Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1514 Messenger and Conception
It was already mid-July when the envoys from the Dachanghe Kingdom arrived in Yazhou.

Li Tangbin has already gone south to Lizhou, and Shao Mingyi is also supervising a batch of grain, grass and equipment, preparing to go south to Laizhou.

This time, they planned to fight as far south as possible.

The opportunity is very good, the main force of the Nanman was severely damaged in the First World War, and 3% of the [-] troops can slip back.There are also tens of thousands of young men, some of whom come from Li and Yazhou, and there are also many from the bandits, no less than [-].

Calculating carefully, this time Dachanghe Kingdom lost at least more than [-] men in the direct control area, and they are still the kind that can fight. The remaining crooked melons and dates have some ability to resist?
If this opportunity is missed, the Nanban will be given ten or twenty years to recover, the boys will grow up, they will be trained as soldiers, the women will have more children, their household registration will be enriched, and their national strength will gradually recover.

Adult men are the most important part of a country's national strength, and this is a truth that everyone understands.

The envoy sent by Nanman named Zheng Yuan said that the Zheng family was born in the Central Plains, and they made friends and established relationships. His words were humble and sincere, and they were very convincing.

Shao Mingyi was in a hurry to go south, so he didn't have time to talk to him, so he just asked: "Zheng Jun talked about Zuyuan, I'd like to ask, when he sent troops to invade the north, didn't he think about who he was?"

Hearing this, Zheng Yuan kept apologizing, and said: "Our country's letter is known to be wrong, I hope the emperor of the great country has a broad mind, and the two countries can restore the old relationship, wouldn't it be beautiful?"

"If you succeed, you will be rampant, and if you can't beat it, you can pretend to be dead. How can there be such a cheap thing in the world?" Shao Mingyi said with a smile: "The envoy doesn't need to say too much. This is a big matter, and I can't be the master. I'd better go to Chang'an to face the saint. You It's best to act quickly, don't wait for me to take down the two capitals, you haven't seen the saint yet."

Zheng Yuan's face was a bit ugly, and he asked, "Does your Highness know about Zhang Qiantuo and Xianyu Zhongtong's past?"

Shao Mingyi laughed out loud. Was it because he realized that good words had no effect, so he threatened him?The Nanman monarchs and ministers are at this level, so there is nothing to worry about.

Of course Zhang Qiantuo and Xianyu Zhongtong knew about it.

The former used to be the prefect of Yunnan County (Yaozhou) - during the Tianbao period of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, there was a retro style, the state was changed to a county, and the governor was changed to a prefect - Nanzhao Wangge Luofeng passed through Yaozhou many times, always bringing his wife to the door , Zhang Qiantuo "privately" every time, and Ge Luofeng didn't mind.

But when Zhang Qiantuo asked him for a large amount of property, he refused.

Ge Luofeng's attitude is very clear, my wife is free to play with you, but it is impossible to give soldiers, land, money and food.

Zhang Qiantuo held a grudge against this, secretly reported his crime, and suggested that Ge Luofeng's younger brother should be replaced as King of Nanzhao.

Ge Luofeng resented and rebelled, and broke through Yaozhou. Zhang Qiantuo knew that he had stabbed a big basket, and committed suicide by drinking poison.

Jiannan Jiedu envoy Xianyu Zhongtong heard that Ge Luofeng had rebelled, and sent [-] troops to conquer.Ge Luofeng expressed his apology and was willing to withdraw from Yaozhou and compensate for the losses, but Xianyu Zhongtong refused. Gain's soldiers and horses were all summoned, and a memorial to the court was also written. If Ge Luofeng was forgiven, the problem would be serious, and the war would officially break out.

Xianyu Zhongtong led his army straight into the Erhai Lake area, and was defeated by Ge Luofeng. The [-] Tang troops were killed and [-] were injured.But Nanzhao also suffered heavy losses, because the locality was too badly damaged. The originally densely populated land was burned, killed and looted by the Tang army, and the population dropped sharply. There are no historical records about the tactics, and there is a high probability that it will be resistance by the whole people, scorched earth warfare, etc. Otherwise, the local people would not have suffered such heavy losses.

Taking this matter as an example, Zheng Yuan probably meant that even if the Xia army attacked the capital of Nanzhao like Xianyu Zhongtong did, they would not have any good fruit to eat, and would inevitably suffer a disastrous defeat.

"The envoys don't have to use their tongues." Shao Mingyi smiled, then pulled Zheng Yuan up to the top of the city, pointed to a crowded camp in the distance, and said, "Do you know who is there?"

Zheng Yuan seemed to realize something, but he didn't speak.

"That's your country's captives, a total of more than 2 people. In a few days, nearly [-] people captured at the Dadu River will also be escorted here." Shao Mingyi said: "When this battle is over, There may be more captives. The sage has an order to send all of them to Jiangning Prefecture to repair the palace."

