A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 392 The Great Ming Empire in the Sea

Wu Huaiyu discovered that Li Shimin admired the Han Dynasty, but the important ministers of Zhenguan preferred to follow the example of the Sui Kai Dynasty.

All kinds of regulations, policies and laws are almost copied from Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty. From Li Yuan and Li Shimin, to Pei Ji and Xiao Yu, and then to Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui, they also praised the distant strong man, but when it comes to reality, it is still I prefer Kaihuang who is closer.

Many important ministers in the court came from the founding emperor's prosperity, experienced the founding emperor's rule, and also experienced the collapse of the great cause. Now that they are governing the country, they are naturally more willing to copy the ready-made founding emperor's model.

After all, it was not long ago, and many things are current, and it is easy to copy them, and the people are willing to accept them.

From internal affairs to foreign affairs, from military affairs to finance, they are basically the same.

Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty adopted the policy of dividing and alienating the powerful Turkic grassland empire, uniting the weak and separating the strong, and cooperating with the peace policy. It can be said that it has achieved great success, low cost and high efficiency. The powerful Turkic was destroyed during the first emperor Falling apart, once five sweats fought in melee.

Back then, the Khan on the grasslands called the Northern Zhou and Northern Qi emperors in the Central Plains his two best sons in the Central Plains. They were very filial and paid tribute to whatever they wanted.

But when it came to Yang Jian, Sabolo Khan proclaimed himself a minister to Sui Dynasty, and also honored Yang Jian. The sage Mo Yuan Khan, referred to as the sage Khan.

Sha Bolue explained to the court that the meaning is that from below the sky and above the earth, the sun and the moon shine, only the sage Khan.

The saint Khan is higher than the Turkic Khan and is the nominal monarch of the Turkic Khan.

This is also a precedent.

Jieli Khan, who now dominates the grassland, was originally a small Khan when his father, Qimin Khan, was just like Tuli today, and Qimin's little Khan was also Tuli.

The Turkic Turks were fought by Yang Jian's eldest son, Sun Sheng, and Pei Shiju, these superb diplomats. Not only did the East and West Turks fight among themselves, but the descendants of Ashina, the Turkic Headquarters in the east, even fought among themselves.

At that time, Qimin was not even strong enough to participate in the battle of the Khans, but Yang Jian took a fancy to him and gave him special support, marrying a princess. One princess died not long after sending him, and he sent another one right away.

He insisted on supporting Qimin and other Khans and ran out to pick up the leak when both sides were wounded, but Qimin was defeated at first, and Yang Jian's special commander, Sun Sheng, Yang Su, and the others sent troops to support him, built a city for him, recruited his troops, and resettled him on the Great Wall. Within the fixed Xiang.

Forcibly stabilized his position, endorsed him, contacted various ministries, and finally sent troops, food and equipment, and helped him successfully sit on the position of Turkic Khan.

After Qimin became the Great Khan, until his death, he was the loyal dog of the emperor of the Sui Dynasty, guarding the northern border for the Great Sui Dynasty.Even after his son Sibi Khan succeeded to the throne, he was loyal to the Sui Dynasty for many years, until he led his troops to watch the battle in Liaodong, and saw through the reality of Yang Guanghao's high-spirited achievements, high-sightedness and low-handedness, and the fact that he was strong outside but capable, especially when Qimin and his father were the last After all the sons of the awe-inspiring war god Yang Su rebelled against Yang Guang,
Shibi Khan no longer paid attention to Yang Guang, and only then did he have the siege of Yanmen behind him.

Since then, his brothers Chuluo and Jieli have successively succeeded to the throne of Khan, and they no longer fear the Central Plains.

But these have nothing to do with Yang Jian. When Yang Jian was around, who in the grassland didn't respect the saint Khan?

There is nothing wrong with Yang Jian's grassland policy.

Although Changsun Sheng died of illness early, Pei Shiju is still there, but now he is taking the initiative to discard the word "Shi" to avoid taboo.

