Chapter Seventy-Five: Sending Envoys to the Dynasty

Taiyuan Wang family, one of the five surnames and seven hopes, since the birth of the Qin and Han dynasties, developed in the Wei and Jin dynasties, and also suffered a lot of blows when the five Hu Chaohua were in China, fortunately, since the Sui and Tang dynasties, it has been able to develop rapidly, thanks to the Wei State Chen Qun's "Nine Products Zhongzheng System" has greatly strengthened the family's control over the selection of state officials, and the two Jin Dynasty families are numerous, by the king, Xie two surnames are beyond the reach of other families, Langya Wang's family, Chenjun Xie's family, there are Xie An, Wang Dao and his family's outstanding children in the Jiangzuo Five Dynasties are tilted towards the government and the opposition, More than half of the children with two surnames are in the imperial court, firmly controlling the authority of the country, and the Tang Dynasty poet Youyun "At the beginning of the osmanthus on the Shanyin Road, Wang Xie was full of Jin books." Liu Yuxi is also the author of "Wild grass flowers by the Vermilion Bird Bridge, and the sunset at the mouth of Wuyi Alley." In the old days, Wang Xie Tang Qianyan flew into the homes of ordinary people. ”

Since the Sui Dynasty, those in power have discovered the defects of the old official selection mechanism, and they feel that most of the people of insight in the world come from the family, so there is the imperial examination system, such an advanced official selection system, in an attempt to break the monopoly of the family and allow more poor families to enter the court. It's a pity that there is an important problem in it that has not been solved, and the Sui Dynasty has died, that is, it has changed the mode of official selection, but it has not kept up with the knowledge that has been firmly grasped by the family, and there is no universal nine-year compulsory education in this era, and the rate of illiteracy is outrageously low, and it is not necessary to count how many people are illiterate, but how many people should be counted. Therefore, since the birth of the imperial examination system in the Sui Dynasty, not only has it not changed the situation that officials come from the family, but also increased the number of children of the family entering the court. In the local area, the official positions are held by the children of the family.

Wang Zhao, the contemporary head of the Wang family, got the return of his younger brother who was sent to Wei Wang's mansion, and knew that the Wang family had completely offended Wei Wang, originally the five surnames and seven wangs everyone tried their best to keep a distance from the royal family, but seeing that his long house chief Sun Wangyuan was beaten in an inhuman form, and now he is still unconscious, somewhat out of proportion, without a detailed understanding of the incident, rashly came to the door to ask for an explanation, too reckless. Although it is the prince, the Wang family is not afraid.

Call the housekeeper, tell the note he has written, deliver it to his hand personally, and destroy it after reading it. The steward took the order and departed.

A large group of grassland tribes wearing leather armor and scimitars at their waists appeared on Suzaku Street, and the one at the head had a proud face, dressed very differently from the clansmen next to him, with more elaborate clothes, and many gold and silver accessories, which seemed to be the head of this group.

A group of people swaggered through the city on Zhuque Street, and went directly to the Honglu Temple in the inner city, and the new Honglu Temple Qing Huangmen Shilang Cui Junsu received a report from his subordinates that the envoy of Xue Yantuo Yinan Khan had arrived at the Honglu Temple, asking to meet His Majesty the Tang Emperor.

Cui Junsu has just been appointed by Li Shimin as the new Honglu Siqing this year, replacing the former official Wen Daya, who died of illness. He received the letter of state from the envoy of Xue Yantuo, which mentioned that His Majesty was honored as the Khan of Heaven, and that he would pay tribute every year, and requested that the man be named the Khan of Xue Yantuo's true pearl, and requested to obtain the control area of the original Jieli forces.

