Chapter 792 The Supreme Emperor’s Warning
The seventh year of Zhenguan, spring.
Qin Langzuo asked the imperial court to set up seven new counties under Liuqiu Prefecture, Hsinchu, Changhua, Yunlin, Chiayi, Anping, Kaohsiung, and Pingtung, plus the previously established four counties of Danshui, Taoyuan, Yilan, and Keelung, so that Liuqiu Qiuzhou has eleven counties.
A newly opened Haidong Island prefecture actually has eleven counties, which once caused controversy in the court, and many officials once again wrote a letter to impeach Qin Lang.
Only this time, there were very few responders, especially the important officials in the court, but they were either silent or spoke for Qin Lang.
Although Hou Junji jumped as fast as ever, the emperor turned a blind eye.
The left servant of the school inspector shot Changsun Wuji and even openly threatened to drive Hou Junji out of the political affairs hall. In the end, the emperor summoned Changsun Hou Junji and several other prime ministers to mediate.
The New Year's Day Grand Meeting in the seventh year of Zhenguan was very lively.
Li Shimin once again felt the glory of Tian Khan. At the palace banquet, Khan Yehu from East and West Turks danced, Feng An from Lingnan and other local leaders sang, and chiefs such as Cuanshi from Yunnan and Liuzhao from Erhai gave their congratulatory speeches. Li Shimin smiled. I can't even close my mouth.
The four seas come to court, and all directions come to congratulate.
The heavenly dynasty is as majestic as the upper kingdom, and the martial arts of the emperor is so impressive.
Goguryeo finally bowed to Datang, and finally reached an agreement with Datang years ago, signed the Beisha Covenant, and agreed to return Beisha City and the southern regions to Datang.
The word "return" was insisted on by Datang. Originally, Goguryeo wanted to cede the word, but Datang believed that Beisha and Liaodong belonged to the Central Plains dynasty, so now it is restitution, not cession.
In this agreement, Datang also mediated the war between Goguryeo and Silla, and at the same time allowed Baekje and Dongying to sign an armistice agreement.
After fighting for almost a year, Silla was beaten by the Three Kingdoms. It was quite miserable. A total of thirteen cities were lost. In the end, Datang helped Silla to return seven cities, leaving six, and the Three Kingdoms won two.
Silla suffered a big loss, but was grateful to Datang. If it wasn't for Datang's mediation, Silla probably wouldn't be able to survive this time.
The Queen of Silla, Kinderman, personally embroidered a peony picture for the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. The envoys came to Beijing and proposed a loan plan and a new arms purchase plan. They planned to borrow more money and purchase more arms to face the current situation. unfavorable situation.
A temporary ceasefire on the peninsula.
The port business on Tamna has taken shape, and Gaya in the southern part of the peninsula was also recognized by the four Haidong countries in this agreement and officially established.
As a result, the four countries of Haidong were upgraded to six countries of Haidong, Goguryeo, Silla, Baekje, Japan, Tamna and Gaya. Tamna and Gaya were completely affiliated to the Tang Dynasty. Embassies and embassies, and even sent coaches and military officers to train troops for the two countries, sell ordnance, and even stationed mercenaries on a small scale.
Regarding Datang’s mediation this time, except for Silla, Goguryeo, Baekje, and the three kingdoms of Japan are not satisfied. They want to take advantage of the victory and chase after the victory to annihilate and carve up Silla, but Datang issued a stern warning.
Especially after the Tang Dynasty captured Beisha, it even began to increase its frontier troops in western Liaoning.
In the end, they could only be forced to agree to sign a peace treaty, giving Datang the lost Beisha and Changdao.
As for Baekje and Waguo's willingness to sign the contract this time, it is also because Gaya has been integrated. Under the control of Datang, they began to frequently pretend to be pirates at sea and attack the fleets of the two countries, especially for Waguo. Sea passage is the only way to maintain the territory on the peninsula, but the harassment of pirates makes them miserable.
Facing the pirates supported by the Tang people, they may launch a larger-scale attack at any time, and even attack the local coast, the two countries have to compromise.
