A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 395

approaching new year.

The Yongzhou yamen has also been sealed and locked. Except for the officials on duty, all the rest are given annual leave.

This year, the officials of the Yongzhou Yamen were very happy, and a lot of benefits were distributed for the New Year. Even though there was a severe drought in the Kanto region and there were many victims in Chang'an, it did not affect the benefits that Wubiejia prepared for everyone.

Mutton and pork, as well as fresh river fish, rice, wheat, oil and vinegar, are available to officials, even temporary personnel. Who doesn't like such an officer.

"Yongzhou Yamen's welfare this year is very good, everyone is so happy."

Zhou Shaofan came to the door and smiled as soon as he came in.

Wu Huaiyu was a little curious about how this person came. As a doctor of the Six Doors, Wu Huaiyu knew a lot of secrets, for example, this person in front of him is not ordinary.

He has always believed that Li Shimin has a more secret agency besides the intelligence agency of the Six Gates. This agency should be located just outside the North Gate, hidden within Baiqi, and the leaders of this agency should be Zhou Shaofan and Xu Luoren.

"How come Duke Qiao is free today?" Huaiyu asked with a smile.

Yesterday he took the daughter of the Qiu family as his concubine, he didn't invite Zhou Shaofan, and Zhou didn't come, but he still sent someone to give a gift.

"Come and walk around." Zhou Shaofan stroked his beautiful beard.

"I also want to congratulate Duke Qiao for his promotion."

Zhou Shaofan is very special. He was born in the well-known Runan Zhou family in the Central Plains. His family had always been high-ranking officials and generals in the Southern Dynasties.

During the Daye period of the Sui Dynasty, the king of Qi, Yang Hao, started to sign a lottery, with a low rank and weight. Later, he went to Jiaozhi County to work as the secretary of the Sicang, and became Qiu He's old subordinate, and Gao Shilian was also a colleague.

At that time, Zhou Shaofan, a handsome young talent, did not escape old Qiu Baochuang's choice of son-in-law, and took Qiu and his granddaughter as concubines, so now Zhou Shaofan can be regarded as Wu Huaiyu's cousin-in-law.

But the most remarkable thing about Zhou Shaofan is that he used to be a super spy. After he returned to the Tang Dynasty with Qiu He, he was Kuzhen in the Prince Qin's mansion at first, but later he switched to the Prince's East Palace and became the Prince's right inner rate. In the ninth year of Wude, it was even more important to check the battles at the north gate of the school.

But in fact, Zhou Shaofan, like Chang He, has always been Li Shimin's confidant. The so-called transfer to the East Palace is just a trick to accept and recruit him to be a spy.

In the change of Xuanwu Gate, Zhou Shaofan made a great contribution, and he was directly named the Duke of Yichun County and the General of Youfu.During the Turkic invasion, he became one of the confidantes of the Emperor Liuqihui Jieli.

From before to after the Xuanwumen Incident, Zhou Shaofan has been guarding Xuanwumen and commanding the imperial army.

And a few days ago, Zhou Shaofan was promoted again, Duke of Qiao County, named General Zuo Tunwei, and inspected the supervisors of the school hall.

The most important thing is that the emperor added a title to him, which is the same palm center as the left servant and Fang Xuanling.

This title is a bit unreasonable and abrupt, but the details are amazing.

With the center of the palm, isn't this the prime minister who is not the prime minister?

The job of the Dian Zhongjian was originally the chief secretary of the emperor, or the director of the general office. Previously, Yuwen Shiji, Dou Lukuan, etc. served as the Dian Zhongjian. The prime minister was promoted to this position.

Zhou Shaofan has not entered the political affairs hall yet, but he is already considered half a prime minister. Compared with Wu Huaiyu, who holds several positions now, he should be said to be more powerful.

It not only controls the forbidden army, but also controls the central province of the palace.

Even if he is still only a county prince and has not even been included in the list of official meritorious officials, it is estimated that none of the 49 official meritorious officials can compare with his power and status now.

"After retiring from the court today, His Majesty told me about Haidong Daming, saying that this empire was originally a descendant of the Yin and Shang Dynasties, and the country lasted for thousands of years. It has gone through thirteen dynasties, and all descendants have the same surname. I am very curious.
Is that Haidong Daming the origin of the corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes you offered earlier? "

When Huaiyu heard this, he immediately understood that it was for this matter.

Lao Zhou smiled to himself, "I also like to listen to stories, and I know quite a lot about the geography of the world when I ask myself, what are the countries in the Western Regions, and even farther away are Persian Sassanid, Eastern Roman Byzantium, and what are the Frankish and brotherhoods?" I have heard of the Kingdom of Special, and Egypt, Syria, and Damascus on the Mediterranean Sea, but I really don’t know that there is actually a Haidong Continent in the east of the sea, and that’s where I came from the Yin Shang Dynasty in the Central Plains.”

Huaiyu smiled mysteriously.

Bragging has to be fixed.

Fortunately, when he offered corn, potatoes and other auspiciousness before, he also briefly said that these things were obtained from some sea merchants when his teacher traveled around the world.

