Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

The ancient yellow sand road is full of camel bells.

Outside Guancheng, which has been eroded by time, a caravan came.

Suo Yan, the envoy of Yangguan town to suppress troops and horses, was leading his troops west to patrol, but he bumped into him in the wilderness.

The people in the caravan were a little flustered, and the servants and guards all drew their weapons.The Shazhou soldiers also became nervous. They got off their horses one after another, took out their bows and long spears, and surrounded them from a distance.

"Stay here." Suo Yan appeased the soldiers, rode forward alone, and asked, "Who are you waiting for? Where did you come from?"

No one in the caravan answered, they all looked at a monk.

Suo Yan's heart moved, it seems that this is not a serious caravan.

But he wasn't too scared, this was the boundary of Shazhou, besides the local soldiers, there were ten thousand silver spear troops sent by the imperial court to defend.A caravan of hundreds of people can't make any big waves.

"Poverty Dao Huizhao, I have seen the general." The monk walked forward slowly, and said in a calm manner: "We came from Khotan to communicate with the big country."

"Khotan?" Suo Yan was a little surprised: "Is the Daqi Road open?"

As a soldier of the former Guiyi Army, Suo Yan had heard of the Kingdom of Tian.

As early as the civil strife in Tubo and Zhang Taibao's uprising, there was contact.It was also at that time that the people of Khotan saw the weakness of Tubo and brazenly raised troops to regain control of their country.

But then the contact gradually decreased.

After the rise of the Uighurs in Gaochang, the Guiyi army was too busy to take care of themselves. They didn't care about anything in the Western Regions, and they didn't take the initiative to send people to contact them.

After that, the Guiyi Army dismissed the town, Guazhou and Shazhou were incorporated into the Hexi Road, and the imperial court took a defensive position in the west as a whole, focusing on unifying the Central Plains.

After going back and forth, decades have passed, and little is known about the Western Regions.

As for the Daqi Road, it was a post road opened during the Zhenguan period of the former Tang Dynasty.

In the first year of Zhenguan (627), Emperor Taizong of Tang sent Cao Canjun Zhang Bi of Youwei Cang to the Western Regions, which lasted six years and traveled [-] miles.

The number of thirty countries that Zhang Bi visited as an envoy greatly exceeded the number known to the Central Plains Dynasty since the end of the Sui Dynasty, and many of these countries were visited abroad for the first time.

There is no doubt that this is a great mission comparable to Ban Chao.Zhang Bi traveled all over [-] countries, covering the Tarim Basin and the lands of Sogdia and Tocharians west of Congling.

In the fourth year of Zhenguan (630), the Eastern Turks were destroyed, and Shi Wannian of Yizhou surrendered seven cities.

In the sixth year of Zhenguan (632), Yizhou in the west was promoted to Yizhou, and this was Zhengzhou, which marked Tang Ting's interest in the Western Regions.

It was also during this period that Tang Ting accepted the request of Long Tuqizhi, the lord of Yanqi, to build a direct post road between Dunhuang and Yanqi, that is, Daqi Road, to avoid Gaochang.

Yanqi obtained the privilege of monopolizing the trade between the Central Plains and the Western Regions, supported the Tang Dynasty, and jointly attacked Gaochang.

Also in this year (632), Khotan paid tribute to the Tang Dynasty for the first time with the opening of the Daqi Road.

This road across the desert played a vital role in Tang Ting's early Western Regions policy.

But after all, more than 200 years have passed.The city-states and oases along the Daqi Road have changed beyond recognition. Recently, Gaochang Uyghurs have repeatedly harassed the south and cut off the road. Even Hu merchants do not go here. The actual situation is evident.

"The Daqi road is intermittent, but pedestrians can walk on it." Huizhao replied.

"Then why don't you send envoys to the court?" Suo Yan asked.

Huizhao asked back, "May I ask who is the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty?"

Suo Yan narrowed his eyes, suspecting that the monk asked questions knowingly.Is the news in Khotan so closed?It has been seven or eight years since the Tang Dynasty was destroyed, and it would be a shame to ask such a question.

