that the various countries would have to pay for provoking the Tang Dynasty again - including resources and "population", and a number was clearly agreed upon.

"Population" is also considered a resource.

After all, the Tang Dynasty today really needs "labor".

After twenty years of development, the Tang Dynasty continued to develop and seemed to be full of vitality, but in fact, hidden dangers were buried in the deepest part of its roots.

The King's Palace.

Chen Kuan was lying on the bed with a look of fatigue and relief on his face. Li Yuan was standing beside him. At this time, he had changed from the young man full of vigor and vitality to a middle-aged man. He was also more able to understand the decision made by Chen Kuan and Emperor Hongyuan.

"Your Majesty."

Chen Kuan held Li Yuan's hand and said softly, "You have to take one step at a time. You have to slowly adjust to the pace of the Tang Dynasty, instead of being like the Qin Dynasty back then."

There was worry in his eyes.

This experienced old man saw a possible "fall" in the powerful and prosperous Tang Dynasty.

He wanted to remind Li Yuan, but he couldn't say any more words.

Chen Kuan pointed tremblingly at "Chen Liang" who was standing not far away. He didn't know what he wanted to say, but in the end he couldn't say anything and his hand slipped onto the bed.

There was a cry.

The Tang Dynasty entered a new stage.

ps: The outline has been basically straightened out, and it is certain that there is still about 150,000 words of content, which can be written up to 2 million.

The Tang Dynasty basically came to an end, and everyone should be able to guess how it ended.

The Song Dynasty after that may not be so much about war, but about system, ideology and culture.

Well, this book should be finished at the end of February. I will probably have a good New Year's Day in the days ahead, and I may be able to update three, four, or five chapters of 2.1 words in January, and then I will start to update diligently until the end on February 2st, the fourth day of the New Year! Thank you all for your tolerance during this period, and I bow again. or

(End of this chapter)