In the royal palace of Samarkand, a tense atmosphere was permeated in the huge dome-shaped conference room, and the kings of the Sogdian countries gathered together, Kang, Shi, Dongcao, Xicao, An, Dongan, Mi, He, Shi, Xiaoshi, and some countries were the main king and the vice king came together.

Except for the king of Shiguo, Teller and the king of Dongcao, the rest of the kings are worried, these kings are all vested interests under the rule of the Great Food, they obey the rule of the Great Food, raise food for the Great Food Army, transport soldiers, when the people revolt, they retreated in the palace, did not dare to come out to lead, now the Tang Army defeated the Great Food Army, annihilated their army, they all felt a kind of panic, although the King of the Stone Kingdom had appeased them, but they were still worried.

"Everyone, please be quiet!"

King Teller of the Stone Kingdom stood up and said, "Everyone, please listen to me. ”

The conference room immediately fell silent, Shi Guo and Tang Jun walked closely, and every word of King Shi Guo made everyone pay attention.

"I asked General Li last night, if the Tang army defeats the Great Cannibals and recovers Hezhong, will the imperial court treat our Sogdian states the same as before?"

"What did he say?"

Everyone stretched their necks and waited for him to answer, even the king of Kangguo, Xiao Fen, lost his usual arrogance and looked at him with a modest attitude, this is indeed the most important thing they are most concerned about, although the Great Eclipse army has been temporarily repulsed, but once the situation in the country is stable, they will definitely make a comeback, what should the Sogdians do at that time?

In the past, the Tang court appeased the Sogdian states too much, but in fact there was almost no support, resulting in them being conquered by the great cannibals one after another, so what about later? The kings were very conflicted, hoping that the Tang army would help them fight the Great Food Crusade at any time, but they also hoped that the Tang court would be able to do the same as before, not levy their taxes, nor interfere in their internal affairs, and only be a nominal suzerain.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Teller couldn't help but feel a little proud in his heart, in the Sogdian countries, he has always taken Kang as the leader of the alliance, and Kang Guo's words and deeds represent the will of the Sogdians, although the stone country is vast, but because it is far away from the river, it has always been regarded as an extraterritorial barbarian country, just like the son of a partial house, can not enter the center of the family, but now it is different, he returned to the river countries with a victorious attitude, and his 20,000 troops participated in the battle of Talas.

He cleared his throat and continued: "General Li told me that in the past, the Great Food Expedition to the East, the Tang Dynasty was not able to send troops to defend, resulting in the fall of all the countries in the river to the Great Food, so the imperial court is ready to change the past strategy and station a certain army in the river. ”

In fact, Teller didn't know much, Li Qingan only told him about the decision of the Tang Army to garrison the river, and he didn't know about the establishment of the joint conference, but despite this, everyone still breathed a long sigh of relief, as long as the Tang Army was willing to garrison in the river, it would give them a reassurance.

"And how will our army be arranged?"

"Shall I pay taxes to the imperial court?"

The kings were talking, and there was a commotion in the conference room, and at this moment, someone outside the door shouted: "General Li has arrived from the Anxi Festival!" ”

The conference room was quiet for a moment, the door opened, and nearly a hundred heavily armed Tang Army soldiers walked in, and soon, Li Qingan walked in with several civil and military officials.

The kings all stood up and looked apprehensively at the envoy of the Tang Dynasty's Anxi Festival, who had defeated the Great Food Army.

Li Qingan smiled, he walked to the front seat and sat down, waved his hand to everyone: "Let's introduce yourself one by one first!" Shi Guo and Dong Cao Guo are not needed. ”

King Kang stood up, saluted respectfully, and said, "Honorable General Li, below you is King Shaofen of Kang Guozheng, please allow me to express my attitude on behalf of the Sogdian states. ”

"Say it!"

Xiao Fen sighed and said: "The Sogdian countries were originally rich countries, rich in gems, gold and silver, relying on the Silk Road trade to make the people rich and the treasury full, but since the Great Food Crusade, the people's wealth has been robbed, the Sogdian merchants have been emptied, countless people have been killed, captured and sold as slaves, the population has plummeted by half, and the royal treasury is no exception, all of them have been looted, and at the same time they have to bear heavy taxes, more than eighty percent of the taxes in the treasury have to be paid, and this year it has intensified. When the Muslims demanded a three-year advance on our taxes, and if we did not obey, we were all beheaded, and we were all in a state of panic, when the army of the Heavenly Khan arrived, defeated the great cannibals, and saved us from fire and water, I express our sincerest gratitude to the great generals on behalf of the nine Sogdian states. ”

Li Qing'an nodded slightly, and smiled at King Teller of Shiguo: "The king will introduce me to everyone here!" ”

Teller was overjoyed, and hurriedly stood up and introduced to Li Qing'an: "This is the king of Xicao Zheng, this is the king of Anguozheng, this is the king of the country, and this is the king of the country, Luo **......"

