A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1027 How can there be a prince who has been in the world for forty years?

The emperor granted Luzon to the Wu family,

But the emperor didn't know how big Luzon was.

The emperor who was far away in Chang'an didn't even know that Wu Huaiyu used the tiger skin as a banner and opened up the territory with a swipe of his pen on the map, drawing in the entire sea.

The emperor gave Luzon Island, but Wu Huaiyu took all the Luzon Islands into his arms.

It starts from Luzon Island in the north and reaches Mindanao Island in the south. It also includes the Visaya Islands in the middle of the two islands, and even the Palawan Islands and Sulu Islands in the west.

We are almost paddling to Borneo.

The map of Luzon that Wu Huaiyu paid tribute to the court was very out of proportion. The two major islands of Luzon and Medan were both very small. Especially Medan was almost the same size as Luzon. It was the sixth largest island in the world, but It's just a small dot on the map, like an egg laid out by Luzon Island.

Not to mention other islands such as Visayas. The seven major islands of Visayas plus those small islands are half the size of Luzon, but I only see seven small dots on the map. I don’t know. I thought it was the same reef as the Dongsha Islands.

As for the Spice Islands further to the southeast, Wu Huaiyu didn't mark them at all on the map.

In fact, if you want to mark it, Wu Huaiyu can draw very detailed, at least the rough proportions are not so bad. He can even draw Borneo Island, Sulawesi Island, New Guinea Island, and even Australia.

But of course Wu Huaiyu would not do this.

He even intentionally blurred the location of the Luzon Islands.
Drawing it further southeast, it is obvious that Luzon Port is only more than 2,000 miles away from the Pearl River estuary, and the northwest corner of Luzon Island is less than 2,000 miles away from the Pearl River in Guangzhou.

On the map that Wu Huaiyu paid tribute to, the distance was more than doubled.

He said that Luzon Port is five thousand miles away from Guangzhou.

Wealth is not revealed in vain.

Luzon is a treasure, let alone exposed.

Even if Wu Huaiyu is very sure, even if Li Shimin really knows the details of Luzon, he will not take it. After all, even if the Tang Dynasty does not implement the Guanzhong standard system, the core of the empire will definitely be in the Central Plains.

The main direction of its development is also Hexi Longyou and Youyan Liaodong.

Again, it’s Jiannan and Annan, definitely not in the deep sea.

But you have to guard against certain people,
There will always be some people in the court who are too short-sighted to see the good things.

In other words, even though Wu Huaiyu's status in the court is not low now, he has made many enemies along the way. Others just can't see that the Wu family occupies such a treasured land, and they want to disrupt and destroy it.

Even if the imperial court does not come to rob Luzon,
But as long as the imperial court imposes restrictions on Luzon, such as restricting the population from migrating to Luzon, prohibiting craftsmen, and some strategic materials such as iron and other materials from being exported to Luzon,

Then Luzon is stuck. Without the steady stream of Han immigrants from the Central Plains, Luzon will not be able to develop no matter how big it is. Without the craftsmen and talents from all walks of life in the Central Plains, Luzon will only be a source of raw materials no matter how developed it is. Sugar cane, cotton, tea, and some minerals are opened, but they can only sell raw materials.

If we cannot engage in industrial upgrading, processing and manufacturing, then in the end our lifeline will still be in the hands of others.

The emperor still doesn’t know the details of Luzon.

But I must also vaguely know that Luzon should be pretty good, at least not worse than the two major islands of Liuqiu and Zhuya, but it is a bit far away.
The emperor must also know that the Wu family has been sending people to Luzon for the past two years.

But the emperor has never cared about it, turning a blind eye. If you have the ability to sneak it over, he doesn't care. Just don't do it too blatantly. This can be regarded as a comfort reward for Wu Huaiyu, a meritorious minister.

After all, the emperor kicked Wu Huaiyu out of the political hall and kept him in the wild land of Lingnan, but Wu Huaiyu had no objection. He also felt a little guilty because the court managed Lingnan so well.

