A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1182 When the fake is true, the truth is also false

night,

The people of Suiye City slaughtered cattle and sheep and celebrated the victory with joy.

Although the weather was getting colder, there was wine and meat, so both the Tang army and the Turkic tribal soldiers didn't care about the cold. Some of them even got so drunk that they took off their clothes and wrestled in the snow beside the campfire.

Wu Huaiyu chatted with everyone for a while, drank a cup of milk tea, and then went to inspect and comfort the Anxi soldiers on duty tonight, and brought them hot mutton soup.

After inspecting the area, he returned directly to the town's military headquarters.

Take off your heavy fur coat, boil a pot of water on the stove, brew a cup of green tea, watch the tea leaves unfold in the hot water, watch the tea turn tender green, the aroma fills your nose, take a sip, and it tastes fresh and refreshing.

Wu Huaiyu closed his eyes and savored the memory with great satisfaction.

It has been a long time since I had such fresh green tea. This tea was just sent from Chang'an after traveling thousands of miles. My wife Fan Xuanfu sent servants to deliver it.

Along with the tea came many letters from home. His wives and concubines all wrote to him, and his older children also wrote to their father, expressing their longing and concern for his safety.

Wu Huaiyu was drinking tea and roasting fire.
I started reading the letter from home under the light.

It was only in the letter that he learned that the tea he had just drunk was sent to Chang'an by Runniang and Sanlang from Luzon in the South China Sea.
This tea is Luzon high mountain green tea, and it has a relatively fresh taste.

A letter from home is worth ten thousand pieces of gold. Being in the Western Regions, seven or eight thousand miles away from Chang'an, it takes a long time to exchange letters. Everything is fine at home. Dalang Chengsi is still serving the emperor in the palace. He is becoming more and more calm and it is said that he has a good relationship with his future daughter-in-law, the princess.

Sanlang was also doing well in Luzon. Although he was only fourteen years old, with the help of Wu Huaiyu to establish the Luzon system and the assistance of the people he arranged, Luzon entered a period of stable development.

The third brother Chengzhi told him a good news in the letter, that the spice route had been opened. After several conflicts and battles with the Sri Lankan merchants and Indian merchants who bought spices from the Spice Islands, Luzon's fleet won a great victory.
As a result, Luzon controlled the purchase of spices from the Spice Islands. Now, whether it was spice merchants from Srivijaya, India, or Lion Country, they all had to purchase spices from the Luzon military family.

Moreover, Luzon now not only controls and monopolizes the raw materials of the Spice Islands, but also controls the spice processing of the Spice Islands.
This meant that Luzon not only made more money, but also had greater control over the spice trade.

Today, a steady stream of spices is transported from the Luzon fleet via the spice route to the Port of Luzon, where they are processed, traded, and distributed.
After Luzon mastered the raw materials of many spices, it also seized most of the Central Plains spice market from Kunlun sea merchants.
In the past, most of the spices from the Central Plains were transported overland via the Silk Road. Even spices such as cloves and nutmeg, which originated from the South Pacific Islands, were first purchased and processed by merchants from Srivijaya, and then sold to merchants from Lion Country, Funan, and India in the Palembang area. They then sold them to India, and then to Persian, Arab, and even Roman merchants.
Then merchants from India and Persia sold spices to the Yellow River, and the Sogdians sold them to the Central Plains over a long distance, making a big circle.
I don't know how many times the price has increased.
In the past, the prices of Chang'an pepper, cloves, etc. were a thousand times higher than those in their places of origin.

The Tang people thought that all spices were produced in India, Sri Lanka and other places, but they did not know that most of them were actually produced in Southeast Asia.

Now that Luzon has mastered the raw materials and processing of many spices from the Spice Islands, it is natural that it can also ship a large amount of spices to Lingnan or Fujian through the Guangzhou-Luzon route or the Quanzhou-Lugang-Luzon route, and then from Guangzhou to Jiangzhou, or from Quanzhou to Hangzhou.
With the help of the Yangtze River or the Grand Canal, the spices could be quickly transported to various parts of the Central Plains.

Chengzhi happily told his father that the spices from Luzon were now continuously shipped to the Central Plains. With their price advantage, they quickly seized the spice market from the Silk Road in the West. The spices that originally came from the sea route were completely unable to compete with them in terms of price and quantity, and now they were completely defeated.

Luzon spices completely crush them not only in terms of the quality, quantity but also in terms of price.

Moreover, with the stabilization of the spice routes, the output of spices processed in Luzon will increase further in the future, and the price of spices will be further reduced. In this way, other spice merchants by land and sea will no longer be able to compete with them.

In the final analysis, Luzon's competitive advantage lies in their control over the origin of the product. Secondly, through the spice route and the route from Luzon directly to the mainland, it not only reduces the time for resale and trafficking, but also reduces the markups of the middlemen.