Li Shimin is very satisfied with the covenant brought back by Honglu Temple. This time the sea alliance, the covenant between Datang and the six countries in Haidong, Datang took advantage of it. By the way, it expanded a wave of trade, put in a few loans, and sold it. A lot of armaments, earning a lot of money, and most importantly, a strong intervention in the situation in Haidong provided a good opportunity for the Datang family to dominate and further infiltrate Haidong.
Waguo has been forced to recognize it, removed the title of emperor, and later renamed it the king of Japan, and paid tribute to the Tang Dynasty.
"This is all the work of Qin Lang. It was also his plan to intervene strongly in the situation of the Haidong countries. At the beginning of the year, he raided Beisha, so Goguryeo had to compromise."
In the Daming Palace.
Li Shimin came to pay New Year greetings to Li Yuan.
Li Yuan dragged Li Shimin and his daughter-in-law eldest Sun and grandson Chengqian to play mahjong together, Li Shimin said while playing mahjong.
The Supreme Emperor played a piece of Dongfeng, and said casually, "That kid Qin Lang is a master of the game. I played mahjong with him, and lost nine times out of ten. This guy has a strong view of the overall situation and is good at ambushes. He is a snake and a snake. The tricks that seem useless are actually with deep ulterior motives."
"Congratulations, you have such a good son-in-law."
Li Shimin smiled slightly, feeling like all the heroes in the world are in my trap.
"I introduced a daughter of the Cui family from Boling to Qin Qiong back then, and even forced the Cui family. At that time, I thought it was a great favor to Qin Qiong. It is so rare for Qin Qiong to marry a woman with five surnames, which shows how much I like him. But this time I did something wrong, and I should have let him be my son-in-law in the first place."
It was Chinese New Year, and the Supreme Emperor suddenly mentioned this, Li Shimin was a little embarrassed, and his face became uncomfortable.
At the beginning, Qin Qiong and his son's change of Xuanwumen, although it is not to say that it would not be possible without them, but if the two of them switch to the East Palace, maybe it is not sure who will win, although he believes that the relationship between Qin Qiong and him is not a princess or princess can be changed.
But at that time, who can tell.
"Erlang, I'm running out of time, and I'm thinking about a lot of things. It's better for you to be emperor than Dalang. Although Dalang is not bad, if he inherits the throne, it's impossible to achieve the situation you are in now. Erlang, you assisted me in creating the Great Tang. In terms of merit, there is not much difference between him and Dalang. He has his own merits inside and out, and he is not equal to each other. In my opinion, his contribution is even greater."
"But since you came to the throne, you have unified the world, wiped out foreign enemies, and achieved the current situation where the world is prosperous and prosperous. It is indeed a hundred times stronger than Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty who did not give in, and Emperor Yang who was ambitious and talented."
Li Shimin was silent.
Although he was not convinced at this time, his father also said that he had done more credit than him when he founded the country, but he was still satisfied with his father's ability to face up to his achievements after he succeeded to the throne.
"Erlang, I'm relieved to entrust Datang to you. There is only one thing, you may have done something wrong."
"Grandfather, please correct me."
"At the beginning of your succession, it was right to cut the title of the clan and adjust the official rank. It is also true that you later conferred the title of meritorious officials. You have stabilized people's hearts and stabilized the government. But you shouldn't end up engaging in hereditary In particular, it should not be conferred on both the clan and different surnames."
"Twenty-four heroes of Lingyan Pavilion, twenty-four hereditary heroes of different surnames, each entrusted with feudal towns, have you ever thought that one day in the future, there may be chaos in the feudal towns? You don't have to worry about it now, but what about your descendants in the future? ?”
Li Shimin said to Chengqian, "Dalang, please explain the system of secular feudalism to the Supreme Emperor."
Chengqian said it concisely. The key point is that although the imperial court granted forty-eight clans and meritorious officials, they were all entrusted to the most frontier lands, which were originally places of restraint.
The imperial court actually replaced those barbarian chiefs in the frontiers with their confidant clans and heroes.
If those frontiers are controlled by Hu Man for generations, and the court is weak, it is better to let the clan heroes guard them.
"Wrong, big mistake!"