If Wu Huaiyu doesn't rebel, the emperor won't care so much about getting some private land.
After all, Luzon was overseas. No matter how hard he tried, he could not threaten the Central Plains court.

"Be careful when sailing a thousand-year-old ship. You can never be too cautious."

Wu Huaiyu was sitting on the balcony of Little Luzon Harbor Castle, brewing a pot of tea from Little Luzon. Perhaps it was the volcanic ash here that gave the tea grown here a slightly different taste.

facing the sea,

Looking at the volcano in the distance,

The evening breeze was gentle and very pleasant.

This place is pretty good. Except for the fact that it's summer all year round, it's a bit hot, and there are frequent typhoons, everything else is great.

Especially now that the sea here is basically pollution-free,

Blue sea, clear water, white sand,

It is said that Cebu Island has more beautiful scenery.
If the emperor had a chance to come here, he would probably like it.

Historically, the emperor died in the 23rd year of Zhenguan. Now it is the late autumn of the 10th year of Zhenguan.
If the historical trajectory is followed, Emperor Li Shimin still has thirteen years to live.

But today's son is only thirty-nine years old at this time. If he hadn't been poisoned by the Tianzhu monk elixir, he would have been seventy years old like Li Yuan. There should be no problem.
Thirteen years, or thirty-one years?
If it was thirteen years, Wu Huaiyu felt that he didn't have to worry too much and kept a low profile. The thirteen years passed quickly.

When Li Shimin died, Li Chengqian ascended the throne.
Those are his students. As long as Wu Huaiyu doesn't insist on power like Changsun Wuji in history, then he certainly doesn't have to worry too much.

But if Li Shimin lived to be seventy years old,
When Wu Huaiyu thought about the thirty-one years left, his scalp felt numb.

Countless historical records reveal a historical fact: the longer those capable emperors lived, the more terrible and harmful they became. What's scary is not how wise and powerful they are, but the fact that these 'great emperors' often do many horrific things when they are old.

Liu Che, Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, Sun Quan, Emperor Wu of Wu Dynasty, Xiao Yan, Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty,

There are also Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Li Longji and Empress Wu Zetian,

Another example is Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan Dynasty, Kangxi and Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty. These people all lived to be seventy or eighty years old, and they made many big mistakes in their later years.

Liu Che, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, reigned for fifty-four years and made countless great achievements. However, in his later years, he caused a tragic witchcraft disaster, and the prince was forced to rebel and be killed.

As for Sun Quan, he established Soochow in the first half of his life and destroyed Soochow in the second half of his life. Cao Cao once said that he should be like Sun Zhongmou in having children, but in his later years, he made consecutive big mistakes and finally destroyed Soochow.

Xiao Yan, Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty, lived for more than eighty years, founded the Southern Liang Dynasty, and reigned for forty-eight years. However, in his later years, he also caused the Hou Jing Rebellion, and he eventually starved to death.

The same is true for Li Longji and others.

The emperor cannot live long;
Especially those capable emperors,
In their later years, they would inevitably become jealous of their ministers and even the prince. Their excessive arrogance made these emperors dizzy.
Li Shimin died early in history. He was only fifty-two years old when he reigned for twenty-three years. However, historical records show that Li Shimin actually did a lot of wrong things in his later years, such as the deposing of Prince Chengqian. Some people say that if Taizong had lived another ten or twenty years,
I'm afraid I'll make more big mistakes,
There may even be a second campaign to conquer Goguryeo and a third campaign to conquer Goguryeo.

History cannot be assumed, but for Wu Huaiyu, he has seen another possibility.

Today's Tang Dynasty,
The whole world is called Zhenguan Zhishi,
The only thing missing from the prosperous age is accumulation. According to this momentum, even if the Zhenguan Dynasty does not reach the prosperous age, the next emperor will definitely be able to lead the Tang Dynasty to the prosperous age.

Everyone believes that Datang will get better and better.