However, he had no evidence, so he could only tentatively say: "Seven years ago, Emperor Tang knew that Tianlu had changed, and the artifacts were suitable, so he abdicated and went to Zen. Now it is the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month in the eighth year of the Great Xia Dynasty, the mage really doesn't know?"

Master Huizhao was obviously very surprised, turned his head to several monks and said: "The matter of the extinction of the Dharma has come true."

The faces of the monks showed sorrow, and they all proclaimed the Buddha's name.

The so-called "destruction of the law" is actually a story passed down by word of mouth in Khotan.The general idea is that 543 years after the Buddha's Nirvana (1500 BC), people without righteous faith appeared everywhere.The King of Khotan did not believe in the righteous Dharma, and the monks of Khotan also did not abide by the precepts and acted as family members.The Khotan monk's living resources were seized by the ministers, and he could not make a living, so he went to Tubo, the place where Buddhism was first discovered.

At that time, the king of Tubo was a bodhisattva who married a Han princess as his concubine. The Han princess invited monks to Tubo to make offerings to her.The bhikkhus in Anxi, Shule, Tocharo and other places were harmed by people without righteous faith. When they heard that Tubo promoted Buddhism, they all went there.Afterwards, the demons rebelled, the princess died of smallpox, etc...

In short, what is being told is the story of the death of Fa, which has been passed down for many years, and everyone firmly believes it.

As for why it is related to the Tang Dynasty, we have to mention the "Dharma Extinction" during Tang Wuzong's time. The monks in Khotan heard that there would be demons in the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Kingdom would perish.

Well, this story, the gods and gods, should originate from the irreconcilable contradictions between the secular dignitaries and the monks in Khotan and other countries in the Western Regions. It was made up to scare people, but I didn't expect it to be half right...

Suo Yan didn't know what the monks were doing, so he asked: "Now that the Great Xia Emperor is in power, the country is clear and bright, the government is well-organized and the people are harmonious, can the mage go to Luoyang?"

At this point, the caravan stopped pretending, and saw that Master Huizhao sent someone to take out the jade belt and other things, saying: "I am going to the Central Plains to present it to the emperor of the great country."

Suo Yan cast a glance and asked, "No credentials?"

"No credentials."

The two were relatively silent.

Suo Yan sighed and said, "Follow me to Dunhuang for a while."

******
Shao Siwu has been in Shazhou for some time, and he misses his wife and children very much.

However, there is nothing wrong with being in the old place of the Guiyi Army. Although the influence of the wife's family has been weakened, it is not at all, and it still provides him with a lot of help, so that he even likes Sha and Guazhou a little bit.

His current position is the Recruitment Envoy of Shazhou Camp. The object of the "recruitment" is the Gaochang Uyghur, but to be honest, it is more of a defense.

Gaochang Uighurs are still very arrogant.I was stabbed at the royal court of the Uyghur back then, and years of hard work were ruined. However, I heard that after the Xia army retreated, they sent people eastward, regained control of the royal court, and vassalized the Tatar tribes who moved westward.

The pace of the westward migration of the thirty Tatar surnames has never stopped.Especially after Khitan collapsed, the speed suddenly accelerated.According to the Qibei Line News, tens of thousands of people have moved westward this year. In order to compete for grassland, people's brains almost went out of their minds.

The reason why the Guanbei states were not disturbed was that the Lang clan of Jiquanzhuang, the Hun clan of Keduncheng, and the Geshu clan of Nuozhenshui were more hardworking. These three tribes were the Daxia Juli tribe in name, but they actually acted as border guards. The role saved the court a lot of money—accumulated over 20 years, the saved expenses are really not a small amount, which may be an important reason why the saint married the princess.

In the past year, Hexi Dangxiang has also become a little restless.Shao Siwu and Han Xun spent a lot of energy on this, so that when the year was approaching, Shao Siwu was still looking up files and studying the actual situation of the tribes in Hexi, until Suoyan came in and reported to him about the Khotan mission.

"No credentials..." He also hesitated when he heard this.

In fact, he tended to believe Suoyan's judgment that Khotan should have known about the Central Plains Revolution.It's been eight years, no matter how slow the news spread, it's impossible for there to be no news at all.

"I remember that in some temples in Dunhuang, there are felt carpets and fragrant medicines sold from Khotan?" Shao Siwu asked.

