Five years of county magistrate, 100 million catties of grain shocked Li Shimin

Chapter 254 About the Candidates for Pacifying the Lingnan Rebellion

People are still in the grief of Du Ruhui's death.

News of the Liao people's rebellion came back from Lingnan Road.

Lingnan Road is located in the southernmost part of the Tang Dynasty, with a vast land and few people, many mountains and forests, and it is still a tribal culture.

In this era, sending prisoners to Lingnan is like throwing them to a place with a different language and culture, which is a cruel punishment.

But that place belongs to Datang!
Therefore, the Lingnan Road rebelled, and the Tang Dynasty sent troops to quell it.

A group of soldiers wrote letters one after another, willing to lead their troops to quell it!

However, Li Shimin did not send troops immediately, but called ministers to discuss.

Fang Yuan, as an order of Chang'an, has experience in calming chaos, so he was invited to discuss matters together.

"In the three years since I came to the throne, the Liao people have rebelled three times!"

"In the nine years of the Supreme Emperor's reign, there have been nine Liaoren rebellions!"

"Soldiers are dispatched once a year. Those uneducated bureaucrats don't find it troublesome. I still have to consider the state's finances. Tell me, is there any way to solve it once and for all!"

Li Shimin said angrily.

The problem of bureaucrats is already a historical problem.

Because of the difference in culture and customs, it is too far away from the center.

There is no less than one rebellion a year, big or small, which is a headache for the court.

If it is not settled, it will affect the prestige of the country, and if it is serious, it will shake the foundation of the country.

If it is peaceful, troops will be sent there every year, not to mention the waste of money and money, and the soldiers will also suffer losses.

"Your Majesty, let's sweep the army and beat them until they are subdued!"

"We have quelled the foreign turmoil now, and we have the time and energy to quell them!"

As Minister of the Ministry of War, Li Jing was the first to express his opinion, speaking with pride.

After the destruction of the Eastern Turks, his reputation was unparalleled for a while, and he was called the God of the Army.

Although Li Jing is always vigilant not to get carried away, occasionally he still can't help feeling smug.

"One year of fighting, two years of fighting, more than ten years of fighting, but the problem is still not resolved, which shows that the problem of the bureaucrats cannot be solved by war alone."

"Your Majesty, I believe that the Liao people live in the mountains and forests. If you govern them with kindness and kindness, educate them and cultivate their culture, they will belong to our court."

Changsun Wuji refuted Li Jing and put forward his own ideas.

"The language is different, the culture is different, how to govern with kindness, how to educate their culture?"

Li Jinglue seemed dissatisfied, and retorted after Changsun Wuji finished speaking.

"The language is different, but it doesn't mean you can't communicate."

"Cultures are different, but it doesn't mean they can't mix."

"It is always useful to take some time to exchange ideas between the two places."

Changsun Wuji said calmly.

"Take your time, how much time?"

"What is the exchange between the two places? We are far away, and we don't have so many talents."

Li Jing snorted coldly.

"It takes a lot of time to get something done."

"If there is no talent, then create talent and expand the number of candidates for the imperial examination."

Changsun Wuji pondered for a moment, and said in a deep voice.

"That's not what it said."

"Even if it's a century-old project, you have to know how much time to spend instead of throwing energy indiscriminately."

"Expanding the recruitment of talents for the imperial examination will only recruit children from aristocratic families. I'm afraid they don't want to go to Lingnan, because they will tarnish the court's reputation."

"According to me, the army pushes horizontally, and if you are determined to subdue them thoroughly, you can truly put an end to the rebellion year after year."

Li Jing's expression slowly returned to calm.

He is not a reckless general, but a commander, with a flexible mind.

"All right!"

"Any other ideas?"

Li Shimin interrupted their argument.

Whether it is Changsun Wuji or Li Jing's idea, there are problems.

Changsun Wuji's problem is that he doesn't know the time cost, and that the scholars will probably not go to Lingnan, and it may really affect the imperial examination.

Li Jing's problem is that he only thinks of violence to solve the problem, but the court is not familiar with Lingnan Road, where there are many mountains and forests, not plains, so it is not easy to start a war.

"Your Majesty, I think you can refer to the governance of the South in the Western Han Dynasty and rule the customs with the customs."

"While affirming their customs, send someone to inject our Tang culture. It is best to marry both parties. Let my Tang women marry Liaoren and educate their descendants."

"In this way, after 30 or [-] years, most of the descendants of Liao people will be assimilated by us slowly, and the imperial court will control, guide, recruit, etc., and the problem of Lingnan will be solved."

Fang Xuanling stood up and said slowly.

After the words fell, everyone including Li Shimin expressed deep thought.