The 80-year-old Pei Ju is now a well-deserved authoritative expert on grasslands, diplomacy and trade on Western Region affairs. He is also the policy maker of the Tang Dynasty on Turks from Wude to the present Zhenguan Dynasty.

It has always been Pei Ju's policy to make friends with a long distance and attack close to him, unite the weak and leave the strong, and it has always been supported by the court.

At the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the Turks were also married. Before Chuluo Khan became the Great Khan, his wife was the daughter of Li Tang's family. But after Shibi Khan died, he inherited the Khan, according to the Turkic tradition. He adopted Princess Sui Yicheng, his sister-in-law and stepmother, as Ke Dun.

Qimin Khan's grandson, who is now Jieli's nephew Tuli Little Khan, was also married to the Sui Huainan princess by his concubine in the Sui Dynasty, and Li Shimin specially bestowed a royal cousin on Weiqiao alliance last year. Seal the princess and marry Tuli.

The matter of marrying the barbarians did not have any psychological pressure on the monarchs and ministers of the Tang Dynasty, and they didn't think there was any problem with it.

Because from the strong Han to the strong Sui, they all pursued the policy of peace.

It’s just that the marriage policy of the Sui Dynasty was more proactive than that of the Han Dynasty. In the early Han Dynasty, when the marriage was made, it was a bit embarrassing to be beaten.

However, the Sui Dynasty's kinship was active, and it was an important part of their military and foreign policy. Through kinship, canonization and other means, they wooed the leaders of the Turkic nobles.

For example, at that time Yang Jian hated Ke Dun of Dulan Khan very much. That princess was originally a pro-Turkic daughter of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. Later, Yang Jian changed her name to Princess Dayi. The alliance meant against the Sui Dynasty, so Yang Jian wanted to kill him.

The Sui Dynasty specially sent Pei Ju to secretly contact Dulan's younger brother, Tuli Xiaokehan Rangan, saying that he would marry the princess to him, but only if he killed Princess Dayi before marrying him, so Tuli slandered his elder brother Dulan to kill Dayi. Princess.

Afterwards, the Sui Dynasty fulfilled their promise to marry the princess to Tuli, but secretly sent people to slander and kill Tuli only for the sake of being close to the Sui Dynasty, and even had the ambition to replace Dulan.

Dulan and his brother Tuli turned against each other and conquered each other. The Turkic civil war resumed. In the end, both sides suffered losses.
The Sui Dynasty finally helped Tuli, who was beaten into a bereaved dog, and wiped out Dulan into a profuse sweat.

Compared with the marriages of the Han Dynasty, or even the marriages of the Northern Wei, Northern Zhou, and Northern Qi, the marriages of the Sui Dynasty are absolutely brilliant.

It's just that Wu Huaiyu has always been somewhat resistant to getting married.

He feels sorry for the princesses who are close to him. Whether it is Zhaojun going out of the fortress or Princess Wencheng going to Tibet in history, even if most of the golden branches and jade leaves of the Central Plains Empire are not real emperor's daughters, they are still royal princesses, conferred princesses, married When you go to a barbarian land, the customs and customs are completely different, and some even marry old men who are decades older, and what's more,
The customs of the barbarians are very different from those of the Central Plains. For example, the system of adoptive marriage, after the death of the father, wives and concubines are inherited by sons and younger brothers.

For example, when Yang Jian married Qimin Khan's second princess, Princess Yicheng, he married Qimin successively, as well as his sons Shibi, Chuluo, and today's Jieli. One person married father and son successively.

There were many marriages in the Tang Dynasty, not only with Eastern and Western Turks, but also with Tuyuhun, Tubo, Kumoxi, and Khitan.

In Huaiyu's eyes, being married is as shameful as paying tribute.

Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, there has been a lot of paying tribute to the Turks. No matter whether it is a mutual market, a reward or a reward in name, in fact, many of them are tributes in essence.

Just like the Weiqiao alliance last year, why does the emperor keep silent about the Weiqiao alliance now, because he is deeply ashamed of it.

Xieli paid tribute to the Tang Dynasty with some sheep and horses, and the emperor gave some gold and silk property in return.

