Established a thousand-year family from the end of Qin Dynasty

Chapter 634 Competing in the Central Plains (87)

long after
The generals of the Imperial Guard returned to Li Yuan's bedroom.

Seeing the general of the imperial guards come back, Li Yuan understood that the victory and defeat had already been decided, how shrewd he was, he had vaguely guessed who the so-called traitor was at this moment.

The struggle for power between the crown prince and the king of Qin is well known to everyone. At this moment, the winner may have been decided. The loser is the traitor, and the winner is the hero who protects the emperor.

What he least expected to happen, still happened.

Whether it is Li Shimin or Li Jiancheng, he loves them all, but there is a precedent like Yang Guang, so he dare not abolish the elders and establish the virtuous.

Besides, Prince Li Jiancheng has average ability and has not made any mistakes. There is no need to abolish him. Abolishing the eldest son without reason will easily cause turmoil.

So, he asked the general of the Imperial Guard: "Is it over?"

"It's over." The general of the imperial guards replied respectfully: "The prince intends to rebel, and the king of Qin rescued him in time, and the prince-king of Qi's rebellious group has been eradicated."

"Oh." Li Yuan was disheartened, the incident had already happened, everything was irreversible, his son was dead, what else could he do?Desperate with the second son?Do you still want this Datang?

another month later

Spring of the second year of Yan State 420 (632)
New Year
Changan
The grand enthronement ceremony was held, the Emperor Li Yuan of the Tang Dynasty, and the Zen was located in the crown prince Li Shimin.

Not long ago, Qin Wang Li Shimin was canonized as a prince because of his meritorious service in protecting the emperor, and all the soldiers of the imperial guards were also promoted and made a fortune.

"Long live! Long live! Long live!"

The subjects shouted long live three times, the beautiful scenery and rivers and mountains of the Tang Dynasty are all under the feet of Li Shimin in the new world.

"Send troops to recover Shandong, Lulong, Kuaiji, and Dan Island."

As soon as he came to the throne, Li Shimin changed the national policy of being weak and compromising with Yan during Li Yuan's period. As soon as he became emperor, he would take back the land occupied by Yan in the Central Plains.

The army of the Tang Dynasty was in a state of invincibility, and there was almost no resistance in the local area. The people of Yan State did not defend at all, and they were not interested in fighting the Tang Empire on the Central Plains. The ocean and Shanhaiguan were their advantages.

In less than half a year, Tang Jun regained a large area of ​​land and registered the local elderly households as Qimin.

The reason why only the local elderly and children are registered as householders is because the country of Yan has already transported the local working population to overseas plantations to open up wasteland. Then he ran into the mountains and hid.

It was exactly the same situation again, just like the Sui Empire.

The aristocratic council of the Yan State was very sensible. Instead of choosing to fight the Tang Empire in the Central Plains battlefield, it retreated to Shanhaiguan and waited for the million troops of the Tang army to die at this most powerful pass in the world.

"We just need to guard Shanhaiguan, wait for the Central Plains to appear, and then we can easily turn defeat into victory."

"Slowly consume, slowly delay, until Li Shimin becomes a foolish king, or until Tang Lu's next emperor is a foolish king, our country of Yan will win!"

"Drag, just drag!"

The Yan people evacuated quickly and did not leave any wealth in the Central Plains, which disappointed Li Shimin who wanted to seize the King Cannon.

It was not until this time that the Tang Empire truly unified the Central Plains. At this time, it was already the second winter of Yan State 420 (632), and Emperor Li Shimin was 34 years old.

"Yanlu has the natural danger of Shanhaiguan. Even if we have a million soldiers in the Central Plains, it is difficult to attack. Besides, in the past few decades, the people of the world have suffered from wars, and the people's livelihood and economy everywhere have been destroyed by the war. The people are eager to recuperate and live. There is an environment to live and work in peace.”

