Tibet.

Chapter 1289: Envoy from Liaodong
Just after dawn, a team arrived outside Chunming Gate. A dozen warriors on horseback were guarding two scholars, one old and one young. Although they were dressed like Tang people, they did not look like Donghu people.

This team was none other than the envoys of the Bohai Kingdom, who came from the distant Shangjing. They landed at Dengzhou by boat, bought horses in Dengzhou, and then headed westward.

The Bohai Kingdom was a regime established by the Suomote tribe of the Mohe. Its leader, Dae Jo-yeong, established the Bohai Kingdom in the first year of Wu Zetian's Shengong reign on the coast of the Whale Sea, which is today's Sea of ​​Japan, attracting a large number of Goguryeo survivors to come and join him.

In the early days, he ruled the country with military force and was extremely warlike. He once invaded Dengzhou of the Tang Dynasty, killed the governor of Dengzhou of the Tang Dynasty, and looted a large number of people.

After the decline in the middle period, it revived again and began to govern the country with culture. It completely imitated the Tang Dynasty to establish the three-province and six-department system, and surrendered to the Tang Dynasty. Later, it was destroyed by the Khitan leader Yelu Abaoji.

Currently, the third king of Bohai Kingdom, Daqinmao, is in power. After Daqinmao came to power, Bohai Kingdom entered its heyday. However, since Daqinmao had been in power for 30 years, he gradually became arrogant and lazy, wasting national strength on building palaces and cities. He also had close relations with Japan, continuously sending large-scale delegations to Japan, and at the same time accepting beauties and various luxury goods from Japan.

If the historical trajectory had been followed, Daqinmao would have continued to rule for nearly twenty years before his death. After his death, various conflicts broke out and the Bohai Kingdom fell into chaos for nearly thirty years. Japanese forces also entered the Bohai Kingdom and conducted remote control in preparation for a large-scale invasion.

After Dae Insu ascended the throne, the Bohai Kingdom began to revive, expelled Japanese forces, defeated Silla and Heishui Mohe successively, and re-submitted to the Tang Dynasty. He established the Bohai Kingdom with civil governance, and the country began to prosper again. It was praised by the Tang Dynasty as a prosperous country in the east of the sea.

This was the trajectory of history, but as the Tang Dynasty entered its revival, eliminated separatist regimes, recovered Youzhou, began to build passes in the Liaodong Corridor, and stockpiled large amounts of supplies and food. The butterfly's wings flapped, and the situation in Liaodong began to change drastically. The Khitan, Silla, and the Heishui Mohe tribe prepared to jointly attack the Bohai Kingdom.

The Khitans were eager to obtain the population, military strength, resources and land of Bohai, and were prepared to expand the strategic depth of Bohai. Once the Tang army launched a large-scale northern expedition, the Khitans would retreat to Bohai.

The Bohai Kingdom was defeated in three battles and the situation was critical, so Daqinmao sent his third son Dayingjun and the minister Yang Chengqing to the Tang Dynasty for help.

The two scholars, one young and one old, were Da Yingjun and Yang Chengqing, the minister of state.

Yang Chengqing is a Han Chinese from Yingzhou. He has led delegations to visit Japan twice and is deeply trusted by Daqinmao. He is currently the Shaozheng of the Bohai Kingdom's Military Department, which is the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War in the Tang Dynasty.

Yang Chengqing had been to Chang'an during the Tianbao period. Now the city walls in Chang'an have been demolished, and the original walls have been replaced by rows of shops, which left him dumbfounded and completely unrecognizable.

Yang Chengqing asked along the way, and finally they saw the East Hall of the Honglu Temple at the gate of the East Market. The Honglu Temple had a hall at the gate of the East Market and the West Market to receive envoys from various countries.

The Honglu Temple official Jian was the envoy of the Bohai Kingdom and had official documents. The official then took Yang Chengqing to the Honglu Temple office.

Li Ye was carefully examining the planting situation of the Jiaozhou rice sent from Jingxiang.

Perhaps because it was relatively close, the first detailed report Li Ye received was sent from Jingxiang.