Wu Huaiyu was a little worried,

The emperor really wants to live another thirty years,
That is to stay in office for forty years,
Dare I ask, is there any prince in the world who has been in power for forty years?

Even if Cheng Qian can wait,

But will other people have thoughts that they shouldn’t have?
Or, would Li Shimin be worried that Cheng Qian wouldn't be in a hurry?
When the emperor gets old, will father and son be jealous?

Wu Zetian and Tang Xuanzong both deposed and established several princes. They deposed all the princes of the Tang Dynasty.

Cheng Qian has been the prince for ten years and his performance is getting better and better.

He was very prestigious in both the government and the public, and he was known as the virtuous prince all over the world.

Now Li Shimin may not care,

But what about ten years from now?
If one day there is suspicion between father and son, then the first person to be unlucky is not the prince, but the princelings. He, Wu Huaiyu, is recognized as the leader of the princelings in the world. His uncle, Sun Wuji, is not as high in the princelings as he is.

"Aye, the tea is cold. I'll change it for you."

Chengzhi saw him looking at the sea in trance for a long time,
Wu Huaiyu came back to his senses,
"Sanlang, how about you say that Aye will stay in Nanhai and never return to the Central Plains?"

Wu Chengzhi was stunned, "Aye, what does this mean?"

Wu Huaiyu was also thinking about this.

"To the south of Luzon Island is the Visaya Islands, headed by the seven islands of Cebu. To the south of this archipelago, there is also Mindanao, which is almost as big as Luzon Island."

Wu Huaiyu dipped his hands in tea and drew a map on the table.

Soon he drew a rough map of the Luzon Islands.
"Do you know why Aye is eager to expand southward?"

Wu Chengzhi shook his head. He was also a little surprised. The main island of Luzon is already big enough. Even the Luzon Plain is big enough.

But in the past two years, the Wu family has expanded very rapidly, establishing strongholds everywhere. Not only have strongholds and fortresses been established in the three major plains of Luzon, but they have also expanded beyond the main island.
My father also revealed that he would continue to expand southward.

“There are many small islands in the south of Mindanao. These islands are rich in pepper, cardamom, cloves and other spices. These spices are known as black gold.

The Central Plains have always thought that these spices are produced in Tianzhu and other places, but in fact they are produced on these islands in the South China Sea. The indigenous merchants there purchase these raw materials and sell them to maritime merchants in the west, who then sell them to the Lion Kingdom. , merchants from Tianzhu, they were trafficked to Tianzhu, and then transported to the Central Plains by Persian merchants and Sogdian merchants along the Silk Road through Persia, Hezhong, and the Western Regions.
After all these sales, its price has been hundreds or thousands of times higher than the price of the place of origin.
If we can open up a route to the Spice Islands, master these raw materials, and transport them back to the Central Plains for sale, do you know how profitable it will be here? "

Wu Chengzhi was still puzzled. No matter how huge the profits were, it was just a matter of making money. The Wu family still used Wu Huaiyu to make money personally.

"There are often storms at sea. I should be recuperating at Lingao Port in Yazhou now. If I encounter a storm on the way back to Guangzhou from Yazhou and the ship sinks in the sea, I will also be unfortunately killed..."

Wu Chengzhi was even more confused and couldn't understand at all.

Wu Huaiyu said to himself that he could definitely do it. Over the years, he had also secretly prepared several look-alike stand-ins.

Send a substitute back to Yazhou, make a public appearance, then board the ship and return,
Create a shipwreck halfway,
Afterwards, people will be searched and rescued, and the body of the substitute will be picked up. After many people have witnessed all this with their own eyes, Wu Huaiyu can go offline.

He can stay in Nanhai and Luzon from now on,
He can change his identity and open up the Visaya Islands, Mindanao, and Spice Islands for the Wu family.
It can also avoid the right and wrong in the future DPRK.

When he's 'dead', he's completely 'alive'.

But, has it really come to this?

(End of this chapter)