"I think this method is not impossible, but it also has many disadvantages."

"For example, how many women do we have to marry before we assimilate the offspring of most Liao people?"

"For another example, if the women of our Tang Dynasty marry in the past, will they only become reproductive tools and have no status to educate children?"

"The most important point is that now our Tang Dynasty needs to recuperate and increase the population. At this time, a large number of women are married. What should we do with the national conditions?"

Wang Gui also stood up.

But he doesn't refute Li Jing like Changsun Wuji.

He just put forward his own opinion and asked questions about Fang Xuanling's plan.

"It is indeed a problem!"

"Is there anything else to the contrary?"

Li Shimin sighed, disappointed.

The world experienced the chaos of the Sui Dynasty, people's livelihood declined, and the population was sparse.

Now that the Tang Dynasty has only recuperated for a few years, it still needs to vigorously develop the population.

At this time, it is a burden for Datang to marry a large number of women.

Fang Xuanling also sighed, knowing that there were many problems in her thinking, she returned to her seat in frustration.

Everyone was silent, thinking about countermeasures.

Among the ministers, Fang Yuan hesitated for a long time before standing up.

"Your Majesty, I have a plan!"

Fang Yuan said respectfully.

He didn't want to show off.

But after thinking about it, let's show it at this time, and the rebuttal voice should not be so loud when he was promoted to the minister of punishment.

So Fang Yuan stood up, ready to move out the historical records in his fuzzy memory.

"speak!"

Li Shimin was a little surprised.

He called Fang Yuan over today, just to let Fang Yuan show his face.

So that when Fang Yuan is promoted to Minister of Punishment in the future, there will be less opposition from the ministers present.

But never thought that the young Fang Yuan actually had thoughts, and dared to say it in front of so many ministers.

One must know that apart from Fang Yuan, the people gathered in the imperial study room today are all ministers above rank four, the real ministers of the country.

Everyone at the scene looked at Fang Yuan one after another, with curiosity, surprise, and contempt.

"As we all know, the Liao people in Lingnan are mainly tribes. The leader of each tribe is called Tusi, and their system is the Tusi system."

"In their tribe, the chieftain is like our emperor, with supreme power, managing men and women in the tribe."

"The Liao people's rebellion, in the final analysis, is the rebellion of the chieftains of various tribes. They don't want the court to seize their control of Lingnan."

Fang Yuan said slowly.

As Fang Yuan told about the situation in Lingnan, the expressions of everyone present gradually became serious.

Including Li Shimin, the imperial court's understanding of Lingnan is very limited, almost in a state of stocking.

There are several reasons for this.

First, Lingnan is too far away, and it has always been called Nanman, and the imperial court does not value Lingnan.

Second, the imperial court did not really regard Lingnan as the territory of the Tang Dynasty. It belonged to the Tang Dynasty because it was left over from history.

Third, the Tang Dynasty did not have so much time to govern Lingnan. During the reign of Wude, most of them were to pacify the civil strife among the princes. In the past few years, Zhenguan had the great enemy of the East Turks.

"I think that the imperial court can recognize the chieftains of every tribe in the south of the Lingnan, and canonize them as officials of the Tang Dynasty, such as the title of governor, salary treatment, etc., and give them the highest salary, and condolences to them three or five times a year."

Fang Yuan continued.

I wanted to continue talking, but someone interrupted me at this moment.

"We make them officials, will they accept it?"

"It is estimated that there are hundreds or thousands of tribes in Lingnan, how much salary do they have to pay?"

"As for condolences, their tribal leaders, do you need our condolences, do you need some gifts from us?"

Cui Zhentang, the servant of the household department, got up and said in a deep voice.

The others didn't speak, they looked at Fang Yuan, waiting for Fang Yuan's explanation.

"Cui Shilang asked a good question."

"We recognize their status and appoint them officials. We don't need them to pay anything, and the benefits they get for nothing, normal people would not refuse, right?"

"To take a step back, although they have repeatedly rebelled, if they could choose, they wouldn't want to rebel. After all, the lower-level bureaucrats will be dissatisfied."

"Take our advantage and solve the problem of court hostility. I think it is feasible."

Fang Yuan said loudly.

It wasn't the minister who nodded subconsciously at the scene.

"The imperial court gave them benefits, why?"

Cui Zhentang continued to ask.

"Interfering in Lingnan's internal affairs for the sake of integrity."

"They are all our officials, so it's okay for us to take care of them a little bit? It's okay for us to care about the low-level bureaucrats from time to time, right?"

"After a long time, the people at the bottom will know about the Tang Dynasty, and there will be fewer people responding to the subsequent rebellion."

Fang Yuan laughed.

"What if they don't follow suit?"