But in fact, Li Shimin knew very well in his heart that he had just succeeded to the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, when he was beaten by Jieli, and then forced to buy and sell, paying tribute and paying protection fees.

Marriage, paying tribute, cutting land, indemnity, and becoming a vassal are all the same shame of the country and the world.

From the perspective of kings and courtiers, some things are just helpless temporary expedients, but from the perspective of subjects, it is shameful, very shameful.

The court meeting is over.

The emperor deliberately kept Wu Huaiyu and gave him a meal.

Dining with the emperor, a simple lunch work meal.

After dinner, give tea.

"During the court meeting just now, you seemed to be in a bad mood. You seemed to have a lot to say, but why didn't you say it in the end? What do you want to say?" Li Shimin asked.

"Your Majesty, my ministers have traveled all over the world. He once told my ministers that in the far east, east of the sea, there is a dynasty named Ming. It is said that their ancestors were descendants of the Yin and Shang Dynasties. The troops who conquered Dongyi in the east, under the leadership of a Yin Shang clan general, boarded the fleet. They wanted to go south to Ouyue to find an opportunity to make a comeback, but they were caught in a storm and drifted with the waves. On the far east coast of the sea, they landed there, established a city-state, reclaimed land, established diplomatic relations with the local aborigines, and slowly, through the efforts of many generations, they became a very large dynasty, and the name of the country was Ming."

"When the Ming Dynasty arrived in the Haidong Continent, there were not many people, and they faced many fierce native tribes and alliances. However, the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty had already set an ancestral precept."

"What ancestral training?" Li Shimin asked curiously.Because the crops such as corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and peppers presented by Wu Huaiyu were all said to come from the Haidong Continent and were collected by his master, Li Shimin had no doubts about this Haidong Daming.

"Your Majesty, the ancestral motto left by the Ming Taizu is,

Do not make love!No compensation, no cede of land, no tribute!

The emperor guards the gate of the country,
The king dies in Sheji!
Haidong Ming Dynasty also relied on this ancestral motto, they survived in that foreign country, defeated one after another powerful opponents, and finally established a powerful Ming Dynasty, even though this Ming Dynasty has experienced several times of powerful alien races Invasion, and even hit the capital city several times,
But the emperor has never been out of Beijing on a hunting tour. Even if an emperor led hundreds of thousands of troops to an expedition and was defeated and captured, the queen mother of the capital immediately established another emperor with the ministers. Various armies entered King Jingqin and finally defeated the invading enemy. "

"At that time, the great king of the Barbarian Kingdom who captured the Son of Heaven once imposed conditions on the city, asking for land, indemnity, marriage, vassalage and tribute, and then returned to the Son of Heaven, and immediately retreated.

But they would rather establish another emperor than cede territory, pay tribute, and become ministers. "

Li Shimin was shocked when he heard this.

"Is the Great Ming Dynasty still there?"

"Now, it has been 46 years since Ming Taizu formally established the Ming Dynasty,"

"Earlier than the Zhou Dynasty?" Li Shimin couldn't believe it. "How did they do it?"

"According to my master, the Ming Dynasty has actually gone through thirteen dynasties in the past 1000 years."

"Thirteen Dynasties?"

"It's like the former Han and the later Han. Whenever the Ming Empire was in peril, there would be clans that would eventually fight against King Niqin, calm down the chaos, and re-establish the imperial court. In this way, for more than a thousand years, thirteen dynasties rose successively, all descendants of Zhu Taizu of the Ming Dynasty. Children and grandchildren."

"Ming Taizu's surname is Zhu?"

"Well, back then, the Yin Shang clan led their troops to the Haidong mainland, and it took more than [-] years to develop. One of them took its fief Zhu as the surname. Later, around the time of King Zhou Weilie of the Warring States Period in the Central Plains, Zhu Taizu established the Ming Dynasty. It has been more than a thousand years, and it has gone through thirteen dynasties."

