The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 519 Waiting for price
Standing at the foot of Talas City to bid farewell to this Sai man, Pei Yan asked again: "Do you know Sai people well?"

Bai Fang explained, "I used to be a monk in Qiuci. I have read many books about Qiuci. The Sai people were very powerful before. Later, the emperor of the Central Plains conquered the Western Regions. Various wars broke out in various parts of the Western Regions. After that, the Sai people, the Uighurs, and the Turks all migrated to the west of the Tianshan Mountains."

Bai Fang hesitated for a long time and explained, "There are fewer and fewer Sai people living together. When Persia was still there, many Sai people became Persians. After that, it was difficult to distinguish Persians from Sai people. After that, Persia disappeared."

Sometimes I feel that Bai Fang is still very sentimental. When he talked about this past event, he had an obviously sad expression.

Pei Yan suspected that Bai Fang's background was probably related to the Sai people.

In fact, it was a surprise to meet this tough Sai man when we went to Dayuan City to capture these war horses.

A drum sounded from the city wall. When the generals heard the drum, they knew that the general was summoning them, so they walked into the city of Talas.

Di Renjie handed the horse to the care of a military groom and followed Pei Yan up to the city wall.

There were already quite a few people in the tower at this moment. Di Renjie sat aside and glanced at the people present. General Xue was the last one to enter the tower.

Di Renjie scratched his chin beard. The short and dense beard was really uncomfortable, as if a circle of thorns surrounded his chin. He thought to himself that he was already twenty years old.

At the age of twenty, he is not young compared to other men of this age in the army and can be considered a veteran.

Twenty-year-old veterans were very common in the Tang army.

Di Renjie picked up a book on the table and asked, "Is this sent from the court?"

Pei Yan explained: "Yes, the documents just arrived from the court, and I heard that Lou Shide will be here soon."

Di Renjie laughed and said, "This Censor Lou really has documents that arrive before he does."

This document was sent by the Minister of War Yu Zhining. Although Di Renjie said so, this document indeed had nothing to do with Lou Shide.

The document described the recent situation in the court. There were very few soldiers from Guanzhong recruiting in the army, and there was an additional option of joining the army between the imperial examination and teaching. As a result, most children aged fifteen to seventeen, who could not get a place in the teaching program and failed the Chongwenguan examination, had no choice but to serve in the army for two years if they wanted to get a place in the imperial examination.

If you fail the imperial examination, you can continue to serve in the army for two years. However, the term of staying in the army is two years, and you cannot quit midway.

Therefore, every decision had to be made with great caution, which also led to the Chongwenguan mixing a lot of new recruits from the Zhechoufu in various places, causing many generals of the Zhechoufu a lot of trouble.

It is good for students to join the army, as it is indeed a good training ground for people. It is no longer like the past when any student could go to teach in the court. Now, students who can go to teach in the court are all selected. They are no longer mainly based on their excellence, but are directly divided according to their age. Students under the age of 19 are not allowed to teach in the court. For every young person who goes to teach in the court, there must be a prudent old teacher to preside over the matter.

The teaching support business in the Tang Dynasty also began to become more sophisticated, and the cost for students to become officials in the court also became higher. If a student started elementary school at the age of seven and studied until the age of fifteen, if he learned well enough, he could enter the Chongwenguan at the earliest at the age of fifteen.

After that, they would be trained in the army for two years. When these two years were over, they would be seventeen years old. Then, they would have two choices: one was to directly take the imperial examination, and then go to teach after failing, or to continue to stay in the army. The other was to stay in the army or go to teach for two years, and then follow the imperial examinations held every two years in the court, and then teach for another two years, and then repeat the imperial examinations until they became officials or gave up.

Of course, the court also trained military generals. If students made meritorious services in the army, they could also serve in the army. After staying in the army for four or five years, when they were eighteen or nineteen years old, they could get a military position according to their qualifications. A large number of young students were sent to the army, and according to the old system of military service, they were stationed in various places to garrison the border and cultivate land.