Cui Zhentang's face was a little stiff.

Originally wanted to refute Fang Yuan, but Fang Yuan answered fluently, and it sounded better than the previous ministers.

This made his plan fail and his mood was not beautiful.

Li Shimin's expression became solemn, showing the expression of listening carefully.

He is also worried about this, what if the leader of the Liaoren tribe doesn't accept this?

"Maybe there will be, but certainly not all of them."

"We all know that Lingnan is a land of southern barbarians, with poverty and hardships."

"If we give them benefits, they will definitely be moved, or they will feel that even if they scold us, we can't control them."

"And there is one more thing. The leaders of the Lingnan tribe are not all of one mind. There will always be people who want to get the benefits of our Great Tang, or even protect them."

Fang Yuan channeled.

This time, Cui Zhentang opened his mouth, did not continue to ask, and returned to his seat to sit down.

"well said!"

"Ideas worth discussing!"

"Is there anything else, are you done?"

Li Shimin said happily.

Fang Yuan's idea opened up a way for him.

The imperial court can discuss and improve according to Fang Yuan's ideas.

"and also!"

"After the imperial court affirmed their status, they set up counties in their tribes, and the county magistrates were elected by their tribes. They also gave salaries and benefits, but there were conditions, and they had to comply with the imperial court's three-year adjustment policy!"

"In addition, it has been a long time since the county magistrates, chief clerks, and doctors were selected from the imperial court. Ten, eight, or two to thirty years. Book up."

Fang Yuan continued.

"Any more?"

Li Shimin's eyes became brighter.

According to Fang Yuan's plan, Lingnan will be controlled by Datang.

And this method can also be applied to other marginal areas.

"Another point is the issue of enlightenment that everyone is concerned about. In the future, the imperial court will try not to impose the death penalty. Instead, they will be assigned to Lingnan. They will be responsible for enlightening the local people. They will make up for their mistakes and have a chance to return!"

Fang Yuan finally finished speaking.

The above is Fang Yuan's vague memory of a certain history.

Because there is no summary in advance, it is relatively rough.

"it is good!"

"well said!"

"Everyone, what do you think?"

Li Shimin clapped his hands.

This method is really good, better than that of Li Jing, Changsun Wuji, and Fang Xuanling.

According to Fang Yuan's plan, it is estimated that Lingnan can be obtained without perfecting it.

If Lingnan can be taken without bloodshed, Li Shimin still wants to control Lingnan very much.

After all, Lingnan is the territory of Datang in name, and it also has many resources.

"Very good!"

"I think so!"

"What the Chang'an Order said is absolutely true!"

Everyone got up and expressed their thoughts.

Everyone looked at Fang Yuan, their eyes changed, with amazement.

Fang Yuan was the youngest among them, but his insights far surpassed them.

This has to admire, and even admire Du Ruhui, who has passed away, for his insightful eyes.

Fang Yuan smiled awkwardly, pretending to be embarrassed to salute to Li Shimin, and then saluted to everyone.

When the limelight is out, there is no need to be proud, it is better to keep a low profile.

"Your Majesty, I think that we still need to fight."

"Now that the Liao people are in rebellion, the strategy of the Chang'an Order can only be implemented after it is put down!"

"Otherwise, the Liao people think that our Tang Dynasty is weak, and it may be difficult to implement it!"

Li Jing suggested after seeing everyone sitting down again.

"What do you think?"

Li Shimin's expression gradually became serious, and he said in a deep voice.

Indeed, war is necessary, after all Lingnan Road has already rebelled.

If the Tang Dynasty did not even send troops to rebel, how would the people of the world view Datang?

"I think what General Li said is very true!"

Including Fang Yuan, everyone felt that this battle was necessary.

Only after they are calmed down can the policy be implemented better and help less.

"Is there a general candidate?"

Li Shimin nodded and said in a deep voice.

"Your Majesty, I am willing to lead troops there!"

Li Jing expressed his position immediately, and said loudly.

"How can a mere bureaucrat let General Li go out?"

"Your Majesty, if you are willing to go, the Lingnan chaos will surely be quelled!"

Hou Junji, the servant of the Ministry of War, said loudly.

"Your Majesty, there may be no need to rush to make a decision so quickly, the general who is going on an expedition."

Fang Xuanling got up and said.

The pacification of Lingnan is a small problem, and Datang has been able to pacify it more than ten times.

Because most of the time, the imperial army did not really start a war when they arrived in Lingnan, and the rebellion stopped when they arrived.

Expedition to Lingnan is like picking up credit, and many people are eyeing this beautiful job.

Fang Yuan also thought of this, and wanted to nominate Xue Bowu for the expedition.

(End of this chapter)