Jieli was destroyed, there was a power vacuum in the Yinshan area, Tuli Khan and Yi Nan were eyeing each other, this Yi Nan couldn't help but send an envoy to the door to speak directly, Cui Junsu didn't dare to slack off, and immediately said, "You go and arrange the accommodation and food of Xue Yantuo and his party, don't be lazy, this official will attack the face of the saint." ”

Li Shimin was not surprised to receive Xue Yantuo's letter of state, with his guess, Yi Nan would definitely not be able to sit idly by and watch Tuli occupy the entire Monan grassland, and he also had a piece of the pie, but he didn't expect Yi Nan to be so urgent. Li Shimin forwarded the credentials to the political affairs hall and asked several prime ministers to discuss them first, and convene a court meeting tomorrow.

Xiao Yu, a veteran of the two dynasties, with a respected status, took the national letter handed over by Fang Xuanling and looked at it. "What do you think?" ”

The eldest grandson Wuji said, "Yi Nan came to the court at this time, it must be to compete with Tuli for the ownership of the grassland, this can be understood without thinking about it, but he came to the court first." said that we want to respect His Majesty as the Khan of the Heavens, and we want to be titled and fiefdom, we have to take care of this matter, although both of them are good friends with my Datang and have been dragging Jieli behind, but now Jieli is dead, and the two tigers are fighting."

Fang Xuanling answered, "Yes, if we agree to Yi Nan at this time, then what should we do with Tuli's side, of course I Datang want to watch them fight each other, which is the most beneficial situation for Datang." But the old man saw that Tuli was by no means Yi Nan's opponent. ”

Du Ruhui said, "Xuan Ling is right, Yi Nan now has 200,000 soldiers, and his ambition is clear, this is just his strategy to salute first and then the soldiers, if I refuse to divide the grassland, then Yi Nan can take it for himself." Unless I, Datang, send troops to aid Tuli, Tuli will be defeated,"

The eldest grandson Wuji said, "In that case, Yi Nan's family is dominant, and it will be another Jieli." ”

Xiao Yu nodded, thinking the same as them, turned his head to look at the newly promoted Prime Minister Li Jing, and asked, "Pharmacist, what do you think?" ”

Although Li Jing is said to be the prime minister, due to his military background, he has always been very low-key, and he will not easily participate in the discussion of the political hall, but Xiao Yu asked him directly and said, "Several people's statements are already in place, in my opinion, the envoy of the Tuli Khan must also be on the way to Chang'an, and it is impossible for the Tuli Khan to do such a big thing as the envoy to the Tang Dynasty." We can have the Don army on the border secretly help Tuli and keep the two sides militarily in relative balance. ”

Xiao Yu finally decided, "Then that's it, the old man writes a note and submits it to Your Majesty." Let Your Majesty decide."

Sure enough, as Li Jing guessed, not long after Xue Yantuo's envoy arrived in Chang'an, another envoy from the Turki Khan also came to Chang'an and asked to see Li Shimin.

A few days later, Chang'an Taiji Hall. Li Shimin held a court meeting and met with Xue Yantuo, a Turkic envoy.

The courtiers sat on the left and right of the civil and military affairs, and Li Shimin's edict envoy came to see him.

"Xue Yantuo's envoy Manguli, meet His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty."

"Ju Ertai, the envoy of the Turki Khan, meet His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty."

Li Shimin: "Two messengers, why did they come?" ”

Mangul preemptively said, "Your Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, the villain Xue Yantuo Yi Nan sent 50,000 horses, 100,000 cattle and sheep, congratulations to the Tang Dynasty for breaking the Jieli Khan, the leader is willing to respect you as the Heavenly Khan, I just ask you to see that Xue Yantuo has always been loyal to the Tang Dynasty and helped the Tang Dynasty resist Jieli, and named my leader Xue Yantuo Khan." Half of the grassland was given to the Xue Yantuo tribe to recuperate, and then I Xue Yantuo was a tributary to the Tang Dynasty. I beg your Majesty's permission. ”

