Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 530 Interrogation
Of course, the victory of the Tubo people in foreign wars can make up for these effects to a certain extent, such as the plundered population, the plundered wealth, and the expanded land can bring more fertile and richer fiefdoms to the Tubo nobles.But there must be a premise for all this, that is, the war must be won, and the spoils brought will be more than the consumption of the war, otherwise the business cannot be maintained.

But the problem is that the Tubo Empire was almost the same as the Tang Dynasty in history, and it lasted for almost 200 years. Obviously, the Tubo people could not have won the war for such a long time, otherwise the Tubo Empire would have annexed the Tang Dynasty or the Indian subcontinent. , To be able to maintain such a long war without social collapse, there must be something in the Tubo Empire that he does not know is supporting him.

"Where is that Tubo vice-hundred household?" Wang Wenzuo asked.

"It's right under the hall!" Igillian Bode hesitated: "But his feet were frostbitten when he came here, and he can't walk on his own now, so—"

"Then carry it up on a stretcher!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile, "Now is not the time to be formal. By the way, what's his name?"

"Den Zeng!"

"Dan Zeng?" Wang Wenzuo frowned. He didn't like the name, but it's nothing. The beauty and ugliness of a name has nothing to do with a person's quality, not to mention that it's just a diacritic: "Pass him up." ! We're running out of time!"

————————————————————————

A fire was burning in the brazier, and the air in the room was stifling.The heat made Dan Zeng drowsy.The doctor told him to lie on his back, and he immediately closed his eyes so that he could rest.There was the muffled sound of a wooden pestle hitting a stone mortar outside the door. It was the doctor's apprentice pounding herbs. "It will hurt a little later!" said the doctor, "but this is a good thing, at least it means that your feet are still saved. If you change someone else, these two legs will be finished!"

Tenzeng couldn't quite understand what the doctor said, and he just nodded blankly in a drowsy state. As a prisoner, he was lucky enough to be able to lie on the bed instead of being shackled and thrown into the cattle pen.The doctor is a thin middle-aged man. He carefully peeled off Tenzin's pants and boots, exposing his calf and swollen ankle. He sighed softly, took the mortar from his apprentice, and smeared the crushed herbs inside. On Tenzin's bruised and swollen feet, a severe stabbing pain immediately awakened Tenzin from his sleep, and he let out a scream.

"I said it would be very painful!" The doctor laughed jokingly, "It hurts or you become a cripple, you choose yourself!
"The governor wants to see him immediately!" Acton raised the curtain and said to the doctor.

"Great Governor?" The doctor was taken aback, and he pointed to Dan Zeng on the bed: "But this guy can't stand up at all now, how come he sees the Great Governor!"

"Then carry it over on a stretcher!" Acton said: "The governor said that the situation is urgent and there is no need to be formal. You should wrap his feet quickly. The smell is too strong. You can't let the governor smell him. foot smell?"

"Okay!" The doctor quickly finished painting Tenzin, and then wrapped it tightly with cloth. Two servants came in and carried Tenzin onto the stretcher. Acton said to the Qiang girl beside him, "Tell him, If the governor wants to ask him later, if he is stupid, even the king of heaven and I will not be able to save him!"

"Great Governor?" The Qiang girl's translation was terrible, but Tenzin still figured out the main idea. In Tubo, a low-level officer like him is not qualified to directly meet such a high-level officer. The Tang people must have a plan for doing so, so What should I do?Should he die without saying a word, or sell his family and tribe in exchange for his life?He felt like his head was stuffed into a big ball of wet towels, making a mess.

————————————————————

Tenzeng entered the room with hesitation and doubts, and he saw a handsome and capable young man sitting in the middle, with a round collar, a gray haircut, a neatly trimmed beard, and curious eyes, standing on his right hand. A handsome young man was talking to the man in the middle.

"People are here, let's start!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "Iji Lianbode, I will trouble you to be a clerk!"

"Of course!" Yiji Lianbode responded, and returned to the other desks, picked up a pen and paper, and waited for Wang Wenzuo's inquiry.

"Let him introduce himself first, name, identity, official position, tribe he belongs to, and what is the name of his superior!"