Every time someone was introduced, the kings immediately got up and saluted Li Qing'an, Li Qing'an nodded his head in return, and at the end of the introduction, Li Qing'an said to everyone: "King Teller has told you my reassuring intentions, I won't tremble, now I will tell you about the future arrangements." ”

There was silence in the conference room, everyone didn't expect Li Qing'an to get straight to the point, straight to the point, without any prior greetings and hints, King Kang Xiaofen's heart was even more uneasy, just now Li Qing'an deprived him of his dominant position, but let King Shiguo Teller come forward to introduce, he felt a little bad, will Shi Guo replace Kang Guo as the leader of the Sogdian Alliance?

"In order to defend against the comeback of the Great Eclipse, I, Datang, will establish a military town in Hezhong, with a garrison of 6,000 troops."

As soon as Li Qing'an's voice fell, there was a lot of discussion in the conference room, only 6,000 people, which seemed to be too little, Li Qingan waved his hand to stop the discussion, and said coldly: When I speak, no one is allowed to interrupt! ”

Once again, the conference room was silent, and no one dared to say anything.

"I think that in order to resist the invasion of the Great Cannibals, it is not only necessary to get the support of the Tang Dynasty, but more importantly, you must have the determination to resist and be able to unite, if the Sogdian countries are united, the population will be millions, and the army will add up to 100,000 people, it should be said that it is a big country, but why is it so easy to be conquered by the Great Eclipse? The point is that you go your separate ways, and you are each broken by the Great Eclipse. ”

Speaking of this, Li Qing'an stopped talking and looked at everyone, seeing that everyone was deep in thought, thinking about their own words, he nodded and continued: "Of course, I don't want you to merge into one country, that is not realistic, I know that there is a loose alliance between the Sogdian countries, but this alliance is only because you are the same race, and the role it plays is also to harmonize relations between neighboring countries, it is just a formality, so I ask you to form a formal alliance and form a joint conference system, just like today, The kings or representatives of the kings could consult together on a regular basis, and the joint council had to have some powers, but what powers? In short, each country will no longer have its own army, and all the armies will be concentrated together and commanded by a joint council, which is to ensure that when the Great Eclipse invades, there will be enough strength to resist the Great Eclipse army. ”

"But the General!"

Finally, someone couldn't help but speak, it was the youngest of the Sogdian states, the Western Cao Kingdom, the king of the Western Cao Kingdom, he stood up and said: "Please forgive me for interrupting the general's words, for example, our Western Cao Kingdom itself does not have an army, is it not necessary to participate in this joint meeting?" ”

Li Qing'an didn't get angry this time, he smiled slightly: "Xicao Country does not have an army, that is a thing of the past, in the future, all countries will not have armies, there is no difference between you, but Xicao Country also has to bear military expenses, so Xicao Country also has to participate in the joint meeting, and you have the right to express your opinions like other countries." ”

In fact, the Western Cao State is a vassal state of the Kang State, and the internal affairs of the Western Cao State are decided by the Kang State, and the Goluo Servo himself is just a puppet, he has already understood what Li Qing'an meant, if they participate in this joint meeting, then they will be able to get rid of the rule of the Kang State.

Not only the Western Cao State, but also other small Sogdian states that had been oppressed by the great powers in the past, such as the other two small vassal states of Kang, Mi and He; Anguo's vassal state Dong'anguo, Shiguo's vassal state Dongcao; Shi Guo's vassal states, Xiao Shi Guo, and so on, all agreed, so that they could sit on an equal footing with the big powers.

However, the three major powers of Kangguo, Anguo and Shiguo were directly impacted, and they all knew in their hearts that the control of the army by this so-called joint conference was actually depriving them of the right to own the army, and the army was nominally controlled by the joint conference, but in fact the army would only be used in the event of war, and at that time, the army was still a vassal of the Tang army, which was equivalent to the control of the Sogdian army by the Tang army in disguise.