In just a few years, Luzon spices will be able to basically monopolize the spice market in the Central Plains. Even though the prices are much lower than those of the original Hu merchants, the profits are still astonishing.

Now several large shipyards have been built in Luzon, the shipbuilding industry is extremely booming, and the spice route is very busy. Along this route, Luzon has opened up many new ports in the islands and conquered many indigenous islanders.

The only thing that restricts Luzon is still the old problem, which is the decreasing number of Han immigrants from the Central Plains.

After reading the letter from the third brother, Wu Huaiyu was very pleased. The child had grown up, and the development of Luzon was just as he had expected, very stable. If it continued to develop in this direction, it would be able to gain a firm foothold in the Luzon Islands and even dominate the eastern part of the South China Sea.

Although the major powers in the west, such as Srivijaya, Funan, and Chenla, are also regional powers, there is still a lot of buffer space between their development direction and Luzon as they are separated by Borneo, Java Island, etc.

Wu Huaiyu's plan for Luzon was to base himself on the main island of Luzon, then control several large archipelagos in the south, and then control the Spice Islands in the southeast. With the help of maritime trade and spices, Luzon Island would be very wealthy. With Luzon's agriculture, fisheries, mining, smelting, and shipbuilding, it would be invincible in the South China Sea.

The only thing we need to do is to find a way to encourage Han immigrants to have more children.

Wu Huaiyu wrote back to Chengzhi and Runniang.
The letter praised the third brother highly and also praised the civil and military officials of Luzon. He asked the third brother to distinguish clearly between rewards and punishments and to be generous in rewarding those who had fought and contributed to Luzon.

Finally, a suggestion was made to encourage the Han people in Luzon to take more concubines and have more children. Rewards should be given for having children, and subsidies should be given every year before the child is three years old. The government should even help these Luzon immigrants to marry wives in their hometowns in the Central Plains. Not only would they be given subsidies, but those who had no money could also receive special dowry loans with no interest for three to five years to help them marry wives.

Wu Huaiyu was in the Western Regions, but his heart was still on Luzon, because that was the Wu family's last retreat.

At the end of the letter, Wu Huaiyu advised the third brother that since Luzon Spice was now successful and profitable, they should consider profit sharing and could not monopolize all the profits.

Luzon can exclusively control the Spice Islands and spice routes, and master the production and processing of raw materials, but after the spices are transported to Guangzhou Port, Xiangdao Port and Lu Port, they must start to be distributed.

It was distributed not only to the Wu family's clansmen and in-laws, but also to some of the Wu family's allies, and even to appropriate amounts to the clan relatives and noble families with whom they were not closely related.

This is the same as the Wu family's previous sugar and liquor industries. You can't eat alone, you have to share the profits appropriately, so that you can form alliances with interests and have people protect you.

I wrote a long letter to Chengzhi and Runniang, mother and son.

Huaiyu read the letter from Fan Jiuniang Yuzi again. She said that Concubine Wei in the palace had started to talk about the marriage between her eldest daughter Yingluo and the tenth prince Ji Wang. Concubine Wei hoped that Yingluo could get married earlier. Yingluo was fourteen years old. She asked Wu Huaiyu if it was okay for her daughter to get married next year. Wu Huaiyu had to make the decision on this matter.

Finally, she told Huaiyu a piece of news: her cousin, Wu Erniang, the concubine of the crown prince, gave birth to a daughter on the day of Xiaoxue in late October.

The Crown Prince loved this daughter very much, and the Emperor also loved this granddaughter. As soon as she was born, the Emperor rewarded Wu Erniang and her daughter with many things.

He also granted the child the title of Princess Taiyuan, with a fief of 300 households.

When seeing this news, Wu Huaiyu couldn't help but think of his cousin Wu Erniang who was far away in Chang'an. She finally had her first child. Although it was a daughter, it was also good.

This showed two things. First, the problem that the prince had with taking medicine indiscriminately before had been cured. Second, it seemed that this cousin was still favored by Cheng Qian.

Read each letter from home carefully and reply seriously.

This winter night in Suiye City in the Western Regions is full of warmth.

There was a knock on the door.
"Prime Minister Wu, General Shi wants to see you." Xiong Kuohai, a personal soldier outside, reported loudly. "Let him in."

"Yes." Xiong Kuohai turned around and came outside, saying to Shi Shouxin who was standing there, "General Shi, Prime Minister Wu asked you to come in."

Shi Shouxin nodded and patted Xiong Kuohai's soldiers on the shoulders, "Thank you for your hard work. When you take a break from your shift, you can come to my place for a drink."

"it is good."

Shi Shouxin straightened his clothes and strode in.

The purple-faced young Xiong Kuohai looked at Shi Shouxin with admiration. He said to his accomplices Luo Cheng, You Junda, Zhu Can, Wu Yunzhao, and Wu Tianxi, "Do you think General Shi is really the grandson of the Shi Kingdom?"