Facing Wang Wenzuo's series of questions, Dan Zeng answered them one by one obediently. In his opinion, this is not a submission to the enemy's despotic power, let alone betraying his family and tribe. After all, most of these questions are related to his own identity. It doesn't matter what the ongoing war is. It would be different if Wang Wenzuo asked the Tibetans about their military plans and their strength.

"How many people are there in your family, how old are you, how many children and wives do you have? Do you have brothers and sisters? How many servants, how many cows, how many fields, and how many crops can you grow each year? The harvested food is How many times are the seeds? How many years of grain do you have in your family? What kind of land do you use to harvest crops? Wooden plow or iron plow? Iron sickle or stone sickle? How do you dehull the grain? Do you use livestock to pull stone mills? Or manpower , Is there a wind or water mill? How much is the price of grain in your hometown this year? You didn’t use copper coins? How much is the price of cloth and grain? Can you drink tea on weekdays? Are your parents still alive? Oh, your father has passed away, How much did he spend on his funeral? Three yaks and twelve sheep? This is a lot of money! Your mother is still alive and in good health, and she can still carry water and weave cloth every morning, which is really enviable Ah! Healthy old people are the blessings of our juniors!"

As the questioning deepened, Tenzin became more and more confused.The question asked by the "King Dudu" of the Tang Army is very broad. He seems to have deliberately avoided questions that would arouse Dan Zeng's vigilance. In the end he even complained about his boots.

"Master originally said that you can go home after the two-month service period is over, but it has been delayed for a month and a month. The clothes and boots brought from home, the clothes are torn and can be mended, and the shoes are torn. What should I do? I brought three pairs of shoes, the soles of two pairs were worn out, and the third pair also had problems, this time my feet were frozen because of the shoes!"

"It really shouldn't be! When you come out to serve as a soldier for the superior, don't you have to prepare your own shoes?"

"Tubo is like this! Weapons, armor, clothes and shoes are all prepared by myself!" Ten Zeng asked in surprise, "Didn't Datang prepare it himself?"

"Yes, but if the time is too long, the emperor will give you clothes that day. Once in winter and summer, Gebu in summer and cloth in winter, so that the soldiers can make their own clothes and shoes. Otherwise, no matter how good the clothes and shoes are when they go out to fight, It wears out after a long time! In addition, there are pickle money and charcoal money, the former is for soldiers to buy pickles for meals, the latter is for sergeants to keep warm in winter, and the rent of family members in the hometown can also be reduced or exempted!"

"If that's the case, your Emperor of the Tang Dynasty is really kind!" Ten Zeng sighed.

Wang Wenzuo smiled, and didn't answer Tenzeng's words. He said with a smile, "I heard from Acton that you carried a copper pot with your friend's bones in it, and you wanted to take it back for burial. Is it true or not?"

"There is such a thing. He is my good friend since childhood. If I die before him, he will do the same!" Tenzin replied.

"Well, this is a rare act of righteousness!" Wang Wenzuo nodded, he turned to Acton and said, "Let's ask here today! Give him a more comfortable room and treat him well! Before he recovers from his injury, he doesn't have to go to the hospital." Shackles!"

"Obey!" Acton replied, and took Tenzin away.

"Captain! I've memorized everything. Can you see if there is any problem?" Yiji Lianbode handed over the written book, and Wang Wenzuo looked at it, only to see a beautiful small script in his hand, which looked pleasing to the eye: " Not bad, not bad, your handwriting can be exchanged for wine in Chang'an wine shop!"

"Thank you, Commander, for your compliment!" Igillian Bode said with a smile, "But you didn't ask about those important things just now. Could it be that you wanted to attack the heart first?"

"You're only half right!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile, "Actually, I already learned a lot from that man today!"

"Oh? A lot of things? But I just heard you asking about his parents' affairs!"

"That's because you didn't think about it!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "I asked him how many children, how many servants, how many cows, how many fields, and how many crops can be planted each year? The food harvested is from seeds. How many times? How many years do you have food in your family? It should be noted that the Tubo army has no military pay, and they are soldiers, peasants and farmers. Knowing this, you can roughly infer how many troops they can recruit, and these troops can continue to fight outside for how long.