And the king of Shiguo, Teller, is also very worried, so can his army be saved?

At this time, Li Qing'an continued: "Of course, in addition to the regular army, there must also be a small internal army to exterminate bandits and arrest robbers, the size of this army can be tentatively set at 5,000 people, it is under the command of the alliance leader of the joint conference, and the source of troops is temporarily drawn from the army of Shi State. ”

This is a concession by Li Qing'an, taking away the big tree and leaving a few branches, but even these branches are also reserved for Shiguo, which is beneficial to him.

The king of Shiguo, Teller, was ecstatic in his heart, and he finally understood what Li Qing'an meant by saying that he would compensate him, and that the Shi [***] team served as the internal army, which was equivalent to Shi Guo holding the leading power of the joint conference, that is, Shi Guo replaced Kang Guo as the leader of the Sogdians.

At the same time that Teller was overjoyed, the king of Kangguo, Xiaofen, changed color, and Li Qing'an deprived him of his army in front, although he was extremely dissatisfied in his heart, he did not dare to speak up, after all, Kang Guo was a defeated country, but Li Qing'an wanted Shi Guo to replace Kang Guo as the leader of the Sogdian alliance, and he finally couldn't bear it.

"General, I don't agree with the Shi [***] team serving as the internal affairs army!"

Xiao Fen stood up, bowed deeply, and said, "The general said that the joint conference was attended by all Sogdian countries, so why did the internal army only have the army of Shi State, is this too biased?" ”

Li Qingan sneered and said: "I have the intention to let Kangguo's army be the internal affairs army, but where is Kangguo's army?" ”

Xiao Fen was stunned, and his army was all Abu. The Muslims took Talas, either killed in battle, or became prisoners of war of the Tang army, only escaped back 300 people, he slowly sat down, Li Qing'an's ridicule made him suddenly understand a fact, now Kang is a defeated country, where is he still qualified to bargain with Li Qing'an, but Shi Guo is the victorious country, becoming the leader of the Sogdian alliance is of course enjoyed by the victorious country, at this moment, Xiao Fen's heart is full of bitterness.

"Okay, I have announced the end, the first leader of the joint conference will be served by Shi Guo for a period of three years, and the specific details of the joint meeting will be presided over by Shi Guo, this is your family matter, I will not participate as a representative of the Datang military, but Datang, as the suzerain, should also have a place, Qiming!"

Li Qingan turned around and shouted, Luo Qiming immediately stepped forward and said, "The subordinates are here!" ”

"This Luo Qiming is proficient in Sogdian, is a civil official, before getting the official appointment of the Heavenly Khan, he temporarily represented the Tang Dynasty to negotiate with everyone in the river, in order to restore the prosperity of the river as soon as possible, I hope everyone will work together, if there are any difficulties and requirements, you can put forward them at the joint meeting, I will report to the saint and try to meet you."

．．．．．．．．．． Li Qing'an's first meeting with the Sogdian states ended in anxiety and hope, and when he returned to the barracks, he immediately ordered someone to invite the king of Shiguo, Teller.

Teller was also immersed in the excitement of the Sogdian League, which was like a concubine holding the power of the family, which was the hundred-year-old expectation of the Shi Kingdom, and finally came true in his hands.

He rushed into the big tent and said, "General, are you looking for me?" ”

Li Qing'an said with a smile: "I first congratulate His Royal Highness the King on becoming the leader of the Sogdian Alliance. ”

"This is also thanks to the general's gift, but the general said that the leader of the alliance is three years, I don't know if he can be re-elected?"

"Whether or not he can be re-elected depends on whether His Royal Highness can persuade other kings to agree, and in principle, I have no objection."

Speaking of this, Li Qingan took a booklet from his desk, which was the detailed arrangement of the joint meeting written by Li Mi overnight, and he had already read it and made some revisions.

"This is the detailed rules of the joint meeting, His Royal Highness can take a closer look, if you have any opinions, you can put them forward, if there are no opinions, the first joint meeting tomorrow can be handed over to everyone for discussion and approval, and then it will be done according to this rule."

Teller took the booklet and flipped through it, as he imagined, it was impossible for Li Qingan to completely hand over the autonomy to them, Luo Qiming's veto power fully illustrates this point, but compared to the big food, Li Qingan is still a lot more tolerant, such as the taxes of various countries, in addition to apportioning military expenses, Li Qingan will no longer collect them, and share the military expenses of 50,000 people, at most, only accounting for 30% of the taxes of various countries, and the remaining 70% will still belong to himself.