Xiong Kuohai and Luo Cheng were orphans who were later adopted by the Wu family and lived in the Liyuan in the south of Chang'an. Their names were given by Wu Huaiyu himself after they entered the Liyuan.

The Wu family has many orphanages, but the Liyuan in the south of the city is the earliest one to open. The orphans in the Liyuan there have a closer relationship with Wu Huaiyu. When they are in the garden, they directly call Wu Huaiyu "Aye".

Today, this first group of opera orphans are all in their teens or early twenties. Xiong Kuohai and others have become the personal soldiers of Prime Minister Wu as they wished.

"Minister Wu said that General Shi is the grandson of the Shi Kingdom, so of course he is." said the pale-faced Luo Cheng.

You Junda smiled and said, "Yes, if Prime Minister Wu says so, then it is so."

Wu Yunzhao and Wu Tianxi are brothers. "I really envy General Shi. He is so young, but he has become the governor of Dayuan and will become the king."

Everyone was very smart and did not believe that Shi Shouxin was the grandson of the Shi Kingdom. After all, Shi Shouxin had always followed Prime Minister Wu. They also knew Shi Shouxin's background very well. He was born a poor farmer from Shuofang. How could he be the grandson of a prince?

"Our young master is also appointed as the commander of Suiye this time, commanding 5,000 soldiers to guard the area."

When Zhu Can talked about Li Keyong, the military commander of their guards, his face was full of envy and admiration.

"General An has also made great contributions this time. I wonder how he will be rewarded."

"I wonder when we can be as great as them," Xiong Kuohai sighed.

Shi Shouxin entered the house.
"Why aren't you out drinking with the brothers?"

Shi Shouxin's face was red, he had drunk a lot of wine, after all, he was the protagonist of today's celebration.

"I have something on my mind, and I want to ask Aye."

"Are you dissatisfied with my matchmaking for you and letting you marry the daughter of Inedagan?"

"Not really, it's just a little sudden."

"Then do you know why I arranged this marriage for you?"

"Aye must be doing this for my own good,"

"That's right. I support you to be the King of Shiguo and recommend you to be the Governor of Dayuan. I hope you can control Shiguo for the court and suppress the nine surnames of Sogdia in Hezhong. Although I will give you 5,000 Anxi soldiers to garrison Shiguo, the situation you will face in the future is still very complicated.
Inedagan is a Turkic nobleman who is very influential in Shiguo. He is also married to a Sogdian nobleman in Shiguo. If you marry Inedagan's daughter and make her your queen, you will be able to gain the support of the Turkic and Sogdian nobles in Shiguo, at least the support of a large majority of them."

Wu Huaiyu captured the King of Shi and Tutun. Next, he would have to purge the direct descendants of the two kings. However, to rule Shi, it was not enough to just send a prince of unknown origin to be the king.
It also needs the support of local forces.

Inedagan was a surrenderist who was very aware of the times. He was also quite influential in the Shi Kingdom. So letting Shi Shouxin marry his daughter was a good signal that the Tang Dynasty would not wipe out the Shi Kingdom.

"Am I really the grandson of the Shi Kingdom?" Shi Shouxin couldn't help but ask in the end.

Wu Huaiyu laughed,
"What do you think?"

"I, I don't think so."

Wu Huaiyu poured a cup of tea for his adopted son and said, "Shitou, you have been with me for more than ten years and have learned a lot from me. The truth is very simple. You are not a prince of the Shi Kingdom, and your father is not a prince who fled from the Shi Kingdom.

But, if I say that you are the grandson of the Shi Kingdom and the court needs you to be the grandson of the Shi Kingdom, then you are the grandson of the Shi Kingdom and will immediately become the king of the Shi Kingdom and restore the royal lineage of the Shi surname. "

False is true when it is true and false, and there is no place for nothing.

When Shi Shouxin heard this, he was not disappointed, "I understand."

"Any questions?"

"No, I will remember my mission."

"Don't be so serious. Just go ahead and be the King of the Stone Kingdom and the Governor of Dayuan. I'll support you.

Behind you is Suiye Town. Ya'er will guard Suiye from now on. It is only a thousand miles away from you. If you need anything, just call on him for support."

"Aye, can I marry another Han woman from the Central Plains?"

"Of course you can. If you like any daughter of a noble family, I will go to find a match for you. As the king of the Stone Kingdom, it is normal for you to have three wives and four concubines."

"How about I choose another Sogdian woman for you, Princess Kangguo?"

Wu Huaiyu said with a smile, "Or, I can ask the Saint for permission to select a princess from the royal family, and grant her the title of princess, and then marry her to you?"

Shi Shouxin waved his hands repeatedly, "How dare I marry the princess?"

"I think this is a good idea. It is very suitable for you, the king of the Stone Kingdom, to marry a Tang princess. I will submit a petition to the Saint right now. Not only will I guarantee you the title of King of the Stone Kingdom and Governor of Dayuan, but I will also allow you to marry a Tang princess."

(End of this chapter)