Di Renjie looked at the document and felt deeply moved. Compared with the previous methods of selecting people, or the system of selecting people, the Tang Dynasty already had complete conditions for selecting people and talent reserves compared with the previous Sui Dynasty and the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

The emperor wanted all the children in the world to study, and then have them join the army or take the imperial examinations.

A child starts to learn to read and write at the age of five or at the latest seven, and it takes more than ten years. Looking around the world, there are not many children who can study for such a long time.

Di Renjie felt that the emperor’s ideal was good, but it was precisely because the emperor’s ideal was too good, how could the world ensure that all the children in the world could go to school?

Di Renjie felt that he had never seen how other emperors did it, but at least in order to realize this ideal, there must be a very powerful emperor.

There must also be a very powerful government team.

After reading it, Di Renjie put it down and closed his eyes to rest.

Another wave of discussion was heard in the tower, coming from outside, and it sounded like the prince was speaking.

Li Zhi and Li Shen brought Yu Tu here, and everyone else was present.

As the marching commander of the Congling Road, Liang Jianfang naturally sat at the top and first looked at the prince beside him.

Realizing that a battle was about to begin, Yu Tu said, "Please give the order, General."

The prince spoke as soon as he said it was the general's order, which made Liang Jianfang very happy. He hung a huge map on the wall and said in a loud voice: "The small Bolor Kingdom sent a message that the Shi Kingdom and Kang Kingdom west of Yaosha River have already surrendered to the Arabs."

This was actually the news that was delivered a few days ago, and everyone knows it.

Di Renjie said: "We killed the prince of Dayuan."

Gao Kan, who was holding the bowl on the other end, paused noticeably.

There are many generals here, and Di Renjie feels that he is in the same group as Pei Yan, Xue Rengui, Pei Xingjian, and Bai Fang.

On the other side, Prince Jin, Prince Ji and the Crown Prince, as well as Cheng Chumo and Li Jingheng of the Flying Tigers, are considered to be the entire group of troops.

After that, Li Mengchang and Gao Kan were the soldiers.

The Tibetan troops led by Qinling were considered one group.

Liu Rengui and Lou Shide in the rear were also part of the group.

Other civil servants in Suiye City included Zhang Da'an and Li Yiyan.

Besides, the Kingdom of Lesser Bolor claimed to have 50,000 soldiers and horses, but the Tang army here never saw the army of Lesser Bolor from beginning to end.

Wang Xuance and Liu Hongye, the director of Tianzhu Chongwenguan, would often send messages over, but no one was able to defeat Tianzhu's army.

When they heard Di Renjie say that they had killed the prince of Dayuan, everyone had different expressions.

Liang Jianfang asked: "How did you kill him?"

"General, the army is short of horses, so we have no choice but to do this." Xue Rengui spoke first.

Pei Yan handed over a scroll wrapped in cowhide and explained, "As early as half a month ago, people from the small Bolor Kingdom sent news that a Hu man from Anyanyan was planning to sell Dayuan's Tianshan Ferghana horses to the Arabs. These war horses must not fall into the hands of the Arabs."

Di Renjie also said: "We killed a few Arab merchants and a few Dayuan people. In fact, we didn't kill the prince of Dayuan. We just wanted the war horse. The prince of Dayuan died in the hands of that Sai people."

Li Mengchang said: "No matter how we explain it, the people of Dayuan will think that it was the Tang people who killed the prince of Dayuan."

Cheng Chumo said nonchalantly: "So what? If you have the guts, come to the city of Talas right now and try out my Mo Dao."

After the words were spoken, the tower was silent for a moment.

Just as Cheng Chumo said, the worst that can happen is a battle. The army is there to fight anyway.

But the weather is still cold now. In April, you can still see snow everywhere on the Pamir Plateau. The winter here is very long and the warm summer is very short. There are snow-capped mountains that never melt all year round and there are still a lot of ice debris on the banks of rivers beside alpine meadows.

The Persians used to call this place Pamir, which means roof. The Persians compared this place to the roof of the earth.

The plateau still exists today, but Persia, which named it, has perished.