Knowing how many servants and children there are in the family, you can know how many soldiers they can send out, because if there are too many young and middle-aged people guarding outside, then the servants in the country are likely to cause riots.Comparing the price of grain and cloth can tell whether the food and clothing are sufficient, because the Tubo people did not mint money, and the middle school actually used cloth instead of copper coins. Asking if they can drink tea, you can know whether the Tubo people’s business travel is smooth, because Tubo has no money. Self-produced tea, all the tea comes from foreign trade, the tea trade can not only meet the needs of the people and nobles, but also the lord can get a lot of tax money from the tea trade, just like the salt tax and wine tax in our Tang Dynasty generally.The king's finances are scarce, even if he can send troops, it will lead to instability of the royal power and the danger of overthrow.Do you think these are useful? "

Hearing Wang Wenzuo's words, Yiji Lianbode couldn't help being stunned. He never expected that Wang Wenzuo could get so much useful information from the usual conversation just now. No wonder he just wanted to use a pen as a recorder.

"Leave this first!" Wang Wenzuo nodded the book: "After a few days, wait for his foot injury to recover, and then ask him again. These days, you follow what I asked today, and go to sort out those Tibetan prisoners. Once, sort it out and make it into a volume, and if possible, send it to Chang'an to present to the emperor!"

--------------------------

Outside Chang'an City, Changting.

"Sister!" Princess Pu'an raised her wine glass: "I don't know when we will see you again after this farewell! I only hope that you can sing triumphantly this time and rebuild the tooth tent by the Qinghai Lake!"

"Thank you, sister!" Princess Xiping raised her wine glass, but her complexion was not pretty, she was pale and bleak, and her smile flashed: "I hope everything will be as you said!"

"What's the matter?" Princess Pu'an felt that her sister's expression was wrong, she waved her hand to make the maid at the side retreat, and asked in a low voice: "What's the matter? Isn't this a good thing? Why are you like this? Are you feeling unwell?"

"No!" Princess Xiping smiled bitterly and shook her head.

"What is that? You don't want to leave Chang'an?" the eldest princess asked.

"Yes, but not because of this!" Princess Xiping whispered: "Sister, do you think Datang can win this time?"

Princess Pu'an looked at Princess Xiping, and after a while, she said in a low voice: "I'm a woman, how can I understand military affairs? It's just that the imperial court chose General Xue as the chief commander of the march, and made all the arrangements in Longyou, Beiting, and Guannei. Elite soldiers and strong generals, if this is not enough to win, then there is no other way!"

"I'm not saying that General Xue is not good! It's just that he is much worse than Duke Ying and Duke Liang (Qiru Heli)!"

Princess Pu'an laughed when she heard the words: "It's true, but the Duke of England is dead, and the Duke of Liang is old and recuperating recently. How can he lead the army to fight? Among the generals of this generation, General Xue It's already top notch!"

"Sister, General Xue is brave, but the people of Tubo are very different. The most important thing is that the road is far away, the mountains are high and the weather is cold. I'm afraid—"

"Okay, don't talk about it!" Princess Pu'an interrupted her sister: "The matter of sending troops has been decided, you and I are both women and Taoists, and you are the official wife of King Tuyuhun, how can you talk about this kind of thing?" ?”

"Okay!" Seeing this, Princess Xiping had no choice but to nod her head: "I hope this is a waste of worry for my wife!"

After seeing off Princess Xiping, Princess Pu'an fell into deep thought on the way home. He knew very well that his sister was not the kind of boudoir woman who was prone to nervous breakdown.The Li family, which started in Wuchuan, also inherited the sturdy family tradition of women in the Northern Dynasties, which is different from Cui Lu's family tradition of passing on etiquette and law and living in seclusion.The Li family's daughter is outgoing, brave, and even aggressive.When Li Yuan raised troops in Taiyuan, his daughter, Princess Pingyang, who stayed in Guanzhong at that time, resolutely sent her husband Chai Zhao away, while she fled to Li's Manor. In Chang'an, Princess Pingyang already had [-] soldiers, occupying a large territory.

Later, the princesses of the Tang Dynasty also actively participated in the government and recruited talents. They were by no means the kind of women who lived in the boudoir and didn't know everything.Princess Xiping was married to King Tuyuhun for many years, and the two ruled the Tuyuhun tribe. They had a lot of dealings with the Tubo people. A person like her is so pessimistic about the future war, I'm afraid it can't be ignored, right?

　Thanks to the book friends such as Hei Changzhi, Zhuanzhuanzhu, Cao Mengde's natural overlord, etc. for their rewards.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)