Zheng Yuan's expression turned ugly.

There were less than 3 troops brought by Hussin Zheng Renmin to the Governor's Mansion in Huichuan, and there were also a large number of young men from tribes.Calculating from the number of people, at least 6 to 5 people failed to return.Among them, no more than [-] people died at the hands of the Xia people, and [-] to [-] were captured by them. So where did the other [-] people go?

He can probably guess some.

In addition to those who fell off the cliff and died, a large number of people panicked and hid in the vast mountains.Now that a month has passed, if these people fail to escape smoothly, there is a high probability that they will die in the mountains.

Hunger, disease, and even hunting by the tribe's cave master are all possible.It is considered lucky to be captured by the Xia people, at least they can live for a long time.If you're lucky, you might even get a pardon.

"Don't think too much." Shao Mingyi glanced at Zheng Yuan, and said: "Some people, you shouldn't provoke them. There are so many kings in ancient times, some are magnanimous, some are gentle, some are scheming, some are unfathomable, every king is It's different, have you thought about what kind of person you are today?"

Zheng Yuan was speechless.

"Tomorrow, I will send someone to take you to Chang'an." Shao Mingyi said again: "The fate of the Great Changhe Kingdom depends on the saint's thoughts."

After all, he went down to the top of the city.

The fate of Dachanghe Kingdom is actually not static.In fact, nothing is permanent in this world.

From Shao Mingyi's point of view, if Dachang Heguo fought well on the battlefield and caused Xia Jun to suffer heavy losses, then it might not be impossible to negotiate a peace with them.

But now it's all labeled like this, is it possible?
If you want the saint to change his mind, you have to show your strength, which is the most important thing.

Zheng Yuan sighed softly, he already had a premonition that it would be difficult to achieve his goal.

Sergeants were mobilizing in the east of Yazhou City, and the flags could not be seen clearly from a distance, but there were quite a number of them, tens of thousands.

Looking at the golden drum banner, it seems that he is not as capable of fighting as those Xia soldiers he met before——Li Lin chased Zheng Renmin and fled all the way. As a clan, Zheng Yuan looked a little lacking in the tens of thousands of people in front of him from the beginning to the end. Probably not the first-line elite troops.

But—ah!

Dachanghe Kingdom has also been completely confused, and it seems that it is not going to work.Lost a hundred thousand troops, and what a fart!Zheng Yuan even wondered if the Huichuan Governor's Mansion had been breached after he left...

On July [-]th, under the escort of dozens of Xia soldiers, he left Chengdu and headed north to Guanzhong.

******
Shao Shude got the news earlier than Zheng Yuan.

At this time, he had arrived in Qinzhou and lived in Zhao's old house.Because the imperial concubine Zhao Yu was seriously ill and bedridden, he didn't go out for a lot of wandering. He just wandered around Qinzhou, looking at the mountains and rivers here, and learning about the daily life of the people.

Of course, some relatively important memorials will be reviewed during the period, the most important of which is the Southwest War.

Zhu Yanshou's dragon and tiger army of 8000 people set out from Bozhou to attack the Kunming tribe who responded to the Nanman.

He struggled a lot this way.

Central Guizhou is not rich at all, and needs to transport grain and grass from Huguang.However, Huguang's population is not large, and the level of development is not high, so it can barely support his army.The problem is that it still needs to be transported by land, and it is still full of mountainous areas. The cost is skyrocketing, and it is often impossible to send it to the front line in time.

Zhu Yanshou is not a good person, and his soldiers are not good people, so he started to raise food on the spot.

There is no need to go into details about the process of raising food, anyway, it forced many tribes back.After rushing into the Kunming tribal area, they often had to attack one cottage after another, with enemies everywhere, and the progress was horribly slow.

By the time the army from the West Road had rushed to the Governor's Mansion in Huichuan, he still hadn't left the area where the Kunming tribes were active, and there were many casualties, including a loss of three to four thousand people. Shao Shude had ordered him to fight steadily, to clean up the surrounding area first, and then make other plans.

Yongzhou Guquan Military Department is still suppressing the rebellious barbarians, and has not seen the possibility of ending.

The Qing navy conquered the rebellion in Aizhou and other places, and even suffered a defeat.Fortunately, they regrouped and won consecutive battles recently, turning the tide in one fell swoop and conquering the entire state of Iowa.

Shulu Porun and Yang Shihou, the partial teachers of the West Route Army, were blocked by the Manliao tribe in the south of Rongzhou.They had few troops and had already stopped in their tracks.However, after hearing of Zheng Renmin's defeat, these tribes changed their attitudes and provided cattle, wine and labor to the army, just like a chameleon.