Li Jingheng asked: "Who is An Yanyan?"

There was still a cold wind howling outside the tower. Bai Fang stepped out to explain, "An Yanyan is a Sogdian, a relative of An Yuanshou who died in Anxi Protectorate that year." He added, "An Yuanshou made a living by trading with herdsmen. I killed him."

Zhang Da'an, who was sitting in the back, took a sip of milk tea with a gulp.

The tower was still quiet. Bai Fang continued, "I have killed many people, and he is one of them. An Yanyan and An Yuanshou are both Sogdians. Since the establishment of Anxi Protectorate, An Yanyan has been traveling among the Pamirs. After he escaped from Julan City, he traveled between Shiguo and Kangguo."

Zhang Daan asked, "Is there anything extraordinary about this person?"

Before Bai Fang could speak, Di Renjie said, "This An Yanyan wants to sell the war horses of Dayuan to the Arabs in exchange for wealth and status. He did not make any effort, but only lobbied to gain wealth and status."

Liang Jianfang snorted coldly: "Humph! Using someone else's warhorse to exchange for his wealth and status is quite interesting."

Bai Fang said: "The Sogdians have always been good at buying and selling."

Pei Yan said: "He is just a Hu merchant, not a threat, General, don't worry."

Just as Pei Yan said, it was a Hu merchant. There was no shortage of Hu merchants in the Pamirs area, and they were Hu merchants with rather bad behavior. They almost caused the Tang army to lose their war horses from Dayuan.

Pei Yan talked about the process of obtaining the war horses from Dayuan. It took him five days to arrange the site and draw a map. It took another three days to figure out the patrol rules of the guards before he sneaked into the city. With the cooperation of more than a hundred people, he finally brought the war horses.

Now that Dayuan had lost most of its war horses, An Yanyan's plan had failed.

As they were discussing, a voice was heard outside the tower, and the guard came forward to report: "General, the envoy from the Kingdom of Bolor has arrived."

The envoy of the Kingdom of Xiaoboluo was a very typical young man from the Western Regions. He looked more like the Gaochang people of that time, except that his facial features were exactly the same as Murong Shun's.

Di Renjie asked, "Are you Murong Shun's son?"

"The foreign minister is here to deliver a letter."

Watching the other party taking out a piece of paper from a cowhide bag, Di Renjie could even imagine Murong Shun wearing the king's crown, wearing gold and silver and commanding thousands of troops.

I knew that this man would be a disaster, but I didn't expect that a year later, he became the king of Xiaoboluo.

Li Zhi handed over the letter from the Kingdom of Xiaoboluo.

The messenger saluted and said, "My great generals, Xiao Boluo has sent 30,000 troops to attack Dayuan. The army has set out. I hope you generals can attack the Shi Kingdom."

Liang Jianfang hesitated and said, "You attack Dayuan, and we attack Shiguo?"

The countries closest to Talas City today are Dayuan and Shiguo. If one wants to attack the Arabs, one has to go around these two small countries.

The messenger continued, "General, the king of Tianzhu sent a message saying that the Shi Kingdom and Kang Kingdom are preparing to attack Talas City. If Dayuan also comes to assist the Shi Kingdom, the Tang army will be easily passive under the attack of the three armies."

Xue Rengui said: "Back then, the Arab army of 100,000 was buried in the Congling Mountains. Even if the Shi Kingdom and Dayuan joined forces, what would happen?"

The Tang people did have reason to be proud, as they had won the battle against the Arabs so beautifully.

The more he said this, the calmer Liang Jianfang became. He said, "Once you have conquered Dayuan, it will be time for us to attack Shiguo."

Di Renjie glanced at the map and said, "Dayuan is only two days' journey from here, and a fast horse can take only one day."

Xue Rengui chewed a piece of cake and said, "It does seem that Dayuan is easier to fight, but Shiguo is a tough nut to crack."

It was time for dinner from morning till now, and steaming hot beef, pancakes, and drinks were brought in.

Everyone just ate and talked at the same time.