Haidong in the eyes of the people of the Tang Dynasty is generally Goguryeo, Baekje, Buyeo, and Fusang. No one knows whether there is a Haidong mainland in the east.

But I know that there are still some barbarian tribes along the Liaodong coast all the way to the north, from the Mohe tribes in Baishan and Heishui, to the big and small Shiwei, and then to the northeast coast, the extremely cold and frozen land, there seems to be something else Liugui Country, Yaksha Country, etc., are ice and snow tribes that exorcise ghosts, make deer and hunt fish.

To the south, there are countries such as Cochin and Champa along the coast, and there are many islands and long, short and dark indigenous people in the sea.

According to legend, there is a hibiscus tree where the sun rises in Haidong. It is a sacred tree, and the golden crow bird lives on that tree.

What other fairy islands such as Penglai are also in the East China Sea.

But no one has ever heard of the Ming Dynasty in Haidong.

Everyone knows Tianzhu, Persia, Rome, and Egypt, but no one has heard of Haidong mainland and the Ming Dynasty.

It may be that no one has heard of corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peppers, peanuts, sunflowers and many other Haidong crops before, but now the streets of Chang'an in winter are full of stalls selling roasted sweet potatoes, fried potatoes, and boiled corn. Zhou Shaofan likes these auspicious signs .

Li Shimin believed in such a Haidong Daming, and Zhou Shaofan also believed in it.

After all, something from Haidong was passed on to Datang, and it was passed on by an expert in Zhongnan Yinxianlouguan. With this kind of great supernatural power, everything is possible.

Now that he knew there was such a magical place and such a magical dynasty, Li Shimin yearned for it very much and wanted to send an envoy to establish diplomatic relations with it.

The emperor also wanted to study and study the national system of the Ming Dynasty, such as the system of clan enfeoffment.

Zhou Shaofan came with a mission, he didn't directly say that the emperor asked him to come, he only said that he was curious.

But as long as he can get more information about the Haidong Continent from Huaiyu, the first batch of envoys from the Tang Dynasty to visit the Ming Dynasty may leave soon.

With today's navigation technology, from the Shandong Peninsula to the Korean Peninsula, the ship is often capsized by storms. Most of the time, it is not even possible to sail directly. It can only go through the Miaodao Islands to the south of the Liaodong Peninsula, and then sail along the Liaodong coastline to the Korean Peninsula.

Going to the American continent now is estimated to be very difficult.

But Huaiyu couldn't completely refuse Zhou Shaofan's expectant gaze.

Of course, he actually had some small expectations in his heart. If he had the support of the Emperor of Tang and formed an adventurous fleet, maybe it would be possible to discover the American continent in advance?
He wondered how to tell him about it.

It is definitely unrealistic to directly cross the Pacific Ocean. Although the Spaniards of later generations have a direct flight route from South America to the Philippines, and there are many islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that can be replenished, this route and ocean currents cannot be easily summed up by today's technology.

The only reliable route should be the northward route along the coastline, which has a better reference point and is also convenient for replenishment at any time, and finally crosses the Bering Strait to Alaska, and then goes south to the west coast.

Of course, this route is also difficult.

After all, just the coldness and ice in the north is a big problem.

Wu Huaiyu put the kettle on the stove and started to boil water.

"My teacher traveled all over the world. He once went to the extremely cold place in the extreme north. He crossed Liaodong, crossed Fuyu, trekked through white mountains and black waters, and went all the way to the northeast. The colder he went, the more barbaric he went.

I met the forest tribe who hunted and fished, and I also went to the deer tribe that raised deer for a living. I also met the dog tribe that relied on dog sled carts, and I also met the tribe that caught big fish in the big river and wore fish skin. There are even whaling tribes that hunt giant whales in the sea,
He later arrived at the legendary Three Kingdoms of Ice and Snow in the far north, driving Dumei Country, Yasha Country and Liugui Country,

I thought it was the end of the day,

But there, my teacher learned that the easternmost tip of the Yaksha country is actually across a strait that is hundreds of miles away, and there is a huge Haidong continent to the east of it. In the south, it is the same as our side, the more south you go, the warmer it gets.

It is said that the continent is tens of thousands of miles long from north to south.”

Zhou Shaofan didn't expect to gain so much from his visit this time. Excited, he hurriedly fetched a pen and paper from Huaiyu's desk, and asked Wu Huaiyu to help draw a map.

Wu Huaiyu hesitated.

You can't draw a world map.

But after thinking about it, he decided to draw a simpler world map.

He first drew a map of the Tang Dynasty in the center of the paper, the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, and Bohai Bay, from Liaodong in the north, Jiaozhi in the south, and the Dunhuang Desert in the west.
Although the intentional drawing is not so detailed, the scale is still much better than the map at this time.

He even marked the locations of some important states.

The more Zhou Shaofan watched, the more surprised he became.

Is the Central Plains that big?
The South is so vast?
Only the land of Lingnan is that big, and how big is Bashunan, Central Guizhou?
The territory of Tuyuhun is also quite large, and that Tubo seems to be a bit big too. Well, the countries of Tianzhu behind Tubo are quite close.