Li Yuan shook his head, "What you think is simple. Now entrust the royal brothers and nephews, civil and military heroes to the frontier, and grab the land from the barbarians. It seems good. But have you ever thought that the border land is in the hands of those barbarians?" , is forever becoming the climate.”
"Whether it is Lingnan, Nanzhong, or Guizhou, the barbarians there will always be a mob, generally scattered, and the court can easily intimidate and subdue them, making them surrender, and they will always only fight each other. It is impossible for them to be strong enough to threaten Court."
"But if you divide the clan and heroes into border lands, even if you grab territory from the barbarians in the wild land, no matter how biased, these clan heroes are all rich in financial resources, and they will bring culture and civilization from the Central Plains. Craftsman skills, they will gradually form an overwhelming advantage over the surrounding barbarians. It may not be obvious in one or two generations, but what about three or five generations? After a hundred years of operation, this fiefdom will become a powerful town. These people are from the Central Plains. So it’s not like the barbarians who always only see the wildness in front of them.”
"Once there is turmoil in the Central Plains court, if someone leads the feudal town into it at that time, there will be a catastrophe."
Li Yuan believes that the secular feudal system will eventually not develop into the Spring and Autumn and Warring States of the Zhou Dynasty, or it may become the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion of the Han Dynasty, or it may also become the Eight Kings Rebellion of the Western Jin Dynasty.
This is inevitable.
Li Shimin obviously thought about these issues, but he was not as pessimistic as Li Yuan.
"Aye is overthinking. The imperial court has a strict system of feudal feudalism. It has long been stipulated that the Tang Dynasty will not be enfeoffed unless it is a major military achievement, and it will not be enfeoffed unless it is a prince. And it can only be entrusted to the farthest frontier. Prefectures and counties. According to this system, it is not easy for the heroes of the feudal clan to defend the land, and it is even more difficult to open up borders, and it is even more impossible to run a powerful feudal town in the wilderness. Ayermo must forget, the feudal system There is also a favor system, the fiefdoms will only get smaller and smaller from generation to generation, and it is not enough to fight against the imperial court."
When the Zhou Dynasty was enfeoffed, the territory directly controlled by the king of Zhou was very small. After eight hundred years of management, the princes finally took over the world of Zhou.
Han was enfeoffed, prefectures and states were in parallel, Guanzhong was not enfeoffed, and princes were enfeoffed outside the pass. The fiefs were vast and powerful, but the chaos of the Seven Kingdoms was also quelled. As for the Eight Kings Rebellion in the Western Jin Dynasty, the princes and kings entrusted the land to control the people and support the army, which was because of their excessive power.
The Tang Dynasty's feudal system is more perfect in design, taking into account various situations.
The feudal heroes of the world are all sealed in the wild frontier, which is not the actual control area of the Tang Dynasty. The Guanlong, Central Plains, Jianghuai, Bashu and other places of the Tang Dynasty are not sealed at all.
The imperial court owned the largest territory in the Qin and Han Dynasties. With such a large territory, how could the princes threaten the imperial court?
Moreover, he has once again reduced the power of the princes. The princes have the most power over the fiefdoms only economic power, and the most important powers of administration, finance and taxation, litigation, and military affairs are mainly in the hands of officials appointed by the imperial court.
Adding the favor system, Li Shimin believes that the princes will never be able to threaten the imperial court, on the contrary, they can also expand the territory for the imperial court and screen the country.
At the same time, the enfeoffment of powerful heroes and noble clans can also reduce the possibility of civil strife in the central court.
"Erlang, don't be too confident. Although your strategy is good, it may not be out of shape. At the beginning of the Western Jin Dynasty, the enfeoffment system was also very strict, but later the emperor completely changed the ancestral system, making the princes manage the army and the people, and the governors Several states or even more than a dozen states have military forces, and this is how the Eight Kings Rebellion occurred."
"It's better not to start with this. If you start with this, you won't know what will happen to your descendants in the future. If you insist on enfeoffing the world, then it's best to only entrust the descendants of the clan Li's family. No matter what happens in the future , then the world is still in the hands of our Li family, so it won't fall into the hands of other people."
(end of this chapter)