The trend of these roads forced Shao Shude to face up to a very real problem: in Hanzhong, where there are a large number of barbarian tribes in the traditional Han area—one of the special products of Shannan West Road is the rag—the What is your attitude towards them?

This cannot be solved in one or two generations, or even in one or two hundred years, so it is necessary to distinguish between priorities.

In the Tang Dynasty, Jiangdong and Jiangxi were extensively developed. Jiangdong was better, and Jiangxi was slightly worse.He no longer needs to worry about these two places, and the general trend has come. Even if no resources are invested, the last barbarians in Jiangxi will be gradually assimilated, and then become another traditional Han place.

After the fall of Huguang in the Northern Song Dynasty, a large number of people moved southward, and the Southern Song Dynasty carried out large-scale development here to support the front line of Xiangyang, so the speed of Sinicization can be described as fast.

Huguang, in fact, can accommodate a large number of people, especially when the population surged in the middle and late stages of the new dynasty.Do you want to keep it?
Compared with Huguang, Sichuan is another "hardest-hit area".Leaving aside the stretches of barbarian settlements in the Daba Mountain area to the north, the Han forces also spent hundreds of years slowly moving south to the Li and Ya areas in the south alone.In the meantime, there are repetitions, and there are countless situations of see-saw.

Who would dare to say that the areas around Yibin, Luzhou, Leshan, and Zigong in later generations were not Han districts?But at this time, if you go around and take a look, the average population of a county is only a few thousand registered households. Compared with the population of [-] registered households in a county near Chengdu in the north, it is really difficult to stretch.

However, there are so many barbarian and black households in the local area that they are not under the control of the government at all.At best, Mu Wang has been transformed into a king for many years and is relatively obedient.The reform of the land in the southwest is not the patent of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but has actually been going on since ancient times.Sichuan has not yet completed the land reform, and you have no foundation for large-scale transformation of Guizhou and Yunnan.

This time when Li Tangbin went south, the three prefectures of Li, Ya, and Yi were in great trouble, and the remaining tribes were probably not in good shape, so they must be attacked next time, artificially creating a "Sinicization Corridor" from southern Sichuan to Yunnan.

This is something that can be done in the near future.

As for the source of population, Shao Shude looked at Qinzhou's household registration, and found that it was very rich—naturally recruited from Kansai and Hebei.

"What about that Zheng—" Shao Shude sat down and forgot the name of the Nanman envoy for a moment.

"Zheng Yuan." Han Quanhui, who accompanied him all the way from Chang'an to Qinzhou, reminded.

"Let Zheng Yuan come and see me." Shao Shude said: "Listen to what he has to say."

Of course, just listen to it.

In Shao Shude's eyes, the Dachanghe Kingdom is another Bohai Sea.

He once read the records of the former Tang envoys who traveled to Nanzhao, and knew that the existence of Nanzhao actually brought great changes to the local tribes, mainly in terms of culture, economy and productivity.

Taking the areas under the jurisdiction of the six Jiedushi as an example, the agricultural level of the local people in the area of ​​Ailao Mountain, Lancang River, northern Myanmar, and west of Gaoligong Mountain has greatly improved, the population has increased, and their horizons have become wider.

And the upper class of Nanzhao Kingdom is very "Tang" style.

Take Duan Yizong as an example. When this person was stranded in Sichuan in history, he wrote quite good poems such as "Homesickness"-the pedestrians in Lubei are gone, and the letter in Yunnan has not been returned.If you don't sweep the flowers in front of the court, who will climb the willows outside the door.Sitting for a long time eliminates silver candles, worrying more and reducing beauty.Suspending the heart, the moon in the autumn night shines on Guanshan for thousands of miles.

Its "Title Judge Zan Wei You Listening to Geishadong Yunge" also shows its profound cultural heritage of the Han Dynasty.

This top-down Sinicization is very similar to that of Bohai State.The Tang Dynasty practiced Jiedushi, and Nanzhao also did it. The Tang Dynasty had government soldiers, and Nanzhao followed suit. All kinds of official systems and even the traditions of appointing generals and entering ministers are very similar.

This country continued to absorb the culture of the Tang Dynasty, and then assimilated the barbarians in the jurisdiction of the six major festivals. It did a very good job, and it also warmed up for the later dynasty's development in the southwest.

For this kind of country, Shao Shude couldn't bear to destroy it, but he really wanted to eat it.Now that the battle has come to this point, he will not hesitate, even if he can't eat all of it, the core two capital areas must be taken - Nanzhao and Dachanghe Kingdom, also use the two capitals to control the surrounding areas Various festival towns and governor's mansions.

It is his preliminary idea to use the "Sinicization Corridor" in southern Sichuan to connect the two capitals of Dali and Shanchan.Even if the envoy of the Great Nagawa Kingdom rubbed his lips, it would be difficult for him to change his mind.

(End of this chapter)