"If we forcibly attack the land of Yan State, I am afraid that the tragedy of the death of millions of Sui soldiers at Shanhaiguan will repeat itself!" Prime Minister Sun Wuji reminded Emperor Li Shimin that he must not rush to attack Yan State, otherwise, Emperor Yang Guang of Sui Dynasty would be a lesson from the past.

In the past few months when Changsun Wuji was prime minister, he truly realized how dilapidated the Central Plains had become.

After nearly 30 years of war, the population of the Central Plains has dropped sharply, from 300 million in the heyday of Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty to 100 million today.

The entire Tang Dynasty has a total population of only 100 million.

The small population is actually only a small problem. As long as the land carrying capacity is sufficient and the ruler is willing to rest and recuperate, the rate at which the people have children is very fast, and it can double in a few decades.

The key is that due to the long-term war, various infrastructures in the Central Plains were destroyed.

For example, the waterwheels in various places have been destroyed, and there are no waterwheels to irrigate the farmland.

For another example, many houses were burned down, and there were no houses for ordinary people to live in.

For another example, during the war, warlords demolished roads and bridges in various places in order to prevent hostile forces from attacking.

For another example, various warlords, including Datang himself, tore down the dams in order to attack the enemy with water, which not only lost the dams, but also turned a large area around them into swamps.

Another example is that large tracts of forests were burnt due to fire attacks, leading to desertification in many areas, and the fertile land turned into yellow sand all over the sky. It will take decades for the local natural environment to recover. perch.

All in all, all kinds of destruction, far more than the loss of population, made Prime Minister Sun Wuji feel more tired.

Rest and recuperation is not just about increasing the population. All kinds of post-war reconstruction are the most important thing.

Blindly increasing the population without supporting infrastructure construction is nothing more than adding rebels who can't eat enough to their own regime.

The post-war reconstruction work is really a long way to go. How can there be extra resources to continue to expand the territory?

"I know." Li Shimin nodded. He wasn't impulsive, but he didn't give up the idea of ​​recovering Liaodong either. He just planned to do it again in the future.

"I want to use practical actions to prove to the world that it's not that we Central Plains people can't beat Yan people, but that Yang Guang can't beat Yan people."

"The failure of the Central Plains was not because of the failure of the Central Plains, but only because of Yang Guang's failure."

"As long as I replace the emperor with Li Shimin, everything will be fine."

However, Li Shimin had just made a national policy of recuperation, and a piece of news made the whole Tang Dynasty panic.

The [-] East Turkic army marched southward, had pierced through Shuofang, and was coming straight to Guanzhong, and now it was almost reaching the Weishui River.

"Your Majesty! Don't be impulsive, the people of the world need to rest and recuperate!" Prime Minister Sun Wuji was afraid of Li Shimin's impulsiveness.

"I...know." Li Shimin clenched his fists tightly. He had encountered so many difficulties just after becoming the emperor.

"Give money to the Turkic people, and then understand it with affection and reason, and they will naturally retreat." Changsun Wuji suggested.

A few days later

The Tang Empire sent an envoy to persuade Jieli Khan: "You are fighting with us in the Tang Dynasty, but you are only benefiting the people of Yan State. Why bother? As long as Khan is willing to retreat, these gold and silver treasures are all Khan yours."

After getting the money, Jieli Khan didn't want to spend his strength in the Central Plains in vain. At that time, it would only benefit other Turkic nobles and Yan State fishermen, so he retreated directly.

-

Li Shimin, the emperor of the Tang Empire, endured the humiliation and succumbed to the Turkic people temporarily in the Weishui River, and finally took revenge. ——"General History of the World Song Dynasty Li Qingzhao"

……

Li Shimin, the emperor of the Tang Empire, had already signed a non-aggression treaty with the Turkic people in the Weishui River, but tore up the treaty many years later. Although his behavior won the final victory, he lost his integrity and violated our Confucian principles. Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness do not have the slightest demeanor of a king, and the younger generations should be ashamed of them. ——"General History of the World Song Qin Hui"

(End of this chapter)