Li Shimin's eyes widened when he heard this. There was the Western Zhou and the Eastern Zhou in Central China, the Former Han and the Later Han, and the Western Jin and Eastern Jin. He didn't expect that there would be a Ming Dynasty that lasted for thirteen dynasties in Haidong Continent.

The Zhou Dynasty passed on 37 kings, and it was only 790 years, and the Han Dynasty was 420 years. If Wang Mang usurped the Han for 15 years, it was only [-] years.

Li Shimin did not expect that the Haidong Daming had passed through thirteen dynasties, and it had been handed down for 46 years, and it was still being passed down.

It is equivalent to the establishment of the dynasty from the Warring States Period in the Central Plains to the Tang Dynasty today.

"How much do you know about this Haidong Ming Dynasty? They practiced the clan enfeoffment system. Otherwise, how could the Ming Taizu's descendants continue to build the Ming Dynasty, reaching as many as thirteen dynasties?"

After Li Shimin became emperor, he has been thinking about how to make the Tang Dynasty last for generations, at least it must have a 400-year foundation like the Han Dynasty.

It can't be the same as Cao Wei, Yang Sui, or the Qin Dynasty of the first emperor, who died in the second and third generations.

Wu Huaiyu didn't expect bragging, but Li Shimin asked this.In fact, he was mainly explaining the ancestral motto of the unofficial history of the Ming Dynasty just now. In order to look awesome, he included the fact that the Eastern Roman Byzantine Dynasty had thirteen dynasties and lasted for more than a thousand years.

Unexpectedly, Li Shimin's main concern was whether the Ming Dynasty was a real feudal system, and then it could be rebuilt thirteen times and last for thousands of years.

Huaiyu hesitated.

As far as he is concerned, he is very opposed to the enfeoffment system of the old Zhu family. Perhaps the enfeoffment system of the kings started by Zhu Yuanzhang can indeed have the central government of Fengjiang Pingfan, but after Zhu Dijingnan successfully seized the throne, he immediately cut down the feudal clan. In fact, Zhu's enfeoffment system has completely changed. It has become a clan enfeoffment to raise pigs, with no power, not even scientific examinations, being an official, or serving in the army, or even engaging in business.

In the end, hundreds of thousands of pigs were raised, and when the dynasty perished, they could only be slaughtered.

Many systems are actually out of shape. The design may be good at the beginning, but it will eventually break.

Just like the enfeoffment system of the Jin Dynasty, it originally learned the lesson of Cao Wei being harsh on the clan, and was later easily usurped by the Sima family. The king's power continued to increase, and eventually lost control, triggering the Eight Kings Rebellion, and the Western Jin Dynasty fell.

But seeing the expectant look in the emperor's eyes, Wu Huaiyu knew that Li Shimin was obsessed with feudalism now, and ordinary people really couldn't persuade him.

"Your Majesty, I have heard that at the beginning of the founding of the empire, the Taizu set up the ancestral precepts and implemented a system of enfeoffment for the princes, but neither the capital nor the heart, but only the four sides, and those who surrendered to the Central Plains and practiced custodial control. The frontier areas not only guard the frontiers for the imperial court, but also open up the territory, and can also screen the center of the vassal, and once the center changes, the local vassal kings can raise troops to serve the king."

"It is said that a policy similar to the Tweeting Order of the Han Dynasty was implemented. After the vassal's fiefdom, after his death, Tween was distributed to his sons, instead of only his eldest son inheriting the feudal state."

Li Shimin stroked his beard, lost in thought.

"Doesn't the Ming Empire confer meritorious officials?"

"Heroes with different surnames are not crowned kings, but the highest ones are dukes of the state. Only those with high meritorious service can posthumously posthumously the title of county king, but they cannot be inherited. Heroes with different surnames can only grant land to Shiyi, and cannot truly establish a feudal state."

"If my Great Tang followed the feudal law of Ming Taizu, where would the kings be sealed?"

"Nanzhong, Liaodong, Western Regions, Western Sichuan, Qinghai, Jiaozhi, and Qiongya Island," Huaiyu thought for a while and replied.

(End of this chapter)