Ju Ertai was not to be outdone, "Your Majesty, the Tuli Khan also asked his subordinates to bring 50,000 horses, 100,000 cattle and sheep, congratulations on the victory of the Tang Dynasty, and respect you as the Khan of the Heavens." As the closest ally of the Tang Dynasty, the Turki Khan is willing to take care of the grassland for the Tang Dynasty for generations and provide horses, cattle and sheep for the Tang Dynasty every year. I only ask Your Majesty to assign the south of Yinshan to my department. In addition, the Turki Khan asked me to ask you if you can release some of the 200,000 captives of the Jieli Khan's department to my department, so that we can have the strength to guard the northern grasslands for the Tang Dynasty. ”

Mangul was anxious when he heard this, originally Tuli's strength was not as good as their Xue Yantuo, if Tuli was allowed to obtain the Jieli soldiers captured by the Tang Dynasty, then there would be a force to resist Xue Yantuo, which would definitely not work.

"Your Majesty, no, you must not give the old Jieli army to the Tuli Khan, the Tuli Khan has wolf ambitions, once the 200,000 soldiers are obtained, the grassland will have no counterbalance to his power. Your Majesty, please see me. ”

Ju Ertai immediately pushed back, "Nonsense, I, Tuli Khan, have always been allies with the Tang Dynasty, and I am the leader of the Tang Dynasty." If it weren't for Yi Nan's recent imminent mobilization of the army and the border, how could our ministry ask for assistance from the Tang Dynasty. I think Yi Nan is really ambitious, trying to annex the entire grassland. ”

Mangul is still fighting. Wei Zheng stood up and scolded, "Presumptuous, Your Majesty is here to allow you to be so rude." ”

The two immediately apologized to Li Shimin.

Li Shimin said, "The two envoys can't make mistakes, I have my own decision." His eyes gestured to Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu stood up and said, "With the royal permission of Your Majesty, Your Majesty the Tang Dynasty has decided to enshrine the leader of Xue Yantuo, Yi Nan, as the True Pearl Viga Khan,"

"The eastern steppe of Yinshan was handed over to the rule of the Tuli Khan, and a number of horses, cattle and sheep were to be paid to the Tang Dynasty every year. As for the two ministries respecting our emperor as the Heavenly Khan, as well as the Turkic captives, I will inform you after consultation with our court. ”

When the two heard that this trip was just to get what Li Shimin had promised, and no other grasslands and prisoners had benefited, they wanted to open their mouths to ask Li Shimin.

Li Shimin said expressionlessly, "The two of you can go back to Honglu Temple to rest first, and after I discuss with the minister, I will inform the two of you who want to know the decision." Someone came to send the messenger. ”

Li Shimin decisively didn't let the two speak, and sent a send-off order, and the two could only leave the palace and go back to Honglu Temple.

Li Shimin then asked the ministers, "It seems that Xue Yantuo and Tuli have become inseparable, if Tuli does not have the help of my Datang, he will definitely not be the opponent of Yi Nan." How to settle the Turkic captives. What do you think? ”

Xiao Yu said, "Your Majesty, the old minister suggested that Datang could secretly support Tuli, so that he could carry it with Yi Nan, a grassland in turmoil, which is what we Datang are happy to see." The old minister did not agree to hand over the captives to Tuli, which would only make Tuli's power skyrocket, and I am afraid that he would have undue ambitions. ”

Xiao Yu's words were the result of the deliberations of several prime ministers, it was okay to help Tuli, but he must not be taken prisoner to strengthen his tribe. As long as Yi Nan can't eat Tuli.

Li Shimin nodded in approval of this plan and asked, "How to settle the Turkic captives, there is a plan." ”

Xiao Yu continued, "Back to Your Majesty, the political hall has discussed that since the Turkic captives have entered the Tang Dynasty, they must not be easily released, and this 200,000 population can just make up for the multiple hukou in Shandong. The government suggested that 200,000 Turkic captives and 100,000 Han slaves should be dispersed and resettled in various prefectures of Shandong, so as to enrich the local population, distribute land and rations, and let them multiply. ”