Of course, it is not a full-scale promotion. Each county only plants one thousand acres, and all of them are government fields. Only after there is a clear increase and stable harvest will ordinary people plant it in large quantities.

The increase in yield in each county was different. The highest increase was 35% per mu in each county, while the lowest was less than 10%.

This indicates instability, and we will have to plant again next year and exchange rice seeds. We need to take the rice with the highest yield to the county with the lowest yield, and vice versa, take the rice with the lowest yield to the county with the highest yield to see what causes such a big difference.

Li Ye gently threw the report aside. He felt that he was a bit too hasty. This new variety of grain must be planted and cultivated repeatedly for at least ten years before it can slowly adapt to the local water and soil.

If we are too impatient, something serious will happen. Once there is a large-scale reduction in grain production, hundreds of thousands of people will starve to death.

At this time, a servant reported at the door, "Your Highness, Prime Minister Wei wants to see you!"

"Please come in!"

Soon, Wei Jiansu hurried in and bowed, "Your Highness, I pay my respects to you!"

"Prime Minister Wei, please take a seat!"

Wei Xiangguo sat down and said with a smile: "Your Highness, the envoys from Bohai Kingdom came early this morning!"

What a coincidence! Li Ye leaned back in his chair and asked, "Why are they here?" "To seek help. They were attacked by a coalition led by Khitan, and the kingdom is in danger!"

"Who else besides Khitan?"

"There are also Silla and Heishui Mohe. The three forces attacked Silla from three directions. According to them, the Bohai army was defeated in three battles and half of the country has been lost."

Li Ye hesitated for a moment and asked, "I want to know, have they asked Japan for help?"

"This humble minister did not ask, and they did not say."

"Who is coming?" Li Ye asked again.

"One is a handsome prince, and the other is Yang Chengqing, their assistant minister of the Ministry of War."

Li Ye took out a file from the cabinet behind him. It contained all kinds of intelligence records about the Bohai Kingdom. He flipped through it and said, "Yang Chengqing has been on two diplomatic missions to Japan. He should know!"

"Your Highness, do you want to see this Yang Chengqing?"

"Okay, let's arrange it this afternoon."

"I will arrange it now!"

Wei Jiansu bowed and left in a hurry.

Li Ye paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back. The Bohai Kingdom was attacked, which was beyond his expectation. Needless to say, the Khitan must be eager to expand and absorb other people's resources to deal with themselves.

To some extent, this is a good thing, allowing them to fight among themselves and drain each other's strength.

Li Ye of Bohai Kingdom will not rescue him, but he will act according to the original plan. It depends on the luck of Bohai Kingdom.

In addition, Li Ye was very concerned about whether the Japanese Congress would send troops to the Bohai Kingdom, nominally for rescue but actually for occupation.

Although the Japanese invasion of Bohai did not happen in history, the Khitan attack on Bohai did not happen either. If history was changed, everything would be possible.

In the afternoon, Wei Jiansu came with Yang Chengqing, but did not bring the chief envoy Prince Da Yingjun, because Li Ye had not agreed to meet them yet, and now he just wanted to understand the situation.

Yang Chengqing entered the room, knelt down and bowed, "Your humble servant Yang Chengqing, General of the Bohai Kingdom, Junior Officer of the Military Department, pays homage to His Royal Highness the Regent!"

"General Yang, please take a seat!"

Li Ye politely asked Yang Chengqing to sit down, and also asked Wei Jiansu to sit down.

Li Ye smiled slightly and said, "I'm a little curious, how did you get through the Khitan Empire?"

"Your Highness, we set out on a ship from the port of Bohai State. We had a smooth journey and arrived in Dengzhou five days later. We bought horses in Dengzhou and then rode all the way west to ask for help from the Tang Dynasty!"

Li Ye smiled and said, "I also want to know, have you asked Japan for help?"

After a while, Yang Chengqing nodded and said, "Two envoy ships set off at the same time. One ship went to Japan for help, and the other ship came to the Tang Dynasty for autumn aid."

(End of this chapter)