"Your Highness has a good memory, indeed, I bought it the year before last." Suo Yan replied.

Shao Siwu was even more affirmative, and said, "Kutian is playing petty temper? Their king is so interested in going to Tang?"

"In the Xuanzong Dynasty of the former Tang Dynasty, Wei Chisheng, the lord of Khotan, brought famous horses and beautiful jade into the court, and Xuanzong regarded him as a wife of the clan." Suo Yan said: "After Yuchisheng returned to the country, he sent troops many times to cooperate with Gao Xianzhi, and his meritorious service was promoted to Guanglu. Qing. During the Anshi Rebellion, Yuchisheng ordered his younger brother Yuchiyao to oversee the country, led five thousand troops to the Central Plains, and died in Chang'an. The Khotan Kingdom has always regarded itself as belonging to Li Tangzong, and it is normal to have a tendency."

This is the standard fine Tang.

Shao Siwu sighed, and said, "The sage showed great power in Liaodong, and Khitan, Xiren, Bohai, and Jurchen were salty. How did Khotan recognize the former Tang Dynasty?"

Suoyan was speechless.

In fact, everyone knows the reason, you did not exert influence in the Western Regions.Although the sage's martial arts are world-renowned and his reputation spreads all over the world, the warriors in the Central Plains were defeated, and the savages in Liaodong also knew how powerful they were, but the countries in the Western Regions didn't know it.

Reminiscent of the sage's promise to his mother, Shao Siwu's long-lost heart moved a little, maybe the opportunity was here - he really didn't know how to face his second brother, he didn't want to, and he didn't dare.

"Let's report it first." Shao Siwu thought for a while and said.

This matter was not under Suo Yan's control, and he quickly withdrew.Shao Siwu thought about it and invited Liu Mian.

"Mr. Liu, how to deal with this matter properly?" After briefly describing the matter, Shao Siwu humbly asked for advice.

Liu Mian is now Shao Siwu's personal staff, and he is living a very comfortable life.Not only did he remarry his wife, but his influence also increased day by day, and he felt a little bit like berating Fang Qiu back then.

After thinking for a while, he said, "Your Highness, after the sage pacified the Bohai Sea, his first task is to attack Huainan and Hunan towns. Before that, he might not use troops in the Western Regions."

"Will the south be pacified?" Shao Siwu asked.

Liu Mian was in a trance for a moment.

His perception of Shao Shude was very complicated.

Conquering Zhu Liang ruined his ambitions.But he is so talented and powerful, and he is invincible all over the world. Judging from the current trend, if he lives for more than ten or twenty years, the origins of the Anshi Rebellion can also be wiped out.This is a warrior who is not afraid of trouble from the root, and has followed the correct route. His vision is precise and profound, and he is rarely rivaled.

To be honest, if he had voted for Shao Shude in the first place, he would probably be laughing out loud in his dreams.Because Shao Sheng's actions were too in line with the image of the hero in his mind.

As for the little things like playing with women and being lustful, hehe, he doesn't even care about his wife's mess, so how could he care?That's not the case.

It's a pity that he was an aide of the old King Liang, and he had already reached a high-level core position, so no one dared to use him.

He didn't dare to reveal his identity in front of the saint, to challenge the saint's mind, to see if he dared to use a counselor of his level.

That's it for the rest of my life.Keeping one's name incognito, training the younger generation, that's all.

"Your Highness, the saint even took care of Bohai and Jurchen, what are you worried about?" Liu Mian said: "He thinks very highly of himself, and his inner ambition is far beyond your imagination. The Western Regions will definitely fight, just wait patiently, saint Probably more urgent than you."

Shao Siwu's heart suddenly brightened, and he saluted respectfully: "What you said, sir, made me suddenly enlightened."

Liu Mian sideways avoided, and said: "It doesn't matter whether you have the letter of credence or not. Just report the memorial truthfully and send it to Zhongshu. Don't act privately. Saints value rules very much."

"Okay." Shao Siwu nodded and made a decision.

I recommend a new book, "Jie Ming" written during the Chongzhen reign of the late Ming Dynasty. Interested book lovers can read it.