History has always been written by the strong, and what choice did they have between the Sogdian states and the two powers?

Teller sighed secretly and said, "There is no need to revise it, I will hand it over to everyone for a vote tomorrow." ”

Li Qingan nodded and said, "There are three more things, I hope you can start immediately." ”

"General, please!"

"The first is about religion, I hope that the Ranchism and Islam can live in tolerance in the riverine region, they are both Sogdian brothers, there is nothing that cannot be forgiven, and the Hangists will never be allowed to retaliate, if it causes a conflict, it will make the Islamists support the return of the great cannibals to the river, the serious problem, do you understand?"

Teller immediately agreed, and in fact seven of the nine Sogdian kings had converted to Islam, and they would do their best to avoid conflict without Li Qing'an's instructions.

Li Qing'an said: "The second thing is about currency, at present, the currency used by the Sogdians is dirham silver coins, I have ordered Anxi to mint a large number of Kaiyuan Tongbao silver coins, I hope you can enforce the Kaiyuan Tongbao silver coins and Kaiyuan Tongbao gold coins to replace the currency of Dashi." ”

Teller was a little puzzled by this, and he hurriedly said: "But the Kaiyuan Tongbao gold and silver coins are not popular in the Tang Dynasty itself, what if the Sogdian merchants take them to the Central Plains and the Central Plains do not accept them?" ”

"If Datang is not passable, we have to think of ways to make it pass, which is also the third point I want to say."

Li Qing'an smiled faintly and said: "Tomorrow you will post notices in various cities in Sogdia, saying that the Tang army is about to return to Chang'an, and those who are willing to go to Chang'an with the Tang army to do business can go with us, as a support for the restoration of national strength in the river, I can give tax exemption to this group of merchants." ”

．．．．．．．．．． At night, in the royal palace of Samarkand, King Kang Guozheng Xiaofen invited An Guozheng Wang Ye Xie and Shi Guozheng Wang Naqu Ruo to the inner palace to discuss countermeasures with the two of them, which are the three largest countries in the Sogdian states except for Shi, each country has a population of more than one million and is strong, but the joint conference system implemented by Li Qing'an has turned them into countries on an equal footing with small countries, which makes them full of loss. Shi Guozheng Wang Naqu Ruo was a little timid and more sensible, and he did not agree with the method of large-scale uprising proposed by Kang Guozheng Wang Xiaofen.

"I've heard that the joint council will allocate seats according to the amount of military spending, like we can get two or three seats, and the small countries only have one, which shows our importance."

"You're such a fool!"

Kang Guozheng Wang Xiaofen angrily reprimanded him: "What is that joint meeting? It is nothing more than a tool for the Tang people to control our Sogdians, and our army has been deprived, so it is not up to the Tang people to decide whether to abandon or stand, whether to die or live? Even if it's a useless tool, it's still led by the people of Shiguo, can you accept it? You listen to me, start a large-scale uprising, at least put pressure on Li Qing'an, let him allow us to keep a certain army. ”

"Forget it! What do you take to revolt? ”

An Guozheng Wang Yejie drank a glass of wine, and said in a strange manner: "Do you know the situation when the Tang army entered the city today? People all over the city ran to meet them, do you know why? Li Qing'an is more powerful than you, he has promised to build a temple, restore the statue of Ahuramaz, and promised not to abuse Islamists, Li Qing'an has won the hearts of the people more than you, and you have converted to Islam, if you go to advocate an uprising, will the followers of the Qiangjiao listen to you? And when you suppressed the Shiites, you didn't make a small contribution, if you go to call for an uprising, I suspect that the Shiites will be the first to kill you, Brother Xiaofen, you better wake up! Stop talking nonsense. ”

Xiao Fen's fat face swelled into the color of pig liver, and he said angrily: "Then what do you say? Is it just at the mercy of the Tang Army? ”

King Shi Guozheng and King An Guozheng actually understood in their hearts that what this lord of Kangguo really hated was not Tang Jun, forgive him for not having the courage, he actually hated the people of Shi Guo riding on his head, and in the name of righteousness, let himself stand up for him.

The two exchanged glances, stood up together and said, "It's not early, let's leave first, if you have any opinions, let's fight on the basis of reason when the joint meeting is held tomorrow!" ”

The two walked away, and Xiao Fen stared at their backs and slammed his fist on the table.

"I will not be reconciled!"

(To be continued)