Yu Tu waved his hand and said, "I don't drink."

Liang Jianfang smiled awkwardly and took the wine jug back. Seeing that the prince was so sensible, he felt embarrassed to drink. None of the generals present dared to touch the wine jug.

This prince never drinks alcohol, saying that he cannot drink before his coming-of-age ceremony. He has not drunk any alcohol since coming to the Western Regions. It has to be said that the emperor's family education is indeed very strict.

Yu Tu was eating beef and looking at everyone, with a few soft black beards on his mouth. Liang Jianfang was the only one who didn't dare to speak loudly in front of the prince, and he seemed inexplicably weaker in momentum.

The prince is usually quite relaxed when playing around, but once he gets serious, his manner of speaking, expression and aura are exactly the same as those of the current emperor.

It's nothing, it's related to Liang Jianfang's experience in his early years. At that time, he was trying to find a way out, but he also encountered a lot of setbacks, which was related to the East Palace back then.

This is also the reason why Yu Tu asked Liang Jianfang to go east, but Liang Jianfang didn't dare to say a word.

Xue Wanbei had already prepared boiled water for the prince. Yu Tu had grown tired of drinking milk tea over the past year and had fallen in love with tea early on.

Yu Tu took the tea, took a sip and swallowed it along with the beef in his mouth.

Xue Wanbei, who was in charge of the prince's daily life, was very dedicated. He took care of the prince and watched over him almost day and night.

The prince was very close to Xue Wanbei. When the prince wanted to climb Mount Tai with Your Majesty, Xue Wanbei carried the young prince on his back and climbed Mount Tai, only ten feet away from the summit.

The person the current prince trusts the most is Xue Wanbei.

Pei Yan chewed some beef, put down a piece of beef bone, picked up a cloth beside him and wiped his mouth. He listened to the chewing sounds of others around him, looked at the envoy from Xiaoboluo, and said, "What is the name of this envoy?"

"Murong Xuan."

Pei Yan nodded and swallowed another mouthful of beef, saying, "Dayuan is closer to Talas City and farther from the Little Bolor Kingdom."

The messenger Murong Xuan bowed and said, "Yes."

Pei Yan added: "Everyone in this Congling area knows that the Tang Dynasty is going to march west and the Arabs are going to march east. The Hu people in this area have long since joined forces with those who can protect them. Some people, like Dayuan, want to wait for a good price in the struggle between the Tang Dynasty and the Arabs."

Murong Xuan looked embarrassed.

"Now that Dayuan has lost its warhorses, it has also lost its value. I heard that Murong Shun is a very shrewd businessman who has never lost money. For Murong Shun, it is not worthwhile to waste troops to attack Dayuan, which has lost its warhorses. Besides, the Tang army can take Dayuan at any time, and the price they pay is even lower than that of your small country of Bolor."

Pei Yan sat up straight, stared at the envoy and said, "If this is really Murong Shun's intention, I would like to ask him, has the comfort of this small Bolor Kingdom made him forget who his ancestors are? Dayuan will be taken over by us sooner or later, and he can't do anything about it, or is it your own decision to say what you said before?"

Murong Xuan blushed and lowered her head.

Pei Yan added: "We only need 600 soldiers to conquer Dayuan."

The Dayuan Kingdom, which had lost its war horses, was now in a panic, and the brave Tang army, after getting the war horses, would turn around and attack again, and the Dayuan Kingdom might surrender soon.

Without the Ferghana horses, no one would help Dayuan. Dayuan, which was once valuable because of its Ferghana horses, was now worthless in the eyes of the Hu people in the Pamir Mountains.

If it were still in the past, the King of Dayuan only needed to offer some Ferghana horses to pay for the war.
This is a very cruel place. Gold and five-color salt are the most precious, followed by war horses and beautiful women. As for human life, it depends on how valuable it is.

Just like the Sogdian Anyanyan, they are very good at waiting for the right price, and they can even give a very "reasonable" price for human life.

Murong Xuan said in Guanzhong dialect: "I am willing to obey the orders of the generals."

(End of this chapter)