Taking the Tang Dynasty as the center, Huaiyu drew the Eastern and Western Turks, the Three Kingdoms on the Korean Peninsula, and the Haidong Wa Kingdom, followed by Kumoxi, Khitan, Shiwei, Mohe, Fuyu, Qudumei, Liugui, and Yasha Kingdom one by one. superior.

"The North of Great Tang is still this big?"

The Monan area outside the Great Wall is so vast, but Mobei to the north of the Yinshan Desert is even bigger, and there is even a wider area to the north where the Turks and Tiele people are located, which is marked by Wu Huaiyu as a barbaric tribe in the forest.

How to compare, Datang is so small.

"Is it wrong to draw it, the Central Plains is so small?"

"Within the Great Wall, it's really not that big," Huaiyu said.

If we talk about the traditional core area, it must be within the Great Wall, and then north of the south of the Lingnan, and the southwest area is at most half of Sichuan, Guizhou, Xiangxi, Yunnan, and most of Guangxi are not counted.

Looking at it this way, it really isn't that big.

Especially compared with these surrounding places, even if you just pick out Mohe, Shiwei, Tiele, Turkic, Tubo, and Tuyuhun, the territory is huge and boundless.

Even the Cuan family in Nanzhong controlled a vast area of ​​Nanzhong.

I used to think that the Jiaozhi area controlled by the Central Plains was very large, but now I look closely at the map drawn by Huaiyu. This Jiaozhi is a slender tail along the coast, and there is a vast area in the west, not smaller than the Central Plains.

Zhou Shaofan, who used to be an official in Jiaozhi County, has a very intuitive and deep impression of Jiaozhi County. He knows how big Jiaozhi County is, and also vaguely knows that the barbarian territory to the west of Jiaozhi County is very large. But now the map drawn by Huaiyu, Jiaozhi It was so slender and narrow, compared with his impression, the barbarian land was too big.

There are even so many large and small islands in the South China Sea, many of which are as big as the Central Plains.

Huaiyu continued to paint.

The Gaochang, Kuci, Shule, and Khotan kingdoms in the Western Regions sound very famous, but they are indeed small. These were once controlled by the Han Dynasty, and all of them have maps. Compared with Zhou Shaofan, the drawing seems to be quite correct.

Further west, there are several large lakes.

West Turkic, Western Turkic Khazar, Tocharian, then Persian Sassanid, then West and East Rome...
Wu Huaiyu did not draw the map as a connected earth, but tiled.

To the east of the Tang Dynasty is the Haidong Continent and the Ming Empire, and to the west until Persia, Rome, Frank, Gothic, Egypt, etc., and then there are no paintings on both sides.

He also painted oceans and seas such as the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, the Caspian Sea, and the Black Sea.

Zhou Shaofan held this somewhat abstract map of the world like a treasure.

His eyes blinked.

"The Haidong Continent is so big, so lonely overseas, is it just the Ming Dynasty?"

"My master has never been to Haidong, but when he was in Yacha country, he heard a lot about Haidong, and he also saw Haidong merchant ships stranded on the coast of Yacha country because of a storm. It is said that Haidong mainland is actually There are also many nations and tribes,"

Zhou Shaofan stared at the map and looked at the long coastline, "If I build a strong ship in the Tang Dynasty, choose the best sailors, and sail along the coastline, can I reach the Haidong Daming?"

"It's difficult, but if you make more preparations, it should be possible in 20 years."

"A thousand years?"

"It is definitely not possible to sail directly to the Ming Dynasty, but you can sail in stages. For example, there is a mature route to Silla now, but there is no mature route to the north, so you have to find a new route and build along the new route. supply point,

After all, the more you go north, the more unknown, and the weather in the north is freezing, and the sea will even freeze in winter, so you can't continue sailing during the winter freezing period, and you must have a supply base for the winter.

I suggest that you build more strongholds along the coast to survive the winter, and you can even establish contact with the local indigenous tribes, trade with them, and even recruit them for His Majesty, so that you can hire locals as guides,
In this way, we can continue to develop northward. In 20 years, we should be able to find a mature route from Datang to Haidong Daming. "

20 years is a long time, but Zhou Shaofan thinks that Wu Huaiyu is a conservative estimate. Even if he uses this stronghold method to find a new route, if more ships and people are invested, it will not take so long.

Ten years at most is acceptable.

During the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Central Plains did not know the situation in the Western Regions. Zhang Qian was able to travel to the Western Regions, and the Central Plains also knew the situation in the Western Regions. Didn’t the Han Dynasty conquer the Western Regions and establish the Anxi Protectorate?
Now that Datang knows the route to Haidong Daming, even if there is no ready-made route, he can still find one.

Seeing him like that, Wu Huaiyu knew what he was thinking, and Li Shimin would definitely think the same way when he saw the map, but he was not worried at all that the Tang Ming Fleet could not find Daming, and then Li Shimin would ask him to question him.

With today's shipbuilding and navigation technology, it will not take decades to go north from Daming along the coastline, even through the Bering Strait, then through Alaska, and finally arrive in San Francisco. Isn't that a dream?

Even decades may not be able to succeed.

(End of this chapter)